maughan.ca
a collection of family histories

John Maughan born c. 1800. Commissioner of the Department of the Army. Sailed from Edinburgh (Cumbria) Scotland in 1827 and initially stationed in Montreal, then Toronto. Died in 1881 at the age of 81. Married Euphemia Janet Stein 09-Dec-1822 at St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, Scotland. Euphemia was born in Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland circa 1802 and died 26-Nov-1861 in Toronto, Ontario. Euphemia's parent were David Stein born 1775 and Eliza Shea born about 1778 in Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland and were married in 1799.

Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of York

Excerpted from 'Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of York, Ontario' published by J. H. Beers & Co. 1907, page 123

'JOHN MAUGHAN. The Maughan family, of which John is a member, is of Scotch extraction, and was founded in Canada by John Maughan, Sr., who was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1800. There he married Miss Euphemia Stein, also of Scotch parentage. In 1827 he came to Canada, making the trans-Atlantic trip on a sailing vessel, which was stranded in Newfoundland. Soon after settling in Toronto, Mr. Maughan became identified with the commissariat department of the army, in which capacity he continued for many years. in 1842 he compiled 'A Table of Computations' in book form, for the use of the army, whereby sterling money is converted tinto its equivalent in currency and vice versa, being the first ever published. It shows much pains-taking work, and possesses a great deal of prectical information. From the commissariat department, Mr. Maughan went into the Bank of Upper Canada, where he remained for some time, later retiring from active business. He died in Toronto in 1882; his wife died there in 1862. Of their three daughters and two sons, John Maughan is the only survivor.'

Toronto and Home District Directory

The 1837 Toronto and Home District Directory has been referred to as the 1837 census of Toronto. The 'Home District' refers to the areas covered by the original counties of York, most of Simcoe, Peel and Ontario (now Durham). The information available there indicates that John Maughan owned land in Lot 12, Concession 7 in the township of Markham. This information validates the reference in "A History of Ontario" to the birthplace of John Maughan (son of the above) as the town of Markham in 1835, as well as fitting in with John Maughan's departure from Edinburgh in 1827. The unfortunate thing about that reference is that it does not go into further detail regarding other offspring of John and Euphemia Maughan (nee Stein).

Brown's Toronto City and Home District Directory 1846-7

This is the first city directory edition for Toronto / the Home District that lists a Maughan - the John Maughan referenced here. John is listed with an occupation of assistant commissary clerk (for the army) on Queen Street west of Brock Street (now Spadina Avenue).

While this location is vague, we can see from the 1842 'Topographical Map of the City and Liberties of Toronto' by James Cane that the area is sparsely populated and may be part of the Garrison Common (Military Reserve). Queen Street is shown as Lot Street on this map; for reference you can orient from Osgoode Hall top right in the image, located at Queen and Univerity now, Lot and College then.

Rowsell's Toronto City and County of York Directory 1850-1

The next city directory edition for Toronto / the County of York that lists John Maughan shows him working at the Commisariat Department on Queen Street west of Bathurst Street. The location has shifted west likely due to the new army garrison location (Fort York at this time was referred to as the Old Garrison).

Brown's Toronto Directory 1856

The Toronto Directory for 1856 lists John Maughan (senior) now working for the Bank of Upper Canada at the Spadina Avenue branch. It also lists John Maughan (junior, born 1835) working as a junior clerk for the Western Insurance Company on Spadina Avenue.

The banking section in the directory shows John Maughan Sr.'s occupation as a bookkeeper.

Caverhill's Toronto City Directory 1859-60

The Toronto Directory for 1859-60 lists John Maughan (senior) now living at 13 Windsor Street and being the chief accountant for the Bank of Upper Canada. John Maughan (junior) is not listed.

Brown's Toronto Directory 1861

The Toronto Directory for 1861 lists John Maughan (senior) still living at 13 Windsor Street, but no occupation is listed in the aphabetical directory section. John Maughan (junior) is not listed.

Hutchinson's Toronto Directory 1862-3

The Toronto Directory for 1862-3 lists John Maughan (senior) still living at 13 Windsor Street and chief accountant for the Bank of Upper Canada. John Maughan (junior) is listed as a clerk for the and boarding at 13 Windsor Street.

Mitchell's Directory of Toronto 1864-5

Mitchell's 1864-65 Directory lists both John Maughan senior and junior (James Maughan is not related as far as we can tell) residing at 13 Windsor Street.

Mitchell & Co's Toronto Directory 1866

The Toronto Directory for 1866 lists John Maughan (senior) still living at 13 Windsor Street with no occupation mentioned and John Maughan (junior) is listed as head clerk of the Western Insurance Company and living at 13 Windsor Street.

Mitchell & Co's Toronto Directory 1867-8

The Toronto Directory for 1867-8 lists John Maughan (senior) still living at 13 Windsor Street working as a book-keeper for (Hugh) Scott & (Alfio) DeGrassi Insurance brokers and John Maughan (junior) is listed as book-keeper and living at 13 Windsor Street.

C. E. Anderson & Co's Toronto Directory 1868-9 / W. C. Chewett & Co's Toronto City Directory 1868-9

The Anderson Toronto Directory for 1868-9 lists John Maughan (senior) still living at 13 Windsor Street working as an accountant and John Maughan (junior) is listed as the assistant secretary of the Western Insurance Company of Canada and living at 13 Windsor Street. Essentially there is no difference between the two directories.

Robertson & Cook's Toronto City Directory 1870

The Toronto Directory for 1870 lists John Maughan (senior) as an accountant living at Wellington Place (now Wellington Street west of Spadina) and John Maughan (junior) is listed as the assistant secretary of the Western Insurance Company of Canada and living on the north side of Wellington Place at Portland.

Robertson & Cook's Toronto City Directory 1871-2

The Toronto Directory for 1871-2 lists John Maughan (senior) as an accountant living at Wellington Place (now Wellington Street west of Spadina) and John Maughan (junior) is listed as the assistant secretary of the Western Insurance Company of Canada and living on the north side of Wellington Place near Portland.

Might's Toronto City Directory 1879

The Toronto Directory for 1879 is the last listsing for John Maughan Sr., the John referenced here as born in 1800. He is shown living at 74 Wellington Place.

John Maughan Jr. is listed as the manager of the Isolated Risk and Farmer's Fire Insurance Co. and living at 76 Wellington Place.

13 Windsor Street

The original houses we torn down somtime in the early 1900's as the area became more commercialized. Machine works, a warehouse and some retail occupied the site until Toronto Hydro constructed a substation.

There remains a portion of an old brick wall at the south end of the substation that separates it from the parking lot that fronts on Front Street West. This wall is likely part of the building that housed the factory / warehouse that fronted on Wellington Street West.

What's interesting, given the family history of land surveying, is that John Maughan Sr. and Jr. lived next door to Sandford Fleming. Sandford Fleming was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor who promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, and the use of the 24-hour clock as key elements to communicating the accurate time. He designed Canada's first postage stamp, left a huge body of surveying and map making, engineered much of the Intercolonial Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada and founder of the Canadian Institute, a science organization in Toronto. John Maughan Jr. was a member of the Canadian Institute and our Maughans certainly descend from Scottish roots. I will continue to wonder what sort of conversations might have been had over the fence between my ancestors and their neighbour Sandford Fleming...

The 1842 atlas of Toronto done by Cane above shows the Windsor Street area as vacant land. Note again that Spadina Avenue is shown as Brock Street, and Wellington Street West is shown as Market Street.

The 1857 map of Toronto done by (Sanford) Fleming, Ridout and Schriber shows Windsor Street running between Front and Wellington, splitting the block between John and Peter Streets, just to the west of the then Houses of Parliament.

The 1862 map of Toronto shows how the building lots are now laid out on Windsor Street.

The 1884 Fire Map of Toronto shows the dwellings and street addresses on Windsor Street.

Land Records

The 1837 Toronto and Home District Directory indicates John Maughan owned land in Lot 12, Concession 7 in the Township of Markham. A search of the land registry records for this geographic will hopefully provide extra information.

John Maughan's last will and testament was executed on 08-May-1879 and subsequently registered as instrument number GC14427 on 25-May-1882 in the Toronto Land Registry Office. John bequeaths all of his estate to his daughters Janet Stein Maughan and Euphemia Russell Stein Maughan. The Russell connection would link back to Euphemia's great-grandmother Euphan Russel. John's wife Euphemia Maughan's last will and testament was registered as instrument number GC18894 on 26-July-1902 in the Toronto Land Registry Office.

Another resource that has proved useful is the indexing project done by McGill University to archive the information contained on Ontario County Atlases. These atlases, which are pictorial representations of land ownership, provide similar information as an official census would. John Maughan (1800) does not appear on the township of Markham atlas dated 1878; the owners at that time were James Robinson and William Stotts.

A search of the County Atlas database returned 3 Maughan's - one of particular interest due to his proximity to the Markham reference above being the 1878 atlas of Whitchurch Township in the County of York (now in the Regional Municipality of York), which neighbours Markham Township to the north and shows a William Maughan (brother / son of John?) as the owner of all 100 acres of Lot 16 Concession 7. This presents another avenue to follow up on. The second is a W. Maughan who appears on the 1897 atlas of Hibbert township in the county of Perth as the owner of Lot 25 Concession 4. The third is a Joseph Maughan (from England) who was a sheriff in Grey county for many years. He appears as an owner in the Town of Owen Sound (settled in 1854) in the township of Derby on the atlas of that area dated 1880.

The Markham Trial

Whilst living in Markham, John Maughan was a witness in the trial of a number of men accused of various unsavoury deeds. The transcript of the trial was forwarded to me by Cameron Knight, the local history librarian at the Richmond Hill Library.

Scottish Land Records

A search of the Old Scottish Parish Records online database revealed that John Maughan married Euphemia Stein 9-Dec-1822 at St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh, Scotland. There is a slight disconnect here with "A History of Ontario" as it cites John's wife as Janet. However the Scottish records also show that Janet Stein Maughan, daughter of John and Euphemia Maughan, was christened at St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh 15-Mar-1824. This would make Janet a sister to John Maughan (my great-great grandfather).

There is another sibling recorded in Scottish records - Robert Maughan, son of John and Euphemia Maughan, who was also christened at St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh 15-Oct-1825. From that point forward in the Scottish record there is no further mention of these Maughans. This correlates very well with their departure for Canada in 1827. There are no records of either Euphemia or John's births, however the suspicion is that they were transferred with the army to Edinburgh, as was the case during the period of their arrival in Canada, and may have been born in England.

1871 Ontario Census

The 1871 Ontario census lists a John Maughan Sr. living in St. George's Ward, Toronto West with his origin as Scottish and age as 65. This would mean he would have been born circa 1806, a 6 year difference with the reference in "A History of Ontario", where he is said to have died in 1881 at the age of 81.

A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography

A reference in the "A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography" (Volume 1) by George Maclean Rose on page 55 states:
John Maughan, of the Commissariat Department of Her Majesty's service, and Euphemia Stein, his wife, who was born in Dublin, and educated in Edinburgh, [both of] of Blackhall, Clackmananshire, Scotland.

Janet (Jennette) Stein Maughan

1883 Toronto Tax Assessment records show Janet and Euphemia living at 74 Wellington Place in Toronto. Both are listed as spinters with occupations as 'ladies'. Next door at number 76 was their brother, John Maughan (Jr.). Janet died of a conjested liver on 28-Oct-1888 and was interred at Necropolis Cemetery on 31-Oct-1888 (M-108).

Euphemia Russell Stein Maughan

1883 Toronto Tax Assessment records show Janet and Euphemia living at 74 Wellington Place in Toronto. Both are listed as spinters with occupations as 'ladies'. Next door at number 76 was their brother, John Maughan (Jr.). The 1890 Tax Assessment shows the address as 96 and Janet is no longer listed. Euphemia died 30-Nov-1899 from liver disease and was interred at Necropolis Cemetery on 1-Dec-1899 (M-108).

Madeline Walker Maughan

Madeline was born circa 1834 and died 03-Jan-1874 from stomach ulcers and erysipelas. She was interred at Necropolis Cemetery on 5-Jan-1874 (M-108).