My Perth, Ontario, Canada trip, Spring 2002

Included here on this page are thumbnails of digital pix I took while on a genvacation in Perth, Ontario, during the week of April 28 to May 5, 2002. Click on the thumbnail for the full size pic. I left the pix at the original size to better show details, so they may take a minute to load if you are using a dialup connection. The description of the pic is below.


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1. Ward house, Concession 1, Lot 7, off Highway 43. Now owned by the Beere family.

2. Another view of the house from the side, showing the addition on back side of the house.

4. St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, Wilson St., Perth, where my Wards & Hudsons worshipped.

5. Frame house @ the corner of Brock & Sherbrook once owned by Frances Hudson's grandson Henry. She died there 7 May 1879. The house is noted on an 1873 map of Perth as owned by "Wid (widow) Hudson."

6. Marker of Edward Hudson (b. 1814, Gibraltar), 1st wife Mary Ann Doherty, and second wife Sarah McKay, located in St. John's Catholic Cemetery.

8. Left side of marker with Mary Ann Doherty's info. Note the inscription at the marker's base as being erected by Edward Hudson, Chicago. Click here for a pic identified only as "Hudson," with the name of a Chicago photographer on the front. No date on the pic. It's likely the same person who paid for this marker. He also would have had to pay to move Mary Ann Dougherty's remains to St. John's, as that cemetery did not exist until the mid-1870s.

9. Marker in St. John's Cemetery of Edward & Frances' Grandson Henry, his wife Margaret Graham, their son Edward, and his wife Anna Wright.

10. In the center foreground is the burial plot owned by "Miss Ward," according to the church's records. The records do not say who is buried there, but it could be the graves of Martha Ward and her mother Anne Keating Ward. There never was a marker there, according to those records.

12. One of many examples of the fine cut stone and brick masonry homes in Perth.

14.Marker of Charles Donovan Jr., who died in Australia while serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War 2.

Bert believes that Anne Keating Ward's first name was actually Martha. There's only limited support for this, which may have come from the 1842 census. A student at the Perth campus of Algonquin College did an architectural and historical study on the Ward house and listed Patrick's wife as Martha. Also, since two daughters were named Ann & Martha, maybe it is true. However, every census after 1842, Patrick's Will, and mention of her death in the Perth Courier does not give her name as Martha.

It is, unfortunately, impossible to determine where Patrick Ward & Edward Hudson are buried in the Craig Street Cemetery. It has 3 sections to it, the Catholic section being the one closest to the street. I finally did get my paws on a plot plan for that cemetery, but our guys were not listed in a specific location. We may never know.

If Bert's account of Patrick's injury are true, then religion may have had something to do with it. Bert said that his grandmother told him about the circumstances of Patrick's injury that lead to his death. It was called "The fracas of 12 July 1849." The only mention of anything remotely similar is the annual procession on that date by members of The Orange Order. Bert's account has "protestants" causing a problem that upset the horses and caused the buckboard Patrick was in to overturn. If that caused an injury that led to Patrick's death, then he would have suffered for some seven months.

Bert also relates that his grandmother (Lillias Ward Donovan) told him Patrick was of the Protestant faith and "jumped the fence" to marry Anne. Also, Lorraine Dryfuse stated in a letter to Bert that Patrick was from Ireland's County Cork at some point prior to the marriage.

UPDATE, 10/16/2019 - New information is on my Ward page in the "Direct Line" section.

Jim Ward's Genealogy Pages

My Perth Ontario Trip