Alma Renia (Wilkinson) Atkinson (1908 - 1985)

Born 29 Jan 1908 in Mulmur, Ontario

Ancestors

Daughter of William Arthur Wilkinson and Harriet Ida (Tupling) Wilkinson

Wife of James Morley Atkinson — married 30 Mar 1933 in Honeywood, Ontario

Descendants

Died 19 May 1985 at age 77 in Shelburne, Ontario

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Owen Atkinson [send private message]

Biography

Alma was born on Jan 29 1908 (according to her birth certificate, although family thought her birthday was Jan 28) while her parents were living on Lot 29, Concession 1 in Mulmur township, Dufferin County. It is the fourth farm midway between Road 21 and the village of Lavender. That farm was originally purchased by Alma's great-grandfather John Wilkinson and farmed by her grandfather William Wilkinson and then her parents Ida (Tupling) and William Arthur Wilkinson.

Her father William Arthur died in 1925 leaving a widow and three daughters. Ida continued to farm with the help of Alex Wiggins, a first cousin of her husband William Arthur. Alex had been working there prior to William Arthur's death.

Alma was about seventeen and remained at home. Her eldest sister Cilverta was working as a bookkeeper and middle sister Mayme was teaching school.

Alma attended high school in Shelburne and then returned to live on the farm with her mother until she married.

She married at home on the farm. She and Morley lived there for a short time with her mother and then moved to her grandfather Joseph Tupling's farm at Horning's Mills.

In 1940 Morley's father James died and the couple with their two children moved to his farm on the northwest corner one concession west of Redickville. The house they moved to was built by her distant cousin Lemuel Ostrander who had sold the house to John Atkinson (not related) who had sold the house to Alma's father-in-law James Atkinson.

World War II started about this time. They were visited by Morley's cousin Alvin Cameron, stationed at Camp Borden, before his departure overseas. Alvin was killed in action in Sicily and is buried there in the Canadian military cemetery.

Neil Webster was employed by Morley and was called up for duty but was excused because of his farm worker status.

Two of Mayme's brothers-in-law were in the RCAF and the younger brother Fred Pearce was a POW in Germany for almost two years. Care packages were prepared and sent to him.

There was rationing of sugar, tea, and coffee during the war, these were all imported goods.

When the war ended in Germany the family traveled to Shelburne for a celebration, an effigy of Hitler was burned in the park.

During this time Morley served on the local school board.

He worked with the local agricultural representative and did germination tests on various grains. Seeds on litmus papers were a common finding in the parlour. He also received a Master Seed Grower award for original work on a potato variety. Circa 1962 the family attended the award ceremony at the Royal York hotel in Toronto.

Her father's occupation was listed as farmer. Dr McGibbon attended the birth. Her birth was registered on Feb 24, 1908. She was named after her mother's younger sister who had died fourteen months earlier.

She had an interesting pedigree. On her father's side she was descended from Iimmigrants Arthur Wilkinson and Elizabeth Wiley, first couple of that line to immigrate to Upper Canada from Northern Ireland. Arthur was a soldier who fought in the Napoleonic wars with the British Army. Many of his colleagues died in these wars, more often from tropical diseases than conflict. He survived a serious illness contracted in the West Indies and then retired on his army pension, moving to Canada with his wife and some of their adult children and grandchildren to finish out their lives as Upper Canada farmers. Both Arthur and Elizabeth died in their 80s a few years prior to Confederation.

One of those adult children was John Wilkinson, her great grandfather who arrived in Canada with his own parents and his Ulster born wife Jane Speers. Their son, William Wilkinson Sr mixed it up marrying a Canadian born woman, Margaret Ann Ferrier of Scottish descent. The resulting son, William Jr was Alma's father, half northern Irish, half Scottish.

William Jr married Harriet Ida Tupling in 1898. Harriet was descended from English farmers on her father's side and American immigrants on her mother's side. Her mother's family were a result of the intermarrying of United Empire Loyalists who moved north after the American Revolution and the opposing Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution who had also moved north. Not only were they of diverse politics, they were a diverse blend of Dutch, Danish, and German families that left Europe during the religious conflicts of 17th century, arriving as Huguenot and Puritan religious refugees to Upper Canada and New England; and New England and early American military families that traced their roots to the noble and royal families of Europe.

William Jr and Harriet had three daughters together including Alma and her older sisters Mamie and Cilverta.

In 1921 in the Mulmur township, Dufferin County, Ontario census Alma was thirteen years of age, living with her father William 51, mother Ida 42, and older sister Mamie 15. They were a farm family and noted as Methodists. Alma's older sister Cilverta was 23 and not living with the family at the time of that census.

They were living next door to the Samuel and Margaret Hawkins family (Alma's father William Wilkinson and Margaret Bryce Hawkins were second cousins through the Bryce/Wilkinson connection. William Wilkinson was also a first cousin to Sam Hawkins through their Ferrier connection making Alma both a third cousin and a second cousin to the seven Hawkins' children).

The family witnessed World War I from a distance, Alma was 6 when it started, 10 when it ended. Older cousins participated in the conflict.

In 1925 Alma's father William Jr died young, only 55 years old, of cancer. Alma was 17 years old.

On Apr 15 (16th?, record difficult to read) 1933 she married James Morley Atkinson in the Honeywood United Church officiated by Reverend J F Morris. The witnesses were his brother Victor Harland Atkinson of 73 Fulton Ave, Toronto and her sister Viola May "Mamie" Wilkinson of Honeywood. Morley's occupation was listed as farmer. The affidavit as required by Section 23 of The Marriage Act was signed by Morley in Shelburne two weeks earlier on Mar 30. Their four parents, James and Electa (Shaw) Atkinson, the late William Wilkinson and Harriet Ida (Tupling) Wilkinson are named on the affidavit.

They spent most of their married lives on the farm a mile west of Redickville, Ontario. The family farm had previously been farmed by Alma's extended family of Ostrander relatives.

They had two children, Joan and Bruce. Mirroring her early life the family sent off cousins to World War II shortly after. Alma and Morley each lost a cousin in the conflict.

Life got busy in the late 1950's when her son Bruce married in 1955 and brought his wife to live on the family farm with her and Morley, three grandsons followed quickly filling up the old farmhouse until the younger family moved a mile north to a new farm. Father and son continued to work in tandem on the two farms and eventually acquired a third. She was known to her farm grandchildren as Grandma Morley, somewhat easier to pronounce for youngsters.

She was an avid reader and would return from the Shelburne library with a bag of books in hand on a steady basis. After Morley left her a relatively young widow she stayed on the farm for many years living with her mixed collie Lassie and at least a half-dozen cats. Her two 'city' granddaughters came to visit often and she acted as intervenor to save them from the pranks of her 'country' grandsons. She loved to dance and was a lifelong teetotaler.

She and her older sister Cilverta from Creemore had extended visits with each other and she also had son Bruce, his wife Shirley and their five children living a mile away; Bruce having taken over the farm she had family on the place every day. She was a fan of I Love Lucy and The Carol Burnett Show and spent much time in the flower gardens around her home. Despite a near brush with anaphylactic shock she survived a wild hive of bees in the brick wall on the south side of her house. She was raised a Methodist but had attended the Anglican church in Honeywood with Morley until his death. She had regular visits from the Jehovah's Witnesses in her later years on the farm but did not convert.

When her Aunt Warna (Tupling) Richardson passed away leaving her Uncle Tom a childless widower, a former tradesman who lost his sight, she moved to Shelburne where they lived together for several years until his death. Her farm grandchildren attending highschool in Shelburne, she was often visited when after school activities meant missing the school bus back to the farm - and farm chores.

On July 14 1984, on the occasion of her grandson Alan Atkinson's wedding to Julie Allen, she posed on the front step of her Shelburne home with her sister Cilverta and her three great grandchildren, Corri, Erin and Zoe Atkinson.

Ten months later aged 77 on May 29 1985, she slipped away after a long illness in Shelburne hospital with family by her bedside. She left her sister Cilverta, two children, seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren on that day.

She is buried with Morley in Shelburne cemetery.

Sources

Birth: Archives of Ontario; Series: MS929; Reel: 4, registration 015263.

• Year 1921: Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 53; Census Place: Mulmur (Township), Dufferin, Ontario; Page Number: 8, Library and Archives Canada. Sixth Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013. Series RG31.

• Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Ontario Marriages, 1933-1934; Reference: RG 80-05-0-2136

• Find A Grave Memorial# 159897624, Find A Grave. Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=159897624

• Paternal relationship is confirmed with an AncestryDNA test match between Atkinson-4908 and Wiggins-1797, third cousins. Predicted relationship reported by AncestryDNA: Confidence: Extremely High.

• Maternal relationship is partially proven with a fourth cousin Ancestry test match between fourth cousins Atkinson-4810 and Kyle-1163 Confidence - Extremely High. This match is high due to a Coe cousin relationship between the two in addition to the Tupling relationship.

• Maternal relationship is confirmed with an AncestryDNA test match between Atkinson-4908 and Grice-508, third cousins. Predicted relationship reported by AncestryDNA: Confidence: Extremely High.