Samuel Reid (1818 - 1880)

Born 1818 in Dublin, Ireland

Died 27 Dec 1880 at about age 62 in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada

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Biography

Death

Name Samuel Reid

Gender Male

Age 62

Birth Date abt 1818

Birth Place Ireland

Death Date 26 Dec 1880

Death Place Wentworth, Ontario, Canada

Religion Episcopal

Cause of Death Fall Fractured His Skull^[1][2]

Obituary: Hamilton Spectator, Deaths 1880 December 27, 1880

REID Died in this city, Samuel Reid, carpenter, a native of Dublin, Ireland, aged 62 years. Funeral from the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel F. Yearsley, No 27 Crooks street west, on Tuesday afternoon, at 2 o'clock. Friends and acquaintances will please attend.

Samuel Reid, for a long time stage carpenter at the Academy of Music, was at his post of duty on Christmas night and did what fell to his lot in the production of the play "Nick of the Woods". The mimic tragedy upon the stage, however, was followed by one in which Reid was the principal character and which resulted in that death which no man can mimic and from which the performer never rises to play another part in the world. Accompanied by his wife, Reid left the theatre after the performance about eleven o'clock. On the way home he told his wife to walk on slowly and said that he would overtake her. When next she saw him he was borne into her presence a bruised and bleeding body, to which life clung by so slender a thread that in a few hours it snapped and Reid had finished his brief hour upon this world's stage to plunge into the uncertainty of the great future. His house is at 146 Rebecca street, and being under the influence of liquor, he mistook the house and ascended the stairs which lead up to the door of the next house which is separated from his own by an alleyway. He rapped at the door of the house and was informed by the occupant of his mistake. He immediately started to cross over to the door of his own house without going down the steps which he had ascended. In the attempt he fell upon a fence which is between the alleyway and the next dooryard. On this he struck his head so severely that he broke his skull, sustaining fatal injuries. The thud of his fall was heard and he was at once taken into his own house where the doctor arrived in a few minutes, and all that medical aid could do was done for him but it was of no avail. The deceased lingered up to nine o'clock Sunday morning, being conscious almost all of the time. About ten minutes before his death, he said to a youth who was supporting, hita "For God's sake, W_, lay the down". These were almost the last words he uttered. Mr. Reid was in the best of health and spirits on the day previous as he was playing the violin the greater part of the day. He was a member of the Temperance Club but had fallen from grace several times although the best offices of the society were used to keep him sober. The deceased leaves a widow and one daughter, the latter being married. The funeral will leave his daughter's residence on Crooks street this afternoon. The name of the husband of Mr. Reid's daughter is S. Yearsley, an employee of the G.W.R.^[3]

Mention of his passing in The Montreal Gazzette 28 Dec 1880. Samuel Reid, a stage carpenter at the Academy of Music, met with an accident, by falling from his steps at his residence, Rebecca street, Christmas night. The unfortunate man struck on a fence and fractured his skull. The deceased lingered for about ten hours in great pain. Reid was an old resident here, and had been on duty at the Academy o0n Christmas night.^[4]

Research Notes

The Samuel Reid Conundrum: "According to The Reid History written in 1936, “....When out alone one night another brother, Samuel, was attacked by a mob of Roman Catholics, for whose separate schools we are now being taxed, and would have been murdered had it not been for the timely arrival of a woman who saved him. He died some time later, it was thought from the abuse they had given him.....”" ^[5]

This must have happened in Ireland, as Ontario did not start collecting taxes for Catholic Schools until 1855, and then it was collecting on behalf of the Catholic Schools^[6]

The Rev. William N. Falkiner indignantly characterized emigration from this parochial union as follows: "Several very respectable Protestant families have left this, much disgusted at the situation they were in, unprotected from lawless aggression of mobs, and deserted by Government; such were their complaints; they went to Canada."^[7]

Samuel Reids in our interest group:

Samuel Reid (1844-1918)

Samuel Reid (1812-)

Samuel Reid (abt.1818-)

Samuel Reid (1818-1880)

Samuel Reid (1827-)

His Widow? "Canada Census, 1891," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWL3-9PB : 3 August 2016), Eliza Reid, Ward 6, Hamilton City, Ontario, Canada; Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; Library and Archives Canada film number 30953_148144.

Sources

1. ↑ "Canada, Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JFJH-1Q3 : Sun Mar 10 20:00:20 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel Reid, 1880.
2. ↑ Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947, Archives of Ontario; Series: MS935; Reel: 26, Ancestry.com, 2010, Provo, UT, USA
3. ↑ http://www.glanbrookheritage.ca/deaths1880.htm
4. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/photo/png/Reid-16184
5. ↑ British Columbia Genealogical Society - Cariboo Notes V39 #1 Spring 2022 Pg 7
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_schools_in_Canada<ref> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_schools_in_Canada</li> <li id="_note-6">[[#_ref-6|↑]] Irish Migrants in the Canadas A New Approach - Bruce S Elliot 2nd Edtn, Pg 101</li></ol></ref>