Gasaway and Malachi Ann Ross

Gasaway was born Abt. 1807 in Maryland, USA - death date unknown

Malachi Ann Thomas was born Abt. 1824 in Maryland, USA - 20 Jan 1905 Sault Ste Marie, ONT

Farm: Concession 2, Lot 59, Holland Township, Grey County, Ontario

Gasaway married his wife, Malachi Ann Thomas, on 11 Nov 1843 in Middlesex, Ontario.

We presume that the family arrived in the Holland Township area sometime around 1846-47 while the township was still being surveyed. According to the Gazetteer and Directory of the county of Grey on page 127: “…and though the “Garafraxa Road” on its Western boundary was laid out as early as 1840, the survey of the township at large was not taken in hand till 1849. Charles Rankin, P.L.S., made the survey in 1849 and 1850.”

The Holland Township map dated 29 Dec 1851 shows that the 100-acre on Conc 2, Lot 59 is void of any settler’s name, with the east half of Lot 60 being settled on by Alfred J. Wilkes

By the time that the enumerator arrived to take the 1851 Canada Census in January 1852, Gasaway and Malachi Ann,  and their two small children, William Henry, age 6, and Emily Ann, age two, had settled on a 200-acre double lot farm located at Concession 2, Lots 59 and 60. He had built a one-story log house for himself and his family and was also housing the local schoolteacher, an Irishman named William White, age sixty-seven, his wife Mary, and their adult son William Jr age twenty-five, who was working as a labourer.

The Agricultural Schedule of the 1851 census shows that Gasaway had been toiling hard on his farm. He had a total of twenty-eight acres cultivated, with twelve acres under pasture and the rest under crops; 7 acres of wheat producing 40 bushels, 1 acre of peas producing 10 bushels, 7 acres of oats producing 60 bushels, 1 acre of potatoes producing 10 bushels, and 10 tons of hay. He also had livestock: 2 bulls/oxen/steers, 1 milking cow, 1 calf/heifer, and 1 pig. Although his farm was producing well, he still had one hundred and seventy-two acres of woodland that had not been cultivated.

Gasaway was not granted a patent for these two plots of land, indicating that he may have been squatting on the two 100-acre lots.

A Crown patent was granted to Thomas White on 16 Dec 1858 for the east part of Lot 59 consisting of 50 acres. White sold the land to Richard Green one month later, on 18 Jan 1858, who then sold it to Gasaway. (We are not certain of the exact date that Green sold the 50 acres to him, as there seems to be missing information in the registry books). However, it is noted on 31 Mar 1863 that Gasaway sold the same piece of land back to Richard Green

The Letter signed by Gasaway Ross for his friend Henry Miller - 17 August 1859

Note: The 50-acre crown patent had been granted to Wm. F. Mindell for the east part of Lot 60 on 26 Aug 1856 (see footnote v), and for the 50-acre west part of the lot a crown patent was given to Alfred J. Wilkes, or Mills, on 18 Aug 1877

In 1859, Gasaway signed a letter on behalf of his old friend Henry Miller’s (of Sullivan Township), requesting to buy the 50-acre lot on Con 1, Lot 22, in Holland Township, for which his son Thomas Henry had received the original location ticket on 22 Apr 1844 for a fair price.

By the time the 1861 census was taken, the family had expanded to four children. In addition to William Henry and Emilia, there was now Anna, aged 8, and John W age 3, and they had moved to the Algoma Region in northern Ontario, where they made their home.

Gasaway and Malachi Ann had at least eight children together by the time the 1871 census was taken. He remained a farmer in the Sault Ste Marie area of Algoma Centre in northern Ontario. Gasaway, Milinda, and their large family were still living on their farm in the Algoma region of northern Ontario as of the 1891 Canada Census.

I have been unable to find any historical documentation for Malachi Ann prior to her marriage to Gasaway. She is only referenced by name and the questions asked by the census enumerator.

We do know that Malachi Ann and Gasaway and their large family were still residing together in the Sault Ste Marie area of northern Ontario as of the 1891 census. In the 1901 census, she is listed as a widow living with her daughter Hanna; it is also noted that she arrived in Canada in 1826.

According to the obituary published on page 9 in the Canadian Sault newspaper, “Gasaway Ross, a colored man” died at 6 PM on Wednesday, 19 Sept 1894. It noted that he was a “slave in the southern states before the war…had lived in the Sault for thirty-four years. He was a cook by occupation and was an interesting old character.” His wife, Malachi Ann, passed away on 20 Jan 1905 in Sault Ste Marie and is buried in the Queen Street Cemetery in the city.

Written and researched by: Nancy M. Lee

Sources:

Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; District Marriage Registers, 1801-1858; Reel: 3

Ontario.heritagepin.com

Year: 1851; Census Place: Grey, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C-11723; Page: 35; Line: 24-30

Year: 1851; Census Place: Grey, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: B; Roll: C-11723; Page: 43; Line: 48

Abstract index books, ca. 1832-1958, Holland Township, v. 1-2 ca. 1847-1958,  microfilm page 18 -https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLG-LQ2T-4?i=17&cat=330982

Abstract index books, ca. 1832-1958, Holland Township, v. 1-2 ca. 1847-1958, microfilm page 173 -https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLG-LQ2W-C?i=172&cat=330982

Abstract index books, ca. 1832-1958, Holland Township, v. 1-2, ca. 1847-1958, microfilm page 174 –

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLG-LQ2W-3?i=173&cat=330982

Thank you to Guylaine Petrin who sent me copies from the Numerical land Files RG 1-246 from the Archives of Ontario

Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1091, Lines 5-10

Year: 1891; Census Place: Sault West, Algoma, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6323; Family No: 30, Line 18-23

Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Deaths, 1905; Series: 119, microfilm page 104

Thank you to Shannon Miault for providing a copy of Gasaway’s obituary and other vital ancestral family information