My Family Tree

There is no baptismal record for Jane Ramsay, or any other document that identifies her parents. However, there seems to be general agreement that she was the daughter of "Justice" John Ramsay and Margaret Penman (see, for instance, Past and Present of PEI, which had information that came from her son Robert). Looking at the other Ramsay families in the area, John and Margaret seem to be the best fit.

There was no girl in the Ramsay household in the 1798 census, so her date of birth was between 1797 and 1808.

I was also unable to find a marriage record for Jane Ramsay and James Ellis in St. Eleanor Church of England records, which cover marriages from 1821-1826, and was the church where their children were baptized. Neither were they in the Richmond Parish of the Presbyterian Church marriage records that covered 1821-1834, or in an incomplete collection of marriage licenses at PARO, covering 1811-1826.

Further, there was no marriage license or bond for them in the PARO card file, or a reference to a newspaper announcement in the Master Name Index. David Johnson's newspaper index covers a number of Island events, but not Jane's marriage or death; another source that came up with nothing was the index to the Halifax-based Presbyterian Witness, which also covered Island events.

They were definitely married by 1826, when their daughter Agnes was baptized as the daughter of James Ellis shipwright and his wife Jane Ramsay. Jane's date of birth was therefore probably before 1810.

Jane and James had at least 7 children. In the 1841 census, 3 males under the age of 16 were recorded - the additional male being either another son whose baptismal record was lost, or an apprentice.

Jane died sometime between January 1837, when her daughter Jane was baptized, and June 1838, when the widower James Ellis remarried. Most men in his situation, left with 6 young children under 10, would marry again within 6 months or so - this was especially true for James, who didn't have a spinster sister or an older daughter to help. Jane may have died by January 1838.

No death record was found for Jane in St. Eleanor's or Port Hill church burial records, and her name was not on the gravestone with her husband in Port Hill. She might be in a small family graveyard that a cousin said was on the Low Point farm grounds.

Some family trees give a date, 10 March 1837, but this was for a Maria Jane, wife of David Ellis, who was buried in New York State - definitely not this Jane Ellis.