Series 2 - George Davidson and Margaret Garden Family

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George Davidson and Margaret Garden Family

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    SCA369-GA427-2

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    Name of creator

    (1812-)

    Biographical history

    The Sims family were early white settlers of what is now Hawkesville, Ontario. Members of the family are the descendants of Reverend James Sims was born ca.1812 in Insch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. On June 1, 1836, he married the widow Janet Harvey Robertson and in 1837 came to what is now Canada with a large party of relatives: his father and mother, his wife and step-children Alexander, John and Jane Robertson, his brothers Peter and Andrew Sims, his sister Margaret, and nephews James and Peter Sims.

    In 1838 the family settled as squatters on Queen's Bush land near Hawkesville in Wellesley Township. James and Margaret Sims had four children: Janet Sims, (1838-1926), James Campbell Sims (1842-1929), Peter Harvey Sims (1844-1920) and William Andrew Sims (1846-1930). James Sims died October 31, 1880. Both he and his descendants played an active role in the the educational, religious and commercial development of what is now the Region of Waterloo.

    Custodial history

    Scope and content

    Records documenting the family of George Davidson and his wife Margaret Garden, their daughters Margaret Kempt and Elizabeth Roos, and Elizabeth Roos' daughter Florence (the future wife of Harvey Sims.) Although there are very few letters from George extant, they are enough to show his genial and good-natured love of family, his keen and self-deprecating sense of humour, and his stoic acceptance of circumstances beyond his control. He had an unspecified affliction that require him to walk with canes; and two letters from New York City in 1880 describe in vivid detail the treatments he is receiving, most likely some form of electro-magnetic therapy.
    Records making up the series include correspondence from George to his wife Margaret, letters written to Margaret by her daughter Maggie Kempt in Glasgow, letters from family in Scotland and friends in Canada, correspondence from Margaret to her granddaughter Florence, ephemera, and printed music. Some of the correspondence concerns Davidson and Sims genealogy.

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    Immediate source of acquisition

    Donated in 2019 by the Sims Family.

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    • English

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      Described July 2019 JSB

      Language of description

      • English

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