Robert Buchan

MS248 reel 17, Vol. 82, page 11,
Wentworth County Marriage Register

Extracted from a list of marriages solemnized by Rev. R. Irvine of the Presbyterian Church of Canada for the year ending 31st December, 1858.

John Buchan, 21, born Scotland, residing Nelson. Parents Thos. Buchan and Eliza Bird.
M.C. Teeple, 22, born and residing Nelson. Parents Eliza(!) Teeple and Marg. Zimmerman.
Witness R. W. Vallark of Nelson.
On 30 Sep 1858.

This is the one marriage registration so far found that provides us with the maiden name - Bird - of Elizabeth Buchanan.

The bride is unquestionably Matilda C. Teeple and her father is Eli, not Eliza.

The witness name, Vallark, is as written.

That said, the problem with the above that's the 'biggy' is that Matilda C. Teeple didn't marry John Buchan, or at least she didn't so far as your researcher can determine. Rather, she married Robert Buchan.

Robert appears with his parents in the 1851 census at Nelson Township as age 15. This would place his birth to approximately 1837. Keep in mind that the 1851 census in Upper Canada did not begin until January of 1852 and then the age question was: What is your age as of your next birthday. The 'John Buchan' shown above in the marriage registration, age 21 as of 1858, would have been born in approximately 1837.

The 1851 census does in fact show a John Buchan, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, but he is age as of his next birthday is 9 (assuming of course that the question was asked and answered consistently.) This would place John's year of birth to approximately 1843.

And, please note, that with Matilda marrying the above Buchan in 1858, she and Robert are in Nelson Township in the 1861 census with son Eli Buchan, age 1. She is shown with her parents in the 1851 census as Matilda C. Teeple and in the 1861 census as Matilda C. Buchan. With her son's name Eli, it can hardly be doubted that he is a grandson of Eli Teeple.

John Buchan, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, appears in the 1851 census, but a sure later record has yet to be found. John would have been approximately 17 in 1858 and it's most unlikely that he would have married Matilda, a considerably older woman. As is, Matilda was at least two years older than Robert...census information varies on this one.

What we may say for certain is that when son Eli Buchan, who was born approximately 1860, was married in 1885, he gave his parents' names as Robert and Matilda.

That Robert's name was entered as John on the marriage registration is, for the moment, almost imponderable, but if the family attended Rev. Irvine's church, it may be that the clergyman's knowledge of the children was not as solid as that of their parents and he incurred a mistake on the return to the recording clerk. This is not unheard of, though it's best found when comparing submitted returns to a given church's actual records.

However this happened, a clerical error, whether on the part of the clergyman or the registering county clerk, is a best guess. Comments are welcome, but something resembling evidence - a newspaper marriage notice or information in a family bible - would be the best way to sort this out.