My Family Tree

No baptismal record was found for Effie. However, when Margaret McArthur, widow of John A. Gillis died at the age of 90 in 1907 it was noted in her obituary that her sister, Mrs. William Dyment, was 96 and living with her son John in Knutsford. Margaret was born at Bedford (Bideford), the daughter of the late Malevin (Malcolm) M. McArthur. She and Effie were members of a family of twelve, all with the exception of two who passed their ninetieth birthday.

On her marriage record to William, Effie was from Lot 12. Hugh McArthur and Hector McDougald were witnesses.

Effie was short for Euphemia, the name that was given on the death certificate for her daughter Mary A. Dyment, wife of Roderick A. McNeill, who died in Massachusetts in 1901 at the age of 61. Mary Ann and Harriet Jane both named a daughter Euphemia, and Maria Ellen and Elizabeth used the shorter form Effa for their daughters.

After the death of her husband, Effie lived with her son George in Cohasset, Massachusetts, where she could be found in the US 1900 census. Effie celebrated her 90th birthday in Nantasket, Massachusetts around February 15 1905. She had been blind for two years, but had still managed to knit 19 pairs of mittens and seven pairs of stockings during the winter. According to the article, when she was younger Mrs. Dyment sheared her own sheep and dyed and spun the wool for her family. In 1905, she had 146 living descendants: 71 grandchildren (60?) and 67 great-grandchildren.

In December 1908, Effie returned to the Island, to live with her son John in Lot 7.

She died a year later at the home of her son John in Knutsford, on 26 March 1909; her age was given as 94 or 95. According to her obituary, she was survived by three sons and one daughter: Henry of Tacoma, Wash., William of Springfield, and John at home, and Mrs. Henry Walsh of Nantasket, Mass.