Agnes (Ellis) Birch (1826 - 1909)

Born 18 Jun 1826 in Lot 12, Prince County, Prince Edward Island

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Birch — married 20 Apr 1847 in Port Hill, Prince, Prince Edward Island, British Colonial America

Descendants

Died 1 Feb 1909 at age 82 in Port Hill, Prince, Prince Edward Island, Canada

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Biography

This profile is part of the Ellis Name Study.

Agnes was the eldest recorded daughter of James and Jane (Ramsay) Ellis, born in Bideford, Lot 12, on June 13 1826 ^[1] Agnes was baptized in the Church of England, St. Eleanor's, daughter of James Ellis shipwright and his wife Jane Ramsay.^[2]

Her mother died when she was about 11 years old, and her father remarried in 1838 to Marion McArthur. At the age of 21 Agnes married Thomas Birch of Port Hill - APR. 30, 1847, MARRIED AT ST. JAMES CHURCH, PORT HILL BY THE REV. W. H. COOPER, B.A., THOMAS BIRCH OF PORT HILL TO AGNES, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF JAMES ELLIS OF NEW BIDEFORD, LOT 12. ^[3]

Thomas and Agnes had 13children, nine of whom reached adulthood. After the death of her husband of forty-seven years, she went to live with her son Swabey (H. B. S.).

Her obituary in the Pioneer said "Although she had reached the ripe old age of 83 years she was much younger in appearance, having always enjoyed good health. Possessing a cheerful and kind disposition with love to all and malice to none, the cheerfulness which marked her younger days seemed to lose none of its brilliancy in the evening of life."

Mrs. Agnes Birch, widow of Thomas Birch, died at Port Hill on Monday, at the ripe age of 88 years. "The sudden and unexpected death of Mrs. Birch, relict of the late Thos. Birch, which occurred at the residence of her son, H.B.S. Birch, Port Hill, on Monday morning the 1st inst., has cast a deep gloom of sadness over the community. Although she had reached the ripe old age of 83 years, she was much younger in appearance having always enjoyed good health. Possessing a cheerful and kind disposition with love to all and malice to none, the cheerfulness which marked her younger days seemed to lose none of its brilliancy in the evening of life. ..She leaves to mourn the loss of a good mother, four sons and three daughters, Jas. E in Alberton, Edward [Edmund] in Birch Hill, David in Boston, H.B.S. in Port Hill, Mrs. Lawrence Yeo, Central Lot 16, Eliza and Louisa in Boston." ^[4]

"The following additional facts have been received on the death of Mrs. Thos. Birch, Alberton. On Monday, February 1st, after a few hours of illness Mrs. Thomas Birch of Port Hill vacated the home she had occupied for sixty three years and moved to her new one, a house not made with hands. Eternal in the Heavens. she leaves behind her innumerable possessions of little duties kindly and faithfully performed and a memory which is an inspiration and a blessing to those who knew and loved her. she was the daughter of James and Jane Ellis, and was born in Bideford, Lot 12 on the 18th June 1826 and was in her eighty-third year. She was married to Thomas Birch on the 20th April 1846, who predeceased her just twelve years ago. She had a family of eight sons and five daughters seven of whom are left to mourn a kind and loving mother, viz. James E. Alberton, Edmund H at Port Hill, David in Boston, Henry B. S. at Port Hill, Sarah Yeo, Lot 16, Eliza C. in New Dorchester, Mass. and D. A. Louise in New Dorchester, Mass. In early life she entered the household of faith and was a member of St. James Episcopal Church, Port Hill for forty two years. The waves of skepticism and so called modern thought beat upon the rock of her faith in vain..." ^[5]

The funeral notice in the Guardian added that she had only been seriously ill on the day before her death, and that she was highly esteemed all throughout the neighborhood. The paper noted that it had been unusually cold that January.

Sources

1. ↑ PEI Baptismal Index, PEI Collections Database; The History of the Ellis Family says on page 74 that it was Margaret Ellis from this family that married Thomas Birch, but the correct name, Agnes, is given on page 184.
2. ↑ Images of records from the St. Eleanor's Church of England on familysearch.org
3. ↑ The newspaper record, from the Islander, matches the information on the record in St. James Church of England records, and the entry in PEI Marriage Records. Agnes had only the one name on all of these church records.
4. ↑ 1909 Guardian newspaper, Obituary - Summerside Journal 1909, 17 February page 8, from PEI Ancestry, and transcribed from the book, Leaves from the Birches of Avoca by Jeanette Birch
5. ↑ Charlottetown Guardian Monday February 22, 1909 , page 2

• Richmond Parish Register, 1821-1957, p. 39, baptism of Agnes Ellis, Includes records of St. John's (St. Eleanors) and St. Mary's (Summerside) Anglican Churches, mfm #2630, MacNaught History Centre & Archives.
• For the Birch family, see Leaves from the Birches of Avoca by Jeanette Birch; Climbing the Hill, and the family tree of the Ellis family on the Island Register and the History of the Ellis Family by Preston Ellis.