Roderick Mathieson (1868-1902)

Updated 26 Aug 2019

When I wrote this 2018 blog post about my 2nd great uncle John Mathieson and his family in Kinloss, Moray, Scotland, I had lost track of his son, my first cousin 2x removed, Roderick Mathieson, whom I speculated must have been a very strong man, as he was an iron forger.

1893 Toronto city directory

Recently, I discovered what happened to him. Roderick came to Canada, and while I haven't found exactly when, he first lived in Toronto, and by 1893, worked as a drop forger at Massey-Harris, which had massive facilities employing hundreds at that time in the west end of downtown.

He may have been in Canada before the 1891 census, as I've found an 1889 Toronto city directory entry, but he was not included in the 1891 Canada census.

source: City of Toronto Archives

On 7 Jun 1893, in a Presbyterian
ceremony, Roderick married Annie Mary McEachern of Eldon Township, in what was then Victoria County, Ontario. Eldon was settled by Scots, mainly from Argyll, in the late 1820s. Today, Victoria is part of the City of Kawartha Lakes. Annie's parents had emigrated from Scotland in 1861.

I don't know how they met--Annie was still in Eldon in 1891 when the census was done. She and Roderick don't appear to have had any children. Neither appear on the 1901 Canada census in Toronto or Eldon.

But, Roderick was at his father's in Kinloss when the 1901 census was conducted in Scotland, England and Wales, and was included in that census there. But by 2 May 1902, he was back in Canada, where he died from consumption. Did he go back to Scotland for a final visit with his family?

Roderick's death registration notes that he had consumption for up to four years. Perhaps as his health worsened, he was no longer able to work. As I said earlier, he must have been a very strong man to have been an iron forger. But he was no longer strong, and so he and Annie moved to Eldon, where she had a very large family for support. Did Annie go to Eldon when Roderick returned to Scotland for a final visit? Roderick's death was reported by one of Annie's brothers. I haven't found any burial information for Roderick. He was just 34 years old when he died. He and Annie were childless.

In all of the records I've found for Roderick in Canada, the spelling Matheson, with no "i", is used.

And what became of Roderick's widow, Annie? There was no trace of Annie after his death.....well, until, a few days after first writing this, I found that she remarried in 1912, in Victoria to William Clark Thompson, aged 50. And after that, there is no trace of either.

The never ending story continues....


© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved