Agnes Briggs Smith

Oxford County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society provides a transcription of the marriage of William Lawson and Agnes Briggs Smith. He is said to be of Zorra Township and she of Paris in the Gore District. They were married 10 April 1844 by Rev. William Bettridge. The witness were William S. Light, Margaret Birley, and Arnold Burrowes. This marriage was held at Old St. Paul's Church in Woodstock.

Mention is made of Witness William Smart Light in the notes for William Lawson. He was involved in the raid in the Niagara River that torched the Caroline which was being used by supporters of William Lyon MacKenzie. Arnold Burrowes held land in the Brantford area and he was a great friend of Admiral Van Sittart, the founder of Woodstock. Burrowes died at the Van Sittart home. Something of Burrowes' life is to be found in the book Herons and Cobblestones, Jean Farquharson, Paris, Ontario, 2003.

The first record that we have of Charles de Blaquiere's marriage to Agnes is to be found in William D. Reid's Marriage Notices of Ontario, Hunterdon House, Lambertville, New Jersey, 1980. Page 319 quotes extracts from the Toronto Globe edition of 13 September, 1848. This tells that on the 1st instant (September 1st) at Guelph (see note below) C. De Blaquiere married Agness, widow of the late William Lawson. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. Mr. Ruttan.

The clergyman was Rev. Charles Ruttan, an Anglican minister, who was at St. James Church in Paris between 1848 and 1855.

Agness' surname is spelled with a double 'S'.

The above statement that the couple was married in Guelph is an error, probably confused with another marriage in the newspaper's brief list that was held in Guelph.

The Globe extraction does not show Agnes' maiden name, but we may say that her full name was Agnes Briggs Smith. See Agnes' main notes.

The Toronto Globe's edition of Wednesday, September 13, 1848, is available to Toronto library card holders via Proquest which has the Globe's archives. This in fact tells that the couple was married at Paris. This makes sense, for in the land transaction contracted between William Lawson, Agnes' first husband, and Andrew Toshack Smith (probably Agnes' father) as well as William Smart Light, in which part of the deal was that Lawson marry Agnes, Andrew Toshack Smith is said to be of Dumfries Township where Paris is located.