Canadians 5 - Samantha Allard Gets a Job which Leads to A Family

Samantha Allard, my husband’s great-great grandmother, was born 10 Apr 1840 in West Ely, Shefford, Quebec, Canada. According to local families, the Allard family is of French-Canadian origin. Samantha apparently spoke English as well for she married an Anglo-Canadian.

Samantha was the schoolteacher to the Kendall children (and others) in a rural one-room schoolhouse. Little did she know at the start of her teaching job, that she’d end up married to a father of some of her students.

I don’t know how much they earned, but based on my understanding of the area and the era, she may have been paid in produce and the like. It was a small country school, much like many others that dotted the Eastern Townships of Quebec at that time. It probably resembled schools in this website: Eastern Townships Schools [this site has other info on the Eastern Townships].
I am guessing it was small then (Lawrenceville has a population of 662, Stukely and West Ely are tiny crossroads). 

When she was 20 she married the widower, Joseph Ward Kendall, on 30 May 1860 in Lawrenceville, Shefford Methodist Church in Quebec, Canada. 

Her husband Joseph Ward Kendall was 20 years older than his new wife. (My husband is descended thru their son Luke Kendall).
Joseph Kendall, born in 1820, was the son of Henry Kendall and Dorothy Thankful Parker.

The much younger Samantha Allard and her husband Joseph Ward Kendall

 

1862 Gazeeter. Ely Twnship is circled

 

 

 

Their Family: 

Their first surviving child together was Isaiah Johnston Kendall born on 4 Sep 1863 in Lawrenceville, Shefford County, Quebec, Canada. 

Their second son was my husband’s great grandfather Luke Hale Kendall, was born 27 Dec 1866 in Lawrenceville, Shefford County, Quebec, Canada (died 1948).

Luke Hale Kendall prob 1882

The rest of the children Samantha had were:
3 Gardner Ward Kendall (1871-1935)
4 Dorothy Vermilia Kendall (1874–1941)
5 A son Alpheus Gordon Kendall (1876-1956)
6 Florence Marion Amanda Kendall (1878-1935)
7 Jennie Grace Kendall (1886-1908)

Prior to the birth of her last child, in 1881, Samantha Allard Kendall's father, Stephen Allard died.
By the time little Jennie Grace was 4 or 5, by 1891, the family had moved and were living in Waterloo, Quebec, a city of some size.
Within 7 years her husband died, on August 5 1898 in Waterloo. Joseph Kendall was 78 years old at the time of his death. Ten years later, her daughter Jennie also died at the age of 22 in Massachusetts.
Samantha lived on for a while in Waterloo.
Death:
Samantha Allard died in 1913.
I found her death recorded in Folio 3 of the registers for Masonville Methodist Church, Quebec says 

“Samantha Elizabeth Allard, age 73 years, 6 days, relict [widow] of Joseph Kendall died on this date” it was April 16, 1913.
The Waterloo Advertiser Apr 25 1913 reported she died "after many years of suffering from rheumatism." 

Samantha Allard, 2nd wife of Jos Kendall and their children

Above Photo:
Seated, middle: Joseph Ward Kendall with  Samantha Elizabeth (Allard) and their 7 children.
In the back: Luke Hale, Isaiah Johnston, and Dorothy Vermilia.
Seated in the front : Gardner Ward, Alpheus Gordon, Florence, and on Samantha's lap is Jenny Grace.

Burial:
Joseph Kendall and Samantha Allard, as well as many other Kendalls and relations are buried in the Waterloo (Quebec) Graveyard (Protestant). 

A great-great grandson at the Waterloo Cemetery in 2018

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Joseph had several children with his first wife Emily Hunt. As they are half-relations, and I have their names, I list them below.

Joseph's first wife:
Emily Hunt (not a direct ancestor) -
B 8 Sep 1819 , Quebec, Canada
D 21 Aug 1858 Shefford, , Quebec, Canada
The children of Emily Hunt & Joseph W Kendall
1 Henry Peter Kendall 1842–1920
2 Rachel Kendall 1844–1917
3 Vining Paul Kendall 1846–1927
4 James W Kendall 1848–1868
5 Elizabeth Kendall 1850–1871
6 John Frederick Kendall 1854–?
7 Adelbert Kendall 1856–1927
8 Baby Kendall 1858–1858 

Canadians 6 - Luke Hale Kendall Moves across the south

 Luke Hale Kendall, my husband’s father’s maternal grandfather (his great grandfather) was the second son of Joseph Ward Kendall (1820-1898) and his second and (much younger wife) Samantha Allard (1840-1913).

(Emily Hunt (1819-1858) was his father’s 1st wife. I believe 7 children from his first wife survived to adulthood). Luke Hale Kendall, as mentioned, was born to wife #2 (Samantha Allard), and was one amongst another large number of children, here:

The 2nd set of Kendall children born in Quebec, Canada were:
1-Isaiah Johnston Kendall 1863-1921
2- Luke Hale Kendall
3-Gardner Ward Kendall 1871-1935
4-Dorothy Vermilia Kendall 1874-1941
5- Alpheus Gordon Kendall 1876–1913
6-Florence M Kendall 1877–1913
7-Jennie Grace Kendall (dates?)

[For a list of Kendall children born in his father's 1st family, see end of post below].

Luke Hale Kendall was born on December 27 1867 in Lawrenceville, Quebec, Canada in an "Anglo" family (English-speaking).
He died December 8 1948 in Shefford, Quebec, Canada but finished his life in New England.

Though he was born in a French-speaking province, he was living in an Anglo household. Border crossings between the US and Canada were easy and more like crossing into another state at that time. No passports! 

His area of Canada (Quebec) isn't far from the US border. Lawrenceville, Quebec is about 55 miles north of northern Vermont. 

And, as it turns out Luke Kendall spent a fair amount of his life in Burlington or Winooski Vermont, and not much in Canada. As an English-speaking Canadian in a French speaking province, he likely felt quite at home there.

Marriage and Family:
He married first Ida Craig, another "Anglo" Canadian from Quebec. She was my husband’s great grandmother.

Ida Craig and Luke H Kendall were wed on February 4, 1889 in the Methodist Church, in Waterloo, Québec, Canada. Luke was 21 and Ida was 23 years old. Waterloo is less than 90 miles N of Burlington.

1 Luella Nina Louise Kendall(1889-1917) (called "Nina")
2 Gordon Harold G Kendall (1891-1963)
3 Minnie May Marion Kendall (1896-1938)
4 Grace Ada Lana Kendall (1903–2004)
5 Giles Gardner Craig Kendall (1905–1987)
6 Clifton Warren J Kendall (1907-1985)

Note that the eldest two are 2 years apart in age.
But the age difference between Nina (the eldest) and the third child Minnie, widens to 7 years. Further, Grace is 14 years younger than Nina, Giles is 16 years younger than Nina and Clifton is 18 years younger than she.  

Ida May Craig (Kendall) abt 1906

The age difference may help understand why Luke may have felt he was free to do what he did later on:

Death and Remarriage
Unfortunately Ida died in January 2, 1912, when most of their children were still young: 4 ½ (Clifton), 6 ½ (Giles), 8 ½ (Grace), 15 ½ (Minnie). 

The elder two were going to turn 21 (Gordon) and 23 (Nina). I’ve been told Ida had tuberculosis.

The facts don’t tell me much, but I know less than two years later in the spring of 1914, Luke Kendall had crossed the border and remarried  Georgiana (Kemp) Grinder in Essex Junction, Vermont. He was 46 years old when he remarried.

Abandoned
Sadly, he left the younger four children in Waterloo, Canada. 
They were, in effect, orphaned. 
I'm guessing that as best they could the elder two children took care of the four younger ones, but it must have been a real heartache to have lost your mother, and then left behind by your father.
It's hard to write a story when you don't have the information motivating Luke to leave  Canada for Vermont. It's just as likely he felt, as many people do, that staying home would be worse for the family--either financially or emotionally, or both. I can't discern, I can only speculate.

A Family Portrait of.....
When I first saw this photo of Minnie Kendall and her family, I assumed that the people behind her were her parents. 
I now know these are all Kendall siblings: elder two in the back are the “parents” only because Ida was already too sick to have her photo taken (taken about 1910).

Kendall children about 1910

Left to right: back row-Gordon and Nina; front row-Grace, Giles, Minnie, Clifton

United States

Luke and his second wife Georgina settled in Burlington, Vermont. 
I would be interested in finding out often Luke Kendall returned to Waterloo, or if any of the younger children stayed with their father and stepmother.  It seems the children were fending for themselves, I am not sure what, if any, money Luke was sending back to Canada.

We know Grace, Minnie and Giles Kendall lived out their lives in New England. (Clifton and Gordon are both buried in Waterloo Cemetery in Quebec),

I've not yet found census records that would reveal that information. My information comes from the Vermont City Directories which only have Luke residing in Burlington, Vt. throughout the 1920s.

Death & Remarriage - #2
Then in 1924, Georgina (wife #2) died.
And, in 1925-the next year-Luke H Kendall turns up in Essex Junction, Vermont to marry for the 3rd time (by the same minister). 
He married Roseanna (Comeau) Stanhope (it's her second marriage).  Luke is 57 years old when he marries “Rosey”; Rev Chauncey C. Adams conducted the marriage ceremony.

Late Life
It looks like he remained in Burlington till moving to Winooski, Vermont in or about 1930. Then fifteen years after they're wed, Rosey died, late in 1940.

By now Luke Kendall is 73 and he’s outlived three wives, and two of his daughters (Nina and Minnie my husband's grandmother, who died in 1938).

One of the descendants says that although his children were quite unhappy at being abandoned, Luke was taken care of by them. 
As he put it: (his daughter Grace),
 "was generous enough to take him in the last 10 years of his life in Keene, NH, despite having been abandoned as a youth."

I’d say she was “Grace-ous”

Luke Hale Kendall abt 1940

Grace and Gordon (standing); Luke H Kendall 1940s

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Luke Hale Kendall’s Half-Siblings :

These were the Kendall Children born to (his father), Joseph Ward Kendall (1820-1898) and Emily Hunt (1819-1858).
Half-siblings to Luke Hale Kendall
1 Henry Peter (1842–1920)
2 Rachel (1844-1917)
3  Vining Paul (1846-1927)
4  James W  (1848-1868)
5  Letticia Elizabeth (1850–1871)
6  John Frederick (1854–?)
7  Adelbert ['Delbert'](1856–1927)
8  Baby Kendall (1858-1858)

 
 

Paternal 3 - A Big Brick Wall - John McGee Johnson - son of a Canadian

John McGee Johnson

Husband of Minnie May Marion Kendall

Sometimes writing family history is not fun. Some people are enjoyable, but I don't get to choose to write about the 'bright lights' in the family. I write about them all, hoping I'm not jaundiced by personal bias.

John McGee Johnson was the father of John K Johnson Sr and paternal grandfather of John K Johnson Jr. He only knew his grandfather slightly.

Vitals:  

Born 25 Aug 1894 in Boston Massachusetts to

Mother: Mary Catherine Caroline McGee of Hopetown, Bonaventure, Gaspe, Canada and ? Johnson [unconfirmed that he was "John Johnson"] of Boston Mass, possibly a Swedish or Norwegian immigrant.

Married 30 Nov 1915, Minnie May Marion Kendall of Waterloo, Shefford, Quebec, Canada

- 1916 their 1st child, Marjorie, was born

He was working for Boston & Maine Railroad

- 1918 their  2nd child, Gordon, was born

- 1920 their 3rd child, Ronald, was born

- 1922 4th child, John Kendall, was born in E. Putney, VT

- 1928 5th child, Reta, was born

 Then on 1 Mar 1938, his wife Minnie, died in New Hampshire.

He worked for B & M Railroad in eastern New York

Died 25 Nov 1959 in Pinellas Park, Florida                            Buried: Cycadia Cemetery,Tarpon Springs, FL 

Unfortunately, neither his son, other relatives, including in-laws who knew him, did not have good things to say about JMJ (John McGee Johnson). 

His son, John K Johnson Sr was close to his mother, but not his father. And, when his mother (JMJ's wife) died in his adolescent years, my father-in-law bonded with his Aunt Grace, his cousin Ray Miner and his eldest brother Gordon (all now deceased).  

This is what I’ve heard about JMJ: an alcoholic, a philanderer, not a good husband, not kind and he played favorites with his (some of his) children. Even taking into account that it was a different era, and expectations about fathers were different, that is bad. 

Favorable comments include his work ethic. He supported his family. 

His  

I would mention that Grace Kendall, a relative, looked after a son (John K Johnson) after his wife died. I would give him credit for an awareness of his own  limitations, of his inability to nurture this son in his grief. I'm not sure how it came to be, but perhaps he saw the wisdom in allowing an aunt to step in to assist his son.

This is the end of family stories. Lets turn to the facts on John McGee Johnson. 

If his father and mother married, his father died quite soon after his birth. 

His mother re-married a man named Porter, or they considered themselves married (no proof). 

They appear in the 1910 Census in Medway, Massachusetts. Porter is the Head of the house, Mary the wife and John Johnson as stepson. Eva Porter is listed as "adopted." 

According to the census they had boarders (as many people did).

Soon after his wife Minnie's death, John M Johnson moved his family to eastern New York (Hoosic Falls) area. They lived in Eagle Bridge and later in Stillwater, NY.

1920s picture postcard of Hoosic Falls, NY

JMJ had a minor car accident in 1940; reported here in the newspaper (see yellow box). Troy Times Record.

Photo of JMJ and his son John K, his bride, Ruth Antilla on their wedding day in New Hampshire in July 1946.