Alice Hedley, born March 11, 1886, was the ninth and last child of John Henry and Margaret Florence Johnston.  Alice was only 14 months old when her mother died of a heart attack at age 39. Her eight brothers and sisters ranged in ages from one-and-a-half-year-old Albert to 18-year-old William.  Alice was cared for in her early years by her aunt and uncle Lizzie and John Brown of Ashfield.  Lizzie was the sister of Alice’s mother, Margaret.  In 1888 John Henry married Ann Alexander and Alice probably spent more of her time at the home of her father and his new wife and her brothers and sisters.   Five-year-old Alice appears on the 1891Ontario Census for both Greenock and Ashfield.  Alice’s grandmother, 81-year-old Martha Johnston, widow, also appears along with Alice on the 1891 Ashfield census for the Brown family.  Alice does not appear on the 1901 Ontario Census for Greenock, when she would be 15, although four brothers and sisters older than Alice do appear on the census.

On October 19, 1904 Alice, age 18,  married William John MacKenzie. [William John may have been the son of  Dan and Mary McKenzie who appear on the 1901 Ontario Census for Kincardine Twp. with a son “William” born June 1, 1878.]  Alice and Will, Presbyterians,  farmed on the 10th Concession of Kinloss Twp.   According to Clarence Hedley, a nephew, Alice and Will moved to Kincardine in 1924 to help care for her sister’s only child, Olive, after her mother Maggie (Hedley) Atkinson died of a heart attack at age 41.  After Maggie’s husband Jonathon was killed in the collapse of a new steel bridge during construction on Highway 9 near Kincardine in 1931, Alice and Will moved to Lucknow.  Although they did not have  children of their own, Alice remained close to her niece Olive (Atkinson) McClure and her family in Collingwood.  Will had a poor heart and “a running sore” on his leg.  He died in 1943 at age 65 or 66.

 After Will’s death Alice, age 57,  continued living in their two-storey white frame house in Lucknow.  She worked in Johnston’s Restaurant and Bakery, a popular eatery in Lucknow for many years.  Her great niece, Jacqueleen Hedley,  occasionally stayed at the home of her “Aunt Alice” during the four years she attended Lucknow High School. Alice usually appeared at the annual Hedley picnics in Kincardine.  She died in 1976 at age 90.

this page was updated on March 22, 2003