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Harriet Washbourne ANDREW (nee COMPTON), PEI Canada My mother Mabel Marion ANDREW was only five when her paternal grandmother Harriet Washbourne ANDREW nee COMPTON died in 1923 at the age of 74. It would have been nice if my Mom had been granted even a few more years to enjoy her Granny Andrew. My grandfather Harry Charles ANDREW was the youngest of Harriet’s nine children, born when Harriet was forty, so she was almost 69 when my mother was born. It’s also sad that Harriet died before she could meet four of her twenty-nine grandchildren, and that she outlived her youngest daughter Sadie who died in 1906 at the age of twenty.
Harriet Washbourne COMPTON was the oldest of eleven children born to Albert “Harry” COMPTON and Mary Robinson COATES on 8 May 1849 in St Eleanors, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. She was four months old when she was baptized on 9 Jul 1949 in St Johns Anglican Church, St Eleanors. Her grandfather Thomas Compton COMPTON emigrated as a teen in 1803 from Hampshire England to PEI with his father Harry Childeroy COMPTON. Harriet's middle name WASHBOURNE (multiple spellings found) has been traced to her maternal grandmother Sarah ROBINSON whose older sister Harriet ROBINSON (born 1790) married a Henry WASHBOURN in Norfolk England, but didn’t have any children. So Mary decided to carry on this name through her own daughter - a bit of a twist on a family tradition, I think.
Harriet Washbourne COMPTON was the oldest of eleven children born to Albert “Harry” COMPTON and Mary Robinson COATES on 8 May 1849 in St Eleanors, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. She was four months old when she was baptized on 9 Jul 1949 in St Johns Anglican Church, St Eleanors. Her grandfather Thomas Compton COMPTON emigrated as a teen in 1803 from Hampshire England to PEI with his father Harry Childeroy COMPTON. Harriet's middle name WASHBOURNE (multiple spellings found) has been traced to her maternal grandmother Sarah ROBINSON whose older sister Harriet ROBINSON (born 1790) married a Henry WASHBOURN in Norfolk England, but didn’t have any children. So Mary decided to carry on this name through her own daughter - a bit of a twist on a family tradition, I think.
Harriet grew up to be a tiny woman with a round face and apple cheeks, quite the contrast to her tall, long-faced husband William ANDREW, a first generation Islander whom she married on 27 Oct 1870 in St Johns Anglican Church, St Eleanors. She was 21. Harriet's daughter Delores (Dot) looked the most like her. I have no first hand accounts of Harriet’s personality but I must assume that she was a loving and “nice” person, judging by her descendants! Fortunately some photos of her have survived, and in general I sense a quiet, kind nature. The exception is earliest photo where she looks rather severe and tense, perhaps because she is trying to keep still for the photo and follow tradition by not smiling. Could this formal portrait have been taken as early as her marriage in 1870? The other photos were taken when she was much older, some not long before her death.
Grave of William and Harriet ANDREW and their daughter Sadie,St Johns Anglican Cemetery, St Eleanors, PEI
William and Harriet operated their family farm of about 200 acres in St Eleanors PEI on land once owned by her great-grandfather Harry Childeroy COMPTON (see my posting on William ANDREW for more details of their homestead). There was always work to do: tending the garden, crops and animals, as well as raising, feeding and clothing their nine children: Alice, Albert, Delores, Horace, Isa, Fanny, Mabel, Sadie and Harry. Everyone had to pitch in to help with the chores as they grew old enough. Their children were born there between 1871 and 1889; many went by their middle names. One photo shows Harriet sitting on a couch, busily mending a blanket. No idle hands allowed! They were thrifty, took care of what they owned, and made items last as long as possible.
Harriet's youngest living daughter Mabel Hetty ANDREW graduated as a nurse in Charlottetown in 1918, and likely worked for a short time afterwards in that city. But her father William ANDREW’s health was failing and she may have returned to St Eleanors to care for him before his death on 19 Jul 1920. Certainly by 1921 Mabel was living with her widowed mother Harriet in St Eleanors next to her brother Harry and family (I think that Harriet and Mabel had their own apartment sectioned off in what had become Harry ANDREW’s home). Harriet only lived another two years, dying in 1923. Five of her ten younger siblings had died before her.
Harriet and William ANDREW are buried together in the St Johns Anglican Cemetery. A memorial plaque in their honour was later mounted inside the church by their growing family, unveiled by the youngest of their twenty-nine grand children in 1938. At last count, they had sixty-eight great children (although there may be some I don't yet know about), and many younger descendants. Although Harriet and her husband lived their whole lives on Prince Edward Island, I don't believe that any of her descendants still live there.
Harriet's youngest living daughter Mabel Hetty ANDREW graduated as a nurse in Charlottetown in 1918, and likely worked for a short time afterwards in that city. But her father William ANDREW’s health was failing and she may have returned to St Eleanors to care for him before his death on 19 Jul 1920. Certainly by 1921 Mabel was living with her widowed mother Harriet in St Eleanors next to her brother Harry and family (I think that Harriet and Mabel had their own apartment sectioned off in what had become Harry ANDREW’s home). Harriet only lived another two years, dying in 1923. Five of her ten younger siblings had died before her.
Harriet and William ANDREW are buried together in the St Johns Anglican Cemetery. A memorial plaque in their honour was later mounted inside the church by their growing family, unveiled by the youngest of their twenty-nine grand children in 1938. At last count, they had sixty-eight great children (although there may be some I don't yet know about), and many younger descendants. Although Harriet and her husband lived their whole lives on Prince Edward Island, I don't believe that any of her descendants still live there.
I have posted additional information on my ANDREW and COMPTON families elsewhere on this website.
"52 Ancestors" is a reference to the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge I am participating in.
Reference the No Story Too Small blog by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow for more details.
It is giving me the much needed incentive to write and publish my family stories.
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