guy E Canada

IHelen McLeod has quite an interesting family background and how she came to be in Australia.

Gilbert McLeod married Catherine Ross July 2,1810 in Glasgow. They had two children; George born 27 Jan 1811 & Helen born 14 Jan 1813 both in Glasgow. Gilbert was a printer and he became involved in the 1820 radical uprising in Scotland and published a newsletter (or something similar) called "The Spirit of the Union". He and some 20 other men were arrested and charged with various offences such as sedition. They were political prisoners and most of them were transported to Australia. One was executed.

Gilbert was convicted at Edinburgh on 8 Mar 1820 and sentenced to 5 years transportation. Native place was said to be Glasgow. He was 29, 5 foot 5 1/2 inches tall, fair pale complexion, light brown hair and hazel eyes. He left Scotland on the 3 Sep 1820 and arrived Sydney 28 Dec 1820 on the "Asia" (this is from his convict record).

He was assigned to a Mr Patton and then he petitioned the Governor of NSW (with support from a Surgeon Donald McLeod) to start a printing office. His wife Catherine and children George & Helen came free on the "Mary Ann" to Sydney in 1822. They had probably paid their own way to the colony. In the 1823 muster of convicts they are all living together, Gilbert has been given his freedom and is a schoolmaster; Helen is 13 & George 16. Please note that very literate, skilled convicts with no doubt a respectable background like Gilbert were well treated in the colony & highly valued for their skills.

The storey of the Maingy family leaving the island of Guernsey and coming to Eastern Canada begins with William Anstruther Maingy (1807-1886. He was one of 11 children of Peter Nicholas Maingy (1774 -1848) and grew up in Guernsey but like many others during this time left the island at the age of 23 (1830) to see the world. His first stop was Australia where he married Helen McLeod (1813-1892) and had there first child there. She would have been only 17 at the time. At some time he changed the spelling of his name to Mainguy. He then in 1831 emigrated to Eastern Canada with his new family where they had another 11 children. At one point he joined the Canadian Military Forces in quelling the Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada. In 1841 he joined the Civil Services in Canada (Legislative Council) under the Honorable Isaac Buchanen where he served for more than 25 years. He was one of the original sponsors of Saint Bartholomew's Church in the former New Edinburough, now part of the City of Ottawa.

It was mentioned that William Anstruther Maingy (1807-1904) had 12 children and one of them was Philip Anstruther Wynder Mainguy (1849-?) that is mentioned aboved and moved to the USA. We will now follow one of his brothers, William McLeod Mainguy (1843-1904) . While the family tree shown above of William Anstruther Mainguy show all the issue for each of the 8 generations, only this one line will be followed. Appologies for this but imformation on the others is very little and since William McLeod Mainguy is my great grandfather I know sometrhing about hime. I realize from this point on, this part of the web becomes personal.

My Great Granddad, William Mcleod Mainguy, was born in Ottawa in 1843. He was a civil engineer in charge of building the C.P.R. trans continental line from Thunder Bay to Kenora in Ontario. He lived in a modest house in Ottawa at 75 MacKay Street which is now conserved as a heritage house.

He married Laura Neville who gave birth to my Grandfather,Philip Neville Mainguy (1881-1958) and William Anstruther Mainguy who died in 1889 at the age of 15. She had a wonderful pioneer spirit and lived with her husband in a log cabin in the wilds of Northern Ontario for many years. She was the only white woman in the region and learned the language of the Indians as well as French. She lived until she was ninety five and died in Montreal in 1938. She lived with my Granddad for 34 years which means I have known her when I was a small boy.