8 collaton families in ontario
Before we start, the first complete census was taken in 1851 and every ten years since, with a 100 year publication ban (although the 1901 census was released around 1995 under the freedom of information act. There are several families, so you will find them numbered.
They came from Ireland circa 1830 and settled in the Smithville / Grimsby area of Lincoln County in the Niagara peninsula. One local council ran both villages, but meetings and records were held in Grimsby.
Family 1
The 1851 census shows family 1 headed by Patrick age 67 [born +/-1784] a widower, who purchased a 110 acre farm in lot 35, concession 8, Grimsby township on the west side of Smithville in 1833. Deeds show three sons: Constant, James and Bernard (or Barnaby) who are either shown in subsequent deeds or listed as living with the head of family 1 in various census years. James and Bernard do not appear after the 1881 census. There is also confusion in names, as the deeds makes reference to a Thomas B Collaton. Does the B. stand for Bernard ? Also, Bernard seems to be 20 years older than James, which is quite a spread in ages, but not impossible. Unless records can be found in Ireland, we can never be sure. In 1851 Patrick (1) lived with James, but in 1861 he lived with Constant. The property passed out of the family around 1858. Constant owned a farm (part of lot 37, concession 6 in the adjoining township of Gainsborough, immediately south of Smithville) and cared for his aging father according to a Bartlett family history. A Jane Bartlett was the first wife of Constant and died fairly young. It is said "they would have rather eaten off Constant's floor than from many a kitchen table in local homes" (quote from the Bartlett family history). Obviously we were noted for our neatness and cleanliness from early on. There are discrepancies in the ages shown for Patrick (1). He does list as a Roman Catholic, but Constant and James do not. Bernard lists as a Roman Catholic as well. Many Catholics left the church, as there was no church support on a regular basis until the 1860's.
Walter, a bachelor, the only surviving son, retired to nearby Dunnville where he died in 1935. Gordon Bartlett of Dunnville remembered his uncle as always smoking a cigar. I met young members of the Warner family who still live in Walter's house with their relatives. They were unable to supply any old bibles, papers or pictures of the Collatons.
Just west of Smithville and south of Highway 20, a small cemetery holds this family's remains, anchored forever by an impressive monument. No sign of Patrick (1) on the family monument, and he was likely buried behind the catholic church in Smithville, but no stone could be found.
Family 2
This family shows a John Collaton age 48 in the 1851 census [born +/-1803] and his spouse Rhoda age 32 [born +/-1819]. Both are listed with several children, By the locations of the of their births we can deduce that they arrived about 1845, escaping the great Irish famine. Due to the uncommon surname, it is likely they were related to the other families. They disappear from the area after the 1861 census and I have not made any great effort to trace them. This family declared their religious affiliation as catholic.
Family 3
The 1851 census shows Daniel Collaton age 70 [born circa 1781], a roman catholic who was born in Ireland. His occupation was as a weaver. His spouse Betty (Bridget) is listed as the same age. My wife Theresa and daughter Kathryn Bagshaw searched the roman catholic cemetery in Smithville, Ontario in 1982 with no initial result. Kathy was in the early stages of pregnancy and chose a bent-forward slab of stone over which to be ill. By strange coincidence, it turned out to be the grave marker of Bridget Collaton, wife of Daniel, died 1855. As Daniel does not appear in the 1861 census, he probably died between 1855 and 1860. No stone was found for Daniel. We returned with a shovel and straightened Bridget's stone. The years had blunted the lettering, so that the spelling appeared to be 'Colloton'. No deeds were found in their name, but they likely lived in the town (he being a weaver). No children were living at the house in the 1851 census, so there is no link to other family members.
Family 4
Consisting of Patrick age 32 [born circa 1819], Jane age 28 [born circa 1823], Elizabeth age 3 and Valentine age 1 in 1851. As he was a tailor he must have lived in town, but no property connections were found. They had moved to Etobicoke at the taking of the 1861 census. Valentine has passed away at this point and Thomas age 8, John age 5, Ellen age 2 and Mary Jane have been born. They are shown in Ward 5, page 60. It looks like they lived on Islington Avenue near Albion Road, within a mile or two of our first home in Rexdale (a part of Etobicoke). They were in St. Andrew's village, and this name survives today in the catholic church and school on Islington Ave. just north of Albion Rd.
The provincial archives m.s.248 reel 22 lists the marriage of Patrick Colleton of Toronto to Jean Doyle of Etobicoke 01-Feb-1848 by the Rev. Eugene O'Reilly, witnessed by Thomas Ingoldsby [county Monaghan, Ireland] and William Ward. The "e" and "a" seem freely interchangeable, and I ran across several such spellings in the Ontario records. Since the 1851 census, the "a" seems to predominate. It looks like Jane was misreported as 'Jean'.>
Patrick and Jane are my great grandparents. The clue to Smithville came form a 1927 Toronto Star clipping my mother kept regarding the settlement of the estate of Thomas Collaton (died 17-Dec-1927). Mention is made of his brother John and their birthplace, Smithville. This led to roaming around Lincoln county. Smithville didn't offer much at first, but in Grimsby at the local museum, the Grimsby historical society publication "Annals of the Forty", recording local municipal history from 1790 to 1840, lists in the index Constant Coliton and Patrick Cullaton and the property they occupied. Patrick (1) is also listed as the overseer of highways for the township of Grimsby in 1838 and 1839, where his name is spelled variously as Collaton, Cullaton and Coliton. Through all those years the local council was run from Grimsby, requiring the Smithville area members to travel seven miles to the meetings.
It seems likely that Daniel and Bridget were the parents of Patrick (4). Both families remained catholic and Daniel and Patrick were craft people, and you would expect the son of a craftsman to take up a trade rather than go to work on a farm. The only hope of confirming a relationship would be some record in early church archives made by an itinerant priest or some record of immigrants in the national archives in Ottawa. Records for that era are sketchy. We don't know what place in Ireland they came from and without that information, the chance of finding records overseas is remote. Any church records here would be in the archives of the Toronto diocese, as it was responsible for the Niagara area from 1840. From 1826 it was under Kingston and prior to that Quebec. I haven't determined if records prior to 1840 were transferred to the Toronto diocese.
In 1982 when we found the Bridget stone, the original frame church was still in use. It likely dates to 1850-1855, as a mission church, and we attended mass at St. Martin's, which was heated by a pot-bellied stove with a metal stovepipe. It held about 100 parishioners. Benches were painted and hard, but it had lovely stained glass windows all bearing the names of mainly Irish donors. A year later the old church was torn down and a new edifice replaces it incorporating the original windows. Parishioners are now mostly of Polish and Ukrainian origin.
Daniel and Bridget (3) seem to fit as parents of Patrick (4). Wouldn't Patrick take up a craft as a tailor, his father being a weaver, rather than taking up farming ? He does not appear to have any connection to family number one, but he could have been a nephew of Patrick (1) and been named after him. Patrick (1) and Daniel (3) may have been brothers. Back home one might have grown flax and the other weaved it into linen. There is evidence that flax was grown in the Niagara area circa 1830 and they might have done the same in this country.
The 1927 Toronto Star clipping infers that my grandfather John was born in Smithville, 1855, and census records show they had moved to Etobicoke by 1861. From that time our family history is centered in the vicinity of Toronto. Deeds in the county of York West state that Patrick (4) bought 1/3 of an acre, Lot 6 Concession 5 in York West in 1866, from James Doyle his father in law, who is listed as buying Lot 7 Concession 5 in 1854 and must have owned Lot 6 from that time. In 1871 the property passes to Patrick's wife Jane and we have a hand-written copy of the will thanks to my niece Sue Walker. The 1871 census lists his wife as a widow, so Patrick (4) died at the early age of 49 or 50, in 1870 or 1871. Again in 1871, Thomas and John, 18 and 15 years of age respectively, are not at home. They may have been farm labourers and living with their employers, which was common in those days.
Elizabeth, now 22, is not at home and does not appear again until the 1891 census where she is now Mrs. Lamkin, with a daughter Jenny who is 15 and born in the United States. Jane keeps getting younger each decade, going from 28 to 50 between 1851 and 1881 - has it always been thus ? Mary Jane and Ellen appear again in 1871 plus 2 new additions, a second Valentine age 8, and Catherine age 2, who must have been born close to the time of her father's death.
By 1881, Thomas has married Emma Gilpin, has a two year old son John and resides in St. Patrick's ward Toronto, in the Queen and Bathurst Street area. Jane still lives in Weston and is now a youthful 50. John is at home, now 25, with Ellen and Valentine. The 1891 census lists Jane, who has now faced reality, and admits to being 70. Her parents appear to be James and Ellen Doyle (Family 5). However Jane was married in 1848 and was living in Smithville in 1851 and thus not shown with Family 5. In 1851 James is 58, fifteen years older than his wife. Jane was 28 which would mean that Ellen was only 15 when Jane was born. Jane's place of birth is shown as the United States three times out of four between the 1851 and 1891 censuses. It is possible that Ellen gave birth to Jane at the tender age of fifteen in 1823, but it seems like a long span of time between Jane and Catherine, the next child born in 1839; sixteen years to be exact. Possibly Ellen was James' second wife, and he could have lived in the states for a while and become a widower. Then of course we can't be certain of Jane's age because she changed it so often. We know that James and Ellen sold Jane and Patrick the Weston property and lived next door for many years. Jane named one of her daughters Ellen, another Catherine and another Mary, all names found in the family of James and Ellen Doyle. James could have been her brother or father and Ellen her step-mother or sister-in-law. At present the relationship is somewhat speculative.
Jane's father [?] died after 1871 but prior to 1881. Her mother [?] age 83 was alive in 1891. Jane died in 1897. She was buried in Elmbank cemetery on the 5th Line in Toronto Township - now located within the boundaries of Pearson International Airport. The cemetery operated from 1837 to 1939. Untended and run down in the 1900's , the church was closed in 1915. A history of the cemetery and its residents produced in 1981 lists a stone for Jane Collaton, died 1897. It was recorded by local historian Perkins Bull in 1930, but had disappeared by 1981 when the Halton Genealogical Society did their survey (which has other Doyles and their Irish Catholic neighbours recorded. Toronto Township became the incorporated City of Mississauga in 1972.
In 1900 a deed of sale of the Weston property was recorded and the release of the fee of the land was signed off by Thomas and Emma Collaton, John and Mary Collaton, Ellen Collaton, Mabel Trueblood (nee Lamkin) and Jane Brixby. I am not sure of the latter's relationship to Jane.
When I asked my father about his father, all I ever got out of him was that they were hooked up with the Doyles in Weston. My father would have been seven when his grandmother died, and would not have much memory of her. Other than my grandfather John and his brother Thomas and his family I have no information on their siblings which now seems very strange to me. What happened to Valentine and his sisters ? At this point in time I am not going to pursue them and will let it remain a mystery.
The airport authorities have undertaken to remove the bodies from Elmbank Cemetery and re-interred them in Assumption Cemetery in Mississauga. This was competed in November of 2001. A service is planned for spring of 2002, and I hope that some of us will be able to attend.
Jane Collaton is in Elmbank, probably her husband Patrick and some of their children. James and Ellen Doyle and several of their children were buried there too. Some 600 bodies were reburied but only 300 can be identified by name and only a handful have monuments still intact, marking the actual resting place.
Please forgive my ambivalence in the treatment of Jane Collaton, who you can see that I want to be the daughter of James and Ellen Doyle. It makes it all so simple. Yet some of her details obviously leave me with a nagging doubt which I hope does not confuse the reader too much. (End of Family 4)
Family 5
James and Ellen Doyle, possibly parents of Jane Collaton who married Patrick (4). They had seven children including Jane. Three of the children, Ellen, Bridget and Patrick died between 1861 and 1869. Catherine married a Dempsey, as there is a reference in the Elmbank Cemetery survey to a Bernard Dempsey burying his wife Catherine who died in 1871 at age 33. According to the 1851 census she was 12, which would make the year of her birth 1839 or 1839 and 33 years old in 1871. Also in 1891, Ellen Doyle (her mother) has 2 nieces (grandchildren?) named Dempsey living with her. Sadly James and Ellen suffered the loss of several of their children in young adulthood.
Jane, the wife of Patrick Collaton (4), was wed in 1848 and thus is not listed with the Doyles in the 1851 census. Marriage records give her maiden name as Doyle . She was born in the United States while all of James and Ellen's offspring were born in Ontario. Ellen is only 15 years older than Jane and the oldest child on the list was born in 1839, making Jane 16 years older. It therefore seems unlikely that Jane was their daughter, yet they had a very close relationship all their lives. Was Jane the result of a prior marriage of James Doyle, and did he live in the US for a while ? Perhaps she was his niece or younger sister. James and Ellen cannot be claimed as my great, great grandparents just yet.
James and Ellen were successful farmers. A county atlas circa 1875 indicates they occupied 100 acres in Lot 26, Concession 3 in the township of Etobicoke. Deeds show the Grand Trunk railroad bought 6 acres off the northeast corner in 1854. They were fortunate, as many of their neighbours had their lands cut diagonally in half due to the railroads northwesterly direction. Today the property would be between Highway 27 and Martingrove Road just below the rail line running out of Weston over to Brampton.
In an agricultural census done in 1851, they had 35 acres under crop, 34 in pasture, 1 in garden and orchard and 30 in woods or wild. They produced 300 bushels of wheat from 15 acres, 170 bushels of barley from 6 acres, 60 bushels of peas from 4 acres, 300 bushels of oats from 4 acres, 100 bushels of potatoes, 3 bushels of carrots, 6 tons of hay 50 pounds of wool, 25 yards of fulled cloth and 20 yards of flannel. They had 4 cows, 5 heifers, 3 horses, 18 sheep and 40 pigs. They produced 400 pounds of butter, 1100 cwt. of beef and 1800 cwt. of pork.
Elmbank Cemetery notes say that Ellen Doyle was originally a Dawson. There were two Dawsons: Mark in Lot 14 Concession 3 and William in Lot 15 concession 3 township of Etobicoke. She was likely related to these families. It is interesting to note that men were also guilty of playing with the numbers, as James Doyle only ages 10 years between 1851 and 1871. (End of Family 5)
Family 6
Thomas and Emma Collaton are my grandfather's older brother and sister-in-law. By 1880 he was operating T. Collaton Tobacco at 530 Queen Street West. Their house was at 590 Bathurst Street, a short distance away. Beside son John, they had a daughter Minnie who was probably born in 1882 as a death notice of 1888 refers to the death of their youngest daughter Katie, aged 4 years. On the south side of St. Michael's Cemetery about half way in from Yonge Street there is a tiny stone marked Valentine, their infant son, 1886. Minnie died in 1932 and I remember my father's sister Edith mentioning her, and I believe they kept in touch. Thomas was said to have resisted change, refusing to have a telephone or electricity in his home for many years. Thomas died in December 1927 and the death notice in the Toronto Star mentions his birthplace as Smithville. His son John took over the store and continued to reside with his mother, who died around 1944.
Bella Lock, a cousin, lived with him. Somewhere in the mid 1930's he gave up the store. I can remember passing it on the Queen street car and seeing the sign when my mother and I would go downtown to the Eaton's store. I do remember going with my Dad to visit John and Emma. He had a room upstairs with a big desk and he had a large stamp collection. I would have been 5 or 6 years old. Dad kept in touch with his cousin at least once a year, always visiting him as he became reclusive. In August 1963 he phoned my father and asked if my father would drive him to the Toronto Western Hospital, which was only a few blocks from his house. Dad drove in and dropped him off at the hospital. A short time later a death notice appeared in the Toronto Star saying that John had died at the hospital and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, after a private service. My Dad was never called, so John went to his final resting place without a Collaton to bid him 'adieu'. This side of the family was a bit strange, wouldn't you agree ? For the record, Emma was a Gilpin and an Anglican. (End of Family 6)
Family 7
Henry and Ellen Ferguson and their daughter Mary, who was my father's mother. Ellen's surname was Shea and according to the census records she was born in 1839 and died January 12th, 1928. She was a widow from 1875 onwards when her husband Henry died. He was a mariner on the Great Lakes, and family history has it that he went down with his ship circa 1874 or 1875. There is likely some truth to this as Ellen bought a half plot in St. Michael's Cemetery in April 1877, and the plot plans do not show Henry, and his name disappeared from the Toronto directory in 1875. The plot cost was $12.00 and a receipt shows that it was finally paid in full on January 15th, 1892 on what you might call the layaway plan. The death notice refers to her as the widow of Captain Henry Ferguson. So far I haven't uncovered any further information on him. After my grandparents were married in the late 1880's, she lived for the rest of her life with them, except the last few years, about which I am not quite sure. Ellen and Mary lived at 22 Mercer Street in 1884 and in 1887 Ellen was at 388 Adelaide Street West. She took in roomers and was also a midwife attending to many births in the Main / Gerrard Streets area where my grandfather started his married life. The 1901 census says that Ellen came to Canada in 1863 from Ireland. (End of Family 7)
Family 8
My grandfather John Collaton, the younger brother of Thomas from Family 6. John was born in 1855 in Smithville Ontario, and was raised in Etobicoke and Weston. No information has been found on his early years. He was living with his mother Jane in 1881. The Toronto directory shows a J. Colletien in 1884 boarding at 22 Mercer Street with Ellen Ferguson. Even though the name is misspelled it is too much of a coincidence for it not to be my grandfather. Obviously he met my grandmother Mary Ferguson here. By 1889 he was living in the Main / Gerrard area and his mother-in-law Ellen, a nurse, was listed as boarding with him. His occupation in 1884 was as a brakeman for the Grand Trunk Railway. I have identification card and a 40 year pin showing that he was admitted to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Lodge 322, on December 14th, 1887 and received his 40 year pin in 1927. At that time he was chaplain of the Lodge and was an active member. He spent 27 years as a brakeman and conductor, and the last 18 years as an assistant depot manger of the old Union Station. He retired at the age of 71 in 1926, a year before the opening of the present Union Station.
I have a vague memory of him being at our home on Eighth Street in New Toronto (now part of Etobicoke) and snaring me as I ran past his chair. I also have a vague memory of being at my aunt Edith's house and seeing his coffin in December 1930. The funeral was from her home on Chatsworth Drive, just below Lawrence Avenue. They say I wanted to know where his feet were. My grandmother was there but I have no recollection of her. Until I read his death notice a few years ago, I had always thought she had died before I was born. He had a heart attack in his room and died shortly thereafter. His wife Mary may have been in some kind of hospice in her last years as he lived in a rooming house. I think my aunt said her mother was given into her care for a few days to attend the funeral.
A search through several reels failed to produce the family census record for 1891. The city directory says John lived on Lansdowne Avenue, Little York in 1891. There was a Lansdowne Avenue in the west end of the city and a similar street in the east end which disappeared in the 1890's to make way for the new rail yards, which was the reason rail employees moved out there. In 1901 he was living on Main Street in the Main / Gerrard area. By that time he was a conductor and his wages were $850.00 a year, according to the census. Even my grandfather took 5 years off his age at the time.
The oldest child listed is May, born in 1887, so he and Mary Ferguson were likely married around 1885. Both were of Irish descent and Catholic. My father, Henry Thomas (Harry), was born August 30th, 1890, and his sister Edith was born December 9th, 1892. Then came two boys: John B. in 1895 and William J. in 1899. My father and aunt Edith never mentioned these siblings to me and I was surprised to find them listed. They must have died early in the 1900's. Perhaps my brother Nick was named after William J. I think the next born was George Frederick in 1901. Then I know there was a Valentine, because my father spoke of him and there is a family picture of Val and George likely in their early teens. What is hard to explain is the city directory which lists Val in 1911 at home and working as a Canadian Pacific Railway freight clerk. He appears again in 1912 but not thereafter. Was it a part time job or was he permanently employed ? When was he actually born ? I do know he died quite young, I would guess about 1917. The eldest sister May is only shown once in 1907 in the directory as a cahier living at 210 MacDonnel Avenue. Her father and my father are also residents. Spouses were usually not listed. My aunt Edith said May died in her early 20's, perhaps 1909. She was a good pianist and held a teaching certificate and likely gave lessons. Of seven children that we know of only Harry, Edith and George lived full lives.
There was always a reticence in our parents, meaning all parents, to talk about illness and death in their families. I believe a lot had to do with the scourge of tuberculosis which was rampant right up until the 1940's. If employers discovered TB in a family, loss of jobs or a reason not to hire meant economic hardship. It is quite possible that some of those deaths were the result of TB.
I don't recall any discussion about my grandmother Mary. She was born in 1863 a year after her mother came to Canada. She died, as I mentioned earlier, in April 1933 but I do not remember her, although I would have been six years old. I believe she spent the last few years of her life in some kind of an institution perhaps going back as far as 1925, as her husband John is a roomer at 69 Wilson at that time according to the city directory and then in 1927 he roomed at 84 University Ave, as at the time of his death. (End of Family 8)
Before Ontario
We really know little about our recent ancestors in Canada and nothing about our roots in Ireland. Patrick (1) signed his name Collaton in 1833. Did he do so in Ireland ? The 'a' and 'e' were interchangeable in old English according to my cousin Dr. Pat Downs whose expertise is our English language. The 1881 census showed several young males bearing the Collaton name. Where did they go ? Did they alter the spelling or shorten it ? An internet search reveals nobody by our name's spelling in the country, so at least we are unique in Canada.
In the fall of 2001 our daughter Barbara contacted a namesake in Philadelphia. She is the widow of Richard Collaton, who was born in Toronto and moved to the US in the 1960's. His father was Charles Joseph Collaton, a stockbroker. The grandfather was Joseph P., a bartender, born in Canada around 1870 and died in 1907 in Toronto. So far I can find no connection to them. Some are in Mt. Hope Cemetery: Joseph P. Collaton - 1870-1907, wife Ella Crowley 1869-1932.
The internet shows a few Colletons in Ireland, but no Collatons with telephones.
The place name Collaton occurs several times in Devon, England. Collaton St. Mary is just inland from Torquay, a popular resort on the Channel. Small settlements by that name were plundered by Irish pirates six or seven centuries ago. My daughter Barbara visited several of these places in 1995 and has some souvenirs bearing our name.
Latter Day Saints record a Richard Collaton marrying Anne Jurdain at Little Hempston, Devonshire on November 13th, 1684. Sons Richard 1688, and John 1693 as well as daughters are recorded. The last date for Collaton is 1750. Perhaps they emigrated to Ireland and are our ancestors...
The most famous Colleton is Sir John, a wealthy merchant who raised a Devon army at his own expense to restore King Charles II to the throne in 1650. For his reward he was knighted and granted one eighth of the Carolinas and named a Lord Protector. One descendant owned several plantations, one of which was Fairlawn about 20 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina (12,000 acres). It was destroyed by British forces during the Revolutionary War, and all properties were confiscated at war's end. They also owned farms in the Barbados where descendants still reside. A few years back we saw a plaque on the west side of Meeting Street in Charleston, outlining the original fort, and it was interesting to see one of the redoubts bears the name Colleton Point. If you read Roman history, you may come across Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, first Consul of Rome in 508 B.C., who could possibly be... nah, forget it. His wife was Lucretia, who Shakespeare made famous, but I digress.
I hope to bring the story up to the present during the years to come.
Researched by Paul Collaton - Oakville, Ontario
The following narrative is the work of my father-in-law, Paul Collaton. "Doc" has over the years compiled both facts and memories into this work in progress, used here with his permission.