MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
William was born in a little place called Hett, I think this
William emigrated to Canada going to Coalhurst
William was not a very tall man and hence the nickname
is in Durham, England, on April 20, 1860. From
information in the family Bible we think he must have
had two brothers, George and Joseph, one of these
brothers coming with him to North America, probably
to the United States sometime prior to, or during, the year
1890, as an entry in this Bible states that William married
Mary-Ann Spurr at Cordonado, Iowa, U.S.A. on April
18,1891. William and MaryAnn had four children whose
vital statistics I will include at the end of this information.
William and his brother, who as far as we know remained
in the United States, became separated and as neither
one of them could write or read, completely lost contact
with each other for the rest of their lives. We are not
sure when William and Mary-Ann went to England but
it must have been prior to May, 1895, as Adam their
second child was born May 29, 1895 at Seaham Harbour,
Durham, England. Their family consisted of three girls
and one boy: Ellen born February 22, 1892 and died
September 18, 1904; Adam born May 29, 1895 and
died at Burnaby, B.C. March 9, 1964; Jane-Ann born
July 11, 1898 and died October 6, 1899; and Ivy (Lothian)
born August 9, 1902 and who also is now deceased
although I do not know the date of her death.
sometime in 1910 and his family followed a year later.
As Mary-Ann was not well they were allowed to
emigrate on compassionate grounds. She died in
Coalhurst on October 7, 1915, and immediately upon
his mother's death, Adam joined the army and saw
action at Vimy and Ypres, and suffering gas poisoning
was sent to England to recuperate. On his return home
Adam became involved actively in sports and was a
member of the Coalhurst, FC. Football team which won
the Scott Cup in 1921 for which he was given a gold
watch inscribed with that information. In December, 1924
Adam married Margaret Lorimer Kerr of Lethbridge.
Margaret was a school teacher at Lethbridge (Galbraith
School) and Foremost, Alberta - came from a pioneer
family who had settled in Lethbridge in 1886. Adam
also became very active in the miners' union and served
as secretary for a number of years. Adam and Margaret
had four children, all of whom were born in Coalhurst.
Margaret Kerr Robinson was one of the first open heart
surgery patients in Vancouver - died May 22, 1959.
'Litte Billie' which he was called in England as well as in
Canada. He could not read but was fervently religious
and used to have one of Ivy Lothian's children, Hannah,
read the Bible to him. I am not sure when William began
living on the farm but he had one hundred and sixty acres
and Adam, Margaret and their family moved onto the farm
with him, I think in early 1933. He died of pneumonia on
March 14, 1937 and is buried in the Lethbridge Cemetery.
Return Individual Histories