MEMBERY, Elizabeth Jane: 1842 - 1898
Elizabeth Jane Dorland, born in Adolphustown in 1842, was the daughter of Philip Dorland (Tile # 14) and Charlotte Trumpour Dorland—both of whom were descendants of original Loyalist families who settled in Adolphustown in 1784, the Dorlands and the Trumpours.
On January 1, 1863, Elizabeth age twenty, married Frederick Miles Membery (1840-1932) who was twenty-two. In 1845 Frederick, who had been born in New York, was brought to Canada as a young boy by his parents Giles Membery (Tile # 10) and Elizabeth Raymond Membery (Tile # 9). Elizabeth Jane and Frederick had two daughters: Victoria Maria born in 1866 and Ida Freddela born in 1868.
The family lived on a farm in Adolphustown where they built up a successful apple orchard and shipped apples as far as Montreal.(1) Although, when living at home with his parents at the time of the 1861 census, Frederick had registered his religion as Free Thinker, by the time of the 1881 census Frederick and their daughters are registered as Church of England. Elizabeth Jane is registered as Brethren, perhaps reflecting her Quaker background.
Both Membery daughters married and moved west. Victoria married George Armstrong in 1886. Frederick Membery was Registrar at the time of his daughter’s marriage and there are a few extra details noted on their marriage registration. Victoria was “married at the resident of the bride’s father by Rev. R.S. Forneri.” Spouse George Armstrong was “brought up a merchant but (is) now a western farmer.” Victoria and George moved west, first to Manitoba and later Saskatchewan. Frederick an Elizabeth Membery’s younger daughter Ida practiced nursing in Toronto and at the age of thirty-eight, married widower Walter Love and they settled in Alberta.(2)
Elizabeth Jane Membery, after a lengthy illness, died of consumption on May 21, 1898.
Her husband Frederick Membery lived another thirty-four years. He was still listed on the Adolphustown census of 1911 and was living alone in a home next to his brother-in-law, Joseph Allison. According to an unsigned letter to the editor of the Napanee Beaver, he was an active senior:
“Fred Membery, of Adolphustown, Ont., is the last surviving member of that old honourable troop of the Napanee Cavalry*, who has been boarding in Prince Edward County the last five months, and will be eighty-eight years old on the 6th day of August coming, and can dance the double-shuffle and turn a handspring as he did in the days of his teens.”(3)
He was living in Providence House in Kingston at the time of his death, May 29, 1932 but is buried in Adolphustown.(4)
* The Napanee Cavalry was called out June 6, 1866, to protect the city of Kingston from an anticipated raid by 25,000 armed Fenians massed at Cape Vincent.
1. Membery Family History Essay, personal collection of Diane Davie, Adolphustown.
2. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages. 1801-1928,” via www.ancestrylibrary.com.
3. Letter to the Editor, Napanee Beaver, May 4, 1928.
4. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths. 1869-1936,” via www.ancestrylibrary.com.