THE LIFE OF MAJOR THOMAS EDMUND CAMPBELL, CB 

                

            Major Thomas Edmund Campbell, CB, throughout his 63 years was a well respected military officer, a politician and a developer of the Seigneury in the county of Rouville, Quebec and most of all a much loved husband and father.  Some parts of his life such as his military career are sketchy at best while other parts are quite vivid thanks in part to a partial journal of Henriette’s that was translated by Aunt Lola.  He seemed to be a man of unbridled energy and wisdom with a particular gift of empathy and generosity for others.  This in itself is somewhat surprising in that both his parents died before he was eight years old and must speak volumes for his guardians who guided through his formidable years. 

            Thomas was on born January 4th, 1809 in Bedford Square, London, the fifth of six children of affluent parents, Duncan and Harriet (nee Young) Campbell.   Little is known those early years growing up but records show that at the age of 15 he joined the East India Company’s Military Academy at Addiscombe.  For the next 8 years of his military career he attended various academies and travelled extensively with them graduating in 1832 from England’s prestigious military institute, Sandhurst.  Shortly thereafter he was appointed aide-de-camp (ADC) to Lieutenant-General Campbell, commander, Island District.  Records on hand show that on the 2nd of March, 1832 he was appointed a Captain in the Royal Regiment of Foot and on July 13th he was appointed Captain in 1st Regiment of Light Dragoons and then joined the Queens Own 7th Hussars.

            Lord Palmerston saw leadership qualities in Thomas selecting him as part of the military mission to train Turkish military personnel in their struggle with the rebellious Kurds.  However, by the time his contingent got there, the conflict had ended so Thomas’s was sent to the British embassy in Russia where he spent the next three months.  It was during this period that he was entertained by Czar Nickolas.  Not a bad caveat on his résumé.  His next set of orders had him off to support Lord Ponsonby at the English consulate in Cairo.  There he was to assist Ibrahim Pasha, General of the Egyptian Army by training his military personel, but on the way he learned that his regiment had been reassigned and given a new set of orders, this time it was to Quebec.  Instead of warm weather and Pyramids it was to be cold winters in Lower Canada.  Returning to London, he left immediately for Quebec arriving on the 4th of June 1838 with the 7th Hussars. 

            History will show that during this period in early Canadian history there was a struggle for dominance between the English ’patriots’ and French ‘rebels’ in Canada.  Briefly put, it appears to have been a power struggle for basic linguistic and other rights enjoyed by the French for the past 150 years in Canada versus the dominant English Parliamentary way of governance exhibited at that time.  It came to a head in what is called the ‘Rebellion of 1837/38’ which started in late 1837.  From many accounts this rebellion was more of a series of bloody skirmishes rather than a full blown offensive but had the potential of undermining the stability of early Canada with far reaching political implications.   On November 10th Thomas was given command of a company of 7th Hussars along with a force of Mohawks at Caughnawaga (Ga-hna-wa-ge) and volunteers of the Lachine brigade.  They engaged the rebels at Chateauguay and were able to win the day after much blood-shed.  Even though the battle was over he was faced with the unpleasant task of having to arrest a number of ring leaders of the Lachine volunteers for setting fire and looting some of the homes of the rebels.

            A year later (1839) he was promoted to Major and became the ADC and Military Secretary to the Governor-General, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson, now known as Lord Sydenham.  In his two years as Canadian Governor-General, it is said that no governor had such a profound influence on the future development of this country.  During the first election in the Province of Canada in March and April, 1841, Thomas was ‘elections agent’ and saw to it that polling stations were strategically located for the convenience of ‘loyal’ voters and military personnel insuring success at the polls.  While questionable by today’s standards, these types of manoeuvres were widely accepted tactics back then. Unfortunately his tenure was cut short by the untimely death of Lord Sydenham in 1841.  Thomas returned to regular military service with his battalion shortly thereafter.

            Backing up a few years, it was sometime after arriving in Quebec in 1838 that Thomas met Henriette, daughter of Col. Juchereau Duchesnay, Seigneur of Fossambault.  She was born on September 19, 1815 in Beauport, Quebec and on November 25th, 1841, Thomas and Henriette were married at St. Ours, Quebec, seat of the Seigneury. The Juchereau-Duchesnay family records indicate that their forefathers came to Canada about 1647 when the country was known as New France.  Many family members held prominent positions in either the military or political scene.

            Henriette being of French Canadian background was of course Roman Catholic while Thomas on the other hand with his up-bringing in Britain was Anglican and as most of us know, there was no love lost between the Churches but alas, love conquers all.  In time Thomas insured that his sons were baptised and confirmed in the Anglican faith at St. Stephens Church in Chambly.  It was on the grounds adjacent to this Church that Thomas built a family mausoleum or vault to hold the remains of the Anglican family members and those interned have their names inscribed on the outside walls.   At the same time Henriette and her daughter attended the Catholic Church in St. Hilaire.  Close by the Church Thomas built a Convent with a Chapel and it is in the Chapel Crypt that both Laura and her mother along with several Nuns are interned.  Attached to this document as a separate addendum is ‘The Convent at St. Hilaire’ which provides a comprehensive outline and history up until the time it became a home for the elderly as it is today.  

            In 1842, a year after their marriage, Thomas and Henriette had their first son who sadly did not survive his birth.  He is interned in the family vault in Chambly.

            During this period in England’s history there were British colonies and military forces spread throughout the globe, all of which were subsidised by the government of the day and this was putting a severe financial strain on their exchequer.  As one small part of an overall Government austerity measure the 7th Hussars were ordered back home.  A secondary consideration was the repairs require after years of neglect to the Fort at Chambly where the soldiers were billeted.  Accordingly, in February, 1843 Thomas and Henriette left Quebec and settled in Brighton, England after a long and tiring ocean crossing.  As time went by Henriette became more and more lonely, longing to see her brothers and sisters and enjoy the way of life she had grown up with in Quebec as a young girl.  She seemed to find adapting to the new surroundings and English way of life difficult to adjust to so spent many lonely days by herself when Thomas was away on military missions.  It was her deep religious faith and devotion to her husband (she called him Edmund or Ed, not Thomas) along with their two healthy baby sons Edmund (b: 1843) and Archibald (b: 1844) that gave her the strength to adapt to this foreign life style.

            In 1844 Thomas got word through his father-in-law that the Rouville Seigneury at St. Hilaire was for sale and because it was not that far up the Richelieu River from the Seigneury of Henriette’s fathers at St. Ours it sounded very appealing.  As I have mentioned, Henriette had longed to return to Quebec and as well, Canada had left a deep impression on Thomas so he wasted little time in starting the negotiating process for the purchase of the property.  Talks got under way between the existing owner Hertel with his lawyers, and Henriette’s Brother Michael-Lewis, also a lawyer, representing Thomas.  The very nature of these transactions were long and complicated and added to the complexity was the time it took correspondence to travel  between Montreal and London, usually ten days on a good ocean crossing time but more often two weeks each way.  With all these delays it was no surprise that it wasn’t until April of the following year that the sale was finally concluded settling on a purchase price of £17,000 (about $3 million today).  The thought of returning to life in Quebec once again and living just a short distance from her family gave Henriette great hope for a fresh and exciting new future.

            In 1846 Thomas resigned his commission retiring after twenty five years of military service on half pay to become actively involved in the responsibilities as the new Seignior de Rouville.  They left England and returned to Canada on the 19th of June that year arriving at Boston on the 4th of July and finally to St. Ours on the 10th.  The Manoir House in St. Ours was to be their principal residence for the next three months while renovations to the existing buildings proceeded at St. Hilaire.

            With their roots established in the Manoir House, Major Campbell, unlike most Quebec Seigneuries, chose to be a hands-on landlord overseeing one of the largest Seigneuries in the Province.  It consisted of approximately 33,000 acres split among 771 separate parcels of which 693 were farms and the remaining mostly family homes, orchards etc.  He was to find out that managing this huge estate took a full time accountant and numerous other individual entrepreneurs requiring enormous amount of time and devotion to detail.  To name but a few of the enterprises on the estate; there was a forested area with its sawmill, a cooperage operation, an apple juice press processing plant, and numerous maple trees that were tapped for syrup. Thomas rebuilt the grist mill building of stone replacing the wooden structure that had burnt down when Hertel had the Seigneury. Also included on the property was Lake Hertel and the mountain from which the town got its name. It is interesting to note that there was a pathway up the mountain and situated at specific intervals were prayer stations with a cross denoting one of the twelve apostles of the Catholic Church. Some of these crosses are visibly today. 

            He began laying out plans for renovations to the existing property and one of his earliest projects was to set aside 150 acres as a model farm where he took great interest in growing trees.  In 1850 when he heard of McGill University’s Principal was doing work on natural history he sent him a load of spruce saplings which were to become the Universities border on the central avenue.  Thomas is credited as founding the Lower Canada Agriculture Society and for the next twenty five years devoted a great deal of energy in developing new agricultural techniques. Other attributes include starting an Agriculture Fair where prizes were given to the best farmers and he also started the first agricultural school in Quebec in the city of Saint Anne-de-la-Pocatiere.

            It seems as though it didn’t take long before Thomas was recognized as, in Lord Elgin’s words, “one of the most enterprising seigneurs in the province”, so Thomas was prevailed upon to become Lord Elgin’s Civil Secretary a position he initially turned down because of the on-going manor house construction and a very young family.  However persistence prevailed and Thomas accepted the position.   As a point of interest all transactions connected to the Seigneury and conversations in and around the Manoir House were conducted in the French language and this total bilingual capability was also a factor in Lord Elgin’s decision.  At the end of March 1847 he took office, a position he held until late November 1849 when the Federal Government moved from Montreal to Toronto.  During his tenure there was an event at government house with a touch of humour that bears repeating.

            Lord Elgin had been notified of a riotous gathering outside the parliament buildings that threatened to turn ugly so he contacted Thomas and together went to see what all the fuss was about.  When they arrived it became obvious that the situation was going to turn nasty and wasn’t long before the mob turned on them.  Wisely they turned their carriage around and headed for home.  Somewhere in the melee someone threw an egg at Lord Elgin but unfortunately Thomas’s neck got in the way as it ran down his collar. Sometime later Lord Elgin sent Thomas a silver stick pin consisting of a chicken’s claw holding an egg shaped opal. 

             All the while his family was growing with Archibald (the preeminent artist of the family) born in 1844, Juchereau in 1846, Bruce in 1848, Laura in 1850, and more to follow. So it wasn’t long before Thomas came to the conclusion that the original accommodation was too small for their needs.  Rather than renovate any further he decided to build a new structure large enough to accommodate his family, an apartment for an office and a reception area.

            His older brother Col. James Archibald of New Inverawe (1807 – 1879) bought the property held by Archibald Campbell of Blackhouse and Finlayson following his death in 1825.  Seven years later James built his manor house on the 1000 acre site and named it New Inverawe.   However, this name was subsequently changed as part of the sale agreement in 1880 as it no longer belonged to the Campbell family.  It would be known as Ardanaiseig (ard-NASS-ig) which loosely translated from Gaelic means ‘by the lake’ and today this beautiful structure is an executive hotel still known by that name.  As an aside; the Colonel was independently wealthy and married twice to wealthy wives and between them had a total of at least fourteen children.  Every Sunday he would select some of his daughters to row him across Loch Awe to attend church while the remaining children and household staff followed as a flotilla of other craft

            Thomas was always impressed with the New Inverawe manor house with its beautifully landscaped grounds to the extent that he decided to fashion his Manoir House in St. Hilaire after it.  The Tudor style building as it stands today was completed in 1854 but unlike most Seigneuries in Quebec that were built with four rooms on two floors, the St. Hilaire manor was a three story structure comprising of thirty five rooms all richly decorated.  Outside, the grounds were beautifully laid out leading down to the Richelieu River some hundred feet away at the back.  The east side of the house lead to the stable area built to house his horses while on the opposite side of the house was a large sun room.  Instead of a central heating system as we know of it in today’s buildings, back then each main room had its own fireplace with its own chimney.  An interesting twist to this is that all seven chimneys on the roof are different in their overall design.  The opulent interior decor is best characterized by the pictures on file taken from an article in the Mayfair Magazine in 1951 while it was still owned by the family.

            Again I have overlapped a bit so, backing up, when Thomas and Henriette moved into the St. Hilaire property they realize that Illiteracy was prevalent among the residents and they also noticed that more often than not girls were not given the opportunity of an education at all.  He realized that social and economic progress could not happen without education so in 1843 he provided a building lot and paid for the construction of a school house.  Again, I refer you to the addendum to this article regarding The Convent at St. Hilaire for a more complete descriptive overview of the schooling events of the day.

            in 1854 his stature in the community and to Canada through his various military involvements were recognize by being bestowed the honour of Companion of the Bath by Queen Victoria.   I was able to obtain from the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood in London the following extract from the London Gazette, dated 23 June, 1854:

Downing Street, June 23, 1854

The QUEEN has been graciously pleased to give orders for the appointments of William H. Draper, Esquire, one of the Puisne Judges of Canada West; of Robert Baldwin, Esquire and of Edmund Campbell, Esquire both of Canada, to be Ordinary members of the Civil Division of the Third Class, or Companions of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

            According to the London office no one was able to say precisely why he received this award or if a certificate was ever issued at the time but one can only imagine that Lord Elgin had some influence in this prestigious nomination. From that day forward he was legally permitted to us ’CB’ after his name.  Nothing is ever free it seems, Thomas was charged £1 for this honour.

             Returning to the children, after Laura, Robert Peel was born in 1853, then Duncan John D’Urban in 1855 (our family linage), Donald in 1857 and finally Colin Augustus Monk in 1860.  At the end of this document I will critique each of the children so as to keep some form of continuity to life of Thomas.  Duncan’s third name, D’Urban came from a very close friend of Thomas.

            Following his resignation as Lord Elgin’s aide he returned to life on the Seigneury only to be imposed upon during late 1854 through 1855 as part of an elite group to consider military defence.  He sat with Sir Allan Napier Mac Nab and Col. Etienne-Paschel Tache; their report resulted in the Militia Act of 1855.  Key to their report was the dual system of militia and volunteers which included 5000 men in 18 strategic locations Enthusiasm for the plan waned during the economic depression of 1858 but it was revived again in 1860 with the royal visit of the Prince of Wales.

            In 1857 he was elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for Rouville but this spell of political life was short lived as in 1861 he was defeated by the Liberal Member, Lewis T. Drummond and so ended his stint on the hill. 

            During this point in history the American Civil war was raging and the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis tried to send two diplomats to Europe to garner their support against the Union cause.  Some three hundred miles at sea the ship, was stopped and the two diplomats taken prisoner, a seizure in violation of maritime law as it happened in international waters.  Finally President Lincoln intervened in a very diplomatic move releasing the prisoners.  Lincoln feared in not doing so might involve the British and Canada’s concern was that it would be the resultant battle ground. This incident is known as the Trent crisis so named after the mail ship carrying the diplomats.   Between the Civil war and the Trent situation, an air of uncertainly prevailed in the Province of Canada so another commission was undertaken comprising of G.E. Cartier, J.A. MacDonald, A.T. Galt, Sir A. MacNab, Col. D. Lysons, a British officer  and Col. T.E. Campbell (as he now was) acting for the military interests.  It was on the weight of this commissions report in 1862 that contributed in part to the defeat of the Cartier-MacDonald government.

            Thomas’s first and foremost interests were in the development of the Seigneury which encompassed numerous small entrepreneurial endeavors by the locals but even with such a busy schedule he maintained a position on the Board of Directors of The Bank of Montreal, the Grand Trunk Railway and the Reliance Mutual Insurance Company.  He was also a member of the Quebec Provincial Synod of the Anglican Church.

             How he was able to wear so many hats will always remain a mystery but alas, on his way to Church with Archibald on August 5th, 1872 he suffered a heart attack which he never recovered from.  He is interned in the family vault with some of the other family members. The following year Henriette died after two years of being bed ridden and as mentioned, she is interned in the crypt of the Convent Chapel.

            There is on file numerous legal documents detailing the various actions and events pertaining to the ownership of the Seigneury which in themselves is meat for a further study.  Bruce Frederick was the last of Thomas’s sons to hold the office of the Seigneur de Rouville and after his passing the property went to Phoebe following Enid’s death in 1955.  Extensive repairs were needed and there was a hefty operating cost attached to the property which at this time only included the Manoir House so the decision was made to sell the land, buildings and contents as a package.  The sale was concluded in 1958 to a French contractor who abandoned it for the next fourteen years.  During this spell the locals broke into the building and looted many beautiful chandeliers and pieces of furniture.  After changing hands a couple of times Mr. Yves Doin along with some backers bought and transformed it  into an up-scale Hotel that it is today.

CHILDREN OF THOMAS AND HENRIETTE CAMPBELL:

1/         Son born October 10th 1842. Died at birth interned in the family vault.

2/         Edmund Alexander Charles, b: 11th October 1843; d: 10th March, 1902 and is buried in England.  Before going to India with the Gordon Highlanders he had been schooled at Sandhurst as his father had been.  Following the death of his father he resigned his commission as Captain and returned to St. Hilaire to take over the Seigneury which he managed until 1884 when he sold it to his youngest brother Colin.  During his tenure as Seigneur de Rouville he was the Master of the Hounds, a very popular fox hunting past time of the era. He married Ellen Lind (1843-1937) on 10th March 1874 in India and they had five children.

                        a/  Edmund Archibald, b: 11th February, 1875 in India; d: 13th January, 1951 in Twyford, near Winchester, England.  Died without issue.

                        b/  Bruce Hutchison, b: 16th November, 1878 in England; KIA 19th September, 1918 with Gordon Highlanders at Salonika, India.  Died without issue.

                        c/  Richard William, born and died 8th July 1881 at St. Hilaire.  Burial location is unknown but most likely he was interned in the family vault.

                        d/  Henrietta Blanche Gwendolyne, b: 4th December 1882 at St. Hilaire; d: 1st November 1967 in Twyford, England.  Died unmarried.

                        e/  Hugh Augustus, b: 6th December, 1884 at Twyford; d: 6th July 1896 at age 11 I Twyford, England

3/         Archibald Gray, b: 13th November, 1844 in Kenilworth, England; d: 13th March, 1900 at St. Hilaire.  As mentioned previously, he was a talented artist.  The Coat of Arms with the ermine and helmet embellishments was painted by him.  Also there is a collection of dried leaves with pictures of birds painted on them in a scrap book along with other sketching.  He died unmarried and is interned in the family vault.

4/         Thomas Juchereau, b: 9th October, 1846; d: 12th May 1856 at age 10.

5/         Bruce Frederick, b: 5th August, 1848; d: 31 January, 1943 at age 94, the longest living member of this family.  He was a Lieu. Col. in the 84th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry and a very active member in the community having served on council for many years.  He co-owned the Iroquois Hotel with his brother which unfortunately burned down and having forgotten to pay the insurance, lost everything.  Bruce never married but did enjoy life.

6/         Marie Herminie Laura, b: 15th September 1850; d: 19th March 1862 at age 12 following an epileptic seizure.  She was revered by everyone in the family and was especially close to her mother.  She was baptized in the Catholic Church and laid the corner stone of the convent.  She was interned in the crypt at the convent as her mother was some years later.  

7/         Robert Peel William Campbell KC, b: 27 August, 1853; d: 5th September, 1929 and is interned at the vault in Chambly. Robert had a long and successful legal career which started by being awarded the LL.B Dufferin Gold Medal at Laval University being called to the bar in 1877 and created KC in 1909.  As well as being a trustee of various notable colleges he was Chancellor of the Diocese of Quebec and delegate to the General Anglican Church Synod.  He was definitely a pet son of his mother and when it was insisted by his father that he attend Bishops College, which he hated, his mother tried unsuccessfully to talk Thomas out of his insistence that he stay there.

8/         Duncan John D’Urban, b: 16th July 1855; d: 18th May 1920 and is interned in the family vault in Chambly.  He married Eleanor MacCubbin, nee Wood on 21st August 1894.  Apart from his older brother Edmund, he was the only member of the family to move outside the Province of Quebec and was only 17 years old when his father died.  Although it is not known exactly when or by what means Duncan travelled west it could be assumed that it was in 1882 at the persuasion of Capt. Stewart to help set up a militia force in southern Alberta because of the unstable Métis situation.  His stint with the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards gave him the necessary military background for such a challenge.  He settled in Fort MacLeod and one of his first occupations was a meat broker for the Native Indians and the N.W.M.P.  He sold insurance for a while, became postmaster and a deputy sheriff. Later he was to become the sheriff of Southern Alberta and helped set up the Rocky Mountain Ranger militia

            Eleanor came west from her home in Halifax to visit her brother, Insp. Z.T. Wood who was stationed at Fort Walsh and it was during this visit that met Duncan.  Duncan went back to Halifax in 1894 where they were married then returned to the west where they settled down.  Eleanor was the great granddaughter of President Zachary Taylor of the United States and daughter of Capt. John Wood of the Tallahassee fame (aka Sea Ghost of the Confederacy).  Her brother was in charge of the policing in the Yukon during the gold rush and his son became Commissioner of the R.C.M.P.  

Duncan and Eleanor had four children:

                        a/  Duncan John MacLeod, b: 14th November 1895; KIA 11th July, 1916 as a scout near enemy lines was fatally wounded and died.  He is buried in the Ypres Cemetery, West Flanders, Belgium.   

                        b/  Archibald Bruce Duchesnay, b: 24 March, 1899; d: 2nd March, 1983 was brought up in MacLeod and worked at the Bank of Commerce in both MacLeod and Pincer Creek, Alberta.  With World War 1 raging in Europe and his brother killed in action he had barely turned eighteen before enlisting in the Armed Forces.  Many articles that are too lengthy to list in this document are on file regarding his Fighter Pilot exploits for those that care to access them.  Returning home after witnessing the worst of humanity he was satisfied with re-entering the banking field and in 1923 he joined the Canadian Pacific Railway where he remained until his retirement.

            He had been dating Merle Forler for some time and when he asked her to be his wife she explained that, as the eldest daughter it was her responsibility to look after her ailing mother so could not marry him.  He walked away from the relationship.  He met Miriam Alberta Harrop (b: 13th June, 1904; d: 18th December, 1969) who herself had just broken off her engagement, on her twenty fifth birthday, to Mr. Champ because of his alcoholism then somewhere along the way, I think at a dance, they met in 1928.  They were married on the 28th of August, 1930 and had two sons:

                                    A/  Duncan Archibald Edmund, b: 28th June 1931 married Isobel MacKay in Regina on the 12th of June, 1954 and they had three children; Duncan Donald Bruce, b: 18th October, 1958, Colin Robert b: 16th November 1960 and Heather Jean, b: 22 December 1963.  There are no further male heirs from this branch of the family.

            Duncan’s second marriage in Toronto was to Sheila Hamilton b: 16th July, 1948.

                                    B/  Bruce John Charles, b: 29th June, 1932 married Jacqueline Enette Katherina Burns and they had five children; Karen Louise, b: 21st October, 1953, Cynthia (Cyndy) Marie, b: 16th March, 1957, Michele Gay, b: 16th June, 1958, Bruce David Edwin, b: 14th November 1960 and Jeannine Enette, b: 24th January, 1965. 

            Following the passing of Mom, Dad met Merle again after many years and they married on the 5th of May 1980.  Dad passed on three years later and Merle died on the 6th of June 1997.

                        c/  Charles Carrol Wood, b: 25th January, 1903; d: 11th November 1985.  He married Nellie Kate Robbins the 7th of April, 1934 and they had two children, Charles Robin, b: 17th February, 1936 and Carol Anne Eleanor, b: 7th October, 1937.

                        d/  Lola Henriette, b: 22ne January 1908 in Fort MacLeod and d: 13th August, 1988 in Montreal.  She is buries in the Wood family plot at the Spy Hill Cemetery in Halifax.  She never married

9/         Donald Eyre Patrick, b: 17th March 1857 and died at the age of 38 on the 14th of February, 1896 leaving no issue.  Nothing further is known about him

10/       Colin Augustus Monk, b: 28th May, 1860; d: 24th August, 1926 from a riding accident.  He met and married Mable Gertrud Allen daughter of Sir Hugh Allan of the Allan Steamship Lines. Mable was born29th November, 1865 and died on the 10th, October, 1955.  She along with her husband are both interned in the family vault and both spent all their married lives at the Manoir House.  They had three Children:

                        a/  Enid Margaret, b: 23 February, 1289; d: 10th October, 1955.  She married twice, firstly to Joseph Wray and secondly to Harold Walsh.  Enid life revolved around horses and both husbands shared this passion.  She moved to North Carolina with Harold where she died.  There was no issue with these marriages.

                        b/  Phoebe Duchesnay, b: 20th November, 1895; d: 21st March 1984.  She had a suite in Montreal and a summer cottage in the orchard at St. Hilaire.  She died unmarried.

                        c/  Colin Archibald Allan, b: 22nd March, 1897; d: 18th August, 1898 and is interned in the family vault.

SUMMARY:                

There is a great deal more information about those mentioned in this documentary as well at other related family members, all of which is in the computer available to anyone interested in learning more about the background we all share.  One aspect of the above that seems obvious is that only three of the nine children of Thomas and Henriette married and of those three, only Duncan linage seemed to prevail.  Following this train of thought, Bruce yr. has two sons, Nicolas Scott and Collin James who are the only two remaining male members of the Thomas Edmund linage to be able to carry on this branch of the heraldic tree that dates back to the mid 1200s.

            While Thomas might not have made headlines in the newspapers he always seemed to be involved when it came to strategic military planning or policies working with some of the countries’ most high profile politicians  during the early days in Canada.  To my way of thinking, it is equally rewarding to reflect on the determination of Duncan as a young man leaving a comfortable home life to head west to make his own mark in life.

            Periodically this may be updated when new and/or relative information becomes available.  These updates will be signified as ‘Revision: n’.