Notes:

Maria Eleanor is the daughter of Maria Rebecca Dennis, b 1831 Kingston, Ont. & James Wm Bridgeland, b 9 Apr 1918 Town of York, Ontario.

. Ontario Marriage Registration 012846
John W S Lawrence, Age 25/1855, Yorkville, book keeper, Methodist,
s/o John & Margery Lawrence,
Married Maria E Bridgeland, Age 24, Yorkville, Methodist.
d/o James W & Maria Rebecca Brigland,
Witnesses: Percival L Mason, Toronto [i.e. his cousin] &
Anna S Bridgeland, Yorkville,
Married by Rev W J Hunter, D.D.

. 1880 Nov 9, Tuesday, Married Lawrence- Bridgeland,
At Bloor street Methodist Church by Rev W J Hunter,
John Willson Lawrence, youngest son of John Lawrence Esq.
to Marie Eleanor, eldest daughter o the late J W Bridgeland, all of Yorkville.
Ref: Toronto Globe & Mail Newspaper.

. 1888 Feb 22 - Died Lawrence, at 10 Avenue road, Toronto, Anna May Madeline, beloved daughter of John W Lawrence, aged 9 months 22 days. funeral from 10 Avenue road on Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock.
Ref: Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper.

. 1902 The Society Blue Book of Toronto,
Lawrence, Mr & Mrs. J. Willson, "Southlawn, 67 Lowther Ave. Toronto, [etc. as below].

. 1903-4 The Society Blue Book of Toronto, Hamilton & London, A Social Directory
Lawrence, Mr. & Mrs. J. Willson, 78 Walmer road.
Summer Residence: "The Retreat," Jackson' s Point, Lake Simcoe.
Receives 1st & 2d Friday. Mrs., nee Bridgeland, (65 Women's Art Assoc.)

. 1913 & 1920 The Society Blue Book of Toronto,
Lawrence, Mr. & Mrs. John Willson (Bridgeland)
10 Clarendon avenue, Toronto, Receives 1st Thursday & Friday
Clubs, Mrs. 68-Women's Musical Club
Mr. J. Ernest Lawrence
Mr. Karl W. Lawrence, 45 Royal Canadian Academy of Art. - - -

Birth:


Died:
9 Wynchwood Park, Toronto.

Buried:
COD: from x-ray findings a growth in base of left lung, pain., old age.

Maria married John WILSON Street Fletcher LAWRENCE, .xx on 9 Nov 1880 in Yorkville (Toronto), Ontario. John (son of Capt. John Willson LAWRENCE, .xiv and Sarah Majorie MARGERY STREET) was born on 2 Mar 1856 in Toronto, York Co., Ontario; died on 27 May 1926 in Toronto, York Co., Ontario; was buried on 1 Jun 1926 in Cummer Burial Grounds, Willowdale. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
[ Toronto ]

1. Reby Olive Street LAWRENCE was born on 19 May 1882 in Toronto, York Co., Ontario; died on 1 Aug 1883 in Sutton, Georgina Twp., York Co., Ont..
2. John ERNEST Bridegland LAWRENCE, .xxvi was born on 17 Apr 1884 in Toronto, York Co., Ontario; died on 26 Jul 1960 in Los Angeles, California; was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
3. Karl Willson LAWRENCE was born on 21 Sep 1885 in Toronto, York Co., Ontario; died on 23 May 1963 in Vancouver, British Columbia; was buried in Garden Chapel Ocean View Cemetery.
4. Maria Bridgeland LAWRENCE was born in ? 18 Oct 1887 in Weston, York Co., Ontario; died on c 1911 ? in Weston, York Co., Ontario; was buried in Weston Cemetery.

Notes:

James Wm. is the son of Eleanor Beaton & James W Bridgeland.

Surveyor & civil servant, born Apr. 9, 1817 at or near York (Toronto), second son of
James W. Bridgeland, 1776 -Oct. 6 1844 & Eleanor Bentham, 1779-Sept. 14, 1827, d/o Jeremiah Bentham.
J.W. died Oct. 22, 1880 in Toronto. His parents came to York from Kent County, England in 1816. For some years the family remained in York, the father having obtained the position of the Court of King's Bench, & young James attended Thomas Appleton's common school. In 1828 the family purchased property in Downsview, Toronto north, where the sons & daughters grew up. Young James decided to become a land surveyor & in 1842 attended the summer term at Victoria College, Cobourg. He was apprenticed to John Stoughton Dennis & qualified as a provincial land surveyor on May 6, 1844. Soon after he commenced to practice, he was employed by the Crown Lands Department in making surveys in Canada West & he became a member of the staff of the Crown Lands Office on Jan. 22, 1856. His most important surveys were in the townships of Mornington (1848), Kincardine (1850) & Carden (1852); along the Muskoka River (1852) & Indian River (1853); on Rama Island (1860); & in the Huron & Ottawa territory (1861-2). His reports frequently have a distinct literary flavour. To describe land near
the Muskoka River, he wrote "would only be to repeat the tedious monotony of rocky barrens, swamps, marshes, & burnt regions; destitute of good water, good timber, in short of everything necessary to make settlement desirable or life supportable; seem from their scarcity - scarcely able to exist".
These reports were eminently sensible & won the approval of his superiors, as did no doubt his attitude towards employees who attempted to gain an increase in pay. To one of his subordinates he wrote: "The Strike you speak of should have been the immediate occasion for you to have discharged every man ..., I will not sanction a farthing of increase in wages."

After 1860 Bridgeland's duties lay chiefly in the field of colonization of roads, built by the government to attract settlers to the Georgian Bay & Ottawa area. His duties led him also to the mining districts & Indian lands north of Lake Superior. In 1864 when the superintendent of colonization of roads in Canada West, David Gibson, died, that office was discontinued but the duties were transferred to Bridgeland. After confederation he continued to perform the duties connected with the oversight of colonization of roads in Ontario - duties he would be relied on to perform with diligence & economy.

. 1859 June 11, James Bridgeland, a widower, married Martha Ann Jones (1832-1910) d/o Rev. Richard Jones & Mary Ann Wright.

Six children were born from this marriage:
Anna Sarah (1860-1941)
Albert James (1861-1865)
Mary Ella (1865-1944)
Martha Alice (1868-1868)
Josephine (1870-1953)
Mildred Katherine Bridgeland (1873-1949). - - -

Buried:
Mississauga, Peel Co.

James married Maria Rebecca DENNIS on 13 Jun 1849 in Humber River, Etobicoke Twp., (Toronto), Ontario. Maria was born in 1833 in Town of York (Toronto), York Co., Ontario; died on 11 Jun 1857 in Toronto, York Co., Ontario. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Maria Rebecca is the daughter of Mary Stoughton, 1798, Kingston &
Joseph Dennis, b 1789 Pennfied., Charlotte Co., NB,
They resided Buttonwood, Humber River, Ontario.

. 13 June 1849: On Tuesday, 12th inst., James W. Bridgland of the Township of York, Surveyor,
married to Maria R., daughter of Joseph Dennis, of Buttonwood, on the River Humber by Rev. James Richardson.
Ref: The Globe, Toronto. - - -

Birth:
Alt Loc. Kingston, Ontario

Notes:

Married:
Tuesday