News Flash; Flow Motion 2011 At The Mill Street Gallery, Sydenham, ON

 

 

Hola Friends,

I seem to have had a bit of a sabbatical since my last posting in early May.  My current condition is blog backup so you can anticipate a few postings in rapid succession.

I have been painting. 

Also, I received news that I was accepted, by a unanimous vote of the jury, to have a solo art show at the Mill Street Gallery, Sydenham, Ontario in 2011.  When the exact dates are scheduled I will let you know. 

You can find the Mill Street Gallery and Cafe on Blogspot.  Here is the link.  http://millstreetgallery.blogspot.com/

 

I thought it would be cool to show at the Mill Street Gallery because  my family has deep roots in the Sydenham area North of Kingston, Ontario.  I shared some of the history in my submission and thus I share it with you too in a documented and expanded yet still abridged form LoL.

 

 

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GGG Grandpa William Redmond and family farmed 30 acres just North of Sydenham on the East side of what is Rosedale Road before 1860.  William Redmond and his son John Redmond, our  GG Grandfather, were in the area by 1852. 

 

John Redmond, who homesteaded 200 acres at Holleford, located a few kilometres Northwest of Sydenham,  named the Holleford area after his home of Hollyfort Co. Wexford.   Our cousin Pete Redmond still farms at Redmond Rd. 

 

Across the street from the Mill Street Gallery is the Trousdale General Store.  It was apparently founded by Mathew and Mary Trousdale’s  son John Trousdale and is the oldest general store in Canada.  Here is a link to a short article online about the store.  http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2251097

 

 

Mathew Trousdale was married to our GGG Grandaunt Mary (nee Dowker) Trousdale.  They were in the Sydenham area very early, perhaps about 1836.  Mary’s sister, Elizabeth came with her husband Thomas Medcof about 1850.  Elizabeth and Thomas Medcof are among our GGG Grandparents  They farmed at Holleford on the Loughborough Twp side of Holleford Rd. just two lots North of Mathew and Mary.  Between them was Mary and Elizabeth’s brother William Dowker (recorded as ‘Duker’ in the 1852 census.    Together, the families lived on and farmed about 600 acres at that time.

 

Above is an image of the pre-confederation1852 Agricultural census for Canada West (Ontario) Loughborough Township, Frontenac Co.  On line 43 we find Thomas Medcof (GGG Grandpa).  On line 44 we find William ‘Duker’ (correctly spelled Dowker) and on line 45 we see Mathew ‘Trusdal’ (correctly spelled Trousdale).  This image indicates the lot numbers and acreage etc.

Here is a link to this census page…click ‘split view’ at the top of the page to view the original image.  I notice the image quality is poor after uploading to blogspot.

http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e094/e002348478.pdf

 

 

Above is an image of the pre-confederation1852 regular census for Canada West (Ontario) Loughborough Township, Frontenac Co.  Lines one through nine show Mathew and Mary (nee Dowker) Trousdale and family.  Son Thomas later had a son Frank (Edward Franklin Trousdale) who married our G Grandaunt Margaret Hannah Medcof.

Here is a link to this census page…click ‘split view’ at the top of the page to view the original image.  I notice the image quality is poor after uploading to blogspot.

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census52/View.jsp?id=4256&highlight=1&desc=1852+Census+of+Canada+page+containing+Mathew+Trusdel

 

 

Above is an image of the pre-confederation1852 regular census for Canada West (Ontario) Loughborough Township, Frontenac Co. Lines 35 to 40 show our folks (spelled ‘Medcalf’), Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Dowker) Medcof and family.  GG Grandpa John Dowker Medcof was born in July of 1852 so he does not show in the census.  Immediately below them is William ‘Duker’ (correctly spelled Dowker) and family.  William was Elizabeth’s brother.  Much of the Dowker family had arrived in Canada circa 1836.  Elizabeth followed with Thomas and family in 1849. 

Here is a link to this census page…click ‘split view’ at the top of the page to view the original image.  I notice the image quality is poor after uploading to blogspot.

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census52/View.jsp?id=4236&highlight=35&desc=1852+Census+of+Canada+page+containing+Thomas+Medcalf

This is a fine example of chain migration; family members and friends following each other to a location.  It happened within Canada too as members of the family migrated to Middlesex Co, Ontario located Northwest of London and then some back to Frontenac Co. in later years.

 

Note; the 1851 census was actually delayed and taken in 1852. I refer to it as the 1852 census.

 

Mathew and Mary Trousdale  were parents of Mary Ann Trousdale who was grandmother of the late Jack Babcock.  Jack gained recognition as Canada’s last living WW1 veteran.  He passed away in February 2010 at the age of 109.  He enlisted at age 15 served as a child soldier in the Canadian forces during WW1.   Jack’s father James T. Babcock was raised from infancy by our GG Grandaunt Hannah (nee Medcof) Babcock.  James’s father, Henry Babcock, married Hannah after his first wife Mary Ann (nee Trousdale) died.  Hannah, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Medcof,  was Mary Ann’s first cousin and a niece of Mathew and Mary Trousdale.

 

 

Above is an image of the pre-confederation1852 regular census for Canada West (Ontario) Loughborough Township, Frontenac Co. On line 38 we see William Redman, age 40, our GGG Grandfather and on line 39 we see his son John Redman age 15, our GG Grandfather.   Later the family used the ‘Redmond’ spelling. In 1852 they appear to have been living and working at the farm of John and Mary Wolf (Wolfe) and family.  In 1858 William  married widow Nancy (nee Barrett) Perry and the combined family is found in the 1861 census living just North of Sydenham on 30 acres on the East side of what is now Rosedale Rd.  Below is a photo of the corner of Alton and Rosedale Rd which I took in August 2009.  Below it is a photo taken looking East from Rosedale Rd. toward the land our folks lived on and farmed.

Here is a link to this census page…click ‘split view’ at the top of the page to view the original image.  I notice the image quality is poor after uploading to blogspot.

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census52/View.jsp?id=4511&highlight=39&desc=1852+Census+of+Canada+page+containing+John+Redman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James T. Babcock was first married to our G Grandfather’s sister Mary Ann Redmond.  All of Jack’s half siblings were first cousins of our grandfather.  The lot that Jack’s family lived on was the one Elizabeth and Thomas Medcof and family lived on in 1852.  Below is a photo of Redmond Rd. and Holleford Rd.  The lots on the right side, located in Loughborough Twp. were owned by our Medcof folk and later by Jack’s family.  On the left side of the photo which shows property in Portland Twp. on the West side of Holleford Rd.  is land still farmed by our cousin Pete Redmond.  GG Grandpa John Redmond and family homesteaded 203 acres just North of this acreage on the West side of Holleford Rd in Portland Twp.  William Redmond appears as owner on the 1861 maps of the area.

 

 

G G Grandpa John Redmond named the area Holleford after his home of Hollyfort, Co. Wexford where he, his sisters Mary and Jane and father William had lived prior to emigrating to Canada.  I believe that they lived around Hollyfort near Gorey, Co. Wexford because that is where I find Redmond folk in the 1853 Irish Griffith records.  Much of Ireland’s census information was destroyed during the Irish civil war early in the 20th century when the records building in Dublin was blown up.  The Griffith record is a record of those who owned property and also of tenants.  It serves as a census substitute for genealogists.

 

 

Above is a photo taken looking North on Holleford Rd.  The corner is where Holleford Rd turns West.  This is where the Holleford crater is located at the Babcock farm.  The building to the left of the flag pole is the old one room school house.  The building to the right of the flag pole is the old church our GG Grandfather Rev. John Dowker Medcof built.  J. D. Medcof was brother of Hannah Medcof who married Henry Babcock.  Henry was Jack Babcock’s grandfather.  Hannah was actually both stepmother and a cousin of Jack’s father.   We share the common Dowker ancestry.  The Dowker and Medcof families  came from Yorkshire, UK.

 

 

(Above) Holleford, Ontario store run by James and Alice Redmond, Photo taken circa 1905-1910. This store is located on the South side of Holleford Rd just to the West of the old school house seen in another photo above. The back of this photo indicates that the store was moved to Sydenham circa 1912.  James Redmond stands in the center of the photo.  Alice is standing on the left behind the group of children from the school next door.  Perhaps some of the Babcocks are seated in the buggy.

 

 

My brother David on the right and myself on  the left, standing in front of the buildings that were our G Grandparent’s store at Holleford, Ontario (see B&W photo)

 

Cousin Pete Redmond on the right and myself on the left standing in front of the buildings that were my G Grandparent’s store at Holleford, Ontario (see B&W photo)

 

This is a longwinded but abridged version of why I think it will be cool to show my paintings at the Mill Street Gallery in Sydenham.  I will let you know the exact dates of the show when I know them.

 

Detail of a recent 40” x 32” x 1/2” acrylic painting by John R Redmond

 

 

Here is a little of the lyrics of a song I wrote some months ago.  It is about our ancestors leaving their home and heading to a new unknown and untamed land across the Atlantic Ocean.  Their sailing voyage lasted six to eight weeks and sometimes more. 

 

‘It was a long time ago

They sailed away from a home

Wind and wave carried them away

To a new land . . .

 

Through many a misty morn

Riddled with peace and war

Impossibility borne

‘Till they framed a world

 

Along the shores untamed

Wild and evergreen

Her blood with labour and love

Grew into a future

 

And the Great Blue Heron

Takes wing upon her dream”

 

John Redmond

Ottawa, Canada