BEECORFTS IN CANADA

Nottinghamshire Beecrofts in Canada

It is possible to identify two families of the Bottesford/Tithby line of Beecrofts who emigrated to Canada mid to late 19^th century.

The first was William Beecroft 1802-1834, who was a farmer at Barnby in the Willows, a village in the Notts/Lincs border.

The second was Thomas Beecroft (known as Thomas of Oldham), whose ancestors came from the Wilford area, south of Nottingham.

Thomas married and moved to Oldham before emigrating to Canada.

William 1802-1834 was a farmer at Barnby in the Willows, was the son of William Beecroft 1774-1801 also who farmed at Barnby in the Willows, and his wife Ann Grocock born 1768 who he married in 1795. William was the son of Thomas Beecroft born 1742, who was descended from Thomas Beecroft 1719-1758, who was Charles Beecroft’s 1830-1915 great-grandfather. Thomas Beecroft married Elizabeth Threaves. Ann Grocock was born in Barnby and was probably a member of the Grocock family of farmers from Marlborough near Bassingham. Grocock’s farm is shown on OS map 272 (Lincoln). There are Beecroft and Grocock graves in Barnby churchyard.

William Beecroft’s 1774 -1801 first son was William 1799 – 1801. The second son was William born 1802 and was born posthumously as his father William died in 1801.

The repetitive use of the first name William is a case of much confusion in researching the family history.

After the death of her husband in 1801, Ann Beecroft continues farming in Barnby and was eventually joined by her son William who was born 1802. Later, by Elizabeth Taylor born 1793 of Thorpe on the Hill, Lincs, who William married in 1822.

William and Elizabeth had five children:

John born 1822 at Barnby
Anne born 1824 at Bassingham
William born 1827 at Bassingham
Joseph born 1829 at Bassingham (infant death)
Alvary born 1830 at Bassingham

In the late 1820s, William, Elizabeth and children left Bassingham to farm in Boothby Grafoe. In 1834, a decision was made to emigrate to Canada taking advantage of the offer of free passage and free parcel of virgin land and a new life with more opportunities in this developing country. A decision was made to take only the three boys, leaving Ann Taylor Beecroft 1824-1894 at the age of 10 years old with Elizabeth’s sister Theodosia Taylor who lived in Bassingham. Ann was brought up in Bassingham and eventually married James Cocking of Bassingham. It is possible that Ann never saw her brothers and parents ever again.

William, Elizabeth and their three boys left Bassingham in 1834 en route to Liverpool. Along with the possessions it was practical to take with them. Presumably using stagecoaches or local carriers on their journey.

They sailed at the end of September 1834 bound for Quebec on a journey that would have taken up to 60 days. They travelled stowage in rat infested conditions, water became polluted and food rancid almost becoming inedible. Illness was a problem with dysentery, typhoid and cholera causing many deaths and passengers being buried at sea. Those that survived the journey were kept aboard the ship in isolation until proved to be free of any infection. William proved to be suffering from cholera and was taken to the isolation hospital of Grosse Ile (commonly known as Entry Island, 25 miles east of Quebec) where he died from the disease. Those other passengers who were free from infection were allowed to disembark and proceed to Canada to commence their 850km trek westwards to claim their allocated land. Approximately 7500 immigrants that died from these diseases are buried on Entry Island, in addition to the many thousands who were buried at sea.

Chapters 28 and 35 of Peter May’s book called Entry Island gives an authentic account of the journey and hardships these immigrants endured in their quest for a better life.

The Grosse Ile facility was finally closed in 1937 but remains as a memorial to all the immigrants whose journey into Canada ended there.

Just how Elizabeth and her three young children survived the first winter in unknown and how they managed to make their way to their designated destination to claim their land, clear the land, build a house and equip a home is also not known but presumably some form of assistance was available.

Elizabeth and family were allocated land in a new settlement called Little Britain, near Lindsay, Ontaria, now a compact rural community in the city of Kawartha Lakes. Little Britain was so name by Robert Whiteside who was appointed postmaster of this so far unnamed settlement. He decided to name it after his place of birth, Little Britain in Lancaster County, just west of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania which was settled by British immigrants in 1789 and so named as Little Britain by John Jameson.

During the next 9 years, Elizabeth and her children succeeded in developing a farming business and against all the odds were successful in their endeavours.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth died in 1843 leaving her sons John aged 21, William aged 16 and Alvary aged 13. They were left financially secure and their future assured.

The eldest brother John looked for new opportunities and moved to a settlement named Sonya, some 5km to the southwest of Little Britain. John married and had at least one son, William, and a grandson called William.

The second son was William (known as William of Little Britain) 1824-1894. William married Margaret French 1824 -1881 and their son William James 1859-1939 married Isabella Mary Carmichael 1854-1927. They had a son Alvary David 1887-1955 who married Sarah Jameson 1887-1968. Their son William 1925 – 1994 married Dorothy Walker 1925 – 2003. They had two daughters Amina born 1958, who resides in Calgary. Amina’s sister Brenda resides on Vancouver Island. Much of the information given has been provided by Dr. Amina as a result of her research in Canada and her visit to us in the UK (reference Amina’s letters dated 2014).

The third son was Alvary born in 1830. He died in Toronto in 1906. He had a son Frank Lloyd Beecroft 1868-1963. Frank had a son called Eric Armour Beecroft 1903-2001, who had a son Douglas Beecroft 1954. Eric had a brother, Julien, born 1908. Details of this are shown in Eric’s family tree which also includes one of the ancestors of Thomas Beecroft of Wilford who also emigrated. Eric Armour Beecroft’s obituary and a letter dated February 1982 shows a line of descendants in Canada from John Beecroft’s 1683-1750 second marriage is in our possession.

Wilford Beecrofts in Canada

Research carried out by Dr. Amina Beecroft of Calgary has proof that another Beecroft emigrated to Canada in the late 18 or early 1900, and this was a Thomas Beecroft who descended from the Wilford branch of the family. Wilford is a village some 3 miles SW of Nottingham adjacent to the River Trent.

The Wilford Beecrofts descended from John Beecroft born 1683. A farmer in the village of Tithby in SE Nottinghamshire. John was twice married, first to Anne Musson and secondly to Hannah Deeping. It is probable that the Wilford branch was descended from John’s second marriage.

Originally, two of John’s granddaughters married into farming families in Wilford and also their brother Gervais acquired a farm in Wilford and had five children who remained in the area. The descendants became well established farming in Clifton, both North and South of the River Trent and at Glapton, Ruddington (Beecroft’s farm) and at Wilford (Grotto farm) amongst other farms in the area.

Whilst the male Beecrofts were farming, their wives were involved in the community and Ann Beecroft (nee Samples) became a teacher and used part of the family farmhouse as the village school until the first official school was built in the village in 1828. For further information regarding the family’s involvement in village life, the leaflet entitled “Beecrofts of Wilford” is helpful showing various family trees and providing further information. Church records and the population census are also a useful source of information.

Amina Beecroft, in her research, believes that the Thomas Beecroft who emigrated to Canada was descended from William Beecroft and Ann Samples, or possibly from William’s younger brother George b. 1798, who had married Elizabeth Hardy of Clifton. They had five sons, one daughter and six grandchildren.

Incidentally, William Beecroft 1796 – 1880, is included by Eric Armour Beecroft as one of the consecutive eight Williams as listed in Eric’s letter dated 20/2/1982.

Thomas Beecroft was known in the family as Thomas of Oldham. Oldham now being part of Greater Manchester. Thomas probably moved away from Nottingham to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the industrial revolution which offered alternative employment to the low wages working as farm labourers on the land.

According to research carried out by Amina in Canada, Thomas married and emigrated to Quebec and later moved to Windsor, Ontario. Thomas had a daughter Elsie, who married into the Dove family, and her son John, still lives in the Windsor area. Amina has made contact with John Dove and informed him of his connections with the Wilford Beecrofts.

There are a number of Beecroft graves in Wilford churchyard and other graves can be found in Nottingham general cemetery and in other surrounding villages.

The Beecroft family as a whole also took advantage of the opportunities provided by the move from the land to more lucrative work in the emerging towns and cities across the country.

Of the Beecrofts in Canada, Eric Armour Beecroft is the most notable. Born in 1903, Eric served as an advisor to President Roosevelt, acting as an economic advisor to the president and helped to establish the world bank. Eric died in 2001 (see his obituary). Other well known Beecrofts but in a different sphere, is Norma Marian Beecroft b. 1934 in Oshawa near Toronto. Norma was the daughter of musician Julian Beecroft and actress Eleanor Chamber. Norma was a renowned musician, composer, and broadcaster.

The Beecroft name appears in other countries around the world, most notably in Australia where there is a Beecroft peninsula on the east coast, south of Sydney and Beecroft, a town some 20 miles to the NW of Sydney. In Tasmania, there is Mount Beecroft.

Although Beecroft is a relatively uncommon surname, it is interesting to find the name appearing in all parts of the world from the northern hemisphere at Beecroft’s Hill in North Yorkshire down to the far south of the southern hemisphere at Mount Beecroft in Tasmania and at a number of other places around the world.