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Ellen Loane circa 1885, about the
time the family moved to Manitoba.
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| James Smith and Ellen Loane by
their home in Ridgeville circa 1900 (click for close view. |
Obituary for Ellen Loane
On
Saturday morning, May 7th (1924), there passed away quietly while
partaking of breakfast, one of the most widely known of the old timers
of this district, in the person of Mrs. James Smith (Ellen Loane)
This dear old lady, who was 91 years of age at her death (she was actually 84)
and who latterly had made her home with her daughter, Mrs Andrew
Gilchrist (Ella Alice Smith), at Overstone, will be long and kindly
remembered not only by her immediate neighbours and friends, but also
by many who have enjoyed the hospitality so generouslly dispensed at
all times at her former home, "Hunters' Rest." Game seekers from
far
and near found shelter there and enjoyed many a meal of delicous
prairie chicken and wild duck cooked as only 'Mammy Smith' [as she was
familiarly called by them] could cook them.
She
and her husband, who pre-deceased her about 13 years ago, (1910) were
the hosts of the old Manchester House, which stood near the C.P.R.
depot at Emerson, during the years 1887-88-89, after which they moved
to the Ridge to take up farming.
Mrs. Smith is
survived by two daughters, Sarah and Nellie, and three sons- William
and Jim, now of Winnipeg, and Thomas, residing in British
Columbia. (Smiths had been in
Duncan about 3 years)
A service was
held at the Gilchrist home on Sunday afternoon and the body was taken
to Winnipeg, where funeral services were held and the remains laid
beside those of her husband in St. John's cemetery.
The sincerest sympathy of the community goes to the family
who mourn the passing of the mother who served them all so well.
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Ellen Loane, b. 24 January 1838 in Ireland, d. 7 May
1924
Father: William
Loane, b. 1806 at Cork,
County Cork, Ireland
Mother: Sarah
Winnett, b. at Killaloe, Ireland
Married: 16
October 1862 at Trinity Anglican, East Toronto.
Spouse: James
Smith, b. 24 January 1838 at Toronto, Ontario, d. 4 February
1910
Father: Thomas
Smith
Mother: Eliza James, 24 May 1827 in Toronto,
Canada
Children and grandchildren:
- Sarah Jane Eliza Smith, b. 16 October 1865 at
Scarborough, Ontario, d. 1943
- Thomas William
Smith, b. 15 December 1867 at Barrie, Ontario, m. (Minnie)
Wilhemena Ellen Tohm, 1898 at St John's, Norway, East Toronto, d. 6
September 1946 at Duncan, British Columbia; 8 grandchildren
- William Smith, b. 1869
- James Smith, b. 5 November 1872 at Barrie,
Ontario, m. Laura Emiline Lenton, 1898, d. 16 October 1942; 7
grandchildren
- Ella (Ellen) Alice Smith, b. 12 December 1874
at Barrie, Ontario, m. Andrew Gilchrist, 4 February 1904 at Ridgeville,
Manitoba; 4 grandchildren
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| A group of surveyors who
stayed at the Smith farm in Ridgeville, Manitoba circa 1890. The
four
women are left to right; Girlie Angus, Ella and Sarah Smith, Mrs. James
Smith. James Smith Sr. is on the right. |
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Historical Notes
Ellen Loane was baptised June
4, 1840 in Killaloe, County Clare,
Ireland. She was one of 10 children. The family came to Canada
when
she was 6 because her father's life was threatened by civil unrest in
the country. Her father soon set up a shoe-making business on King
Street in Toronto with Ellen as his apprentice. In 1862, Ellen married
James Smith.
The family oral history contends that the
Smith family were Unitied
Empire Loyalists. James' parents, Thomas and Eliza, were
innkeepers in Norway, a village near Toronto.
James operated the inn, the post office and toll gate until about 1872
when the family moved to Barrie, Ontario where
their last two children were born. His elder sister, Elizabeth Cundle, lived in
Barrie. In 1879, they moved to Emerson,
Manitoba where James brother, Richard, had opened a hotel.
Richard was one of a number of businessmen who expected the new
Canadian railway to pass through Emerson but Winnipeg was chosen
instead. The survey of 1883 shows a section owned by "Richard
Smith" however he was never a farmer and the land seems to have
been
turned over to James and his family. James and Ellen
managed the Manchester House in Emerson during 1887-88-89 before
taking the farm at Ridgeville. The
section that eventually
belongs to the "Smith family" is slightly south of the original
section. It was the headquarters for survey crews and also served
as a
RCMP command post for ten years. In their later years they lived in
Winnipeg.
Ellen's obituary says she died at age 92 which does
not agree with
gravestone. There is also confusion over her birthdate. She
is buried in the Smith plot, lot 33, block 34 in the cemetery attached
to St. John's Cathedral in Winnipeg.
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