William Milroy

MS248 reel 16 Vol 75, page 51
Waterloo County Marriage Register

Extracted from a list of marriages solemnized by Archibald Constable Geekie, a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Canada for the year ending 31st day of December, A.D. 1860

William Milroy, 30, residence not given, born Canada. Parents John and Jane Milroy.
Margaret Dickie, 19, residence not given, born Scotland. Parents Robert Dickie and Ann Roxburgh.
Witnesses Archbld Ferguson and Robert Young, both of Beverly.
On May 9th 1860

Arch. C. Geikie, minister, born Scotland, appears in Galt at the time of the 1861 census. Geikie, or Geekie, later went to Australia and spent the rest of his life there. One of his children was named 'Bayne' and while this is not sure, probably, since a past minister had been a Rev. Bayne, Archibald was probably for at least a time at St. Andrew's Church in Galt.

MS248 reel 17 Vol. 76, page 39
Waterloo County Marriage Register

Extracted from a list of marriages solemnized by Robert Acheson, a minister of the UP Church, Galt, for the year ending Dec. 31st, A.D. 1867

William Milroy, 36, born and residing Dumfries, parents John (Milroy) and Jane McCarrol.
Mary Ann Harvie, 27, born and residing Beverly, parents Alexander (Harvie) and Catharine Campbell.
Witness James Keachie of Dumfries
On 14th February, 1867.

Typically, the county marriage registrations do not tell the location of the marriage and this is the situation with the above marriage. Rev. Acheson was minister at First Church in Galt and earlier First Church records would at the least specify the township or town wherein the marriage was solemnized. By 1867, the church was using the same form as required by the county registrar and a copy was then simply submitted to the registrar by the church. A wrinkle here is that this marriage registration should have been forwarded to the Wentworth County registrar, for the marriage was actually performed in Beverly Township of Wentworth County. We are informed of this by way of a transcription of marriage notices extracted from issues of the Dumfries Reformer for the years of 1866 to 1870. This was done by Rosemary Ambrose for the Waterloo Region branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. The notice for William and Mary Ann's marriage appears in the 20 November, 1867, issue of the Reformer and simply places the marriage in Beverly Township. It's reasonable to say that the marriage will have been at the Alex Harvie residence, which was across the township line just east of the village of Branchton which is in Dumfries Township.