My Family Tree

Richard Knight was born on August 25 1850 in Charlottetown, the son of George Brace and Hannah Mann. He married Mary Olivia Schurman, the daughter of Thomas Schurman and Mary Ann Baxter, in September 1879. At residence of bride's father, Wednesday, 10th inst., by Rev. James Collins, Richard R. BRACE, Charlottetown, P.E.I. / Miss M. Olivia SCHURMAN eldest d/o Thos. H. SCHURMAN, Esq. (New Brunswick vital statistics from Newspapers:)

They had four children. Their two daughters, Bertha Breadwood and Daisy Wesley, died tragically by drowning in the St. Clair River in Sarnia, Ontario in 1909 at the ages of 29 and 21. According to one report, both had been working with the Salvation Army in Sarnia; according to another Daisy had been working in Boston and had joined her sister for a vacation. Son Roland Baxter Brace died young, but no dates are given on a family gravestone in Sherwood Cemetery. Their only surviving child was Nelson Talmaje (or Talmage) Brace, born in 1883; he served in the Boer War, and later moved to the United States.

Brace R. K., grocer, was listed on 91 Grafton, h 54 Sydney, in a city directory. A transcript of 1881 Peddlar's Licence List, Hawkers & Pedlar's License (sic) List - $5 each 1881 included one granted to Richard: April 14th: R.K. Brace, Merchant, Charlottetown PEI, 32, $5 Today there is an R.K. Brace building in Charlottetown.

A Schurman family history, William Schurman, Loyalist, said that in later years Richard and Olivia separated. He remained in the city and Olivia boarded at Jesse Schurman's home in Central Bedeque, then went to live in Massachusetts ...(she is not living with Jessie in the 1911 census, but there is a record that could be Olivia, living with her son and family in Massachusetts in 1910. According to this record, she went to Massachusetts in 1907. ) Olivia went out west on a Harvest Excursion in 1904 (Mrs. R. K. Brace, Charlottetown is on the transcribed list from the Examiner, September 2, 1904. from the Island Register).

In 1906, when Mrs. Thomas Schurman died, the obituary said:"Mrs. Schurman died a week ago last Thursday night. The family are Howard and Annie at home, George at New Village, and Mrs. R. K. Brace in Manitoba; a half brother, Charles, lives in St. Paul, Min." I could not find Olivia in the 1906 census of the Western provinces. Olivia was supposed to be living with her sister Annie in Massachusetts at the time of her death in 1924.

Richard does not seem to be in the 1911 census, and his telephone was not in the transcribed 1922 telephone directory for Charlottetown. However, he died in Charlottetown. One source said that he became a bookseller later in life, and there was an ad in the 1912 Guardian for his bookstore.

"Charlottetown businessman Richard K. Brace passed away in 1928 . One of his major assets was a large office building on , between Grafton and Kent , known ...." However, according to the Summerside newspaper, Richard K. Brace died in 1925 at the age of 74, after suffering a stroke that left him paralyzed.

Name Richard Knight Brace
Age 75
Residence Charlottetown
Date of Death 15 April 1925
Entry Number 811
Source RG19/s2/ss6: Death registration books, 1925

As a member of the Orange Order, Richard Brace was influential in the setting up and funding of an orphanage in Charlottetown:

"Since the Home was opened to admit children in 1908, the management has placed some fifty little ones in good homes, and today are caring for about twenty. Who will say that this is not a great work, and the brethren of the Orange Order in this Province, among whom should be mentioned the names of A. Sterling McKay, Reverend D. McLean, Reverend George Orman, H. Craswell and R. K. Brace, who made it possible for this institution to be founded deserve the highest commendation for their untiring assistance and zeal, in its welfare unto the present. The necessity for more room in the home proper, so as to accommodate the ver increasing demands which are continually coming in from widows and others seeking a home for some little fondling has forced the trustees to add an extension of twenty-five feet to the home building, for the accommodation of school room, dining room, play room and sleeping quarters. This needed addition will, it is hoped, be ready this fall, and will be a great acquisition. It is earnestly hoped that the brethren and friends of our Order will rally to the assistance of the trustees at this time and wipe out any debt which may be incurred in consequence of this addition. The present board of trustees desire all praise for the self-sacrificing zeal they have put forth in bringing this home to its present fine standing."

According to the book Memories of Long Ago, transcribed on the Island Register, "Among the objects seen in the cut of the water front will be observed the celebrated "Castalia."This picture was drawn by the late Mr. George Hubbard in 1849. He was also the artist of the original pictures of the water front, showing the site of the old Barrack Square, Pownal and Lord's Wharfs, etc., also Queen Square in the forties, cuts of all which may by seen in appropriate places in this booklet---all painted in 1849. The originals of the pictures just mentioned are to be seen on the walls of the Protestant Orphanage at Mount Herbert, being part of a bequest to that institution by the late Mr. R.K. Brace."

Richard Brace: "One of his major assets was a large office building between Grafton and Kent known as the Brace Block. Richard Brace was a man of strong Christian convictions, and his will decreed that the annual income from the Brace Block must be spent assisting young ministry students from four Charlottetown churches." This scholarship is still mentioned in university and college catalogues.

The first master of the Loyal Orange Lodge (LOL) in Clyde River was R.K. Brace.

Information on Richard and his family came from Canadian and US census records, and Massachusetts State files on familysearch.org.
Other sources to look at, from Google Books:

William Schurman, loyalist, of Bedeque:
Mary Olivia Schurman (Thomas*, Cummyfoe3, Isaac2, William1) was born Sep. 5, 1855 [g.s.: 1860] and died Oct. 27, 1924 in Haverhill, Mass. She married Richard K. Brace, 1849-1925. They lived in Charlottetown, where Richard had a store.

A United Empire Loyalist Family:
She married Richard K. Brace (1849-1925). They lived in Charlottetown where Richard had a store.

researched and assembled by Jane Dyment