Shipman Family History

Welcome to the Shipman family history blog. Most of the information below comes from The Shipman Family in America by Mrs. Wayne E. Carl (1962).

This is my family history down to my grandparents.

1. Edward SHIPMAN (?-1697)
married 1. Elizabeth COMSTOCK (1633-1659) in January 1651, Saybrook, Conn.,
• Elizabeth (1652-1683) m. John HOBSON on December 3, 1672 in Guilford, Conn.
• Edward (1654-1711)
• William (1656-1725)
m. 2. Mary ANDREWS (?-1704) on July 1, 1663, Saybrook, Conn.
• John (1664-1718)
• Hannah (1666-1752) m. 1. John LARGE., m. 2. Lt. John WHITTLESEY (1665-1754), Saybrook, Conn. - 7 children
• Samuel (1668-1713) m. Hannah ? - at least 1 child
• Abigail (1670-1750) m. Thomas BUTLER II on August 6, 1692 - at least 1 child
Edward was the first Shipman to emigrate to America. One account says that he left Hull, England as an orphan in the care of George Fenwick and arrived in Saybrook, Connecticut in 1639. Another says that he came to Saybrook with Theodore Fenwick, Hugh Peters and John Davenport. He seems to have prospered. In 1667 he was a Freeman, and a Townsman by 1672. When the aboriginal Chief Joshua Uncas died in 1675 he left him 3,000 acres of land "within sight of Hartford". He may have been a tailor by profession.

2. William SHIPMAN (1656-1725) married Alice HAND (1670-?) on November 26, 1690 in Saybrook, Conn.
• Edward (1692-?)
• William (1692-?)
• Benjamin
• unknown daughter - first white child born in Hebron, Conn.
• Daniel (1698-?)
• Stephen (1702-1747)
• Dr. Samuel (1702-1764)
• Alice (1704-?)
• Mary (1707-?) married Joseph CURTICE on July 16, 1746 - at least 2 children
• Sarah (1709-?)
• John
• Temperance m. William SWEETLAND - 6 children
William was born in Saybrook, Conn. but moved to Hebron, Conn. as one of the first settlers.

3. Stephen SHIPMAN (1699-1747) married Mary PELLET (1691-1747) in July 1720.  Both Stephen and Mary died in 1747.  Stephen's will dated July 1, 1746 was valued at £131, 16 shillings and 11 pence.  He divided his 130 acres of land evenly between his four sons.  His three daughters were given £70 each.  Both Abigail and Daniel were minors at the time of the death of their parents.  Abigail chose William Slade to be her guardian and Daniel chose his uncle Dr. Samuel Shipman. 
All children born in East Hartford, Conn. 
• Stephen (1721-1749) m. Mary DYKES on September 29, 1743 - lived Glastonbury, Conn. - 6 children. Stephen was a sea captain, ship-builder and merchant. He served in the American Revolution and was taken prisoner and kept in a British Man of War. He escaped and swam for shore. According to the Commemorative Biographical Record of Hartford Co., Conn. published by J. H. Beers and Co. in 1901 he was "a leading Settler in South Glastonbury, Conn.; owned a large amount of real estate there, including the Masonic Hall property, and donated to the town the land later occupied by the Sixth District School, under the condition that it should revert to his heirs if used for other than educational purposes." His house (the Welles Shipman Ward House) is now a museum and is located at 972 Main Street in South Glastonbury, Conn. Cited by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior as possessing “exceptional architectural interest", the museum includes antique horse-drawn vehicles, an 18th-century herb garden, and a barn with antique household and farm equipment.
• Jonathan (1723-1806)
• David (1723-1723)
• David (1725-?)
• Mary (1727-?)
• Hannah (1729-1747)
• Abigail (1731-?)
• Daniel (1733-1809) married Kezia HORTON - emigrated to Canada circa 1778.

4. Daniel SHIPMAN (1732/3- 1809)
married 1. Kezia HORTON, 1759, in Colchester, Connecticut, New England (USA).  When his parents died in 1747 he was only a minor and so his uncle Dr. Samuel Shipman was granted guardianship over him.  He and his family emigrated to Canada circa 1778 due to their allegiance to the British Crown.
• Levinia (1760-?)
• Ezekial (1762-1845) m. ? - 1 child
• Samuel (1764-1831)
• Keziah (1767-?)
• Daniel (1769-?) m. Margaret BOLD - 4 children - David, Sarah, Lydia and Rovina. Daniel was originally on the United Empire Loyalists (UEL) List – and he had applied and was granted 100 acres due to this listing - but on November 5, 1804, by order of the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Daniel was suspended because there was no evidence that he joined the Royal Standard before 1783. Daniel settled on Part Lots 1 and 2, Concession 3, Elizabethtown Township, Leeds County.
• Desire m. William LAMPSON
• David (1772-?)


5. Samuel SHIPMAN (1764 - 1831)
married Catherine ELLIOTT, (c.1786-1811?)
• John (1787-1867) m. Frances (Fanny) WHITMORE
• Joel (1789-1848) m. Polly HOLMES circa 1811
• Daniel (1791-1853) m. 1. Prudence BOYCE and 2. Charlotte ROSE, July 1843, in Wolford, Grenville Co, Ontario - Daniel was the founder of Almonte, Ontario.
• Samuel (1793-1845) m. Sarah BATES, February 3 1818, in Leeds Co, Ontario.
• Cynthia (1795-?)
• Ezekiel (1798-?) m. Mary DICKSON, April 1, 1823, in Leeds Co, Ontario
• Neviah(?) (1800-1844)
• Sarah (1802-?)
• Sophia (1804-1804)
• Stephen (1806-1850) m. Sarah Caroline [Polly] TRUESDELL, February 6, 1828, in Leeds County, Ontario
• Catherine Elliott (1809-1845)
• Samantha (1811-1849)
m. 2. Margaret HENDERSON (1777-?) in 1812.
• Anna H, m. Abel COLEMAN on April 23, 1834 in Yonge Township, Leeds County, Ontario.

6. Stephen SHIPMAN (1806 -1850)
married Sarah Caroline [Polly] TRUESDELL, February 6, 1828, in Leeds County, Ontario.
• Ann m. James LANG
• Samuel (1835-?)
• Ezekiel (1837-1919) m. Mary Jane MCKELVEY 24 on January 24, 1861
• Jane (1837-?)
• Mary (1843-?) m. Peter HAW
• William (1844 -?) m. Adelade ?
• Sarah (1848-?)
• Stephen (Nov 20, 1848 - Sept 17, 1922) and Sarah LEE, 1871

Stephen worked with his brother Daniel in the first years of Shipman's Mills (Almonte) where Stephen was a licensed innkeeper in 1824 and licensed distiller between 1825 and 1827.

7. Stephen SHIPMAN (Nov 20, 1848 - Sept 17, 1922) and Sarah LEE, (1838 - Feb 2 1916) 

Sarah Lee and Samuel Cairns had the following children:
• Albert (Jan 1, 1859)  Baptized at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Brockville on March 13, 1859.  I can't find him after the 1881 census.

• Mary Jane (July 3, 1862, Brockville-June 28, 1941, Plymouth, Michigan)  Mary Jane married James Gosney in Toronto on September 22, 1883.  She divorced him and married a second time in Montana in 1915 to  Fred John Gierhart.  After Fred died in 1939 she moved to Michigan to live with her son and died there in 1941.  She had one known child - George Albert Gosney with her first husband in Toronto on July 25, 1886.  He later married Hilda Aileen Macaulay in Toronto on February 17, 1913 and moved to Plymouth, Michigan.


Stephen Shipman and Sarah Lee had the following children:
• Sarah A. (April 12, 1872-?) Sarah Ann was baptized at the Anglican Church in Smith Falls on June 30, 1872. The sponsors were Mrs Watchhorn (Sarah's grandmother) and Thomas Code . The parish register indicates that Stephen Shipman and Sarah (nee Lee) were living in Smith Falls.
• Eliza ( January 17, 1874-?)  Was baptized at St John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lyn, Parish of Elizabethtown on May 26, 1874.  The register states the family was living in Elizabethtown (present day Brockville) at the time.
• Joseph William (July 12, 1877-1969) was baptized at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lyn, Parish of Elizabethtown (private baptism in the parsonage) on October 17, 1877.  At the time they were living in Escott, Ontario - a considerable distance to the west of Brockville.  He married 1. Annie HILLARD 2. Selina JOHNSON - joined the Queens' Rangers militia on October 8, 1909 at the age of 32 - enlisted in the 3rd Battalion (Toronto) in 1914, served in England and France and was discharged in 1916.
• George Stephen (May 30, 1879-1955)  Was baptized at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Brockville on June 18, 1881.

Stephen's wife Sarah LEE was originally from Smith Falls in Lanark County.  She can be found there with her widowed mother in the 1852 census.  Sometime later, circa 1858 she had a relationship with Samuel Cairns.  They had two children - Albert born January 1, 1859 and Mary Jane circa 1861.  Albert was baptized at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Brockville on March 13, 1859 as the illegitimate son of Sarah Lee.  No father's name is mentioned.  Nor are there any sponsors.  Sarah's "abode" was noted as Smith Falls.  I cannot find Sarah Lee or her son Albert Lee in the 1861 census.  However, Sarah Cairns appears with these two children in the 1871 census in Brockville.  She told the census taker that she was a widow.  I do not know what happened to Albert but Mary Jane married James Gosney in Toronto in 1883.  They would have one child, a son named George Gosney in Toronto in 1886.  The marriage would not last however and in 1915 Mary Jane married Fred John Gierhart in Montana in 1915.  They would live there till Fred died in 1939 when the widowed Mary Jane moved to Plymouth, Michigan to live with her son George Gosney and his wife Hilda Ann Macaulay.  Mary Jane died in 1941.   


Stephen Shipman originally lived on Lot 3, Concession 2, Yonge Township, Leeds County.  He struck up a relationship with Sarah Lee (ten years older than him!) in 1871 (sometime after April as he was with his widowed mother in Yonge Township in the 1871 census).  A marriage has not been found for them so it is possible that they never officially married.  They seemed to have lived for a few years in Smith Falls.  Their eldest child Sarah Ann Shipman was born and baptized there in 1872.  But by 1881 Stephen Shipman and Sarah Lee were in Brockville.  In the 1881 census Sarah's children from her previous marriage Albert (b. 1859) and Mary J (b. 1861) are living with them and listed with the last name of  Shipman.   Stephen Shipman officially converted to Anglicanism when he was baptized in Trinity Church, Brockville on May 2, 1886.  Sarah Lee was his sponsor.  In the meantime Mary Jane Cairns had moved to Toronto and married James Gosney on September 22, 1883.  By 1891 Stephen and his family had moved to Toronto. In the 1901 census Stephen lists his occupation as carpenter with an annual salary of $200. Their son George lists his occupation as a collar manufacturer with an annual salary of $400 - double his father's! In the 1911 census they are living on 803 King Street in Toronto. Stephen is listed as a carpenter with an annual wage of $600. Sarah lists her year of emigration from Ireland to Canada as 1844.  It looks like they moved out to 108 Eaton Avenue sometime after 1911.  The area had just been annexed to the City of Toronto in 1909 and subdivided about 1910.  The wooden frame house, which was on the south east corner of Eaton Avenue and Selkirk Street, was built shortly thereafter and appears on the Fire Insurance Plan of 1910 as revised in 1913.  According to her death registration Sarah Lee died at her home, 108 Eaton Avenue, on February 2, 1916 of pneumonia.  She was buried at St. John's Norway Cemetery.  Her obituary in the Toronto Star noted that she was a member of the Loyal True Blue Lodge No 9, an Orange Lodge.  According to his death registration Stephen Shipman died on September 17, 1922 at the House of Industry from stomach cancer. He was buried with Sarah in St. John's Norway Cemetery.  They are buried in Section 6, Range 4, Grave 67.


8. George Stephen SHIPMAN (May 30, 1879-1955)
married 1. Catherine Mary LENEHAN (1880-1938) on May 21, 1901 in Toronto, Ontario.  They had the following children all baptized in the Roman Catholic Church due to their mother's faith:
• Rita (1902-1902).  She was born on April 20, 1902 but died a few months later.  According to her death registration she died on September 12, 1902 of colitis.   At the time they were living at 125 Palmerston Avenue.
• Kathleen Marie (1906-1982) m. Lloyd George SAUVE on May 5, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario.  Both died in 1982 and are buried in Assumption Roman Catholic Cemetery, Mississauga.
• George James (1914-1987) m. Catherine GERMAN (1913-2002) on April 19, 1941.  Both buried Mount Hope Roman Catholic Cemetery with their mother in the Lenehan family plot.
• Eileen Cecilia (1916-2001) m. Arthur Reid JOHNSON on August 21, 1952 - lived in the United States
After the death of Catherine Lenehan in 1938 George Shipman married his second wife the widowed Charlotte Mary (Ferguson) CALDER (1889-1955) in 1940 in Toronto, Ontario.  She had three children from her previous marriage:
• Grace CALDER (1916-?) m. Nelson CARRIQUE on June 30, 1937
• Florence CALDER (1919-?) m. James MCSPORRAN
• Donald CALDER (1922-?) m. Dorothy PLATT
George appears to have been involved in the labour movement in the early 20th century with both the Toronto Labour Congress and the International Leather Workers Union.  In the 1911 census they are living at 139 Bathurst Street across the street from St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church and close to his parents at 803 King Street West. George is listed as Anglican but Catherine is listed as Catholic. George's occupation is listed as Superintendant in an Insurance company with an annual salary of $900. He also had a $1000 worth of life insurance at an annual premium of $12.06. Interestingly their daughter Kathleen (my grandmother) is also listed as being Anglican. They also had 5 borders living in the house.  In the 1921 Toronto city directory George is listed as a manager of the Singer Sewing Machine Company at 740 Queen Street East.   According to her obituary in 1938, Catherine Mary Lenehan died at her home at 793 Dufferin Street, Toronto (on the corner of Dufferin Street and Sylvan Avenue across the street from Dufferin Grove Park) and is buried in the Lenehan family plot at Mount Hope Roman Catholic Cemetery.

9. Kathleen Marie SHIPMAN (1906-1982)
married Lloyd George SAUVE (1900-1982) on May 5, 1929 at St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church, Toronto, Ontario
• 11 children

I would be interested in hearing from anyone researching my family. Please contact me at kikoamoki at yahoo.ca


All information and photographs on this site are copyrighted and may not be used without my permission. No use for commercial purposes is permitted.  © Copyright Michael Harrison 2009.  All rights reserved.

Joseph William Shipman (1877-1969) Family

Joseph William (1877-1969) married 1. Annie Hillard, born in Bridgewater, England, daughter of Charles Hillard and Mary French on November 2, 1898, in Toronto;  m. 2. Selina Johnson.

In the 1901 Census we find Joseph and his wife Annie with a son Clinton born in 1899 living just down the street from his father's house in Toronto. He lists his occupation as Hatmaker with an annual salary of $500. Annie his wife indicated that she emigrated to Canada from England in 1885.

The 1911 Census we find him living at 18 Minto Street in Toronto. They have one additional child, Florence, born in 1903. He lists his occupation as Packer at a pork packing firm with an annual salary of $575. He also indicates that he had $800 worth of life insurance at a cost of $26 per year.

Joseph joined the Queens Rangers militia on October 8, 1909 at the age of 32. During World War I, he enlisted in the 3rd (Toronto) Battalion shortly after hostilities broke out. According to his attestation papers, dated September 22, 1914, signed in Valcartier, Quebec, he was a widower, meaning that Annie must have died sometime between 1911 and 1914. He is described as follows: 38 years old, 5 ft. 3 ins with a fair complexion, brown eyes and light hair. He had a vaccination scar on his left arm and a 2" scar on his left temple. He lists his brother Stephen Shipman of 108 Eaton Avenue, Toronto as his next of kin. He is assigned the regimental No. 9376.

His attestation papers can be found on the Library and Archives Canada website.  From his military records I have the following information:
He sailed to England on October 3, 1914.

On December 2, 1914 he was made a cook.  He landed in St. Nazaire, France on February 11, 1915.  On April 4, 1915 he was promoted to Lance Corpl. (unpaid).  On April 22, 1915 Joseph's battalion was involved in the Second Battle of Ypres. This was the first time that the Germans used poision gas. The gas blew into the ranks of French colonial troops who sufferred massive casualties creating a gap in the front into which the Germans advanced. It was the Canadians who stepped into the breech and closed the gap in the front lines.  On May 30, 1915 he was promoted to Corpl. On July 27, 1915 he suffered from influenza and was put in the care of the 3rd Canadian Field Ambulance. He returned to duty on August 18, 1915.  He was granted leave from September 29, 1915 to October 21, 1915.  On August 23, 1916 he suffered from a strained heart and was put in the care of the 2nd Canadian Field Ambulance. He returned to duty on August 26, 1916.  On September 20, 1916 he was transferred to the 12th Battalion for discharge. He was discharged for "cessation of working pay". On November 12, 1915 he is ordered home "under authority of Divisional Order No. 3734, dated 23/11/15 (Cessation of Working Pay) Auth. K.R.& O. O.Para.392 Subsection (XXV)".  On November 25, 1916 he was "Struck off Strength - proceeding to Canada for discharge". 

He sailed from Liverpool for Canada on November 23, 1916 on board the Corinthian arriving in Quebec on December 16, 1916 and was discharged. His military papers indicated that he had a "good" military character and a "good" character in accordance with the King's Regulations. At the time of his discharge he indicated that he was living at 78 Stafford Street, Toronto. This would have been just north of the Toronto Municipal Abbatoir where he worked.

His first wife Annie Hillard died around this time though I cannot find a death registration for her.  He remarried to Selena Johnson sometime before 1921 as they both appear in the 1921 Canadian census as borders in the home of Frederick White at 44 Brookfield Street, Toronto.

By 1921 his son Clinton Shipman was married and living at 25 Dafoe Street and working in a shoe factory.  Clinton would move the US in the late 1920s, marry his second wife Edna Unthank in Utah in 1928, and die in Pioche, Nevada in 1949.

His daughter Florence was married on William Charles Prout in Toronto in 1926.  She does not appear with her father in the 1921 census.  I am not sure where she was in 1921.  

Joseph and Selina do not appear in the  Toronto City Directories until 1923 when he is found living in rooms at 60 Humbert Street, in the west end of Toronto, near Queen Street West and Dovercourt. This would have been a short streetcar ride to the Toronto Municipal Abattoir on Niagara Street where he worked.  In 1926 he is listed as living at 158 Lisgar.  By 1929 they were living at 68 Humbert Street as they had a baby daughter on July 9th there that only lived 5 minutes.   In 1930 they are still listed as living at 68 Humbert St.  In 1932 his occupation is finally listed – employee Municipal Abattoir. The abattoir was opened in 1914 and was closed a few years ago.  It was located just north of Fort York though the City of Toronto sold it in 1960.

Toronto Municipal Abattoir

courtesy City of Toronto Archives

In 1933 he is listed as living at 134 Argyle Street (the half of the semi detached house with the dormer).  In 1942 he is listed as a foreman at the Toronto Municipal Abattoir.  In 1950 his occupation is listed as "commissionaires". Commissionaires were security staff for public buildings. The employees were generally made up of ex-military men.  In 1953 he is listed as living at 29 Bank St.

He died on September 19, 1969. His obituary in the Toronto Star indicates that he was the husband of the late Selina Shipman (his second wife) and the father of Fred, Raymond, Dorothy (Mrs. Frank Leganza), and the late Clinton Shipman with 8 grandchildren. He was buried in Highland Memory Gardens in Toronto.