Mary Elisa Ouderkirk
Mary “Maria” Elisa Ouderkirk was born April 25, 1818, to Henry and Magdalena Froats Ouderkirk, in Williamsburg Township, Dundas County. She was baptized May 10, 1818, and her sponsors were William and Nancy Casselman. I believe Nancy Casselman was Henry’s elder sister, Annatje. Nancy is an anglicized version of Annatje, and she was recorded as Nancy Audekerk (sic) on her marriage record to William Casselman. Also of interest, William’s father was listed as Adam Casselman. Could William be an uncle to Sarah Elisa Casselman?
The transcription of this baptism record lists Maria as “Mary” but it is possible it was intended to be Maria. The writing appears to be part English and part German Kurrent so it is hard to say which is correct. Maria was the spelling used on most references I have found, but Mary was used on some marriage records for her children.
Shirley Forth, in her book A Dutch Cooper’s Legacy: An Ouderkirk Story From 1660, made the assumption that Maria died young as she never found her in any subsequent records. However, on page 462 of the The Ouderkerk Family Genealogy, Vol II, it is written:
Maria Ouderkirk and Nelson Pickering were married around 1833 and were the parents of eleven children. Maria was buried at the Beatrice Cemetery, in the Muskoka District of Ontario, in February, 1900. Many of Maria’s sons and daughters later moved on to the western provinces and the identity of Maria’s parents is not known at this time. It is believed that Maria may have been Mary Elisa Ouderkirk, a daughter of Hendrik and Lena Froats Ouderkirk, born April 25, 1918, and we are seeking additional information at this time.
I believe Shirley actually may have supplied that information to the book, but never did find any additional information so wrote later in her book that Maria died young. In any case, I believe that Mary/Maria Elisa Ouderkirk did indeed marry Nelson Pickering, though no record of marriage has ever been found.
The eldest of Maria and Nelson’s children was Catherine Elida Pickering who married Thomas Servage. On the Ontario, Canada, Death and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1950 record for Catherine Servage, her father was listed as Nelson Pickering and her mother as Maria Ouderkirk. Additionally, DNA has confirmed matches between known Pickering descendants and Froats descendants.
The Pickering family moved to Muskoka in the late 1860’s to the very same geographical location as Maria’s brother, Jacob Henry Ouderkirk, and her father, Hendrik Takel Ouderkirk. They all farmed in the same area of Watt and Stephenson Townships.
As I was researching the family homesteads, I noticed that Maria Pickering was listed frequently listed as accoucheur or midwife on many of her grandchildren’s birth records. This led me to search ALL the birth records for the area and I recorded Maria as having assisted in the birth of 69 babies between 1870 and 1886. Most of these babies were not family so it appears that Maria was a working midwife to all in the area. The area at this time would have been heavily forested and there were not a lot of roads to travel on. I don’t know if Maria walked to the various farms or was able to travel by horse, but the journeys would have been very buggy in the summer months especially and very cold in the winter months. Clearly, Maria was dedicated to her calling.
Maria is buried in the Ullswater Cemetery (contrary to what is recorded in The Ouderkerk Family Genealogy) between the graves of her brother and sister-in-law, Jacob and Sarah Ouderkirk, and her son-in-law and daughter, John and Mary Billingsley.
Maria is recorded on her own headstone as well as on the headstone with her sons, Simon Eli and John Manson. The two headstones are across from one another.
This photo was originally found on the Canadian Gravemarker Gallery website (retired in 2017) and permission to use was granted by then owner, Murray Pletsch.
Maria’s death record is in the name of Maria Pickerin. Her death was recorded as February 6, 1901 and her age as 86 years, 11 months. Her headstone, as seen above, records her death as February 5, 1900 and her age as 87 years, 11 months. I believe the death record to be the more accurate source.
Either way, the calculated birth date does NOT match the birth date found on the baptismal record for Mary/Maria Elisa Ouderkirk. However, that does not mean Maria Pickering was NOT Maria Ouderkirk, Henry and Lena’s daughter. It just means that at a time when not everyone could read and write and very few official records were kept, that Maria’s family, and quite possibly Maria herself, did not really know how old she was. I am comfortable that the DNA connections prove this relationship to be correct.