George McLeish

ID # 8485, (1772-1847)
Pedigree
BirthGeorge McLeish was born in 1772 at Scotland. 
MarriageHe married Margaret Erskine. 
DeathHe died on 19 January 1847 at East Dumfries, Gore District, Canada West. 
NoteHe We fall back on a mixed assortment of sources for the McLeish family. Much is to be found in the records of First Church (at the time Presbyterian) in Galt though it should be noted that First's records have their limitations. Your researcher will also ask interested McLeish descendants to bear with one or two interpretations and conclusions which, while proof is lacking, are likely correct.

By the time of the 1851 census in North Dumfries Township of Waterloo County, George McLeish Sr., the family's patriarch in Canada, is not to be found. His wife Margaret McLeish appears. She is shown as a widow and farmer, age 59. At least some of her family is with her. Son William, age 22, shown as born in the United States, is present and it is only with this census wherein we find a census record for him, for he died in 1859.

Present with Margaret in this census are:

Isabel, age 31, born Scotland
William, age 22, born United States.
Mary, age 22, born Scotland (place of birth as shown is dubious)
Agnes, age 17, born Canada
George, age 13, born Canada
Robert, age 4, born Canada

As to whether Robert is actually Margaret's son may be open to some question. Margaret's age on her death registration shows her as being 84 as of her death in 1877. If her death registration is correct, and this does agree with the inscription on her gravestone, then she probably isn't Robert's birth mother. (See notes for Robert.)

As for the available records of First Church (see microfilm LCM-30 at the United Church of Canada Archives), marriages are recorded back to 1835 and baptisms to 1834. A difficulty with the baptisms is that while the children's names and dates of baptism are given, the parents are not named. None of this would be a difficulty were there only one McLeish family at First Church. Nothing to suggest that otherwise was the case has been found, but it isn't beyond possibility.

Finally, records of deaths only begin in 1855. There seems to be some completion of entries for a time, but later entries seem rather hit and miss, though by the time that this is so there are usually death registrations to fall back on.

The records of First Church's communicants are a bit mixed. There are two excellent pages of records for the year 1824. There are no later records until 1889, though there is a later series that is of some assistance.

Which brings us back to George McLeish.

As mentioned above, by the time of the 1851 census (begun in January of 1852), Margaret McLeish is a widow. The Glanbrook Heritage Society website has an excellent run of birth, marriage, and death notices extracted from the Hamilton Spectator going back to 1847. In this year, the January 27 edition of the newspaper records the death of George McLeish of East Dumfries on Tuesday the 19th instant at age 74.

There was no administrative entity named East Dumfries. Rather, this term was used to describe the portion of Dumfries Township that was east of the Grand River. Considering later census information for the family, it seems safe to say that George and family were located in what became North Dumfries, a township in the newly formed Waterloo County.

(Dumfries was one township when it was a part of the old Gore District. The township was not divided into north and south until the county system was established. North Dumfries became a part of Waterloo County and South Dumfries became a part of Brant.)

For the association of George and Margaret McLeish with First Church, we may cast back to 1824. There are two pages upon which communicants of First's congregation are listed. George McLeish and Margaret McLeish are listed consecutively on separate lines.

After that, church information is limited, but not nonexistant. For example, an Agnes McLeish was baptized on February 16, 1834. As well, a May McLeish was baptized on May 30, 1842. No further record of May has been found, but, with the information to hand, it seems safe to say that in some manner she was a member of the family.

The next family member for whom we have a record is for William McLeish and his death. For this, we have three sources.

First, we have the death records for First Church. This tells that William McLeish died 22 August, 1859, age 29. Second, we have an excerpt from the Berlin Chronicle edition of 30 August, 1859, which tells of the death of William McLeish on 21 August, 1859, in East Dumfries. This was on a Sunday night after a brief illness. And, third, we have a death notice as it appeared in the Dumfries Reformer edition of 24 August, 1859. This tells of the death of William McLeish on the 21st of August in North Dumfries.

It seems reasonable to believe that there was also a Margaret McLeish, for we find Isabell, mentioned above, in the home of Duncan Shepherd at the time of the 1891 census. Isabell died later that same year. Also in the census was Margaret Sheppard. She was the widow of Duncan Shepherd Sr. They are buried in Section 3 of Mountview Cemetery. Margaret's name is given as McLeish and since Isabel McLeish finished up her life with the Shepherds we must believe Margaret to be her sister.

With all of the above, what we do not have is a place of burial for William or his father George.

And at this point I beg the reader's patience with an opinion.

It's quite obvious from the foregoing that the McLeish family had a firm connection with First Church. During most of these years First's minister was Rev. James Strang. First Church had a cemetery at what was known as High Park in Galt in your researcher's youth, but is now known as Centennial Park. This is high on the moraine on the east side of the Grand River and overlooks the downtown of the Galt portion of what is today the city of Cambridge. In the mid 1800s, this was known to Galt people as Strang's Burying Ground. Margaret Erskine, George McLeish's wife, is buried in Section 4 of Mountview Cemetery in Galt. George McLeish Jr. is buried here as well. Mountview Cemetery, which is on Blenheim Road, is well away from the Grand River on the west side of town.

Which brings us to a bit of Galt cemetery history.

The Galt Cemetery, so known, was established in July of 1868 on Blenheim Road, at which time, so the story goes, burials in the two Presbyterian cemeteries in Galt, First and St. Andrews, ceased. The First Church cemetery was deemed to be in rundown condition as of the mid 1880s and so a 'dig' was arranged and both stones and remains were removed from the old Strang's Burying Ground to the Galt Cemetery, which was renamed Mountview in 1886.

Not all remains were found. That's another story. And in the 1950s, next door to High Park, an apartment building was built. It is understood that at the time, quite a pile of old gravestones were found on on the site and they were apparently carted away without ceremony for use elsewhere as building rubble.

Margaret died and was buried in Galt Cemetery in 1877 since burials were no longer being received at First's cemetery. We have no direct stated proof for this, but your researcher must believe that George and his son William were buried in First Church cemetery and their stones at least and probably as well their remains never got moved. The family burials may also have included one or two sons or daughters who died quite young. The Waterloo branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has transcribed Mountview Cemetery and they recorded burial cards as well and no McLeish family members have been found that died prior to the establishment of the Galt/Mountview Cemetery. If there is another explanation, it eludes me.

Land notes:

The 1832 census and assessment for 'East Dumfries' (Dumfries Township east ofthe Grand River) shows George McLeish on lot 4 of the 8th concession. He is shown as having 100 acres of wild land and 50 acres of cultivated land.

Onland.ca does have a photo of the abstract index for this lot and it is no doubt correct in terms of the McLeish family. The origin of this AI is unknown. It does not tell the full story. It seems to gloss over the era between the District and County administrations. A fuller storied abstract index might be found at the Archives of Ontario on microfilm prefixed GSU, but it could also take some searching, for the available Abstract Index has been found on two sources. (This is not the place for a discussion of A.I.'s. It does go on a bit.)

What the available AI fails to show is when George McLeish Sr. purchased the family farm, namely at least a portion of lot 4 on concession 8. What does appear and which is dated December 28, 1860, is something called a Rel. Dower from Margaret McLeish to George A. McLeish (no doubt George Jr.) The entries that then follows are all earlier dated in 1860 and related to quit claims from George's siblings - interestingly everyone but Robert.

Near the end of the list is a B & S (bargain and sale) from William Dickson, dated March 1, 1860, again to George McLeish (who we must believe to be junior), and, finally, a mortgage in favour of Margaret McLeish, who we must believe to be George's mother, and the value of the mortgage is described as an annuity.

There's more to the story, but would probably looking through registers of deeds for the old Gore District. This is not an impossible exercise, but could be incredibly tedious with no assurance of success. For anyone wanting to tackle it, the deed registers are probably on microfilm reels prefixing GSU, lists of which are to be found in the AO's reading room. 

Children of George McLeish and Margaret Erskine
Last Edited22 Feb 2022