Clara Phoebe (Osmond) Strickland (1872 - 1953)

Born 20 Aug 1872 in Margaree, Newfoundland

Wife of Thomas Joshua Strickland — married 5 Sep 1890 (to 7 Nov 1948) in Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland

Descendants

Died 7 Mar 1953 at age 80 in Neils Harbour, Victoria County, Nova Scotia, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ethel Clarke [send private message]

Biography

Clara was born in 1872. She passed away in 1953. Until June/July 2023 Phoebe had no identifiable family. Thanks to DNA we can reunite Clara Phoebe (Osmond) Strickland with her maternal birth family. Phoebe never could/would have named her mother because she probably was never told who she was, but looking at the DNA matches and two witnesses on two marriage certificates, I am confident we found her. Her direct descendants - Phoebe to her daughter, Alice, to my mother, Dorothy, to myself and my daughter, inherited Haplogroup U5b1. Phoebe would have inherited that through her grandmother’s, Catherine (Cummings) Matthews, line. George Osmond and his wife, Susannah Frances (Matthews) Osmond, had a daughter, Rosanna Osmond who married a Joseph Hincks, Hinks in Margaree, Newfoundland – the same place Phoebe was born. Phoebe Osmond was a witness to Rosanna and Joseph’s marriage. A few years later, Rosanna Hinks was a witness at Phoebe’s marriage to Tom Strickland. Through a fortuitous error by an adopted lady in Ontario, the two marriage certificates listing female witnesses were found when she went looking for Rosanna Osborn. If she hadn’t willy nilly added me to her tree for Osborn’s believing I was related to her birth father; if I hadn’t questioned how that happened; and if she hadn’t been willing to go that little extra, we’d still be looking for Phoebe’s roots. The surnames on 23 and Me for my DNA matches hold water when I search those in the Osmond-Matthews-Cummings families, and one of Rosanna Hinks descendants is a DNA 2nd cousin to me with the same Haplogroup. When Rosanna's daughter moved to North Sydney from Port aux Basque, her name was changed to Hicks, but in her children's obituaries, she is "Hinks" .We made it! Phoebe’s “home”. There are a couple of things to be aware of regarding surnames in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Osmond, Ormond and Osborn (the latter with many spelling variations); Strickland, Stickland; and Hincks, Hinks, Hicks, seem to have been interchangeable. Sometimes the different surname variations even occur in the same document. Be open minded and patient. When Phoebe died, her son indicated that Phoebe's maiden name was "Hasborne" and for decades we believed she was an "Osborne". It appears she was a Matthews raised as an Osmond and the DNA matches and evidence is supporting these new facts. I have confirmed with the Church of England/Anglican Church archivists as many facts as possible regarding my family's roots in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia as I can. The 1872 records of births and baptisms for Margaree and area to, at least, Isle aux Morts, were lost when the ship transporting the Priest and records to St. John's, Newfoundland, for safe keeping sank with all on board. Clara Phoebe Osmond's birth and baptismal information no longer exist -- unless someone has a Bible or certificate for a child they'd never heard of.

Sources

• "Canada, Nova Scotia Deaths, 1890-1955," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9S-ZSK1 : 8 March 2021), Clara Pheobe Strickland, 07 Mar 1953; citing Neils Harbour, Victoria, Nova Scotia, Canada, certificate 3153, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax.