Person:William Staples (5)

• 1851 Census: Leamington Priors, Warwick, WARWICKSHIRE, age 1, Leamington.
• 1871 Census: Toxteth Park, 21, wine merchant clerk, Leamington with mother & aunt & Emma.
• 1871 July at time of his mother's death: lived on Newstead Rd., Toxteth Park.
• 1872 Wedding 27 Feb: Bookkeeper, lived Toxteth, LANCASHIRE.
• 1874 Dec 16: Purchased lot 13, 1st con. Aldborough, ELGIN.
• 1875 Jan 10: First diary entry at Aldborough farm.
• 1881 Census: Aldborough, ELGIN W, age 32, Church of England, Eng.
• 1891 Census: Aldborough, age 41, Eng.
• 1901 Census: Aldborough, 27 May 1849, age 51, immig. 1875, Eng., farmer.

Diary of William Henry Staples

William Henry Staples kept a diary of happenings while farming the east half of Lot 13, concession 1 in Aldborough Township in the County of Elgin. Only a few pages of the diary were seen in 1985 and these comments therefore do not fully describe the diary. W. H. Staples entries are succinct with no opinions or thoughts or explanations as exemplified by the entries on October 1st and November 17, 1879: “Started for England.” and “Came back from England.” It would have been nice if he had said why he went, what was his seaport of exit and entry, how many days were for traveling, etc.

The entries for the first few days on the farm reveal items they needed to purchase for their new location. Later entries are mostly farming activities with the odd mention of activities on a day of rest. Many individuals are named and quite a few were neighbors such as the (John) Sharon, (John) McGregor, first and second farms to the east, and (Archibald) Black, first farm to the west. Others are business contacts, probably located in Wardsville, which was no more than half a farm lot to the east, then north a short distance to the bridge across the Thames River.

The Staples farm was a broken front lot of 26 acres and a long 100 running from the north to south on concession one. The house was at the north of the 100 acres which meant access was from a road running between the broken front and concession one. It was necessary to cross the road to work the broken front. Earlier owners had cleared the property and by the time of the purchase in 1875 there was 80 cleared acres. According to assessment rolls very little additional land was cleared by the Staples

No farm work was mentioned for Sundays, which seemed to have been used for visiting. The family was Church of England. On November 28, 1880 it was however recorded that “Mrs. S(taples) & Sidney went to church.”

The only event given more than a passing mention was what I call the “Ravenscroft Affair”. Fortunately, William Henry recorded in the diary a draft copy of a letter to a lawyer that helped explain the numerous mentions of Ravenscroft. This was likely William Ravenscroft, same age as William Henry Staples. Ravenscroft farmed in Aldborough until his death in about 1899 at Concession 2, Lot 15.

The Wm. Henry’s farm wasn’t sold until after his death in 1905, exact date unknown. The diary indicates that as early as 1882 he was attempting to sell. Perhaps he found the life of a farmer much more demanding and less lucrative than that of a bookkeeper.

The original diary is believed to be with a descendant of William Benjamin Senior.

1. ↑ Archives Ontario Death, MS 935
   Reel 119, Ref. # 8812, 22 Feb 2004.
2. ↑ or Leamington Priors, county Harrick? Was a Sunday at 12:30 in morning.
3. ↑ In the Surrogate Court application, Emma put the date of death as 15 June, 1905.
   Tombstone has 9 June, 1905.