| Daniel and Nancy Marlatt from Westminster Township, Middlesex County,
Ontario Canada. I believe that Nancy Marlatt was the daughter of Andrew Fortner and
Phoebe. Her daughter's middle name was Fortner. Celeste Fortner Marlatt married Eli
Davis. A Nancy Marlott is found on the LDS 1881 census living with Minerva Fortner and
Donald Darrach. Patience Minerva Fortner Darrach would have been Nancy Marlatt's neice
if I am right. In the 1851 census for Westminster Township, Middlesex County census,
Daniel and Nancy are living on Andrew's lot. Also if I am right about Nancy then her
brother Jonas names one of his daughters Celeste [transcribed Celestia on the 1900
census]. Celeste Fortner Marlatt died young and Jonas's daughter could have been named
after her. This is all circumstantial but it is adding up. Would like to hear from
anyone researching the Marlatt's or researching Andrew Fortner born 1792 New Jersey.
Andrew came to the Niagara region with his family and received a land grant in 1818
in Middlesex County. Andrew's son Jonas had a son named Andrew and this son eventually
lived in Wisconsin. | |
| John Bryce and Hannah Hodgman had three children that I know of. Olive, my great grandmother, Dennis and Alex. I have no other information on them. I believe John may have been the son of Archibald Bryce and Janet Lindsay, who were married in Cambuslang, Scotland on July 21, 1792. I believe they went to the United States and then to Canada. Other children may have been Archibald, Thomas, Alexander, Margaret and Jennett. I can trace John and Hana in the directory pages up to about 1862 and then the family disapears. Hana may be the Hannah Bryce who turns up with a son John T. in Peoria, Illinois in 1880. | |
| James Penn and Margaret Hutchinson I know little about. I know James
was born in England in 1823. I know he was on the Steamship Commerce on route from Montreal to
Port Stanley and that he was one of the men who made a claim for lost equipment when the ship
sank. His regimental number was 1707 and he was part of company B. He was a corporal at the
time of the sinking of this ship. He married Margaret Hutchinson on September 18, 1852.
I know he was a musician by trade and was on the building committee for the Pall Mall Methodist
Church in London Ontario. I suspect he was educated for the time.
His children were Annie, my grandmother, Albert Augusta, William, Laura, James Bonney,
Kate and two babies who didn't live, Maggie and Alfred. I know he died in Port Huron, Michigan
but was not able to obtain a death certificate. I have a burial permit number which I sent but
with my request for a death certificate but was told there was no death certificate.
His son James Bonney Penn died in Indiana as did his grandson William H. Penn. |
| Arthur Douglas Fortner I believe married Louisa Jane Minton on July 15, 1889 in
Douglas, Illinois. The source gave his parents as Jonas Fortner and Olive Boyce but Olive Bryce
is correct. He had brothers Thomas Edison, and Charles Emmerson and a sister Ida May. His father
remarried and he had the following half-siblings, Ellen B, Lillie B., Miranda, Jessie Willena,
Katherine and John Alexander. Ellen and Jessie died as babies and Lillie B. may have been adopted.
She shows up in a census at about age 13 to Ida's 12 for the first time. Ida had showed up in
previous census listings. | |
| Katherine Fortner born Jan 26, 1881 was the daughter of Jonas Fortner and second wife
Isabella Noble. She shows up in a census listing in 1901 living at home. She is still living in
London at the start of WW1 and is listed as next of kin to her brother (John Alexander) and
half-brother (Charles Emmerson). Their service records have her address at the end of the war as
CEA Carr Co in Toronto, where she worked as a stenographer. Directory pages for Toronto has her
rooming at 190 Dundas Cres. in Toronto in 1920. I have no information past 1920 and she does not
show up in OCFA. Katherine shows up again in 4/28/1912 in a border crossing record into the US to
visit her uncle C.A Carr. Is it possible that the company she worked for was owned by her uncle?
Or is it just a co-incidence? The friend she was travelling with was Ellen Burke. I believe Katherine
may have lived out her life in the US, possibly New York and died there. |
| Ida May Fortner was the daughter of Olive Bryce and Jonas Fortner. She was raised in Byron, Ontario. Her father owned a tavern. Her mother died young and her father remarried Isabella Noble. She does not appear in the 1901 census with the rest of the family. I have never found a death record for her or a cemetery listing and I suspect she may have married and moved away. |
| Update - Ida May shows up married to John J. Mullaney in the 1900 census of Connecticutt At that time they had no children. My thanks to a fellow researcher who sent me this information. |