Richard Bentham shared the story of his ancestors at the October meeting

The guest speaker at the October 2012 meeting, Richard Bentham, shared the story of his ancestors who came to Artemesia in the 1860s.

Richard's research began with the information found on a gravestone in the Flesherton Cemetery.

Richard Bentham

Died Apr 23 1903

Aged 93 Yrs.

Native of Yorkshire, Eng.

Magdalene Gilchrist

His wife

Died Sept 24 1903

Aged 78 Yrs.

During his research at the Family History Centre in Etobicoke, Richard learned that his great grandfather came from Horton in Ribblesdale in the Yorkshire Dales. In 1986, Richard and his wife Lorraine had the opportunity to visit Horton during a trip to England. There they met a genealogist who had done a formal study of his family. She showed them the places where his ancestors had lived.

They were shown the home where Richard was born on December 26, 1810 and grew up and lived later with his own family. The home was a very small dry stone building that to-day might serve as a one car garage. Life was hard and hopeless for the Bentham family in Yorkshire. At the age of 12, Richard was indentured for a period of seven years. Richard married Jane French in 1832 and they had two sons, Richard and William. Sadly, Jane died of Cholera at the age of 37.

Richard came to Canada in the spring of 1850 to Darlington Township, leaving behind his two sons.

Magadelene Gilchrist left Ireland that year as well with her husband and child. Unfortunately, during the voyage, they died. Some how Magadelene met Richard and they married. They had a family and things were so much better in Canada. In 1861, they came to Grey County. Richard shared the story of the family in Grey County. It is on this farm that Richard and Lorraine now live.

Richard Bentham family in 1879 in Grey County (near Flesherton, Ontario)

Richard has kindly given us the text of his talk. It will appear in an upcoming issue of the Grey County Historian.

We also had a delicious potluck prior to the talk.