Daughter of the late Clement du Torraux of Gilliarin, parish of Promasin.
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| |_____________________
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_Ambrose Jackson TORREY _|
| (1831 - 1901) |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_____________________|
| |
| |_____________________
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|
|--Annie Baird TORREY
| (1858 - 1892)
| _John BAIRD _________+
| | (1760 - 1808) m 1783
| _George BAIRD _______|
| | (1801 - ....) |
| | |_Mary BOCKOVEN ______+
| | (1765 - 1853) m 1783
|_Sarah Caroline BAIRD ___|
(1834 - 1913) |
| _____________________
| |
|_Catherine CROWELL __|
|
|_____________________
[15519] Frances Tough was a widow when she married Edward Stebbins, circa 1628. Her first husband was Sampson Chester and her second husband was Thomas Smith. See TAG 30:193-204. Sampson Chester was the brother of John Chester, who married Dorothy Hooker, sister of Thomas Hooker. See TAG 30:193-96. [13574] Charles W. Manwaring, compiler, Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records (1904-06)
Some accounts call her Fornier (Fournier?) instead of Tournier. Whatever her name, the version that places her date of birth in 1752 cannot be correct, since her son Jean Louis was born in that year!
She was present at the baptism of her granddaughter Maria Georgina, daughter of William Power and Susanne Aubert de Gaspé, in 1832. She signed her name "Eliza Power". One secondary source gives her name as Tory. The Library and Archives of Canada transcribed her name in an extract of the 1829 marriage of William Power as Torrey, but the script could equally well be read as Tovig, the version most often cited. Another possible reading is Tovey, which can also be interpolated from the clearly-written spelling Tovay, on the 1818 census of the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec, where she is listed as the widow of the "Ecuyer" (i.e., Squire) Michael Power, age 47, with her son "Guillaume", age 19, also in the household. The spellings similar to Torey might come from a hypothetical obituary of her son William in 1860, presumed to be the source of the biographical sketches. Until the "family record" surfaced (see below), we knew of no other document containing her name. It seems likely that something more will eventually be found in the records of the notaries of Quebec.
In 1818, she and her son were living in the household of Isaac Gingras, on the south side of the rue Richelieu, in the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec.
Confirmation of her name was found in a photograph of a leaf from a "family record" (likely from a family bible), attached to several family trees on Ancestry.com, on which we find the following text: "Elizabeth Tovey, Widow Power and Paternal Grand-Mother of the Children in the preceding page, died at Charlesbourg (aged 80 years) on the 18th January 1851 and was interred in the Cholera burying ground near the St. Louis Road, Quebec, on the 21st of the same month." The whereabouts of this document and of the remainder of the "family record" are unknown. (At that time, the place was known as the St. Louis Cemetery, but it has been used for cholera burials in the 1830's.) However, a notice of her death appears in an undated clipping from what is evidently an Irish newspaper, possibly from the city of Limerick (https://www.limerickcity.ie/media/02%2012%2051%20frankenstein%20.pdf), begging the question of why it should appear in this specific newspaper: "At Charlesbourg, Canada, at the residence of J. P. Bradley, Esq., Mrs. Elizabeth Tovey, aged 80 years, relict of the late Michael Power, Esq. of Waterford, Irlenad, and mother of Mr. Justice Power, of Quebec." This entry is part of a long list of death, and there are several dates associated with entries at the top, the last of which is "on the 9th inst." Details of the way the web site (an obsolete section formerly attached to a web site for the city and county of Limerick, Ireland) suggests the date of the newspaper may have been February 12, 1851. The image turns out to be supporting documentation for a project of Limerick, Ireland "local studies", https://limericklocalstudies.ie/obituaries/ (an initiative of the Limerick Library Service, indexing only those obituaries that relate to people with a connection to Limerick — Elizabeth Tovey is not one of them), and the image is from the Limerick Chronicle of February 12, 1851. The earliest version of the notice found so far is in the Morning Chronicle and Commercial and Shipping Gazette (Quebec), Wednesday, January 22, 1851, p. 3, a list of deaths: "At Charlesbourg, on the 18th instant, at the residence of the late J. P. Bradley, Esq., Mrs. Elizabeth Tovey, aged 80 years, relict of the late Michael Power, Esq., of Warterford, Ireland, and mother of Mr. Justice Power, or Quebec."
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_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| |_________________________
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_William TOWN _______|
| |
| | _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______+
| | | (.... - 1821)
| |_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
| (1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| |_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _
| (1740 - 1822)
|
|--David TOWN
|
| _________________________
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| __________________________|
| | |
| | |_________________________
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|_Sarah Ann CHAPEL ___|
|
| _________________________
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|__________________________|
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|_________________________
_____________________
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_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
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_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Duncan TOWN
|
| _Duncan MCDOUGALL ___+
| | (1708 - 1789) m 1728
| _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______|
| | (.... - 1821) |
| | |_Janet CALDER _______
| | (1710 - 1764) m 1728
|_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
(1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| _____________________
| |
|_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _|
(1740 - 1822) |
|_____________________
The family name also appears as Towne or Towns.
Much of the information about this family was collected by Charles A. Towne, whose papers are on 37 reels of microfilm at the Family History Library. Shirley Drury Patterson, well-known researcher for the Towne Family Association, gave me this synopsis (personal communication, 23 apr 2005): "In 1907, Martha (Town) Marcy, born in 1842, gave information from a bible or family records to Charles A. Towne, an early Towne researcher. She gave her grandmother as Nancy McDougall born in Argyle, NY; and all of the children's names in the order of their births, plus other information about their marriages, etc."
Some of the Town descendants have taken autosomal DNA tests and prove to be genetic matches with at least two of the descendants of John McDougall and Elvira Uran who have taken the same tests. The degree of matching is consistent with the hypothesis that Nancy McDougall was an aunt of John McDougall, but the evidence is not strong enough to establish their exact relationship.
Nancy Town and Jane Dings, then in St. Lawrence Co., NY, quit claimed their interest in property in Lot 75 to John McDougall in 1849, Washington Co. Deeds 21 pp. 488-489, but the property is vaguely described. However, it seems virtually certain that they were selling their interest in the remaining property from their father's estate.
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| |_____________________
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_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
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|
|--Margaret TOWN
|
| _Duncan MCDOUGALL ___+
| | (1708 - 1789) m 1728
| _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______|
| | (.... - 1821) |
| | |_Janet CALDER _______
| | (1710 - 1764) m 1728
|_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
(1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| _____________________
| |
|_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _|
(1740 - 1822) |
|_____________________
_________________________
|
_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| |_________________________
|
_Duncan TOWN __________|
| |
| | _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______+
| | | (.... - 1821)
| |_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
| (1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| |_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _
| (1740 - 1822)
|
|--Nancy Ann TOWN
|
| _________________________
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| __________________________|
| | |
| | |_________________________
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|_Lorenda Alvira WAITE _|
|
| _________________________
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|__________________________|
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|_________________________
_Edward TOWN _____________
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793
_William TOWN _______|
| |
| |_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _+
| (1775 - 1850) m 1793
_David TOWN _____________|
| |
| | __________________________
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| |_Sarah Ann CHAPEL ___|
| |
| |__________________________
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|
|--Pearl Ermena TOWN
|
| __________________________
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| _____________________|
| | |
| | |__________________________
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|_Mary Catherine GOODHUE _|
|
| __________________________
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|_____________________|
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|__________________________
_____________________
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_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
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_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--William TOWN
|
| _Duncan MCDOUGALL ___+
| | (1708 - 1789) m 1728
| _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______|
| | (.... - 1821) |
| | |_Janet CALDER _______
| | (1710 - 1764) m 1728
|_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
(1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| _____________________
| |
|_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _|
(1740 - 1822) |
|_____________________
Online family trees show two different birth dates: March, 1833, and January 19, 1832. The 1832 date is supported by here death certificate (photo on Find-a-Grave web site) and by the tombstone, showing dates 1832-1916. Date of marriage is on this couple's tombstone, but it is not certain that the tombstone is contemporary with their deaths (polished pink granite). Tombstone shows Canada as place of marriage, but FamilySearch.org shows Clarke, Durham, Ontario, Canada, which is completely plausible but apparently not supported by documentation.
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_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| |_________________________
|
_Edward TOWNS _______|
| (1803 - 1865) m 1828|
| | _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______+
| | | (.... - 1821)
| |_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
| (1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| |_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _
| (1740 - 1822)
|
|--Caroline TOWNS
| (1832 - 1916)
| _________________________
| |
| __________________________|
| | |
| | |_________________________
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|_Eliza Ann HAYWARD __|
(1813 - 1897) m 1828|
| _________________________
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|__________________________|
|
|_________________________
_Edward TOWNS _______+
| (1803 - 1865) m 1828
_William Wallace TOWNS _|
| (1848 - ....) m 1878 |
| |_Eliza Ann HAYWARD __
| (1813 - 1897) m 1828
_Edward Charles TOWNS _|
| (1879 - 1919) |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_Elizabeth SPENCER _____|
| m 1878 |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Charles TOWNS
|
| _____________________
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| ________________________|
| | |
| | |_____________________
| |
|_______________________|
|
| _____________________
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|________________________|
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|_____________________
_William Wallace TOWNS _+
| (1848 - ....) m 1878
_Edward Charles TOWNS _|
| (1879 - 1919) |
| |_Elizabeth SPENCER _____
| m 1878
_Edward Cramer TOWNS _|
| (1909 - 1968) |
| | ________________________
| | |
| |_______________________|
| |
| |________________________
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|
|--Charles E. TOWNS
|
| ________________________
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| _______________________|
| | |
| | |________________________
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|______________________|
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| ________________________
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|_______________________|
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|________________________
_William Wallace TOWNS _+
| (1848 - ....) m 1878
_Edward Charles TOWNS _|
| (1879 - 1919) |
| |_Elizabeth SPENCER _____
| m 1878
_Edward Cramer TOWNS _|
| (1909 - 1968) |
| | ________________________
| | |
| |_______________________|
| |
| |________________________
|
|
|--Edward TOWNS
|
| ________________________
| |
| _______________________|
| | |
| | |________________________
| |
|______________________|
|
| ________________________
| |
|_______________________|
|
|________________________
Most of this children were born in Canada, at least two in Clarke Township, Durham County, Ontario. The family seems to have left Canada about 1863, settling in Michigan (Sanilac Co.?). Although he was much older than most of the soldiers in the Civil War, he served in Co. I, 3rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and died in a military hospital in Nashville, Tennessee after being wounded and captured in 1865. Eliza A. Towns obtained a pension (certificate number 230327, file not yet examined). As unlikely as it seems, the pension file gives Eliza's maiden name, and the names of their six children, of which only two were under the age of 18.
An interesting account of the Town/Towns family was published in the newsletter of the Towne Family Association (Shirley Drury Patterson, 2005, "Edward Town and the McDougalls", About Towne, 25:64:71). In a personal communication, Shirley mentioned that a niece of the present Edward, Martha (Town) Marcy, born in 1842, provided detailed information about this family to Charles A. Towne, an early Towne researcher, apparently from family or bible records. The children of Edward Towns and Eliza Ann Hayward from these sources are Edward, Elizabeth, Caroline, Mary Ann, Martha, William Wallace, and Electa Adelaide (born in 1853, but on the 1861 census of Clarke Township, Durnam Co., Ontario, she is listed as Pheby, a fact that no one seems to have noticed or explained).
The Ontario census of 1842 shows Edward Towns in Darlington Township, Durham County (images 13 and 14 of 22, on FamilySearch.org). If we have decoded the columns correctly (not a simple matter, as the schedules are quite messy), he had been a resident of Ontario since about 1835 and had 7 children in the household. While there is no way to be certain that all of these children are in fact those of Edward and Eliza Ann, the census data suggest that at least 4 sons may have died before the 1860's—and there appears to be an older, unmarried woman in the household, over the age of 45, perhaps the mother of some of the older children. A John McDougall appears in the "supplement" pages (images 21 and 22) of the same schedule, but he appears to be from Scotland, age 21-30, with only 2 children, and had been a resident of Ontario since about 1834, thus apparently not our John McDougall.
There is also a census of the area from 1848, digitized on www.familysearch.org as Image Group 008121371. On page 217 of the schedule for Newcastle Village, town of Clarke, Durham County, Canada West, we found Edward Town, farmer, in lot 25, concession 6. There were eight persons in the residence, religion "other" (and thus not Presbyterian, Church of England, Methodist, etc.). One was a native of the United States, the others natives of Canada of British origin. The eldest male was married, age 40-60, the eldest female was married, age 14-45. The other 6 individuals were 1 female age 5 or under, 4 females over 5 and under 14 years old, 1 male age 14-18, 1 male age 18-21, and one male age 21-30. Two of the females were attending school. There was one cow and one hog. The property had a saw mill that had produced, if the units were properly recorded, 50 million board feet of lumber in the past year (or, if the units were not correctly recorded, possibly only 50,000 board feet)
The only citations of military service that we have seen that seem authentic are the following:
Towns, Edward. Enlisted in company I, (reorganized) Third Infantry, Sept. 23, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 34. Mustered Sept. 23, 1864. Deserted at Stephenson, Ala., Jan. 17, 1865. (Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War 1861-1865, vol. 3., Kalamazoo, Mich., Ihling bros. & Everard, printers, 190-, p. 200).
General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 (images on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org, from National Archives microfilms) : Edward Towns, Co., I, 3rd Michigan Infantry, dependent widow Eliza A. Towns; filed 15 jun 1865, widow's claim, application no. 98,025, certificate no. 230,327. No other information noted on the index card. (We have not examined the original pension file and military service record.)
The only discrepant statement in the military records is that the soldier (some descendants call him "Civil War Ed") was age 34 when he enlisted. Could it be that he convinced the recruiter to falsify the record, so that the recruiter could make his quota and Civil War Ed could fight the rebels? Or, is the figure 34 simply a clerical error in the report published by the State of Michigan?
By 1865, Nashville had long been under the control of the Union forces, and at least 10 military hospitals had been established there. It might be that Edward Towns' unit lost track of him on 17 jan 1865, after which he ended up as a casualty in one of these hospitals, and that fact was never communicated to his unit.
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_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
|
_Edward TOWN _____________|
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793 |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_________________________|
| |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Edward TOWNS
| (1803 - 1865)
| _Duncan MCDOUGALL ___+
| | (1708 - 1789) m 1728
| _Ronald MCDOUGALL _______|
| | (.... - 1821) |
| | |_Janet CALDER _______
| | (1710 - 1764) m 1728
|_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _|
(1775 - 1850) m 1793 |
| _____________________
| |
|_Euphemia (Effie) _____ _|
(1740 - 1822) |
|_____________________
_Edward TOWN _____________
| (1756 - 1830) m 1793
_Edward TOWNS _______|
| (1803 - 1865) m 1828|
| |_Nancy (Agnes) MCDOUGALL _+
| (1775 - 1850) m 1793
_William Wallace TOWNS _|
| (1848 - ....) m 1878 |
| | __________________________
| | |
| |_Eliza Ann HAYWARD __|
| (1813 - 1897) m 1828|
| |__________________________
|
|
|--Edward Charles TOWNS
| (1879 - 1919)
| __________________________
| |
| _____________________|
| | |
| | |__________________________
| |
|_Elizabeth SPENCER _____|
m 1878 |
| __________________________
| |
|_____________________|
|
|__________________________
Protestant minister.