|
Family Albums Ralph's Family 1912 - 1995 The Carmichael Tartan Click on each photo for a larger image |
The Irish Potato Famine lasted from 1845 - 1848, devastating Ireland - leaving one-million dead and losing another million who emigrated to Canada and the United States. John Carmichael, a weaver in Kilrea Parish, County Derry, arrived in Spencerville, Ontario, in 1847 with his wife Mary Price and their first four children, Andrew, Mary, Joseph and Samuel. John and his brother James were the sons of Daniel Carmichael a weaver (b. 1773) and Nancy Murdoch of Kilrea Parish.
James had settled in Canada a year earlier and
John was able to purchase a tract of land from him.
There is a note in the Prescott Land Office that John, who was illiterate and signed with an X, purchased
his property from his brother. James owned Lot #27 and John
Lot #31.
John built the brick home pictured above in
1855 and some years later St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church was
constructed across the street from the house. His son Andrew
was a senior warden of the church and was involved in its
erection which may have occurred between 1862 and 1879.
Both John and Andrew are buried in the churchyard along with their
wives, Elizabeth and Isabella, Harvey's mother. Isabella
Johnstone's parents were born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland,
introducing the first 19th century Scottish blood - Clan
Douglas - into our branch of
the Carmichael family.
The Rev. Dr.
Harvey Carmichael was born in Spencerville, Ontario, in 1869.
Due to working on the farm and in the family store he didn't start
Kemptville high school until the age of 16. He completed all
course work in one and a half years and
was admitted to Queen's University in Kingston.
His father Andrew opened a grocery store on the first floor of their home where all 12 or 13 children helped out. They each became proficient at Morse Code as there was a direct line coming into the store (preceding the telephone). Before earning his Master's in Philosophy at Queen's Harvey spent almost a decade working for the Canadian Pacific Railway where he won recognition for being the fastest telegraph operator in the province. His father Andrew also built carriages in a shop to the south of the church and was the village blacksmith.
Harvey simultaneously received his Bachelor's in a dual major of Arts and Philosophy and Master's in Philosophy from Queen's in 1897 and won the coveted Gold Medal in Philosophy. In 1921 he received a Doctorate in Religious Education from the Hartford (CT) Theological Seminary.
He was married in 1898 to Liz White and their daughter, Margaret, was born in 1900. After his wife's death in 1907 he married artist Adele Lilian Miller from Richmond, Quebec, where she was singing in the choir of his church. Their son, Ralph Miller [my father], was born in 1912 in the manse of St. Andrew's, Scarboro Junction, Ontario.
Harvey served as the minister of what is now Knox and Dunbar Presbyterian Church in Dunbar, Ontario; St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Richmond and Melbourne, Quebec, and from 1912 to 1919 at St. Andrew's Presbyterian, Scarboro Junction, Ontario. From 1922 to 1929 he served at First Congregational Church, Cromwell, Connecticut, after studying for his doctorate. Following three years as a school principal in Ontario, he returned to the ministry. From 1932 to his retirement in 1939, he served St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Whitby. He and his wife then purchased a cottage in Toronto not far from Prescott where his youngest sister, Elizabeth lived with her family. He died on June 11, 1943 and is buried at St. Andrew's Church Yard, Scarboro.
His wife, Adele, continued on her own in Prescott until she was slightly injured in an auto accident. For a time she lived with her step-daughter Margaret in Scarboro and then from 1953 made her home with her son Ralph's family in Wilmington, Delaware, until her death in Albany, New York, in 1970. She too is buried in St. Andrew's, Scarboro, churchyard along with her husband Harvey, step-daughter Margaret with her husband Ewart, and son Ralph with his wife Jean.
Return to Family Albums Ralph's Obituary
2010-01-15 14:47:51