Bette Smith>Mildred Cameron>Stella Knox>Agnes Thompson Dalrymple>John Harold Dalrymple>Elizabeth Wood>Elizabeth Allan (my fourth great grandmother)
Why Thompson?
Agnes Thompson Dalrymple (1862-1903) was the daughter of John Harold Dalrymple and Elizabeth Wood and the granddaughter of James Wood and Elizabeth Allan. I asked my sister Dorothy a few years ago if she had any inkling as to why our great-grandmother Agnes’s middle name was Thompson. Dorothy had wondered that same question but had not found a satisfactory answer. Parents of Scottish heritage often included surnames as given names in order to carry forward ancestral connections, especially those of their female branches. They also used the middle name as a means of honoring a friend or an esteemed member of the community such as their minister. So the great genealogical question for me became “Why was Agnes given the middle name ‘Thompson’?”
What We Knew and When We Knew It
Before 2019, we knew little about the Wood or Allan families and I found no mention of Thompson relatives. Research in 2019 revealed that Elizabeth Allan was likely born about 1797 in Bothwell, Scotland and immigrated to Canada circa 1820 along with her siblings and her mother Grace (or Grissel) Mackie.
James Wood married Elizabeth Allan on June 21, 1833 in Montreal and they had two children, Elizabeth (1834-1878) and James (1835-1900), both born in L’Assomption, Quebec where James was a farmer. By 1852 the children were living with Elizabeth Allan’s brother, James Allan, and it was likely both parents had died prior to that date.[ii] Certainly, the marriage register entry for Elizabeth Wood in 1854 indicated that both parents were deceased.[iii]
In 1861 Elizabeth Allan and James Wood’s son, James Jr, and his first cousin Francis Allan were living in Montreal and were enumerated along with the young family of Alexander and Grace Tweedie (or Tweedy).[iv] A DNA match with a descendant of Alexander and Grace finally connected me to the Thompsons as Grace Tweedie’s family surname turned out to be—you guessed it—Thompson. Alexander and Grace also named one of their sons James Wood Tweedie. I would have put these two points down to a coincidence except for the strong DNA match. I went down a few rabbit holes trying to trace Grace Thompson Tweedie’s family and came up with a great possibility which, unfortunately, turned out to be absolutely wrong.
More Thompsons
In summer 2022 I was contacted by Kylie Head, a second great-granddaughter of Thomas Thompson (1825-1897). Kylie is a strong DNA cousin match to our family. Even more wonderful, she is a meticulous researcher and I owe her a debt of gratitude for her collaboration and willingness to share her research. Kylie was sorting out Thomas’s family of origin and had already corrected some of her family’s oral traditions as well as locating the birth-marriage-death information recorded in a Family Bible. The entries made on one page for Thomas, his wife and their children were known to be written by Thomas himself. On a separate sheet the following information was recorded[v]:
My father died 7 of September 1856.
My mother died 2 of July 1876.
Excerpt, Thompson Family Bible
Like many family oral traditions passed down over several generations, not all the information turned out to be accurate. Kylie’s family oral tradition had it that Thomas was born February 9, 1825 in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the only child of Thomas Thompson and Isabella Allan who was related to the Allans of the Montreal Allan Shipping Line. The son Thomas married Jane Huston (or Houston) in Montreal in 1847 and later moved with his wife, children and his in-laws to Huron Township, Bruce County, Ontario.
Kylie’s research cleared up much of the online misinformation regarding Thomas’s origins. Census records consistently showed that Thomas was born in Quebec, not Glasgow. A baptismal record from St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal exactly matched Thomas’s birthdate as recorded in the Thompson Family Bible.
Robert Thompson of the Parish of L’Assomption in the District of Montreal and Elisabeth Allan his wife had a son born on the ninth day of February last baptized this seventeenth day of June one thousand eight hundred and twenty five named Thomas.[vi]
Kylie next located the marriage entry for Robert Thompson and Elizabeth Allan. They married on March 9, 1824 at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Chambly, QC. Elizabeth, a spinster, signed the register which indicated she had some level of education.[vii]
When Kylie shared her research, we both agreed that her ancestor Elizabeth Allan was possibly a close cousin to our ancestor Elizabeth. There were several records that appeared to confirm we were researching two separate people.
| Date | Elizabeth Allan (Kylie’s family tree) | Date | Elizabeth Allan (Bette’s family tree) |
| 9 Mar 1824 | Married Robert Thompson, Farmer, of [possibly] St Sillery at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Chambly, QC. Elizabeth Allan is recorded as being a spinster. She signed the register with her signature. | 24 Jun 1833 | Married James Wood, Farmer, of L’Assomption at St Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC. Elizabeth Allan is recorded as being a spinster. She signed the register with her mark.[viii] |
| 20 Jun 1824 | Baptism of son Thomas at St Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC. Robert Thompson is now noted as being of L’Assomption. Again, Elizabeth Allan signed the register with her signature. | 28 Sep 1834 | Baptism of daughter Elizabeth at St Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC. Again, Elizabeth Allan signed the register with her mark.[ix] |
| 2 Jul 1876 | Death of Elizabeth Allan, location of death unknown, as recorded by her son Thomas in the Family Bible. | bef 1854 | Death of Elizabeth Allan, date and location unknown, as recorded in daughter Elizabeth’s marriage record. |
Serendipity and Revelation
I was searching for records connected with another family branch when I literally stumbled across the information needed to prove the Thompson connection. Guardians in Quebec, even today, are known as tutelles or tutors, and are appointed by judicial or government authorities to protect minor children and their property rights. In the 1800s, when a minor child’s father died, many jurisdictions required the mother to petition for guardianship and/or to have a sub-tutor appointed to assist her. In the particular guardianship petition I unexpectedly discovered, both Elizabeth and her husband James Wood had died. It was her brother, James Allan of Pointe-aux-Trembles, who petitioned the Court on February 25, 1848 to be appointed guardian to Elizabeth Allan’s minor children. The information included was more than I could have possibly imagined as there were actually two separate petitions!
One important note about guardianships in the 1800s: Society was patriarchal in nature and it was the case that children “belonged” to their father and not to their mother; so in this case, one petition dealt with the minor children from Elizabeth’s first marriage to Robert Thompson, deceased: Grace Thompson (aged 19) and Agnes Thompson (aged 17). The second petition dealt with the minor children from Elizabeth’s second marriage to James Wood, deceased: Elizabeth Wood (aged 14) and James Wood (aged 11). A “competent number of family and friends of the minor children” were then summoned to decide who would serve as guardian. In both petitions, the family and friends attending were Thomas Thompson, farmer of L’Assomption and brother to the minor children (Kylie’s ancestor), and friends John Lamb, gentleman, Thomas Kirkland, farmer, Robert Dalrymple, miller (Elizabeth Wood’s future father-in-law), William Irving, farmer, John Dalrymple, miller, all of L’Assomption and John McConnochie, farmer of Pointe-aux-Trembles (also James Allan’s brother-in-law). It was agreed that James Allan would serve as Tutor and Thomas Thompson would serve as sub-Tutor. The petitions were approved on March 6, 1848[x].
Establishing Genealogical Proof
This discovery has now meant a revision to our respective family histories in that Elizabeth Allan was a direct ancestor of both Kylie (through Robert Thompson) and our family line (through James Wood). The guardianship papers (original records) are legal documents. Care was taken to ensure the information was complete and correct. They provided the best direct evidence to support our connection.
Obviously, some of our previous research was based on faulty information, records that had seemed to indicate that there were two women named Elizabeth Allan. Since the old research findings conflicted with the information contained in the guardianship papers, they needed to be resolved before we could say that we had “proved” our new finding. Those conflicts were:
- Kylie’s Elizabeth was able to sign her name while Bette’s Elizabeth, a spinster at the time of her marriage, signed with her mark:
- The minister of St Gabriel’s for both Elizabeth’s marriage to James Wood and the baptism of their daughter Elizabeth was the same person, Rev. Henry Esson. I have worked for the Lutheran Church and know several pastors who fill out the pertinent register information prior to the event, whether it be a marriage, baptism or funeral. It saves time as they need only direct the parties to add their signatures at the appropriate moment and, voila, the entry is complete!
- Esson likely erred in recording that Elizabeth was a spinster rather than a widow. He probably assumed she couldn’t write (a commonality in those times, especially for women) and so wrote her name and then directed her to make her mark. I wonder if she was the least bit ticked by his assumption.
- The date of July 2, 1876 given for Elizabeth’s death in the Thompson Family Bible does not match the guardianship document’s 1848 death date:
- This was a conflict that was quickly cleared up. The Bible entry was most likely made by Thomas Thompson’s wife, Jane Huston, as it matched the date for the death of her mother Isabella Nicholson. No name had been recorded in the Bible. The entry had simply referred to “my mother” and was on a separate page from that compiled by Thomas. The cursive style on the two pages is very similar and the family logically thought that the statements were made by Thomas in reference to his parents.
Further Research
Three further pieces of information have come to light. The first is an earlier guardianship document which was signed by Elizabeth and which concerned her minor children by Robert Thompson. She gave the date of his death as July 9, 1832. It’s possible that Robert, who was about 32 years old, died during the cholera epidemic that swept through the Montreal area in that year. In that guardianship document filed in January 1842[xi], Elizabeth indicated that her husband died intestate and she successfully petitioned to become the sole guardian for Thomas, Grace and Agnes Thompson. Of the family and friends who were summoned (including her brothers James of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Andrew of Granby and Francis of Farnham) her new husband James Wood was not named and a question now is whether he died prior to 1842.
The second piece of information concerns Elizabeth’s death date and burial. An entry for the burial of Elizabeth Allan from St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church[xii] reports that she died on February 20, 1848 and was buried on February 24. A register for St Mary’s Protestant Burial Ground which was located on Papineau near St Catherine, confirms that “Elizabeth Allan, wife of James Woods [sic], died on the 20th aged 51 Years, and was buried on the 24th by the Revd Mr Dr Matheson [minister of St Andrew’s].” She was buried in a single grave and the cost paid was 13/4.[xiii] The Papineau cemetery no longer exists. Together with the adjacent Papineau Military Cemetery, St Mary’s Protestant Burial Ground (English B Ground) is no longer in use as a cemetery and is now part of Parc des Vétérans located at 1655 ave Papineau.[xiv]
Finally, I have once again to correct a statement written in our family history book. My chapter on James Allan focussed on the use of the traditional Scottish naming pattern as a means of finding the family’s origin point in Scotland. This is what I wrote:
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to locate a family in Scotland with a father “Robert Allan” and mother listed as either “Janet”, “Grace”, “Ann” or “Jean”. A complication for my theory is that James Allan’s sister, Elizabeth Allan Wood, named her first daughter Elizabeth. That just proves that one can’t take a naming pattern as law.[xv]
I stand by my argument that naming patterns are not always followed. However, it turns out in Elizabeth’s case that she did indeed use the naming pattern for her children:
- Thomas (eldest son named for his paternal grandfather Thomas Thompson)
- Robert Allan (second son named for his maternal grandfather Robert Allan—this son died before 1842 as he was not named in Elizabeth’s 1842 guardianship petition.)
- Grace (first daughter named for her maternal grandmother Grace Mackie)
- Agnes (second daughter named for her paternal grandmother Agnes Fleming)
- Elizabeth (third daughter named most likely for her mother Elizabeth Allan)
- James (third son named most likely for his father James Wood)
As to my original question, “Why Thompson?”, our great grandmother was no doubt named in honour of her maternal aunt and her mother Elizabeth Wood’s sister, Agnes Thompson (1831-1886; married George Laing).
And now you know the rest of the story.
[i] Sproule, Robert Auchmuty, Saint-James Street, Montreal, 1830, Object Number M300, McCord-Stewart Museum. Watercolour, graphite and ink on paper mounted on board (https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/11398/saintjames-street-montreal : accessed 16 Feb 2023).
[ii] James Allan Household, 1851 Census of Canada East, Montreal, Schedule A; Roll: C-1129; Page 37, lines 22-23, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa; (Ancestry.ca, “1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia” database-on-line, Canada East (Quebec), Montreal County, Enfant Jésus, Image 37; accessed 16 Feb 2023). Note: The 1851 Census actually began 12 Jan 1852 in Quebec.
[iii] Dalrymple-Wood Marriage, Congrégation Ėvangelique Française, 1854, Folio 3 in Drouin Collection, Institut Généalogique Drouin, Montreal, QC; (Ancestry.ca, “Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Image 3 ; accessed 16 Feb 2023). Note: Elizabeth Wood is recorded as being the “daughter of the late James Wood and the late Elizabeth Allan his wife….”
[iv] Tweedy Household, 1861 Canada East Census, Montreal (Ste-Anne), QC, Roll C-1234, Montreal, Page 224, lines 1-7; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa; (“1861 Census of Canada”, Ancestry.ca, Canada East, Montreal, Image 898; accessed 16 Feb 2023).
[v] Birth and Death Entries, Thompson Family Bible, two separate pages copied from Thomas’s Bible by a descendant. Posted 7 May 2022 on Ancestry.com by Kylie Head who received a photocopy of the pages in 2021 from descendant Robert Thompson. Information shared with Kylie’s permission.
[vi] Thomas Thompson Baptism, St Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC, 1825, Folio 32 in Drouin Collection, (Ancestry.ca, Image 34; accessed 16 Feb 2023).
[vii] Thomson-Allan Marriage, St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Chambly, QC, 1824, Folio 4 in Drouin Collection; (Ancestry.ca, Image 5; accessed 16 Feb 2023). Note: Witnesses appear to be Andrew Allan, James Allan and James Macky.
[viii] Wood-Allan Marriage, St Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC, 1833, Folio 46 in Drouin Collection, (Ancestry.ca, Image 48; accessed 16 Feb 2023.) Note: Witnesses were Andrew Allan and Jane Aton.
[ix] Elizabeth Wood Baptism, St Gabriel’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC, 1834, Folio 82 in Drouin Collection; (Ancestry.ca, Image 83; accessed 16 Feb 2023).
[x]Thompson and Wood Minor Children, “Tutelles et curatelles, district judiciaire de Montréal, 1658-août 1871, Quebec Cour Supérieure, St-Foy, QC Ministère affaires culturelles, Archives nationales du Québec, 1985-1987 (FamilySearch.org, 3 janv 1848-31 mars 1848, Film 2372364, Img Group 8360099, Images 1004-1014; accessed 17 Feb 2023).
[xi] Thompson Minor Children, “Tutelles et curatelles” (FamilySearch.org, 3 mai 1842-30 déc 1842; 7 janv 1842-30 avril 1842, Film 2372348, Img Group 8806124, Images 698-700; accessed 17 Feb 2023).
[xii] Elizabeth Allan Burial, St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, QC, 1848, Folio 11 in Drouin Collection; (Ancestry.ca, Image 12; accessed 17 Feb 2023).
[xiii] Elizabeth Allan Woods Burial, Quebec Family History Society [QFHS], Early Cemeteries of Montreal, 2022, Members’ Indexed Database for St Mary’s Protestant Burial Ground (1815-1854), Register R4, 1848, Film Image IMG_0471 (qfhs.ca; accessed online 17 Feb 2023).
[xiv] St Mary’s Protestant Burial Ground (English B Ground), excerpt from R.W.S. MacKay (ed), Topigraphical and pictorial map of the city of Montreal, 1846, Collection Saint-Sulpice; (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BanQ), https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2244457; accessed 18 Feb 2023). Website for “Parc des Vétérans”, Ville Marie (https://montreal.ca/lieux/parc-des-veterans; accessed 18 Feb 2023).
[xv] Bette Smith, Dorothy J. Smith, Margaret Goldik, Where We Are: Threads in the Family Tapestry (L’Île-Perrot, QC: Corner Studio/Coin du Studio, 2023), 265.
Tatting the Family Threads... 