Embedded Files
Henry Gamble Adamson studied painting at a school in Chicago, and became a house painter. He lived for a while in Toronto, and then from 1884 to 1901 with his widowed mother at Salem Corners in Pickering Township. After his mother’s death in 1901, he moved with his family to “Riverside”, near Uffington, Muskoka. In Our Family History (pp. 144-145) his daughter Elizabeth Beatrice relates:
Henry Gamble Adamson was a grand singer who, when young, sang in the church choir and at concerts near and far. Some of the songs I remember were: Every Sunday Morning, Wait for the Wagon, As Susie Was Churning Butter In a Day, Down In a Coal Mine, Faded Coat of Blue, Wait Till the Moonlight Falls About the Water, Out in the Cold Wind. He sang many, many more. On a Sunday evening we crowded around mother and father to sing hymns. It was an evening well spent. Mother sang in her rich sweet English voice. The music was from our melodion. My father sang before 1,500 people.
Henry Gamble “was named Gamble after a great favourite teacher and local preacher in the early days who boarded with Henry’s mother.” (Our Family History p. 145)
Events
Date of Birth: 14 July 1849.
Place of Birth: Pickering Township, Ontario County, Canada West.
The 1901 census gives Henry’s date of birth as 14 July 1849, as does his death registration (informant [his son-in-law] Geo. Crozier). Our Family History (p. 82) also gives the date as July 14th, 1849. Henry’s marriage certificate gives “Township of Pickering” as his place of birth.
Date of Death: 26 April 1935.
Place of Death: Bracebridge, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.
Henry's death registration gives April 26 1935 as the date and Bracebridge, Muskoka as the date of death. The cause of death was “coronary thrombosis” (contributory cause: chronic myocarditis). Our Family History gives April 26th, 1935, as the date of death.
Date of Burial: 29 April 1935
Place of Burial: Bracebridge, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. (St Thomas’s Anglican Church cemetery)
Henry’s death registration gives this date and place for his burial. His gravestone is in the cemetery.
Relationships
Father: John Adamson (1804 - 1856).
Mother: Elizabeth Sadler (1808 - 1901).
See the Commentary section.
Spouse: Elizabeth Beatrice Cooke (1857 - 1920). Married 6 June 1876, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Saint Stephen’s Anglican Church).
The marriage registration gives “6th June 1876” as the date and “Toronto” as the place.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Sources include Canadian censuses, Ontario birth, death, and marriage registrations, gravestones, and Our Family History.)
Yda Emma Adamson (29 March 1877 - 2 January 1907) married Richard Hoskin 22 Oct 1902.
Elizabeth Beatrice Adamson (11 April 1879 - 7 March 1973) married William John Hawn 7 January 1903.
William Wilfrid Adamson (26 November 1881 - 5 August 1959) married Lena Maud Arnott 16 September 1908.
Jane Snell Adamson (18 April 1884 - 22 October 1931) married William Thomas Kirkpatrick 5 June 1905 in Muskoka.
Henry Adamson (24 February 1886 - 13 Jun 1916) married Dorothea Alberta Crozier 22 December 1915.
Thomas Arthur Adamson (27 January 1888 - 14 August 1959) married Mae Belle Pollick 15 June 1912.
Henrietta "Honey" Stuttard Adamson (10 September 1890 - 11 February 1976).
Freel Adamson (24 February 1893 - 4 September 1893).
Robert Ernest Adamson (15 July 1894 - 16 August 1974).
Ella Gertrude Adamson (26 March 1897 - 5 January 1991) married George Adam Crozier 28 July 1920.
Mary Madeline Adamson (19 December 1899 - 17 March 1989) married Henry Peeling 17 November 1920
Evidence
Marriage:
His Name: Henry Adamson
Age: 26 years
Residence when Married: Township of Pickering
Place of Birth Township of Pickering
Bachelor or Widower: B.
Rank or Profession: Painter
Names of Parents: John & Elizabeth Adamson
Her Name: Beatrice Cooke
Age: 18 years
Residence when Married: Toronto
Place of Birth: London, England
Names of Parents: Thomas & Emma Cooke
Names and Residences of Witnesses: William Coulter, Maggie A. Young (both of Toronto)
Date and Place of Marriage: 6th June 1876, Toronto
Religious Denomination of Bridegroom: Methodist
Religious Denomination of Bride: Church of England
By whom Married: A. J. Broughall
By License or Banns: L.
Commentary
Henry’s parentage:
Our Family History (p. 114), written by Henry’s daughter Elizabeth Beatrice, gives Henry’s father as John Adamson and Henry’s mother as Elizabeth Maw Sadler.
Henry’s death registration names his father as John Adamson and his mother as Elizabeth Sadler. The informant was Henry’s son-in-law George Crozier, with whom Henry was living at the time of his death.
Henry’s marriage registration names his parents as John and Elizabeth Adamson.
In the 1851 census of Canada West, taken in January 1852, Henry is recorded as aged 3 and living with the family of John and Elizabeth Adamson.
In 1861 (after the death of John) and 1871, Henry is recorded as living in the family of Elizabeth Adamson.
John Adamson and Elizabeth Sadler’s marriage registration confirms that Elizabeth’s maiden name was Sadler.
There is supporting DNA evidence that Henry was the son of John Adamson and Elizabeth Sadler. I am a paper-trail descendant of Henry, and I share DNA with paper-trail descendants of five of Henry’s brothers (and John and Elizabeth’s sons).
Taken together, the evidence for Henry’s parentage is sufficient.
References
“AncestryDNA ThruLines for John Adamson database report”, AncestryDNA. Accessed 26 February 2025.
Henry Adamson - Beatrice Cooke, Ontario marriage registration 012889 (6 June 1876); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 8 March 2014), citing MS 932, reel 534, Archives of Ontario, Toronto. A digital image can be viewed at FamilySearch:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FMJ9-DYL
Henry Adamson, Ontario death registration 024380 (26 Apr 1935); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 8 March 2014), citing MS 935, reel 518, Archives of Ontario, Toronto. A digital image can be viewed at FamilySearch: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKFZ-87J
John Adamson household, 1851 census of Canada West, Ontario (district 26),Pickering Township (subdistrict 245), ED 12, stamped page 139, line 15; digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014),citing LAC microfilm C-11742
A digital image can be viewed here: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e095/e002363000.jpg
Elizabeth Adamson household, 1861 census of Canada West, Ontario, Pickering Township, stamped page 43, line 39; digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014), citing LAC microfilm C-1057
A digital image can be viewed here: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4391564_00244.jpg
Elizabeth Adamson household, 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, Ontario South (district 48), Pickering Township (subdistrict A), page 1, family 2; digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014), citing LAC microfilm C-9973
A digital image can be viewed here:http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1871/jpg/4396343_00529.jpg
Henry Adamson household, 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, Toronto City (district 134), St. Patrick Ward (subdistrict H), division 2, page 46, family 231; digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014), citing LAC microfilm C-13247
A digital image can be viewed here: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e328/e008182786.jpg
Henry Adamson household, 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, Ontario West (district 102), Pickering Township (subdistrict B), division 3, page 6, family 28; digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014), citing LAC microfilm T-6358
A digital image can be viewed here: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1891/jpg/30953_148160-00630.jpg
Henry Adamson household, 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, Ontario (west) (district 99), Pickering Township (subdistrict B), division 6, page 4, family 23 (family begins on page 3); digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014), citing LAC microfilm T-6487
A digital image can be viewed here:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z002/jpg/z000089838.jpg
Image of the next page here:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z002/jpg/z000089839.jpg
Henry G Adamson household, 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, Muskoka (district 98), Draper Township (subdistrict 5), page 11, family 111; digital image, Library and Archives Canada, Censuses (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx : accessed 9 March 2014), citing LAC microfilm T-20385
A digital image can be viewed here: http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1911/jpg/e002003478.jpg
Henry Adamson household, 1921 census of Canada, Ontario, Muskoka (district 104), Uffington (subdistrict 5), page 5, family 50; digital image Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 9 March 2014)
A digital picture of his gravestone can be seen at the Northern Ontario Gravemarker Gallery:
Hawn, Elizabeth Beatrice Adamson. Our Family History. Gravenhurst, Ontario: Baxter Press Ltd., October 1969.
[Elizabeth Beatrice Adamson Hawn, the compiler, was a daughter of Henry Gamble Adamson.]
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