Sturgeon Point Family Ties

I love how I can spend an entire afternoon playing with the family tree of one family only to find that it links up with another totally unexpected family.  I have been looking at the Needler Family.  William Walker Needler was a miller in Lindsay.  He and his first wife, Sara Jane Waddell, had three daughters - Eva, Mary Maud and Sara Helena or "Neenie".

Mary Maud, Sara Helena and Eva Needler, abt 1884

We have explored Mary Maud Needler Robinson's family in Mary Maud Needler & Lotta Burrows but this post is about the surprise I got in studying older sister Eva's family

Eva was married on 11 Sep 1894 in Lindsay to John Muir McLennan.  While we don't have a picture of the bride and groom, the bridesmaids which included her sisters were photographed.

The Bridesmaids - Mary Maud and Sara Helena Needler are idenitifed

but unidentified is their cousin Lottie Burrows who is 2nd from the left.

John "Jack" Muir McLennan was the third son of John McLennan (b. 31 May 1830, Glengarry Co., Upper Canada/d. 28 Mar 1916, Lindsay, Ontario, age 85 yr 10 mos 28 days/bur. Riverside Cemetery, Lindsay, Ontario) and Helen Scott (b. 31 Mar 1839 Glengarry Co., Upper Canada).

Jack McLennan at Sturgeon Point

John McLennan, Sr. was the Sheriff of Victoria co. (1885-1914) and elder in the Presbyterian Church, served as Chair of the Lindsay Board of Education (1869, 1871-72, 1874-75), together with his brother Donald McLennan ran the hardware store McLennan & Co – which in time was taken over by his son John Muir McLennan.  He was also an avid curler and played with William Needler and John Dundas Flavelle.

Eva & John Muir McLennan had one daughter - Helen Walker McLennan (b.1896) and two sons, Hugh Muir McLenann (b. 1897) and William "Bill" Needler McLennan (b.1900). 

The Three Needler Sisters and their Families

Eva & Jack McLennan with Helen, Hugh and Bill; Mary Maud & Frank A Robinson

with Helena & Eva Grace; and Sara Helena Needler - abt. 1906-7

McLennan Family boating along the shore at Sturgeon Point - Jack & Eva at the back, their sons Hugh & Bill in front

Walkie's Store is the white house on the shoreline at the bottom of 1st Street.

The McLennans boating at Sturgeon Point

Swananowa's boathouse is visable at the back as is the floating boathouse at Walkie's Store

Helen Walker McLennan never married. After serving in WWI, Hugh Muir McLennan married Alleyne Livingston Meyers.  Bill Needler McLennan married Mary Drewry Chad in 1927.

Hugh Muir McLennan, abt 1917

Courtesy of the Olde Gaol Museum, Lindsay, Ontario

Helen Walker Mclennan & her brother, Hugh McLennan, abt 1919-20

John Muir McLennan’s next oldest brother was William A. McLennan (b. 21 Dec 1864).  He also joined the family hardware business. He was married 8 Oct 1907 in to Beatrice Laidlaw.  They lived with Sherrif John McLennan, Sr. in the McLennan residence at 60 Bond Street, Lindsay. 

Like the Needler family had a cottage at Sturgeon Point.  They purchased their property on Henry Street in 1914. 

William & Beatrice had two children - James Laidlaw McLennan (b. 9 Aug 1908) and Helen Beatrice McLennan (b. 28 May 1912).  Helen married David Forbes in 1937 in England.  They had three children and she brought them back to Canada at the start of the war, eventually settling in Toronto.  The marriage did not survive.  Helen and her children continued to cottage at Sturgeon Point and in time, she retired there, where she died in November 2001.

So Eva Needler McLennan's neice was Helen McLennan Forbes... Small world...  Do you have any pictures of William & Beatrice McLennan and their children here at Sturgeon Point?