52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 13 (Old Homestead)

I consider myself fortunate that I grew up having access to the family farms on both sides of my family: Allen and Schell.  Both farms are in the rural community of Brentwood, Sunnidale (now Clearview) Township, Simcoe County, Ontario.

Allen

My father (William John "Jack" Allen) grew up on a farm that his grandfather, William Daisley Allen, purchased in 1916 after having to be relocate when the Canadian government appropriated his Tosorontio Township farm in to create Camp Borden.


Although my grandfather, Henry "Harry" Woodland Allen, was the youngest son of William Daisely Allen and Mary Jane Woodland, he took over the family farm.  He and his wife, Gertrude Georgina Cooper raised their family of 10 children in that house.  As that family had expanded, William and Mary Jane moved out of the farm house into a smaller house on the property, not far from the farm house. 

Over the years, several houses were also built on the property.  When Harry and Gertie's youngest son, Joe took over the operation of the family farm and started his own family, Harry and Gertie moved into a new house built for them by another son Ivan.  Ivan and another unmarried son, Les, moved into that house with their parents.  When Les eventually married in the 1960s, he and his wife and her two youngest children moved into the house next door (also built by Ivan) before eventually moving to another house also built on the Allen farm.  When my parents had married in 1949, Harry and Gertie had deeded them a section of the land to build their home.  My parents sold that property in the early 1960s when it was evident that my father's temporary assignment in Kingston would be permanent.  Another son, Garnet, was also deeded a section of land when he married in the 1950s.  His widow, Margery, still resides in that home. 

The small house that William and Mary Jane had moved into has housed various Allen descendants over the years.  During my childhood, Mary Ann "Minnie~ McKenzie, a granddaughter of William and Mary Jane, lived in the house with her second husband Tom Boyle.  When Tom and Minnie passed away, Minnie's daughter Tressa Winters and her husband Larry Derby moved there as their retirement home.  They are now both deceased, but a grandson and his family now live in the house.  Although that house is not the homestead, it is on the original property and has housed 6 generations of Allens.

The Allen farm and farm house were sold outside of the family after Joe's sudden death in 1978.  At that point, there had been 4 generations that had lived on that homestead.


Schell

The Schell homestead in Brentwood was purchased by my great-grandfather John Schell shortly before in death in May 1916.  At that time, my grandfather George, the oldest child, was barely 21 years old, but took over the operation of the family farm to provide food and housing for his widowed mother and 9 younger siblings.

According to my mother, the house that I know as her childhood home is not the original house on the property, but she is not sure just when the 'new' house was built.  The picture is of the newer house. 

When George married Irene Bates on March 10 1927, he moved his bride into the farm house where his mother and several siblings still resided.  George and Irene raised their three children in that house.  They sold the farm land at some point in the 1960s or 1970s, but retained the farm house and some land around the house.  After George's death in 1974, Irene continued living there until her declining health necessitated her relocation to a single storey house and later a nursing home.  The house had remained empty as their son Harold George "Bud" had always wanted to retire to the family homestead.  But instead, his daughter Mary Lou and her husband moved into the house and established their taxidermy business at that location.  They raised their 3 daughters in that house and are now the visiting location for their grandchildren.  In the century that the property has been in the Schell family, there have been 6 generations enjoying the homestead.

The Schell homestead has actually been in my family for more than the century referenced above.  Back in 1916, John Schell had purchased the property from Thomas Edward Bates who lived in farm house across the road.  It was Thomas's daughter Irene who eventually married John's son George.  This means that one of my great-Grandfathers purchased the farm from another of my great-Grandfathers.

I do not think of the farm across the road from the Schell farm as one of my family homesteads.  During my childhood, that property was owned by the Derby family.  Larry Derby referenced above in the Allen homestead section is a son from that family.  There are still other connections between members of that Derby family and my Schell and Allen extended families.  As with any small community, branches of family trees become intertwined over the generations.