52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ancestor # 22

Reuben Elijah Van Camp (1826-1888)

Reuben Elijah Van Camp was born on 7 May 1826 in Van Camp Mills, a small settlement in Mountain Township, Dundas Ontario, Canada and died in St. Thomas, Pembina, North Dakota on 17 April 1888. He is buried in the St. Thomas City Cemetery with his wife Charity. He is the son of Elijah and Catherine (Brouse) Van Camp. He married (1) Nancy Mill in Mountain on 24 Aug 1845. She was born 6 Mar 1827 in Mountain and died there 1 Sep 1853. This was one month after the birth of her fourth child so it is likely that she died of complications of this pregnancy probably a bacterial infection. He married (2) Charity Winegard in 1854 in Mountain. She was born in Sharon, Schoharie, New York in March 1833 and died in St. Thomas in 1909.

Reuben was a farmer like his father and his grandfather before him. In the 1851 census he appears with his wife Nancy and 3 children¹. In the agricultural schedule that same year², he is listed in Concession 3, lot 8 in Mountain Township with 20 acres of land. Of these 20 acres, 14 are woodland and 6 are pasture. From the woodlands, Reuben recovered 35 pounds of maple sugar. His property must have looked gorgeous in the fall. He produced hay from his pasture land and raised sheep. We know he had sheep because he reported producing 24 pounds of wool, 13 yards of fulled cloth and 3 yards of flannel.

One of the benefits of genealogy is that it allows you to explore topics you otherwise would never consider. Since I am a child of the 20^th century, I have no idea what fulled cloth is. I also wonder what the definition of flannel was in 1850. According to Wikipedia, fulling is a process used in the processing of wool cloth. It is also known as walking or tucking probably because it was originally done with human feet. Since medieval times this process has been done with water power which drove hammers against the wool in what was known as a fulling mill. The purpose of fulling is to get the oils and dirt out and to make the cloth fuller which increases its waterproof qualities. Fulling is an ancient process. The earliest known references to fulling date to Greece in the 5^th century B.C³.

Flannel⁴ is a more advanced process in preparing wool cloth for use in making fabrics. It is made from carded wool. Carded wool cloth⁵ is combed to get out the snarls and tangles and to make a soft cloth. Flannel was made from this carded wool and produced a very soft cloth that was used for bedding and nightgowns. Flannel cloth is believed to have originated in Wales in the late 17^th century.

Reuben is still in Mountain in the 1861 census⁶ but now he is married to Charity and he has 7 children. In 1871 the family has moved westward into Oxford, Grenville County⁷ and in 1881 into Montague, Lanark County⁸. He continues to be listed as a farmer. In 1882 he moved his family again and followed his kinsmen and neighbors to Pembina County, North Dakota⁹.

DNA: I have one match to a descendant of Alva and Mary (Darling) Van Camp. I have other DNA matches to Van Camps but our common ancestor is further back. I will note these matches when I do the appropriate ancestor sketch.

Children of Reuben Elijah and Nancy (Mill) Van Camp, all born in Mountain:

i. Jane Elizabeth⁹ Van Camp. b. 17 Mar 1846. Nothing further is known about her.

ii. George Edward Van Camp. b. 26 May 1848, d. 21 Nov 1937 in St. Thomas, m. 5 Jan 1871 in Mountain, Sarah Seymour, b 5 May 1847 in Canada and d. 4 Apr 1916 in St. Thomas.

iii. Phoebe Eliza Van Camp. b. 26 Jan 1851, d. 7 Jan 1916 in Merrickville, Grenville, Ontario, m. 20 Nov 1877 Sterling Francis Van Camp, b. 5 Jun 1854 in Mountain, d. 18 Mar 1938 in Merrickville.

iv. Nancy Harriet Van Camp. b. 1 Aug 1853, d. 19 Sep 1894 in Luther, Boone, Iowa, m. abt. 1883 in St. Lawrence County, New York, Nathan Burlingame, b. 1859 in New York, d. 1934 in Iowa.

Children of Reuben Elijah and Charity (Winegard) Van Camp:

v. Catherine Maria Van Camp. b. 24 Sep 1856, d. 8 Jun 1929 in Spokane, Spokane, Washington, m. 16 Jan 1877 in Merrickville, Abraham Wynne, b. 16 Oct 1849 in Montague, Lanark, Ontario, d., 1 Oct 1928 in St. Thomas.

vi. Jennet Elliott Van Camp. b. 6 Dec 1857, d. 1936 in St. Thomas, m. 20 Nov 1877 in Montague, William Francis Perrin, b. 8 Nov 1855 in Mountain, d. 26 Apr 1926 in St. Thomas.

vii. Frederick Van Camp. b. 31 Mar 1860, d. 13 Apr 1932 in St. Thomas, m. 18 Jan 1899 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Elizabeth Catherine Milligan, b. Jul 1866 in Canada, d. 1934 in St. Thomas.

viii Alva Van Camp, b. 11 Mar 1862, d. 1905 in St. Thomas, m. Mary Graham Darling in North Dakota, b. 12 May 1858 in Burgoyne, Bruce, Ontario, d. 31 Mar 1937 in Stockton, San Joaqin, California

ix Ira Van Camp, b. 22 Feb 1865, d. 26 Oct 1932 in St. Thomas. Ira served as a Sgt. In the Quarter Master Corp during the Spanish-American War.

Note: Other trees have 2 additional daughters listed for Reuben and Charity – Sarah and Zelma. I have never found any concrete evidence for these children so I have not included them in my family tree. Sarah appears in a transcription of Methodist baptisms with a birth date of 11 Mar 1862. This is Alva’s birthday. There is no mention of a baptism for Alva in these records. If he had been a twin, he should have been baptized at the same time as his sister. I personally think that Sarah was the transcriber’s best guess for the name of the infant being baptized and was really Alva.

Footnotes:

1 1851 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Dundas County, Canada West, population Schedule (A), Mountain, district 5, sub-district 36, page 35, line 15, Reuben Van Camp; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Dec 2015), citing Library and Archives Canada, roll C_11717.

2 1851 census of Canada, population schedule (B), page 114, line 9, Reuben Van Camp.

3 “Fulling”, Wikipedia.com, (https://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/fulling : accessed 18 May 2018)

4 “Flannel”, Wikipedia.com.

5 “Carding”, Wikipedia.com.

6 1861 census of census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Dundas County, Ontario, Mountain, page 35, Reuben Van Camp; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Dec 2015), citing Library and Archives Canada, roll C-1014.

7 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 7, sub-district E, page 3, family 11, Reuben Van Camp; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Dec 2016), citing Library and Archives Canada, roll C-10005.

8 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 111, sub-district F, page 17, family 81, Reuben Van Camp; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Dec 2016), citing Library and Archives Canada, roll C_13233.

9 Methodism in Drayton, North Dakota, 1878-1978, (Drayton, ND, 1978). p. 227.