52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ancestor # 23

Charity Winegard (1833-1909)

Charity Winegard was born in Mar 1833 in New York, probably Sharon, Schoharie, New York but possibly Westerlo, Albany, New York and died in St. Thomas, Pembina, North Dakota in 1909. She is the daughter of John and Anna Maria (Barkley) Winegard. She married in 1854 as his second wife, Reuben Elijah Van Camp who was born in Van Camp Mills, Dundas, Ontario, Canada on 7 May 1826 and died on 17 Apr 1888 in St. Thomas, Pembina, North Dakota.

The Winegards were descended from an old Dutch family. Originally the name was spelled Wyngaart or Wyngaard in the early New York records. In the early 1800’s Charity’s grandfather and 2 of his brothers began using the Anglicized version of this name and records after 1800 are usually found under Winegard.

Like most people born in the early 1800’s, Charity’s age and therefore her birth year varies depending upon the record selected. However, it is fairly consistent calculating to either 1833 or 1834. I have chosen 1833 since this is the year given on the 1900 US Census¹. Also the location of her birth varies between Canada and the United States. It is listed as Canada in the 1851 and 1861 Canadian censuses but US in 1871 and 1881 censuses. This is significant since every other person in the household was born in Canada for both years. Since someone made the effort to report a different birth location for Charity, this makes it more likely that it is true. It would be nice to find a baptismal record for her.

Charity was probably the 3^rd of 8 children. There is a 7 year gap between Charity and her older sister Margaret and the 1830 census for John Winegard² lists both a son and a daughter under age 5; this son probably died young. The family lived for several years in the Albany and Schoharie County areas of New York. They moved to Ontario sometime between 1841 when her sister, Mary J., was born and 1845 when her brother, Matthias, was born. Anna Maria’s parents had already settled in Mountain Township and John’s brother, Peter, was living in Williamsburg, another township in Dundas County.

Charity, age 18, is enumerated with her parents in the 1851 census³. When Charity married Reuben in 1854, he had 4 children ranging in age from 1 to 8. She helped to raise these children and the 5 that she and Reuben had together. All of her children were born in Mountain⁴ where the family lived until moving to Oxford, Grenville County⁵ before 1871. They then moved to Montague, Lanark County by 1881⁶. In April 1882 they moved to Pembina County, North Dakota eventually settling in St. Thomas⁷. After Reuben’s death in 1888, she made her home with her son Fred. She is buried in the St. Thomas City Cemetery⁸ with her husband.

Children of Reuben Elijah and Charity (Winegard) Van Camp, all born in Mountain:

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

ii. 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.

iii. 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.

vi. 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

v. 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.

1 1900 U. S. census, Pembina County, North Dakota, population schedule, St. Thomas, Enumeration District (E.D.)119, sheet 11A, page 202 (stamped), dwelling 179, family 183, Fred Van Camp; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jan 2016), citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 1230.

2 1830 U. S. census, Albany County, New York, population schedule, Westerlo, page 484, line 2, John Winegard; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Dec 2016), citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M19, roll 84.

3 1851 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Dundas County, Canada West, Mountain, district 5, sub-district 36, page 17, line 24, John Winegard; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Nov 2015), citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm, roll C_11717.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

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

8 Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 1 Jun 2018), Charity Weingard Van Camp, Memorial # 68127777, citing St. Thomas City Cemetery, St, Thomas, Pembina, North Dakota.