Sarah (Sherwood) Steep (1818 - 1908)

Born Oct 1818 in Kilfinane, Limerick, Ireland

Wife of Michael Steep — married 26 Apr 1836 in Kilfinanne, Limerick, Ireland

Descendants

Died 3 Jun 1908 at age 89 in Meritton, Ontario, Canada

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Biography

SIBLINGS

Sarah Sherwood had at least four brothers, William, Joseph, Daniel and Patrick. Like Sarah, William emigrated from Ireland to Canada. Joseph, Daniel and Patrick appear in an 1868 add placed by Sarah in the Boston Pilot's Information Wanted column. This column was often used for family members to locate Irish immigrants.^[1]

OBITUARY

Under “To The Grave” STEEP

Mrs. Sarah Steep, at the age of nearly ninety-one years, quietly passed away from sheer old age at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Teasdale, Merritton, Wednesday morning. The funeral will be held this (Friday)afternoon, at two o’clock at the home on Almond street, and the interment taking place at Lakeview cemetery, it being the expressed wish of the old lady that she should be laid beside her daughter Sarah (Mrs. Cushion), who died at Auburn(N.Y.) in 1891, and was brought to Thorold for interment. Rev. Mr. Almon officiates, deceased being a life long Anglican, and the pall-bearers are: Geo. B. Wilson, Frank Bassett, J. Johnston, R. Gibson, J. M. Ness and Bernard Clark. Mrs. Steep was born in Ireland, in the town of Killifinen, county of Limerick, in October, 1818, being Miss Sarah Sherwood. She was married to Michael Steep, and in 1852, with four young children the couple came to Canada, settling first at Streetsville, then at Guelph, and removing to Thorold in 1857 where they resided until the decease of the husband in 1881, and the last twenty-three years Mrs. Steep has made her home with her daughter at Merritton. She is survived by eight children, all married, but one. They are Peter of Thorold, Patrick of Merritton, Mrs. John Craik of Buffalo, Mrs. Geo. McKay of Auburn (N.Y.),Mrs. Elizabeth Lafferty, Miss Agnes Steep, Mrs. James Boyle and Mrs. Teasdale, the last four of Merritton. She leaves also thirty-two grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Though Mrs. Steep was a faithful wife and a good mother, her life was clouded by several sad tragedies. In 1866 her eldest son, William, was killed at Bridgeport, now called Jordan Station, while working on th “the trestle,” or the iron bridge which was being erected to replace the original timber bridge used by the Great Western railway (now the Grand Trunk) to cross the Twenty-mile pond, the bridge which only several years ago gave place to new double-track bridge, and the stone piers of which, yet standing, excite the curiosity of strange tourists. In 1873 another son George, was run down and killed on the Welland railway this side of Port Colborne; about ten years ago a son-in-law, Wm. Lafferty, was killed on the Grand Trunk at Merritton; and again only three years ago a grandson, George Steep, was drowned in the tail-race opposite the coal-yard of Sam Lambert (now Grenville’s) at Thorold. Still the old lady maintained a wonderful amount of spirits, and carried her duties in life cheerfully to the end, reaching an age twenty years beyond the allotted span.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ____, "Information Wanted: A Database of Advertisements for Irish Immigrants Published in the Boston Pilot" Online Webpage [1], The Trustees of Boston College, 2004 - 2014
2. ↑ ____, The Thorold Post, 5 Jun 1908, The Thorold Post, Printers

Acknowledgements

Research Notes

Note1: I don't have Sarah’s brothers listed in Sarah's profile because I don't have a birth or death dates yet.