My grandmother wrote this short history of the Burwell family on Eden Line in Bayham Township, Elgin County, Ontario. My guess is she wrote it about 1966. I came across it on the Elgin County Archives site.
The Burwell Family
(Contributed by Mrs. Chas. Burwell, Tillsonburg, Ont.)
Among the pioneers of Eden district was Joseph Norton. He was born in Boston Mass. and came as a young man, after the death of his parents, to these parts and lived with the Dobie’s for some time. From them, he bought land which he cleared and built up into the old homestead on which his great-grandson Wilford Burwell now resides, west of Eden about 2 miles.
He married a young Highland Scottish maiden named Mary Younglove who was at Simcoe. He, taking among other provisions for the journey, bread baked by Mrs. Dobie and going by ox-team and sled down the Talbot road which had been surveyed out by Col. Thomas Talbot and Col. Mahlon Burwell. He brought his bride back to this farm home and farmed successfully for many years. He died in 1895, at the age of 90 being pre-deceased by his wife in 1888.
The couple had two daughters, Melissa Jane and Ada Ann. Melissa married William David Stilwell. To this union were born four children, Joseph Norton Stilwell, Mary Helen, Agnes and Rachel. The first two died very young. Agnes married Charles Moore and Rachael died suddenly and was buried on her 18th birthday.
Across the road from the Norton’s lived Mr. and Mrs. Howard Johnston the latter nee – Maria Burwell whose brother Hercules while visiting them, became acquainted with Ada Ann Norton. And in course of time, the two married, he being the son of Lewis Mahlon Burwell and Levonia Williams, sister of the Thomas Williams who founded the Thomas Williams Home in St. Thomas. Lewis Mahlon was first cousin to the above mentioned Col. Mahlon Burwell.
To Hercules and Ada were born James Silas, Ada Larreau, Levonia (Mrs. Chancy Clark), Lewis Mahlon, Charles Hercules, Merritt Lee, Frederick William (Wilford’s father), Wilson Garfield, Peter Dwight and a baby not named. Ada Larreau, Lewis Mahlon and the baby died very young.
Their parents settled on a farm about a mile west of Eden, in fact next farm west of the Fred Chandler place. They cleared it and built buildings and set out fruit trees, making it into a nice, comfortable home. Then when the great epidemic of influenza swept the country in 1890 he died on Pneumonia on Feb. 14th at the age of 41 leaving his wife with five young children to raise alone. This she faithfully did, and when the boys were grown they decided to move the buildings out to the front of the place. They had been back on the side-road before, and the place never looked so homey afterward. Their mother died from Diabetes in July 1912, in her 64th year. This family of 8 children are now all passed on.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Johnston lived many years on the farm across from the Norton’s or where Grover Ketchabaw lives now. They sold it to Silas Burwell, who was then a young man. They moved to Fingal where Mr. Johnston died. Then Mrs. Johnston came back to Eden again and lived with her daughter Mrs. Charles Allemand, south of Eden, until her death in her 103rd year.
Norton-Burwell Farm
My grandfather wrote about the farm on the Big Otter Creek where he grew up in his poem My Old Valley Home (see more poems)
Here is what it looks like today, from Google satellite. Looks like the old house has been torn down and a new one built. Wilford Burwell lived in the original house until his death in 2004. It was sold after his wife Madge died in 2009. So, nearly 200 years after Joseph Norton cleared the land, the property is no longer in the hands of his descendants.
Johnston-Burwell Farm
Silas Burwell bought his Aunt Maria’s farm across the road and rebuilt the house about 1915. His wife was Alice Kennedy, whose siblings were Joseph, Clara and Ida May.
Joseph Kennedy was friends with the Burwell brothers (more photos here). Clara and Ida May Kennedy married Chandler brothers Edward John and Alexander. Fred Chandler was their brother, so brother-in-law by marriage to Silas.
Burwell-Kennedy-Chandler Families
After Silas and Alice Burwell died, Grover Ketchabaw bought their farm. Silas and Alice had no children but still their house managed to keep connected to his family. Murray Ketchabaw, one of Grover’s sons married Wilford Burwell’s sister Mildred. The son of Grover’s daughter now owns Silas’ farm.
A mile west of Eden
The mystery for me in Grandma’s story is in the second last paragraph. “They” moved to a farm about a mile west of Eden, just west of Fred Chandler’s farm. Who moved? It sounds like Hercules and Ada Ann, whose dates of death match those Grandma gives in that same paragraph. But their son Fred Burwell, who took over their farm beside the Big Otter, didn’t marry until 1916, which was after the death of both his parents. I never knew that the family lived anywhere on the Eden Line other than in that house.
Two stories about the Chandler family are also in the Elgin County Archives. They start on the fourth page of the pdf. The permalink for my grandmother’s story seems to have disappeared.
Pamela
4 Mar 2024Hello! My second great grandfather is William Carmichael Kennedy who is the brother of Ida May Kennedy, Alice Kennedy and Joseph Kennedy. I loved seeing the pictures including them on your website. I have a few other pictures of Ida May Kennedy and Alex Chandler if you are interested, and also have a picture of an old farm which I understand may have been the family homestead but I can’t identify the location.
Also, on your Burwell-Kennedy-Chandler chart it’s probably already there but not coming through: Wesley Kennedy married Anna Orilla Hayes. William Chandler married Susan Shrubsole. Thanks for your website!
Dorothy
5 Mar 2024Hi, Pamela. I’m not sure if the family chart was visible to you (I’ve had image loading problems). But I realized it had the wrong parents for the Kennedy siblings so I deleted it. My database has the correct information, as you give it. I will do a new chart when I can and repost it. Meanwhile, I added a photo of Alex and Ida Chandler from the Elgin County archives site that I found while sorting this out. Thank you for your help!