George Main
ID # 1407, (1814-1890)
| Father | Philip Main (1786-1872) |
| Mother | Elizabeth (--?--) |
| Baptism | George Main was baptized in 1814 at Canada. |
| Marriage | He married Margaret Ann Chandler. |
| Marriage | He married Margaret Vrooman, daughter of Arents Schuyler Depeyster Vrooman and Mary Douglas. |
| Marriage | He married Margaret Hamilton on 1 May 1849 at Preston, Waterloo Twp., Wellington District. Wellington County Marriage Register Marriages by Rev'd Jacob Huttner Minister of the Lutheran Church in Preston George Main, 34, to Margareth Hamilton, 23, both of Waterloo. 1 May 1849, by licence. |
| Death | He died on 24 June 1890 at Galt, Ontario. |
| Burial | He was buried at Sheffield Cemetery. |
| Note | We have sufficient information to say that George Main Sr's father was Philip Main. It's believed that his mother's maiden name was Weaver and there is evidence that her given name was Elizabeth. We have somewhat better information as to the three known wives of George Main Sr., but a marriage registration has survived only for his marriage to Margaret Hamilton. His marriage to Margaret Chandler was early enough that it was not recorded in a surviving district marriage register. Any record of his marriage to Margaret Vrooman appears lost in the era between the end of the use of district marriage registers and the beginning of the use of county marriage registers. A church record may exist, or a newspaper record. Until then, for such information as we have, we are dependent on records that we find for their children, such as marriage or death registrations, which provide minimal parental information. It should be noted that, for the most part, the 1851 census for Beverly Township has not survived. There are 1851 agricultural census pages for Beverly that have survived and these seem to indicate a Main family presence in Beverly at that time (actually January of 1852) on lot 9 of the 3rd concession of Beverly. This lot is mentioned in the will of George Main Sr. Since the family was in North Dumfries in 1871 and living in Galt from the time of the census of 1881, just who was living on this lot in later years isn't clear, but it's evident that it had not passed from George's ownership. Information provided by George's children in Michigan provide mixed information for George's place of birth. Rather consistently, Margaret Chandler's place of birth is given as New York (presumeably the state). George's birth place is shown as Pennsylvania in census information for his Michigan children. His son Emerson Main in Galt gave George's place of birth as Pennsylvania on George's death registration. George himself on the other hand, in Canadian census information, places his birth in Canada West. Cornell's history of the Pioneers of Beverly places the family's origins in New Jersey and Cornell is a fairly reliable historian, but - it isn't clear just where George was born. Since George himself, apparently, in later censuses placed his birth in Canada West this is shown in this tree. We do not know for a fact that George was the information giver when the census taker came to call, so, for the time being, we'll show George as being born in Canada, but it should be noted that this information is not agreed with by other family members. There is one other connection that may be mentioned here. Most, though not all, of George Main and Margaret Chandler's children went to Mecosta County in Michigan, apparently at some point after the Civil War. They are not there at the time of the 1860 U.S. census, but are by the time of the 1870 census. In 1869, at Millbrook Township in Mecosta, there died an Ellen Smith, age 62, born Canada. Her death date was May 3rd. Her parents' names are shown as Philip and Elizabeth Main, residing Canada. There can be no question that she is the sister of George Main. At First Presbyterian Church in Galt on 19 November, 1838, there was a marriage performed for Milo Smith and Leny Main, both of Dumfries. The witnesses were George Main and Anne Main. We find Leny, or Lany, Smith in Beverly Township in the 1861 census. She is the wife of Milo Smith. It appears that they went to Mecosta Township with their family at some time after the end of the Civil War. Information is conflicting. For example, Ellen's death registration shows her age as 62 in 1869; in the 1861 census at Beverly, she is shown as age 44. Lowballing age was not an uncommon practice of the day, so we need not dwell on the point. Milo Smith died in Hinton, Mecosta, in 1879 at age 82. This makes him older than the 1861 census in Beverly which shows him as 56. The 1861 census places Milo's birth in the U.S. The death registration places his birth in Canada. There's room for error, but it seems likely that we are looking at one and the same family. Looking at the 1861 Beverly census, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Leny is the daughter of Philip Main, for one of the Smith children is Philip and another is Elizabeth. |
Children of George Main and Margaret Ann Chandler |
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Child of George Main and Margaret Vrooman |
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Children of George Main and Margaret Hamilton |
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| Last Edited | 2 Nov 2018 |