Early Information on Abram:
        Abram's First Family:
        Jared Meddaugh's biography
          Elizabeth Sly Meddaugh:
        Abram's Second Family:
        Others in Michigan:
        A description of Abram:

    Sources of info on Abram are: family notes, Wm. Alex. Meddaugh's note, Barbara Daiken and other Barbaras, Gary Middaugh, Donna Cole, Connie Keeney, censuses, notes from Oxford Co., book:"South of Sodom" and some speculation.

    We now know much more about Abram Meddaugh than we did a while ago; all but who he is.  With information and insight from Barb. Daiken, we have a picture of most of his life.

Early Information on Abram:

    A couple of notes that I have in my collection, probably written by Menila Woodard Meddaugh, state Abram was born in Waterloo, Ft. Erie on 3 Oct.,1812.  His death certificate which I obtained recently confirms this and tells us little else.   I was told by a historian at the Ft. Erie that Waterloo was a settlement at the Canadian end of the Peace Bridge to Buffalo.  I believe that York [later Toronto] was under siege at about that time.  We have no real idea who Abram's parents were.  His son, George Washington [G.W.] Meddaugh left us a few notes one of which says

but was he talking about Abram's father?  Barb. supplied the information that the 1900 census from Michigan states both his father and mother were from Holland corroborating G.W.'s note and giving away the plot.

NB:  I have an image of the Marriage Schedule, the book into which Abram's second marriage record was entered.  This says very clearly that he was b. in Waterloo Village, Ontario.  Waterloo Village is an early name for Waterloo on the Grand River in Waterloo Co. just above Wentworth Co.  This was settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch perhaps explaining the "Holland, Jermany" reference above.  This is the only record of a birthplace likely to have been given by Abram himself.

     Wm. Alexander Meddaugh was a grandson of James Meddaugh who was a son of "Elder" James Meddaugh who is the other candidate for "the Old Man".  Wm. Alexander left quite a note on his own background.  Included was this comment about younger James:

  This is clearly is our Abram; Jared was G.W.'s brother.  The half brother is probably what we would call a step brother.  This dovetails nicely with G.W.'s note to his son, O.E. Meddaugh [O.E.]:

  It would seem reasonable that Abram's widowed mother married James' father, James,; she could then be the "Miss Sarah Cream" that G.W. mentions.

     Wm. Alexander Meddaugh stated that the family originally came from Pennsylvania.  Menila, for G.W., writes that the old man Meddaugh from Holland had 7 children, names and all dates unknown, lived along the Susquehanna river in New York State and:

  From the Welland Canal website:  "Construction of the canal began on November 24, 1824 and was completed by November 29, 1829" so maybe another canal?  The Ontario Place Locator has: "Beverly Township, Wentworth County (Currently Exists) Part of the town of Flamborough".  This is somewhat to the west of Hamilton toward Oxford Co. and the home of the loyalist family of "Martin Meddaugh of Flamborough" etc. Now the Susquahanna River Basin Commission says: "The river meanders 444 miles from its origin at Otsego Lake near Cooperstown, N.Y...". So one goes up the river from Pennsylvania and ends up some 100mi S.E. of Lake Ontario; can we conclude from this that they came from Pennsylvania??

    At the request of his son, O.E. Meddaugh G.W. listed the family of Elder James several times.  He is quite consistent in the spelling and order so I assume the order is the order of birth; I have no proof of this other than the census below.

    In a small notebook I have is written in the words of Abram, perhaps in his handwriting, a story of Abram's relatives.

Abram's First Family:

    According to a family history, Abram m. Elizabeth Sly in Lockport on the 6th of Dec., 1835.  I understand that at that time, only Anglican marriages were performed in Canada which might explain the location.  Elizabeth, by the same family history, was born 21 March, 1817 so she was somewhat over 18 at the time.   There is "St Davids, Niagara Township, Lincoln County (Currently Exists) Part of the Town of Niagara-on-the-lake"  near Queenston where the Meddaughs were said by G.W. to have come into Canada and there were Meddaughs in the area a little later.  We know nothing of her family but there were other Slys living in the Norwich area in the late 1800s, one kept a hotel.   

     The next hint we have is from the 1851 census of Oxford Co., Ontario.  I copied:

   C.W., Canada W. etc. refers to Canada West, sometimes Upper Canada which is now Ontario.  *On a re-reading, I saw that Catherine was b. in Beverly and younger James b. in Grand River.  The latter implies followers of Joseph Brandt  or Mennonites; I just don't know yet.

     It is interesting that Elder James is a Middaugh and the rest are Meddaugh [re-reading I can't tell how the indexer decided].   Elder James' place of origin sure looked like Tumont, which I am quite sure is Lomontville, N.Y.; the T was not at all clear and the u could be a poorly formed o.  We can calculate James was b. 1851 - 79 = 1772 as the census asks the age on the next birthday.  Lomontville is in the Ulster Co. N.Y. area which we visited in 2001 and was home to many Middaughs. This area is covered well in "The Middaugh Family in the Netherlands and North America (1480 - 2000) Compiled by Jack K. Middaugh". The compliment of Abram's family in the census  agrees with the family record but Abram's age would have him b. 1818 which agrees with nothing else putting dates in suspicion.  This was not heavily populated country; perhaps the census taker asked next door.   The entry following Abram's family is Wm. Sleigh; would this be pronounced Sly and, at age 22 could he be a brother?

    Just for fun, the 1842 assessment roll of S. Norwich has a J. Meddough at concession VII, lot lot 11 not far from where the Meddaughs later lived; who he?

     The next census says "

    From an old scroll now brittle; my guess is it's in Menila's writing.  This time the borders seem to help; I copied it as best I could:

    That's what I have.  Note the Rebecca Eliza which solves some problems.  The top death date on the scroll may have been meant to be Elizabeth's.  I don't recall if the scroll was hard to read but it is so brittle I don't want to visit it again.  My notes from Woodstock - Oxford County Library say:

    Making this interesting is the family note that Abram died on  5Oct1860; don't give up, keep reading.

    Jared's life is covered at:  Jared Meddaugh's biography. 

    We found this information in Oxford Co.: 

so it seems that Jared was now part owner of Abram's property.

    From the Norwich Archives we have:

    I'm sure Samuel is a Berss or Bearss; possibly the info was taken from old printed mat'l.  More on Sam'l is available on Abram's descendant's page.  Sombra in Lambton Co., where Sarah died, is on the St. Clair River in Canada as close to Michigan as one could get; much of the family was in Michigan near there sooner or later.  My notes have it that there were many Camerons in the Sombra area; perhaps these were relatives of Dr. Cameron whose wife, Deborah, lived with Sarah's parents for a while.

    Also, from the Norwich Archives:

    Seems John was born and lived in Dereham.  Dereham is conventiently located just to the west of S. Norwich in Oxford Co.  I don't have more about them except that their daughter, Bertha Smart Siple, worked for Oscar, Abram's grandson, in his store in Lake County in the teens.  I recall Bertha being at my parent's house in Oakland in 1948; she was "Aunt Bertha", that's all.  I never heard of Abram or Rebecca until I got into this mess.

    On the same subject, the Norwich Archives sent me the following:

   I can't help with Jan Meddough; looks like spelling is somewhat phonetic.  Information from Connie Keeney has Levi and Adaline Piper Walker as Charlotte's parents from 1851 census;  Adaline shows up in Jared's bio.

     In 1867, G. W. Meddaugh owned land on the south part of concession IX, lot 14 just south of Otter Creek.  This put him in first Cornellville then Erbtown until the bridge over Otter Creek was completed; didn't even move!  I saw his land when I was there in 1984.

     The 1871 County Directory shows: 

    Geo. W. Meddaugh   S. Norwich Township Lot 14 Con. 9
    Jarred K. Meddaugh S. Norwich Township Lot 17 Con. 8.  

indicating that Abram had given up his interest in the property.

     We found a note about the cemetery: 

    This implies that the family was in Blenheim from 1848 - 1866 at least.  If one goes to my Springford Cemetery external link and goes to the main cemetery page then to Blenheim Twp. and Washington Cemetery, one can find a photo of Elizabeth's headstone.

    Here is a link to Jared Meddaugh's biography

Elizabeth Sly Meddaugh

        What do we know about Elizabeth?; practically nothing.  She was b. 21 March, 1817 probably in St. David's near Niagra, m. Abram in Lockport N.Y. on the 6th of Dec., 1835, had a family and d. 5 Oct., 1866 and, since she was buried in Blenheim Twp, probably died there also.  I downloaded a copy of Abram's entry in the 1851 census; it was July 2007 that I looked at it closely enuf to notice that the entry after Abram's family and before the following family was Wm. Sleigh, a 22 year old laborer born CW [as were the rest of the family] but not a member of Abram's family.  Could this be Elizabeth's brother?

Abram's Second Family:

    Now this is new and interesting.  I only had the head of household part of the census before but Barb supplied the following:

    Ha! Abram's age is consistent with the previous census, he is still of Ontario and a Methodist but now he is Irish (?!) and has a new family.  Barb says:

  Bayham Township includes Eden where Wm. Alexander Meddaugh said Abram lived and is just the other side of Tillsonburg from Springford.  (Info on Springford yet to come).  Lucinda first m. Egbert Nims; marriage: 14 Jun 1848 St. Mary's, Perth, Ontario [there is a St. Mary's in Perth Co. N.W. of Oxford Co.] from LDS AF.   Gary Middaugh adds: 

    Somewhat later, I found in Ancestral File, 1881 census:

    Arim and Luciday, well I never!  He was Irish, now he's German.  Learned the weaving trade too.

     Barb also supplied a comment from the 1900 Grant Township, St. Clair, Michigan census:

     This confirms the fact that Abram's family came from Holland and tells us when he immigrated to the U.S. but is it the same Abram?  Quoting from the above letter by G.W. or Menila:

    I have always assumed that Willard was Jared and the above sentence was sarcasm but now I know; these are two independent pieces of information so Abram was alive in 1900 with his new family in Michigan.

    We saw the area of Brockway Twp. in which Abram and Lucinda lived on a trip in 2005 but were unable to get more information on either; we found that the Yale Expositor for that timeframe are being microfilmed and, being patient, I located Sue Baroski who went to the Michigan library and transcribed Abram's obit; the result is below.    Near Abram's entry in the 1900 census, about 10 dwellings away, lived Lucinda's son Joel and family so we can speculate why G. W. wrote to Joel; perhaps it was because Joel could read and write.  Connie also found Willard Nims in the 1880 census in Brockway Twp. living with Mahlon Bearss who some feel is Sam'l's brother.  Mahlon grew up in Elgin Co., Ontario, perhaps Bayham, when the Nims lived there.

    We noted a Tacy lived early on near Yale.  As Connie noted,  Joseph Tacy was adjacent on the 1900 census in the 1900 Grant Co. census and Abram's son, G. W., left his address with Mrs. Joseph Tacy in Fargo per an entry in his "notebook".  I wondered if there were some hard feelings between Abram and his family after he remarried; at least G. W. made the effort to look him up in person!

    Entries in a list of St. Clair Co. Michigan deaths  list  with book and page #: 

    I have Abram's death certificate.  It states he died 10 June, 1905 at the age of 92yrs, 8mo., 7days at Port Huron, Village of Yale and was a widowed farmer.  There is no information about his birth location or parents.

    Thanks to Sue Baroski,  I also have Abram's obit:

    The Waterloo comment agrees with my family history; Waterloo can be a county, a region, a city or a part of the Ft. Erie area.  The Ft. Erie part sounds reasonable as the same history [a list of birth and death places and dates] has his wife, Elizabeth Sly, from St. David’s just north of Ft. Erie.  However, the Waterloo region and township are quite close to Beverly Twp., Blenheim Twp. and even Flamborough Twp. so I’m not sure.  The information for the obit might well have been given by Joel who didn’t know about the other children and may not have known Jarrard [Jared].  Mary St. now forms the SE boundary of Yale.

Others in Michigan:

     A note in my collection says Abram's daughter Sarah Jane b. Feb  27 1841 in Wilmot [Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Co. is just north of Blenheim Twp., Oxford Co.] d. Nov 21 1868 in Sombra.  Sombra is across the St. Clair River from St. Clair Co., Mi.  Indeed she died there 14 years before Abram emigrated.  I have a book of notes almost certainly written by G.W. Meddaugh in the 1890-1906 timeframe.  It mentions:

  Mr William Guinther rubley P.O. Michigan
  David Ingals        Argyle P.O. Michigan
  Andrew  Meddaugh    Cass City Mich
  Mrs Joseph Tacy     Fargo Mich
  Mrs Ruben Oatman    Rachel Ingals 2013 St Clair Street   Port Huron Mich
  Mr Rutsey Wardle    896 Canal St            Grand Rapids, Mich
  Mr Rutsey Wardle    Berlin  Mich
  Mrs L. Meddaugh     Fargo Michigan
  Mrs Ida Clark       811 Swinton Street      Sault-Sainte Marie
  Mrs D Bechtel       California Michigan
  L.P Vorpe           648 36th St Oakland
  Mr A H Dakin        915 Warth College Av    Grand Rapids Michigan

     Andrew Meddaugh is likely the son of younger James, the Oatman and Wardle family were close to the Woodards, Menila's family, in the Springford, Oxford Co. area.  Ingals may be the family into which Abram's sister Catherine and /or Hanna married.  The others I don't recognize.  It is interesting to note the lack of an address for Abram.

     Cass City is about 50mi. N.W. of Port Huron, Argyle is about 10mi W. of Cass City, Fargo is about 10mi. N.W. of Port Huron, Grand Rapids and Big Rapids are far to the west in Michigan and Berlin is about 50mi S.W. of Port Huron now in the Detroit areas.  Wm. Alex. Meddaugh mentioned Yale which is very near Port Huron.  The Oatman family page has Greenwood in St. Clair Co., Mi. and mentions that Ruben Oatman m. Rachel Ingalls.  I cannot be sure that all of the places named are where they are listed now or are not townships or counties.  I did find a map of the St. Clair area where some of the above place names are located.

     I use Port Huron as a reference both because most of the places listed are in a quadrant between 50 mi. N.W. to S.W. of there and because, when our oldest daughter was born in San Francisco, my wife was attended by a young nurse named Jean Meddaugh from Port Huron [my wife was a young nurse named Jean Meddaugh].  Regrettably, the nurse knew nothing about her family history but I'm pretty sure she was related.

    As a bonus, Barb Dakin sent me a piece sent her by Daryle Gregory written originally by C. Nims.

        If you can't smell the tobacco, you don't have the right plug-in.   The "slightly plump, but not fat"  also described O.E. Meddaugh, O.E. "Bob" Meddaugh and, I guess, me.  G.W., I'd bet on it too..

     It is my hope to add more names and relationships of family members who also went to Michigan in the later half of the 1800s.

     Please advise me of any additions, corrections you might feel appropriate.

Added mailto 19Dec.'03
Added kids, etc.  31July'04
Added 1881 census, formatting, 05Oct.'05
Added Joel & sibling comment. 27Dec.'05. 
Added Connie Keeney's info 21July'06
Added Abram's obit 04Jan.'07 
Added Waterloo Village reference 18July'08