Person:Elizabeth Atkinson (31)

Elizabeth Atkinson was born in Lawrence Street, a community which is now part of the city of York in England. As a very young child she emigrated with her family to Ontario, then known as Canada West. They settled in a rural township then named Reach in the County of Ontario, now part of Scugog Township in Durham Region.

Elizabeth had two older brothers who were listed with the family in the 1861 census. The elder, William, was noted as absent from home. There are no further sightings of either him nor the next brother, John. Elizabeth's younger brother, Thomas, married and lived locally for a while before moving on. In 1865 Elizabeth's mother, Judith Matilda, died.

In 1864 Elizabeth married Henry Lyle, a son of George and Martha Lyle, who had a farm in the local area. In the 1871 census the young couple are found on the farm which ten years earlier had been farmed by her father. In 1873 they gave up the farm and bought into a house in the small hamlet of Manchester. A third child was born in that year.

Early in 1876, when Elizabeth had just found herself pregnant with her fourth child, Henry's bronchitis developed into pneumonia and he died on 13 February. Throughout the next five years Elizabeth was obliged to keep her family with the assistance of her father, Ambrose, and her younger brother, Thomas. There are advertisements in the local paper as Elizabeth attempted to sell her house "cheap" and also an application not to give up charge of her four children.

In 1881 Elizabeth married another local farmer, William Gilroy, a widower with five children. The census of 1881 lists this family only a month after the wedding. Two further children, Milton and Merle, were born to William and Elizabeth during the next ten years. Elizabeth's daughter, Matilda, married and moved to the larger town of Uxbridge. Some of William's older children moved away from the farm. George Ambrose, Elizabeth's eldest son by Henry Lyle, died of typhoid fever in 1894.

In 1897 William died and Elizabeth found herself a widow again. She moved into Uxbridge with her own two Gilroy children and is found there in the 1901 census.

In 1903 Elizabeth married for a third time, this time to Oliver Nelson Young. He died in 1907 and in 1911 she was still living in Uxbridge with her daughter, Merle Gilroy. She died 19 Nov 1931 in Etobicoke, just outside Toronto, and is buried in Park Lawn Cemetery.

1. ↑ York, Yorkshire, England. York, Yorkshire, England. Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920: Parish Registers for the Archdeaconry of Yorkshire. (York, Yorkshire, England: Borthwick Institute for Archives)
   Borthwick Institute for Archives; York, Yorkshire, England; Parish Registers for the Archdeaconry of Yorkshire; Reference: PR/HOL/23 (Holtby [Yorkshire] , page 26, #202).

   Bapt. 10 Jun 1845. Elizabeth, daughter of Ambrose and Matilda Atkinson of Warthill (father: farmer)

2. ↑ Canada. 1861 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada)
   C-1058, District of Ontario County, Division of the Township of Reach, Page 77, line 24ff, 14 Jan 1861.

   Fourth Concession, lot 12
   Ambrose Atkinson, farmer, b England, 45, m
   Judith M Atkinson, b England, 39, m
   Wm Atkinson, b England, 18, s, absent
   John Atkinson, b England, 17
   Elizabeth Atkinson, b England, 16
   Thomas G Atkinson, b England, 14

3. ↑ Family 124: Henry and Elizabeth Lyle, in Canada. 1871 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada)
   C-9975; Ontario, District 49: Ontario North, Subdistrict b: Reach, Division 3, page 36, , 2 Apr 1871.

   Henry Lyle, m, 32, b Ontario, farmer
   Elizabeth Lyle, m, 25, b Ontario
   Judith M Lyle, 3 b Ontario
   George A Lyle, 7 months, b Ontario

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Family 109: William and Elizabeth Gilroy, in Canada. 1881 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada)
   C-13245, Ontario, District 133: Ontario North, SubDistrict B: Reach, Division 1, page 22, 4 Apr 1881.

   William Gilroy, 46, m, b Ontario, farmer
   Elizabeth Gilroy, 35, m, b England
   [five children of William Gilroy]
   Judith Matilda Lyle, 14, s, b Ontario
   George Ambrose Lyle, 11, b Ontario
   John Henry Dell Lyle, 8, b Ontario
   Henry Wilmer Lyle, 4, b Ontario

   A number of corrections have been made to the facts about the Lyle children in this census entry. The census took place less than a month after the marriage of Elizabeth Atkinson Lyle to William Gilroy.

5. ↑ Family 43: William and Elizabeth Gilroy, in Canada. 1891 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada)
   T-6358, Ontario, District 101: Ontario South, Subdistrict 40: Reach, Division 7, page 8, 5 Apr 1891.

   William Gilroy, 54, m, b Ontario, Methodist, farmer
   Elizabeth Gilroy, 43, m, b England, Methodist
   [three children of William Gilroy at home]
   Milton Gilroy, 6, s, b Ontario
   Merle Gilroy, 1, s, b Ontario
   George Lyle, 20, s, b Ontario, stockman
   John Delbert Lyle, 17, s, b Ontario, farm labourer
   Harry Lyle, 14, s, b Ontario

6. ↑ Family 78: Elizabeth Gilroy, in Canada. 1901 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada)
   T-6487, Ontario, District 99: Ontario West, SubDistrict E: Uxbridge, Division 3, page 7, 31 Mar 1901.

   Elizabeth Gilroy, 52, b England 7 Jun 1848, widow
   Milton Gilroy, 16, b Ontario, 21 Jun 1885
   Merle Gilroy, 11, b Ontario, 22 Sep 1890

7.   Family 139: Elizabeth Young, in Canada. 1911 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada)
   T-20388, Ontario, District 103: Ontario North, SubDistrict 40: Uxbridge, division 3, page 11, 1 Jun 1911.

   Maretta Street, Uxbridge
   Elizabeth Young, f, head, widow, born June 1846, 64, b England, immigrated 1847, living on income
   Merle Gilroy, f, daughter, s Sep 1889, 21, b Ontario, millener