Peter Smith
ID # 8104, (1802-1858)
| Birth | Peter Smith was born in April 1802. |
| Marriage | He married Lydia Weaver. |
| Death | He died on 6 October 1858 at age 56. |
| Burial | He was buried at St. George Baptist Cemetery, Burt Rd., South Dumfries Twp. |
| Note | There are two Baptist church cemeteries in South Dumfries. One is on Burt Road and is known as the St. George Baptist Cemetery. The other is on Highway 99 and is known as the Governor's Road Baptist Cemetery. Peter and son John are in the St. George Cemetery on Burt Road. Lydia is probably buried there as well, though a direct record of this has not been found. The Brant County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has done a transcription of this cemetery. For son John's gravestone the transcription shows John to be the son of Peter and 'Evdra'. A photograph of this gravestone survives at CanGenWeb. 'Evdra' is certainly a mistranscription. The correct reading of the stone shows John to be the son of Peter and Lydia. The transcription for Peter's gravestone agrees with a quite readable photograph that appears on CanGenWeb. It reads: Peter Smith / died 6th Oct 1858 / aged 56 yrs 6 mos. Notes for Peter Smith C5-L8 South Dumfries See Onland.ca, Brant (02), South Dumfries Book A Pages 150 to 301 Image 146 and 147 Line 4 Brant A 191 Bargain & Sale Aug 31, 1854. Regd Dec. 5, 1854 Thomas Clark Street etc to Peter Smith /100 acres South half, including all roads and surviving devisees in trust of Hon. Robt. Dickson. Line 5 Relates to a mortgage obtained by Peter Smith from Absalom Shade This is dated April 3, 1858. The right hand page states an amount in sterling that is not entirely legible, but states that the mortgage has been discharged. Lines 10 and 11 are not entirely understood. They are dated 1862 and 1865 and appear to relate to heirs of Peter Smith clearing up matters with Lydia in her favour. There are several other mortgages shown against Lydia, but which appear to have been cleared up. This is not a complete story of the lot so far as the Smith family is concerned. It may be that Firman Smith remained on the lot for the two years of his life that he had left after the death of his mother in 1892. The Tremaine map of Brant County is dated 1858 and, egregious hole in the available image aside, appears to confirm the presence of Peter Smith on lot 8 of concession 5. The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project quotes from an 1875 atlas and shows P. Smith on the same lot. Of course, Peter is dead by this time. The Abstract Index would appear to show Lydia as the owner of the lot. A will was probated for Lydia Smith of South Dumfries in 1892. This per a Brant County surrogate court index which shows the will probate nbr as 1551, though no other information is given. This will may possibly be found at the Archives of Ontario. No will index has been found for Peter Smith. He died in 1858. At least in theory, by 1858, the newly established county of Brant should have a court house and perhaps other buildings. Peter may indeed have had a will which might possibly have been filed with the old Gore District in Hamilton, but, by 1858, the chances of this are dim. He probably died intestate. Sometimes an Abstract Index will take note of a will when property is transferred. No mention of this is to be found on the Abstract Index for C5-L8. Some ancillary notes: The 1842 census for the Gore District shows Peter Smith on C5-L8. The owner, however, is shown as Robert Dickson. (By the way, a John Smith is shown on C4-L8 and owned by Walter Dickson. These two Dicksons were family of William Dickson, the founder of Dumfries Township.) Both the Archives of Ontario and Familysearch show this reel of 1842 as being that of St. Davids Ward in Toronto City. Disregard this. It's most definitely Dumfries Township in the Gore District well prior to its being divided into North and South Dumfries. One has but to familiarize oneself with the worthies of the township to grasp this. Not to mention that the pages also show residents of such places as Galt and Paris. St. Davids Ward in Toronto City has nothing to do with it. Andrew W. Taylor wrote Our Todays and Yesterdays. An early edition of this book was written in 1952 to celebrate the 100 anniversary of North Dumfries Township. To hand is an updated copy from 1970. This includes a township assessment for old Dumfries Township for the year of 1834, before it was divided into North and South Dumfries. This 1834 assessment includes the name of Peter Smith. It also includes names like Vroman and Kitchen and Lawrason, names of persons of undoubted 'South' Dumfries connection. The 1834 assessment as presented by Taylor does not show concession or lot numbers. Whether it did so on the original is unknown. For the following see at Archives of Ontario, MS700 reel 1: The Dumfries Township assessment of 1832 also includes Peter Smith, though this appears to locate him on lot 7 of the 2nd concession. This assessment was actually limited to recording persons and property to the east of the Grand River. This assessment also includes a William Weaver. The entry is a bit faded, but it's clear enough that it reads Concession 2, lot 7. As for the Abstract Index as made available by Onland.ca, Peter Smith's name does not appear on this record nor on adjoining lots. This 1832 township assessment shows Peter with 80 acres of wild lands and 20 acres of cultivated. It's a guess, but since his name isn't on the Abstract Index, he was probably leasing. For the following, refer to Men of Upper Canada, Militia Nominal Rolls, 1828-1829, by Elliott, Walker, and Stratford-Devai. This was published by the Toronto branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in 1995. Particularly, see page 72. Peter Smith was with the 4th regiment of Gore Militia as of 1828. This regiment was drawn from the townships of Dumfries, Beverly, Waterloo & Woolwich. The list shows his name with Dumfries worthies. The militia assembled once a year on the king's birthday. They would have attended a drill field and Peter probably traveled with friends and neighbours which would have occasioned their names being listed together. |
Children of Peter Smith and Lydia Weaver |
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| Last Edited | 9 Jul 2020 |