The longest living member of our tree!

 Dan’s Great-Grandpa George F. Harris, at his 102nd birthday. 

He lived to be 105 years old!

Rhodus, Samuel (Samuel Roadhouse)

The original family name was Rhodus in England.

We were told that anyone with the name Roadhouse would not normally be found in England as it is a North American name. Also, he said that anyone with the Roadhouse name is related in some form or manner.

In 1953 my grandparents, Ersel and Matie Roadhouse with other members of the family, had a professional tracer document the tree. The tracer followed the tree back to England. He said the Rhodus name was of German origin and possibly went back as far as the vikings.

It has since been further documented by other members of the Roadhouse family to add new names etc.

This family is well documented offline thanks to the work of many family members.

Eileen Helen Hopper (Haddow)

 Eileen Helen (Hopper) Haddow and husband Joe were killed in fatal car accident.

Both Eileen and her husband Joe were killed in a head on collision along with two other relatives, Helen Lindsay Scott and daughter Elizabeth Merriweather (Reed) who were visiting from Scotland. This happened in1968. George Reed is a cousin in Scotland who my parents met when they visited there after retirement. I believe that George is son of Elizabeth Merriweather.

Helen Lindsay McKelvie Murray Arrival to Canada

Helen Lindsay McKelvie Murray, (my Granny Hopper) arrived in Canada in 1899.

Helen L.M. Murray told me (Judy-gr.dau.) 1st hand that she was 3 years old when they came overseas to Canada. I believe she said they sailed around the Cape and landed in Vancouver BC Canada. She talked about how she had to give up her cat before they left. At 80 + years of age, she was still upset about that.

Helen was about 3 years old when her family came to Canada from England.

About Roadhouse, Florence Adeline

 

Roadhouse, Florence Adeline

Adopted child of Joseph and Margaret Roadhouse. Sister to J. N. Roadhouse.

Source: O. B. Briggs, professional tracer (1953)

About William Roadhouse 1774

 WILLIAM ROADHOUSE OF CANADA

. William Roadhouse, b. Jan. 23, 1774, son of William Roadhouse and Sarah Sykes,sailed with his wife and eight children from Liverpool, England, May 26, 1819,in the ship Evergreen, Capt. Rathburn, for New York. They traveled to Albany, N.Y., and arrived at York, Upper Canada (now Toronto), August 12, 1819.

Apparently he lost no time in applying for a grant of land and he may have been in special consideration, for his “Ticket of Location” reads “Pursuant to an Especial Order In Council of the 25th August 1819” and he was assigned 200 acres, an unusual grant, in Albion Township, then in the “Home District” (now Peel County), Lot 23, Con. 9. The order was signed by the Lt. Governor Oct. 20,1819. But it was too late to establish his family there that year, partly because of difficulty in finding his grant before winter set in. So the family wintered at Aurora and went into their new log cabin in April 1820. On performance of settlement duties and payment of fees of 5 pounds, 5 shillings,5 pence, the final grant was made Jan. 17 1828. His son, William, acquired a grant of 100 acres on Lot 22, Con. 9.

William Roadhouse was 45 years old, in the prime of life, when he came to Canada, where he was to spend another 38 years as a pioneer in the new land. Although information about his is fragmentary, it reveals him as a man of strong character,firm and uncompromising in his convictions, but tolerant of human frailties. His family life was exemplary and his religious faith was deep. As a young man he had been converted to Methodism and he was a member of the Wesleyan Church for 62 years. He died Nov. 11, 1857, at the age of 83, at the home of his son,William.

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This information is from our original family tree which was completed in 1953 by O. B Briggs, a professional tracer.

About Roadhouses in Yorkshire

 THE ROADHOUSES IN YORKSHIRE.

The village of Monk Fryston in Yorkshire, is near and not far from the Humber River. It had a Manor House and it was the seat of St. Wilfreds, an ancient Church, the lower part of the tower of which is early Norman, about 1080. The Chancel was rebuilt about 1230. In the middle of the 15th Century the tower was raised and adorned with pinnacles and battlements.

The present Vicar at Monk Fryston says the Parish Registers are very old, the oldest in Yorkshire. Although it is a long arduous task to search those registers, this was done, for the Roadhouse family, by the vicar and his assistants in 1950-51.
It was found that William Roadhouse (original name “Rhodus”) moved to Monk Fryston after the birth of his daughter, Sarah, in 1768, and before the birth of his daughter, Mary, in 1771. The registers do not show where he came from.
This first William Roadhouse of record was a stone mason and stone engraver, by trade. Monk Fryston is said to have been famous for its stone at the time. So it can be assumed that he was a skilled artisan and it is known that some of his grandsons were apprentices in this trade in England and followed it in Canada.

Family records show that this William Roadhouse was born in 1740. His tombstone at Monk Fryston has the following inscription. “Here lieth William Roadhouse, a man of great moral worth, who departed this life April 3, 1831, aged 90 years,also Sarah, his wife, who dies December 17, 1778, and Rebecca his second wife”.His first wife was Sarah Sykes. There is no information about the second wife.

William Roadhouse and Sarah Sykes had seven children:
o  Elizabeth, b. Jan. 20, 1764
o  Joseph, b. Jan. 22, 1766; died young
o  Sarah, b. Nov. 30, 1768
o  Mary b. June 5, 1771
o  William, b. Jan. 23, 1774; came to Canada
o  Henry, b. Dec. 19, 1775; came to Canada
o  Ann, b. Sept. 7, 1777

William and Rebecca Roadhouse had one child, John, b. Sept. 20, 1783. He became a Wesleyan Minister and died at Leeds, Yorkshire, Dec. 17, 1872. His only known child was David Cooper Roadhouse, a surgeon, who died May 2, 1838.

Statistics

 Statistics from our old combined family tree. Total individuals statistic refers to total persons in both of our trees.

Description	Quantity
Total Individuals	2,941
Total Males	1,495 (50.83%)
Total Females	1,438 (48.89%)
Total Unknown Gender	8 (0.27%)
Total Living	505
Total Families	882
Total Unique Surnames	697
Total Photos	126
Total Documents	48
Total Headstones	14
Total Histories	7
Total Recordings	8
Total Videos	8
Total Sources	196
Average Lifespan1	61 years, 355 days
Earliest Birth (Renaud Meulan)	Abt 850

 

Longest Lived1	Age
George Frederick Harris	105 years 139 days
Jane Davis	104 years
Joan Marshall	102 years
Rachel Ostrander	101 years 113 days
Mabel Crittenden	101 years 78 days
Elizabeth Ritchie	100 years
James Stewart	99 years
Agnes Agae	98 years
Gavin Hunter	97 years
Margaret Blanche McLean	97 years

William Roadhouse 1740

 About William Roadhouse 1740

“It was found that William Roadhouse (original name “Rhodus”) moved to Monk Fryston after the birth of his daughter, Sarah, in 1768, and before the birth of his daughter, Mary, in 1771. The registers do not show where he came from.

This first William Roadhouse of record was a stone mason and stone engraver, by trade. Monk Fryston is said to have been famous for its stone at the time. So it can be assumed that he was a skilled artisan and it is known that some of his grandsons were apprentices in this trade in England and followed it in Canada.’

Source of quote – Professional tracer O. B. Briggs 1953

Ersel and Ross Roadhouse

 

Fraternal twins Ersel and Ross were born in Bolton Ontario at home on the family farm. The homestead still stands today and is still in the family. In 1972 when my grandparents came east to visit us, we took Grandpa Ersel to see the homestead. 

We found a relative on the Downey side and he showed us where the homestead was. Grandpa pointed to the windows on the right hand side, and mentioned that he thought that it was one of those bedrooms where he and Ross were born.

Margaret Victorian Morrison

 About great grandma Hopper (Margaret Victorian Morrison)

Told to me by my dad Murray Hopper that his grandma Margaret as a child had accidentally rubbed medicine in her eyes, which caused her to go completely blind in later years.

Her blindness was discovered that she was going blind at age 21 while on a family boat trip from Cobourg Ont. to the USA. Great Aunt Anne Tompkins (Hopper) quit nursing school (with one year left to finish) to care for her mother the rest of her life.