Whitby township, Ontario county

Map of Whitby township in 1877

Click on the map for a larger version

Links to higher quality versions of the same maps (will take longer to download)

Note: my thanks to Brian Winter, Archivist at the Whitby Public Library for all his help putting this family history together.

According to the 1837 Directory of Home County, John Bowles homesteaded at Whitby township Con. 5 Lot 17 in the 1830's (see the township maps above). The 1869 Connor and Coltson’s Directory of Ontario County lists him at Con. 9 Lot 14 and Con. 5 Lot 15. In that directory, his son William, a laborer, was living at Con. 6 Lot 23 which is in the Town of Brooklin "a village in the Township of West Whitby on the gravel road 5 miles north of Whitby town". full reference

The family’s tradition when we first started to research this line was that John and Elizabeth had emigrated from Ireland directly to Whitby, Ont. in 1825 but we have since found that this is the same John Bowles who emigrated from Carlow, Ireland in 1825, settled first in Quebec City, married there in 1832 and then moved on to settle in Ontario. As a final proof, DNA tests for this branch were identical to those of the Quebec City line.

The John Bowles from Quebec City married an Elizabeth Green there in 1832. The birth of their first child in 1833 would fit the idea that they were married in 1832 better than the traditional theory that they married in Ireland before 1825. Signatures for John and Mary’s marriage certificate in Quebec City are also extremely similar to the signature of John Bowles of Whitby on his last will and testament and are almost identical to Mary’s signature on the will’s probate document. Both signatures are slightly different but there are also 40 years between the two signatures. See the Comparison of Their Signatures.

See Michael Bowles of Ontario Co.'s Family Tree for more information on John's descendants.

There are some references online to a John Herbert Bowles of Ashburn who drowned in 1864 but on further research this has proven to actually be a Bowler, a son of Daniel Bowler, the postmaster in Ashburn.

There was another Bowles family living nearby in Oshawa in the 1891 Census. See John Bowles of Oshawa