Adam Urquhart (1836 - bef. 1919)

Born 30 Jan 1836 in Avoch, Ross-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Ellen Lister (Rogers) Urquhart — married 22 Jun 1864 in York, Ontario

Died before Jan 1919 before age 82 in Newark, Essex, New Jersey, United States

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Biography

Adam was born in Avoch, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland in Jan. 30, 1836 and christened March 6, 1836.

Adam came to Canada 1853.

The Family Search website has him and his bother Hugh buying Lot 8, Con.7 in St. Vincent Twp., Grey Co. in July 1861 and then Adam sold his part in Oct. 1865. It must have been sold to his older brother David because the 1865-1866 directory for St. Vincent Twp. lists both David and Hugh as owning the land.

Adam was 25 and living in Yorkville when he married 18 year old Ellen Rogers of Toronto on June 22, 1864.

In 1865 Adam was in St. Andrew Ward in Toronto and a comb maker.

Adam and Ellen remain in Toronto for the birth of their first 2 children Frank and Annie and then head for Leominster, Worcester, Mass., USA in 1869.

In 1870 Adam is 32, still a comb maker and living in Leominster with his wife Ellen age 25 and their children Frank age 6 and Anna L age 3.

The comb industry flourished in Leominster and by 1853 there were 24 comb factories in the town. By the mid 1800's the raw materials such as animal horns and hooves were diminishing and a new material, the plastic celluloid, invented in 1868 took over.

By 1883 Adam was a foreman at Joslin and William, a comb making factory in Leominster but in 1885 they move to Newark N.J. where he was a superintendent at a celluloid company.

In 1900 they are living in Newark and their daughter Annie age 30 is still at home.

In the 1911 census he is retired and it is just Adam and his wife Ellen living in Newark.

Adam died Jan. 1919 (aged 78–79) in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey and is buried Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.

His wife Ellen died a year later in 1920 and is also interred at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Sources

• birth

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQQB-ZR3

• marriage

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2YM-34TL

• 1865 tax roll

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6Z3D-2VTM

• 1870 census

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2YM-34TL

• tombstone

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146847997/adam-urquhart

• census records

ancestry.ca

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Mary Lou Urquhart for the pictures of the headstones.