Abigail Jeffery

     Abigail Jeffery was born on August 6, 1898, baptized on September 11, 1898.  She died on October 3, 1911 probably of pneumonia or meningitis - she was buried the following day at Holy Trinity Alma cemetery.
     Abilgail was the daughter of Spurgeon Jeffery and Dorcas Collicutt.  There is little known about Abigail, other than she was a child living with her parents, a brother and two sisters - they lived at the corner of Centerline Road and Klondike Road (today known as MacLellan Road) in Lauretta.  Amoung the papers found in her family's home, following the death of her sister Eva in 1982, was the hand-written short story below, likely a class assignment at Lauretta School.  The story was possibly told to her about her grandfather Stephen E. Jeffery who was a blacksmith down the Centerline Road less than a mile away in Alma - Stephen died two months after Abigail.  Abigail's uncle Albert was a blacksmith at Alma Corner and her uncle Robert was blacksmith in Elmsdale.

     Abigail was likely named after her grand aunt Abigail (Jeffery) Burns, sister of her grandfather Stephen E. Jeffery of Alma.  Aunt Abigail (1826-1913) lived in Sherbrooke, PEI.

     Spurgeon and Dorcas lost three children at a young age – Elizabeth died at 7 days old on June 9 1887 (first to be buried at Holy Trinity Alma Cemetery); and a daughter Hannah died at the age of 7 years old on May 1898.

Rennie's Store, Alma Corner

     Alma Corner was always a busy place for the goings on of the community.  At the corner there were once stores, blacksmith shops, the post office, the school, a cooper, etc. - today there's nothing there at all except for homes.
     The location of Rennie's Store, on the southeast corner, was originally the home of Albert Jeffery (1857-1905) of the Centerline Road, son of blacksmith Stephen E. Jeffery.  Albert married Roannah Riley (1862-1929) - they had one adopted daughter, Pearl.

Below:  Blanche (Rennie) Crockett home, former Albert Jeffery home.

Below:  Blanche (Rennie) Crockett.  Photo taken in the summer of 2002.

 Below: The 2nd Rennie's Store, southeast view.

 Below: Rennie's Store, northeast corner.  Demolished in the summer of 2007.

     Below: the northeast corner at Alma Corner - the Mountain homestead where Alvie Mountain operated a blacksmith shop.

      Below: an old barn that the Mountains traded land for with Ellis Smallman - this old barn came out from the Centerline Rd. in Lauretta.  It was demolished in the summer of 2007.

      Below:  the Mountain Homestead - the home of Alvie and Millie Mountain.  Alvie was a blacksmith.   Their three children: Leslie, Margaret and Frank always lived here - they never married.  The house had been abandoned and was demolished in the summer of 2007 when Route 2 highway and the intersection was rebuilt.

      Below:  a page from the book, Alberton & Area: A Pictorial Experience Through Time showing the first Rennie's Store which burned in 1921.

Below:  cf. page 104 of the Alberton & Area book showing Fred Rennie's Egg Waggon.

     The new books about the History of Elmsdale tells much about the history of the Rennie's and the origins of the family with their forefather Luigi Riani (anglicised to Louis Rennie) coming from Tuscany, Italy with his a friend Mr. Platts around the turn of the nineteenth century.  Louis' son Fred built and operated stores at Elmsdale and Alma corners.