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SOME UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
Between the years 1866 and 1872 all of the children of Melville and Anne (Hunt) Wheaton and their families immigrated from Brantford Township, Brant County, Ontario to Charlevoix County. Even Melville and Anne, both well along in years, came to the county. It is not entirely clear but the information available at this writing indicates that son Joseph R. Wheaton was the first to come via Grand Haven, Ottawa County and Glen Arbor Township. Leelenau County to finally settle in Norwood Township. Earlier ancestors of Melville are unknown at this time, but the Wheaton's are strongly suspected of being English or Walsh.
The Flashman family headed by James P. Flashman (born in England about 1808) was in Brantford Township, Brant County. Ontario at the time of the 1861 census, but had moved to Norfolk County. Ontario by the time of the 1871 census. Norfolk County adjoins Brant County. The first Flashman event recorded in Charievoix County was the marriage of James Philip Flashman (oldest son of James P.) and Katherine Wheaton (youngest daughter of Melville) in Norwood Township) in 1874. One child was born in Norwood to James and Kate, followed bv others in Melrose Township and even one in Resort Township. It is not clear whether James P. and his wife Charlotte ever came to Michigan. They were still in Ontario at the time of the 1881 census.
It is clear that the Wardrop family came from Scotland. At least four Wardrop's emigrated, but what is not known is their relationship (if any) among them. They also came to Brant County, Ontario, about the time of the US Civil War, and a few years later to Charlevoix (and Antrim) County, Michigan The ancestral roots of the Wardrop Family is Scots with the known ancestral immigrants born in Scotland between 1833 and 1841. The known births in Ontario are recorded from I860 to 1877. Wardrop births are recorded in Michigan (Charlevoix County?) as early as 1871 with the next known birth occurring in Leelenau County in 1874. The first known Wardrop birth in Charievoix Counly was in Melrose Township in 1880.
Did these families know each other in Ontario? Unquestionably, the Wheatons and the Wardrops did. Joseph R. Wheaton (son of Melville) married Mary L. Wardrop (immigrant) 4 March 1847 in Canada West (now Ontario) and Joseph's sister Sarah Ann married George A. Wardrop (immigrant) probably in Ontario as several of George and Sarah's children were born there. Both Mary and George were born in Scotland, but it is not known if they were related. It is suspected but not known. Were they siblings?
While both the Wheaton and the Flashman families lived for a time in Brantford Township there is no hard evidence that they were acquainted there. However, is it a complete coincidence that James Phillip Flashman came by himself to Norwood where he just happened to meet and marry Katherine Wheaton who had come only a few years earlier from the same township of Ontario? On-going research is directed toward answering these questions and finding additional generations of ancestors for the families. Although quite a bit is known about the descendants of these three families, not all of them, by any means, have been found and work continues on this front also.
CCGS Member, Dean Wheaton
7 May 1995
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