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Friday, October 19, 2012

Oliphant Family History in "Here and There in Eramosa"

Again, a local history book found online proves a great source for information about past family members.  The book in question is Here and There in Eramosa:  an Historical Sketch of the Early Years, and of the People and Events Contributing to the Growth and Development of the Township.  The author, Frank Day, self-published this book in 1953.  The Oliphant family is included in the section on Everton.   

David Oliphant was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1772. He came to this country in 1822 to seek relief from asthma.  He brought his eldest son, Alexander, with him and settled in Dundas until the rest of his family joined him, then they moved to Eramosa, taking up Lot 12, Concession 7, the 200 acres between the village of Everton and the Guelph Road.  Both the church and the cemetery are on this lot.  There were four children:  Alexander, Mary, William and David. [note: Mary is the child our line descends through.]  Alexander died young in 1834.  David Sr. died in 1841 and his widow Sophia Watt, deeded the property to her children.  David, the younger, sold his share and went to Bethany College, Virginia, becoming a preacher, writer and editor.  Mary married William Elliot and moved to Dundas and later to Toronto.  William remained in Everton, marrying Ann Stewart.  William was cut off in 1856 at the age of 42 in the middle of a promising career.  As mentioned elsewhere, he had resigned as Township Clerk in January, 1856, after holding that office since the inauguration of township councils in 1850.  The old Oliphant house, still standing in Everton (1950), must have been built in the 1830s and housed the original David and Sophia Oliphant and their son William and his family.  Now the Everton Post Office, occupied by Col. W.M. Head;  it is full of historic associations, particularly in association with the large part the Oliphants played in the formation and furtherance of the Disciples of Christ and in connection with the Mackenzie rebellion.   From "Early Life in Upper Canada" by Edwin C. Guillet, we learn that is the house where Samuel Lount and Edward Kennedy were given shelter by an Oliphant sympathizer.  After William's death, his widow's brother, Peter Stewart, came to live with her and some farm trading was done between the Oliphants and the Stewarts so that both farms were operated from the old Oliphant home for some years until the brother and sister moved to Guelph in the 1880s.  The Everton farm was then rented and later sold to Adam Weatherston.  The Oliphant farm on the next line was inherited after the death of William's widow by her son, David, and was sold by him some years later.  The only two surviving members of the family bearing the Oliphant name are Miss Mary Oliphant of Detroit, daughter of David Oliphant, preacher;  and Miss Florence Oliphant of Meaford, granddaughter of William Oliphant.

A manuscript in the Oliphant family history file at the Wellington County Museum and Archives shows that the source for this information is Edith Kilgour Bain, granddaughter of David and Sophia Oliphant.


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