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Tegart Treeclimbers |
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Tegart Treeclimbers |
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http://members.tripod.co.uk/pears1/index.html Henry Pearson (Sr.) Bruce S. Elliott's "Irish Migrants in the Canadas, A New Approach," doesn't mention Henry Pearson, but it does talk about the Beatty group with which he came to Canada from Ireland via New York P.79 "Beginnings of Tipperary Protestant Emigration": In the autumn of 1818 the British consul at New York, James Buchanan, a native of County Tyrone, met with some fifty heads of families originally from the British Isles to persuade them to move north to Canada. Most of the group were Methodists and many were from Buchanan's home county in northern Ireland, but among those present was Thomas Reed, a former resident of Borrisokane married to a native of Borris-in-Ossory. He had been in the United States since at least 1810. As a result of the meeting, four men, John Beatty, James Beattie, Joseph Graham, and Reed, went to York in October 1818 and secured a promise of a tract of land for their friends from New York and for relatives from Ireland who would immediately join them. The first party from New York arrived at York in April 1819 and was settled in the northern part of Toronto Township. Reed and Graham's party arrived in June and was settled, with the friends from Ireland, in the southeastern quarter of the newly surveyed township of Esquesing [Note 108: J. Richard Houston, "Numbering the Survivors: A History of the Standish Family of Ireland, Ontario, and Alberta," (Toronto 1979), 42-8]. Several of the families that emigrated from the North Tipperary region in 1819 joined the Reeds, including his brother John, William Kent from Youghalarra and his son-in-law Robert Howard of Shinrone and Nenagh, and Samuel Watkins from Birr. Thomas Bridge of Roscrea applied for land in Esquesing for himself and his relative Ralph Smith, but Bridge moved instead to the Tipperary colony in Richmond while Howard and Smith settled in Montreal, where Edward Allen Talbot met the latter and married his daughter in 1821 [Note 109: "Montreal Gasette," 16 May 1821]. Notes from the Pearson family file of the William Perkins Bull fonds (R.P.A. 91.0045). Ont Archives Microfiche MS515 56-57 : A notation for Henry Pearson at the end of reel 57 reads: Henry Pearson, Yeoman, from list attached to Beatty Petition. See Beatty Folder. The microfiche is MS 515 roll 5 pg 3593. The Beatty file contains several notes including: "John Beatty came with his two brothers from Ireland to New York city to escape the ill will existing in the old country against the society formed by John Wesley. Beatty wished to settle under the British flag and joined with other Irish immigrants in negotiating for land in Upper Canada. On May 18, 1819, he led a caravan of 27 wagons from New York City to Upper Canada and they settled in Toronto Township.” Additionally there is an interesting anecdote in this file describing how John Beatty made the weary travelers stop to pray on their knees by a river during the course of their journey. Henry Pearson is listed on the petition as a native of Ireland, bachelor, yeoman. This petition also appears in a historical book about Streetsville written by Mary E. Manning called “Street: the man, the family, the village” - published by the Streetsville Historical Society - pgs. 36-37. Other names of settlers on the petition are: William Whalley, John Armstrong, John Wallace, John Neelands, Andrew Neelands, Andrew Scott, Robert Anderson, William Todd Sr, Willaim Todd Jr., Alexander Duncan (a native of Scotland), Robert Nesbit, William Maxwell (native of England), John Thompson, John Rutledge, John Cowin, Martin Switzer and Robert Moore. All were Irish except as noted. An obituary for the eldest son Henry Jr. in "The Evangelical Witness" states that Henry Sr. was alive at the time of his son's death in 1872 and his age was approx. 80 years which makes his year of birth around 1792. He was "a native of Ireland, and having spent some time in Philadelphia and other parts of the United States, came to Canada and settled on a farm near Brampton." Henry Sr. outlived all of his sons but one, John Pearson. (Pictured above with wife and child) Henry Pearson (Sr.) married Rebecca Donohoe (also spelled Donoughoo on some records - her father may have been Mathew Donoughoo - he appears on the 1837 Ontario census for Toronto Township on a lot near Henry Pearson Sr. Rebecca was born 1791 in Ireland and died 1885 in Owen Sound, Ont. Their children were: Henry (Jr) 1821- 1872 - married Elleanor Gundy John Pearson 1828 - 1849 Joseph (buried in Churchville cemetary) 1834-1849 Ephraim K (buried in Churchville) 1832 - 1866 Thomas (buried Churchville) 1843-1843 Matthew (mentioned on land records for family farm) no other dates available - possibly born 1824 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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