An Ocean Apart: The Voddens of Esquesing

Gravestone of Thomas Vodden (1814-1816)

It is the quite the distance between the parish of St Giles in the Wood in Devon, England, and the hamlet of Walsh in Norfolk, Ontario. These two places, however, are linked by the gravestones of two brothers.

Thomas Vodden the son of Laurence Vodden (1782-1855) and Ann Manning (1781-1873), was baptised at Burrington, Devon on 9 Jun 1814. When Thomas died two years later he was buried at St Giles in the Wood. Why his parents choose to bury him there might baffle the researcher, as St Giles in the Wood is several kilometres from Week in Burrington where Laurence was a yeoman farmer. Laurence, however, was living in St Giles at the time of his marriage, and his father and grandfather were both born there. Laurence's great-grandfather, Laurence Vodden (?–1733), is the common ancestor of numerous Vodden lines in North Devon.

Ann Manning (1781-1873)

Laurence, the son of Thomas Vodden (1747–1810) and Judith Mill (1750-1827) was baptised at Beaford, Devon on June 23, 1782. Laurence married Ann Manning at South Molton on April 7,1808. Ann, the daughter of  Charles Manning (1752–?) and Elizabeth Hill (1756–?), was baptised at Burrington in December 1781.

It is possible that Laurence and Ann had a child between the time of their marriage and the birth of their son Laurence in 1811, however, no record of this child has been found. Thomas was their second child, followed by Elizabeth in 1816, Ann in 1818, Grace in 1820, Rose in 1822, and Rebecca in 1825. All of their children were baptised at Burrington.

The 1838 Tithe Apportionment shows two farms with the name Week in Burrington: Higher Week and Week Park. Both farms are small: Week Park at 16 acres and Higher Week at 26 acres. In 1838 Higher Week was owned by Robert Chichester and occupied by John Manning, possibly the brother of Ann. The Higher Week farmhouse dates from about 1600 and is Grade II listed.

Higher Week Farmhouse, Burrington, Devon

According to an 1895 article in the Acton Free Press, written to celebrate their daughter Rebecca Vodden's fiftieth wedding anniversary, Laurence and Ann emigrated to Canada about 1829, part of a group from Burrington that included Laurence's brother Robert (1785– ?), his wife Sarah, and their three children. After spending a few years in Northumberland County, New Brunswick, both families moved to Esquesing Township, Halton County to the west of Toronto. 

 

Laurence Vodden
(1811-1884)

A few years after their arrival in Canada, their son Laurence married Mary Ann Hutchinson, the daughter of another English emigrant. The younger Laurence had ten children, five of whom were born in Esquesing.

By 1852, Laurence had relocated to Walpole Township in Haldimand County. Between 1861 and 1871, he moved to Charlotteville Township in Norfolk. When he died in 1884, he was buried in the Walsh Cemetery.  Laurence has two grave markers: a plain slab with his name and dates as well as the name and dates of his wife and two of his children. Nearby is the original gravestone, broken into five pieces and lying flat on the ground.

Vodden-Kennedy Monument
Greenwood Cemetery, Georgetown

The older Laurence died in 1855. At the time of the 1861 and 1871 Censuses, his widow Ann was living with her daughter Ann and son-in-law John Kennedy (1821-1886) in Georgetown. Ann died in 1873. Laurence and Ann's names are inscribed on a monument in Greenwood Cemetery, although there is evidence that they were buried at the Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery, then moved to Greenwood in the 1890s.

John Kennedy was the son of land surveyor Charles Kennedy (1792-1854) who mapped out the north half of Esquesing in 1819, and built a sawmill on Silver Creek. Ann Street in Georgetown is named after Charles's daughter-in-law, Ann Vodden. In 1845, John Kennedy built Cleave House, named after the subsequent owners. In 1871 he built and moved into a Victorian cottage now known as the John Kennedy House. Ann died in 1886, ten months after her husband.

Laurence and Ann's oldest daughter, Elizabeth Vodden, married James Walter (1809–?) in New Brunswick in 1834 and had ten children. They were among the first settlers in Arran Township, Bruce County, after living in Esquesing for a number of years. Although James died before 1861, Elizabeth remained in Arran with her children until the 1880s when she moved to St Thomas in Elgin County. Elizabeth died in St Thomas in 1898.

James's brother George Walter (1807-1892) married Elizabeth's cousin Betsy Vodden (1816-1884) in New Brunswick in 1836 shortly the families moved to Esquesing.

Grace Vodden married Miller Hemstreet (1807–1885) and had five children. Grace and Miller emigrated to the United States before 1870 and settled near Cleveland, Ohio. Grace died in Cleveland in 1897.

Rebecca Hemstreet
née Vodden 1825-1920

Rose Vodden married Samuel Snell (1813–1878) of Chinguacousy Township, Peel County. Like Rose, Samuel had been born in Burrington, Devon, and had emigrated to Upper Canada via New Brunswick, along with his parents. Rose and Samuel had a daughter, Martha born in 1841, and a daughter Mary, born on March 26, 1843. Rose died in October of that year and was buried at the Zion Cemetery in Chinguacousy.

Laurence and Ann's youngest daughter, Rebecca, married Richard Hemstreet (1818-1908), the brother of Miller Hemstreet. Rebecca died in 1920 a few days before her 95th birthday. Richard was born in New York but had come with his parents to Upper Canada at the age of three. At the time of his death, Richard and Rebecca had been married for 63 years. Rebecca and Richard had seven children and were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Milton, Ontario.

Revised November 15, 2022