Jane Hall

ID # 8908, (1854-1927)
Pedigree
BirthJane Hall was born in 1854 at Canada. 
MarriageShe married Wilmot Gotby, son of John Gotby and Ann Rush, on 8 August 1877 at Turnberry Twp., Huron Co..
Mrge reg. 004431-77 Turnberry Twp., Huron Co.
Wilmot Gotby, 33, bachelor, farmer, Methodist. Born Canada, residing Township of Howick (Huron Co). Parents John and Ann Gotby.
Jane Hall, 23, spinster, Methodist. Born Canada, residing Culross (Bruce County). Parents John and Jane Hall.
Witnesses John Huston of Howick and Alice Gotby of Turnberry.
On 8th August, 1877, at Turnberry, by Rev. James Smith.

For some inexplicable reason (probably human error), the marriage registration was filed twice. The second registration is identified as 004511-77. It is the same in every detail with the exception that it filed in Wingham and tells that the place of marriage was Wingham. On neither registration is the date of filing shown. Which location is precisely correct is unknown.
 
DeathShe died on 10 June 1927 at Owen Sound, Grey County. 
NoteFor the present we know little of Jane Hall Gotby and as her documentary history is researched the story grows confusing.

First we have the inscription on her gravestone in Section D of Wingham Cemetery. The photo of the stone on Find-a-Grave shows it to be quite unreadable. The Huron County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society transcribed the cemetery in 1986 and the stone dates her death to March 11, 1881. This also dates the passing and burial of infant children, Joseph who died in 1878 and Charlie who died in 1880. (See notes under Wilmot for a story about son Joseph.)

This seems straightforward enough, but then we find a very brief and incomplete death registration which dates her death to 1884:

Death reg. 007068-84 Turnberry Twp., Huron Co.
Mrs. Wilmot Gotby died March 11, 1884. Farmer's wife.

The above is all that was returned. A note appended by Township Registrar, Thomas Fortune, says 'The above is all that was sent in to me.'

With this very incomplete death registration it is tempting to believe that the transcription of the stone has an incorrect year of Jennie's death on it and that she actually died in 1884.

Not so.

There is also a registration of birth for a son, John Benjamin Gotby, who was born in 1882. This was a late submission of the registration, being dated to 1933, and submitted by an aunt, Ruth Trotter. Ruth was a sister of Jane Hall. This certainly assists in showing that the original year of death as it is shown on the gravestone, 1881, is, for Jane/Jennie, clearly incorrect, but, rather more so, associates Jane/Jennie with son John in later census years, up to and including the 1921 census.

We will mention here that Wilmot Gotby died in Waterloo Township, almost certainly in Doon and with his sister Susan and her husband John Tilt. He died in 1890 and his grave inscription - he is buried with his parents in Section D of Wingham Cemetery - correctly shows the date. Jennie's stone, claiming her death to be in 1881, shows her as the wife of Wilmot Gotby.

Jane is certainly with Wilmot as of the 1881 census in Turnberry. This is the last time they appear together on a census form.

Jane/Jennie has yet to be found in the 1891, 1901, or 1911 censuses, but she is to be found with son John in Owen Sound as of the 1921 census. She died in Owen Sound in 1927.

If there is any doubt about this, the 1917 Vernon's Directory for Owen Sound shows her as Jennie Gotby, widow of Wilmot. She resides with her son John.

Finally, we get to Jennie's death registration in 1927, and this has all sorts of problems of its own:

Death reg. 015272-27 Owen Sound, Grey Co.
Jennie Gotby died June 10, 1927, at 1186 2nd Ave. West. Widowed. Age 72 years. Born County Down, Ireland. Date of birth unknown. Parents John and Jennie Trimble. Father John Trimble, born Ireland; mother Jenny, born Ireland.
Physician W. G. Dow, Owen Sound. Informant John Gotby, 1186 2nd Ave. West, son. Burial Wingham, June 13, 1927.

The marriage registration of Wilmot and Jennie has her maiden name as Hall; her death registration has her maiden name as Trimble. Son John when he married named his parents as Wilmot Gotby and Mary Hall. (John does state on his marriage registration that he was born in Wingham.)

Jennie's death registration indicates that she is to be buried in Wingham; son John's death registration in Stratford, 1948, tells he is to be buried in Wingham. His death registration also names his mother as Jane Hall...so where does 'Trimble' come from on Jennies death registration? Who knows?

Finally, the 1986 transcription of Wingham Cemetery does show Jennie Gotby as dying in 1881 and being buried in Section D of Wingham Cemetery. But Jennie is not shown as being buried there later. Son John's burial is not found on the Wingham transcription. Is this transcription complete? According to a transcription of Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound, neither of them are buried there.

Mystery abounds. 

Children of Jane Hall and Wilmot Gotby
Last Edited7 Nov 2021