Robert Tait

1851 - 1912  (60 years)

• Name	Robert Tait  [1, 2, 3]
  Residence	1851	Ontario, Canada West (Ontario), Canada   [4]
  Born	11 Aug 1851	Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada   [1, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	Truck Driver ("Commercial Traveller")
  Residence	Wellington South   [5]
  Residence	Abt 1871	Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada   [6]
  Residence	1881	Ward 2, Hamilton City, Ontario, Canada   [7]
  Residence	1891	London East, Middlesex East, Ontario, Canada   [8]
  Residence	1901	Cité), Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	London, London (City
  Residence	1911	Ottawa City, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Religion: Presbyterian; Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head: Chef
  Died	7 Mar 1912	Saanich, British Columbia, Canada   [9]
  Person ID	I19068	Brown Genealogy
  Last Modified	22 Jan 2025

  
  

  Father	Leonard Tait,   b. Abt 1 Apr 1821, Cornhill, Northumberland, England ,   d. 18 Mar 1871, Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada  (Age 49 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Jane Ord,   b. 21 Jul 1815, Eccles Lodge, Eccles, Berwickshire, Scotland ,   d. 20 Nov 1872, Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada  (Age 57 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Married	Scotland, England or Canada
  Family ID	F4917	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Margaret Ann McFarlane,   b. 2 Aug 1852, Stratford, Perth, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 8 Aug 1927, Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada  (Age 75 years)
  Married	8 Sep 1881	Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada   [10, 11]
  Children	1. Leonard Tait,   b. 9 Aug 1882, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 8 Mar 1975, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada  (Age 92 years)  [natural]   2. Albert Edward Tait,   b. 20 Jun 1884, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada ,   d. UNKNOWN  [natural]   3. Edith Pearl Tait,   b. 27 Oct 1885, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 8 Jun 1936, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada  (Age 50 years)  [natural]   4. Bertha May Tait,   b. 28 Dec 1887, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 6 Mar 1980, Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada  (Age 92 years)  [natural]   5. Robert Howard Tait,   b. 8 Nov 1889, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 8 Jun 1957, Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada  (Age 67 years)  [natural]   6. Olive Ruth O. Tait,   b. 24 Jan 1890, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada ,   d. UNKNOWN  [natural]   7. Margaret Beatrice Tait,   b. 11 Dec 1893, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 26 Mar 1944, Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada  (Age 50 years)  [natural]
  Last Modified	22 Jan 2025
  Family ID	F4909	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  In 1851 Robert is found at age 1 residing with his parents in Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. In 1871, age 19, Robert was residing in a hotel owned by Edward Tyrrell in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada on his own, employed as a store clerk. This was shortly after his father died. His mother died a year later. After the death of his parents, Robert and several of his siblings moved from Puslinch to Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada to the home of their oldest sister Mary Tait and her husband, Hugh Stewart. In 1881, Robert was residing in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada in the home of his sister Mary Tait and her husband Hugh Stewart, along with his siblings, David Tait and Margaret Tait, and the Stewart children. Robert was employed as a commercial trucker. Robert is presumed to have married to Margaret Ann McFarlane very shortly after the census, although no record of their marriage has been found, as their first child was born in Hamilton in 1882. Family records indicate that Robert went into business with his older brother-in-law, Hugh Stewart, in a corner grocery store in Hamilton, called Tait & Stewart Grocers. It's unclear if the "Tait" in that name referred to Robert Tait or Mary Tait. This partnership may have been short-lived as Hugh died in 1885, afterwhich his sister widow, Mary Tait, took over the family business. By 1984, Robert was residing in London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada where his son Albert Edward Tait was born. In 1891, age 38, Robert was residing in London East, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada with his wife and children, Leonard, Albert, Pearl, Bertha May, and Robert H. He was employed as a traveller (truck driver). In 1911, at age 62, Robert Tait was residing in Ottawa, Carleton, Ontario, Canada with his wife and adult children, Albert, Howard, and Bertha May. He was employed as a sales agent in the food industry ("un agent des biscuites") He is believed to be the Robert Tait who died in 1912 in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada (born 1852) which is where is brother, David lived at the time. The fact that his wife is shown as a widow in 1921 supports this claim. Given what I have recently learned about the mob connections to the food industry in Ontario before, during and after the prohibition years, and the mob's base in Hamilton, and this family's close connections to Rocco Perri, the head of the mob, and the mob's use of drivers, and given Robert's employment as a truck driver and his connections to Hamilton, London and Ottawa, and his family's employment in the public house business, it seems worth casting a somewhat suspicious eye on Robert Tait's life. I'm holding this open for further research.

  
  

• Sources

  [S19] 1901 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Database online. Record for Leonard Tait [S18] Ontario, Canada Births, 1858-1913, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;), Database online. Record for Leonard Tait [S21] 1911 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Year: 1911; Census Place: 41 - St Georges Ward, Ottawa City, Ontario; Page: 8; Family No: 72. [S80] 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Year: 1851; Census Place: Ontario, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C-11743; Page: 13; Line: 25. http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e095/e002363361.pdf [S4] Ontario, Canada Census Index, 1871, This index to the 1871 Ontario, Canada Census was created by volunteers from the Ontario Genealogical Society from data supplied by Library and Archives Canada., (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;). [S89] 1871 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2009;), Year: 1871; Census Place: Puslinch, Wellington South, Ontario; Roll: C-9945; Page: 28. [S61] 1881 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2009;), Year: 1881; Census Place: Ward 2, Hamilton City, Ontario; Roll: C_13256; Page: 24; Family No: 114. [S3] 1891 Census of Canada, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2008;), Year: 1891; Census Place: London East, Middlesex East, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6352; Family No: 18. [S70] British Columbia, Canada, Death Index, 1872-1990, Ancestry.com, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2001;). [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: 41.