Finlay McNaughton's Descendants - Part two

Walter, my grandfather, remained at home on his father's farm till he died on October 17, 1954, in his eighty-third year. He married Margaret Bennett and they had three children of whom the eldest was my father Earl.

Elizabeth who was known to all as Bessie or Aunt Bess also remained at home and married Morrison McCrea. Their farm was about a half-mile from where she was born. Some years later they retired to Hemmingford village where both passed away, Morrison in 1939 and Aunt Bess shortly before Christmas 1952.

Joseph Nicolson McNaughton, the youngest son and child of Donald and Ann, never married. He went west as a young man and farmed near Winnipeg where he died at the age of forty-seven in 1925.

We now come to the youngest member of the family of Finlay and Andria McNaughton of Hemmingford, the sixth son who was named Finlay after his father. Another child has been born dead in Canada but was never named. Finlay remained on the old homestead of Dunderave after his father died in 1851 and married Clarissa Abigail Proper, better known to all the community as Aunt Clara. She detested the name Clarissa, always preferring to be called Clara instead; and it was she who in the winter 1922 wrote the family history of the McNaughtons from what she was able to recall down through the years. At that time several copies were distributed among many of the family connections. She was several years younger than Finlay and outlived him by twenty years. They had eight children but only three sons lived to grow up. The other five died tragically at an early age.

The eldest was William or Willie and he lived on a farm quite near the old homestead. In later years he moved to the village of Hemmingford and delivered mail on one of the long country roads, and it was on one of these daily routes on a winter's morning in 1925 that he was found dead in his sleigh by a neighbour. Three months later his mother died at old Dunderave at the age of seventy-five after having seen six of her eight children go before her. Willie married Jane Latham and she passed away in March 1943, followed one week later by her son Harold. He had dressed for church and on the way downstairs he collapsed and died within a few minutes. Willie and Jane, or Jennie as she was called, had seven children.

Frederick McNaughton, known to all in the community as Uncle Ted, remained on his father's farm of Dunderave, and now in his 85th year is the last surviving grandchild of Finlay and Andria out of the original forty-three. Ted first married Emma Martin who died shortly after Herb was born in 1900. Ted later married Mary Orr; known to all in the community as Aunt Biddy. She died in 1935 after being bedridden for some twenty years.

Arthur McNaughton, called Artie, went west many years ago. He married Katherine Bell Lindsay in Simcoe County, Ont., and settled at Conquest, Sask., where their eldest child Thelma was born. The three younger children Edith, Ernest and Clara were born at Prelate, Sask. Thelma married L. B. Roberts and lives in Sarnia, Ont. Ernest lives with his mother at The Pas, Man. Edith was married at Colchester, Essex, England, in 1945 to an English officer, Geoffrey James Rand. She was a nurse overseas during the war. Their first child was born at Felixstowe, Suffolk, England, in 1947 and a daughter in Ottawa, Canada, in 1950. They now live at Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. Clara, the youngest daughter, was married at Sudbury, Ont., to William Paul Foster and are now in residence at Espanola, Ont. Artie had moved to The Pas, Man., several years ago and died there in the summer of 1950 at the age of seventy-five.

The five children of Finlay McNaughton and Clara Proper who died so tragically were George, Duncan, Keith and Kenneth, the twins, and Eva. George died from measles at the age of nine. Duncan developed diabetes, but at that time there was no insulin to keep diabetics alive and so for many months he suffered greatly. He was only seventeen years old. The twins Kenneth and Keith died from scarlet fever, Keith in April 1880 and Kenneth the following October. Little Eva was only eleven years old when she died. In June 1894 the housekeeper was cleaning and came upon an old musket behind the door. It had stood there untouched for many years. She picked it up and pointed it at little Eva. In fun she said she was going to shoot her, and pulled the trigger. The weapon, although unused for so many years, was loaded and Eva died instantly before the eyes of the whole family.

Having taken into account each of the sons of Finlay McNaughton and Andria Black, we now pass on to their daughters, Margaret, Christina, Louisa and Catherine.

The eldest daughter was Margaret, called Peggie, who was born at Fiendrick, Scotland, in April 1808. She was the first of the family to marry, some time during the later 1820's at Hemmingford in her parents' home to William Dundass. The Dundasses emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1822 and settled south of Montreal near Hemmingford with their eleven children, one of whom was William. The original spelling of their surname contained one "s", but William and his brother John added the extra "s" which has been retained by all their descendents. After Peggie and William were married they went to Valleyfield, Que., to live for a short time. Later they moved into Upper Canada, now the Province of Ontario, and settled on a farm near Putnam in the Putnam and Banner communities.

They had nine children; John, Finlay, Christie Ann, William, Catherine, Alexander, James, Louisa and Mary Jane.

The eldest son, John Naughton, was born at Valleyfield, Que., and was the eldest of the forty-three grandchildren of Finlay and Andria McNaughton. John married Anne Phelps. They owned and operated a farm at Dorchester, Ont., south of the river on the east half of Lot 2, Concession l. After John's death Anne went to London, Ont., to live with her son William. They had seven children of whom Blanche the youngest survives. Their eldest son William was a staunch supporter of the church, being an Honorary Elder and member of the Official Board of Centennial United Church in London as well as a regular attendant until his death. He was an Honorary President of the Clan Dundas Organization from 1943. He continued his vocation of contractor and carpenter until 1950. Their youngest son, Charles, was a graduate of S.P.S. of the University of Toronto in engineering. Of Charles's four children, three practice dentistry in Montreal on Sherbrooke Street. John, the eldest, lives in Hamilton, Ont. Howard, like his brother George, served in World War IIas Captain in the Canadian Army Dental Corps. Howard was appointed to the Faculty of Dentistry of McGill University in Montreal in 1946. George was appointed to the Faculty the following year. In 1951 he was made Director of Dental Service of the Alexandra Hospital. Roberta, their sister, is also a dentist. She has the distinction of being the first woman student to graduate from McGill University at the head of the faculty of dentistry. She was appointed to a Mott Dental Research Fellowship at the University of Michigan in 1948 and was awarded a Master of Dental Science degree. She was married in 1949 but her husband died within two years at the age of twenty-six.

Christie Ann Dundass was the eldest daughter of William Dundass and Margaret McNaughton. She was always known as Christie Ann. She married Seth Barr in 1858 and for many years they farmed at Dorchester, Ont., moving from there in 1882 to Tilbury. They had ten children.

William Dundass, third son of William and Margaret Dundass, was born at Putnam, Ont., in 1837 where for several years he conducted a general store. On moving to Ingersoll, he entered into partnership with Nelson Waite, conducting a grocery and provision store. Mr. Waite withdrew from the firm and William continued alone until joined by L. C. Menhennick. Later he filled the office of Bailiff and conducted an insurance business. He was a member of the council in 1886 and a member of the Board of Education for years. For twenty-five years he was recording steward of the Methodist Church. William was the first President of the Clan Dundas Organization from 1910 until his death in 1914. His wife, Matilda Elizabeth Mairs survived him by two years. They had five children of whom only one now survives. His eldest son died in Calgary in 1910 where his daughter Mrs. R. H. Uren now resides. Nellie Mabel Dundass for years had charge of the Primary Department of the Sunday School at Trinity United Church at Ingersoll where she was a member of the choir and women's organizations. She was a member of the Lady Dufferin Chapter of the I.O.D.E. and of the Shakespearean Club. An accomplished musician, she taught music for years. Elizabeth Maie, her sister married John Coulter. He entered the employ of the John Harrow Company of Ingersoll in 1887 and rose to the position of President and General Manager which position he held until 1920. Their family of three sons and a daughter died in infancy. They later adopted two girls.

Alexander Dundass, fourth son of William and Margaret married Sarah Ruth Phelps, a sister of his brother John's wife Anna. They had a daughter who taught school at Ingersoll for many years and died unmarried. Their son died at the early age of twenty-two.

James Dundass, the youngest son of William and Margaret, was known as Little Jim. He took over his father's farm at Dorchester, after the latter died, until 1884 when he moved to Thorndale, Ont. In September 1909 he and his family moved to Saskatchewan settling in the Lashburn district. His wife Jane Stedman was interested in photography, doing her own developing and printing even at ninety years of age. Jim and Jane had eight children. The eldest Mary, Mrs. Wilbert Hudson, resides in London, Ont. Her husband was a prosperous farmer in the Ilderton district of Middlesex County. Their eldest son Austin Thomas resides in Edmonton, Alta. He is a contractor and real estate dealer, also a musician in both band and orchestra. His sister Daisy married Angus McNaughton and they reside at New Westminster, BC. Angus's family and that of the Clan at Hemmingford, Que., are not connected. A brother William Finlay lives at Cranbrook, BC, and a younger sister Mrs. Hogan at Harrogate, BC Her husband is a rancher and acts as a guide to big game hunters in the Rocky Mountain's. The youngest brother Harold was killed in the summer of 1943 when he was thrown from a hay wagon while helping his nephew, Morley Hogan, at Cranbrook. He had spent most of his life at Wasca, Sask., moving to the Golden district in 1940. He never married.

Of the many grandchildren of Jim and Jane Dundass, Frederick Hudson is a Federal Government Plant Inspector and has planned many films for the department. He is a Mason and an instructor for the "Cubs" at London, Ont. His seventeen-year-old son Garth is a student of Medway High School, London, where he is the leading musician. Delmar Laverne Hudson, brother of Frederick, is engaged in agriculture and is a musician in both band and orchestra. Vernal their sister, obtained a Music Supervisor's Certificate from the University of Western Ontario and taught music in the rural schools for eight years. Her husband Albert Jolly is a musician and is the Director of the Dale Carnegie Class in London.

Another grandchild of Jim Dundass is Enid Cobbledick. Her husband Stewart Cowan had the honour of piloting the plane that carried Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh to Canada in the autumn of 1951 for their cross-country tour of the nation. He had served in the R.C.A.F. as Flight Officer during World War II and was taken prisoner in Italy. He succeeded in making his escape and returned safely to Canada. He and his wife and son now reside in Ottawa.

The youngest daughters of William Dundass and Margaret McNaughton never married. Catherine died at the age of eighty-nine at Tilbury, Ont. Louisa Jane died at the age of three, and Mary Jane was only twenty-three when she passed away. She had studied in Toronto and passed exceptionally high in mathematics. She had taught school for a few years in Oxford County.

The following poem was composed by Mary Jane while she was still in her teens.

We have loved and we have parted.
That bright dream is in the west,
Yet I am not broken-hearted.
Life is not all overcast.

True, the present gives no promise
That the star of love shall rise,
Gleaming with its golden radiance
In the future's cloudy skies.

Hope, the flatterer, long hath left me,
She who lingers to the past;
Yet my heart repeats not sadly
It is over, it is past.

It is past; for me no longer
Shall love's fragrant blossoms bloom,
Those I gathered long since faded,
Long since lost their sweet perfume.

Yet I bless that star which lighted
For a while my young life's sky,
And I bless those flowers though blighted
That around me withered lie.

Ah, those words: I love, I am loved,
Once had power my soul to thrill,
And I know that of earth's pleasures
That my being had its fill.

It is past and I am grateful
For that wild, bewildering draught,
Now I fling aside the chalice
All whose waters I have quaffed.

Onward now I press, perceiving
that love is not all of life,
And with heart and soul undaunted
Haste to join earth's din and strife.

I have taken up my burden,
Which I shrank from far too long.
"Labour leads to life Eternal"
Is my little cry and song.

And the star that lights my pathway
Is the star of Faith in God,
And white flowers of peace are springing
In the parched ground where I stood.

God hath given living waters
Which hath made my thirst to cease.
Over rough ways He hath led me
To the path of perfect peace.

                   Mary Jane Dundass

The second daughter of Finlay McNaughton and Andria Black was Christina who was born at Fiendrick, Scotland, in 1811. She passed away within a few months from scarlet fever and was buried in Scotland.

Louisa, the third daughter of Finlay and Andria was born at Cilleman, Scotland, in 1816 and was only five years old when she sailed with her parents to America in 1821. She was married at the age of thirty-three to Kutusoff Nicolson at her father's home at Hemmingford. Mr. Nicolson had been sent as a young man as an agent for the Marquis of Beauharnois to Canada. When the Marquis sold the Seignory of Beauharnois to a Scottish nobleman and returned to France, Kutusoff was left as its manager. Then when the Seignory came to an end, the Nicolsons went to live in Valleyfield. It was here that both passed away and were buried. They had five children, the eldest of whom was Helen. She married Donald McBain but they had no family. Then in 1854 John and James the twins were born. John and his cousin Charles McNaughton later founded the Arctic Ice Company in Winnipeg which is now quite well-known in the Canadian mid-west. James married Anna Munro and their family consisted of three sons and three daughters. Jane married her cousin Finlay McNaughton Young, a well-known Manitoba politician and Speaker in the Legislature, but they died leaving no family. Joseph, youngest son and child of Louisa and Kutusoff Nicolson, died as a young lad in his early twenties.

The youngest daughter of Finlay and Andria McNaughton of Hemmingford was Catherine, a twin. Donald, who was better known as the Captain, was her twin brother and my great-grandfather. Catherine married Donald McIntosh at the age of eighteen; and went to Athelstan in the western part of Quebec Province where they had a Farm. They had five children, but when they were all very young, Catherine died leaving a broken-hearted family. Of their children Andria was the eldest. She married Thomas White and their two sons were Roderick and Arthur. The latter now resides at Huntingdon, Que. Rod went west but died there when a very young man. His daughter Andria, Mrs. Kenneth Leitzke, lives in Menominee, Mich., and his son Ralph lives in Chicago.

John was the elder of the two McIntosh sons. He married his first cousin, Jessie McIntosh, and they had a farm at Athelstan. Of their eight children there was one set of twins. A daughter Andria, who later married Robert Hawkins, lived for many years on a farm at Hemmingford where their six children were born. They now reside at Oxford Mills, Ont.

Christena McIntosh married Orlando Shattuck and they had three children. The eldest is Donalda who lives at Malone, N.Y. Her husband Charles Turner died several years ago, and her two children Frederick and Helen also live in Malone. Helen Andria married her first cousin Arthur White, her mother's sister's son, and they live at Huntingdon, Que. on a farm. They have no family.

Finlay Mclntosh went west to Manitoba where he owned a farm which he later sold when the railroad was surveyed and built through it. He died out there in 1913 unmarried. Mary McIntosh, the youngest of the family, married William Dunn and lies buried in the family plot at Athelstan. They had no family.