Elvins

The Elvin Family

Shirley Forth’s heart-rending account of the 1916 Matheson Fire focused mainly on the Elvin family. 


Sarah Rosanna Scott was the eldest daughter of Lemuel Scott and Lucy Ellen Ouderkirk. She went by the name of Rose. She married Joseph Elvin, who was born in Yorkshire, England and emigrated to Canada in December of 1884.


Rose and her younger sister, Lucy Ellen, were married May 16, 1888 in Bracebridge, District of Muskoka, Ontario. The couples were witnesses for each other and were married in a double ceremony by an itinerant Baptist minister from Burk’s Falls, a Reverend Thomas Bingham. 


The couples had their wedding portraits taken by R. W. Ryan of Bracebridge. I found these photos in a family album given to me by my grandmother, Edna (Forth) Prosser. Lucy was her mother. The men are wearing different suits, but the women identical outfits. How fitting for a double wedding.

Sarah Rosanna “Rose” Scott and Joseph Elvin

On the back of this photo is written “Rose and the little monkey”. Perhaps the writer was describing Joe’s personality.
Lucy Ellen Scott and Heinrich Friedrich Christian Fodt
(aka Harry Forth)

The tintype below shows Rose and Lucy at a slightly younger age. The girls do appear close and perhaps that is the reason they chose to be married on the same day and have identical wedding photos taken.

Rose and Joe Elvin lived in Bracebridge after their marriage. On the 1891 census, Joe was recorded as a labourer and on the 1901 census, he was recorded as a tannery labourer. Rose and Joe had seven children:

Rose and Joe Elvin lived in Bracebridge after their marriage. On the 1891 census, Joe was recorded as a labourer and on the 1901 census, he was recorded as a tannery labourer. Rose and Joe had seven children:
 
Lucy Elizabeth 1990-1893, Mary "Edith" 1892-1916, Joseph Olimer "Ollie" 1894-1966, Lemuel Robert 1897-1959. Irvin John 1902-1919, Emily May 1906-1916, Rosanna 1909-1916
Lucy Elizabeth                  
Mary "Edith"                      
Joseph Olimer "Ollie"        
Lemuel Robert                  
Irvin John
Emily May
Rosanna
b. 29 Sep 1889
b. 20 Jul 1892
b. 15 Apr 1894
b. 3 Apr 1897
b. 21 Sep 1902
b. 29 May 1906
b. 15 Apr 1909

d. 8 Jan 1893

d. 29 Jul 1916

d. 15 Mar 1966

d. 13 Dec 1959

d. 11 Apr 1919

d. 29 Jul 1916

d. 29 Jul 1916

Lucy Elizabeth Elvin died before her fourth birthday and was buried in the United Church Cemetery in Bracebridge. 


I have been unable to find a death registration so do not know the cause of her death.


In May of 2024, I was able to dig out the base of the headstone and clean the inscription at the bottom. It reads:


Dear Lucy, her days on earth

were few, She passed away

like morning dew.

The Elvin family portrait below was also taken by Bracebridge photographer R. W. Ryan. It was taken circa 1898 judging by the ages of the children. 
I believe the photo may have been sent to Rose’s younger sister, Mary Louisa (Scott) (Willson) (Mills) Little, and was then given to her daughter, Lucy Abigail Willson. There is a reference to Aunt Rose and Uncle Joe written on the back of the photo. ‘For Mary’ refers to Lucy Abigail’s daughter, Mary Ivy Lois (Law) Rae. 

Mary’s daughter, Lois Catalano, shared the photo.

These are photos of Lemuel and Irvin Elvin shared by Nancy White, from the collection of Eletta Scott Dixon. Perhaps one day I will get around to restoring them!

The following photo, circa 1908, was taken outside the home which Lemuel Scott built about 1902 in Bracebridge at 21 Shier Street, known today as 73 Entrance Drive. Rose Elvin and her mother, Lucy, are standing by the front door and Margaret Jane (Anderson) Scott, William Scott’s wife, is standing beside the house. On the other side of the tree are Edith, Irvin and Emily Elvin. 
It would not be long after this photo was taken that the Elvin family, along with their Little cousins, would head north to Beatty Township. Lured, no doubt, by the same kinds of government propaganda brochures that had brought settlers to Muskoka, they set off to create their homesteads in the north. Their future held promise, but it was cut short by the tragedy of the Great Matheson Fire of 1916.

Ollie and Lemuel Elvin survived the fire, along with their younger brother, Irvin. Irvin died of rheumatic fever at age 16½, three years after the fire. He is listed as Irwin Elvin on the family monument in Hillcrest Cemetery.  
Photo of Olimer Elvin shared by Nancy White, from the collection of Eletta Scott Dixon

Lemuel enlisted in the Army in November of 1916 but only served three months with the 208th Battalion. His service was listed on his Draft form of April 1918. Ollie was also drafted in January 1918. I don’t know if either man saw any overseas service.

​

Both Ollie and Lem returned to Matheson and were living on 7th Avenue on the 1921 census. Ollie worked for the railway and Lem was a handyman. Joseph Olimer Elvin and Harriet Elizabeth Neill were the witnesses for the wedding of Ollie’s cousin, George Lockhart Little, to Mary Elizabeth Robertson in June of 1922. The following summer, Ollie and Harriet were married in Thornloe. They lived in Iroquois Falls and raised a family of four daughters and one son. Ollie died in 1966.


Lemuel married his second cousin, Sarah Jane Coffey, in Iroquois Falls in 1926. I have found no records of any children. They moved to Arvida, Quebec where Lem worked until retirement. He and Sarah Jane then moved to Toronto where Lem died in 1959.

​The Elvin family led the way north for their extended family and some of their descendants reside there to this day. Northerners have always had a reputation for being strong and resilient. The Elvins were all of that and more.
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