John Strong (abt. 1814 - bef. 1887)

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Strong — married 15 Nov 1842 in Old Perlican, Newfoundland

Descendants

Died before 17 Apr 1887 before about age 73 in Old Perlican, Newfoundland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jeffrey Martin [send private message]

Biography

The parentage of John Strong and Mary Strong remains uncertain. I suspect, given the names of the children, that Mary Strong was the daughter of William Strong... her baptism not listed in the Old Perlican register. Her baptism being unrecorded seems a good possibility for two reasons; first, William was one of the few in the Strong family not to attend the church school in Old Perlican implying a lack of interest in that form of worship (therefore a lack of interest in having his children baptized); second, there seems to be large gaps between the baptisms of William's children implying irregular attendance at that church for whatever reason (perhaps the missing baptisms will be found in another parish). One might think that it would be odd to have both a Mary and a Mary Ann in a family, not so, as it occurs with some frequency in other areas. Another possibility is that Mary Strong, daughter of Thomas was our Mary Strong and her husband John was another child of William? This seems unlikely, unless William had another wife prior to 1818 as John was most likely born c.1814. Given the names in this family it seems probable that one of them was the child of William Strong, most likely Mary. Mary Strong would have been born at the latest about 1825 or 1826, although I suspect that she was older given the fact that she participated in the church classes in 1837 (two Mary Strongs were listed in 1840, one would be Mary, daughter of William, the other would be Mary, nee Hopkins, wife of John Jr.). Given the above, Mary was probably born c.1820 or slightly before as her parents were married in Nov. 1818 and her brother Moses was born in 1822. The other possibility is that Mary Strong was the daughter of Matthias and Mary, however, this seems unlikely as this couple disappears from the Old Perlican area not to return and Mary's place of residence at the time of her marriage is given as Old Perlican (it is always a possibility that she may have been "boarding" with someone in town with her parents living elsewhere, however, the custom has been for a couple to marry in the wife's home parish). At this point I cannot explain the relationship between John and Mary Strong and the witnesses at their wedding: Laban and George Strong (one of the witnesses at Laban's marriage was William Strong). The third John Strong who died in Old Perlican remains a mystery, however, I wonder if this is a non-issue as no marriage record and no birth records for children are found in the Old Perlican vital records. Did he remain a bachelor? Or perhaps he lived elsewhere for most of his life and returned to Old Perlican and died there? I suspect that he was the John Strong who died in 1874 age 68, thus being born c.1806, too old to be the child of Thomas and Ann (she b.c.1796) or John (whose birthdate we know from his headstone). So that brings us back to William or Matthias. William can be excluded as he was not married until 1818 (unless this was a second marriage as stated above, although I doubt it as there doesn't seem to be a lot "unattached" children running around Old Perlican at that time period unless the third John Strong was an only child of this union. Also, having William with a previous wife and a child born c.1806 would make him too old to be the son of Thomas who married in 1786). Matthias and Mary only have one child baptized in Old Perlican in 1822 implying that was their last child or they moved away or died. John Strong, born c.1806 remains an "orphan" until more information is available. One more thought on this John Strong. It seems unlikely that he was the John Strong who married Mary Strong in 1842 as this would have made him about 36 years old at the time, a bit old to be married to a much younger woman (an unusual event given the society at the time) and having children for twenty years after.

To compound the confusion in this family on 5 Feb. 1839 in Old Perlican John Strong Jr. married Mary Hopkins. Both pairs of John and Mary Strongs lived in Old Perlican and both were having children at the same time therefore making it difficult to separate which child belongs to which John and Mary! A probable list can be constructed with the following reasoning. I have a page from an old letter which was sent to my grandmother (Mary Belle Strong Whittaker) many years ago which listed her grandparents very clearly as John Strong and Mary Strong (not John & Mary Strong)... the author was very careful to list the maiden names of the women in the family so I assume that Joshua was the son of Mary Strong, not Mary Hopkins. This bit of information thus gives us a starting point. Thomas belongs to this family as he was named after his grandfather, Thomas Strong. Mary Ann is probably also of this family as she is named after her aunt. Aaron is a known child (my grandmother lived with her Uncle Aaron and Aunt Ann after her parents died) therefore his twin, Moses, is also part of this family (also Aaron and Moses were uncles, children of William Strong). The same reasoning places Levi in this family as well. The other piece of information is the fact that John and Mary had twins which is a genetic trait, one that would predispose a couple who already had twins to have another set of twins. Emily Ann belongs to this family as her brother Joshua named a daughter after her (she was a witness at the marriage of Moses Bursey and Amelia Ann Strong in 1882). Caleb, Elias, and Newman are all buried in the area with the family of John Strong Jr. who married Mary Hopkins. Archibald was named after his father's (John Strong Jr's.) brother who drowned 3 months prior to his birth and Archibald's wedding was witnessed by his brother Caleb. By default Jabez is son of John Jr. and the same reasoning (short gestation times) places Abraham in that family.

John was listed in the Newfoundland Directories for 1864/5 and 1871 as being a fisherman.

Of all the children of John and Mary Strong, only Joshua had a surviving child (my grandmother).

Sources

• Parish Records for Old Perlican
• Lovell's Newfoundland Directory for 1871