Out of Our Past
Links to a Rorabeck Family
Thomas Rorabeck was born in January 1812 in Albany, New York, USA. Coming to Upper Canada he met Cornelia Hicks. They married in Marysburgh Township, Prince Edward County, on 4 January 1834. Thomas and Cornelia established their home in the same county. Two years later, in 1836, a son Sylvanus was born. On 29 June 1839 another son, Benjamin, was born. In 1844, Lydia Ann Rorabeck was born to the family. Sarah Jane, another daughter, was born in 1854 and another son, Thomas E., was born in 1862.
Thomas and Cornelia moved to Dummer Township by the late 1860s. Their last child, Minnie was born in the township about 1870. The couple farmed in the township for almost thirty years before death took Thomas away on 19 January 1897. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Norwood, Ontario. Cornelia (Hicks) Rorabeck died in Norwood on 13 December 1907. She was laid to rest beside her husband in the Norwood Cemetery.
Lives of the children:
Sylvanus, son of Thomas and Cornelia (Hicks) Rorabeck, was born in Prince Edward County, Ontario. In 1860, when he was about 24 years old, Sylvanus married Elizabeth Begg. She was born in 1840 in Percy Township, Northumberland County. Their marriage took place on 24 February 1860 in Brighton Township, also in Northumberland County. Elizabeth, the middle of five children born to John and Margaret Mary Begg, she spent her early lifetime growing up in Percy Township.
After Sylvanus and Elizabeth married, they continued to live in Percy Township. In 1861, a daughter, Amanda Ann was born to the young couple. In 1863, a son, John Wesley was born. The children largely grew up in Percy Township. By 1881, Sylvanus and Elizabeth had mother to Dummer Township. By now, Amanda had married. John Wesley still lived at home. On 31 December 1885, Elizabeth (Begg) Rorabeck died at their Dummer Township home. She was buried in the Norwood Cemetery.
On 4 February 1887, at Norwood, Sylvanus Rorabeck married his second wife, Margaret Mathison. She was born in 1843, in Asphodel Township. Margaret was a daughter of Andrew Mathison and Janet Webster. She was the second eldest daughter and third child of a family of seven children. Margaret and Sylvanus continued to live in Dummer Township. Margaret died 20 January 1921 in Asphodel Township and was laid to rest in the Norwood Cemetery. Sylvanus Rorabeck died 18 December 1924 at their Norwood home. He was laid to rest in the Norwood Cemetery.
Amanda, daughter of Sylvanus and Elizabeth (Begg) Rorabeck, married Hamilton Davis. He was born in 1858 in Smith Township, Peterborough County. His parents were John and Lucinda Davis. Amanda had four daughters before her death on 27 July 1891. She was buried in the Norwood Cemetery. Hamilton died in 1940 in Michigan, United States.
John Wesley, son of Sylvanus and Elizabeth (Begg) Rorabeck, married Mary Alice Baptie. Their marriage took place in Norwood on 26 April 1886. John and Mary had a son Wesley Harold 2 January 1895 who died when he was six days old. They also had a daughter, Gertrude Ethleen, born in Asphodel Township in 1902 and who died in 1990.
Benjamin Second Son of Thomas and Cornelia
Benjamin H. was born 29 June 1839, a son to Thomas and Cornelia (Hicks) Rorabeck. As a young man, living in Percy Township, Benjamin married a young woman who was born in May 1844 in Bloomfield, Prince Edward County. His bride was Mary Jemima Lowe, daughter of Amos Bull Lowe and Sarah Jane Kemp. They married in Brighton Township on 24 October 1860. Benjamin and Mary spent the decade of the 1870s living in Percy Township. During this time, three children were born to them. Amos Gilbert was born in 1862, Alberta Jane was born in 1867 and George Edward was born in 1877.
Benjamin Rorabeck died on 11 October 1914. His wife, Mary Jemima (Lowe) Rorabeck died in Hallowell Township, Prince Edward County on 19 August 1919. She was laid to rest in Cherry Valley Cemetery at Picton, Ontario.
Amos Gilbert, son of Benjamin and Mary (Lowe) Rorabeck, was born 29 December 1862 in Percy Township. Sometime after Amos turned eight years old, the family moved to Dummer Township in Peterborough County. When he was about thirty years old, Amos married Clara Elizabeth, daughter of Edward and Sarah Bartley. Clara was born in London, England in 1874. She came to Canada in 1888 as a Barnardo child, travelling with a large group of children being escorted to the Hazelbrae Home in Peterborough, Ontario.
They sailed on the SS Parisian that landed in Quebec in September of that year. In 1891, Clara was listed as a domestic, living with the Thomas and Dorcas Ireland family of Percy Township. It appears that Clara had a sister Martha. She was shown as aged 10 years old in 1888 on the ship’s list of passengers and was entered next to Clara. In 1891, Martha was still residing in the Hazelbrae girl’s home in Peterborough.
Amos and Clara were wed at Norwood on 18 October 1893. One of the witnesses who stood up for the couple was William Ireland, a member of the family with whom Clara had resided since coming to Canada.
On 29 June 1896, in Percy Township, a son Benjamin Franklin, was born to Amos and Mary. This child died on 6 February 1897, at the age of seven months. Later that year on 29 November 1897, still in Percy Township, a daughter Alberta Adlene, was born. Another son, Reuben, was born 7 August 1899. This son also died as a young boy of seven years, on 25 January 1907. He died in Hallowell Township of rheumatism and tonsillitis.
Amos and Clara moved to Burleigh and Anstruther Township around 1900. In 1901 they were living in the household of Benjamin and Mary Rorabeck, parents of Amos. At that date, the young couple had two children, Alberta then three years old and Reubin aged 8 months. It appears that Amos and Clara moved to Athol Township in Prince Edward County, Ontario sometime after 1901, for in that township on 12 September 1907 another daughter, Mary Jane, was born.
About 1910, Amos and Clara moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta. That year another daughter was born to their family. She was Florence Loretta, born 10 March 1910 in Alberta.
Clara Elizabeth (Bartley) died in 1913 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Her husband, Amos Gilbert Rorabeck, died on 15 February 1932, in Toronto, Ontario. Amos was interred in Prospect Cemetery, Toronto.
Alberta Jane, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Jemima (Lowe) Rorabeck, married James Abbot Turner. James, a son of Henry and Fanny (Brooks) Turner, was born in Hallowell Township, Prince Edward County in November 1867. James and Alberta were married 9 May 1887 in the village of Norwood, Ontario. They lived in the hamlet in the 1890s where James worked as an engineer at a local woolen mill. By 1901, the young couple had moved their family to the village of Marmora, where again, James had employment using his skills as an engineer. In 1911, the family had moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta, again James had work in his field of being an engineer.
James and Alberta had a family of eight children. Maud Emily was born in 1888; Everett James in 1890; Mary Amanda, was born in 1893; Stephen Henry was born in 1895; Stanley Edward was born in 1899; Ruby Annetta was born in 1901; Benjamin Amos was born in 1904 and Beatrice was born in 1907.
James and Alberta returned to reside in Ontario not long after 1911. They were once again living in Prince Edward County when James died on 15 January 1915. After his death, Alberta returned out west to live. She died in Vancouver on 5 October 1929.
The Family of George and Mary
Standing Back Row (l-r): Georgena Patricia; Daisy Luella; Pansy May
Seated in front (l-r): George Edward; Edward Byron; Winnie Rowena; Mary holding Nellie on her lap; Mabel
Source: Online Family Public Member Tree
George Edward was the youngest of Benjamin and Mary Jemima (Lowe) Rorabeck’s children. George was born 22 July 1877 in Dummer Township, Peterborough County, Ontario. On
27 September 1899 at Marmora in Hastings County, George was married to Susanna Lucinda Culp, daughter of Isaac and Abby (Mayer) Culp. Susanna was born 9 April 1883 in Parry Sound District, Ontario.
The first child of George and Susanna was born while the family lived in Marmora, Ontario. Daisy Luella was born in 29 December 1900. The family moved to Burleigh and Anstruther Township where Pansy May was born
2 November 1903. George was born in May 1906 and Myrtle Georgena was born
3 September November 1906. George did not survive. He died after six hours on the day he was born.
The family moved to Purple Springs, Alberta. There on 19 May 1911, Winnie Rowena was born and Mabel was born 14 June 1913. The family moved on to Lethbridge, Alberta where on 4 October 1915, Edward Byron was born. The family was again living in Purple Springs when Nellie was born on
29 January 1917. The family’s youngest child, Cora Olive Vivian, was born at Purple Springs on
6 December 1923.
George Edward Rorabeck died in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1943. His wife, Susanna Lucinda (Culp) Rorabeck died on 7 February 1975 at Lethbridge, Alberta.
