George Lobb

1810s–1840s

Born in August 1813 at Delameer, St. Teath, Cornwall, to William Lobb and Joan Libby, and baptized that September. A Wesleyan Methodist. Emigrated to Canada in the 1840s, living near Cobourg about 1845.

1850s

Leased 88 acres on Lot 76, Maitland Concession, Goderich Township, in 1850 and bought it in 1853. Married Mary Holmes in Goderich on 18 June 1854. Son Thomas was born in 1857.

1860s–1870s

Built a log house on the farm in 1861 and farmed there, raising Thomas, Joseph, William, Keziah, and Hannah.

1880s

Made his will in 1882. Housebound with asthma, he died at Goderich on 24 January 1884.

A Cornish Farmer in Ontario

George Lobb was born in August 1813 at Delameer, in the parish of St. Teath, Cornwall, and baptized there on September 14, 1813. His parents were William Lobb and Joan Libby, and he was one of nine children; his brother Joseph stayed in St. Teath all his life. George was raised a Wesleyan Methodist. In the 1840s he emigrated to Canada, bringing with him a cherry drop-leaf desk that was still in his old house in 1972, and about 1845 he was living near Cobourg, Ontario.

On October 22, 1850, George leased eighty-eight acres on Lot 76 of the Maitland Concession in Goderich Township, Huron County, from the Canada Company, and in 1853 he bought the land outright, selling the south forty acres that December. A neighbor a few lots away, John Holmes, had his widowed sister Mary keeping house for him, and on June 18, 1854, George and Mary Holmes were married in Goderich. Their children were Thomas (born in 1857, Meghan's 2x-great-grandfather), Joseph, William, Keziah, and Hannah, and George also had a stepdaughter, Mary Wait. In 1861 he built a one-story log house on the farm for the family. The farm stayed in the Lobb family for generations; his great-grandsons Donald and Murray Lobb later inherited it.

George's last years were quiet. In December 1881 someone stole oats from his granary, and by then asthma was keeping him indoors. In November 1882 he made his will, leaving the north half of the farm to his son William, who was to give his mother a comfortable home, necessities, medical care, and $100 a year for life, while the other children received payments of $50 a year. In a codicil the next June he noted that Thomas had already had his share. George died at Goderich on January 24, 1884, at seventy. His obituary called him "of a quiet and unobtrusive disposition, but nevertheless enjoyed a large circle of acquaintances," and "blameless and above reproach"; his niece Elizabeth Beaton remembered "a gentle soft-spoken man." He was buried at Holmesville Cemetery, and his funeral sermon was preached at the Methodist church that Sunday.