Elizabeth (Russell) Pherrill (1787 - 1868)

Born 12 Apr 1787 in Maugerville, New Brunswick

Ancestors

Wife of Stephen Pherrill — married about 1803 in New Brunswick

Wife of William Henry Lawrence — married 6 Jul 1844 in Toronto, Home District, Canada West

Wife of John Darby — married 2 Mar 1863 in York, Canada West

Descendants

Died 1868 at about age 80 in Ontario, Canada

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Biography

Elizabeth Russell was the tenth of Jacob and Elizabeth Russell's eleven children. She was born in New Brunswick after her family had been forced to flee the US in the wake of the Revolutionary War. She was baptized, along with her siblings, at the Maugerville Anglican Church on March 10, 1789.^[1]
When she was probably no older than sixteen, she married Stephen Pherrill.
As a young wife with babe in arms, she accompanied her husband on the long and perilous journey up the St. Lawrence and across Lake Ontario in a small open boat. They would become among the earliest settlers of the township of Scarborough.^[2]
During the War of 1812, her husband worked for the government. He was a courier, delivering dispatches from York to Whitby and back. This involved swimming the River Rouge on horseback in both directions. Her husband and his horse would arrive at the farm on the return trip, wet and exhausted. So Elizabeth would take a fresh horse and complete the ride to Fort York on her own, leaving her husband to a much needed rest.^[2]
Elizabeth's home became a victim of the predations of U.S. soldiers during the sack of York in April, 1813. "There is a story told of this brave woman defying a party of rude Americans who came into her house, and, with wanton violence, destroyed all they could not carry away. She was forced to desist from active protestations against the breaking of her crockery by threats of being killed if she were not quiet." ^[2] (Dishes were an imported luxury on the Upper Canada frontier at that time.)
In 1826, her parents died back in New Brunswick. She received £100 in her father's will.^[3] A few years after that, in 1831, the Pherrill's built the first brick house in Scarborough.^[2]
Just before Christmas in 1840, Elizabeth's 19 year old son, Stephen Jr, died and was buried in St. Andrew's Church Cemetery. A little over a year later, her husband died and was buried next to his son. Elizabeth took another husband, marrying a Loyalist by the name of William Lawrence on Saturday, July 6, 1844 in a ceremony in Toronto performed by the Rev. G.F. Playter. One of the witnesses was Martha Hedges.^[4][5]
Elizabeth second husband would die in 1852. And by 1861 Elizabeth was back living on the farm in Scarborough with her son Adna and his family. Also living there was Elizabeth's grandson, George Hedges.^[6]
Elizabeth would marry for a third time in 1863 to John Darby, who was fifteen years her junior.^[7] And in her final years, Elizabeth would become involved in litigation concerning her first husband's estate, bringing suit against the estate of her husband's executor.^[8]
When Elizabeth died in 1868, she was buried with her first husband, Stephen Pherrill, and their son, Stephen, at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Scarborough.^[9]

Additional details at Elizabeth Russell Pherrill.

Sources

1. ↑ Maugerville Anglican Church - Christenings, 1787-1805.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} History of the Township of Scarborough 1796-1896, David Boyle, 1896
3. ↑ Early New Brunswick Probate Records, 1785-1835, R. Wallace Hale, Heritage Books, 1989.
4. ↑ Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928, Archives of Ontario; Series: MS248; Reel: 2, Home District, 1844. (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:QL7D-2DNJ : 20 February 2019)
5. ↑ Elizabeth's daughter Eliza Ann had just married George Hedges in 1842. This is possibly one of George's relations.
6. ↑ 1861 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1089-1090, Page: 10; Line: 24. (https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4391575_00026)
7. ↑ Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928, Archives of Ontario; Series: MS248; Reel: 15 and 16, York, 1863. (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:QGJZ-Z8GJ : 17 March 2018)
8. ↑ See Stephen Pherrill's will and associated documents, PDF file in Images.
9. ↑ Site Map of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Cemetery See #24 in the key.

See also:

• Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Chancery of Upper Canada, Volume 13; Alexander Grant, Rowsell, 1868; pp. 476-484.
• Cullen Genealogy and Roots Web and Lawrwnce Genealogy
• Ancestry of Ralph J. Turner
• Rubidge Family Bible, submitted by Joan Gardner Moore.
• Photos courtesy of Joan Gardner Moore.