Thomas was born c. 1800-1810, probably in Yorkshire, England.
The 1830 New York census lists Thomas, aged "of twenty and under thirty".
The Wright family history, written down c. 1940 and related by Mike Wright, describes Thomas as coming from, "Scotland and England way back". The Scottish origin may be a reference the Wright ancestry, or to earlier ancestors of Thomas and Ann.
Ann's parents: Unknown / Ruth Reynard (Rennard?)
Source1: Ann's LDS IGI christening record lists only her mother's name, Ruth Reynard.
Source2: Reynard researcher C. Pilkington in the UK has persuasive circumstancial evidence that Ann was probably the first illegitimate child of Ruth Mercy Rennard (1791-185?).
The Ingledew family history notes that "Susan Cunneyworth Ingledew was born in Canada, but her parents [Thomas and Ann] were both from Yorkshire".
Ann's maiden name, Reynard, was originally derived from:
Source1: son George's Vital Statistics marriage registration record for his marriage to Lizette Roe
Source2: son William's Vital Statistics marriage registration record
Source3: marriage registration record for Ann Reynard and Thomas Conneyworth
Ann was born c. July 1, 1812 in Warter, East Yorkshire, England.
Source1: year and country derived from 1871 Ontario census
Source2: year and country derived from Ann's Vital Statistics death registration record
Source3: Ann's LDS IGI christening record
Source4: In the 1881 Ontario census Ann "Cuneyworth" is listed as age 68, birthplace England.
If Ann was indeed the daughter of Ruth Mercy Rennard (1791-185?), then Ann had (half?) siblings Harriet Rennard (christened c. August 19, 1815 in Warter), Thias Charter (christened c. June 19, 1822 in Holme On Spalding Moor), George Charter (christened c. August 26 in Holme On Spalding Moor) and Elizabeth Charter (christened c. October 23, 1835 in Holme On Spalding Moor).
Ann Reynard and Thomas Conneyworth were married Sept 13, 1829, at the parish church of Bubwith, East Yorkshire, England, according to their marriage registration record.
LDS IGI records on the Internet list a John Cunningworth christened in Holme On Spalding Moor, East Yorkshire, England, Nov 29, 1829, with parents Thomas Cunningworth and Ann Unknown.
According to the Ingledew family history, Ann arrived in North America "aboard ship with her first-born in her arms".
Thomas Cunneyworth was in Madrid, St. Lawrence County, NY in 1830. Madrid is across the St. Lawrence River, east of Ontario's Kitley Township, Leeds County.
There are references to Thomas in FamilyTreeMaker's Census Index: US Selected Counties and in their Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s.
The June 1, 1830 New York census shows Thomas as the head of a family which consisted of one male and one female, both aged "of twenty and under thirty" and one male "under five years of age".
The Wright family history, first written down c. 1940, includes a reference to Catherine, a daughter of Thomas and Ann, born c. 1832 in the eastern US.
In the 1881 Ontario census "Catharine" (Cunneyworth) Prince is listed as age 50, birthplace USA.
The clues so far indicate that Thomas and Ann were married in Bubwith, East Yorkshire, England in September, 1829, and had John 2 months later in nearby Holme Upon Spalding Moor. From there they traveled to Madrid, New York near the shores of the St. Lawrence River, where they appear in the June, 1830 US census. About one year later, their second child Catherine was born, presumably in Madrid.
Prior to April, 1908, people were able to move freely across the US border into Canada. If someone entered Canada across the border before then, no record of his or her immigration exists. Other information (a marriage record for son George, Ingledew research on Susan and the 1842 Ontario census), however, indicates Thomas and Ann had their third child, George c. 1833 and later, Susan and two more children (William and Ruth Ann) by 1842 on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River, south of Ottawa in Kitley township, then continued on to Toronto, where they had three more children (Richard, Elizabeth Jane and Harriet Maria), until Thomas died, probably sometime between 1849 and 1857 (one mysterious reference to Blandford Township in 1858 notwithstanding).
The name "Thomas Coneworth" (noted as "Consworth?" in an April 1997 transcription by Paul Côté but more likely "Coneworth" in the original) appears in an 1835 political petition compiled by some residents of Leeds County to request a new provincial election. Many groups of names (including Thomas') are not actual signatures, but seem to be written by a single person.
Ontario Genealogical Society, Leeds & Grenville Branch, Census Records for the Township of Kitley in 1839 lists a Thomas Conneyworth as head of a household consisting of 1 male and 1 female adult with 3 male children and 2 female children. This information correlates well with our Thomas and Ann, the 3 male children in this census being John born c. 1829, George c. 1833 and William c. 1838, and the 2 female children being Catherine (born c. 1831-32?) and Susan (c. 1836?).
Ann was in Toronto (and presumably Thomas was also there) c. 1840 for the birth of their daughter Ruth Ann.
Connie Spencer originally informed me by email of the Leeds and Grenville Genealogy Society index for the 1841 Ontario census for Kitley township which includes the following information for a Thomas Conyworth: 1 male adult, 1 female adult, 3 male children and 3 female children. Sometime later I confirmed this 1841 listing myself in the Ontario Genealogical Society, Leeds & Grenville Branch, Census Records for the Township of Kitley publication. The third female child would have been Ruth Ann, born c. 1841.
I was unable to locate the 1841 census in a subsequent visit to the Ontario Archives. I did confirm, however, that in the 1842 Kitley census, a Thomas "Cunyworth", nonproprietor of real estate (i.e. a tenant), farmer, was the head of a family in one inhabited household, with 3 natives of England, 5 natives of Canada of British origin, and had resided in the province for 10 (or 11?) years. The household included 1 male and 1 female aged 5 or under, 2 males and 2 females older than 5 but younger than 14, 2 married males aged between "30 and not 60" and 2 married females between "14 and not 45". An "8" appears (erroneously) in the column for "Number of lunatic [females] above five and under 14 years of age", next to the column titled (more reasonably) "Number of persons in each family belonging to the Church of England".
This implies that Thomas and Ann had 6 children (3 girls and 3 boys) in 1842 and shared the house with another couple, who were not members of the same church. One girl and one boy were born c. 1837 - 1841 (since the same number of children were reported in the 1841 census), and the remaining 2 girls and 2 boys were born c. 1829 - 1836, all but one in Canada. Other evidence (Catherine's 1881 Ontario census record) suggests that Catherine was also born outside Canada, however. Both married couples and one child (John) were born in England.
Ontario Genealogical Society, Leeds & Grenville Branch, Census Records for the Township of Kitley in 1844 lists a Thomas "Canningworth" as head of a household consisting of 1 male and 1 female adult with 4 male children and 3 female children. This information correlates well with our Thomas and Ann. The fourth male child in this census would have been Richard, born c. 1843.
Elaine and George Jackson of Ottawa, Ontario have a photograph of Thomas and Ann, which Elaine's mother had labeled "G. Grandpa [and] G. Grandma Cunneyworth". George kindly provided me with a scanned copy.
Thomas Cunneyworth and Ann Reynard
Photo courtesy of Elaine and George Jackson
Rowsell's City of Toronto and County of York Directory, for 1850-51
lists Thomas as "Cunningworth Thomas, labourer, Queen-street east, near Sumach-street"
(west of the Don Valley).
According to the Cathedral Church of St. James (Anglican), Baptisms 1807-1908, from the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society's Electronic Search Service for Places of Worship Registers, Thomas was a labourer in Toronto Nov 8, 1850 when their ninth child, (Harriet) " Maria Cunningworth" was baptised.
According to the Directory of the Province of Ontario, 1857, "Mrs. Ann Cunneyworth" was living in Toronto on Spadina Ave. near Phoebe St. in 1857. There is no mention of Thomas, so it's possible that she may already have been a widow at this time.
There is also a reference to a Mrs. Ann Cunneyworth in FamilyTreeMaker's "Genealogical Records: The Ontario Register, 1780s - 1870s".
Ancestralfindings.com offers free genealogy lookups for reasonably well-specified requests. I sent them a request for Ann's information in The Ontario Register but the only listing for Ann they could find in their database at all was for The Ontario Register, 1780s-1870s, Section : Directory of the Province of Ontario, 1857, i.e. the same reference noted above.
The FamilyTreeMaker Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s states that a Thomas "Cunnyworth" was living in the Toronto region in 1858, and quotes the source of this information as: History of Blandford Township 1867 - 1967, by George Oliver, but there appears to be no mention of any Cunneyworths in this book.
The Internet index to the 1871 Ontario census lists an Ann "Coneyworth", age 59, born in England, Anglican, and notes she "bears a different surname than the head of the family".
The actual 1871 Ontario census records at the Ontario Archives show Ann Coneyworth to be a widow, age 59, living with a John Coneyworth (presumably her son?), unmarried, age 40, labourer, both born in England, religion Church of England.
This census indicates that Ann and John were living at the home of Ann's (and Thomas') daughter, Elizabeth Jane Wright (age 24) / Joseph Wright (age 25) and their daughter Letitia (age 11 months), all born in Ontario.
Elsa Vorwerk's transcription of information in the 1881 Ontario census for St. Andrew's ward, Toronto lists:
Ann Cuneyworth, widow, age 68, born in England, religion: Church of England, in the same family group with:
John T. Cuneyworth, age 17, born in Ontario, religion: Church of England.
The same 1881 Ontario census for Orangeville, not very far from Toronto, also lists:
John Thos. Cunneyworth, age 17, born in Ontario, occupation Trunk Maker, religion: Church of England.
Is this the same John T. enumerated twice, once while visiting his grandmother in Toronto and again at home in Orangeville?
Ann died of cancer May 12, 1892, at age 80 in Toronto.
A notation of "6 months" in her death registration record presumably means that she had a six month battle with the disease. (Medical examiner: Dr. J.W.S. Woods, Toronto). Her name is spelled "Cunniwroth" in her death index record and "Cunniworth" in her detailed death registration record and her age is listed as 70.
Children:
- John Cunneyworth
- Catherine "Kate" Cunneyworth / John Prince
- George Cunneyworth
- Susan Cunneyworth / William Din Ingledew
- William Cunneyworth / Margaret Rolston
- Ruth Ann Cunneyworth / John Freeman Davis
- Richard "Dick" Cunneyworth / Mary Ann "Eliza" Colton
- Elizabeth Jane Cunneyworth / Joseph Oliver Wright
- Harriet Maria Cunneyworth / Oliver Butts Buck