Anna (McKay) Schooley (1803 - 1898)

Born 31 Aug 1803 in Humberstone, Welland, Upper Canada

Wife of Jehoida Benjamin Schooley — married 12 Dec 1820 in Welland, Upper Canada

Descendants

Died 20 Apr 1898 at age 94 in Ridgeway, Fort Erie, Bertie, Welland, Ontario, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Melissa McKay [send private message]

Biography

Anna (McKay) Schooley is a member of Clan MacKay.

Marriage: 12 Dec 1820, Welland, Upper Canada. Jehoida Benjamin Schooley 1792–1875 • L4QK-J6B ​and Anna McKay 1803–1898 • K2J9-XBG ​

Children:

1. Julia Schooley 1822–Deceased • 9VHR-T8F ​
2. Lavinia Schooley 20 Nov 1823 Bertie Township, Ontario–27 Aug 1893 Humberstone Township, Ontario. Married William Steele, b. 1 May 1816, Humberstone Township, Ontario d. 28 Feb 1879, Humberstone Township, Ontario
3. Frank Schooley 1825–Deceased • M1JW-2NL ​
4. Sophia Schooley 1825–1879 • 9VHR-T8T ​
5. Gilbert Schooley 1828–1885 • L2PD-R2X ​
6. Benjamin Schooley 1829–1917 • LHX5-GGS
7. Burton Schooley 1831–1925 • L2PD-T6P ​
8. Duncan Schooley 1833–1923 • 9VHR-TDY ​
9. Matilda Schooley 1835–1925 • L2NF-GRB
10. Jahoida Wesley (Jay) Schooley 1837
11. Camilla Schooley 1840–Deceased • 9VHR-T65 ​
12. Mary Jane Schooley 1842–Deceased • 9VHR-T6N ​
13. William Francis Schooley 1845–1925 • 9VHR-T6Y ​

EARLY DAYS IN WELLAND COUNTY By META SCHOOLEY LAWS

" It was early in 1812. Some few years before that the McKays, among others, came to Humberstone. The Geady farm was their homestead. A little log cabin stood in the clearing, and a few stumpy acres were under cultivation. The mother was Christine Metlar; her people had settled in Pelham. How the acquaintance was formed, unfortunately, is not recorded. But perhaps the solder-pioneer had aided in building the military road which passed through that section and now forms a part of Provincial Highway No. 3, or one of its feeders, the old Canboro Road, the eastern section of Talbot Street, which in those early days connected this section with the far east-Detroit.

At any rate they married and around them was a family of sturdy boys and girls. But the war-cloud loomed up and Gilbert McKay buckled on his sword and bidding goodbye to wife and little ones, some of them mere babies, answered, as did all the men of his day, to his country’s call. He lived for his country-remember all these pioneers did that-and he went forth to die for it, if need be.

It was a last goodbye. After the war his sword was returned to the family and is now in the possession of a great-granddaughter.

Anna McKay was but nine years old, the oldest of the girls.

The mother and children struggled on for a few years, then she married John Steele, whose grandsons, Jefferson, O.L. and Chas. E., are well known in the county.

Anna kept house for her brothers until she was seventeen, then married J.B. Schooley, whose home was across the Fort Erie Road, little more than a trail then connecting the lake settlements. More than once has reference to her been made in these articles.

The little two-roomed cabin with its big stone fireplace and swinging crane, which J.B. had in readiness, was reached by ox cart. The old crippled uncle sat in the high home-made rocker awaiting them. The furniture, a few chairs and benches and tables, were home-made. Rough planks made the floor, but there was one luxury-glass windows.

The section was quite thickly settled and grandma told the hardships so casually and stressed the happiness of the sociability of those days, when real necessity bound people together in a sociability which was genuine. From the Indians who came to her home she learned the medicinal value of herbs, a stock of which she always dried and labeled.

The doctors were few and far between and her skill and knowledge was known for miles around. She grew flax and wove it for household linens. She carded and spun and wove the wool for dresses for herself and daughters, and made full-cloth for grandfather and the men. She helped rake and bind the grain. The little cabin in a few years was replaced by a huge-hewn log house, whose fireplace stood in the writer’s childhood just back of the “new house” built seventy years ago.

She was always interested in what she termed “the Lord’s work.” To her the minister towered head and shoulders above other men. For seventy-five years she was a member of the Methodist Church, and many a tale she told of the old circuit riders who were her most honored guests. Her home was the scene of many a service and she thought nothing of going to Morgan’s Point or MacAphie’s or even Lundy’s Lane with the baby in her arms and one child before her on the saddle and two others behind holding to her skirts. We make no such effort to go to “Quarterly Occasion” now.

When regular service was established at the Ridge, she rejoiced. Dear Grandma! Her eyes never got too weak for her to read the Psalms, or Revelations, or Wesley’s Hymns.

Well do we remember the occasion when she prescribed for the case of nerves with which she came in contact. “Dearie,” she said, “I can give you a cure, neverfailing, for I’ve tried it again and again-the Ninety-first Psalm: “He shall cover thee with his feathers and under His wings shall thou trust.” You knew the grand words. They were not mere words to her but the source of her strength through which in the toil of her early life, the sorrow and disappointment so much of which filled her later years, she kept serene and peaceful-just as the face in the picture taken fifty years ago or thereabouts.

Two of her daughters passed away in early womanhood. The rest of her children, four daughters and six sons, lived to grow old. Gilbert and Benjamin were among the first business men of Humberstone village. Two of the daughters pioneered in the west, now Middlesex county. The McKay brothers had sold the homestead and pioneered there some years before.

One of the girls knew by experience the early history of Humberstone township. On her 90th birthday, Grandma followed this daughter to her grave in the Overholt cemetery. She lived to be nearly ninety-five and in full possession of her mental facilities fell asleep. She had a personal interest in us all, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren-33 of the former and 27 of the latter then. She even knew the birthdays of most of us. Nor did she ever lose interest in life. She wanted to examine every piece of new machinery that came on the farm. Many years she had helped thresh with a flail. She could and did “rake and bind as fast as he could if the baby didn’t need to be looked after.” The cream separator was a marvel. She was always ready to admit the superiority of a new idea, demonstrated by this or that appliance, or to criticize its weak points, and she could find them if they existed.

She would contrast our winter supplies with her’s-vension and bear hams and pigeons. She cared little for squirrel, though she served it for dinner once to a visiting minister and his wife. The minister didn’t eat game of any kind, so grandfather was cautioned and warned to serve chicken from the platter. He did so the first and second helpings, but when the plate came back the third time with “yes, just a very small bit, if you please,” his memory lapsed and his guests were amazed to learn that they had eaten with too-evident relish the despised food. Grandma often laughed when she told how ill they were all afternoon, and never quite trusted grandfather with a culinary secret after that.

Then they made hundreds of pounds of maple syrup. She kept a few “loaves” of sugar for special occasions. Of course every one knows that “Sugar-loaf hill,” just west of Port Colborne was so named because it resembled in shape one of these sugar loaves.

Dried fruits or preserves in huge stone jars. She was one of the first to use glass jars, but was never wholly convinced that canning was the best method of keeping fruit for winter use. Her cheese would rival that of best factory grades of today. Her butter was always golden and firm, and kept sweet packed in stone jars in June for winter use.

Every grandchild had a quilt of her piecing. There could only have been the same number of hours in her day that we have, but how then did she do so much-bake and brew, milk and churn, sew and knit, spin and weave-and yet have time to respond to every call of a sick neighbor, for visiting and help in the field too, but not much after the boys grew up, she hastened to tell us." * Tales of Welland History

Sources

• Geni

• Family Search

• Zavitz Family Tree

• Rainham Builders

• 1851 Census - Schooley

• 1852 Census - Canada West / Welland (county) / 387 Bertie township

• "Ontario Census, 1861," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQQY-LWF : 9 March 2018), Ann Schooly, Bertie, Welland, Ontario, Canada; citing p. 39, line 28; Library and Archives Canada film number C-1080, Public Archives, Toronto; FHL microfilm 349,329.

• 1871 Census - Schooley

• 1881 Census - Schooley

• 1891 Census - Schooley

• "Canada Census, 1891," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWGK-P18 : 3 August 2016), Annie Schooley, Humberstone, Welland, Ontario, Canada; Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; Library and Archives Canada film number 30953_148177.

• Find A Grave: Memorial #195206414