The third son of Thomas and Sarah Peacock was Hugh. He
appears in the 1871 census for King Township, York County at
15 years old. Presuming that the family all came to Canada
together in 1866, Hugh would have been about ten years old
when he left Ireland.
He lived in King Township until the family moved to Muskoka
in about 1872. Six years later, Hugh was married to Margaret
Nevins who was just seventeen at the time and the daughter of
Thomas Coynes Nevins and Annabella Harty. The marriage was
witnessed by a William Nevins of Monck and took place on
October 2nd, 1878 at Monck . Margaret had been born in
Harriston, Ontario (now part of Minto, Wellington County) but
she was living in Muskoka at the time of her marriage. Perhaps
the whole family was there.
According to Ontario death records, Hugh died of consumption
(tuberculosis) the f0llowing spring on March 8, 1879. He was
twenty-two years old. He is buried at Falkenburg Cemetery and
his name appears, but is almost illegible, on the monument of
his mother, Sarah Peacock, photo shown above. The only
information about him which has come through the family is
that he ‘took fits.’ It is not known what this meant – did he
suffer convulsions, fits of anger or perhaps even fits of coughing
(lung disease).
The 1871 index of heads of Ontario families lists a Thomas
Nevin, 31, born Scotland, occupation – Teamster, living in
Minto Township, Wellington County, Ontario.
In the 1881 Manitoba census, we find a Margaret Peacock,
Scottish, age 20, b. Ontario, Methodist, with a 2 year old son
named Hugh who was born in Ontario. Margaret and Hugh
are living next door to a family with a mother named Annabella
but the father is not Thomas, so it is not certain that these are
Margaret’s parents. There is also a death on July 23, 1884 of a
Margaret Peacock, age 23, in Brandon, Manitoba. There are
other Peacock families in Manitoba, therefore it is not certain
that these details all refer to the same individuals. No record of
death has been found for the baby Hugh, however, neither
does he appear in the 1901 or 1911 census records with the
surname Peacock.
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