My Family Tree

William Mann Jr. was born in PEI around 1818, the second child and eldest son of William and Sarah Mann, according to the local history of Irishtown/Burlington. He was listed separately in the 1861 census, and from the years that had elapsed on his lease, he had begun farming on his own about 1847 when he was 29 years old. The date of his 999 year lease for 84 acres on the Irishtown Road was 1 May 1848. His children indicated on the 1891 census that he had been born on the Island.

He married Janet Johnstone, the daughter of William Johnstone and Mary Lytle, on 14 September 1854 with William and Archibald Johnstone as witnesses. They were married by Isaac Murray, a Presbyterian minister. The marriage bond was dated September 5 1854, and was taken out by William Mann, farmer Lot 20, and Edwin Ashley Vaughan, surgeon, from St. Eleanors. The Islander – Nov 10, 1854, Married. At New London, by the Rev. Isaac Murray, Mr. William Mann, Jr to Miss Jane Johnston, both of New London.

William Mann "the younger" bought his land on the Irishtown Road from Cunard in 1856.

William and Janet had at least five children. In the 1861 census, in addition to William and Janet, there were two boys and one girl under 5 years (John Andrew, William Johnstone, and Theresa) and one unidentified girl between 5-16. Five household members were Presbyterians and one a Methodist.

Janet died on 28 September 1866 at the age of 44, and was buried in Geddie Memorial Cemetery. Her white gravestone is broken, with only "wife of William Mann" remaining. William was left with four young children under the age of 10 when Janet died; I have to assume that he had one of his unmarried sisters or his mother to help out because it was not until two year later, on 22 July 1868, that William married Mary Fraser. John Fraser and John Mann were witnesses. Mary Fraser was born on 28 May 1832 in Scotland, the only daughter of William Fraser . Her mother may have been Ann McGlinn (or McGline).

Married. On Wednesday the 22d inst., at the residence of the bride’s father, by the Rev. Isaac Murray, Mr. William Mann, New London, to Mary, only daughter of Mr. William Frazer, Cavendish. The Islander – Jul 31, 1868

William and Mary had four children, two of whom died young.

William or his father was listed in the index of the Land Commissioner's report of 1871 (66 acres in Lot 20) and in the 1870 directory of Prince Edward Island.

In 1876, Theresa Mann married Hugh Fraser in 1876, and William and Mary's son Charles Fraser died at age 7.

William died in 1878 at the age of 60 (in his 61st year) after a short illness, and was buried in Geddie Memorial graveyard. He died without a will. His widow, Mary, prepared the administration papers for his estate, and noted that he left 4 sons and 4 daughters, ages 22, 20, 19, 17, 15, 7, 5 and 3.

In the 1881 Canadian census, Mary Fraser Mann was the head of a household that included three of her children, as well as step-sons John Andrew (age 22) and James Allen (18), and step-daughter Bessie (17), and her sister-in-law, Sarah Mann. There was also a 14 year old male, James Archibald Mann, who would seem to be the son of James Archibald Mann and Elizabeth Cairns, although no connection between these two Mann families has been discovered.

Ellen Ann Mann died in 1889, at age 18. William Johnstone Mann had rejoined the Mann household, and John Andrew had left it, by 1891.

William Johnstone Mann married Elizabeth McFadyen in 1892, James Allen married his cousin Jennie Mann in 1894, and Bessie married Angus McFadyen in 1896.

William's sister Sarah died sometime before 1901.

In 1901, Mary was living with her two surviving children, son Fraser and daughter Janet Melvina. Also in the household at this time were her nephews, William and Leslie Fraser, sons of Theresa Mann and Hugh Fraser, who later moved out west to Alberta.

Mary Fraser Mann died on November 18 1910 and was buried with her husband.