The Story of
George Robertshaw
The first we hear of
George Robertshaw, the second child of William and Mary, is in the 1861 East
Gwillimbury census. His age at that time is hard to make out from the way
it was written on the form, but it looks like the number 13 is written, making
his birth year about 1848. We find out in the 1871 census, however, that
he listed his age as 21, which would make his birth year about 1850. It’s
in this ’71 census that we find George married to a girl by the name of Maggie,
of age 18, and that his occupation is listed only as a ‘labourer.’ The young
couple lived right next door to George’s mother and in the same general area
as the rest of his family.
The interesting thing
about this 1871 census is that the enumerator wrote the surname down as
‘Shaw’ for most of the Robertshaw’s in the area, a common mistake that plagues
the family to this day! One would think that the enumerator would notice
that all the Shaw’s have the same “middle” name of Robert!
The 1881 census (with
the ‘Robertshaw’ surname restored!) shows us the growth of George’s young
family. By then, he and Maggie were the proud parents of five daughters
- all, by the way, delivered by their grandmother, Mary. The census also
teaches us that George’s occupation was a farmer. Funny thing, though… in
1871, he gave his age as 21; in 1881, his age increased by 16 years instead
of ten years, to age 37. That would make his birth year 1844 instead of
1848 (’61 census), or 1850. Hmmm…..Maggie’s age, however, is as it should
be.
It’s here that we will
jump ahead for a moment to the Michigan 1894 census where it tells us that
George and his family, has immigrated to Port Huron in the year 1884. It
seems the whole Ontario Robertshaw clan (except for brother William) immigrated
to Michigan that year, most likely for the high amount of work available
in the growing city of Port Huron.
The earliest physical
evidence of George in Port Huron is for a sad event. In late December 1886,
George’s wife, Maggie, died of Typhoid Fever. Jenny, the youngest of their
brood of what has grown to eight daughters, was only seven months old at
the time of her mother’s death. Since the city directories were printed the
previous fall of the year listed (1887 directory was printed in the fall
of 1886, for example), we find George listed in the 1887/1888 directory in
a house on 11th Street. But the following year’s directory tells us that
George was living with his sister, Victoria, for about a year or so, at 1234
Lapeer. I imagine the widower needed all the help he could get with an infant
as well as the rest of his seven kids (including four children under the
age of ten).
Brother, Albert,
stayed at the Lapeer home as well, probably with his wife, but I’m not sure
if it was at the same time as George.
1234 Lapeer (ca 2000)
The ’94 census let’s
us know that George’s occupation has changed from a farmer to a house carpenter.
But, thankfully, his age is where it ought to be in comparison with the ’81
census.
Sadly, three of his
daughters, Polly, Margaret, and baby Jenny are not listed with the family.
I tend to believe they were fanned out to possibly friends, neighbors, or
family. Of the three, I have only found Margaret in any future documents
(as a witness to her sister Minerva’s wedding in 1907).
Betsey, unknowingly,
did a disservice to the population count by being counted at her aunt Victoria’s
house as well as at her father’s, who was now living at 622 11th Street.
I’m not quite sure why this occurred on census day (1 June 1894), but her
name shows up on both family census sheets.
Another odd little bit
here is that about a year and a half previous (1892/93), three Robertshaw
girls worked (and possibly lived) at the Huron House, a very upscale hotel
in which most of the dignitaries that came to town would stay, including
Ulysses S. Grant in 1865. Victoria, George’s third child, was listed in the
‘92/’93 directory as residing there as a ‘domestic,’ which, according to
a dictionary of archaic terms, meant that she was a household servant. Other
Robertshaw’s listed as residing at the Huron House as ‘domestics’ were Miss
Bessie and Miss Mary. But who are Bessie and Mary? Well, quite possibly,
Mary may have been Margaret, Victoria’s younger sister. But, more than likely,
she was the young daughter of Albert. Children worked at a very young age
during this period in time. There were no child labor laws. As for Bessie,
although not a Robertshaw by name, she might have used the surname just because
she was with her Robertshaw cousins. She would have been just a few years
older than Mary - around 13 years old or so.
As previously mentioned,
the address given on the ’94 census by George was 622 11th Street,
and that was the address given when George passed away almost exactly one
year later, on 5 June 1895.
622 11th Street (ca 2000)
His death and funeral took place in the home. According to his death
certificate, George died of unknown causes. My guess is that from the time
of his wife’s death nine years earlier, things seemed to have fallen apart
for the man. Besides Maggie’s death, he moved from house to house almost
yearly with eight young daughters to care for. Sure, he had help from family,
but he still couldn’t seem to keep his family together. It had to be extremely
stressful for the man, and I think his death just stemmed from there.
His age in the obituary,
found in the Port Huron Times Herald newspaper, was written as 47, and on
his death certificate it was 52 years 9 months and 6 days. It was in using
this last bit of information how I came up with his birth date.
Port Huron Addresses of George Robertshaw:
Year
Address
1887 - 1888 11th
Street
1891 - 1892 1234
Lapeer (still standing)
1893 - 1894 1715
Seventh (still standing)
1894 - 1895 622
Eleventh St. (still standing - the house George died in))
George Robertshaw Facts
1861 census age 18
b. 1843
1871 census age 21
b. 1850
1881 census age 37
b. 1844
1894 census age 50
b. 1844
1895 Death cert. age 52
b. 1842 - June (age 52 y 9 m 6 d - which would have made y.o.b. 1842)
