Lucy Ellen Ouderkirk

Lucy Ellen Ouderkirk was born June 4,1851 to Hendrik Takel Ouderkirk and Sarah Eliza Casselman. Her place of birth has been attributed as Morrisburg and the source is the Detroit Border Crossing card of 1911. My Gran Prosser told me that her grandmother was born in Morrisburg or Iroquois. I suspect that the family was living on a farm which may well have been located between the two villages which were only about 11.8 km (7 miles) apart.

The settlement of West Williamsburg, on the St. Lawrence River, was granted an official post office in 1851 under the “Post Office Act” of 1850. Sir James Morris was named the first Postmaster-General of Canada on February 22, 1851, and so the settlement was named in honour of him. Morrisburg was incorporated as a village in 1860.

Iroquois became an incorporated village in 1857. It was the first village in the area to have water services. This seems somewhat ironic as in the 1950’s, as part of the Hydro and Seaway projects, the village of Iroquois was moved one mile back from the river and the land was flooded as part of the canal system.



Although later records use the names of Lucy Ellen, the 1851 and 1861 census records recorded her name as Jerusiah/Jerusha. I believe they are the same child based on birth year consistency.

Lucy married Lemuel Scott on March 14, 1868, in Iroquois, Dundas County, Ontario according to information found in the book A Dutch Cooper's Legacy: An Ouderkirk Story From 1660 by Shirley Forth. I have been unable to find any primary source material to corroborate this.

Lemuel Scott was a Methodist of Scottish descent who was born in Westmeath Township, Ontario, on June 26, 1845, as recorded on the Westmeath Birth Register. His parents were Francis Scott and Rosannah Grew. According to the 1851 Agricultural Census, Francis was a farmer who owned 100 acres on Con B Lot 26 in Westmeath Township., Renfrew County. Of this, 15 acres were under crops in 1851 and 85 acres were wild or woodlot. Five acres were planted with wheat which yielded 30 bushels. He and his family lived in a log home.

Sometime after the birth of their first son in 1876, Lemuel, Lucy, and their four children followed Lucy’s parents to the Muskoka District, where they settled on Lot 4 Con VIII in Stephenson Township. Their next child, Frankie, was born in Stephenson Township in 1879, but by 1881 Lem and Lucy had moved into the town of Bracebridge. They were recorded in Bracebridge on the 1881 Census and their three youngest children were born in Bracebridge. Lemuel was listed on both the 1881 and 1891 Census records as a carpenter.  

The 1901 Census recorded that Lucy and children belonged to the Salvation Army church and that she was of Dutch descent. According to Shirley Forth's book An Ouderkirk Story From 1660, Lucy was a practical nurse and an active worker in the first Salvation Army unit which came to Bracebridge in the 1870's.

Lucy had certainly followed in the footsteps of her mother. She was listed as a midwife, Mrs. Lemuel Scott, for the birth of Walter Jacob Julius Goodman, July 28, 1899. She was also listed as midwife for two of her grandchildren - Henry Ernest Forth, born December 20, 1895, and Lucy Ellen Forth, born November 12, 1897.

About 1902, Lemuel built a large five-bedroom house on Shier Street, which is now 73 Entrance Drive. Below is that house in about 1908. I dated the photo by the approximate ages of the children. I have always wondered if Lem had planned to add a porch over the front door so that the doorway on the second floor had somewhere to go!

Photo Courtesy of Lois Catalano

From Left to Right – Rosanna “Rose” Scott Elvin, Lucy Ouderkirk Scott, Margaret Anderson Scott (wife of Lucy’s son, William James “Bill”) and three of Rose’s children, Edith, Irvin and Emily. While Edith and Emily did both die in the fire in Matheson in 1916, Irvin actually died three years later.

The house still stands today (2024) and remains in relatively good repair though pride of ownership seems to have dwindled over the years, possibly as the owners aged or new owners took over. The white front porch that was added within the last two years does not enhance the façade! The photos below were taken in 2009 and 2024. 

I have copies of the original documents of sale for this property from Lucy Scott to Albert Tibbett in 1922. Albert’s granddaughter, Lynn, told me that when her grandfather’s family moved in, they had to contend with a plague of bed bugs for months! The family believed it was because many of the rooms had been rented out to men who worked in the lumber mills.

According to Shirley Forth’s research, a number of the rooms had been rented out to various Irish girls who worked in the nearby woollen mill. One such girl was Margaret Anderson, seen in the photo above, who married Lucy’s son, William. I have no idea from where the bed bugs actually originated, but no doubt about it, they would have been miserable to eradicate! Lynn also told me that the house had been painted cream with brown trim. She described to me the location of the stable and the icehouse, neither of which exist any longer.

According to Shirley Forth, the Scotts lived in Lambton Mills (an area of Etobicoke, now Toronto) for a time in the early 1900’s. Lem and two of his sons, Bill and Lem, worked in what was known as the Shale Pit on Prince Edward Drive in Etobicoke. On to two 1911 Detroit Border Crossing cards, Lemuel and Lucy were recorded as living in Lambton Mills in January of 1911. I believe they moved back to Bracebridge after their return from Chicago in 1911 as Fred Willson reported that he went to high school in Bracebridge and they were located here on the 1921 Census.

Lemuel’s 1911 crossing card also recorded that he had lived in Lisbon, New York, from 1861-1868. As he would only have been about 16 at the time of his arrival, it is unclear what he was doing there, but he was most likely working as a farm labourer. This may have been where he met Lucy as, according to her 1911 Detroit Border Crossing card, she had lived in Lisbon for about six months in 1870. By the time they filled out their border crossing cards in 1911 they may have been a little fuzzy on actual dates and they weren’t travelling together when their crossing cards were filled out. However, this information does put them both in the same place in relatively the same time around the time of their marriage in 1868.

The 1911 Detroit Border Crossing card also recorded that Lemuel was a steam driller. I believe this is what he did in the Shale Pits. It was noted that he wore glasses, had a deaf left ear, psoriasis, suffered from senility and that his infirmities affected his earning ability. Lemuel wasn’t going to the United States to work in any case, as he was just on a family visit. He was going to Chicago to join his wife who was visiting with her sisters, Sarah Ouderkirk Dunn and Mabel (Minnie) Ouderkirk Breaton. He and Lucy, along with their grandson, Frederick James Willson, had an extended family visit lasting until after the census period in June of 1911 in Canada.

This photo postcard is of Lemuel Scott taken during WWI. Apparently being deaf and senile did not hamper his ability to work in Canada! I received this photo from fellow researcher Nancy White who is married to Lem’s great great grandson. The reverse of the card says “From Dad to Emily and Lem.” This card was given to Lem’s son, Lemuel, and his wife, Emily Traves.

I received a second copy of this postcard from cousin Lois Catalano. On the back of her postcard was written “Granddad Scott – Police at munitions plant. Mother’s Father taken 1st world war.” This card was originally given to Lois’s great grandmother, Mary Louisa Scott Little.

Lem and Lucy took over the care of their grandson, Fred, from the time he was seven years old. Fred’s mother was Lem and Lucy’s third daughter, Mary Louisa Scott. In her book, Shirley Forth includes several conversations she had with Fred Willson but did not share why he was living with his grandparents. Fred was the youngest of Mary Louisa’s four children with her first husband, Alfred Willson. By the time Fred was seven, Mary Louisa had married for the third time and was living in Toronto with her third husband, and second cousin, Sameul Little.

Of his trip to Chicago, Fred said the most interesting part was that his grandfather could buy a bucket of beer for twenty-five cents. Cheap American beer seems to have been a standard for a while!

This photo of Fred with his first cousin, Eletta Scott (Lemuel Scott Jr.'s daughter), shows Fred about the age he would have been when he went to live with his grandparents.

I have in my possession a large painted tintype of Lucy Ellen Ouderkirk Scott. It came from Lucy's photo album which was passed down to me from my grandmother. The original is very chipped and I scanned it and edited it with Photoshop to fill in the chips.

Lois Catalano also sent me a cabinet card of Lucy that was labelled on the back. I think the cabinet card photo was taken in 1888 at the double wedding of Lucy’s daughters, Sarah Rosanna and Lucy Ellen. The studio and background are exactly the same as the cabinet card wedding photos I have for both girls. It appears that the tintype may actually have been painted at the same time as the cabinet card photo was taken but was intended to show a younger version of Lucy. I leave it to you to decide.

Lucy was buried in St. John's Norway Cemetery in Toronto. Fourteen years later, Lucy’s sister Mary Mabel “Minnie”, was buried with her, though she does not have a headstone. Their burial dates are recorded at the bottom of the receipt. Lois Catalano’s mother, Mary Law Rae, remembered going to visit her great aunt “Min” on many occasions, so the family certainly did stay close even after Lucy died. Mary Rae was blessed with a very long life, living to celebrate her 100^th birthday in 2012 before passing away the following year. She maintained her mental acuity throughout her life and was very helpful in remembering details that helped Lois and me further our family history research. And she kept so many things, a veritable treasure trove of family information, like the cemetery plot receipt seen here.

Lucy’s headstone was discovered hidden under at least a foot of earth in St. John's Norway Cemetery in 2012. Lois Catalano and her sister, the late Patricia Rowney, were instrumental in having a cemetery worker unearth it. Thank you, Lois, for providing this last piece of Lucy’s presence for all of us to see. What a woman Lucy must have been. To have travelled to Muskoka with four young children and then have four more here within eight years of arriving seems such a daunting task. Again, I note that the women in our family are of exceedingly strong character! So much to live up to.