| Notes |
- Frederick's middle name, Fortescue, reflects the fact that his mother's mother was Joanna Fortescue, who was descended from John Fortescue of Shebbear. Shebbear is a parish south of Buckland Brewer, and close to the Parish of Buckland-Filleigh, where a major branch of the Fortescue family owned the Manor of Buckland-Filleigh. The Fortescue family was a noble family, with many illustrious members. The main branch of the Fortescue family is traced back to the birth of Richard le Fort in 1015. He was a commander in the army of William the Conqueror, who saved William's life during the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Evidently the Downings (who also included the Fortescue name in several succeeding generations) and the Passmores were very anxious to preserve and commemorate their connections to the noble Fortescue family. [Reference: "A History of the Family of Fortescue in all its Branches" http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2FFH23&CISOPT R=73354&REC=4&CISOBOX=Joanna+Fortescue]. Another reference on the Parish of Buckland Filleigh and the Fortescues who owned its manor from 1472 to 1834 is in the book "Buckland Fileigh - A Continuous Thread", by Jane Taylor.
Frederick Fortescue Passmore's father died when he was only four, and the family suffered financially. Frederick decided that emigration to Canada would be the best course of action, after which he could bring his mother and sisters over as well (which he did, returning to England and bringing them back with him to Canada in 1847). In one of his letters to his family in England, Frederick mentioned that the Passmores possessed about 1200 pounds in capital investments. Frederick supported his mother and sisters for the rest of his life.
After a short career at sea in the Navy, Frederick Fortescue Passmore emigrated alone from England to Canada West on 11 April, 1845, arriving in Quebec late May, 1845. He settled in Toronto, and apprenticed to John G. Howard, a prominent local surveyor, architect and engineer. His voyage to Canada and his first few years in Toronto are chronicled in the letters he wrote home to his mother and sisters in Devon, England between 1845 and 1847. These letters have been preserved in the family, and have been transcribed. Much information about Frederick's successful career as a surveyor is contained in the 1994 Bachelor of Arts thesis at of his great-great granddaughter, Sarah Dewar, at Acadia University, "Labouring for the Whole Hive".
According to the Find A Grave site http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=PAS&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GScntry=10&GSsr=401&GRid=28495524&, a third cousin once removed, Thomas Passmore emigrated from England to Quebec on the same dates as Frederick. Frederick and Thomas perhaps came on the same ship, although Frederick does not mention Thomas in his letters to his family.
Passmore was licensed as a Provincial Land Surveyor (PLS) in 1846. In addition to his important survey work in Toronto and other parts of Ontario, Frederick Passmore did much to advance his profession, helping its transition from an entirely government-run enterprise to an independent self-regulated association of professionals. In 1852 he was appointed Secretary of the Board of Examiners for Surveying in Canada West. In 1879 he was appointed its Chair. During his career, Frederick surveyed in many parts of Ontario, including Toronto and Scarborough, Grantham, Etobicoke, Arthur, Trafalgar, Barton, Burlington Bay, Goderich, Oil Springs, Dover Township, Fort Erie and Dundas. He produced the lines for the Hamilton Incline Railway and for the Toronto City Hall foundation. For 12 years he was Deputy Registrar in the Toronto Registry Office.
"The History of the Royal Grenadiers" contains Frederick's militia career in that regiment in Toronto, starting in 1861, when tension began with the United States during its Civil War, and the "Trent Affair" [when the US Navy stopped and boarded the British mail steamer "Trent", taking prisoner two Confederate politicians it found on board]. Frederick was appointed a lieutenant, and his friend Sandford Fleming a captain 10th Batallion, Volunteer Rifles, later called 10 Batallion, Volunteer Militia (Infantry). The unit's uniform was scarlet. One of the people in the photo of Frederick's 1864 Scarborough survey camp was wearing the uniform of the unit. The Toronto Globe newspaper of 6 Jan. 1862 lists Frederick as being nominated a lieutenant in the Engineers' and Mechanics' Battalion. The militia unit was later re-named the 10th Royal Regiment, Toronto Volunteers, and saw service against the Fenian threat in 1865 and 1866. It is not known whether Frederick was still with the unit at that time.
In his younger days, Frederick was an enthusiastic yachtsman an interest that he passed on to his sons Alfred and Forneri.
In 1849-50, Frederick, civil engineer Sandford A. Fleming (later the originator of standardized time zones) and several others decided to set up an institute to advance the professional concerns of surveyors, engineers and architects. At an initial meeting in February, 1850, only Passmore and Fleming showed up. Sandford Fleming's comment in his diary: ".."a Chuzzlewit affair. Truly a Canadian Institute." Undaunted, they proceeded to form the Canadian Institute, and elected each other, Fleming as Secretary and and Passmore as Chairman. The Institute (later known as the Royal Canadian Institute) has existed since then, promoting science, engineering and architectural endeavours by public lectures and other means. Passmore presented several lectures, such as "Upon the Ameliorating Influences of the Climate of Canada"; geological changes in the earth;
Passmore was a close associate of Sandford Fleming over the years, according to "Sir Sandford Fleming - His Early Diaries 1845-1853", edited by Jean Murray Cole [Natural Heritage Books, Toronto, 2009]. As well as being among the founders of the Canadian Institute, they worked together on surveys and architectural projects, socialized with each other and with other friends (skating, playing chess, dinners, borrowed money and gave each other gifts, went on canoe camping/surveying trips in the Peterborough area etc.) On 24th April 1852, Fleming was in court as a witness for Passmore. He also secured at least one piece of land through Passmore.
In 1859, Frederick married Isabella Rankin. Their marriage produced three children, according to Frederick, and four, according to Isabella. Their marriage was a stormy one, probably not least because of enmity between Isabella and Frederick's widowed mother and his three unmarried sisters.
A set of over 100 notes and letters by Frederick and Isabella and others during the years 1859 - 1871 partially document their turbulent marriage, and are in the City of Toronto Archives ["Frederick F. Passmore Separation papers", File #180984 Series 347], among a larger set of documents which are Frederick's surveying notes. Since the Separation Papers are among Frederick's surveying papers, we can assume that it was he who preserved them. We can only speculate that his purpose was to strengthen his eventual legal case for a marital separation. The adverb "partially" is used, since some of the letters mention events with which both sender and receiver are familiar, and which are therefore only superficially described. Besides letters, there are short notes, many undated, written by Frederick on tiny scraps of paper. They betray what can only be described as an obsessed and vindictive state of mind. The letters from Isabella are very hard to read: her handwriting is hard to decypher; she tends to neglect punctuation, capitalization and paragraph separation; some of the ink is faint; and some of her letters are written in two crossing perpendicular directions on the same page. Accordingly, we get a somewhat sharper view of Frederick's view than of his wife's.
The letters introduce us to others connected to the Passmore's marital drama, including Dr. Alexander Johnson Williamson (ca. 1796-1870), for whom Isabella was a live-in servant before her marriage. Dr. Williamson, in the 1857-1870 period, was apparently a non-practicing medical doctor, who worked as a clerk of correspondence for the Board of Education. From the 1837 Toronto Directory, we learn that Dr. Williamson had been a published poet: one of his books, "Devotional Poems", published in 1840, is accessible on the Internet. One of the letters in the Separation papers file informs us that Isabella had entered his house as a servant at age 12, and that Dr. Williamson undertook to educate her, effectively becoming her guardian.
The letters and notes may be roughly divided into two main phases: 1859-1862, in which Frederick accuses Isabella and Dr. Williamson of "trapping" him into marriage; and 1866-1871, in which Frederick accuses Isabella of infidelity with a young male boarder and tries to effect a legal separation. There is no written material from the 1862-1866 period, within which the couple's second and third children were born, so that must have been a period of relative calm.
From the birth of the Passmore's first child, on 6 April, 1860, we surmise that Isabella was pregnant when she and Frederick married on 4 Aug., 1859. The wedding itself was a small private affair, in Williamson's house, with a clergyman and a couple of witnesses. In an undated note written about 1866, Frederick claimed he "did not dream of such an event [their marriage] taking place until one week before it happened." Williamson, in a letter of 8 April, 1860, reminded Frederick that the couple had been acquainted for about 18 months before the marriage. The marriage turned sour within a few weeks. Williamson upbraided Frederick for publicly insulting Isabella. Frederick complained of Isabella's flirtations with other men and reported hearing rumours of Isabella's previous employment in taverns, during which she was said to have "shared a bed with a negro woman". He accused Isabella and Dr. Williamson of conspiring to trap him into marriage, although he never strongly denied that he was responsible for Isabella's pregnancy. Isabella protested Frederick's treatment, refused to sign over her dowry, and at one point told her husband that she no longer wished to be supported by him. The couple separated soon after the wedding, with Isabella boarding with a Mrs. Sparrow, while awaiting the birth of her child. She wrote many impassioned notes to Frederick, denying the rumours about her past and imploring him for reconciliation and continued support. It is clear from the letters and notes that Frederick's mother and sisters were instrumental in tearing the couple apart.
On 6 April, 1860, Alfred Clarence Passmore was born, 8 months after his parents' wedding. Frederick seemed indifferent to his new son, but became furious when Dr. Williamson placed a birth announcement in the Globe newspaper. Notes and letters between the two men indicated that they almost came to blows. Frederick forbade Isabella to have any further dealings with Williamson. For some part of the next six or seven years, Isabella and young Alfred lived separately, but close, to Frederick and his mother and sisters. Frederick continued to support his wife and son. There was certainly some contact among all the parties involved (except Dr. Williamson), since Frederick and Isabella had two more children, Forneri Frederick on 29 Oct., 1862 and Isabella Mary Eugenie on 14 Nov., 1864. During most of this period, and for several years after, Isabella managed boarding houses that were likely owned or leased by her husband.
Matters came to a head again on 28 April, 1867, when Frederick and Isabella and their three children were living in a boarding house managed by Isabella. Late that evening Frederick tiptoed downstairs to listen to Isabella conversing behind a closed door with a young male boarder named Lowe. Opening the door suddenly, he imagined that Isabella had risen from Lowe's lap and was running across the room. Based on this one incident, Frederick constructed a story of heinous adultery on the part of his wife, in numerous notes to himself. These notes, mostly undated, and written on tiny scraps of paper, are among the archived Separation Papers, There are also letters to and from lawyers representing Frederick and Isabella, as Frederick was apparently attempting to effect a legal separation from his wife, that might cut off his support for her and gain him custody of the children. There are also documents reporting Frederick's assets and income, and receipts for expenses incurred by Isabella.
There is also in the file a clipping from the Globe newspaper which reported the arrest of Frederick, in October, 1867, "at the instance of his wife, whom he has frequently mistreated in a variety of ways, occasionally winding up the proceedings by locking her out in the cold." Another Globe article, in October, 1868, reports a court proceeding involving an assault by Frederick on Isabella.
It should be mentioned that in 19th century Canada, divorce was essentially unavailable; the alternative was legal separation, in which the disposition of assets and children was decided, but the parties remained legally married. Child custody could be awarded to the mother, if the child was under 12, the mother was not guilty of adultery, and "if the court saw fit". Otherwise, the father usually gained child custody.
An April 19, 1871 invoice to Frederick from Isabella's lawyer (who was evidently paid by Frederick) detailed the legal preparations and expenses, including drafting of a Deed of Separation, which, it was noted, was not agreed to by Frederick and his lawyer. No record has been found of the actual separation court proceeding, apart from a pencilled note by Frederick on an envelope: "Suit tried Aug. 15 1871. Verdict for McDonald [this was Isabella's lawyer] $2.00. Costs $5.60. Paid Div. Court Aug. 19/71 $7.61." From this we infer that Frederick did not succeed in freeing himself from financially supporting Isabella. The immediate custody of the children is uncertain, but subsequent census and directory entries indicate that they lived with their father, aunts and grandmother for most of the following years.
Another bizarre element in this rather sordid drama is that Isabella had a fourth child, named Blanche Ellen, in or about 1871. She appeared in the 1871 census (which was collected on 2 April, 1871) under the name "Nelly", age 5 [probably meaning 5 months]. Isabella claimed she was Frederick's child; Frederick claimed she was not.
In the 1850 Toronto Directory, Frederick Passmore is listed at 226 Yonge St.
In the 1853 Toronto tax assessment rolls, F.F. Passmore is listed as an architect on King St. W. in St. George's Ward, and Fred'k Passmore is listed as a clerk on Church St. W. in St. James Ward.
In the 1856 Toronto Directory he is listed as architect and surveyor, residing on James St. in Yorkville
1866 Mitchell and Co. Directory of Toronto: Frederick is listed as a civil engineer and provincial land surveyor, at 141 Church St. W.
1861 census listing forToronto St. James Ward District 3:
Maria Passmore, age 63 b. Parkham England, C. of E.
M.L. Passmore, age 38, b. Selby, England, C. of E.
H.F. Passmore, age age 32, b. Maryport, England, C. of E.
M.A. Passmore, age 34, b. Cumberland, England, C. of E.
Fred F. Passmore, land surveyor, age 36, b. England, P.M.
I.H. Passmore, age 28, b. Ireland, P.M.
A.C. Passmore, age 1, b. Canada West, -
1871 census listing forDistrict 47 (Toronto East, St. James ward), Sub-district B, Division page 3:
F.F. Passmore, age 40, religion CE, occupation: Depy. register; Div. 3, P. 40
Alfred Passmore, age 11, going to school
Forneri Passmore, age 7, going to school
Isabella Passmore, age 6
Maria Passmore, age 42, born in England, married (not clear who this is, perhaps a servant, with her family name incorrectly listed)
Note that Frederick's wife Isabella is listed at a different address, as are his mother and sisters.
In the 1870 to 1872 Directories, Frederick is at 196 Church St., while his sisters and mother occupy 222 Church St. In 1872-73, Isabella has moved to 222 Church St. In the 1873-74 Directory, Frederick, his mother and sisters are at 58 Wood St., while Isabella is at 228 Church St. Isabella has apparently left the family, as she is listed in the same directory as the "widow of Frederick". In the 1874 Fisher and Taylor's Toronto Directory, he is listed as a provincial land surveyor at 58 Wood St. in St. James Ward, near the intersection with Church St. He is also listed as Deputy Registrar in the City Registry Office. In the 1881 Canada census, [St. Thomas Ward in Toronto, District 134, sub-district C, division 2, page 31], Frederick is listed as a land surveyor and head of a household consisting of his sons Alfred and Frederick Forneri (listed as a clerk) and a female servant, Jane Drummond. His and his sons' religion is Methodist. He and his sisters are still at 58 Wood St. in 1885, but Isabella is now listed at 91 Wilton Ave. In the 1890 Directory, Frederick is listed as a "clerk" at 47 Alexander St., along with his son Forneri F. Passmore, who is listed as a "surveyer", and his sisters Maria and Mary. Isabella is now listed at 209 Jarvis St.
Frederick Passmore's life is described in the "Commemorative Biographical record of the County of York, Ontario", published in 1907, and available at http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=78246,1 as follows:
"Frederick F. Passmore C.E. (deceased) was for many years a well-known civil engineer in Toronto, in which city he died in 1892. He was born in Devonshire [sic], England in 1823, son of Frederick [sic] and Maria Passmore.
Mr. Passmore grew to manhood in his native country, and there received both his literary and professional education. When a young man he came to Toronto, and shortly thereafter formed a paartnership with a Mr. Tully, under the firm name of Tully and Passmore, civil engineers and government surveyers. In this, his professional work, continued for a number of years. He then received the appointment to the registry office of the City of Toronto, and served in that capacity until his death.
Mr. Passmore married Miss Isabella Rankin, who belongs to a family long identified with County York, being a daughter of William and Mary (Mahoffey) Rankin, natives of Ireland, who came to Toronto at an early date, settling on Yonge Street, where Mr. Rankin owned a tract of land, and where both he and Mrs. Rankin died. Of their thirteen children, Mrs. Passmore and her sister Mrs. Cunningham, and one brother, Abraham Rankin, are the only survivors.
To Mr. and Mrs. Passmore were born four children: Alfred C., Frederick F., Isobel (deceased) and Blanche Ellen, the last named the wife of Robert McKay, a well-known barrister of Toronto. Mr. Passmore was a member of the Church of England, to the faith of which his widow also adheres".
The above biography was almost certainly written by Frederick's widow Isabella, before she died in 1906, since it has so much detail about her family and about Blanche Ellen (whose paternity was always denied by Frederick and his other children).
Obituary in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Jan. 13 and 14, 1892: "On Sunday, Jan. 10, at 47 Alexander St., Toronto, Ont., Frederick Fortescue Passmore P.L.S., native of Selby, Yorkshire, aged 68 years."
There are several records from the Court of Chancery in the Ontario Archives of lawsuits, mostly about unpaid debts and mortgages by F.F. Passmore on others, or by others on him:
RG22-409 bar code B110117 Passmore vs. Gray 1871
RG22-409 bar code B103546 Passmore vs. Scovell 1877
RG22-409 bar code B111823 Read vs. Passmore 1871
In his will, which was composed and witnessed in 1879 by Provincial land Surveyor, George Layburn, Frederick leaves to "..the woman I was fool enough to marry [Isabella] - the sum of five shillings and no more - being the utmost value of any claim or demand that she has on me - and to the child who is now living with her - or under her care whose name I do not know - and whom to my knowledge I have never seen, the sum of five shillings only and no more - each of such sums to be paid only on the said devisees' own personal application therefor and not otherwise." The remainder of his estate, amounting to $4950, was left to his sister Maria Louisa, in trust for his children Alfred, Forneri and Mary Eugenie (who was deceased at the time of Frederick's death).
It is thus quite clear that Frederick did not acknowledge Blanche Ellen Passmore as his child, and that he assumed she was the result of an extramarital affair by his wife Isabella.
Frederick, his mother Maria, his sisters Harriet, Louisa and Mary Ann, his daughter Bella Mary and his son Forneri Frederick are all buried in the Toronto Necropolis in P-36b (east side).
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1824 - 1892 (67 years)
