John Druar and
Veronica Meyer
Eleven years before Jacob
passed away young John Druar had taken over the family farm on Lot 6 Con 8 Wellesley Township. He married John Meyer’s
daughter Veronica. She is not related to his uncle Vince Meyer as far as I
know. 1870 January 11th John Truar age 19, of St
Clements, Upper Canada , a bachelor, yeoman, son of Jacob andDorothy Truar and
Veronica Meyer, age 22, of St Clements, place of birth, Helvetia, Europe,
spinster, daughter of John and Elizabeth Meyer. Their witnesses were Joseph
Meyer of St. Clements and Louisa Dorscht of Heidelberg. By banns, both were
Roman Catholic. Married by Rev. Edward Glowalski. Here on the left is a copy of their Marriage Record. Many years ago my Aunt Collette Lehmann told
me Veronica was born in Switzerland and came to Canada when she was two years
old. She was on asailboat for six weeks. I thought she said her name was really
Fanny Schweitzermeyer (now I wonder if it was “Swiss” Meyer as I have seen John
“Swiss” Meyer in records likely used to define the John Meyer from Switzerland
from all the German Meyers around the area) In 1998 Aunt “Tante” Collette could
not remember any of it. But now we do know she was right about Veronica being
born in Switzerland, also Fanny is a pet name of Veronica. The place may be
Rhaetia, as I later found listed on baptismal records of her children.
My mother remembered hearing
the story of Veronica staying up all night to keep
the fire going under the big
kettle of maple sap and a circle of wolves, with their eyes
gleaming in the firelight,
were watching from the night shadows. This would have been
sometime after 1870, that was
the year they were married.
John and Veronica raised a
family of six sons and three daughters on that farm.
#1 Jacob b. 28 December 1870
#2 Peter b. 9 August, 1873
#3 John b. 24 March 1875
#4 Mathilda b. 3 October 1877
#5 Henry b.2 August 1879
#6 Ignatius b.28 July 1881
#7 Mary b. 22 April 1883
#8 Joseph b. 2 August 1886
#9 Hildagarde Magdelen, born 4
March 1889 - my Grandmother
1881 Census shows John’s
mother Dorothy Druar lived with them until she died
when she was 68 years old. So
my Grandma’s Grandmother was gone before my
Grandma was even born, but her
other Grandma Elisabeth from Switzerland was living
with her Aunt Margaret when
Hilda was two years old in !891. That was on the next
farm. An entry of “April 4”
under the heading of ‘Dates of Operations and Remarks’ on
that Census is a puzzle to me.
1891 Census shows Veronica’s
mother Elisabeth [Busslinger] Meyer was 74
years old and lived with her
daughter, Margaret, and son-in-law, Peter Voisin, on an
adjoining farm. She is shown
on that Census as being born in Germany. Elisabeth died
the following year in June
1892, a year after her husband, John Meyer.
John Druar was born April 1st 1850 and died in 1919 and
Veronica Druar b. 1847
in Switzerland died in 1915.
They are buried in St Clements cemetery, in section D first
row, No. 8. It is a large
granite headstone on left of the driveway to the chapel.
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Veronica’s parents, John (Johann)
Meyer died 3 Dec. 1883 and Elizabetha
[Busslinger]Meyer, born 8 Sept. 1814 died on 7th June 1892, and they are in
the row behind, just to the right,
Row 2, No. 9 and 10, two wrought iron crosses I did
not realize I had Veronica’s parents graves on this
photo! The plates are on the crosses, but very worn. I
hope to get new ones with the information on them and put
them below the original ones that are illegible so
that future generations will know who they are. They
belong to us. On left is John and Veronica’s headstone and
her parents John and Elizabetha Meyer are on the
right. (wrought iron crosses) You can see them in
the background. |
Our son David and his wife
Angela live not very far from that cemetery in St. Clements,
and I am sure my grandson,
Cody, has relatives in school with him and doesn’t even
know it. No one would guess
Cody Fernandes is a great-great-great-great grandson of
Jacob Druar a founding pioneer
of St Clements! There was not a Fernandes among those
early pioneer names!