Westgate

(from T. B. R. Westgate: A Canadian Missionary on Three Continents by R. I. Wilfred Westgate, Toronto, 1987; and Beers)

Thomas Westgate was a native of County Mayo, Ireland. He participated in the taking of the famous highwayman McKinley, who was captured, hung, quartered and beheaded and his head placed on a pole at the gate of Castle Bar. Thomas married Mary Trimball and they were the parents of five children: George, Eliza, Maria (who married Henry Rivers of Watford), Jarvis (a farmer in Warwick), and Giel (who died young).

In 1825 Thomas and family came to Quebec, didn’t like the looks of the country and returned to Ireland. Then, in 1845, the family came to Ontario and located on 100 acres in Warwick Twp. Thomas died at age 103, of complications resulting from breaking his leg while climbing a fence.

Thomas and Mary’s son George was educated in Ireland. He purchased the north ½ of Lot 29, Con. 5 SER at $2.50 per acre, on condition that he pay for it within three years. He was allowed 50 cents a bushel for spring wheat and five shillings a bushel for fall wheat. George paid the debt off in two years. Over the years he added to his farm, to a total of 650 acres.

George married Margaret Lamont (1840–1893). They had 17 children, five of whom died in infancy. Jane married John Cook of Warwick; they had seven children. Maria married George Peterson of Warwick; they had no children. Margaret married William Widdis. Thomas married Johnnina Burgar; they lived in Warwick with six children. Mary married John Acton of Warwick; they had seven children. George married Laura Edgar; they lived in Warwick and had no children. Frederick married Rebecca Reycraft; they lived in Warwick with five children. Ida married George Matthews; they lived in Warwick with four children. Elizabeth married Lawrence Dowden of Warwick; they had no children. The last three daughters were Norena, Dora and Lila. Thomas lived with Norena on the farm in his latter years.

Thomas and Mary Westgate’s son Jarvis married Mary Jane Buchanan. Mary Jane was from County Cavan in Ireland. Jarvis and Mary Jane settled at RR#4 in Warwick Twp. They had a family of one daughter and ten sons.

One of their sons was Thomas Buchanan Reginald (T. B. R.) Westgate (1872–1951). T. B. R. was born in Watford. He was not an enthusiastic elementary school student, but he did continue on to high school, even though he had to walk seven miles each way along the railroad tracks. After attending Model School he went west in 1889, where he taught in Abbotsford, District of Saskatchewan. In 1893 he entered Huron Theological College in London, Ont., from which he was ordained in 1897.

The following year T. B. R. was sent to the Paraguayan Chaco as a missionary, by the South American Missionary Society. In 1901 the Church Missionary Society needed ordained ministers in German East Africa (Tanzania). His work later took him to Kenya where he started a sanatorium and a theological college. The following year he married Rita (Henrietta), also of Irish descent, whom he met in Kenya in 1903. During World War I Westgate was jailed by the German forces and had many run-ins with German authorities.

From 1918 to 1943 T. B. R. Westgate was the field secretary to the Indian and Eskimo Residential School Commission of the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada. He was in charge of 18 residential schools. At this time he and Rita lived in Winnipeg.

The inscription on his tombstone reads: for 45 years a devoted missionary in South America, East Africa and among the Indians of Canada.

Westgate family, Watford, June 10, 1913. Back: Alex, Cora, T.B.R., Minnie, Palmer, Christie. Middle: William, Edith, Jarvis, Mary Jane, Minnie, King. Front: Walter, Victor, Gordon, Irene, Oscar, Harold, Wilson, Robert, Allan. Courtesy D Hollingsworth.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Westgate Family

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