John McGrigor's granddaughter visits Oshawa

Simcoe Street United Church
Photo Credit: © Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

John McGrigor [McGregor] was one of the original settlers in Oshawa in 1817. Sue is Peter McGrigor's great great granddaughter, the younger brother of John McGrigor. Sue and I got chatting about the McGregors on RootsChat.com.

She connected me with Dorothy, who is John McGrigor's great great granddaughter.

Yesterday Sue emailed me to say that Dorothy and her daughter were on a road trip from Colorado to Oshawa!
Did I want to make contact?

Yes, I would love to meet with her! Sadly, Sue couldn't make to Oshawa on such short notice. But she made a great facilitator. It was wonderful to get to meet Dorothy and her daughter. Thanks so much Sue!

My husband Rob and I chatted with Dorothy in Tim Horton's, up the street. Dorothy had never been to Oshawa before, so I showed her the old maps I had and the McGregor's town plans I got from the land registry office.

Sue and Dorothy said there was talk of a McGregor window in one of the local churches on Simcoe Street, possibly paid for by Eunice. So we headed up to the Simcoe United Church to see if we could find Eunice McGregor's window. No luck from the outside, all the windows looked the same. We decided if there was a plaque it would probably be inside, and the church was closed and locked up on Saturday.

I promised I would go back when the church was open and take pictures if I can find it, and send them to Dorothy, who was heading back to the US that same night.

Plaque on the cornerstone of the church
Photo Credit: © Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

The plaque on the cornerstone of the church reads:
This corner stone was laid by the Hon. T.N. Gibbs. M.P. June 17, 1867. Assisted by Mrs. James Luke, W.H. Gibbs Esq, Chairman of Building Committee Dedicatory Services May 1868 by Rev. Morley Punshon L.L.O.O.O

The Simcoe Street United Church website has links to their historical property information and heritage designation.

They also have a booklet about their church: "Our Story: Simcoe Street United Church 1817-1988" - so I requested a copy.

Plaque at Union Cemetery
Photo Credit: © Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

Next we went to the Oshawa Union Cemetery - where her McGregor ancestors were buried.

Gravestones can be an excellent source to help you find dates, birth places, maiden names, spouses' names and parents' names. Sometimes you may also find evidence of military service, membership in fraternal organizations and even religious affiliations.

Dorothy had a long list of McGregor graves she hoped to find. Having four of us to comb through the cemetery certainly helped to speed up the hunt. After much searching, we were able to find many of the graves on Dorothy's list.

But we were unable to find Martha Etta, Wilfred, Gordon, Martha, Nellie C., R.G. [Royale Grigor], S.J. [Sarah Jane], Eunice, Janet, Jne or William. I promised I would go back when the staff was there to get some help in finding these - and send her pictures.

Royale Grigor McGregor [wife Sarah Jane, daughter Nellie C] is the family member I am thinking possibly built my house - so I really hoped we would find his grave.

I did find an online list today, which shows:
• MCGREGOR, Arvilla M. Lee - B-49 [found]
• MCGREGOR. Elizabeth Ferguson - B-49 [found]
• MCGREGOR, Janet F. - B-49 [found]
• MCGREGOR, John A. - B-49 [found]
• MCGREGOR, Peter - B-49 [found]
• MCGREGOR, Nellie C. (SULLEY) - D-227
• MCGRIGOR, Eunice - D-14 [found]
• MCGRIGOR, Janet (DICKIE) - D-14
• MCGRIGOR, Jne - D-14
• McGregor, Martha (GIMBLETT) - C-122 

[ UPDATED ] Found another list at Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid, which shows:
• McGREGOR, Arvilla H. (Lee)    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section B    Durham    Whitby East    WO- [found]
• McGREGOR, Christina    Bowmanville (Section C)    Durham    Darlington    WO-132-9 
• McGREGOR, Cleora Janet    Bowmanville (Section S)    Durham    Darlington    WO-162-6 
• McGREGOR, David    Groveside, Brooklin, Section G    Durham    Whitby    WO-167-1
 • McGREGOR, David, Sgt.    Groveside, Brooklin, Section I    Durham    Whitby    WO-169-8
 • McGREGOR, Elizabeth    Groveside, Brooklin, Section G    Durham    Whitby    WO-167-1
 • McGREGOR, Elizabeth (Ferguson)    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section B    Durham    Whitby East    WO- [found]
• McGREGOR, Gordon    Oshawa Union, Section L, Infant's Plot    Durham    Whitby East    WO-
 • McGREGOR, Janet F.    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section B    Durham    Whitby East    WO- [found]
• McGREGOR, Jean (Carruthers)    Bowmanville (Section U)    Durham    Darlington    WO-166-4
 • McGREGOR, Jessie M.    Pine Grove, Prince Albert, Section B    Durham    Reach    WO-103-5
 • McGREGOR, John    Pine Grove, Prince Albert, Section Ha    Durham    Reach    WO-117-5
 • McGREGOR, John A.    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section B    Durham    Whitby East    WO- [found]
• McGREGOR, John Alexander    Groveside, Brooklin, Section G    Durham    Whitby    WO-167-1
 • McGREGOR, Martha    Oshawa Union, North Presbyterian, Section C    Durham    Whitby East    WO-
 • McGREGOR, Mona H. (Rodman)    Pine Grove, Prince Albert, Section Fb    Durham    Reach    WO-113-2 
• McGREGOR, Nellie C.    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section D    Durham    Whitby East    WO- 
• McGREGOR, Peter    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section B    Durham    Whitby East    WO- [found]
• McGREGOR, William E.    Pine Grove, Prince Albert, Section Fb    Durham    Reach    WO-113-2
• McGRIGOR, Eunice    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section D    Durham    Whitby East    WO- [found]
• McGRIGOR, Janet    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section D    Durham    Whitby East    WO-
 • McGRIGOR, Jne.    Oshawa Union, South Presbyterian, Section D    Durham    Whitby East    WO-

Here are the gravestone pictures we took so far:

Eunice McGregor [1804-1890]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

John McGrigor [1784-1846]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

Eunice (⇐ left)
wife of John McGregor
Died June 25, 1890 [Born 1804]
Aged 86 years, 3 months, 5 days

John McGrigor (right ⇒)

Died Sept 17, 1846 [Born 1784]
Aged 62 years
4 months, 20 (?) days

Peter McGregor [1800-1886]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

McGregor - In Memory Of
Peter McGregor
Born 1800 - Died 1886 [86 years old]
------------------
His wife - Elizabeth Ferguson
Born 1819 - 1871 [52 years old]
------------------
Janet F. McGregor
Born 1856 - Died 1931 [75 years old]

Rebecca McGregor [1826-1910]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

Clark - James Clark
Died November 5, 1877 [Born 1808]
Aged 69 years
-----------
Rebecca McGregor
His wife, died August 4, 1910 [Born 1826]
Aged 84 years
-----------
Sarah H. Clark, Wife of Samuel Gliddon
Died June 21, 1893 [Born 1844] Aged 49 years

Asenath McGregor [1831-1912]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

In Memory of John Sykes 
Born 1819 - Died 1904 [85 years]
---------
Asenath McGregor, his wife
Born 1831 - Died 1912 [81 years]
---------
Fredrick J. Sykes
Born 1861 - Died 1928 [67 years]
--------
Alice R. Sykes
Born 1859 - Died 1928 [69 years]

John A. McGregor [1853-1939]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

McGregor
In Memory Of
John A. McGregor
Born 1853 - Died 1939
------------------
Arvilla M. Lee - His Wife
Born 1856 - Died - 1945

Donald McGregor [1833-1858]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

In Memory Of
Donald McGregor
Who died
October 26, 1858
Aged 25 years [Born 1833]

We weren't sure of the connection.
Dorothy was looking for:
Donald McGrigor - John's older brother (b.1781 - about 1875)
Donald McGregor - John's son [b. Sep 1843, d. unknown]

Helena Jane [1869-1875]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

John Albert [1874-1874]
© Catherine McDiarmid-Watt

In Memory of (⇐ left)
Helena Jane
Only Daughter of R. G. and S. J. McGrigor
Who died January 20, 1875 [Born 1869]
5 years, 10 months, and 20 days

John Albert (right ⇒)
Infant son of R. G. and S. J. McGrigor
Died Sept 24, 1874 [Born January 1874]
Aged 8 months


It was a little awe-inspiring to see all these gravestones - all these people I have been reading about, researching about, feeling like their stories were alive in my head. But they became even more real as I stood by their grave, and read their names and dates carved into the ancient stone.

When I go back to the cemetery, I need to make sure to write down some of the inscriptions I cannot make out from the pictures I took, and make a voice recording with my phone as well, of my thoughts and findings!

P.S. Click on the pictures if you wish to see larger versions for clarity.

---

SEARCH: Birth Records | Marriage Records | Obituary Records | Death Records | Cemetery Records

---

TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:

How to Use FindAGrave.com for Genealogy Research
[Kindle Edition] (US)
by Karen Barnes
-- Using grave websites, such as Findagrave.com, can help you further your genealogy research.

You will find information that you may not have seen before, having a hard time finding, and find more ancestors.
Find it on: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk

---

~*~ by Catherine McDiarmid-Watt, author of OshawaJournal.com, researching her 1850's house, the history of old homes, the genealogy of the founding families in Oshawa - as well as citylife and farm life in the 1800's, with old news clippings, well-researched articles, and "then and now" photos with the help of her "history dogs", Denny and Dexter.

---

• Follow me on Twitter, join the conversation on Facebook, circle me on Google+, follow my pins on Pinterest.

---

Related Article: