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• _UID: CFA8119DDC858D49A4247536B3AF909C5D46

Notes:

Bill wrote to his Dad on May 24, 1944: "It is one year since I got worn into the Army & believe me it has been quite a busy year. And now here I sit on the eve of an invasion "ready" for battle. When it comes, it is going to be plenty tough & alot of fellows will be dead. What I am afraid of most is not death; but being hit & suffer a permanent injury or ailment....In the army you find out what a home really is and what it means. Thanks for the home & thanks for everything."

On July 25, 1944 Bill wrote:" Have to start saving me a little money after this leave. for I've got a strong hankering to take Medicine if I can rise t the occaion. You'd know what I meant if you were in Normandy."

A major wrote to his father Bill about his death on Sept 10,1944: "The company ws making an attack on a strongly held German position when we came under some very heavy mortar fire. Not with standing, "Kotch" as he was affectionately called by all of us, contnued to lead his platoon forward to his objective and he had just reached it when he was killed instantly by blast from a mortar bomb that felll within a few yards of him. We buried him in a little glade near where he fell together with some oh his men who were alos killed. Our padre conducted a service over them.... Kotch's men have asked me to say that never will they have another platoon commander who they will follow with the same confidence." The finest tribute I can pay is to say that to have 30 men with such implicit faith in you that they will follow wherever you lead is a fine memorial to one of the most honest, goodlooking men I have ever known."

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• _UID: 379B7A2684E648839D5957FD2A26C0ADAE35

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Grandpa Bill. Bill was 8 when his mother passed on. His dad remarried but his stepmother reportedly was not very loving towards him.

My grandfather loved to farm and loved that particular farm but the tradition was that the older son inherited the farm. So as the second son, Bill had to go to town to get a job. In 1909 at the age of 18, Grandpa Bill went to Winnipeg and became a shoe salesman . One of the stories of how he met my Grandmother Bessie was while fitting shoes on her. Another story was that they met at a snow shoe club event. So definitely

Buried:
Brookside Cemetary

William married Bessie Alison BROWN on 23 Dec 1916 in Winnipeg, , Manitoba, Canada. Bessie was born on 14 Jun 1894 in Toronto, , Ontario, Canada; died on 7 May 1965 in Winnipeg, , Manitoba, Canada; was buried in Winnipeg, , Manitoba, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: 8E130390B4C241929A29205ECBC8EF438313

Notes:

Bessie was born in Brown's Corners, Scarborough,Ontario. Her sister Kate was married and living in Winnipeg when Bessie moved there in 1912. Bessie was about 5' 5 tall with brown hair and cornflower blue eyes. Her appearance was similar to Scots women. She raised four daughters and one son - Margaret, Marion, Bill, Bettty and Alison.

In her own home, Bessie worked tirelessly . Every year, she made jams and jellies from all the currents and berries grown by her beloved husband. Bessie also played the piano for sing-a-longs when her five children were young. She had many close friends. She also enjoyed her cigarettes!

She was a member of Westminister United Church for many years. She served as President of the Board of Children's Hospital and was a member of the Lieutenant Melville Wood Guild of the Hospital and a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of Khatrurm Temple of the Shrine.

Buried:
Brookside Cemetary

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• _UID: 3F20E985E20A4A2CAF0E8CE969608A1DD169
• Name: Episcopal Methodist

Notes:

(Research):John Ryerson Kotchapaw was born on a cold January day in 1853 (13 Jan) on a farm in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario. He was the first of seven children ( of whom five made it to adulthood).

His father, Reuben, settled on and farmed Lot 18, concession 2 with a mailing address of Demorestville RR 2. The computerized Land Records Index show registry on 3 Oct 1857 concerning CL Deed # 01 C113.

John farmed with his father.

He grew up in the same concession as Sarah Gorsline who he married on 11 Jun 1879 when he was 26.

John's father died a few months after their wedding, Reuben ,as the eldest son, inherited his father's farm. He continued to farm growing barley, hay and other cereals. They had a large barn (with hay loft) for the dairy cows, pigs, chickens and a horse or two. They lived in a large two storey farm house. They lived without electricity or indoor plumbing.

Sarah gave birth to 2 sons - Claude in 1885 and Bill in 1891. The boys helped with the milking of the cows by hand and with the large vegetable garden. They grew all their own vegetables. Sarah churned the cream and butter

In July 1899, Sarah became paralyzed and died .

John married Deborah Anderson on 23 Jan 1901. They did not have any children.

John's grandchildren Marion and Bill spent a whole summer in 1937 at the farm of their grandparents. Marion remembers John as being strong and handsome with a great white mustache. He loved to call people "Darlin". Grandma Deborah was a dear. Marion recalls that the horse that they had then was called Hazel. One of Marion's chores was to fetch the eggs (about 4-6 eggs) each morning. At that time, her uncle Claude was living across the street where he farmed. Claude's son Burt, 29 had attached/ latched a house onto his grandfathers and was farming there.

John died on 6 May 1940 at the age of 87.

John married Sarah Matilda GORSLINE on 11 Jun 1879. Sarah was born in 1856; died on 25 Jul 1899 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: E8C6A732D8384815884BCDF5F463A839C141

Notes:

Sarah was a practising Quaker.She gave birth to 2 sons - Claude and Bill. She died when her son Bill was 8. Her husband remarried but his new wife was not loving towards her stepson Bill.

Someone showed Meliisa rather than Matilda as her middle name.

Her son William writes: " Yes the Gorslines were Quakers and well I remember going to church shared with the Methodists. We might sit for in church an hour and then (Isse Wilson) would get up and reach her sermon.

(Research):Sarah was born on 12 November of 1857. Her parents Jacob and Roxanna were third generation Canadian farmers. Their grandparents had cleared the forests and homesteaded in Prince Edward County, an island on Lake Ontario south of Belleville.

Jacob and Roxanna named their firstborn child after Jacob's mother Sally Adams who had died three years before.

Jacob was a farmer who inherited his farm from his father. It was the original homestead of his grandfather. It consisted of 200 acres, lot no. 26, 2nd concession, Sophiasburg, Prince Edward County (near Picton, Ontario).

Sarah's parents were Quakers with a strong belief in listening to the still small voice of God within every person. They believed in acts of goodness and generosity and in pacifism. Sarah embraced this faith and went to Quaker services all her life.

When she was nine, her adored brother Will was born. When Sarah was thirteen, her sister Edna was born. It was hard on all of them when Edna died five years later.


When she was 22, Sarah married John Kotchapaw.

Sarah gave birth to her first child Claude six years later. When she was 34, she gave birth to her second and last child Bill. She named him after her beloved brother Will.

Sarah and her sons attended Quaker services held in the Methodist Church in the village of Demorestville. They shared the church with the Methodists. Her son Bill wrote in a letter "well I remember going to church with my Mother. We might sit in silence for an hour and then Isse Wilson would get up and preach her sermon."

John did not embrace Quakerism. In the census, he reported that he was an Episcopal Methodist and indeed took visiting grandchildren to services at the Methodist Church using their horse and buggy to get there.


She and her husband were a hard working and energetic team tackling the challenges of farming, parenthood and good citizenship with confidence and a positive attitude. These were the days before electricity and indoor plumbing. They grew their own food, milked the cows by hand and churned their own butter and cream.

In the year of 1899, three days before her son Bill's eighth birthday, Sarah died. She was 44. The death certificate indicates hemorrhage of the brain and cancer

Died:
Paralysis Age 42

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• _UID: BD185F1642F049D281F139C11CE8B007BE75

Notes:

(Research):Reuben Robert Kotchapaw was born on 26 Apr 1827 in Picton, ON.

He married Sarah Roblin on 30 Nov 1851 in Picton, ON. They had seven children.

Reuben farmed in Sophiasburg Township for his entire adult life farming near property owned by Roblins (relatives of his wife) in Demorestville RR 2. The computerized Land Records Index shows that on 3 Oct 1857 there was a CL Deed # 01 C113 for Reuben Ketchipaw Lot 18, concession 2 reference 002 470.

The hamlet of Demorestville, named after Guillaume de Morest, a French Huguenot descendant, was a thriving community in the 1840s, bustling with activity and supporting a population of 400 people. A series of mills were built along the creek from Fish Lake to the Bay of Quinte. In addition to several mills, de Morest built a church which he turned over the Methodist faith.


The 1861 Agricultural Census tells us that the 34 year old Reuben

Reuben married Sarah ROBLIN on 30 Nov 1851 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. Sarah (daughter of Levi ROBLIN, UE and Mary SHORTT) was born in 1825 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada; died on 2 Apr 1913 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada; was buried in Roblin Family Cemetery, Near Fish Lake In Sophiasburg. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• _UID: 29786157750E49FCB942AF466A79560650F0

Notes:

Sarah Roblin married Reuben Kotchapaw and had at least 7 children (John, 1853; Louisa, 1854-1856; Horatio, 1855-1885; Hulda Maria, 1859-1864; Hiram, 1863; Anna Laurie, 1866-1962; Jennie, 1868-1956). The 1881 census finds Sarah widowed and living with her son John, and his wife Sarah, as well her other children Hiram, Annie and Jennie. Sarah Reuben and several of the children are buried in the Roblin Family Cemetery.

(Research):Sarah Roblin was born on 2 Nov 1825 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario to Mary and Levi Roblin. Her father owned an operated saw and flour mills.

Sarah was the fifth of six children. Unfortunately, her mother died when she was three. Her father remarried when she was four. Her step-mother and father had five more children.

On 30 Nov 1851, aged 26, Sarah married Reuben Robert Kotchapaw in Sophiasburgh Township. He was a farmer of Lot 18, concession 2 next to Walter Roblin, Sarah's younger brother.

Sarah and Reuben had seven children. Their oldest was John Kotchapaw. Their second child Louisa died in 1856 at the age of two.

The 1861 census shows Reuben with Sarah 34, John 8, Horatio 6, Hulda 2, Charles Facture 13 and Samuel Johnson 19 living in a frame house. It was a sad time for the family when Hulda died in 1864. The 1871 census shows Reuben 44 with Sarah 44, John 18, Horatio 16, Hiram 8 , Annie 5 and Jennie 2.

Reuben died on 1 Nov 1879 aged 57 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario. He was buried in the Roblin Family Cemetery, near Fish Lake in Sophiasburgh Township.

The 1881 census shows John Kotchapaw (28) as the head of household which included his wife (24), his mother Sarah (55) and his siblings Hiram (age 18), Annie (14) and Jennie (12). They continued to farm growing rye, wheat, hay and other cereals on he land that his father had farmed. Horatio died in 1885 at the age of thirty.

The 1911 census indicates that Sarah was then living with her son Hiram and his family. Hiram and John seemed to have divided their father's land between them.

Sarah died on 2 Apr 1913 at the age of 88 in Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario. She was buried in the Roblin Family Cemetery, near Fish Lake in Sophiasburgh. She had suffered with chronic Bright's disease (kidney) for 4 years.