As a parent, I cannot imagine leaving my children behind and
moving away forever, but that is what my great-great grandmother did. Martha
Rixon left her two children with their grandparents in Ontario and went to live
in Michigan. She must have had a good reason to do such a thing.1
Martha (1834-1875) grew up in a large family in Sophiasburgh
Township, Prince Edward County, Canada West. When she was a teenager, the
family moved to Cramahe Township, near Brighton. Her father was a farmer and
carpenter who had been born in England, and her mother’s family had come to
Canada around 1800 from New York State. Martha had an older brother, two older
sisters and five younger sisters.
Martha J. Rixon, the 18-year-old daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth
Rixon of Cramahe, Northumberland, Canada West, was listed in the 1851 census of
Canada.2 Martha was also counted in the 1861 census, single and living
with Thomas and Elizabeth Rickson.3 Two small children, Samantha, age
six, and Willes (Phineas), age two, were also in the household.
Martha was not listed in the 1871 census of Canada, but
Samantha and Phineas, listed as S., 16, and P., 12, were still living with
their grandparents, Thomas and Elizabeth Rixon.4
After extensive research, it became clear that Arthur
Wellington Rixon, the man who, according to a family story, was Martha’s
husband and died of typhoid in 1859, probably never existed.5 Martha’s
children, Samantha Rixon (1852-1928) and Phineas Rixon (c. 1859-1938) were born
out of wedlock. The story about Arthur Wellington Rixon must have been
concocted to hide the fact that Samantha and Phineas were illegitimate.
The identity of the children’s father (or fathers) remains a
mystery. Both Samantha and Phineas indicated in their marriage records that
their mother was Martha and their father’s name was Thomas.6 Phineas
identified him as Thomas Rixon. Thomas might have been a first cousin from the
Halton area, west of Toronto, however, there is no documentation to prove that he
was ever in Cramahe. This Thomas Rixon (1834-1882) was the son of James and
Mary Rixon. He married Margaret Hannah Wright in 1868 and they had five
children. He became a minister in the Church of England in Arthur, Wellington
County, Ontario.7 Could Thomas’ address in
Arthur, Wellington County be a clue linking him to the fictional Arthur Wellington
Rixon?
![]() |
Martha and husband Moses Smith Perkins and three of his children. |
Martha's brother, William John Rixon (1826-1918), was a farmer
and a Methodist minister. He and his wife and children moved to Michigan in the
late 1860s. Martha accompanied them, leaving the children with their
grandparents in Cramahe, and she eventually married in Michigan.8
In those days, children conceived out of wedlock were not
uncommon, but that did not make it socially acceptable. It is easy to imagine
that Martha’s parents were upset with her for getting pregnant, not once, but
twice, and that going to the U.S. with her brother must have seemed like a good
option. She probably could not afford to raise her children, and perhaps they
were happy living with their grandparents with aunts, uncles, cousins and
friends nearby.
Martha married Moses Smith Perkins in Muskegon, Michigan on
August 18, 1870 at a “camp meeting,” according to Moses’
great-granddaughter Roberta Heoring.9 Moses was a fruit farmer and
Methodist Episcopal minister.10 His first wife, Sarah, had died,
leaving him with eight small children to raise. The 1870 U.S. census showed
Martha, keeping house, age 36, born in Canada, right below the entry for M.S.
Perkins, in Oceana, Muskegon, Michigan.11
Roberta, who has been working on the genealogy of her family
since 1991, has Moses’ diary. In it, Moses noted Martha Jane Rixon’s date of
birth – December 29, 1834 in Prince Edward County, Ontario – and the date of
her death from a fever at age 39, October 1, 1875. She was buried in Michigan.
Roberta says, “The cemetery is now known as
Sammis/Harmon/Eilers Cemetery … located on the corner of the Perkins farm…. I
have been unable to find any death records for the early members of the
family.… Moses remarried shortly after the death of Martha as he had young
children. He later moved his children and wife to Junction City, Kansas.”12
So it seems that, after a relatively short and probably difficult
life, Martha was buried in a rural cemetery with members of her husband’s extended
family. As far as I know, none of her descendants knows anything about her.
Photo courtesy Roberta Heoring.
Photo courtesy Roberta Heoring.
Sources and comments
1. It took me a long time to figure out who Samantha’s and
Phineas’ mother was. I couldn’t figure out whether the Martha in the 1861 census
was children’s mother or their aunt, but things became more clear after I hired professional genealogist Gabrielle Blaschuk to help. I have written a more complicated version
of this story which explains how I reached these conclusions. If you would like to
see that version of Martha’ story, contact me at janhamilton66@gmail.com.
2. “1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia,” database, Ancestry.ca
(http://www.ancestry.ca, accessed
Dec. 24 2009), entry for Thomas Rixon, Cramahe, citing Year: 1851,
Census Place: Cramahe, Northumberland County, Canada West (Ontario),
Schedule: B, Roll: C_11739, page 129, Line: 2.
3. “1861 Census of Canada,” database, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca, accessed May 8, 2017), entry for Thomas
Rickson, Cramahe Township, Northumberland, Canada West, and The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, citing Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1055-1056.
In 1861 census,
Martha was listed as age 21, which was undoubtedly an error. The 1851 census
listed Thomas’ and Elizabeth’s nine children: William, 26 ; Catherine, 22;
Rhoda, 20; Martha, 18, Ormacinda, 16; Kezia, 15; Phebe, 11; Mary, 9; Sarah,
5. For Martha to be 21 in 1861, she
would have to have been 11 at the time of the earlier census.
Names are another complication: Samantha was usually known
by her nickname, Mattie, and her grandmother, Elizabeth Rixon (nee Thompson),
was usually called Betsey.
4. “1871 Census of Canada,” database, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca, accessed May 8, 2017), entry for Thomas Rixon, Cramahe, Ontario, citing Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada, 1871, Cramahe, Northumberland East, Ontario; Roll: C-9984; Page: 34.
5. Janice Hamilton, “The Ancestor Who Did Not Exist”, Writinguptheancestors.blogspot.ca, April 11, 2017, http://writinguptheancestors.blogspot.ca/2017/04/the-ancestor-who-did-not-exist.html.
6. “Ontario, Canada
Marriages, 1857-1924,” database, Ancestry.ca,
(http://www.ancestry,ca, accessed Nov. 24, 2008), entry for Samantha Rixon,
1879, Shannonville, citing “Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1922, MS932,
Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.”
“Ontario, Canada,
Marriages, 1801-1928, 1933-1934,” database, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca, accessed May 10, 2017), entry
for Phenas Rixon, 1883, Northumberland, Ontario, citing Select
Marriages. Archives of
Ontario, Toronto; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Series: MS932; Reel: 47.
7. Find
a Grave, entry for Thomas Rixon, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=175238549&ref=acom,
accessed May 11, 2017.
8. William Rixon,
labourer, his wife Mary Cardinell and three children were listed in Oceana,
Muskegon, Michigan in the 1870 U.S. census. William later moved to California,
and that is where he died.
9. Roberta
Heorman, “Re: Martha Rixon/Moses Smith Perkins,” email message to Gabrielle
Blaschuk, Jan. 2, 2017, forwarded to the author, May 4, 2017.
10. Roberta
Heorman, “Michigan Biographical Sketches,” http://perkinsresearch.com/1870MIMen31.html, accessed May 11, 2017.
11. Martha’s name is not indexed on Ancestry, but
it is visible in the image of the census page.
1870 United States Federal Census, Oceana, Muskegon, Michigan; Roll: M593_692; Page: 349A; Image: 417246; Family History Library Film: 552191, M.S. Perkins; digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca, accessed May 9, 2017), citing National
Archives and Records Administration, 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA
microfilm publication M593.
12. Roberta
Heorman, “Re: Martha Rixon wife of Moses Smith Perkins”, email to the author, May
11, 2017.