James Renny Thomson (1855 - 1944)

Born 9 Oct 1855 in Halifax, Nova Scotia Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Cummings (Bown) Thomson — married 29 Jun 1886 in Brantford, Ontario

Husband of Albertina B. (M.) Thomson — married about 1921 in Taormina, Sicily

Descendants

Died 4 Feb 1944 at age 88 in Lausanne, Suisse

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Biography

James Renny Thomson was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia 9 October 1855. ^[1] Family tradition says he was a student at Dalhousie. "To his grandson James Thomson, who had lost all his trappings in a fire aboard ship on a trip to Spain, Joseph Howe sent $10 accompanied with his usual advice..." ^[2] McAlpine's directories of 1875-76 and 1876-77 list James as a clerk whose residence was Pine Cottage, Northwest Arm, his parents' home. McAlpine's directory of 1877-78 lists him as a bookkeeper for the Bank of Montreal in Halifax. ^[3] He later worked for the bank as a supply accountant in Montreal and London, Ontario. He settled in Brantford Brant, Ontario in 1881. James married 29 June 1886 in Brantford, Margaret Cummings Bown. ^[4] They had a new 2-storey brick house at 83 Dufferin Avenue from about 1888. ^[5] James was transferred to Quebec City in 1898 and lived at 260 Grande Allée. ^[6] Later, he worked at Thetford Mines and Levis, both in Quebec.

Margaret died 18 January 1919 in Levis, Quebec. James retired and did some travelling. He went to Bermuda in December 1920, then on 20 May 1921, arrived in Halifax on the Chignecto from Bermuda, giving his destination as Peace River where he would visit his son. ^[7] James went to Europe later and enjoyed the popular watering holes. He married Albertina B. M. "Bertie" in Taormina, Sicily, 1921 or 1922. In 1936, they arrived in Southampton, England aboard the Christiaan Huygens from Batavia, Indonesia via Colombo, Port Said and Algiers. ^[8] When war seemed imminent, James and Bertie went to Lausanne, Switzerland to find a way home, but it was too late, so they stayed there during WWII. James died 4 February 1944 in Lausanne at 88 years of age. ^[9] Bertie lost the will to live and died soon after.

Sources

1. ↑ Family data, Margaret Bown Bible, gift of her father in 1874.
2. ↑ J. Murray Beck, Joseph Howe, 2 volumes (McGill-Queen's University Press (Oct 3 2003) -p. 279 Beck v.2 (Nov. 8, 1872, JHP vol. 41, pp. 531-3
3. ↑ McAlpine's Halifax City Directory for …. (Halifax : David McAlpine). <https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/directories-collection/Pages/search.aspx>
4. ↑ “Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1857-1924”, Thomson-Bown registration no. 001214 (1886); digital image, Archives of Ontario microfilm MS932 reel 52.
5. ↑ Brantford Heritage Inventory, City of Brantford, Ontario, Canada
6. ↑ “Party of Business Men Say Farewell to Mr. J.R. Thomson”, undated newspaper clipping from unidentified newspaper in the Maggie Bown scrapbook
7. ↑ Ancestry.com, Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924 (citing Library and Archives Canada. Form 30A, 1919-1924 (Ocean Arrivals), RG 76. Department of Employment and Immig;), Passenger Declaration of James R. Thomson, arriving 20 May 1921 aboard S.S. Chignecto from Bermuda, planning to visit his son K.B. Thomson in Peace River, Alberta.
8. ↑ Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists. Christiaan Huygens: to Southampton, 15 July 1936; National Archives of the UK BT26, piece 1108, item 36.
9. ↑ Deaths within the District of the British Consulate at Lausanne, Switzerland, entry for James Renny Thomson, p. 20, no. 96 (1944); FHL microfilm 1494401.

• see also: Daniel Wait Howe, Howe Genealogies, Vol. 2, Abraham of Roxbury, NEHGS; Boston; 1929; p69