Joseph Parr and Margaret Ann Bell

Joseph Parr & Margaret Ann Bell

These are my great grandparents. Joseph Parr was born in Darlington Township, Ontario, 2 March 1843, according to St. John's Anglican Church of Bowmanville records, now stored at the Toronto Diocese Archives for the United Church of Canada.

Margaret Ann Bell, was the daughter of William Bell and Jane McLaughlin, who was born in Hibbert Township, Ontario 10 November 1849. William Bell and Jane McLaughlin were married in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Whitby, Ontario, 1 February 1842, and it is said that William was of the same parish in Ireland as the Parrs.

Joseph Parr and Margaret Ann Bell were married 15 January 1866 in Wesleyan Methodist Church, Mitchell, Ontario.

They had seven children, two of which were baby deaths. They are as follows:

There is a 25 page story typewritten, about this family, originally written by William Findlay Parr, and rewritten from his diary ( 46 KB ) by his granddaughter, Dorothy Brown of Regina, Saskatchewan. I now have that story and will be using it to publish a book titled "The Parr/Bell Connections" as there are a few interesting connections to the Bell family!

Joseph Parr and Margaret Ann Bell lived in Hibbert Township, Ontario (north of London, Ontario) and their first five children were born there. However, Joseph was 'bitten' by that 'pot-of-gold' and travelled to Imlay, Michigan area where my grandfather, John W. Parr was born, 23 February 1878. After the Michigan fire of 1881, apparently many Canadian families were told to either take out American citizenship or go home. My great grandparents chose to return to Canada. This time they immigrated to the Wolseley, Saskatchewan area, where Ethel Belle Parr was born, 30 September 1887.

The story on my Parr family, though fascinating (and lengthly), I will not be going into it here. For those interested, feel free to contact me either by email or snail mail: Trish Parr, 525 Ritson Rd. N., Oshawa, Ontario L1G 5R4 Canada. I will be glad to share further information.

Joseph Parr's obituray was found to have been published in the Wolseley News newspaper, Saskatchewan, Wednesday, April 6, 1910 edition and reads as follows:

JOSEPH PARR Who died on March 30th at his home eight miles south of Wolseley, had been a resident of the district since 1882. He was born in Darlington twp., Durham county, Ontario, on March 4th [sic], 1843 and was married to Margaret Bell, daughter of Wm. Bell of Huron county, Ont., in 1865 [sic]. They came west in 1882 and with the exception of three years (1885-8), when they resided at Broadview, they have lived in Wolseley district. For a few years they resided in town. The wife and two sons and three daughters, viz., William and John of Greenville, Mrs. John Elliott and Mrs. T.E. Rigney of Wolseley and Mrs. G. Bell of Unionville, Mich., survive him. He was a quiet unassuming person. All who had the pleasure of his acquaintance respected him very highly.
He was a member of the Greenville Methodist church and of the L.O.L. order. The funeral was held on Saturday afternoon, service being conducted by Rev. Mr. Bennee. The remains were interred in the Wolseley cemetery.
The bereaved wife and family have the sincere sympathy of the community in their affliction.

At the Wolseley cemetery, Wolseley, Saskatchewan Joseph Parr and Margaret Ann Bell's headstone sits the Parr family plot, and reads as follows:

                JOSEPH PARR
            DIED MAR. 30, 1910
               AGED 67 YEARS
He that overcometh shall inherit all things.
           MARGARET A. his wife
      DIED June 7, 1922. AGED 73 YEARS.

Back to Proud to be Parr
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Parr brothers?