In the
death last Saturday of Mrs. Daniel Olds, formerly Ellen Tisdale,
Norfolk County loses another member of one of the oldest families ever
settled within its limits.
Born near the shore front of
Lake Erie in 1846, Ellen was the second daughter of a family of two
sons, Albert and Eli, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Ellen and
another who married into the Oakes family.
Their father was Benjamin
Tisdale, fifth son of a family of ten, reared by Ephraim Tisdale, son
of Captain Ephraim Tisdale, the father of the Norfolk Tisdale family.
The Tisdale[s] of Norfolk are
the descendants of an old Welsh family that settled in the County of
Lancaster, England. Some time in the first half of the seventeenth
century, the greatgrandfather of Ellen Tisdale's greatgrandfather came
to America and settled in the old Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Captain Ephraim Tisdale, one of
his descendants, fought for old King George during the War of American
Independence, and when the end came, with its bitter persecution of the
Loyalists, the Tisdale estates were confiscated and the Captain and his
family subjected to ignoranious treatment.
They fled into New Brunswick
and settled on the St. John River, near Waterbury, on lands allotted
to U. E. Loyalists. A son, Lot, first came to the "Town of
Charlotteville, Upper Canada," and the remaining sons, with the
old Captain, followed later.
Ephraim, father of Benjamin,
was among these sons, and took up his residence along the lake front.
He was appointed High Constable for the District of London in 1803.
His third son was Ephraim Tisdale, who settled in Charlotteville and
remained there until he died, leaving behind him a proud record of
service both in municipal and in military affairs.
The late Colonel D. Tisdale,
former member for South Norfolk in the Dominion Parliament, once
Minister of Militia in the Tupper Government, a leading member of the
Norfolk Bar, and Colonel of the 39th Battalion of Norfolk Volunteers,
was a son of Ephraim.
Thus the death of Mrs. Daniel
Olds will recall to many of the county's older residents memories of
the activities of the Tisdale[s] in Norfolk through decades past.
Besides her husband, two
daughters, Mrs. Charles Misner at home, and Mrs. A. B. Reid of Port
Huron, remain to mourn her loss.
Rev. Thomas Green conducted
the service from her late residence, McCall Street, on Monday
afternoon, and interment took place at Oakwood Cemetery. The bearers
were her nephews: Maitland Tisdale, Martin Tisdale, Benjamin Tisdale,
Fred Tisdale of Hamilton, Elgin Chute of Aylmer, and Milton Oakes.
