Snelgrove

Stephen S. Snelgrove was born circa 1780-1790 in Longbridge, Deverill, Wiltshire, England. At this time we have not been able to find details about his parents, however we do know that he had an Aunt Sarah who was born in 1754 and was buried in Wilshire in 1844. As well, Stephen had a brother named Edward Snelgrove, born 1787 and died 1835 (buried in Wiltshire).

Stephen’s wife’s name was Annie (born 1789) and according to the census in Canada she was listed as Irish, not English. Stephen and Annie’s children were all born in Longbridge and following are their birth registrations:

Sarah Anne (June 10, 1827) she died in 1828

Sarah (October 14, 1828) She died in 1832

William (October 14, 1832)

Andrew (April 17, 1817)

George (June 14, 1820)

John Stephen (August 22, 1830)

Stephen belonged to the Primitive Methodist Chapel and sometimes had services there. According to the 1841 Census in Longbridge, there was also an 80 year old women name Valentine Crouch (hard to read) with the Snelgrove’s.

In the 1850’s, Stephen, Annie, their son John and his wife Ann (Doughty) immigrated to Canada. When they first arrived in Canada they lived in Norham, Ontario but eventually they settled in the Cobourg, Ontario area (Hamilton Twp, Northumberland Cty.). According to the 1861 census in Canada there was also an Ann Kidd living in the John/Ann Snelgrove household. Stephen Snelgrove died on January 1, 1867 and Annie Snelgrove died at 78 years in 1867. Both are buried in Camborne Cemetery (Camborne, Ontario).

John and Ann Snelgrove had three sons: Henry John (1858-1912) who married Francis Maud Ferris (1869-1927); William (died 1892) who married Debbie Robinson and Albert Elijah (1866-1935) who married Elizabeth Ann Waldon.

Henry was a magistrate and worked at Cobourg Jail. Henry, Francis and children (Harold, Nora, Wilfred, Helen, Oscar, Jack, Margaret & Peggy) lived on Burnham St. in Cobourg for a time and several of them are buried in the family plot at Cobourg Cemetery. Their one son Oscar moved to England.

William Snelgrove died on September 16, 1892 at 30 years & 10 months.

Albert Elijah and Elizabeth Ann Waldon married at Gore’s Landing on April 24, 1895. Elizabeth, a dressmaker, was the daughter of Henry Waldon and Margaret Cheyne.

Albert & Elizabeth’s son, Rev. E. D. Snelgrove was my grandfather.

Waldon/Cheyne

Thomas Cheyne and Isabella Baird both immigrated to Canada from Armagh, Ireland in the 1830’s. They were married in “Muddy York” (now Toronto)

and had two children: Francis (married Lucy Isaac) and Margaret (married Henry Waldon).

Henry Waldon camed to Canada in 1857 from Barnstable, Devonshire. In 1863 he married Margaret Cheyne (b. November 7, 1841) in the home

of Mr. and Mrs. Gabitty and they lived near Castleton, Ontario for the first five years of their marriage. In 1868 they purchased the Gore farm (Gore’s Landing,

Hamilton Twp) from Mr. Ferguson for the sum of $2400.00 without a house. The house was built in 1869). Their children were:

Henry (Harry) (1864) married Mary (Maude) E. Bates…children-Cora, Norman, Lillian, Claude, George, Edward, and Evan)

Thomas (1867) married Ella Neill…children-Harold, Bertha, Ida, Neill, Charles, and Ruth.

Elizabeth Ann (1869) married Albert Elijah Snelgrove…children-Clarice Evelyn, Ellis Doughty, and Lewis Olaf

Eva Jan (1871) married Wilbert Harris (Wilbert was Captain on the Rice Lk. Ferry Boat)…children-Sanford, Muriel, Melville, Victor, Claire, and Oscar.

Margaret (1874) married Ernest Waldern

Amy Louise (1877) married Fred Harris (brother of Eva’s husband Wilbert, Fred operated the Rice Lake House, a tavern started by his father)…children-

Margaret, Helen, and Marion.

John Waldon (1880) never married. My Great Uncle John lived his whole life on the Waldon farm in Gore’s Landing. He eventually sectioned off a lot

for my grandparents to build their retirement home, called “Here-at-Last”

Ella Waldon (1882) never married and lived with her brother John until her death.

After Margaret’s death, Henry Waldon married Mary Elizabeth Huntington (d/o George & Sarah Huntington) on March 13^th, 1895. Henry died on April, 28, 1915.

Family of Elizabeth Ann Waldon & Albert Elijah Snelgrove

Elizabeth & Albert were married in Gore’s Landing on April 24^th, 1895, Their oldest child was Clarice (Eice) (1896) and she married Rue Palmateer. Eice and

Rue had two daughters. (They also lost 3 sons as babies).

Ellis Doughty Snelgrove (1900) married Clara (Polly) Pauline Sidenius (1906) on September 30, 1933 at Knox Presbyterian Church in Dundas, Ontario.

The wedding was quite a society event at the time and there were several newspaper articles about it, especially since Polly’s aunt, Marie Sidenius Zendt,

was the soloist at the wedding. Ellis and Polly both attended Victoria University (now part of University of Toronto) and Ellis was ordained into the United Church

of Canada the same year that they were married. The Snelgrove’s lived their lives according to the values they stood for and often would give up anything they

had for someone else who they felt were needier. They adopted 4 children, two boys and two girls.

Lewis Olaf (1908) married Kathleen (Kay) Ferguson (Isaac) in June of 1935. They had two daughters and one son. After Kay’s death, Olaf married again February 6, 1975 to Gladys Harrison.