The Grim Reaper

Obviously, since I have over 12,000 individuals in my family database, we can be assured that the great majority of them have long since gone on to their eternal rest.  However, in some cases, a story accompanies their demise that may be sad, funny or merely interesting.  Here are some of those stories:

Grave of Caleb & Mary Peers
and their 6 children who
died in 1860

Caleb and Mary Peers:  Caleb Peers was the grandson of our Loyalist ancestor, Alexander Peers and Mary Bolding.  He was born in 1814 and lived in the Wallace area.  In 1835, he married Mary Shields, a young colleen just of the boat from Ireland.  The two went on to have a family of 15 children but the poignant entries in their history are as follows:

Nov 16, 1860 - John Peers age 12 - died of diphtheria
Nov 23 1860 - Alexander Peers age 10 - died of diphtheria
Nov 30, 1860 - Leonora Peers age 9 - died of diphtheria
Dec 24, 1860 - Eleanor Peers age 8 - died of diphtheria
Dec 24, 1860 - Catherine Peers age 7 - died of diphtheria
Dec 25, 1860 - Olivia Peers age 5 - died of diphtheria

After 1860, Caleb and Mary went on to have 5 more children.

Death Register for Raymond
Metcalfe Bragg

Raymond Metcalfe Bragg - brother to Elmer Bragg of Collingwood died of a burst appendix on the kitchen table of his parent's home while being operated on.

Lizzie Bragg, daughter of John Bragg, Esq and Jane Rogers died of consumption shortly after the birth of her youngest child.

Drowned

William John Campbell - father of our great grandmother, Flora Ann Campbell Beattie Gamble - 1860 in the Bay of Fundy - just off Portaupique.
William Beattie - Adoptive father of our great grandmother, Flora Ann Campbell Beattie Gamble - in 1871 on the Bay of Fundy aboard the ship PRATT.
William Cooke - Uncle of our great grandmother, Esther Cooke Gamble - in 1766 - in the Bay of Fundy
Lemuel Palmer - died in a pond on the farm.
Jonathan Teed - in the Northumberland Strait

Suicide

William Swallow

Killed in Action

Sergeant Belden Treen - Vimy Ridge 1918
Lance Corporal Burton Treen - as a result of mustard gas - 1919
Flight Lieutenant David Gamble - Korean War - shot down
Private Frank William Langille -1917 France
Pilot Officer Douglas Waldo Peers - shot down in France 1944
Private Stanley Treen - 1916 Belgium



Accidents

Frank Leslie Gamble Sr - Car Accident in 1933 in Massachusetts
Frank Leslie Gamble Jr. - Fell from a roof - 1941 - suffered a fainting spell and fell 23 feet.
David Swallow - Hit by Train near Wentworth Station in 1874
Hedley Vickers Swallow - was a train conductor and was run over by a train in 1905 in Massachusetts
Samuel Teed - Fell from a load of hay on the home farm in 1766
Howard Treen - Farming Accident in Saskatchewan - 1918
Thomas Arthur Treen - Scalding in 1868 at age 1.
John Brown & his infant daughter, Susannah Brown - struck by lightening - 1790 at Wallace.

Flora Ann Campbell
Beattie Gamble
1868 - 1890

Died Giving Birth
Amy Ann Wilson 1930
Susannah Simmonds Campbell - 1858
Flora Ann Campbell Beattie Gamble - 1890

Almost every family lost at least one child before the age of 10.  The next hurdle was the late teens and early 20s when many of the young people succumbed to consumption.  But on the whole the main cause of death throughout the centuries was old age.  Bless them all!