My Family Tree

Bernard, Rachel Adeline (or Adelaide/Line). Adeline was born about 1860, the daughter of Alexander Bernard and Amelia Mann.

She married Levi F. Laird of Tryon on March 24 1884 in the Methodist Church with her parents as witnesses. Levi died in New Brunswick in 1889 at the age of 29. In the 1891 census, she was widowed, living with her brother on PEI with her daughters, Bessie (6) and Lottie (5).

I have been unable to find this family in the 1901 or 1910 census records. Lottie Laird was living with her aunt Kate in South Dakota in the US 1900 census. There is an entry for a Bessie Laird in Charlottetown, age 18, and living in lodgings.

There is an entry in Margate Marriages (on familysearch.org) for a marriage between Rachael Adeline Leard and Alexander Barnard, both of Richibucto, New Brunswick, married August 29 1900 by Rev. W. Thomson. At first I wasn't sure about names of her father (Alexander Bernard) and this husband being so similar. Co-incidence, or mistake made by the minister? BUT, Rachel died in British Columbia, and one of her daughters lived in Kamloops, BC, from at least the time of the 1911 census to the death of her baby son in 1916. There was a death notice for an Alexander Bernard, spouse Bernard, born in NB who died in Kamloops in 1927 at the age of 67. This makes him the right age, with the right birthplace to be Rachel Adeline's second husband. And finally, Rachel Adeline's death certificate would have been under her married name (Bernard or Laird), but not her maiden name (also Bernard).

At the age of 25, Bessie Jane Laird married James Clarke Dobson in Nelson, British Columbia in 1909, and had at least two daughters,: Jean born in 1910 and Grace Laird in 1912, and one son David Laird Dobson (1920-1975).
Lottie Pearl married George Bell. She died in 1929 in BC. She had at least two daughters, Marion and Bessie Bell. Marion married Herbert Mcelvaine in Nelson, B.C.

Rachel Adeline Bernard Laird died in Vancouver, B.C. on 16 March 1940 at the age of 77 (born 1863). Survived by 1 daughter, Mrs J. C. Dobson, 3 sisters (Margaret, Kate and Eliza) and 4 brothers (Russell George, James Cameron, Herbert Reid; maybe Watson, or maybe one of her half-brothers?), 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. The Province 19 March 1940

Vital Event Death Registration

Name: Rachel Adelaide Bernard

Event Date: 1940 3 16 (Yr/Mo/Day)
Age: 77
Gender: female
Event Place: Vancouver

Reg. Number: 1940-09-570561
B.C. Archives Microfilm Number: B13167
GSU Microfilm Number: 1953627

Vital Event Death Registration

Name: Alexander Bernard

Event Date: 1927 4 25 (Yr/Mo/Day)
Age: 67
Gender: male
Event Place: Kamloops

Reg. Number: 1927-09-390302
B.C. Archives Microfilm Number: B13132
GSU Microfilm Number: 1952311