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Cessford Family Page 1, 2, 3, << 4 >> 5, 6, 7, 8 (Index)


Descendents of David Cessford (1803 - 21 Jan 1862)
and Margaret "Peggy" Piercy (1804 - 21 Jul 1864)

Third Immigrant Generation
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8. Robert "Bob" Cessford . Son of John "Jack" Cessford & Margaret Grieve. Born 15 May 1857 in Harvey. Died 16 Oct 1925 in Comox, B.C. Buried in   Courtenay Civic Cemetery, Section A. Occupation Miner, Farmer.

    Bob went to BC in the 1880s, worked his way across Canada on the CPR, and settled in the Comox District of Vancouver Island.

    Copied from newspaper obituary:

    Lived Many Years In Comox District

    Late Mr Robert Cessford Came to Cumberland in Eighties.

    A resident of the district for 37 years and of the Courtenay section of it for the past twelve, Mr Robert Cessford passed away on his homestead last Friday after an illness of two weeks.

    Mr Cessford was one of the New Brunswickers who came out to British Columbia in the eighties.   He worked his way across Canada on the C.P.R. and came to Cumberland where he worked for the Robert Dunsmuir, Ltd. and later for the Canadian Collieries for twenty-five years.   He left the mining town to take up farming.   He tackled a piece of uncleared land twelve years ago near the Puntledge Indian reserve and by dint of unremitting labor cleared twenty acres of it and made it one of the best homesteads in the district.   In August of last year lightning set his barn on fire and in an hour he had lost barn and crops, home and farm implements.   Unfortunately he had   very little insurance.   This was a heavy blow from which he never seemed quite to recover.   But there was no definite illness till two weeks ago when he took to his bed and died in his sixty-eighth year on Friday.

    Mr Cessford left to mourn his loss his wife, Messrs. J. T. Cessford, W. W. Cessford, R. J. Cessford (sons), Mrs R. F. Lefley, of Victoria, Mrs Harold Grant, of Camp 2, and Miss Margaret Cessford (daughters), Mr W. D. Cessford of Vancouver, Albert Cessford of Princeton, Thos. Cessford of New Brunswick (brothers) and Mrs Pollock of New Brunswick (sister).

    The late Mr Cessford was a charter member of Cumberland Lodge A.F. & A.M. and a charter member of Union Lodge No. 11 of Oddfellows at Cumberland and both orders took part in the funeral on Tuesday afternoon, which was under Masonic auspices.   The funeral service was conducted from the family residence, the Rev. W. T. Beattie officiating, to the Presbyterian cemetery at Sandwick, where interment took place.   The pall-bearers were Messrs. D. Thomson, P. McBryde, D.R. Macdonald, S. Horwood, H. G. Blackhall and Len Piket.   The principal mourners attending the funeral included a number from Denman Island, where Mr Cessford had many relatives and friends.

    He married Isabella Piercy, daughter of Thomas H. Piercy & Jane Speedy. Born 18 Oct 1869 in Harvey Sta. Christen 15 Jul 1870 in St. Paul's Church Records, Fredericton. Died 16 Dec 1931 in Courtenay, B.C. Buried in Courtenay Civic Cemetery, Section A.

    BC Vital Stats:   d. 16 Dec 1931, age 62, at Courtenay, BC.

    They had the following children:

  24   i.   John "Thomas" Cessford

  25   ii.   William Wallace Cessford

  26   iii.   Ethel Cessford

  27   iv.   Lena Cessford

  28   v.   Robert James Cessford

  29   vi.   Margaret Jane "Peggy" Cessford