Irish Immigration to Scotland: First half of 19th century

                  Photo from: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-emigration.html )



     In the 1841 Scottish census, there is a Thomas Peacock  living in Gorbals who could be our Thomas before he was married.  The other surnames do not appear in the index for the 1831 census for Ballyrashane, but appear  in the Coleraine area.  The census was normally taken in the spring.  Gorbals is a part of the city of Glasgow south of the Clyde River.


SCOTLAND 1841   Place: Gorbals -Lanarkshire Enumeration District: 13

Civil Parish: Gorbals Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Gorbals
Folio: 13 Page: 27 Address: Melville St  (Source:  Free Cen website)

Surname First name(s) Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks

MCCOOK Robert M 20 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver Ireland

MCCOOK Sarah F 24 Ireland

MCCOOK James M 1 Lanarkshire

MCCOOK William M 22 Labourer Ireland

MCCOOK Margaret F 22 Female Servant Ireland

ROBERTSON Robert M 22 Joiner Journeyman Ireland

MCCALASTER James M 20 Cotton Hand Loom Weaver Ireland

PEACOCK Thomas M 23 Labourer Ireland


The article below gives some background to why this could be possible.
(Taken from the following website:  http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-emigration.html )

Irish immigration to Scotland: First half of 19th century
     Irish immigration to Scotland was part of a well-established feature of early 19th century life in Ireland: the annual harvest migration. Since Scotland was Ireland's closest neighbour (only 13 miles separate the two countries at one point), it was an obvious choice for those that lived in the north of the island.

     In the 1820s, up to 8,000 economic migrants crossed back and forth across the Irish Sea every year, bound for seasonal agricultural work or other temporary contractual work in northern England, Wales and Scotland. By the early 1840s, the number making the harvest migration alone had risen to about 25,000.

     Permanent settlement usually required a greater skill base than agricultural labourers held. Most of the non-harvest migrants came with highly valued textiles and jute knowledge and came from the Irish counties where linen and yarn were produced – Derry, Donegal, Monaghan, Sligo and Tyrone.

     These early trickles of Irish immigration to Scotland do not conform to the stereotypes of migration in later years which were largely about the arrival of unskilled and destitute people.

     While most of the temporary migrants and probably a small proportion of the skilled workers eventually returned home to Ireland, some chose to settle permanently. This was more likely to happen in Scotland than in England or Wales, possibly because of the strong cultural ties between Scotland and Ulster, the province which provided most migrants to Scottish industries, especially in textiles.

     Up to the 1830s, Scotland could offer if not rich pickings, at least a chance of a regular wage. The country was experiencing a boom in the construction of homes, factories, roads, canals and other infrastructure while the coal, textile and steel industries were also increasing production. Whole towns grew up to provide a workforce to some of these industries and saw the development of significant Irish communities within them. In Girvan, Ayrshire, for example, some three-quarters of the 6,000 population was Irish-born in 1831.

     By 1841, when the earliest Scottish census was taken, some 125,321 (4.8%) of the 2.6million population was Ireland-born. In contrast, the Irish-born made up only 1.8% in England and just 0.78% in Wales.

Largest centres of Irish settlement:
(Irish-born as % of total pop) 1851

Dundee -18.9

Glasgow - 18.2

Paisley - 12.7

Kilmarnock - 12.1

The next decade saw the Great Famine exodus from Ireland when the poor and starving arrived in ports in desperate straits. By 1851, the Irish-born population of Scotland had reached 7.2%. The Irish were to be found in greater numbers in Glasgow, Dundee, in the mining communities of the Lothians and in Airdrie, Coatbridge and Motherwell.

These migrants came at a time when many Scots were emigrating to England, where wages were higher, or to more distant parts of the British Empire, looking for greater prosperity. As they left, they created work for the Irish, who went on to sustain Scotland's industrial revolution. They were especially famed as navvies building canals, bridges, railways and ports.

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.

New Peacock Plaque

Plaque installed at Falkenburg Union Cemetery in September, 2010. In the top photo, two white marble markers are standing upright in the base of the old stone which is on the ground behind. The markers are for S.H. (Sarah Peacock) and H.P. (her son, Hugh Peacock) Photos: J.O.H.

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J.P. contributed two hundred dollars to the purchase of this plaque.  H.H. Heritage contributed four hundred dollars June, 2012.

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The new bronze Peacock plaque was installed at the Falkenburg Union Cemetery, Bracebridge this past week by the Sanderson Monument Company of Orillia, the same company that made the previous marker in the 1870's. The new one was placed at the base of the old stone.

New Cemetery Plaque

New bronze cemetery plaque to replace the old broken one at Falkenburg Union Cemetery. The original records the burial of Sarah Peacock and her son Hugh. The new one is intended to honour Thomas and Sarah Peacock who were among the first settlers on the ninth concession in Macaulay Township. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

The photo on the left of the old monument was taken in the 1980s. It was broken and on the ground at that time; it is now barely legible.

I enquired at the Town Office and learned that they have no details of early burials, only a record of the Peacock plots.

'Mani in Fede' - Hands in Faith

While reading the obituary of Frank McCourt, Irish American author of Angela's Ashes, I learned that his brother wrote a book about the Claddagh ring and realized that these rings have an ancient origin.

The Claddagh ring belongs to a widespread group of finger rings called “Fede Rings”. The name "fede" comes from the Italian phrase mani in fede ("hands in trust" or "hands in faith"). These rings date from Roman times, when the gesture of clasped right hands (dextrarum iunctio) symbolized marriage. Fede rings are distinguished by having the bezel cut or cast in the form of two clasped hands, symbolizing faith, trust or “plighted troth.” They were popular in the Middle Ages throughout Europe, and there are examples from this time in the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin. (Wikipedia)

Another source provides this information:

A handshake symbol on a tombstone usually signifies a welcome into the heavenly world. Sometimes you may see this as a symbol of matrimony on the grave marker of a married couple. If it’s a marriage symbol you may notice that one cuff will look masculine and the other, feminine. (http://cemeteries.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/handshake/)

Thomas & Sarah Peacock

Photo of St. George's Anglican Church (lot 2 Con IX) from Gary Denniss's book on Macaulay Township. Note that it was contributed by Miss Lila Peacock, a great grand daughter of Thomas and Sarah Peacock.

Photo of Peacock log cabin on Lot 8 of Concession 9, Macaulay Township ca. 1906 more than 30 years after it was built. Family of John and Mary Ellen Peacock

Map showing placement of pipeline through the Peacock land. The 1878 Atlas shows the house slightly west of centre and close to the concession road. It is thought that the log structure was destroyed when the pipeline went through. (Researched by Barb)

Elaboration of post from Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Road construction began into Muskoka in 1859. However, the land was not actually offered as free grants until 1868. Thomas and Sarah came to Canada in 1865 and were tenants on land in King Township for several years. It was the Browns (Catherine Peacock, her husband and his parents) who went to Muskoka first in November, 1870. They had lived in the Schomberg area (on the same concession as the Peacocks a few miles farther north). Family connections and the opportunity to own land probably drew Thomas and three young sons to Muskoka. (The eldest son, Fred, was married and living in Philadelphia.)

Although the free grants were advertised overseas, and some people did come from overseas to settle, many people came from other parts of Ontario for the free land to resell it or to cut the trees for lumber or both. It was known that most of Muskoka was not suitable for agriculture. In an article written by Hugh T. Hill (perhaps a newspaper article) describing his grandfather’s trip from Schomberg to the Huntsville area in 1867 to look at land, he recounts that an Irishman in a Bracebridge hotel asked him (a clergyman) if he thought he could live off the land there. He informed Rev. Hill that when a man died in Muskoka, there wasn’t enough soil to bury the body. Two teenage sons of Mr. Hill’s ancestor cut down trees on their lot all summer and a year later the family made the move:

When my granddad left Schomberg, he brought two teams of oxen and wagons, and nine cows, (one team of oxen was bulls). My dad has told me how the bulls used to fight. He said the only excitement they had in the early days was a bull or a dog fight. All the stuff they brought was loaded on the wagons. They tied a cowbell on the first wagon and drove the cows behind. They camped wherever night overtook them. (They) made the trip to Vernon Lake in 9 days. There they had to leave the wagons and drive the cattle through the woods.

Thomas and Sarah Move to Muskoka - 1872

If you look at the location dates for concessions VIII and IX of Macaulay, you will notice that the Peacocks were late-comers to the area. The lots they secured were the last available between the road on the West and the river on the East.

The little community of Falkenburg was getting established by the spring of 1872 (see Simcoe Gazetteer) and centred around what is now the Moore Rd. off District Rd #4, north of the Falkenburg Union Cemetery. A map, made in 1874, and shown in Gary Denniss's history of Macaulay Township, shows the post office on the lot 2 side and a sawmill, the Church, blacksmith shop, Junction Hotel and a store on the lot 3 side. Further north at the road allowance between concessions X and XI, the Orange Hall and the Wellington Hotel were located. (Robert Peacock was later to be involved in the Orange Lodge as his monument has an imprint of King William on his horse.)

The 9th Concession Rd. joins District Rd#4 just south of the cemetery. They would have used this road to travel to Falkenburg to the post office (established 1863), to school (established pre-1874), to Church (opened Feb 1876), to the general store or on to Bracebridge. In 1886, the Church was moved to its present location, a few miles south, closer to the road between the VIIIth and IXth concession.

The Peacocks were still in King Township for the census in April of 1871, but acquired lot 8 of concession IX (100 acres) of Macaulay Township by February of 1872. (Catherine Peacock, her husband and in-laws, the Browns, had secured lot 7 of concession IX about a year and a half earlier.) This is where the Peacocks lived, and the south-east corner of their former land touches Highway #11 about two miles north of High Falls and a little north of Bracebridge Resource Management Centre.

The Peacock men probably travelled to Muskoka to help the Browns clear their lot initially, and then to build a log cabin on their own land. In my August 24, 2008 post "The Night the Mice Danced," there is a hint that at least one relative from Philadelphia had spent a year helping Uncle Thomas. The article states his name was James.

In the agricultural component of the 1871 census, Thomas had three horned cattle and a milk cow in King Township. They would have driven these animals, probably a team of oxen, over the rough Muskoka Colonizaton Road from King to Macaulay as described in the Hill story above. Sarah was in her early sixties, sons John and Hugh in their mid-teens, and Robert, under ten. All their possessions would have been on the wagon(s).

In May, 1872, Thomas Peacock located lot 13 of concession VIII (83 acres), and in January, 1874 he received lot 13 on concession IX. The last two lots were on the river and were probably logged for income. Thomas may have secured these lots for son John and Hugh.

Thomas was about 50 years old when they moved to Muskoka. He must have been a hardy man for he lived for about another twenty-five years. He was involved in a number of land transactions, so he seems to have been ambitious. His signature on some of the documents appears shaky; however, he had obviously come to Muskoka for opportunities.

Unfortunately, Sarah died in 1875 just a few years after the move to Muskoka and a few months after John married Mary Ellen Oliver. She died of a tumor she had had for seven years, unattended by a physician. Hugh married in the fall of 1878 and died of consumption (tuberculosis) in the spring 0f 1879. Catherine Peacock Brown lived on what is now the Falkenburg Road which is opposite the Falkenburg Union Cemetery. Their land was in Monck Township. Part of it was later occupied by Thomas, son of John. John and Mary Ellen were living with Thomas on his land in the 1881 and 1891 census records. It is doubtful that anyone lived on the two lots on the river for any length of time, although it was a requirement of the free grant system.

The above photo shows the log structure built on Lot 8 of Concession IX. Their house would have been at least 16 feet by 20 feet to meet the free grant standards. It was the original homestead and continued to be the home of John and Mary Ellen Peacock until John's death in 1914 at 60. Eleven children were born and raised there and baptised at St. George's Anglican Church at Falkenburg.

Sometime after the turn of the century, John's brother, Fred, returned from Philadelphia apparently after the breakup of his marriage. The youngest daugher, Kit, (shown next to her father John in the above photo), told her niece, Gertrude, about those wild days on the farm when John and Fred would drink and argue about politics (Derry Wall and No Surrender) and who knows what else.

In the obituary for Mary Ellen Peacock, the author speaks of the hospitality he enjoyed at the Peacock homestead. Surely, they were lonely days when a visit by a neighbour, or even a stranger, broke the monotony. It must have been most lonely for those who were born in Ireland and remembered a life before blackflies, mosquitoes and log cabins.

Ted Currie wrote an article which was published in a Muskoka paper in the 1980s in which it is stated that the Peacocks called their land 'Jerusalem.' I believe the author had interviewed a great grandson of Thomas Peacock (Alvin Peacock) and then went searching for the Peacock land. The pictures in the paper are not believed to be from the Peacock land (perhaps Goggin or Devor homesteads) although it is probably true that they referred to their property or the area as Jerusalem. Currie suggests that the Peacocks were very devout; however, I suggest a sense of humour would be attached to whatever they did, if the earlier generations were like their descendants. Currie mentions following the Trans Canada Pipeline in his article. It went through the Peacock property (as shown in the map above) and the house was probably destroyed at that time.

We believe, based on the death records, that the Peacocks originated in Antrim County, Ulster (Northern Ireland). They may have lived close to the border with Derry County, for John's marriage certificate gives his place of birth as Derry (death certificate says Antrim). Antrim and Derry were not affected by the Pototo Famine as seriously as the West of Ireland, primarily because the people did not depend solely on the potato crop. However, it should be noted, that there are no known children born between 1843 (birth of Catherine) and 1850 (birth of Frederick). These were the famine years in Ireland.

The monument for Sarah and her son Hugh at the Falkenburg Union Cemetery now lies broken and illegible from more than a hundred twenty-five years of exposure to the elements. Hopefully, by the fall of this year, we will have installed a new monument to Thomas and Sarah in honour of their pioneering spirit. The couple and all their known children are interred there.

1881 Census - Macaulay Township, Muskoka

Thomas Peacock, Wid, m. 60, b. Ireland, Farmer

John Peacock, M. m............... 24, b. Ireland, Farmer

Mary Peacock, M. f................ 22, b. Ontario

Fred Peacock, m........................5, b. Ontario

John Peacock, m...................... 3, b. Ontario

Sarah Peacock, f....................... 1, b. Ontario

All Presbyterian

1891, April 17 - Macaulay Township

Thomas Peacock, Wid, m. 72, b. abt 1819, Ire, Farmer, parents b. Ireland

John Peacock, M. m. 37, b. Ire, Farmer, parents both b. Ireland

Mary Peacock, M. f. 33, b. Ontario, parents both b. England

Fred Peacock, m. 15,..... b. Ontario

John Peacock, m. 14, ....b. Ontario

Sarah Peacock, f. 12, ....b. Ontario

** William, m. 9 (see Robert Peacock census in Monck – 1891)

Thomas Peacock, m. 8..b. Ontario

Mary Peacock, f........ 6, b. Ontario

George Peacock, m... 5 b. Ontario

Violet Peacock, f. ......2, b. Ontario
All Presbyterian

Family of Thos & Sarah - Death Records

1875, Sept. 17 -Sarah (Smith) Peacockborn Co. Antrim, Ireland
female, age 65
Tumour – 7 years; no physician in attendance
Informant - Thomas Peacock, farmer,
Presbyterian
Registered October 16, 1875
Registrar: James Boyer

1879, March 8 –Hugh Peacock
born Ireland
male, age 22
Consumption; Dr. Bridgeland
Informant - Thomas Peacock, Macaulay
Registered March 20, 1879
Registrar: David Dickson

1895, March 3 - Thomas Peacockborn Ireland
male, age 76, farmer, Macaulay
General ?? Decay; Dr. Topp, Bracebridge
Informant -
Registered March 4, 1895
Registrar: William Gohm
Methodist (sic)

1897, Nov. 23 –Catherine (Peacock) Brown
born Ireland
female, age 54 1/2, housewife
English church
Lot 15, Concession A
heart disease, 4 months; Dr. Williams
Registered Nov 23/1897

1899, Dec. 8 - Robert Peacockborn Ireland
male, age 39, hotel keeper,
Scotia (Junction?), Parry Sound
pneumonia, 6 days; Dr. Barber
Church of England

1914, March 15 –John Peacockborn Co. Antrim, Ireland
male, -age 60, married
parents – Thomas Peacock & Sarah Smith
Cause: cancer, Carcinoma, 6 months
Immediate cause – heart failure
Dr. W. D. McHanoyle (?)
Registered by George Nelson Peacock
16 March, 1914

1918, November 25 - Frederick Peacock
male, 43 years old, b. Macaulay Twp
died Huntsville, Chaffey Twp
Married, occupation - clerk
son of John Peacock/Mary Oliver
Cause of death - asphyxia of influenza/pneumonia
sick two days - Dr. E.G. Evans
Informant - Mrs. M. Peacock

1921, April 13 - Frederick Peacock
born Ireland
male, age 71, married, labourer
of Falkenburg
Orillia Hospital
Father – Thomas Peacock , b. Ireland
Informant:Joseph O. Peacock, nephew
230 Harris Street, Orillia
Found drowned in Orillia,
No attendance by physician: accidental
Dr. John McLean, Coroner, Orillia Hosp.
Buried April 15, 1921
Undertaker: D. Clarke, Orillia

Hugh Peacock, son of Thos & Sarah

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.

Some Peacock Marriages

David TAIT, 20, farmer, Pennsylvania USA, Monck Tp.,
s/o William L. & Mary, married Anne WAINRIGHT, 18,
County Cavan Ireland, Bracebridge, d/o Samuel & Mary
Ann, witn: John PEACOCK of Macaulay & Elizabeth
WAINRIGHT of Bracebridge on Jan. 1, 1874 at the home
of William L. Tait at Monck Tp.

5942-75 James JONES, 25, yeoman, Ireland, Macaulay twp.,
s/o Charles & Isabella, married Fanny MOORE, 19, England,
Macaulay twp., d/o Mathias & Susan, witn: John PEACOCK
of Macaulay & Mary OLIVER of Stephenson,
6 April 1875 at Bracebridge

5944-75 John PEACOCK, 21, farmer, Co. **Derry, Ireland,
Macaulay, s/o Thomas & Sarah, married Mary OLIVER, 17,
Canada, Stephenson, d/o Joseph & Ellen, witn: Hugh
PEACOCK & Annie KIRBY, both of Macaulay,
17 May 1875 at Bracebridge

6934-78 - Hugh PEACOCK, 21, farmer, Ireland, Monck,
s/o Thomas & Sarah, married Margaret NEVINS, 17,
Harriston, Monck, d/o Thomas Coynes NEVINS & Annabella
HARTY, witn: William NEVINS of Monck, 2 Oct 1878 at Monck

Robert PEACOCK, 20, Twp, Monck, b. Canada (?), bachelor,
Farmer, son of Thomas & Catherine (?) Peacock, married
Mary MOFFATT, 18, Twp Macaulay, b. Canada, spinster, d/o
William & Eliza Ann Moffatt, Witnesses: G. H. Vanattan,
Orillia - L.J. Moffatt, Macaulay, by Rev. H.J. Matthews,
by licence, Methodist, 3 Jan. 1884

008107-93 Joseph OLIVER, 24, farmer, England, Stephenson Tp.,
s/o Joseph & Ellen, married Emma SPENCER, 22, Macaulay Tp.,
same, d/o Abel & Sarah Ann, witn: Albert & Ada PATTERSON both
of Stephenson Tp. on June 7, 1893 at Bracebridge

12124-02 Henry BYFORD, 24, laborer, England, Bracebridge,
s/o Joseph & Ellen, married Mary PEACOCK, 17, Ontario,
Macauley, d/o John PEACOCK & Mary E. OLIVER, witn:
Caroline & Frederick PEACOCK of Scotia Junction,
2 April 1902 at Falkenburg

13108-04 (Muskoka Dist.) Thomas PEACOCK, 22, farmer,
Macauley twp., s/o John PEACOCK & Mary OLIVER,
married Clara Emma FORSYTH, 21, Macauley twp., same,
d/o John FORSYTH & Mary DALES, witn: William PEACOCK
& Jessie FORSYTH, both of Macauley twp., 1 June 1904
at Macauley

13111-04 John OLIVER, 30, carpenter, Stephenson twp.,
Macauley, s/o Joseph OLIVER & Ellen **BUKER, married Maud
Alice GOHEN, 29, Macauley, same, d/o William GOHEN &
Adeline PRATT, witn: Henry GOHEN & Laura KIRK, both of
Macauley, 7 Dec 1904 at Macauley (GOHM?)
** The original record needs to be checked as Mary Ellen Peacock's 1935
death record gives Ellen's maiden name as Tubb(s).
013535-05 (Muskoka) George Nelson PEACOCK, 20,
laborer, Macauley Twp, same s/o John PEACOCK and
Mary Ellen OLIVER married Jesse FORSYTH, 20,
Macauley Twp, same d/o John FORSYTH and Mary
DALES, witness – George FORSYTH and Violet S.
PEACOCK, August 9, 1905, Bracebridge

18101-1919 Harvey Ray PEACOCK, 21, Labour, Scotia Jct.,
Bracebridge, s/o Robert Ray PEACOCK & Mary MOFFET,
married Robina CARSON, 20, Cache Bay, Same, d/o Thomas
CARSON & Agnes FLOOD, Wtn. George BOUTETTE, Loretta
McNALLY, on Dec. 24, 1919 at Sturgeon Falls

**Please note that other Peacock records, including John's
death certificate state that the family came from County Antrim,
not Derry.

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.

Thomas & Sarah Peacock (2)

In the previous article about Falkenburg, it is mentioned that road
construction began into Muskoka in 1859. However, the land was
not actually offered as free grants until 1868.

Thomas and Sarah came to Canada in 1865 and were tenants on land
in King Township for several years. It was the Browns (Catherine
Peacock, her husband and his parents in November, 1870) who went
to Muskoka first. They had lived in the Schomberg area (on the same
concession as the Peacocks a few miles farther north). Family
connections and the opportunity to own land probably drew Thomas
and three young sons to Muskoka. (The eldest son, Fred, was
married and living in Philadelphia.)

Although the free grants were advertised overseas, and some
people did come from overseas to settle, many people came from
other parts of Ontario for the free land to resell it or to cut the
trees for lumber or both. It was known that most of Muskoka
was not suitable for agriculture. In an article written by Hugh T.
Hill (perhaps a newspaper article) describing his grandfather’s trip
from Schomberg to the Huntsville area in 1867 to look at land,
he recounts that an Irishman in a Bracebridge hotel asked him
(a clergyman) if he thought he could live off the land there. He
informed Rev. Hill that when a man died in Muskoka, there
wasn’t enough soil to bury the body.

Two teenage sons of Mr. Hill’s ancestor cut down trees on their
lot all summer and a year later the family made the move:

When my granddad left Schomberg, he brought two teams of oxen and
wagons, and nine cows, (one team of oxen was bulls). My dad has told
me how the bulls used to fight. He said the only excitement they had in the
early days was a bull or a dog fight. All the stuff they brought was loaded
on the wagons. They tied a cowbell on the first wagon and drove the
cows behind. They camped wherever night overtook them. (They) made
the trip to Vernon Lake in 9 days. There they had to leave the wagons and
drive the cattle through the woods.

The Peacocks acquired lot 8 of concession IX in February of 1872 (100 acres) about a year and a half after the Browns. This is where they lived and it is immediately west of Hwy #11 north of High Falls. In May, 1872 they received lot 13 of concession VIII (83 acres) , and in January, 1874 they received lot 13 on concession IX. The last two lots were on the river and were probably logged for income, either by design or because family circumstances had changed and the
land wasn’t needed.

Sarah died in 1875 just a few years after the move to Muskoka and a few months after John married Mary Ellen Oliver. Hugh married in the fall of 1878 and died of consumption in the spring 0f 1879. John and Mary Ellen were living with Thomas on his land in the 1881and 1891 census records. It is doubtful that anyone lived on the two lots on the river for any length of time, although it was a requirement of the free grant system.

There was an article written by Ted Currie and published in a Muskoka paper in the 1980s in which it is stated that the Peacocks called their land Jerusalem.
I believe the author had interviewed a great grandson of Thomas Peacock and then went searching for the Peacock land. The pictures in the paper are not believed to be from the Peacock land although it is probably true that they referred to their property or the area as Jerusalem.

1881 Census - Macaulay Township, Muskoka

Thomas Peacock, Wid, m. 60, b. Ireland, Farmer,
John Peacock, M. m. 24, b. Ireland, Farmer
Mary Peacock, M. f.22, b. Ontario
Fred Peacock, m.5, b. Ontario
John Peacock, m. 3, b. Ontario
Sarah Peacock, f. 1, b. Ontario
All Presbyterian

1891, April 17 - Macaulay Township
Thomas Peacock, Wid, m. 72, b. abt 1819, Ire, Farmer,
parents b. Ireland
John Peacock, M. m. 37, b. Ireland, Farmer, parents both b. Ireland
Mary Peacock, M. f.33, b. Ontario, parents both b. England
Fred Peacock, m. 15, b. Ontario
John Peacock, m. 14, b. Ontario
Sarah Peacock, f. 12, b. Ontario
** William, m. 9 (see Robert Peacock census in Monck – 1891)
Thomas Peacock, m. 8, b. Ontario
Mary Peacock, f. 6, b. Ontario
George Peacock, m. 5, b. Ontario
Violet Peacock, f. 2, b. Ontario

All Presbyterian

Thomas & Sarah Peacock

Click on the title above to see
the Falkenburg Cemetery
website and the Peacock
monuments.
To the left is the monument for Sarah
Peacock and her son, Hugh. It is
broken in half and on the ground.
Most of the lettering is illegible. All
Thomas and Sarah's children are
buried at the Falkenburg Union
Cemetery a few miles north of
Bracebridge, Ontario. There are
monuments for all except
Frederick, the last to die.
Two clasped hands symbolize
holy matrimony; the person
who died first holds the other’s hand, guiding the spouse to Heaven.

Unlike the records of Hugh and Ellen’s family in the 1871 and
1881 census, no Canadian record has been found to date with
all the children of Thomas Peacock and Sarah Smith together
as a family.

In the 1871 census in King Township, three children are with
them - John (17), Hugh (15), and Robert (7). Two children are
missing. Catherine is already married to William Brown
and living in Muskoka. Fred is in Carbon County, Pennsylvania,seemingly in a
boarding house in 1870. He appears in the 1880 census in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. In both records his occupation is cloth weaver or weaver.

Below are the dates of birth and death for Thomas, Sarah, and
their children.

Thomas Peacock, b. abt 1819, Ireland – d. March 3, 1895, age 76

Sarah (Smith) Peacock, b. abt 1810, Co. Antrim, Ulster, Ireland
– d. Sept. 17, 1875, age 65

Catherine, b. May, 1843, Ireland - d. Nov. 23, 1897 age 54

Frederick, b. Sept 10, 1850, Ireland –d. April 13, 1921, age 71

John, b. Feb 10, 1854, Co. Antrim, -d. Mar. 15, 1914, age 60

Hugh, b. 1857, Ireland – d. March 8, 1879, age 22

Robert Ray, b. July, 1860, Ireland– d. Dec. 8, 1899, age 39

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.

1871 Census - King Twp, York Co.

CLICK MAP TO ENLARGE

The above map is from the Historical Atlas of York County.
It shows King Township north of Nobleton. Thomas and
Hugh Peacock lived on Concession VII - Lot 18 which you
will see at the top right with the name Cornelius O'Shea.
You can clearly see the small town lot separated from the
larger 45 acres.

(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

INTRODUCTION

In the 1871 Census for King Township, York County, Ontario, there are
two Peacock families sharing Concession 7, Lot 18. One family is headed
by Hugh Peacock and his wife Ellen, both thirty-five years old, and the
other family is headed by Thomas and Sarah Peacock who are in their
fifties. I have made the assumption that the families are related even
though the land is shown on maps as officially divided. This blog will
trace their movements, first in Ontario, and then into the USA and
Western Canada. We will begin with Hugh who came to Canada first.

Your comments are welcome.