Catherine McMillan

As mentioned in the notes for William, the Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Historical Atlas Publishing Co., Toronto, 1906, states that William and Catherine were married in 1850. While this won't be too far off, it's pushing it a bit.

The 1851 census in Arthur Township of Wellington County shows William and Catherine together as a married couple. He is shown as 25 and she as 17. It should be remembered that this census was not begun until early January of 1852 and the age question was: What is your age as of your next birthday. We may much doubt that this was always accurately asked or answered, but William's age is shown as 25 and Catherine's as 17. The 1861 census was begun on January 4 of that year and the question was the same. (The query as to the present age of the enumerated was not asked until the 1871 census.) The 1861 census shows the age of William and Catherine to be 36 and 27 as of (presumably) their next birthday. Accurate?

William was enumerated twice in the 1901 census and his birth is shown on one page as being January 6, 1825, and on the other as December 18, 1825. We shan't belabour this.

A point here is that if Catherine was indeed 17 as of 1852, they were not married too much earlier. As mentioned, as of January 1852, they had no children present with them.

Their eldest, so far as we are aware, was Philip, who was born in 1854.

The Wellington District's marriage register is not in the hands of the Archives of Ontario, but is to be found at the Wellington County Museum in Fergus. The register was spotted and recognized as such by a woman perusing the contents of a bookstore and she quickly realized what it was. She purchased it of her own funds and then donated it to the museum. The museum has it on microfilm. This has been transcribed by Dan Walker and Fawne Stratford-Devai and is available from Global Genealogy, now in Ottawa, in either print or PDF format. This has been checked and, while marriages of at least two of William's siblings are recorded, nothing has been found for William and Catherine.

Considering the time it would have taken the enumerator in January of 1852 to wade through snow and mire to the residence of William and Catherine, their enumeration may not have taken place until rather later in the month. They may well have been married as late as January of 1852.

Only a Harper family bible would tell the tale.