Pennies From Heaven - Wyoming Cemetery

If you've read this post, you'll know we believe that John Culbert's brother was Richard Culbert who immigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1840 with his wife, Ann Jane Harlton. More about Richard Culbert and Ann Jane Harlton here.

Estimated birth years

Thanks to Richard and Ann's great-great-grandson, Wayne Alexander McLeod, we've learned the location of Richard & Ann's final resting place. 

Entrance to Wyoming Cemetery

Richard Culbert (c1813-1894) and his wife, Ann Jane Harlton (c1816-1888) are buried in Wyoming Cemetery in the County of Lambton, Ontario, Canada.

Headstone of Richard Culbert & Ann Jane Harlton in Wyoming Cemetery. Photo courtesy of Wayne Alexander McLeod.

Richard & Ann's daughter Catherine Culbert and her husband, Alexander Morden of Wyoming, Ontario are buried in Wyoming Cemetery, too along with their son, George Alfred Morden (1874-1908).

Headstone of Catherine Culbert, her husband Alexander Morden, and their son George Morden. Photo courtesy of Wayne Alexander McLeod.

Wayne recalls a story about Catherine Culbert and Alexander Morden's headstone...

“When I was a young boy, my Aunt Maizie Walton took myself and her daughter Linda to Wyoming Cemetery. We had been visiting my Great-Uncle Lavern Morden in Wyoming that day and before leaving for home, Sarnia, she decided to take us to visit the grave site of her grandparents (our great-grandparents,) Alexander Morden and Catherine Culbert and their son, George. George had passed away at the young age of 33. Aunt Maizie made us promise to come back to the cemetery when we were 33 years old to retrieve a lucky penny she had buried on either side of the tombstone. My penny was on the left, and my cousin’s penny was on the right. Being young, we thought this was magical and mystical. As time would tell, my cousin admitted she had gone back without me to confiscate those pennies. As the fates would have it, Luck never followed her through life.”

Another descendant of Richard Culbert & Ann Jane Harlton buried in Wyoming Cemetery is Alexander Laverne Morden (1891-1974). "Vern" was the son of Alexander Morden & Catherine Culbert, and he lived in Wyoming, Ontario. 

Vern Morden (1891-1974) with his great-nephew, Wayne Alexander McLeod in Wyoming, c1954. Photo courtesy of Wayne Alexander McLeod.

Headstone of Alexander Laverne "Vern" Morden (1891-1974) and his wife, Norella Winrow in Wyoming Cemetery. Photo added to Find-A-Grave by Ron Spurr.

If you're going:

Wyoming Cemetery is located at the south end of the town of Wyoming (also known as Plympton-Wyoming.) Wyoming is east of Sarnia and north of Petrolia. The location is 450 Isabella Street, Wyoming, Ontario.

The Children of Rebecca Ann Culbert and William Whiteford

In the previous post, we met Rebecca Ann Culbert (1845-1940), the daughter of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Rebecca Culbert and her husband, William Whiteford had 10 children, six of whom lived to adulthood.

Rebecca Ann (Culbert) Whiteford (third from left) and her children. This photo was probably taken in the late 1930s when Rebecca was in her 90s. Photo courtesy of Rebecca's great-granddaughter, Anne (Routly) Willcox.
Left to right:  
Susan Lauretta "Ettie" "Etta" (Whiteford) King
John Silas Whiteford   
Rebecca Ann (Culbert) Whiteford (1845-1940)
Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Whiteford) McFalls
William "Will" Henry Whiteford 
 Mary Emily (Whiteford) McFalls
Rebecca Ann "Annie" (Whiteford) Horne

If you’re a descendant of Rebecca Culbert and William Whiteford, and would like to write a more detailed account of any of their descendants, please contact me.

The following are brief descriptions of Rebecca and William's six adult children.

MARY EMILY WHITEFORD

Mary Emily Whiteford was born 25 May 1868 in Centralia, Ontario. 

On 4 August 1896 she married James “Jim” McFalls (c1869-1931). Jim McFalls was the son of Alexander McFalls (1833-1914) and Eliza Brown who farmed at Lot 7, Concession 2 on the same concession as the Culbert homestead in Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario. 

Mary and Jim farmed for some years in the Dashwood area, then moved to Exeter where Jim was employed at the salt works.[1]

Mary and Jim had two children:

Mary LEILA McFalls (1898-1972).

Silas William McFalls (1900-1993). 

The 1921 Census shows the McFalls family living on Andrew Street in Exeter, Ontario.

Mary Emily (Whiteford) McFalls died 23 August 1954, age 86.

WILLIAM HENRY WHITEFORD

 

William Henry “Will” Whiteford was born 29 May 1870 in Huron County, Ontario. 

At age 21, Will moved to the United States. The 1895 US Census shows him working as a telegraph operator at Northwestern Railroad Station in Sioux City, Iowa. His future bride's father, Theodore Hout operated the Northwestern Depot Hotel at that time. 

Will married Mary Jane Hout (1876-1935) in Sioux City, Iowa on 28 May 1896. Over the next 40 years, Will and Mary Jane lived in various towns in Iowa. Will became a grocer, and owned his own grocery store.

Will and Mary Jane had three children:

Miles IRVING Whiteford (1896-1947).

Elveretta “Elva” Whiteford (1897-1969).

Ruth Maxine “Ruthie” Whiteford (1916-1995).

Will Whiteford died 11 June 1960, age 90 and is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Webster City, Iowa.

SARAH ELIZABETH "LIZZIE" WHITEFORD

Sarah Elizabeth “Lizzie” Whiteford was born November 1874 in Ontario.

On 26 February 1896, six months before her sister, Mary married Jim McFalls, Lizzie married Jim’s brother, Alexander McFalls (1863-1930). The wedding took place at the home of the bride's parents, Rebecca Culbert and William Whiteford.

Lizzie and Alexander farmed at Lot 13, Concession 2, Usborne Township, a mile east of Exeter for about 35 years before Al's death in 1930, age 67. Lizzie then moved into a house on Albert Street in Exeter.

Lizzie and Alexander had 3 children:

Elmer McFalls (1897-1917). (click here for more about Elmer.)

Garnet Clifford McFalls (1900-1973).

Percy Alexander McFalls (1906-1995).

Headstone of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Whiteford and her husband, Alexander McFalls in Exeter Cemetery. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

 

Lizzie (Whiteford) McFalls died in 1955, age 80 and is buried in Exeter Cemetery.

REBECCA ANN "ANNIE" WHITEFORD

Rebecca Ann “Annie” Whiteford was born 9 June 1876 in Usborne Township, Ontario. 

On 26 December 1900, Annie married George Weston “Wes” Horne (1878-1951). Wes was the son of Samuel Richard Horne and Charlotte Ann Willey, farmers at Lot A, Concession 8, Usborne Township. 

Annie & Wes farmed at Lot A, Concession 8 in Usborne Township until about 1911 when they moved with their two children to Elimville where Wes was working as a self-employed carpenter.[2]

Annie & Wes had two children:

Elva Lauretta Horne (1901-1993)

Lyda Eileen Horne (1906-1920).

Headstone of Rebecca "Annie" Whiteford and her husband, George Weston Horne in Zion Cemetery in Huron Township. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

Annie (Whiteford) Horne died 6 May 1955, a month short of her 79th birthday. She is buried at Zion Cemetery in what was formerly known as Usborne Township near Exeter. Zion Cemetery originally was part of the Horne farm at Lot A, Concession 8. Zion Cemetery is located near the intersection of Park Road and the Hern Line. The official address of the cemetery is ​41587 Park Road, Centralia.

JOHN SILAS WHITEFORD  

John Silas Whiteford was born 13 August 1880 in Morris Township, Huron County, Ontario. He was named after his brother who predeceased him a year before he was born.

John’s first wife was Sarah Maud Parkinson whom he wed on 14 February 1906. Sarah was the daughter of John Thomas Parkinson & Eliza Ann Gunning of Blanshard Township in Perth County.

John Silas Whiteford's wedding announcement. Source: The Exeter Advocate, 15 February 1906, page 1.

John and Sarah farmed near Woodham in Blanshard Township.

John & Sarah had five children:

Florence LILLIAN Whiteford (1907-1998)

William LAVERNE Whiteford (1908-2006)

Sheldon STANLEY Whiteford (1910-2004)

John HILSON Whiteford (1914-1981)

Delmar George Whiteford (1921-1981)

John’s first wife, Sarah died of breast cancer on 27 April 1938, age 55. He married his second wife, a widow named Georgina (Harris) Lidster on 29 July 1939. John and Georgina didn’t have any children. After they married, John and Georgina moved to St. Mary's, Ontario. John ran a rural mail route until they moved to London, Ontario where he worked at the Globe Casket Factory until retirement.[3]

John Silas Whiteford's headstone in Zion Cemetery. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

 

John Silas Whiteford died 22 October 1963, age 83, and is buried with his first wife, Sarah in Zion Cemetery.

SUSAN LAURETTA WHITEFORD

Susan Lauretta Whiteford, the youngest child of Rebecca Culbert and William Whiteford also went by the names Etta and Ettie. She was born 22 June 1886 in Morris Township, Huron County, Ontario.

Ettie married Wilbert James King, a farmer from Lambton County on 17 February 1915. (Sometimes his name is written as Wilbur.) Wilbert (1885-1954) was the son of James King & Mary Ann Ward who were living in McGillivray Township at the time of Wilbert’s birth.

For about 10 years, they lived in Hamiota, Manitoba. They returned in 1925, and lived in Exeter, Ontario.

Ettie and Wilbert had three children:

Elvretta King (1916-1999)

William James King (1919-1963)

Myrta Eileen King (1923-2001).

Susan Lauretta (Whiteford) King died 1 June 1980, age 93.  

Note: If you’re a descendant of Rebecca Culbert and William Whiteford, and would like to write a more detailed account of any of their descendants, please contact me at this address:

Footnotes:

[1] "A History of the John Culbert-Mary Ward Family and Their Descendants 1828-1995, Volume 1, Branches 5-6-7-8-9" by Grant W. Taylor, page 18.

[2] Ibid., 36.

[3] Ibid., 42.