Jen's Genealogy Pages

Amy Johnson Crow, on her blog No Story Too Small, has challenged her fellow bloggers to post 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This is week thirteen.

My great-great grandfather William John Richardson was born on September 19, 1865 and baptized on October 8 of that same year. His parents were John and Charlotte (Jackman) Richardson and the family lived on Rushey Green in Lewisham, Kent, England. John was a gardener.

On the 1871 census, William is living with his parents, John (50) and Charlotte (33) at Waterloo Place. John is listed as an agricultural labourer.  Susannah (8) and William (5) are scholars. Thomas (3) and Alfred (1) are too young for school.

On the 1881 census, William is shown living at 4 Maybank Cottages with his widowed mother, Charlotte (44) and several siblings. Charlotte is a mangler (laundress) and the head of the household. Susannah (18) is a general servant, William (15) is a nurseryman’s boy, Alfred (11) and Charlotte (8) are scholars and then there is Frederick (2). Both Thomas and father John passed away sometime between 1871 and 1881.

Next door to the Richardsons were Charles and Ellen Lusty and their family, including 16-year-old daughter and domestic servant Rebecca Lusty. In November 1882, Rebecca and William were married. (And the following month William’s sister Susannah married Rebecca’s brother Charles.)

Very shortly after they were married, in January 1883, William and Rebecca welcomed their first child, daughter Rebecca Alice. She was the first of what would eventually be 10 children.

The family emigrated to Canada in 1887. On September 18, William and Rebecca, along with Rebecca (4), William (2) and Alfred (1) arrived in Quebec City, Quebec on board the Polynesian. It appears that William’s brother George and his family were also on board. William was listed as an agricultural labourer.

By 1891, William (26) and Rebecca (25) were living in St. Paul’s Ward in Toronto, Ontario. Children at that point included Rebecca (8), William (5), Alfred (4), Rosey (2) and John (5 months).

In 1901, William (35) and Rebecca (35) were still living in Toronto, along with William (16), Alfred (14), Rosina (12), John (10), Albert (8), Martha (5) and Charles (3). My great- grandmother Rebecca was already married by that point and no longer in the family home.

In 1911, William – listed as John (46) – and Rebecca (45) were living at 95 Jersey Avenue in Toronto with Alfred (24), Rose (22), John (20), Albert (18), Martha (15), Charles (13), Edward (9) and Ellen (4). John was a contractor.

The 1921 census shows William (56) and Rebecca (55), still at 95 Jersey Avenue, at home with Edward (19) and Ellen (14).

Rebecca passed away in 1922 and William followed the year after in April 1923. They are both buried in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery, along with sons Alfred, John and Albert.