Buckley, Menzie and McMurray Families - Niagara Falls, Ontario ...
Buckley, Menzie and McMurray Families - Niagara Falls, Ontario ...
Buckley, Menzie and McMurray Families - Niagara Falls, Ontario ...
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About this time he met the youngest child of Andrew <strong>and</strong> Louisa <strong>Menzie</strong>, Grace Greenwood<br />
<strong>Menzie</strong> who had just graduated from the Wesleyan Ladies’ College in Hamilton. The occasion in<br />
the studio photo below is uncertain but a young Grace<br />
Greenwood <strong>Menzie</strong> is seated in front on the left <strong>and</strong><br />
William John <strong>McMurray</strong> beside her.<br />
The <strong>Menzie</strong>’s came from Wampsville in the Oneida,<br />
New York area to Stamford Township in 1850<br />
purchasing a large tract of l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> building a house<br />
fronting on what is now <strong>Menzie</strong> Street<br />
It is not clear why Andrew left New York State. Perhaps the death of his first wife Juliett Warren<br />
in 1844 had something to do with it. He had remarried<br />
Louise Ratnour <strong>and</strong> they arrived with three children, Myron,<br />
the son of his first wife, Eugene <strong>and</strong> Rosco. They had six<br />
other children over the years, the youngest Grace <strong>and</strong><br />
touchingly he named his first daughter Juliett (Etta) after his<br />
first wife. Myron returned to New York State to enlist on<br />
the Federal side at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860<br />
<strong>and</strong> survived to be buried in Fairview at the young age of<br />
forty four in 1886, perhaps from the toll of the war.<br />
Five of the nine children married but only Grace <strong>and</strong> Etta are recorded as having children. Etta<br />
married Dr.Emmett Pyle but their only child Jennie Louise, died at thirteen in 1890.<br />
Records on the <strong>Menzie</strong>s are scarce. The burial book at Fairview under ‘Occupation’ defines<br />
Andrew as ‘Gentleman’ which suggests he was a man of means <strong>and</strong> may have been a speculator<br />
of real estate in his purchase of l<strong>and</strong> in Stamford. He seems to have earned money by selling off<br />
lots as The Town of Clifton <strong>and</strong> then the Town of <strong>Niagara</strong> <strong>Falls</strong> exp<strong>and</strong>ed to the west along<br />
Bridge Street until the original large property shrunk to its present size. His daughter Grace still<br />
held mortgages into the late 1940’s which may well have been on parts of that property.<br />
-34-<br />
The <strong>Menzie</strong> House <strong>Menzie</strong> Street