My Family Tree

From the PEI Baptism database, Rebecca Beer was born on 15 November 1841, the youngest daughter of Thomas Beer and Jane Robertson. She was baptized in February of the next year. On March 30 1864 she married George Rodd.

The Islander – Apr 1, 1864 Married. At the Manse, on the 30th ult., by the Rev. Thomas Duncan, Mr. George Rodd, Rustico Road, to Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Beer, Esq., Bannockburn.

Groom's Name George Rodd
Groom's Residence Rustico Road
Groom's Status Bachelor
Bride's Name Rebecca Beer
Bride's Residence Lot 31
Bride's Status Spinster
Source RG19/s3/ss5: Marriage bonds, 1864

There were eight children for this couple in the PEI Baptismal Index: Bruce Wellington, Edmund Beer, Ena Rebecca, George Amos, Ira Lee, Jane Robinson, John Young, and Walter James. Most were born in Milton, or on the Rustico Road. Another son might have been Thomas Beers Rodd who died in Milton in 1868 at the age of 2.

In the 1881 census, the Rods family was in Lot 24 with the following members: George (43), Rebecca (37), Edmon (14), Jane (12), Walter (9), Amos (6), Bruce (4) and Ena (2). The older children were all going to school and George was a farmer. George and Rebecca's son John Rodd seems to have died young.

Ten years later George (54) and Rebecca (48) were living with Edmund (24), W. James (20), George A. (16), Bruce (14), Ena R. (12), and Ira L. (9). They had a two story wood house with 10 rooms. By 1901, only Amos, Bruce and Ira were living at home. In this census record, Rebecca's date of birth was given as 9 December 1844. In the 1911 census, Rebecca (68) was living in Lot 24 with her husband George (74) and son Bruce. The next two entries on the census page were for Ira L and Edmund's households.

When George died, he left Rebecca a lifetime interest in the house and farm, with everything passing to his children on her death - or if she remarried. At the time of George's death, children were Jane, wife of Charles Holman, of Saskatchewan, age 40; Ena widow of John McKinley, age 33; George Amos, North Milton, age 37; Ira Lee, North Milton, age 30; Bruce Wellington, age 35 and Edmund Beer, age 44. Daughters Jane and Ena both received $500.00 and wife Rebecca $100 - in a later codicil George increased this to $500 for Rebecca. The sons shared in the farming implements and the house and land.

In her own will, Rebecca left $200 each to Ena McKinley and Bruce Wellington Rodd, and the rest of her estate to Ira Lee.

Rebecca died in 1919, at the age of 77. There was a brief death notice, but I was unable to find an obituary in the Guardian newspaper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to THE RODDS of PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND By E. S. D, reprinted with permission of Roseanne MacDonald, The Guardian, Apr. 21, 1988, as transcribed on the Island Register, George Rodd married the Rebecca Beers from Cherry Valley, that is, where the other Thomas Beer(s) lived.

The evidence that this was actually the Rebecca Beer from Bannockburn Road is:
(1) Rebecca's marriage record says she was from Lot 31, not Lot 50 where the other Thomas Beer lived.
(2) On the census record for 1891, she gave her father's birthplace as England and her mother's as Ireland - the other Thomas Beer had been born on the Island. On 1891 census records, Alfred and John Beers of Lot 50 said their father was b. PEI, and their mother in NS.
(3) She named a daughter Jane Robinson Rodd.
(4) The family tree for the other Thomas Beers and his wife Mary McLeod of Cherry Valley (Lot 50) didn't include a daughter Rebecca. The obit. for one of the other Thomas Beers' sons, who died in 1906, listed his brothers and sisters, but no Rebecca Rodd. And finally,
(5) The will of Thomas Beer, Bannockburn in Township 31, farmer listed the following daughters: Mary Ann McFadyen, wife of Archibald McFadyen; Rebecca Rodd, wife of George Rodd; and Elizabeth Livingston, wife of George Livingston.

The other Rebecca Beers can be eliminated. The other Beer/Beers/Bears families were in Charlottetown, Kings Co., and Crapaud. One Rebecca Beer married a minister and left the Island. Her father was a John Beer. There was also a Rebecca Beer who died as an infant. There was also a Rebecca Beer married to William Rodd.

However, the date of birth given by Rebecca Beer Rodd on the 1901 census was December 9 1844, which does not match the date for the daughter of Thomas & Jane in the PEI Baptismal Index. This could be a simple mistake on one of the records. The name Rebecca was not that common, so it seems unlikely that the first Rebecca died and George Rodd married another Rebecca the same age. As well, the birth dates for other members of her family recorded in the 1901 census also do not match the church baptismal record. It was not uncommon for a woman to make herself younger in census records.

Another possible explanation is that Thomas and Jane's first daughter named Rebecca died young, and another daughter was baptized as Rebecca in 1844. However, there were no other Rebecca Beers in the PEI Baptismal Index. Rebecca fairly consistently gave her year of birth as 1843 or 1844 in census records.