Steele’s and Thomas’s

My mother’s side of the family is an interesting one. Matthew Steele(1805-?) and Mary Ann Fletcher immigrated from Scotland to a farm in West Nissouri Township Middlesex County. Their farm was near the village of Thorndale just north and east of London, Ontario. They had five children Donald(b.1845 London-d. 10 December 1914 in Middlesex County), Archibald(b.1847-d. 28 July 1907), Andrew(b.1848-d.?), Laura(b.1841-d.?), John(b.1856-d.?). Donald Steele(my great grandfather married Mary Jane Coleman(b.20 June 1848 Middlesex County-d. 20 October 1933 Middlesex County). They were married 18 May 1881 in Middlesex County. Their marriage certificate shows Donald Steele as a shoemaker in Thorndale. They had two children William Fletcher(b. 15 May 1885 in Thorndale-d. June 1935 in London), Ethel Pearl(b. 1892 in Thorndale-d. ?). William Fletcher Steele married Hilda May Thomas 31 December 1918 in London. They had two children Audrey June(b. 15 May 1921-d.1989 in London), Cameron Fletcher(b. 8 July 1924 in London- d. sometime before 1999 in Hamilton, Ontario).
My grandmother’s family were from Cornwall. Her father Edward John Thomas(b. 1858 Cornwall-d. 13 February 1892 London), and mother Maria Gartrell Rickard(b. 19 September 1862 Callington, Cornwall-d. 2 June 1914 London, Ontario) immigrated to West Nissouri sometime around 1890 as they can be found in the 1891 Canada Census. There is some indication from their son’s census returns of 1911that they came via Boston. They had four children Arthur Edward(b. 17 October 1884- d.6 March 1919 of the influenza outbreak in London, Ontario), Maude Maria Beatrice(b. 2 July 1886 Cornwall- d. ?), Raleigh Ewart Cornelius(1889 Falmoth, Cornwall, England- d. ?). and Hilda May(my grandmother)(b. 29 April 1892 London, Ontario- d. 1970 London, Ontario).

The photo is of Hilda May and Maude Maria Beatrice 1918.