The 2 Richard Lukes: St. Blazey, Cornwall 1820's to Oshawa, Ontario area 1830's
Research note by Wesley Johnston (St. Blazey Families Project) - created 2012, last update 19 Jun 2022
https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/20919668/person/1351552668/media/5340d048-35f9-4e5f-8c44-b0124fbe0af8
Overview
There were two men named Richard LUKE who were born in the 1820's in the parish of St. Blazey, Cornwall, and came with their families to the area north of Oshawa, Ontario in the 1830's. This document is intended to untangle these two families and provide documentation on them.
The two Richard Luke baptisms at St. Blazey church were:
1 - 3 Jun 1821 - parents Richard LUKE and Mary PASCOE - abode Biscovey - This Richard is often referred to as Richard LUKE Jr.
2 - 9 Oct 1825 - parents Joseph LUKE and Jane YEOMAN - abode Bedelva - This Richard is sometimes referred to as Richard Yeoman LUKE.
Parents and Ancestry of the two Richards
The fathers of these men (Richard Sr. and Joseph) were the two youngest sons of William LUKE and Frances LUKE [her maiden name was LUKE - I do not yet know if she and William were related]. Both fathers brought their families to Canada in the 1830's. So the two Richards were first cousins.
It seems likely that Mary PASCOE, mother of the elder Richard, was the 3 Feb 1799 baptism at St. Blazey, daughter of Jesse and Jenefer (in the record as Jinnefer). Jesse PASCOE married Jane TRUGIAN 4 Jul 1795 at St. Blazey. At that time, Jane, Jennie, Jenefer, and even Joan were all forms of the same name. Both Mary PASCOE LUKE and Richard LUKE Sr. are buried at the Oshawa Pioneer Memorial Gardens in Oshawa.
It seem likely that Jane YEOMAN, mother of the younger Richard, was the 12 Jan 1806 St. Blazey baptism, daughter of Richard YEOMAN and Elizabeth PAPPIN who married at St. Austell 24 Nov 1804. I do not know when Jospeh and Jane died (more on this in the final section). Since they lived in Reach Township (more on this below), and the 1851/2 Reach Township population schedule has not survived, it is impossible to tell from the census just when they died. Nor have I found where they are buried.
Since a number of trees on Ancestry.com are showing that Jane YEOMAN, mother of the younger Richard, was born at Illogan, it is important to make clear why that is erroneous. The Illogan-born Jane YEOMAN who appears in the 1851 and 1861 England census with a daughter Frances of about the same age as Joseph and Jane's daughter Frances is an entirely separate person. Joseph's wife gave birth in Canada in 1837, and as we will see below their Frances married in Reach Township in 1852. So the Jane and Frances LUKE shown in the 1851 and 1861 England census are definitely NOT the Jane and Frances of Joseph's family.
When Did They Come to Canada? By 21 Apr 1836
I have not found the exact date that they came to Canada.
The earliest record that I have found for either Richard Sr. or Joseph's families in Canada was the birth of Richard Sr.'s son John 21 Apr 1836 in Whitby Township (almost certainly the east half, but there was no East Whitby Township until after 1852). Richard and Mary's last child baptized at St. Blazey was Samuel on 16 Mar 1834. So they went to Canada between 16 Mar 1834 and 21 Apr 1836.
The earliest record that I have found that places Joseph's family in Canada was the birth of his son William Yeoman LUKE in Whitby Township (almost certainly the east half, but there was no East Whitby Township until after 1852) about 1837, based on his age in later censuses and age 84 at death in 1921. Joseph and Jane's last child baptized at St. Blazey was Joseph Jr. on 19 Aug 1832. So they went to Canada between 18 Aug 1832 and 1837. [Note that both Richard & Mary and Joseph & Jane had sons named Joseph baptized at St. Blazey in 1832.]
It seems likely that the two families came at the same time, but that is simply something that I have not been able to determine.
There is an account, based on the research of Samuel Pedlar, titled "From Cornwall to Canada in 1841" that includes the following text:
There still lay before the Pedlar family and some of their friends, Mr. Jacob Hoar & family, a land journey of about forty miles to the home of a relative of the Hoars’, named Richard Luke, who lived in the 5th concession, on Lot 9, of the township of Whitby.
This was Richard Sr., who the 1851 census agricultural schedule places precisely on Lot 9 of Concession 5. Jacob HORE's wife was Elizabeth LUKE, sister of Richard Sr. and Joseph.
The Elder Richard (Richard LUKE Jr) in Canada
The elder Richard, Richard LUKE Jr. (born 1821), lived in East Whitby, near his father and married Jane. I have not yet traced their family, but they are easily found in the censuses, from 1851/2 onward.
The Younger Richard (Richard Yeoman LUKE) in Canada
Joseph Luke's family settled in Reach Township. The only part of the Reach Township census of 1851/2 that has survived is the agricultural schedule, showing land owners, and Joseph does not appear there. The population schedule is entirely lost. What does allow us to know that they were there in Reach are the marriage records of Joseph and Jane's daughters Jane and Francis.
The younger Richard married Sarah PIERSON.
The Key to Understanding Joseph LUKE's Family in Canada: Deduced Connections Still Not Solid
The key to my understanding of Joseph LUKE's family in Canada hinges on his daughter Frances LUKE and son William Yeoman LUKE. I am unable to find the family in the 1851/2 population census, even though they were certainly in Canada by the 1837 birth of William, who does show up in the 1861 census. This pattern, in my experience, is typical of someone who was living in 1852 in one of the locations where the population census has not survived. In this area of Ontario, the areas where I have seen this are Reach Township and the town of Oshawa in Ontario County and Ops Township in Victoria County. Both are relevant, since Frances' family lived in Mariposa Township in Victoria County in the 1861 census.
The marriage in Reach Township in 1852 -- precisely the year in which the missing 1851/2 census was taken there -- of Frances LUKE and the widower Thomas Watson VAUGHAN explicitly places Frances there in Reach, And it presumably places her parents and her unmarried siblings there. There was also a pattern for the families of married daughters -- and sometimes sons -- to live with or near parents in this period, so that most or all of the children of Joseph LUKE and Jane YEOMAN were apparently also living at Reach Township, which would account for the failure to find them in the 1851/2 census.
The witnesses at this 1852 marriage were John and Jane PENCEL. The question is who was the Jane LUKE who married John PENCEL in Whitby in 1840?
There were two known Jane LUKE daughters in the area at that time, first cousins of each other, sisters of the two Richard LUKEs who are the subject of this document.
1 - Jane Pascoe LUKE, daughter of Richard LUKE Sr. and Mary PASCOE, married John MAY.
2 - However the other Jane LUKE, who we know from St. Blazey baptismal records was the sister of Frances LUKE, was only 13 or 14 years old in 1840. She had been baptized at St. Blazey on Christmas Day, 25 Dec 1826. Her brother Richard, as noted at the beginning of this document, was baptized 9 Oct 1825. So even though she was almost certainly born before 25 Dec 1826, she was at most likely to have been 15 or at the very most 16 in 1840.
But there was a third Jane LUKE there at that time: Jane YEOMAN, wife of Joseph LUKE.
Thanks to the help of two commenters on the original version of this research note, we now have John and Jane in the 1861 census of Reach Township (search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1570&path=Canada+West.Ontario.397). John and Mrs. J (for John not Jane) PENCELLE (could also have been PENCILLE) appear with no children. He is a 76 year old carpenter, born Canada East, and religion as Adventist. She is 56, born England, Church of England. And this does match Jane Yeoman.
The only record that I have found other than their marriage in 1840 and their witnessing of the marriage of Frances in 1852 is "Brown's Toronto City and Home District Directory. 1846-7" where on page 112 of the second numbered section, the listing of Whitby Township shows three men with the surname PENCILL:
- Ensign (Lot 14, Concession 8)
- Ira B. (Lot 26, Concession 2)
- John (Lot 7, Concession 5).
John and Jane appear in Enumeration District 3 of Reach in the 1861 Census. The enumerator was also supposed to complete an agricultural census form for his or her ED, and the Reach ED3 agricultural census is at search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1570&path=Canada+West.Ontario.938 -- but neither John PENCELLE nor anyone else on the same or prior or next pages of the population census appear on the agricultural census. If you look at what Concessions and Lots appear in the agricultural census, it is also clear that many Lots were omitted. The census taker clearly failed to do a complete agricultural census. Thus other sources would be needed to determine what Concession and Lot John and Jane lived on. Since the Concessions on the page are 6-8 and the Lots 13-24, it seems most likely that they were in or near this range of Lots.
In the 1851 agricultural census, it is clear that Concession 5 of East Whitby was heavily populated by the family of Richard LUKE Sr. and Mary PASCOE. Lot 7 has William LUKE, along with Ira KELLOG and George LEE. Richard LUKE, presumably Richard LUKE Sr., is on Lots 8 and 9, which he shares with three others in each case. Lot 9 also has Thomas PASCOE (possibly Mary's brother?) and Isaac MAY Sr. (possibly the father of John MAY who married Jane Pascoe LUKE). Lot 10 is William MAY and Isaac MAY Jr. (brothers of John MAY?). Lot 11 is Edmund LUKE. There are three lots with names that I cannot associate with the LUKE family (but who may have been associated) and then Lot 15 is where Richard LUKE Jr. (subject of this document) farmed. So John PENCEL was right in the midst of the family of Richard LUKE Sr. in Whitby Township, which was probably where Joseph lived in 1840.
If Joseph LUKE had died, then his widow Jane YEOMAN LUKE would have been 34 years old in 1840, with a good number of children. And it would not be at all surprising if she had remarried. And she is the only Jane LUKE in the area, connected closely with Frances LUKE. And her age and birthplace in the 1861 census match those of Mrs. J. PENCELLE. Thus I conclude that it was Jane YEOMAN, widow of Joseph LUKE, who married John PENCEL in 1840.