A Tale of Two Rebeccas

In the last post, I mentioned the death of John Culbert & Mary Ward's daughter Rebecca Culbert, age six, on 18 July 1841.

Rebecca Culbert's name and date of death inscribed on a headstone at St. James Cemetery, Clandeboye, Ontario.

Now, look at this list of John & Mary's 11 children and tell me if you notice anything unusual...

Elizabeth "Eliza" Culbert. Born 1829.

Susan Culbert. Born 1832.

Rebecca A. Culbert. Born 1835.

Henry Culbert. Born 1837.

Emma Culbert. Born c1839-1840. 

William Edward Culbert. Born 1842.

Rebecca Ann Culbert. Born 1845.

Thomas Culbert. Born 1847.

Joseph Culbert. Born 1848.

Richard Culbert. Born 1853.

Mary Ann Culbert. Born 1856.

Bonus points if you noticed that John & Mary had TWO daughters named Rebecca!

Rebecca 1st was born in 1835 but died six years later in 1841. Rebecca 2nd was born in 1845, three years after the death of Rebecca 1st.

Up until the first part of the 20th century, parents couldn't rely on all their children surviving until adulthood. Most families could expect to lose at least one child to disease, infection, or poor nutrition. Doctors were scarce and there was still much to learn about public health.

Long ago, it was the custom to name the next-born child (of the same sex) after the deceased child. Since Rebecca 2nd was the first girl to be born after the death of Rebecca 1st, she was given the same name.

Many people considered their family's first names to be of importance; something you passed down from one generation to the next. If a child died, that child's first name may have been used for the next child of the same gender, thus keeping alive an important family name.

So if you're researching your family history and you discover two or more children in the same family with the same first name, this could be the reason.

Susanna Ward and her Son, William Ward

If you're a descendant of John Culbert & Mary Ward, you're also descended from Susanna Ward (c1779-1865.)

Susanna Ward c1865. Cropped from a group photo by Alfred Smart. Photo courtesy of Margaret (Culbert) Hankala.

The photo above is cropped from a group photo which I'll show you and tell you about later. I'm guessing the photo was taken about 1865 before Susanna's death at the end of that year. Also, 1865 is the year that the photographer, Alfred Smart started his studio in Lucan, Ontario. In the 1860s, cameras were not yet common household items. People relied on photography studios to take their pictures.

Susanna Ward, the mother of Mary (Ward) Culbert, came to Canada from Ireland in 1840 along with the Culbert family, and settled with them in Biddulph Township.

We don't know much about Susanna; not even her maiden name. However, we know that she was a great help in raising John and Mary's many children during those first 25 years in Canada.

Family lore has it that her husband, whose name might have been Joseph Ward (no official documents to prove his name,) died during the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean and that he was buried at sea. 

On board the ship was another of Susanna's adult children, William Ward (Mary (Ward) Culbert's brother.) William didn't survive that first winter in Canada. We don't know what befell him; whether he'd fallen ill on board the ship and never recovered, or whether he contracted an illness or had an accident in Biddulph.

William, born c1819, died on 12 January 1841 and is buried in St. James Cemetery, Clandeboye near Lucan. He was 22 years old.

William Ward (1819-1841). Headstone erected by his sister, Mary (Ward) Culbert. Oldest grave and first burial in St. James Cemetery, Clandeboye, Ontario. William and Mary's mother, Susanna Ward was also buried here in 1865. This is also the burial site of John Culbert & Mary (Ward) Culbert's six year old daughter, Rebecca. Photo by Cheryl Claridge.

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William's is the oldest grave in St. James Cemetery. His was St. James Cemetery's first burial.

You can see from the closeup below that one of John & Mary's daughters, Rebecca Culbert is buried with Susanna Ward and William Ward. Rebecca, age six, died on 18 July 1841, just six months after her Uncle William's death.

Susanna Ward died, age 86, on 23 December 1865, two days before Christmas, and is buried with her son, William Ward and her granddaughter, Rebecca Culbert.

This photo shows you the proximity of the Culbert and Ward burials. The headstone on the left is that of  John Culbert and his wife, Mary (Ward) Culbert. The headstone on the right is that of Susanna Ward (Mary's mother), William Ward (Mary's brother), and Rebecca Culbert (John & Mary's daughter.)
Photo taken at St. James Cemetery, Clandboye near Lucan, Ontario by Mary Jane Culbert.