52 Ancestors: #1 John Thomas Love

This is the first posting for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.

Do you love potatoes? Could you eat them everyday at every meal? I don't know whether my maternal grandfather, John Thomas Love, loved them so much that he ate them at every meal [1] or was it because they were readily available on the farm and they helped fill a person up. I imagine it was the latter two reasons. 

John Thomas Love was born 25 August 1884 [2] the fifth child of James Love and Elizabeth Fields Robinson in Carnarvon Township, Manitoulin Island. The majority of his life was spent on the family farm. His siblings were Jane, Agnes Hamilton, Cora, Norman Luther, Laura Jane, Ethel Mae, James Lorne, Margaret Isabel and Grace Elizabeth. Jane, Agnes, Norman and James died at a very young age. John’s father died tragically in a farm accident in 1914. 

John’s home where he raised his family was across the lane from where he had lived until his marriage. He married Janet Gertrude Johnston of Sandfield Township at the home of her parents’ in Silver Bay on 11 May 1909. John and Janet had five children: Agnes Elizabeth, Winifred Eleanor, James Everett, Ross Augustus and Marion Gertrude (my mother). 

John Thomas Love with Marion (baby), Everett and Ross in 1921.

John was, according to my mother, a very strict person. I do not recall much about my grandpa. He would have worked hard on his farm. The boys would have helped on the farm. 

John Thomas Love hoeing corn in 1941

I don't know how often he would have left the Manitoulin Island but I do have photographs of him visiting family in Southern Ontario in his latter years. 

His wife (my grandmother) died in 1958. 

John Thomas with his three sisters: Cora, GP, Laura, Margaret - June 17, 1958 following the funeral of his wife, Janet Gertrude (often known as Gertie).

John died 7 March 1961 in Little Current at the home of his eldest sister, Cora. He is buried in the Mindemoya Cemetery, Lot 16, Concession 3, Carnarvon Township.

[1] Marion Iles in her notes.
[2] 1901 Census of Canada, Ontario, Algoma (district 44), Carnarvon (sub-district H/3), division 2, p. 2, James Love household; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 January 2014), citing microfilm T-6458, Archives of Canada, Ottawa

© 2014 Janet Iles