My Family Tree

William Harris Dyment was born 9 Feb 1849 and baptized 15 Jul 1849 in what is now the United Church in O'Leary. He was the son of William Dyment and Effie McArthur.
His parents named him after William Harris, one of the oldest settlers in Knutsford, or after William Harris, a Bible Christian minister.

He married, on 18 October 1871, Jemima Betts the daughter of Silas Betts and Charlotte MacWilliams. George Diamond, and William McDonald, who married William Dyment's younger sister Maria Ellen, were witnesses. The minister was Charles Fraser of West Cape. Jemima was born in 1852, and died in 1923.

According to the 1881 Census the household in Lot 7 consisted of : William Dyment (30), farmer, Jemima (27), Zenia Jane (9), Elveretta (7), Gordon (5), Scott (3), and Clifford (7 months). The family was Baptist, which might be the reason why no baptismal records were found.

By 1891, the family members were: Zenia (19), Elveretta (17), George G (15), Daniel Scott (13), John Clifford (11), Lottie (7), Harry (5), Shelton (3), Bertha (3), and Walter (1). In that census, William was a farmer and a stone mason. He was also a plasterer by trade, and according to a biography written by the descendants of his son George Gordon, he later became a silver fox farmer. At this time the family was living in a one and a half story house with five rooms in Lot 7.

William and Jemima could both read and write.

Zenia married Jack Waite in1891, and Gordon George left home not long after his 15th birthday. Elva married James McAuley in Massachusetts in 1898. By the time of the 1901 census, Daniel, John, Lottie B, Harry J, Charles Shelton, Mary Bertha, Willie Walter, Curtis (6) and Jarvis B (1) were living at home. Mary Bertha died in 1907, and only four sons were still at home in 1911, Clifford, William, Curtis and Jarvis. Jarvis married in 1918.

William (72) and Jemima (69) were in Springfield, Lot 7, for the 1921 census. The entry is a bit difficult to read, but their son Scott is a widower with his son Bertram. Clifford and his wife Alice and their son Nelson were either in the household, or living nearby. It looks like Jarvis, age 20, was still living at home.

Elveretta and Harry both married and lived in Massachussets, and Gordon, Charles Shelton and Lottie married and lived in Maine. Daniel Scott remarried, and later moved to Nova Scotia. The three youngest sons married and lived on the Island.
Jemima died in 1923, and William in 1930 in Springfield, PEI.

William had been diagnosed with cancer in 1930, and in spite of this he was brave and cheerful.

Obit - Pioneer - 1 November 1930, page 7, col. 7

Name William Dyment
Age 81
Residence Springfield
Date of Death 19 September 1930
Entry Number 115
Source RG19/s2/ss6: Death registration books, 1930

 

 

Much of the information on this family came from information gathered at a Dyment Family Reunion, and an unpublished biography of William's son George, written by his descendant Leroy Dyment. See also the genealogy of the Betts family on the Island Register. According to the family, many family documents were destroyed in a house fire.