Charles Edward Stewart

1886 - 1941  (54 years)

• Name	Charles Edward Stewart
  Born	15 Mar 1886	Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1891	Ward 1, Hamilton City, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Occupation	1901
  	CPT (or CPI?) Messenger
  Residence	1901	Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Residence	1911	Winnipeg City, Manitoba, Canada   [3]
  _MILT	Between 1914 and 1918  [4]
  Occupation	1915
  	Telegrapher
  Residence	1916	Winnipeg Centre, Manitoba, Canada   [5]
  Arrival	31 Aug 1916	Plymouth, Devon, England   [6]
  Departure	New York, New York, USA   [6]
  Residence	Ashburn Street   [5]
  Died	10 Feb 1941	Toronto, York, Ontario, Canada
  	Suicide (see notes)
  Buried	Woodlawn Cemetery, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario
  Person ID	I15546	Brown Genealogy
  Last Modified	19 Sep 2024

  
  

  Father	Edward Stewart,   b. 20 Jan 1858, Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Between 1937 and 1941, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada  (Age 78 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Louisa Maria Rowes,   b. Apr 1862, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 28 May 1906, Teeswater, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada  (Age ~ 44 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Married	3 Jun 1886	Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada   [7, 8]
  Family ID	F4257	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Edna Alberta Winkler,   b. 1885, Bentinck, Grey County, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 28 May 1936, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada  (Age 51 years)
  Married	16 Sep 1908	Rainy River District, Rainy River, Ontario, Canada   [9, 10]
  Last Modified	19 Sep 2024
  Family ID	F7520	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Charles Edward Stewart was born in 1886 in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada. In 1901, Charles was residing in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada with his parents and siblings. He was employed as a Canadian Pacific telegraph operator. Later that year, Charles' parents moved to Teeswater, Bruce, Ontario, Canada. It is presumed that Charles moved with them as he would only have been 15 years old at the time. In 1906 Charles mother died prematurely leaving his widowed father with a family of young children to raise. Charles would have been 20 years old at the time. Two years later, in 1908, Charles was in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada (in far western Ontario, about 40 km from the Manitoba border), where he married Edna Winkler. She was born in Bentinck, Bruce, Ontario, Canada (about 30 km east of Teeswater and south of Owen Sound), where her father was a hotel keeper and later a postmaster, but her family was residing Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by 1906. This would suggest that Charles and Edna met in Bruce County and that he likely followed her family to Winnipeg. The fact that he married so soon after, and so far away from, his mother's death is noteworthy. In 1911, Charles and Edna were residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where he was employed as a telegraph operator for a telephone exchange. He was working 60 hours per week and earning $0.35 per hour. His earnings the previous year were $1260 for the year(approximately $32,000 in 2022 value), putting them just barely above the poverty line. They were living with her mother at the time. In 1916, Charles was residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with his wife, Edna. He was employed as a telegraph operator in a telegraph office. On 31 Aug 1916, Charles arrived in Plymouth, England, for his military service in WWI. His younger brother Edward served at the same time. It's not known if they served together. After Charles returned from the war there is no record of him until the time of his wife's untimely death. There is no record that they ever had children. Charles and Edna have not been found in 1921. In 1930, he would have received word that his baby brother Frank died from accidental asphyxiation. Sometime around 1933 Charles ceased working. The reason for ceasing employment is unknown. He may have lost his job or resigned. In 1936, Charles' wife, Edna, died in Winnipeg at the age of 51. The cause of her death is not recorded. His youngest sister Jennie died the same year. Her cause of death is unknown. In 1937, Charles' younger brother Edward died under tragic circumstances which may have been suicide. Sometime between 1937-1941, Charles father, Edward, died in Hamilton. It's not known if Charles was back in Hamilton and living with his father at the time or whether he was still in Winnipeg. He lost his mother when he was just 20. Shortly thereafter he was off to war with his younger brother. Who knows what trauma they experience? His employment paid poorly. Then in his mid-40s, within a space of about five years, starting in 1933, he lost his job, his wife died, his baby sister died, his younger brother died (possibly from suicide), and his father died. By 1941, Charles had returned to Hamilton and was residing at 220 Hunter Street East in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada with his sister, Alma Stewart. On 10 Feb 1941, Charles died by suicide after leaping from the roof of Christie Street Hospital in Toronto. The report describes him as "mentally deranged" at the time. He was 54 years of age and widowed. His former occupation was recorded as telegraph operator, which he had been employed at for 30 years, but had not worked at in the past 8 years. Whether this account is exact or approximate, it would make his date of last employment around or just prior to untimely death of his wife.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] 1891 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2008;). [S19] 1901 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Year: 1901; Census Place: Hamilton (City/Cité) Ward/Quartier No 1, Hamilton (City/Cité), Ontario; Page: 20; Family No: 190. [S21] 1911 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Year: 1911; Census Place: 27 - Winnipeg, Winnipeg City, Manitoba; Page: 30; Family No: 220. [S678] Canada, World War I CEF Attestation Papers, 1914-1918, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Canada; Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918). [S67] 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2009;), Year: 1916; Census Place: Manitoba, Winnipeg Centre, 26; Roll: T-21932; Page: 27; Family No: 315. [S699] UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2008;), The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 633; Item: 27. [S12] Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928, 1933-1934, Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;), Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 55. [S12] Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928, 1933-1934, Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;), Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 49. [S236] Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1938, Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;). [S236] Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1938, Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;), Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 137.