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Note: She was of Scottish parentage. (Homer, p165)
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The following Obituary of Ann Aylesworth (nee McGillivray), written in 1892, was sent by Jenifer Kahn Bakkala, a descendant of Anna, to Samuel Wm. Aylesworth in December 2012 . Jenifer was not able to identify where the obituary was first published. She did permit me to share this obituary with others. It reads as follows:
Obituary.
MRS. JOB AYLESWORTH
Ann McGillivray (Aylesworth) was born in Albany, N.Y., 23d Nov. 1805. Her Highland parents had left their oldest daughter in Inverness, Scotland, intending to have her brought out to this country when they had got themselves settled. But my grandmother never saw this elder sister, whose daughter, years later, came to Canada as the wife of Dr. Donald Fraser, formerly of Odessa, now of Emerson, Man[itoba]. My grandmother has told me that she herself was called ``Ann´´ at her baptism, ``Anna´´ at her marriage, and nearly always ``Aunt Nancy´´ by her relatives. In the latter part of her girlhood, she lived in the household of the late John Bell, Esq., two or three miles back of Bath, where, in 1825, she was ``wooed and wedded and a [sic]´´ by Job Aylesworth, who was born and brought up on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Bowen E. Aylesworth. These ``twain made one´´ lived together till August, 1888, when the husband-father died at the ripe age of 88 years and 4 months. He was buried just south of Violet, at the foot of the graves of his father and mother, and within a few rods of the farm where had and his wife began housekeeping so many years before. There also now rests the body of his companion - ``Each in its narrow cell for ever laid.´´
That wedlock must have been of the true sort which lasted unbroken and uninterrupted for nearly two-thirds of a century. Their sons were, Bowen McGillivray Aylesworth, now living in Baltimore, Md.; John Bell Aylesworth, of Newburgh; Wm. Robt. Aylesworth of Deseronto, and the late Archibald King Aylesworth, M.D. (obit 1886), their daughters, Jane Ann, wife of Rev. D. Pomeroy, of Highgate, Elgin Col, Ont.; Catharine Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Crawford, now living in Chicago, and Mary Margaret, wife of Marshal Huffman, of Moscow. This last-mentioned daughter tenderly nursed her dying mother, till the release came, Sunday morning, 31st July, 1892. I do not know the number of her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; - only that they are scattered over this continent.
It would not become me to speak in praise of these old people nearly so much as their merit would warrant, yet, I who was born and brought up in their household, grew to know the worth of their characters, perhaps even better that I know that of my own parents. Sameness of blood may tend to blind; but I am sure that this old couple, though not faultless-being human'ac-yet they were honest and good. How often have I listened to their stories of the old folk, and of the olden time; how vividly shall I always remember the voice of my gentle old elder-mother reading aloud to herself some summer Sunday evening, or wintry night, -her bible or her other favorite, John Ashworth´s ``Strange Tales from a Humble Life.´´ I feel the task heavy to be their worthy descendant.
[Signed} Geo. Anson [AYLESWORTH, grandson of Anna and Job, and son of John Bell AYLESWORTH and Catherine BRISTOL (SWA)], of Newburgh, 8 August 1892"
(This obituary added on March 27, 2013 by Samuel Wm. Aylesworth, with appreciation to Jenifer Kahn Bakkala for sharing it with me.)
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