Extended Family Members Lost in Matheson Fire

July 29, 1916

​The three Elvin sons, Joseph Olimer "Ollie" (22), Lemuel Robert (19), and Irvin John (14), survived the fire as they were not at the homestead in Beatty Township at the time. The boys arrived back at the farm too late to save anyone. According to an account years later by Ollie's daughter, Emily Elvin Scratch, via Shirley Forth, the boys arrived in time to sit with their sister Edith as she died. Lemuel was the informant for the family's death registrations. Irvin died three years later and was included on the family headstone at Hillcrest Cemetery in Matheson, although he was recorded as Irwin and not Irvin.

​The informant for the Small family was Art's brother, Graham Small, of Gravenhurst. I presume this was because Art Small was recovering at Providence General Hospital in Haileybury at the time. I located a marriage registration for Arthur Edward Small who married Effie Florence Johnston in 1918 in Parry Sound. Art, Effie, and their one-month-old daughter, Dorothy, were located on the South 1/2 of Lot 9 Con 2 in Beatty Township on the 1921 Census. Art had bought the land on September 21, 1912 and received the patent for it on January 6, 1925.  It is possible that Art suffered PTSD after the Matheson Fire and that may have led to his need to be hospitalized. 

The death record for Art Small stated that he was resident at the Ontario Hospital in Hamilton (also known as the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane)  from 1 Feb 1928 until 5 Dec 1943. His home address was listed as 86 Alfred St., Brantford, but his wife was living in Toronto so I really don't know when either Art or Effie last lived at that address. His age was listed as 52, but his birth record shows that he was born in 1882, not 1892 as also stated on the death record. Age is corroborated as a birth year of 1882 by the 1891 Census. The death record states Art's cause of death as primarily tuberculosis of the bones due to chronic myocarditis and a secondary or underlying condition as psychosis - dementia of the paranoid type. 

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Thomas and Rosanna were in Bracebridge visiting at the time of the fire, which saved their lives. They remained in Beatty Township until the death of Thomas August 21, 1921. Although Rosanna died June 14, 1930 in Pembroke, she was buried with Thomas in Hillcrest Cemetery in Matheson according to their death registrations. There is no headstone and I have been unable to locate Thomas and Rosanna on the list of those buried in the cemetery. The Matheson Municipal Office did the search for me and located nothing. The original records are listed on an old piece of decaying cardboard and it is possible they were never filled in at the times of burial. The informant on her death registration was Rosanna's youngest son, George Lockhart Little, who also survived the fire. George was a section foreman for the T. & N. O. Railway. He died in Elk Lake in 1952 and is buried, with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Robertson beside the family memorial in Hillcrest Cemetery.

The youngest Boyd child was recorded as Rose Anna Margaret Boyd on her birth record. Lemuel Elvin recorded her as Rosanna Marguerite Ellen Boyd on her death record.  I have found no other source for a middle name of Ellen.  The cemetery marker recorded her as Margaretta so I believe she likely used the name Margaret.

Edward Robinson did not die in the fire. His great granddaughter, Amanda Robinson, shared the story that was handed down in her family regarding the fire: "When the fire broke out, he (Edward) took his family and placed them all in the cellar. He then left, either to try and stop the fire from coming closer or to see if anyone needed help. Unfortunately, when he tried to get back to the house, the fire was too big. He waded into a swamp and waited for the fire to end. When he got back to the house, the family was gone. He left Matheson shortly after and remarried in 1921 to a Nellie (Ellen Ann) McKay. Together, they had five children and lived on Manitoulin Island."  

​The family was not actually in the cellar of the house, but was with other family members in a sod-roofed root cellar, believed to be on the property of Joseph Elvin.

Altogether, twenty-four members of my extended family died in the Great Matheson Fire on July 29, 1916. I also located a death record for a John Ouderkirk, a miner at the Croesus Mine in Munro Township. John was recorded as owning the North 1/2 of Lot Con 6 in Walker Township. No family connection has yet been found but with the name Ouderkirk, it is most likely an extended family member as well. He was buried in Berwick, Ontario, which is an area known for Ouderkirk family members from the Nicholas Ouderkirk line.

The family victims of this tragic forest fire are buried in a mass grave in Hillcrest Cemetery on Watabeag Road in Matheson, Ontario, Canada. A tall grey granite marker lists the names of all twenty-four plus that of Irwin (Irvin) Elvin who died three years later. Beside the family monument is a flat marker for George Little and his wife, Mary Robertson. It is between that marker and the headstone that I believe Thomas Little is also buried, likely with his wife, Rosanna Scott Little.