What is a genealogist to do when he/she reads statements in popular and respected publications crediting another person with an achievement that we know proudly belongs to a relative? What if such statements are often writ- ten as absolute fact, yet contradictory to our own family history? What if every time one picks up a book or reads a magazine article about the subject in question, that glaring "mistake" is found? One might try to ignore them. But most family historians would do as much as possible to correct such in- accuracies. I was caught in just such a problem in the Spring and Summer of 1986. In my case the inaccuracy was a fully understandable case of mistaken identity. But because it appeared in print again and again, I grew increasing- ly frustrated. I decided to try to set the record straight.
It has always been the contention in our family that my maternal great- great-great uncle, a Welsh stonemason and master builder named Charles Thomas Thomas (1820-1867) executed the beautiful sandstone carvings on Victoria Hall in the town of Cobourg, Ontario.
In the late 1850's, the Town decided to erect an imposing and grand town hall. Noted Toronto architect Kivas Tully was commissioned to design a magnificent municipal building that according to the local newspaper, would reflect "not only our present standing but future greatness as well". Cobourg enjoyed a prosperous economic boom in that period. Tully designed a Palladian-Classical Revival style building that most architectural historians consider to be his masterwork. Construction began late in 1856. In September 1860, Victoria Hall was officially opened by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII).
The building was adorned with finely detailed Ohio sandstone carvings, including a bearded gargoyle, lyre ornaments, scrolls, Corinthian capitals and cut stone (ashlar) walls. The building fell into disrepair over time and was inevitably threatened with demolition. In the early 1970's it was saved and its full restoration began.
Dozens of architectural journals, heritage magazines and historians began paying a great deal of attention to this designated national landmark. Several magazine articles and book chapters studied its construction. When writers referred to the stone carvings however, they confidently and consis- tently awarded the credit for the work to noted Toronto architect, William Thomas. One book on Early Cobourg written in 1973 stated:
The stone cutting contractor was no less than the firm of William Thomas...1
Another publication claimed:
The design of Victoria Hall has been variously attributed to William Thomas and to Kivas Tully. There is no doubt that Thomas was associated with the building, since the local paper in 1858 noted the carvings... are the work of Mr Thomas, contractor for the stone cutting..."2
William Thomas was the designer of St. Lawrence Hall, St. Michael's Cathedral, the Don Jail in Toronto and Brock's Monument in Queenston, Ontario. It was my contention however, that William Thomas had absolutely nothing to do with either the design or construction of Victoria Hall. A clear case of mistaken identity had been made. Somehow, the record had to be set straight. Thus began several months of pain-staking research to find evidence clearly naming Charles Thomas as Victoria Hall's stonemason.
I began the project by collecting all of the available information written about Victoria Hall and its builders. More importantly, I set down on paper the full account of Charles Thomas' life as we then knew it. Our version of the facts had always been that Thomas was born somewhere in Wales, and that he became a skilled stonemason. In the mid 1850's he arrived at Cobourg C.W., accompanied by a team of Welsh stone cutters and his three year old, orphaned niece, my maternal great grandmother Mary Tomlin Thomas (1854-1937). She too was born in Wales. The story goes on to say that after the work on Victoria Hall was completed, Charles Thomas left Cobourg and sometime later, was killed on a bridge building project in the United States. At this point we had no details of the exact nature of his death.
Thomas's young niece Mary stayed in Cobourg. She was put under the care of a charwoman at the house of a prominent local lawyer. Census records indicate that Mary became a seamstress when she grew up.
In July 1873 she married Thomas James Wark (1845-1913); ironically, he was the caretaker of Victoria Hall at the time. Thomas and Mary Wark lived in back quarters in the building and raised a large family. Among the children was my grandmother Clarice Wark-Romano (1892-1970).
1--Peter John Stokes' chapter on the restoration of Victoria Hall in Victorian Cobourg - a 19th Century Profile, (Mika Publishing, Belleville. 1976) p.35. Mr. Stokes was one of the skilled restoration architects responsible for Victoria Hall's rebirth.
2--Thomas Ritchie. Architecture Canada Magazine. May 1967. Note: Other historians attributing the stone work to Toronto architect William Thomas include:
Anthony Adamson & Marian McRae in their fine book Cornerstones of Order (1983); Howard V. Walker in an article he wrote on William Thomas in the Feb/Mar 1984 issue of Camilla Century Home: Stephen Beszedits in his book Eminent Toronto Architects of the past (1983); and Environment Canada-Parks publication. Town Halls of Canada (1987) by Margaret Carter el al.
Since almost every noted architectural historian including Peter John Stokes, Anthony Adamson and Thomas Ritchie had already awarded ar- chitect William Thomas the credit for Victoria Hall's stone work my only chance of convincing them otherwise was to find solid original evidence to support our family's version of the facts.
I began by examining the few surviving original sources (day books, ar-
chitectural plans etc.) related to the building's construction. These papers
were of little help since in every case when the stone contractor's name was
mentioned, they referred to only a "Mr Thomas". I was examined minutes of
town council meetings from 1856 to 1859 and the Cobourg Star newspapers
from the same period. Again, both sources referred to this "Mr Thomas" and
as such, were totally inconclusive. The Cobourg Star for July 7, 1858 simply
said:
a vast amount of stone cutting has been accomplished...The
carvings on the spandrels of the chief entrance are exceedingly fine.
They comprise the national emblems of the three United Kingdoms
- the rose, the thistle, and the shamrock disposed on either side by
an ancient lyre. These carvings, together with the fine bearded face
which forms the keystone of the arch are the work of Mr Thomas,
contractor for the stone cutting and they certainly do him very great
credit.3
To the best of my knowledge, historians relied exclusively on this vague ref-
erence when crediting William Thomas. Making this claim more plausible is
the fact that William Thomas was an apprentice stone cutter in his youth and
so might have had the necessary skills to execute the stone work on Victoria
Hall. Historians have also referred to the general similarity in carvings on
William Thomas's buildings and Tully's Victoria Hall to further support
their claim.
It was apparently not considered possible that the newspaper might have been referring to another man in the building trade, with the last name Thomas.
As my research progressed, two points in my favour kept coming to
mind. I thought it unlikely that an architect of William Thomas's stature at
the time, would have allowed himself to work as a stonemason on a project
designed by one of his chief rivals, namely Kivas Tully.4 Architectural his-
torians believe Tully was inspired in his designs for Victoria Hall by Wil-
3--Cobourg; Star, July 7, 1858.
4--Eric Arthur in his book St Lawrence Hall, (Toronto: T. Nelson & Sons, 1969). p. 145. also questioned this unlikely
scenario, writing:
It is true that earlier in the century, the architect (William Thomas) was only emerging from the building trades, but
it is unlikely that Thomas, the colleague of such Toronto worthies as Lt. Col. Frederick Cumberland, Thomas Fuller,
who designed the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Sir Sandford Fleming...or John G. Howard who gave us High
Park would have added stone-cutting to his practice as an architect.
liam Thomas's St. Lawrence Hall constructed some years earlier. In fact
many experts including Peter Stokes believe that Kivas Tully was deter-
mined to out-do Thomas with his Victoria Hall designs.5 If this was indeed
the case, why would Tully have used William Thomas in his own game of
‘one-up-man ship’? There were flaws in the accepted historical interpreta-
tion.
In the early summer of 1986 I made my first visit to the Ontario Ar- chives in Toronto. I found the business papers of the general contractors for Victoria Hall, William and David Bumet, but they too only made incon- clusive reference to "Mr. Thomas". One such example is found in a letter dated 7 May 1859 from the sandstone supplier, John Worthington of Toron- to, addressed to William Bumet. Worthington writes, "Has Thomas finished up his work, how does his account stand?"6
Finally some progress was made. I tracked down three separate, original sources confirming that Charles T. Thomas did indeed live in Cobourg during the period of Victoria Hall's construction and that he worked as a stonemason. The Poll Book for the South Ward of Cobourg dated Decem- ber 31, 1857 listed:
C.T. Thomas/builder/Covert (St)
The Assessment Roll of the Town of Cobourg dated 1859 listed him in the West Ward as:
Charles T. Thomas/aged 39/stone cutter/householder/King St.
Finally a deed made between Charles Thomas and Thomas Scott, the town postmaster, registered 1 June 1859 listed:
Charles Thomas Thomas of the Town of Cobourg in the County of Northumberland and marble cutter of the first part...
Thomas and his wife Susan (the first reference to him having a wife) were selling property to Scott for 270 dollars. Unfortunately this new evidence could not confirm that Thomas was working on Victoria Hall while living in town.
For several weeks after my research stalled. Sources and leads seemed to dry up and I still had no information on Charles Thomas's life after his three year stay in Cobourg.
On a hunch, I went back to the Provincial Archives. I knew Thomas
died in the United States sometime after his stay in Cobourg. I speculated
that either he and his wife moved to the US in which case I would probably
never track him down, or perhaps they continued to reside in Ontario and he
5 -- Peter Stokes. Victorian Cobourg - A 19th Century Profile, p.33.
6 -- Archives of Ontario.
merely took a temporary job in the States when killed. If the latter was the
case, then his remains would almost certainly have been returned for burial.
If he had a will it would have been probated in the Ontario Surrogate Court.
The Archives have microfilmed copies of the Court Clerk's index of in-
dividual probate applications (alphabetically by year), I hoped the index
might provide me the year of Thomas's death, where he had resided in On-
tario and possibly even his will. I scanned all the names beginning with the
letter T after 1860 (the year Victoria Hall was completed).
To my absolute surprise I found his name under the year 1868. The Ap- plication listed:
Charles Thomas Thomas/builder/having resided in Ottawa/dying on or about December 26,1867/widow, Susan M. Thomas
The will was processed in Carleton County Court. Naturally I went to the Ottawa newspapers for 1867-68 in search of an obituary. In the Ottawa Citizen for January 3, 1868 I discovered:
THOMAS-At Quincy, Illinois on Christmas Day. Charles Thomas Thomas formerly of this city.
I remember thinking how sad that he died on Christmas day and so far away from home. But now at least I could confirm that he did die in the United States as we had always believed and now we also knew where.
In the Ottawa Times issue for December 28, 1867 I finally landed upon that piece of evidence I had spent months searching for. I found a wonder- fully detailed obituary chronicling the career of Charles T. Thomas, includ- ing his work in Cobourg (see below)! It clearly states that Charles Thomas was a stonemason and builder, and most importantly, that he was a sub- contractor working on the construction of the Town Hall in Cobourg.
It is fair to conclude that he was the contractor for the stone work con- sidering what the Assessment Roll, Poll Book and Deed list as his occupa- tion while in Cobourg. The obituary also gave me a wealth of fascinating new information about a relative our family really knew little about.
Additional research into the information found in his obituary has been fruitful. His employer in England, was Thomas Cubitt's & Company, one of England's most powerful building firms in the Victorian era. Thomas began working for them in the late 1830's. Cubitt's were responsible for erecting the east front of Buckingham Palace in the 1840's. In 1845 Cubitt's built Os- bome House on the Isle of Wight for Queen Victoria and they also planned Belgravia Square in London.
7--I never did locate Charles T. Thomas's will. I later discovered that there was a devastating fire in the Carleton County Court House years ago, that destroyed such records.
I later learned that while in Bermuda, Thomas was Foreman of Works on the construction of the British Royal Naval Dockyards.8
Charles Thomas was a contractor on the construction of Brock's Monu- ment at Queenston Heights, C.W. (1853). Incidentally, this monument was designed by architect William Thomas.
While in Cobourg, Charles Thomas was also contractor for the stone work on a beautiful stone Bank of Montreal (later to be the Post Office) being built at the same time as Victoria Hall. The bank was designed in the Italianate style by Montreal architect James Howard Springle and dressed in Ohio sandstone.9
The Departmental Buildings referred to, are the East and West Blocks of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, constructed between 1859 and 1867. This must have been Thomas's next project after Victoria Hall. I have also learned the details of Charles Thomas's death in 1867. He was Master stonemason on the construction of stone foundations for a mas- sive iron bridge over the Mississippi River near Quincy, Illinois. This was the first iron bridge erected over that river and was designed by Thomas Curtis Clarke, a partner in the Port Hope contracting firm Jones, Haycock and Company; this was the same firm that hired Thomas to work on the Par- liament Buildings in Ottawa.10 On 26 October 1867, Thomas was oversee- ing the lifting of some massive boulders by a makeshift derrick. The derrick collapsed and rocks fell on Thomas, crushing his left leg. He was taken back to his boarding house in Quincy. The leg was amputated. He appeared to rally for a time, but "fever" eventually set in. Charles Thomas died at mid- night, Christmas Day, 1867. He was only 47 years old.11 His body was returned to Ottawa for burial in Sandy Hill Cemetery.
In the summer of 1986, I submitted my initial findings from this project, to Janet Weatherston at the Canadian Inventory of Historic Buildings, Canadian Parks Service, Ottawa asserting that Charles Thomas was the con- tractor for the stone work on Cobourg's Victoria Hall and not William Thomas as widely accepted. This was part of her response:
The Ottawa Times obituary notice is... a happy find, and seems to set the matter to rest. I have...filed your information in our own research files; from now on, at least, we'll be able to give Charles T. Thomas his full due when we write about Victoria Hall.
More recently I have learned that while in Cobourg, Thomas established
a stone and marble works. He advertised in the local newspaper that he
8 -- Bermuda Pocket Almanac, 1851.
9 -- Cobourg Star, November 18, 1857 & Jim Leonard, Thomas Curtis Clarke, An Outstanding Civil Engineer from
Port Hope. Ontario (1988),
10 --Jim Leonard. Thomas Curtis Clarke -All Outstanding Civil Engineer From Pan Hope. Ontario, (1988).
11 --Quincy Daily Herald. October 27. & December 27, 1867.
could design and carve gravestones, monuments, marble mantle pieces and
washstands, "in the New York style...cheap for cash". He also offered to
supply Ohio cut stone dressing for buildings and also prepare estimates for
"all kinds of building work."12 One such monument, a magnificently carved
sandstone tombstone, with a St. Patrick's Cross, is located in Cobourg's St.
Peter's Anglican Cemetery. It was carved by Thomas in August 1858 to
mark the grave of a young man named Thomas Lloyd. Charles Thomas
stamped his name in the lower right hand comer of the base.
While engaged in a related project, I stumbled upon an interesting bit of history in the Ottawa newspapers. On 1 November 1864, the contractors on the Parliament Buildings hosted a gala luncheon in the half-built Centre Block, for the Delegates of the Quebec Conference (Canada's future Fathers of Confederation). John A. Macdonald, A.T. Gait, S.L. Tilley and the like, we present. As Chief Superintendent of Works, Charles T. Thomas was also present.13
Obituary notice from the Ottawa Times, 28 December 1867,
page 2, column 5:
A short time since it became our painful duty to record a sad accident to our late fellow townsman, Mr. Charles T. Thomas, which rendered neces- sary the amputation of a leg. Subsequent to the amputation he suffered very greatly, and afterwards a fever set in which ended in death on Christmas Day. The remains will be brought to this city for interment, arriving next Tuesday morning. The funeral will be attended by the Masons and members of the St George's Society, of which due notice will be given.
The deceased gentleman was, during the erection of the Departmental Buildings in this city. Chief Superintendent of Works, under Messrs. Jones, Haycock and Co., and in that capacity earned for himself a high reputation for zeal and integrity, he was a skilled and experienced stone mason, several years of his life having been passed in the employ of Messrs. Cubit and Co., the eminent contractors of London, England.
Mr. Thomas was for sometime Superintendent of Public Works under
the Imperial Government of Bermuda, which place he left for Canada about
the year 1852; since then and up to the moment of the sad accident resulting
in his death, he was engaged as subcontractor in the erection of many im-
portant buildings on this continent. The present national monument at
Queenston reared by a grateful people to the memory of the 'Gallant Brock',
was erected under his supervision, so was the Montreal Bank and Town Hall
in Cobourg, the latter considered to be one of the handsomest buildings in
the Dominion. The subject of our notice was in every respect an excellent
12 --Cobourg Star, August 3. 1859 stored in the Baldwin Room, Metro Toronto Reference Library.
13 --Jim Leonard, Thomas Curtis Clarke, (1988).
man. In business he was strictly correct in all his transactions; as a husband
and father, most affectionate, as a philanthropist, his peer was not to be
found in this city. In his death the St George's Society experience the loss of
a most indefatigable member, and with us, they moum over the sad event
which has removed him from our intercourse, and deeply sympathize with
his bereaved widow and afflicted family.
(Italics in the above the author's).
Families
vol. 28 - no. 2 May 1989
December 5, 1988
Families Editor
c/o Ontario Genealogical Society
40 Orchard View Blvd
Suite 253
TORONTO, Ontario
MAR 1B9
Dear Editor;
I read a notice in the Supplement to Families for May 1988 asking readers to submit articles for your journal.
Please find enclosed a paper I am submitting for possible publication in FAMILIES.
If you decide to print the paper, I would be more than happy to forward archival photographs of Victoria Hall to add to the text and also my curriculum vitae, if needed.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Jim Leonard
The Ontario Genealogical Society
Honorary Patron: The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander, P.C., K.ST.J., Q.C., B.A., U..D. Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
40 Orchard View Blvd., Suite 253, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4R 1B9 (416)489-0734
1 January 1989
Jim Leonard
Box 638
Cobourg ON K9A 4L3.
Dear Mr Leonard:
Thank you for your letter of 5 December with its enclosed article concerning Charles Thomas.
I am pleased to tell you that I would like to publish it in FAMILIES. I think it provides us with quite a new viewpoint on family history, and so of great interest to our members. Thank you for thinking of us.
I will hope to publish it later this year, although I am not sure which issue at this time. Once I have prepared the article I will send you proofs for correction; I hope you will be able to deal with them quickly, as we have very limited time at some points in the printing process. I look forward to working with you in the next few months.
Ryan Taylor
editor FAMILIES
