My Family Tree

Eleanor Dyment was born 10 or 11 September 1838 (or 1839), Port Hill, P.E.I., the daughter of Humphrey Dyment and Mary Ashton. Her birth was not recorded in the PEI Baptismal Index, but she was named in both Humphrey's obituary and his will, and her parents were named in her own obituary and on her death record. Her obituary in the Summerside paper noted that she was the last surviving child of Humphrey Dyment and Mary Ashton.

According to the Gorrill family tree on the Island Register, Eleanor married Humphrey Gorrill on 28 June 1855 in Port Hill, just before her seventeenth birthday. A marriage bond, dated 27 February 1856, was found in PEI Archives for Humphry Gorrall Lot 8, farmer and Eleanor Dymant, Lot 13. Humphrey Gorrall signed with his mark; his co-signer was Humphrey Dymant, Lot 13, farmer. From the signature, it is difficult to tell if it was signed by Humphrey Sr. or Jr. Usually couples married soon after getting a bond, so they had to have been married in early 1856. Depending on which year she was born, she was 17 or 18 when she married.

Humphrey Gorrill, son of John A Gorrill and Sarah Brooke was born in Devon, England on 1 May 1829. Humphrey arrived on the Island around 1850, where he joined older brothers who had emigrated earlier.

According to a letter from Hazel Gorrill dated 1992, Humphrey and Eleanor didn't start their family until they had been married five years, and this is borne out by the information available.

Only seven of their children could be found in the PEI Baptismal Index, with no place of birth recorded. The minister was Bible Christian and they were baptized in O'Leary. These were Humphrey, Simeon, Tom, Amos, Alice, Bertie and Sarah. According to a Gorrill family tree on the Island Register, Humphrey and Eleanor had at least fifteen, and perhaps 16, children. Of the surviving children, the nine eldest were born in Northam while the three youngest were born in Granville. Two sons died young, William Humphrey at 9 years and Walter at 16 years. Two other children, John and Sarah, died as infants. The child who died around 1860/61 was probably John, since a second John was born in 1863. The first Sarah had to have been born before 1873/74, so was possibly born in the gap between John Simeon and William.

Humphrey and Eleanor had a farm on the Hamilton Road in Lot 8. "Humphy Gunnell" can be found in the 1861 census of Lot 8 Prince Edward Island with his wife and one daughter under 5 (Josephine?). One child had been born during the year, and one had died. They were Methodists. In 1878 Humphrey bought the Ramsay mills.

In the 1881 census, Humphrey was a farmer in Lot 8; the family was Bible Christian. Ten children were listed: Josephine (21), Alfred (19), John (17), Beatrice (13), Irving (10), Baxter (9), Helena? (7), Alice (5), Lincoln (2) and Russell (3 months). In 1891, the children at home were Irving, Baxter, Ellie (Helena, age 17), Alice, Lincoln, Garfield (10) and Thomas (8). In the 1901 census the household of Humphrey (71) and Eleanor (61) included Lincoln (21), Garfield (20), Thomas (18) and Louisa (13), as well as an adopted daughter, Louisa McPherson, born 13 January 1888. Humphrey was a farmer and a miller. In 1911, Eleanor was living in Glenwood with her son Thomas and his family.

Humphrey died at Glenwood 21 April 1907 within a few days of his 78th birthday. According to his obituary, he was survived by his wife, and seven sons and three daughters: Alfred, John S., Garfield, and Lincoln, all of Glenwood; Amos, Hamilton Road, Lot 8; Irvin C., formerly of West Point, P.E.I., residing at Roxbury, Mass.; Thomas, at home in Glenwood; Mrs. Thomas Holton [Oulton], Brae, Lot 9; Mrs. George Holton, Sask.; and Mrs. Daniel Moreshead, Sydney, C.B., Nova Scotia.

Eleanor Dyment died at the Gorrill homestead 22 June 1922 at the age of 83. Her gravestone and death record say at age 82. According to her obituary, she was the mother of sixteen children and active in her church, she had a wide circle of relatives and friends, and was described as a "gentle unselfish spirit" who led a "kindly sympathetic life" leaving "Mrs. Thos. Oulton, Brae Harbor; Mrs. George Oulton, Smithers, B.C.; Mrs. George Warren, Boston, Mass.; Mrs. Dan Morsehead, Sydney, N.S.; Thomas, Alfred, John and Amos, Glenwood; Irving and Garfield, Ponteix, Sask.; Lincoln, Bulyea, Sask." She was buried beside her husband in the Bethel Methodist Cemetery, along with two of their children, John I. and Sarah L.

For more information on this family, see the Island Register for the Gorrill family, THE DESCENDANTS OF HUMPHREY GORRILL,1829-1907AND ELEANOR DYMENT, 1838-1922 OF GLENWOOD, PEI. Compiled by George Edward Hart. http://www.islandregister.com/gorrill5.html. Obituaries were from a family scrapbook and the website, PEI Ancestry.