Robert Jerry and Sarah Harriet Smith

For some reason I always thought that people in the “olden days” didn’t move much. Well, Robert Jerry and Sarah “Harriet” Smith moved around a lot. This, of course is coming from someone who lived in the same spot for the first 19 years of her life then moved 7 times in the next 20 years, but travel is so much easier now. Perhaps Robert and Harriet were restless or just looking for something better. Bethel Miller writes that at one point after they moved to Crozier, Rainy River, Ontario Robert
“wanted to sell everything …and trek back east but grandma [Harriet] said he could go if he wanted but she had enough of moving and was going to stay here.”

They stayed the rest of their lives in Crozier and were buried in the St. Mary’s cemetery until erosion made it necessary for their remains to be moved to the Riverview cemetery. (still moving)

Robert was born in Pickering, Ontario in about 1843. Somewhere between 1861 and 1871 his parents, William and Hannah, moved to St Vincent Township in Grey County, Ontario. Hannah died  in St. Vincent Township in 1878 and their youngest daughter, 4 year old Amelia, died about 2 months later. Within 3 years William moved back to Pickering to live with his oldest daughter, Elizabeth.

It was most likely in St. Vincent Township that Robert met Harriet. Her family had moved to St. Vincent prior to 1851. I haven’t been able to find a record of their marriage but they would have married about 1866 or 1867.

Here is where they lived (all in Ontario, Canada):
1879 - St. Vincent Township, Grey County - Robert and Harriet had a son, Robert, there that year.
1881 - Gosfield Township, Essex County - Robert's older brothers William and James lived here. They are in Essex on the 1881 census. Their son, Justin, died in Gosfield in 1881 and a Grandad Jerry (Herbert was born there in 1882.)
1884 - Scarboro, Ontario -  their son, Edward, died here.  Robert’s father died in February of 1883 so they may have been in Scarboro because of that. Or they may have been with relatives there. Robert had a sister, Elizabeth, living in Pickering and I think that some of his mother’s (Hannah Jerry nee Clark) relatives lived in the area.
1894 - St. Vincent Township - the census shows them living here again.
1900 - Crozier, Rainy River Distict -  Harriet`s sister, Ellen Mulherne, was already there when they came.  Grandma says ``They came to Rat Portage (Dryden) by train and down the Lake to the Woods and Rainy River to Roddick.`` Some of their descendants still live in this area.


Please contact me if you think we're related, if you have more information, or if you'd like to find out where I found this information.


Tara Shymanski Genealogy Research
"digging up your family tree"


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