Laws

(from Warwick Tweedsmuir and Settlers)

William Black Laws Jr. (originally Blacklaws) was born in Brechen, Scotland, to William and Elizabeth Blacklaws. William Sr. and Elizabeth also had a daughter Elizabeth. William Sr. died at the age of 24 after contracting smallpox from a sick friend whom he had been nursing. His widow was left with a three year old son and a baby girl. She provided for herself and her family by keeping a shop and weaving.

William Black Laws Jr. (1811–1875) learned the bookbinding trade and by 1831 worked in Edinburgh, clerking for booksellers. When he left home his mother gave him five pounds sterling. Soon he had a bookseller’s shop of his own in Glasgow. He sold that; studied for a year or two, and preached for the Baptists.

In 1844 William Jr. married Jane (or Jean) Hay (1814–1907). In 1858 he, his mother, his wife and family — Thomas B. Laws, William B. Laws III, Ellen (1844–), Jean (1846–) and two daughters whose names are not recorded — immigrated to Warwick for health reasons. His sister Elizabeth, the wife of James M. Burns who ran Burns store in Warwick Village, had already come to Warwick in 1850.

William Black Laws and family settled on the west ½ of Lot 11, Con. 3 SER. Although he knew nothing about farming, he learned very quickly. His daughter Jean said that the children had only seen their father in a black suit with a silk hat, so when he put on a brown suit to travel, they did not know him! He preached for most of the churches in Warwick when their pastors were absent. William died on the farm. The children did not attend school; they learned from their father.

William and Jane (Jean)’s son, Thomas B. Laws, upon receiving an inheritance from his aunt Elizabeth Burns, used the money to publish a short history of his father’s life called The Writings and Life of William Black Laws. It contained nine of his father’s sermons and 32 of his religious poems.

The second son, William B. Laws III who farmed in Warwick Twp., followed in his father’s footsteps and had a poem published each week in the Watford Guide-Advocate. William Black Laws III had three daughters: Anne (m. John McKenzie), Jean (m. William McKenzie), and Margaret (m. Ed Cundick) and one son, Robert who married Jean Ross.

Robert and Jean Laws had one son, Ross, who, after serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II, farmed his father’s farm and cared for his parents.

Two of William Black Laws II’s daughters, Ellen and Jean, farmed their father’s farm on Lot 11, which they called “Comely Park.” When interviewed by Kate Connolly in the 1920s, they were both still farming, even though in their 80s. Connolly described their stables:

To begin with, they’re made of logs and the outside is overgrown with grass and green moss, so the interior is invitingly cool on a blistering hot day. At intervals in the roof are windows which have withstood the seasons…. Down five or six cement steps into the milk house, where the milk from eight cows was cooled… on through under the same roof to the stalls for the cows.

W.B. Laws. Courtesy S McKay.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Laws Family

Back Next