Ada Matthews Wimhurst

Ada Rose Matthews was born in Clerkenwell, London, England in 1863 to Joseph and Sarah Matthews. She was the second daughter born to them. They had six children. Joseph also had a son Joseph by his first marriage. Both girls were baptised on July 19, 1863. Joseph Matthews was a goldsmith and jeweller at that time.

Her dad died sometime between 1872 and 1877 when her mother married a cabinet maker by the name of Josiah Tilney. Ada'a mother had two more children with Josiah along with the six children he already had.

In 1881 when she was only 17 years of age, Ada had a position with Isaac Wadmore as a general servant. Two years later Banns were read for Ada Rose and John Charles Wimhurst on June 3th, 10th, 17th at Whitechapel. They were married on July 1, 1883.

Writing of the period 1883-1884, Yiddish theatre actor Jacob Adler wrote, "The further we penetrated into this Whitechapel, the more our hearts sank. Was this London? Never in Russia, never later in the worst slums of New York, were we to see such poverty as in the London of the 1880s."  - From Wikipedia - April 12 2019.

In January 1901 Ada was appointed a 'Learner' in the British Postal Service.

Ada became a mother on March 7, 1884, to Ada Rose. John Charles followed in January 1886, then Ethel in 1892, and Walter in 1895. After the first two were born, the family moved out to Surrey, and later to Peas Pottage before sailing for Canada in 1907.

They settled on a farm in Ingram Township east of Englehart, Ontario. After JC died in 1940, Ada moved to Langley, British Columbia where her daughter Ada Rose lived. Ada died on February 10, 1950 at the age of 86.