Lawrence John Coxall Family

Lawrence John Coxall (1820-1857) and his wife Frances Amelia Darby (1813-1903) were themselves residents of Bedfordshire, England and later of Wolfe Island, opposite Kingston, Ontario, but they had two children who were residents of Colborne.

One was Emma Lucretia Coxall (1857-1943), who appears in the 1901 Colborne census. She was born on Wolfe Island and married harness maker John George Corran (1859-?) in Camden East, Lennox and Addington County in 1882. The Corrans were living in Shelburne, Grey County in 1891 and by 1911 they had moved to Lindsay, Ontario, where Emma died of hypostatic pneumonia in 1943. The Corrans had five daughters: Alice Lucretia (1883-?), Clara Beatrice (1885-1965), Edith May (1888-?), Emily Maude (1895-1989), and Marjory Adeline (1902-?).

The other Cramahe Coxall was much more prominent in Colborne history. He was Emma’s elder brother William Coxall (1842-1902). Most of the references to his occupation state simply “merchant”, but a few refer to “general store” and “grocery and crockery”.

Coxall owned various properties in Colborne, many of them very briefly suggesting that he was acting as an intermediary of some sort. These included Reid Lots 70 and 71 along Percy Street (October 1875 to September 1876), Reid Lot 54A also along Percy Street (September to November 1876 and again in January 1881), Reid Lot 368 adjacent to the Grand Trunk Railway station (February 1877), Coulson Lots 39 and 43 south of the Grand Trunk Railway (May 1884), and Glebe Block T south of the Anglican Church (November 1890 to March 1891).

He also owned properties in his own right. He owned Reid Lot 163 at the northeast corner of King Street and Maybee Lane in the business district of Colborne from June 1877 to April 1889, Reid Lots 257 and 258 on North Street from January 1881 to his death in May 1902, Reid Lot 259 also on North Street from October 1888 to December 1889, Reid Lot 241A where the Arlington Hotel (later called the Alexandra and later still the Queens Hotel) stood from September 1889 to November 1896, Reid Lot 19 along Park Street from June 1895 to September 1899, and Reid Lot 60 along Percy Street from May 1896 to his death. It is known that he lived at 4 North Street on Reid Lots 257 and 258. He purchased the adjacent Reid Lot 259 and transferred it to his daughter Lina in 1889, probably when she got married (see below). His general store was probably on Reid Lot 163 from 1878 to 1889. It is interesting that he sold this property at just about the same time he purchased the Arlington Hotel in 1889. However, he continued to be listed in gazetteers as a grocery and crockery merchant at least until 1899, and never as a hotel proprietor.

William Coxall emigrated from England with his parents when he was a small child (his brother was born in Upper Canada in 1845). He first appears in Cramahe records in 1876. Before that he was living on Wolf Island. He had three wives. He married Elizabeth Gillespie (1847-1887) in 1865 on Wolfe Island, Emily Bennett (1865-1893) in Toronto in 1888, and Martha Jane Strong (1844-1934) in Colborne in 1898. He had four children with Elizabeth and two with Emily:

With Elizabeth:

  1. Amelia Eliza Coxall (1866-1932) never married. She died of bronchopneumonia in Toronto in 1832.
  2. Elizabeth Adeline (“Lina”) Coxall (1868-?) married music teacher Percival Herbert Philp (1962-1938), probably sometime around 1888. They lived in Colborne at 8 North Street immediately after their marriage and probably until 1902 when they sold the property to George Sanderson (1835-1914). They were still residents of Cramahe Township in 1911 but were living in Toronto by 1921. The Philps had four sons: William A. Balfour (1891-1914), Walter George (1894-1923), Darby Percival (1897-?) and Herbert Eugene (1905-?).
  3. Robert Lawrence Coxall (1877-1916) was a dry goods merchant as per the 1901 census. He was born in Colborne and lived there his entire life, dying of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1916. He lived for a time in Seaton House on King Street. He married Emma May Cornwell (1878-?) in 1900. No reference has been found to children.
  4. William Gillespie Coxall (1883-1883) died in infancy.

With Emily:

  1. Mary Gladys Coxall (1889-ca. 1973) served in World War 1 in the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a nursing sister. Prior to that she had been employed as a stenographer in Toronto. No other information has been found.
  2. John Grover Coxall (1893-1893) died at the age of three days. In his death record the cause of death looks like “low vital grower”, although the last word is a little hard to make out. His mother died in childbirth three days before.