Greers of Ontario, from Ireland

[JLGreer]

Kelly,

Yes that last post of mine was prior to to me emailing you ( I was in a hurry at the time and had not caught the email at the bottom, I believe your ruse to evade the spammers is perhaps too good )

Thanks you for those tidbits though, I will get back to you soon in more detail. I have sourced the ship log for the greers moving up the St lawrence in 1823, after landing in Quebec, with them are some Porters, a R. Craig ( perhaps Rebecca?..or maybe a Robert Craig seems to come to mind), some Armstrongs and other names affiliated with the early Ontario Greers. Unfortunately there is only a mention of 115 settlers on the 'Brig Mary' that landed in Quebec, from Ireland, at that time.

From what I have gathered via the other Greer descendants of the area, and some Armstrong descendants, Thomas Greer came after that wave in 1823. I believe I have seen a ship log for him Ellen,in the 1830s, but am not certain I made a note of it, will have to search for it again.

as to why they came in 1823- there was a huge push to colonize Ontario after the war of 1812, and Ireland was nto faring well with the Potato Famine coming on , among other turmoils of the times especially in Ulster ( the birth of the IRA etc). I think it was bountiful in Ontario at first, and those first settlers did very well, but after a few decades of mass immigration our ancestors were compelled to head westward to find better lands. Also, another reason for their migration is one of our forefathers, Albert E. Greer, was a founding board member of the Ontario Pacific railroad and a lot of our relatives followed its progression towards Seattle and British Columbia, building the tracks, tressels, & bridges and running the railroads.

anyhow I will get back to you via Email soon

------------------------------------------------------------
Joette,

I have been trying to trace as many Greer/Grier/Greirson etc as possible, and am slightly familiar with your dilema on Gilbert Greer(son). there appears to be a few Greers in about the time of the Proscription act (1603) who remained in or near Scotland, and I think the descendants of Gilbert, Lancelot and Vedast are those, being that they were not the Title holders of the Barony but younger siblings. I have a few dead ends coming forward from the Lords of Lag that just seem to vanish from history, or rather their parish records have not been dusted off yet.

[Kelly Greer]

Actually my e-mail address was altered by the moderators here. I entered it here as it is supposed to be written. So I can't claim credit for that.

I would be VERY interested to see these ship records that you mentioned here. Especially if there was any mention of my Thomas Greer. However Thomas would not have emigrated with his wife as she was born in either New York or New Jersey (according to census records) and also they were married in Peel County, Ontario, Canada, around 1840.

It's interesting that you mentioned the Ontario railroad. Several of the Greers in my family worked on building the railroad across Canada, including my great grandfather.

BTW - I have a copy of an old family group photo that was done back in the early days of photography (1875). This group photo has an INDIVIDUAL photo of ALL of the members of the Thomas Greer family. This is a large (8" x 11") photo that has INDIVIDUAL photographs of Thomas Greer and his wife as well as individual photographs of all twelve of their children (they all lived to adulthood which was uncommon in those days). From Mary (the first born child of Thomas and Ellen) who was 34 years old at the time to Albert A. Greer who was only nine years old at that time. It is labeled (at the top of the page) as "PORTRAITS of the Unbroken GREER FAMILY" and below that title was written "TAKEN IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1875". Thomas' photo is located on the upper Left side of this large photo. His wife's photo is on the Right side. In between those two is a column which gives the respective ages of all fourteen of them with the PARENTS names and ages at the top and below that the CHILDREN and their respective names and ages are all listed. Would you be interested in a copy of that? I could try to scan it and e-mail it to you.

[joette]

Thanks for that JL I have not persevered much with this line pre the !800's preffering the more recent events of the family.I had no idea that Gilbert went as far back as that in the Greer lineage.They are a long lived line & the only thing which seems to carry them off early is accident or War.They were Farmers & then my line & his brothers were Stonemasons.
Kelly I know Boise fairly well having family living there-transplants from Utah.

[Hall/Swan]

More useless info for you!!


Glennan Pres. MARRIAGE 22ndJuly1872 John Thompson son, Hamilton Thompson, Cormeen, Derrynoose Parish, Co. Armagh, Marr. Martha Greer daughter of Robert Greer, Drumgar, Derrynoose Parish, Co.Armagh witnesses Margaret Greer + Rev John Davidson Rev E.J. Simpson

Glennan Pres. BIRTH 30th Jan 1822 Mary daughter of Joseph + Ellen Greer, Tullyard, Donagh

Glennan Pres. MARRIAGE 4th Aug 1870 James Greer (Officer, Inland Revenue) son, John Greer, Glasgow, Bawny Parish,Renfrewshire, Scotland, MARRIED Jeanie McKay daughter of George McKay of Portinaghy, witnesses Foster McKay + Bill Smith Rev William McIlwaine

[William Greer]

I live in Portland, Oregon. I am descended from Alexander L. Greer (b. County Down 1806), who (according to his obit) emigrated to the US around 1815 with his mother (name unknown), brother Thomas, and sister Esther. The family first lived in Cincinnati OH. ALG's obituary states that as a youth he visited nearby Oxford OH; I have info about a lot of Greers there but do not know when they immigrated or from what location. Shortly after arriving, ALG and his family moved to Covington KY, just across the river from Cincinnati. Esther married Allen Culbertson and remained in Covington. ALG became a prominent industrialist/businessman in Covington. ALG and Nancy Cox had James (b. ~ 1830 and who remained in Covington). In sequence, the line continues with William (b. 1864), Leonard (b. 1901), William (b. 1926), and me (b. 1948William Jr). I'm trying to find the names of ALG's parents and the place in County Down where the family lived before emigrating.

[Kelly Greer]

Kelly,

Yes that last post of mine was prior to to me emailing you ( I was in a hurry at the time and had not caught the email at the bottom, I believe your ruse to evade the spammers is perhaps too good )

Thanks you for those tidbits though, I will get back to you soon in more detail. I have sourced the ship log for the greers moving up the St lawrence in 1823, after landing in Quebec, with them are some Porters, a R. Craig ( perhaps Rebecca?..or maybe a Robert Craig seems to come to mind), some Armstrongs and other names affiliated with the early Ontario Greers. Unfortunately there is only a mention of 115 settlers on the 'Brig Mary' that landed in Quebec, from Ireland, at that time.

From what I have gathered via the other Greer descendants of the area, and some Armstrong descendants, Thomas Greer came after that wave in 1823. I believe I have seen a ship log for him Ellen,in the 1830s, but am not certain I made a note of it, will have to search for it again.

as to why they came in 1823- there was a huge push to colonize Ontario after the war of 1812, and Ireland was nto faring well with the Potato Famine coming on , among other turmoils of the times especially in Ulster ( the birth of the IRA etc). I think it was bountiful in Ontario at first, and those first settlers did very well, but after a few decades of mass immigration our ancestors were compelled to head westward to find better lands. Also, another reason for their migration is one of our forefathers, Albert E. Greer, was a founding board member of the Ontario Pacific railroad and a lot of our relatives followed its progression towards Seattle and British Columbia, building the tracks, tressels, & bridges and running the railroads.

anyhow I will get back to you via Email soon

.

I would still like to find out more on what you referenced here about these ship logs from 1823. Can you please tell me where I might be able to see these for myself? Thanks

[Kelly Greer]

Kelly,

Yes that last post of mine was prior to to me emailing you ( I was in a hurry at the time and had not caught the email at the bottom, I believe your ruse to evade the spammers is perhaps too good )

Thanks you for those tidbits though, I will get back to you soon in more detail. I have sourced the ship log for the greers moving up the St lawrence in 1823, after landing in Quebec, with them are some Porters, a R. Craig ( perhaps Rebecca?..or maybe a Robert Craig seems to come to mind), some Armstrongs and other names affiliated with the early Ontario Greers. Unfortunately there is only a mention of 115 settlers on the 'Brig Mary' that landed in Quebec, from Ireland, at that time.

From what I have gathered via the other Greer descendants of the area, and some Armstrong descendants, Thomas Greer came after that wave in 1823. I believe I have seen a ship log for him Ellen,in the 1830s, but am not certain I made a note of it, will have to search for it again.

as to why they came in 1823- there was a huge push to colonize Ontario after the war of 1812, and Ireland was nto faring well with the Potato Famine coming on , among other turmoils of the times especially in Ulster ( the birth of the IRA etc). I think it was bountiful in Ontario at first, and those first settlers did very well, but after a few decades of mass immigration our ancestors were compelled to head westward to find better lands. Also, another reason for their migration is one of our forefathers, Albert E. Greer, was a founding board member of the Ontario Pacific railroad and a lot of our relatives followed its progression towards Seattle and British Columbia, building the tracks, tressels, & bridges and running the railroads.

anyhow I will get back to you via Email soon

.

I would still like to find out more on what you referenced here about these ship logs from 1823. Can you please tell me where I might be able to see these for myself? Thanks

[JLGreer]

Hi Kelly,
My apologies
it's been a hectic last six months and I put alot of stuff on hold.

Here is the notes I kept of the important figures on that trip. You can source the information at Shiplists on the net, or via the microfilm label listed.

Quebec - 10th trip up, Quebec to Montreal, June 30th 1824

Ticket Number No. | Passengers Names Names | Cabin C | Steerage St | (destinations) Three Rivers 3R | Berthier B | Montreal M | Amount (of fare in £/s/d) F | Amount Paid (in £/s/d) P | Remarks Remarks

11-12 O. Porter & daughter x x 1/-/- 1/-/-
13-15 Samuel Porter & wife & one child under 12 years x x 1/5/- 1/5/-


60-61 E. Grier & two children,. one above 12 & one under 12 years x x 1/5/- 1/5/- Greir / Greer
62-64 William Grier & wife & one child under 12 years x x 1/5/- 1/5/-
65-69 A. Grier & wife & E. McGlachlan (McLachlan) & two children under 12 years x x 2/-/- 2/-/-
70-71 P. Armstrong & wife x x 1/-/- 1/-/-

135-136 D. Atkins & F. Armstrong x x 1/-/- 1/-/-

140-144 John O'Neil & wife & two sons (above 12 years) & C. Armstrong x x 2/10/- 2/10/-

146 A. Grier x x -/10/ -/10/-

148 R. Craig x x -/10/- -/10/-
149-156 — Grier & wife & six children, four above 12 & two under 12 years x x 3/10/- 3/10/- Greir / Greer

160-164 J. Greer & wife & three children under 12 years x x 1/15/- 1/15/- Greir / Grier | see no. 274

173-174 Matthew & George Greer x x 1/-/- 1/-/- Greir / Grier

184-190 Mrs. Greer & six children, five above 12 & one under 12 years x x 3/5/- 3/5/- Greir / Grier

274 one child under 12 years (J. Greer's) x x -/5/- -/5/- see no. 160-164

source: National Archives of Canada MG 28, III, 57 - Reel M-8275 vol 21

Also here is snip from Ginny Haysom's post on the Greer forums-

Joseph, William, Henry, George (my ancestor, with wife and child), Alexander, James (with wife and 5 children), Mathew, Robert and a 2nd Joseph (with wife and 5 children) left Ireland in the spring of 1824, all adult men who applied for free land grants.
According to my father, Joseph, William, Henry and a younger brother Thomas were all brothers; I surmise that the others were related as cousins.
William and Alexander came with letters of recommendation from the parish minister in Bailieboro, Cavan County, Ireland, which are filed with their land applications.

Alexander's application for land stated that he had arrived on June 24th 1824. According to the Quebec Mercury and the Montreal Gazette, the only vessel to dock at Quebec City on that day was the Brig Mary sailing from Newry, Ireland (closest port to Bailieboro). From Quebec City, the group proceeded up the Saint Lawrence via the Saint Lawrence Steamboat Company sailing on the 'Quebec' to Montreal on June 30th (LAC microfilm M8275, vol.21).

-Ginny Haysom 2008

Regards,
Jerry

[carsongreer]

My name is Carson Greer. my line of Greers seem to intersect with yours. My fathers name is Stuart Greer, his father was Carson, his father was Campbell, his father was Thomas, who came over from Ireland, (Sligo County) along with his father, John Alexander. I was recently near Oso Ontario, and was looking at some gravesights, I found John Alexanders gravestone, along with his wife Brigette, as well as Thomas, and his wife mary Anne Conboy. Also there was Johns son's John's gravestone, with another close by that was very faded, but I could see the word Maria, I wasnt quite sure who she was. Hope this helps a bit. Carson

[Jan1954]

Hello Carson - welcome to Brit-Gen,

Sadly, JLGreer has not visted the forum for a couple of years although they are still a member. If you click on their user name, a drop-down menu appears. Perhaps by sending them a private message or email you will be able to make contact.