Photos of Jessie Forsyth 1885-1965

Peacock monument at Kirk Cemetery, Macaulay Twp, Muskoka

1960 - age 75 - Jessie Peacock at the Peacock Family Reunion in Orillia

ca 1905, about age 20 - Jessie Forsyth, probably before marriage

ca. 1900 - about age 15 - A detail of Jessie Forsyth from a photo with Emma and George, her siblings taken before 1905 when George died and before her marriage

ca 1895 - about age 10 - Jessie Forsyth

ca 1890 - about age 5 - Jessie Forsyth, daughter of John and Mary of Macaulay Township

Jessie Forsyth Peacock 1885-1965

Jessie Forsyth was the youngest child of John and Mary Forsyth. She was born in Macaulay Township on November 6th, 1885. She married George Nelson Peacock, son of John Peacock and Mary Ellen Oliver, also of Macaulay Township, on the 9th of August, 1905. Jessie died November 9th, 1965 and is buried in the Kirk Cemetery, Bracebridge.

In the 1911 census, shown below, Mary Dales Forsyth who had been widowed three years, was living with Jessie and George Peacock.



1911 Census - Macaulay Township, Muskoka, Ontario
Peacock, George....... Head..............b. Mar, 1886........age 25
Peacock, Jessie......... Wife...............b. Nov, 1885........age 25
Peacock, Gertrude....F.....................b. Jan, 1906........age...5
Peacock, Hazel.......... F....................b. Jun, 1907.........age..3
Peacock, Marjory..... F.....................b. Dec, 1908.........age..2
Peacock, Clarence.....M....................b. Aug, 1910........age..10/12
Forsyth, Mary, Mother-in-law, W..b. Sep, 1840..........age 70

The family members born after 1911 are:

John Melville b. June, 1912, died June 25, 1912, buried Kirk Cemetery

George Murray b. 1 June, 1913, died 11 June, 1968, buried Kirk Cemetery

Elmore Leroy Willis b. 14 July, 1915, d. 199_, Massena, New York

Eileen Mary b. 15 Sept 1917, d.______ Toronto, Ontario

Kenneth Merle b. 24 Jan 1922, d. May 14, 1987 (of Fenwick) St. Catherines,Ontario

Glenwood Nelson b. 25 Jan 1924, d. _______ Bracebridge,Ontario

Maurice Beatty b. 2 Jan 1926 d. 4 Sept 1927Whooping Cough, Bur. Kirk Cem.

Terrance Morley b. 9 April 1927, Sturgeon Fallsd.19_____Bracebridge

Helen Yvonne b. __ Dec 1935, d. 2009, Bracebridge, Ontario

The following was written by Jessie:

"In the fall of 1908, we were living in Falkenburg and heard a farm was for sale - lot 12 on the 4th and 5th concession of Macaulay. George Peacock and his father went over to look things over and came back home, and George said he was going to see the man who had it for sale.

"We bought the farm in December, 1908 and moved over there in January, 1909. We had three children, 3 girls (including) a baby born on December 14th , 1908. There was no house on the farm, only a barn and two log cabins down by the creek where someone had a camp one time. George fixed the smaller one up for us to live in till we got a house built. It was fixed up warmer than the other one. We moved there in January on a very cold day.

"The flat road ran through our place in the winter when the men drew logs, bark and wood to town. George’s brother was cutting logs on the farm and the men were boarding at our place and sleeping in the other cabin. They had a box stove in the cabin to keep warm. The men went home to Bracebridge on Saturday nights. It came an awful cold night. We couldn’t get our cabin warm and George went into the other cabin and picked the box stove up in his arms and carried it into our cabin (it still had fire in it) and attached it up to our cook stove.

"In the spring, we built the first part of our house and worked at it in our spare time. We had one cow and one horse. We had a very good garden that year which helped out. We also had lots of raspberries to pick.

"The next year (1910) our first boy was born. Unfortunately he was drowned at Maplehurst in 1930. My husband passed away in 1948 and I have lived on this farm ever since (January 1909), elsewhere only when I visit my family. My son Murray and his son Keith do the farming now, but the farm is the only place that is like home to me."

-Written by Jessie Forsyth Peacock

Jessie Forsyth (1885-1965) -Mrs. Geo. Peacock

This photo of Jessie Forsyth Peacock with grand daugher, Brenda White, daughter of Wilbur and Helen was taken not too many years before Jessie's death in 1965. She was an active member of the Macaulay Women's Institute (Muskoka, Ontario) serving as president for twelve years. Perhaps genealogy was one of the women's interests, for Jessie kept notes on her own family and her Scots ancestors. The source of the Forsyth family information seems to be a letter from Robert Forsyth, her father's brother. However, it is not known if she was quoting a letter from her father's personal effects or if she was in touch with this uncle.

The next posts will summarize the information about the siblings of Jessie's father, John; their parents, John and Charlotte who died in Canada; and their grandparents, James and Helen, who died in East Lothian, Scotland (east of Edinburgh). I will then compare this information to the Scottish census records.