Hugh Peacock

From ANTRIM or DERRY County?

When I first began researching the Peacocks in Ireland, the information I had was from John Peacock's marriage registration.  It stated that he was born in Derry.  Some years later when I contacted members from the Hugh Peacock line, they said they were from Antrim.  The death certificate of Thomas' wife, Sarah, has her birthplace as Antrim and John Peacock's obituary says Antrim.  So which is it?

Look at the map above.  In the top right of the county of Londonderry, you will see the Barony of Coleraine.  Just across the border in Antrim County, there is a little area called the N.E. Liberties of Coleraine.  The part of the parish of Ballyrashane which falls in the County of Antrim is in this little part.

It would seem that the confusion stems from the parish of Ballyrashane being located in both Derry County and Antrim County.  Without knowing exactly where each family member was born, it is impossible to know what county they belonged to.  Hopefully, we will find some church records at some time in the future.

Knocknakeeragh, Ballyrashane - Griffith's Valuation 1848-64

Book 14A - The earliest date would be 1848 - click to enlarge

Book 14B - The latest date would be 1864 - click to enlarge

These photos are the original GRIFFITH'S VALUATION books now available on-line on the PRONI website.  The published version of 14A is available on ancestry.com.

Thomas Peacock has disappeared on the second page and does not appear in any other community in Ballyrashane.  It is suspected that this is our Thomas. He was probably the eldest son and was able to secure land.  However, the man we suspect was Thomas' brother, Hugh, left Ireland as a teenager and married in Toronto.  He was probably a younger or the youngest son with no hope of having his own land in Ballyrashane.  Many people from this parish had previously emigrated and continued to emigrate to America.

Hugh Peacock Family Photo - Regina

Photo contributed by G.B., a descendant of Sarah Peacock Beldon. Taken in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Hugh Peacock (d. 1920) is the gentleman.  Back right is Sarah Peacock Beldon.  The woman in the middle might be Hugh's youngest daughter 'Ettie' who lived in Saskatchewan.  The figure on the left seems a bit young to be Hugh's wife.  There was another daughter who lived in Saskatchewan - Ida.

Marriage of William Peacock and Sarah M. Hunter

I found the marriage of William Peacock on ancestry.com, with his surname misspelled. The information is as follows:

William Peacotte, 23 of Brant (Township, Bruce Co.) 23, born Toronto, son of Hugh Peacotte and Helen Wagget to

Sarah E. (sic) Hunter, 19, born and living in Brant (Twp) dau of Richard Hunter and Laetitia Antwissel, of Brant Twp, Bruce County,

Witnesses:  James Craig, Brant (Twp)
Agnes Murdoch, Walkerton

Married May 20, 1880 in Walkerton, Brant Twp, Bruce County
By Rev. Robert Moffat, Presbyterian


The Hunters were an Irish family who appear in the census for Brant Township, Bruce County for the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses.  All their children, beginning with Frances, William, John and Sarah were born in Ontario, so it would seem that they came to Canada about 1855 from Ireland.  Richard and Letitia's marriage has not been found.

In 1891, they are in Cornwallis, Selkirk, Manitoba.  Richard was a farmer in all census records.  His two sons are in the 1881 census for St. Agathe (south of Winnipeg on the Red River) and are farmers, apparently going to Manitoba before the rest of the family.  The census record is in French.

Sarah Margaret Hunter's brother, William Hunter, married her husband's sister, Eliza Peacock.  This marriage has not been found.  The William Hunter family migrated to Vancouver as did William Peacock after the death of his wife Sarah in Manitoba.

Brandon Municipal Cemetery - Brandon, Manitoba

There are burials on-line for this cemetery, even if there is no marker.  The following is listed for Peacocks.  No photos are shown for these deaths.

Sarah Margaret Hunter
wife of William Peacock
died June 5, 1908
Section 11, Block B, plot 63
(1860-1908)

(It would seem that Sarah was a sister to William Hunter, the husband
of Eliza Peacock - sister and brother married sister and brother)

Minnie H. Dickson
Beloved wife of
Revd T.R. Peacock
Feb 27, 1908
Died Miami, Manitoba
Feb 27, 1908, age 25

Peacock Headstone at Brandon Cemetery

The Brandon Cemetery now has a great website showing the layout of the cemetery as well as photos of headstones.  Unfortunately, 'blogspot' downloaded the photo sideways.  When I figure out how to do it, I will turn it around.

The inscription after Ellen's name reads: Not my will but thine be done.

Bible of Hugh Peacock - 1876

These photos were received from Gail B. of Washington State.  The bible was passed on to the Beldon / Peacock line from Kay Little, the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Peacock, son of the Hugh Peacock.

It would seem then that the Hugh Peacock family left King Township, York County, Ontario in 1876.  They appear in the 1881 Census in Bruce County, Ontario.

St. Andrew's is still a Presbyterian Church.  http://www.standrews-kingcity.ca/

Final Comments on Family of Hugh and Ellen Peacock

Because we cannot trace the Peacock families in Canada past the 1911 census, the last few decades of some members' lives are unclear, and we don't have burial places for several. ( The 1921 Canadian census will not be released until 2013. The 1940 American census will be released in 2012. ) However, most of the children of Hugh and Ellen left Manitoba moving farther west, and several went to the US. None, as far as I know, returned to Ontario. Hugh and Ellen are buried in Brandon, Manitoba. Here is a summary of the family members.

i) William Peacock 1856 - Married to Sarah Margaret who died in 1908. They lived near and in Brandon, Manitoba. Around the turn of the century, they seem to have spent several years in the US where a son, Williard, was born. In 1911, William, a widower, was a travelling grain merchant. His sister moved to Vancouver about 1906, and William followed sometime after 1911. In 1917, he married Helen Louise Pengelly, nee South, an Australian widow. William died in a work accident in Ocean Falls, B.C. in 1923 at 66 years of age. He had been working for several months on the construction of a dam. They are both buried at the Mountain View Cemetery at 41st Avenue and Fraser in Vancouver.

ii) Eliza Peacock 1858-1915 Mrs. William Edward Hunter. They moved from Manitoba to Vancouver about 1906, where William, a retired farmer, died in 1909 at about 55 years. Eliza died in 1915 suffering from diabetis mellitus. She was a Christian Scientist and sought treatment through her faith. Both are buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC.

iii) Catherine Peacock 1862- 1940 Mrs. William Young Rumney. Lived in Arizona for several decades. Moved to California after the death of her husband and died in Los Angeles in 1940.

iv) Samuel Peacock 1863-1925 He was married in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in 1891 to Samantha Almira Lawson. A daughter, Pearl A. Peacock, was born in Ontario on September 6, 1891, and another child, Thomas Nelson Hugh George, was born in 1895 in Brandon, Manitoba. A second son,William, was born in 1900 in British Columbia. Samuel travelled widely, seemingly for work related to mining. He died in Manitoba in 1925.

v) Mary Jane Peacock 1865 - 1948 Mrs. John Grant / Mrs. Thomas Arda Stanlake. She moved to the US in 1929 and appears in the 1930 census with her daughter, Olive Wheaton, in Los Angeles. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1948.

vi) Rev. Thomas Robert Peacock 1867-1958 Thomas became a clergyman after the death of his first wife. He was married three times - 1. Minnie Hattie Dickson (mother of Dorothy) 2. Helen Banks Todrick (mother of Catherine) 3. Hectoria McLean. He was buried in Langley, British Columbia. No male children.

vii) Frederick Peacock 1871 - 1928
He was a labourer in Nanaimo, British Columbia in 1891 and a miner in Comox in 1901. The next year he married Ellen Piercy in Washington State. They had three children Hughie Thomas, Fred V. and Clara R. in the 1920 census for King County, Washington. Fred died in 1928 at 57 years old.

viii) Ida L. Peacock - Born 1872 Mrs Abraham Adams 1911 census in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. His occupation is 'merchant - wholesale grocer.' No further information known.

ix) Arthur Nelson Peacock - 1874-*1951 He used Nelson as his given name. Married to Louise Alberta Shields who was born in Ontario and died in Winnipeg in 1930 at 51. They were in Winnipeg for the 1906 and 1911 census records. In 1920 when crossing the border into the US, his brother Samuel gave Nelson's address as Kamsack, Saskatchewan. No further information available. No known male descendants. *His date of death was found on the internet and has not been confirmed.

x) Sarah Peacock - 1876-1961 Mrs. Samuel Lount Beldon They immigrated to the US about 1900 and were in Multnomah, Portland, Oregon in 1910. They later moved to British Columbia. Sarah died of pneumonia after hip surgery in 1961 at 85, and she and Lount Belden are buried in Mapleridge, British Columbia.

xi) Ellen Letitia Etta (Ettie) Peacock - 1880-1964 Mrs. James Henry Temple - Probably in Strassborg, Regina, Saskatchewan in 1911. They moved to BC in about 1919, according to Ettie's death certificate and her last address was Linden Avenue, Vicoria. She died of cerebral thrombosis in 1964 in Victoria at the age of 83. She is buried in Saanich on Vancouver Island at the Royal Oak Burial Park.

Hugh and Ellen Peacock

Ellen Waggot was born in Monaghan County, Ireland on
December 23, 1837. She had a younger sister, Elizabeth. Their
parents were Samuel Waggot and Eliza Pogue who brought
their children to Ontario in 1848, a year after the peak influx
to Canada in the famine years.

The only other information we have about the Waggots is that
Eliza was widowed and living with her daughter, Ellen Peacock,
when she died in 1875 in King Township, north of Toronto.

Hugh Peacock was probably born in County Antrim, Northern
Ireland (source -oral history in his son Thomas' family) in June
of 1833 or 34. He arrived in Canada in 1849 when he was about
15 years old. It is not known what other family members, if any,
came with him. However, there is an 1849 death of a thirty year
old William Peacock in the burial records of St. James Anglican
Cathedral, the church where Hugh was married about seven
years later by a Rev. H. J. Grassett. (Interestingly, a Dr. George
Grassett died while treating the sick in the Emigrant
Hospital and 'fever sheds' of Toronto.) It is only speculation that
this William and Hugh were related, however, Hugh did name
his first son William, and it is quite possible that he emigrated
with an older brother, or his father (if the age in the burial
record was off just a few years.)

The Toronto Tax Assessment Rolls for 1853 show a Hugh
Peacock on Front Street in St. Lawrence Ward which was the
Protestant Irish area south of King and east of Yonge. This
might be our Hugh. The Protestant or “Ulster” Irish lived
south of King Street, called Cork Town because so many Irish
settled there after 1848.

Hugh and Ellen were married by license on May 16, 1856 at the
newly built Anglican Cathedral Church of St. James. (King East
and Church Streets). We don’t know where the young couple
was living at this time, but when Eliza, their second child, was
baptised in August, 1859 at Knox Presbyterian Church, they
were living at Craig’s Cottages west of Queen and Spadina on
Vanauley Street which runs north from Queen. He gave his
occupation as carpenter. They were still living at 1 Craig’s
Cottages when Hugh advertised his business as a ‘Carter’ in
Caverhill’s Toronto City Directory of 1859-60.

An opportunity to move out of the city arose and by January 14, 1861 when the census was taken, Hugh, occupation carpenter, and his wife and two young children, had relocated to King Township, north west of the city of Toronto. The census record states that they were living in a log structure on Lot 18 of Concession VII. The agricultural census for 1861 shows that a John McCaffray was living on the 46 acres close to the log cabin. The 1878 Atlas gives the owner of 45 acres (some discrepancy in size) as Cornelius O'Shea who might have been an absentee landlord.

A relative of Hugh's, Thomas Peacock, arrived from Ireland in
1866 and by the 1871 census, Thomas was living in the log cabin
and Hugh had moved to the forty-six acres which McCaffray
had held. Thomas and his family stayed in King Township for
five or six years and then moved onto Macaulay Township in
Muskoka by 1872. However, Hugh and his family stayed on in
King Township where eight children were born. By November,
1880 when their youngest child was born, they had moved on to
the Walkerton area of Brant County.

Their eldest son had already left for Manitoba and within a year
or so, Hugh and most or all of his family moved to the Rural
Municipality of Whitehead just a little west of Brandon,
Manitoba. Hugh registered the birth of his youngest daughter
in Ontario in February, 1881; therefore, their departure was
sometime after that. When the 1891 census was taken, they were
farming in Whitehead, living close to his two eldest children,
William and Eliza, who were both married to spouses also born
in Ontario.

By the 1901 census, after about twenty years in Whitehead and
when Hugh and Ellen were in their early sixties, changes
occured. Ellen and two of her unmarried children had moved
to Brandon and appear to be running a boarding house, for
they have four lodgers living with them. Hugh was a lodger in
a boarding house in Winnipeg and gave his occupation as
'caretaker.'

Hugh made a trip to the West Coast to visit family members in 1905. His border crossing by ship is recorded as follows:

24 July 1905 - Between Seattle and Vancouver, BC
Hugh Peacock, b. 1835, age 70, b. Ireland, Occupation - caretaker

In the 1906 census, both Hugh and Ellen were living with their son, Nelson and his family in Winnipeg. By 1911, Hugh had moved back to Brandon and
was living at 456 10th Street West with his son, William. Ellen was in St. Bonifice (Winnipeg) with her daughter, Mrs. Mary Jane Stanlake.

Ellen died in Winnipeg in 1918 and is buried in Brandon
at the City of Brandon Cemetery. Hugh lived until May 22nd,
1920 when he died of pneumonia at 86 years of age while in
Brandon Hospital. He is buried beside Ellen in Brandon.

Hugh's death record states that his last job was caretaker of
the Brandon Land Titles Office. At the time of his death he
was living in the Elviss Block and he had been in Canada
72 years and in Manitoba for 39 years.

Peacocks of Manitoba - after 1891

(See September 22, 2008 Notes)

We last found Hugh and Ellen in Whitehead (south of Brandon)
in April, 1891. They had been in Manitoba about ten years.
Hugh and Ellen were in their early fifties and their youngest
children were still with them - Ida -17, Arthur N. (usually
appears as Nelson) -15, Sarah - 13, and Ellen.

Close by their parents we find the two eldest children - William,
married to Sarah (no children) and Eliza, now Mrs. William
Hunter, with two sons and a daughter. Both William and Sarah's
spouses were born in Ontario.

The children whose whereabouts are not known in 1891 are:

Catherine – Her whereabouts is unknown until 1910 census
for Phoenix, Arizona

Samuel – He was married in 1889 in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario

Mary Jane – She was married in Winnipeg in 1886.

Thomas – He was married in Brandon in 1903

Frederick – There is a Frederick Peacock in Vancouver,B. C. in 1891.

I will now post the information I have on each child individually.

Death of Hugh Peacock - Brandon, 1920

Several months ago, I sent for the death certificate for
Hugh Peacock. He is believed to be the younger brother or
nephew of Thomas Peacock of Macaulay Township, Muskoka,
Ontario who died in 1895. I found Hugh's date of death
on a Brandon cemetery website. I was hoping to find a
city of birth, but no luck.

Here are the details from two documents:

OFFICIAL NOTICE OF DEATH

Registration District - City of Brandon (Manitoba)
(Location) - Brandon General Hospital
Residence of deceased - Elviss Block, Brandon, Manitoba

Hugh Peacock, male, white, widower, b. Ireland, age 86
Last occupation - Caretaker of Lands Titles Offices, City

Length of residence
- at place of death - 3 days
-in province - 39 years
-in Canada - 72 years

Name of father - unknown
Birthplace of father - Ireland
Name of mother - unknown
Birthplace of mother - Ireland

Date of death - 22 / 5 / 1920

Attending Physician - J. H. Edmison, M.D.
Relationship to deceased - none
Present at time of death - yes
Informant - Mina C. Morison, Brnadon General Hospital
Date of Information - 22 / 5/ 1920
Undertaker - Campbell and Campbell, Rosser Avenue,
Brandon

MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

I hereby certify that I attended the deceased,
Hugh Peacock, from May 19th, 1920 to May 22, 1920
that I last saw him alive on May 21st and that death
occured on the 22nd day of May, 1920
at 4:45 a.m.

Cause of Death - Bronchial Pneumonia
Signed - J. W. Edmison, M.D., Brandon
At place of death - 3 days
In Province - 39 years
In Canada - 72 years
Place of Burial - Brandon Cemetery, May 24, 1920

Hugh & Ellen- Whitehead, Manitoba, 1891

Hugh & Ellen’s youngest child was born in Ontario in
November, 1880. Sometime after April 4, 1881 when the census
was taken,the family moved on to Manitoba.

William, the eldest son, was not in Brant Township in 1881 and
the information provided in the 1911 census confirms that he
went to Manitoba in 1880. The same census reveals that Hugh
and Ellen followed in 1881. It would seem that most of Hugh and
Ellen’s family migrated at the same time. Their second child,
Eliza, married a William Hunter (b. in Ontario) and their first
child was born in Manitoba in November, 1882. When we next
find the family in the rural municipality of Whitehead twenty-
five kilometers west of Brandon (click on above heading to see a
map), the first seven children are gone from the family home,
however, several are living close by in the Whitehead area.
(Land grant records should be researched for these farms.)

April 6, 1891 – Whitehead, Manitoba

Family 72
Hugh Peacock, 50, b. Ireland, Free Church, Farmer
Ellen Peacock, 53, b. Ireland
Ida I./L.? 17, b. Ontario
Arthur N., 15, b. Ontario
Sarah, 13, b. Ontario
Ellen G./L/? b. Ontario
William Cook, 21, b. England, Methodist, Labourer,
(shown as ‘son’-perhaps a homeboy)

Family
William Peacock, 34, b. Ontario, Farmer
Sarah M. Peacock, 30, b. Ontario
Frederick Borden, 22, b. England, (shown as ‘son’)
Henry Neil, 19, b. Ontario, (shown as ‘son’)

Family 65
William Hunter, 36, b. Ontario, parents b. Ireland,
Presbyterian, Farmer
Eliza Hunter, 32, b. Ontario, parents b. Ireland, wife
Albert L. P. Hunter, 8, son, b. Ontario
(later census states Manitoba)
Iva M. Hunter, 6, b. Manitoba
Merritt G. Hunter, 4, b. Ontario
(later census states Manitoba)

Family 64
John Hunter, 35
Anna Hunter, 36
(relationship to William unknown)

The children not included above are:
Catherine – Her whereabouts is unknown until 1910 census
for Phoenix, Arizona
Samuel – He was married in 1889 in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario
Mary Jane – She was married in Winnipeg in 1886.
Thomas – He was married in Brandon in 1903
Frederick – There is a Frederick Peacock in Vancouver,
British Columbia in 1891.

Hugh & Ellen - Bruce Co., Ontario 1881

Bruce County is in western Ontario on Lake Ontario.
For a map of Ontario counties and townships , click on the title.

1881 Census – Brant Twp, Bruce Co. South

Hugh Peacock , m. 46, M., b. Ireland, Farmer
Ellen Peacock, f. 42, M., b. Ireland
Eliza Peacock, f. 21, b. Ontario
Katherine Peacock, f. 18, b. Ontario
Samuel Peacock, m. 17, b. Ontario, Farmer
Mary J. Peacock, f. 15, b. Ontario
Thomas Peacock, m. 13, b. Ontario
Frederick Peacock, m. 10, b. Ontario
Ida L. Peacock, f. 8, b. Ontario
Arthur Peacock, m. 6, b. Ontario {Arthur Nelson}
Sarah Peacock, f. 4, b. Ontario
Ellen L. Peacock, f. b. November, 4/12
All members of Irish descent and Presbyterian.


1881 Census Walkerton, Bruce Co. South

Elizabeth Ramsay, widow, 39, b. Ireland, Presbyterian
Ellen, b. Ontario, 11
Amy, b. Ontario, 9
Margaret, b. Ontario, 7
Joseph, b. Ontario, 5
Charlotte, b. Ontario 3

Hugh & Ellen - Leaving King Township

The Thomas Peacock family left King Township about 1872. Ellen
Peacock’s mother died in King in July, 1875; Sarah Peacock died
in Muskoka in September, 1875 ; Sarah’s son Hugh in March, 1879;
and finally Ellen’s brother-in-law, Samuel Ramsay, in Bruce County
sometime before the census in the spring of 1881.

This last death may have been the reason Hugh and Ellen chose
to move farther west in Ontario to Bruce County for a few years.
Elizabeth Ramsay had only been married about a decade and had
a young family. At any rate, Hugh and Ellen’s youngest child, Ellen
Letitia Etta, called ‘Ettie,' was born in November, 1880 near
Walkerton, Ontario not far from the Ramsays. Their eldest son,
William, had already left Ontario with a new wife to begin a new life
in Manitoba.

The Night the Mice Danced

The Night the Mice Danced the Quadrille: Five Years in the
Backwoods 1875-1879 (Boston Mills Press) is a Muskoka
local history book written by a Thomas Osborne in 1934.
Osborne relates the events of his time spent in Muskoka as a
young man when the area was first being settled.

Thomas Osborne worked for Fawcett’s store at Port Sydney
and one of his duties was to travel by wagon to Bracebridge to
pick up provisions. On one of these trips a young man named
James Peacock hailed him from the side of the road and asked
for a lift with his luggage to Bracebridge. Osborne and Peacock
had quite a chat, as Thomas had previously seen James in a fight
in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. He states that the
match took place on a lot at Amber and Adams Streets.
Peacock’s opponent was named Devine.

James Peacock told Thomas Osborne that he had been staying
with an uncle in Muskoka during the previous year. It is probable
that the uncle was Thomas Peacock who would have been living on
his free grant land in the mid 1870s which was located south of Port
Sydney and north of Bracebridge.

There are three James Peacock’s in the 1880 Federal Census of
Pennsylvania:

James Peacock, 30, b. PA, Carpenter, parents born in Ireland
– Freeland, Luzerne, PA
- (wife Hannah, sister Mary Peacock, 18, dressmaker)

James Peacock, 35, b. PA living with a young Smith couple in
Philadelphia.

James Peacock, 26, b. PA, farmer (parents born Ireland)
with wife Lizzie and baby William J.
- in Cecil, Washington, Pennsylvania.

This anecdote is significant in that it reveals that there was
movement between the US and Canada, even from the remote
areas of settlement. And because Thomas Peacock’s eldest
son Frederick married in Philadelphia.

The Spirit of the Times

Click on the title above for an interesting article called “The Canada
of 1880” published in 1930 on the 50th anniversary of Imperial Oil.
There must have been many interesting conversations around the
Peacock dinner tables in King Township in the late 1860s and early
1870s. Canada became a country in 1867, free grant land became
available farther north in Ontario in 1868, Manitoba entered
Confederation in 1870 after the Red River Rebellion and British
Columbia joined the following year, the railway was being built to
the West, and free grant land was offered in Manitoba in 1872.
There were opportunities to move both within Canada and beyond.

South of the border, there was a significant Irish population in
major cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco and therefore con-
nections for Irish expatriates. Because the passage to Canada
was shorter and therefore cheaper, many Irish came first to
Canada and then moved on to the US where work was available
in cities. It must have been a very exciting time in the history of
North America and especially for the young men full of hope and
dreams for their future.

Map of Con. VII at the 18th Sideroad

Click on the heading for a satellite view of the area.

You can zoom in and out on this map to look at the land. The 1878 map
shows a long rectangle between the 7th concession road and the 6th
concession road (Weston Rd on this map) which is divided into a one
hundred acre uninhabited lot on the East (right), a 50 acre lot to the
left of this in the possession of Robert Page, and then the 46 plus 4 acre
lot in the possession of Cornelius O’Shea (the land Hugh and Thomas
lived on) on the 7th concession road. On the satellite map, the 200
acres between the 7th and 6th concessions seems more square than
rectangular! Help!!

Hugh & Ellen -King Township 1860-1876

Click on title above for photos of King Township.

Hugh and Ellen moved to King Township sometime before
January, 1861, and they were still there when Ellen’s mother
died at their home in July, 1875, and for the birth of daughter,
Sarah in June, 1876.

We don’t know where they lived when they first moved to
King, but it seems that they took over the 46 acres of John
McCaffray on Lot 18 of Concession VII on a rental basis as
indicated in the 1871 census. In 1861, McCaffray estimated
the property’s worth at 600 dollars. The map of King
Township in the 1878 York County atlas distinctly shows the
46 acres with a small portion (4 acres) divided from it and all
owned by Cornelius O’Shea. Hugh was the tenant between the
McCaffray and O’Shea owners. Thomas Peacock and family
immigrated to Canada in 1865 and moved onto the 4 acres
connected to Hugh’s property sometime after that.

Eight more children were born to Hugh and Ellen between 1860
and 1876 – Catherine, Samuel, Mary Jane, Thomas Robert,
Frederick, Ida, Arthur Nelson and Sarah. The names - Catherine,
Thomas, Robert, Frederick , and Sarah are also found in the
Thomas Peacock family which suggests that the families were
closely connected. Thomas' wife, Sarah died in September, 1875.
In 1876, Hugh and Ellen named a daughter born in June, Sarah.

The 1871 agricultural census provides a snapshot of their daily
work lives. (See the previous post.) We know that the two Peacock
families lived side by side from 1865, and Hugh’s mother-in-law
was with his family for about five years until her death.

Hugh’s daughter, Catherine, is not in the 1871 census in King.
Perhaps this is an oversight, or perhaps she was living with other
relatives at the time. Ellen’s sister, Elizabeth Ramsay lived farther
west in Carrick Township, Bruce County (near Walkerton).
However, nine year old Catherine does not appear in the 1871
census index as living with a family with a surname different than
her own.

For photos of King Township showing the landscape and historic
churches and buildings, click on the title of this post. You can then
choose photos from the menu on the left.

(1871 Census ref. C9964-A2)
Family 42
Peacock, Thomas, 53....... b. Ireland......Labourer.... M, Irish
Peacock, Sarah, 58.........b. Ireland, unable to write, M, Irish
Peacock, John, 17...............b. Ireland, Labourer......single, Irish
Peacock, Hugh, 15............. b. Ireland, Labourer...... single Irish
Peacock, Robert, 7............ b. Ireland, Labourer.......single, Irish
All shown as Presbyterian
Family 43
Peacock, Hugh, 35..........b. Ireland, carpenter...........M, Irish
Peacock, Ellen, 35..........b. Ireland, unable to write, M, Irish
Peacock, William, 14......... b. Ontario, in school
Peacock, Eliza, 12................b. Ontario, in school
Peacock, Samuel, 8.............b. Ontario, in school
Peacock, Mary Jane, 6........b. Ontario, in school
Peacock, Thomas, 4............b. Ontario
Peacock , Frederick, 1.........b. Ontario
Grieg, James, 14................ b. Ontario, Scots descent
Waggot, Eliza, 60...............b. Ireland, widowed
All shown as Presbyterian
Agricultural Census
Thomas Peacock, 1 town/village building lot (no acreage shown)
2 dwellings on it, 1 barn or stable
Schedule 3
Thomas Peacock, Concession VII,
Lot 18 (‘owner’ is crossed out)
4 acres occupied, 4 acres improved, 2 acres pasture,
½ acre gardens or orchard, 30 bushels oats, 40 bushels potatoes,
20 bushels carrots and other roots, 3 lbs hops, 20 bushels apples 1
1 milch cow, 3 other horned cattle, 2 swine,
1 cattle killed or sold for slaughter or export,
5 swine killed or sold for slaughter or export,12 cords of firewood
Hugh Peacock –Concession VII ,
Lot 18, tenant 46 acres occupied,
42 acres improved, 38 acres pasture,
10 bushels oats, 1 acre potatoes / 50 bushels
3 milch cows, 2 other horned cattle, 5 swine,
2 swine killed or sold for slaughter or export,
100 lbs butter, 15 cords of firewood

How are Hugh and Thomas related?

In the 1871 Census for King Township, taken in April of that year,
we find Hugh Peacock and Thomas Peacock living on 46 acres and a 4 acre village lot respectively. We know that Hugh Peacock came to Canada in 1849 when he was about 14 years of age. By our standards, that would be a little young to emigrate alone; however, we do not know what family members, if any, came with him. According to the later census records of the Thomas Peacock family, they arrived in Canada in 1865, sixteen years after Hugh and about four years after Hugh’s move to the rural setting of King Township.

Entire families did not usually emigrate at the same time. Instead, some family members went ahead to make arrangements, and the rest followed a few weeks, months or years later, according to the financial situation of the family. However, sixteen years is a rather long gap between migrations. Furthermore, Hugh is too old to be Thomas’ son and furthermore, Thomas has a son named Hugh born in 1857. The other possibilities to explain their relationship are:

i Hugh is a nephew, the son of an older brother of Thomas and
came to Canada alone, with some other young men, or with his
father and possibly, mother and other siblings. Hugh named his
first son William and his second daughter, Catherine (absent in
the 1871 census in King). His second son, Samuel and first daughter,
Eliza seem to have been named after Ellen’s parents, the Waggots.
Following this line of logic which was a traditional naming pattern
for children, Hugh’s parents could be William and Catherine.

ii Hugh is a younger brother of Thomas and perhaps he came
to Canada with one or more younger brothers of Thomas.
In the death records of St. James Anglican Cathedral in
Toronto, there is an 1849 death for a William Peacock, age
30, but I have been unable to find any further information.
The reason that this seems significant is that Hugh was
married in that church. (This opinion is held by descendants of Sarah Peacock Beldon of Washington State - that is that Hugh was a younger brother of Thomas.)
iii Hugh is more distantly related, such as a cousin. There are a
number of other Peacock families in Ontario who were born in
Ireland, but without family records, there is no way to connect
them. There are also many Peacock families in the Eastern States,
and it is possible they are connected because Thomas’ son,
Frederick (absent in the 1871 census in King) married and had a
family in Philadelphia.

iv The two men are not related at all, just two Irish expatriates
of the same faith. However, I believe that there must have been
some familial relationship because they shared the same property
and because they used the same ‘given’ names for several of their
children.