Frederick was a religious man with entrepreneurial spirit. The idea of him being an
entrepreneur comes from his buying and selling land packages. He had submitted a plan for
"Centreville". It was to be located
between Wardsville and Newbury, and it was a town plot consisting of two streets and 4
sections of 4 half acre lots. There was a planned street with 8 lots on either side named
"Parr Street". It was registered in March of 1855 and it was the North Half of
Lot 17 in the Second Range.
However. Checking the history of what was going on in the area may explain why it never
happened. The early 1850's started a land boom because of the railroad showing up in Mosa
Township. "Centreville" never came to reality because the land bust began in
1855, after the railroad went away from this location.
In the 1861 census for Mosa Township, Fred was neighbours to his mother and step-father.
Three children were born by this time, Robert,
Mariah Jane, and Henry. They were living in a brick one storey house.
The Middlesex Gazetteer and Directory 1864-1866 found Fred and family living in Mosa
Township, Concession 2, Lot 17; the same area as his brother-in-law, Robert Beveridge. The
1861 census confirms that location for Fred Parr.
In the 1871 census, children Rachel, Eliza, David, William, Joe, (though the census says
Josiah), and Emma were part of the family.
Published in the Middlesex County Atlas of 1878, Fred Parr was listed on page 50 as a
farmer, on the 2 Range, NLR 17 with the date of settlement of 1842, nativity of England
and post office of Wardsville.
In the 1891 census, daughter Emma was a next door neighbour and son Henry's family were
living with Fred and Jane.
Recognition was made of Fred being "among the old settlers of Mosa", as he was
listed with others in the History of the County of Middlesex, Canada.
Alta (Colborne) McEwen was a child and recalled an elderly Fred, carrying a fine tooth
comb with him. His hair was shoulder length at that stage of his life, and sometimes a
grandchild would be combing his hair with that fine tooth comb. This was when Fred would
be sitting at his daughter Mariah Jane's verandah overlooking the trees in the yard, the
railway tracks and the Presbyterian Church.
It was Alta's recollections that indicated that Frederick was a religious man. For the
family bible links:
parents and siblings birth
dates and
Frederick's marriage date and
his children's birth dates. In his Christian caring, he went out of his way to care
for a woman with tuberculosis, and he caught the disease and died from it. Indeed, 5 great
grandchildren were ministers and four family bibles were found tracing various parts of
Freds family. One was found that listed his parents and siblings birth dates,
with the added bonus of Freds marriage date and his children's birth dates. A
genealogical treasure.
Fred died 29 January 1900 and was buried at Bear Creek Cemetery near Brigden, Ontario.
For the 1901 census, Jane was living with son David and daughter Vina in a 4 room house at
Moore Township.
When Alta was about 9 years old, she visited her grandmother Jane when Jane was living in
downtown Brigden. It was a shadow of a memory but Alta recalled Jane getting a cup and
saucer for the two of them for tea.
Jane died from _________ (cause) on 8 April 1909 and was buried next to Fred.