Family Line Founder: George ELDER Sr (1780-1848)

Introducing the ELDER family.

In an earlier post, I introduced the founders of the TULLY branch of my father's maternal family. They arrived in the Huntingdon region of Quebec, Canada from Scotland about 1817.

Their story, and my ancestral heritage, is interwoven with two other Scottish families who settled in the Huntingdon region of Quebec around the same time: the ELDERs and the TAYLORs. Today, I introduce the founding members of my ELDER family line.

Figure 1: ELDERs, TULLYs and TAYLORs - Interwoven family connections in
Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada

The ELDER family (like the TULLYs), are also on my father's maternal side and arrived in Canada - specifically Lower Canada - from Scotland around 1817. They settled in the region of Huntingdon, Quebec and, along with other families such as the TULLYs and the TAYLORs, were part of a migration of British immigrants to North America that took place over a number of years following the War of 1812.

The Canadian founder of the ELDERs in my family was my 5th great-grandfather George ELDER Sr. He was born on March 22, 1780 in Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland and died in Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada on June 11, 1848. His first spouse, Christian "Christina" HOSIE (June 5, 1780-February 11, 1835), was from South Leith (near Edinburgh), Midlothian, Scotland. Together, they had 7 known children.

The ELDER, TULLY and TAYLOR families became in-laws when two daughters of founder James TULLY married two first-generation ELDER and TAYLOR sons; and then two of their children (first cousins James Tully ELDER and Jane Alexis TAYLOR) married in Ontario, later moving to the new province of Manitoba about 1883 to farm. My paternal great-great grandfather was their son William John ELDER (1874-1959).

Research is in progress to establish more details of family founder George ELDER Sr and his family's life in Scotland, subsequent arrival in Quebec, and the family's eventual migration westward. But for now, I offer this chart of his immediate family and the relationship to my direct paternal ancestor William John ELDER.

About family founder George ELDER Sr. 

George ELDER Sr was the second of three children (possibly six, to be confirmed) born to parents John ELDER and Jean LUKE in Pittenweem, a picturesque seaside village on the east coast of Scotland.  A generation after the failed Jacobite Rebellion, brutal British policies were crushing the Scottish people’s way of life. Subsequently, the British had just lost several North American colonies in the American Revolutionary War. And the Industrial Revolution was transforming the economic and social landscape of the United Kingdom.  

Growing up in a time of repression and turbulent change, George and his family are recorded in different villages within Fife County during his early years. Then by 1802, George appears to have moved 80 km west to the bustling city of Falkirk in Stirlingshire. 

At the hub of Scotland’s Industrial Revolution, the city was experiencing an explosion of economic and industrial growth such as iron works and canal building, and it could be where George learned his cooper (barrel-making) trade. It is there that George met his future wife, Christian HOSIE. Both aged 22, they married in Falkirk on February 25, 1802 – just one day after the birth of their first child, Jane (it seems likely, as was common practice, that they were previously hand-fasted).

The circumstances are unclear, but immediately following the birth, the young family moved west to the coastal town of Port Glasgow. Daughter Jane was baptized there on March 7, 1802, and Port Glasgow is where all of her siblings were born. But the dream was for a better life. 

In the wake of the War of 1812, the British government encouraged pro-British settlers to come to Canada with the aim of shoring up claims to British-held territories and to halt U.S. ambitions for expansion. At the age of 37, George ELDER Sr left Scotland to search for suitable land in Huntingdon County, Lower Canada (now Quebec, near the Canada-US border) before bringing the family over. 

Arriving in the latter part of 1817, George spent his first winter lodging in the wilderness of Hinchinbrooke township, where he eventually bought 100 acres along the Trout River (Lot 1, 3rd Elgin Range). By 1825, reunited with his spouse Christian and their family of seven children, George got down to the business of farming.  

Time passed, but tragedy struck when, just ten years later, Christian died. George re-married two years later, in 1837, to widow Anne McGILLIVRAY SEGAR, but his marital happiness was overshadowed by the political turbulence of the 1837-1838 Upper and Lower Canda Rebellions. (It appears that this unrest may have led some members of this interwoven group of families to move west, settling for a time in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada.) 

Little is known about George’s subsequent activities until his death in 1848, when his burial record notes that he had been living in the nearby township of Godmanchester.  

Pioneer founder of my Canadian ELDER family line, George ELDER Sr was buried at the Scotch Church Burial Grounds in Hinchinbrooke, Quebec. His first spouse Christian HOSIE was also buried there. Sadly, the precise location of this cemetery and their gravesites have been lost.

----------------------------------

Sources:

Research and records attached to the profiles of George ELDER Sr and Christian "Christina" HOSIE on the public Ancestry.ca tree, Brant-LeComte Family Tree.

The Elder Family Tree (2015), a private family history self-published by Ardelle (Auty) Cates.