Version 6.01

11 February 2025

David March © 2014

ADA SMITH

Alice Ada Ogden was born on 9 October 1868 in Port Elgin, New Brunswick to Edward Wood Ogden (1830- before 1908) and Caroline Goodwin or Gooden (1843-1870). In 1876, her father married Charlotte J Silliker (1844-1908) and they had a daughter Elizabeth (Lizzie) Silliker (b 1879). Alice was raised in Sackville, New Brunswick and married Reverend James Smith on 19 July 1894 in Westmorland, New Brunswick. James was born in February 1866 in Cupids, Newfoundland to Thomas Smith and Emma Jane. He was living in Cupids at the time of the marriage.

James and Ada had five children: Florence Myra (b 1895), Ralph Bracken (1896-1969), Edith Roxana (b 1899), Alice Emma (b 1904) and Helen Caroline (b 1907). The Smith family lived in the Brandon district of Manitoba in 1906, Carduff, Saskatchewan in 1911, Arcola, Saskatchewan in 1916 and Chamberlain, Saskatchewan in 1921. The 1918 Saskatoon Henderson Directory had a listing for Rev James Smith at 816 14th Street. We could not be positive that the Henderson listing was for the same Rev James Smith, but it seemed likely as Chamberlain is only 170 km from Saskatoon and the family was moving around a lot. Alice died on 12 October 1950 in Alameda, Saskatchewan.

This family tree can be found on Ancestry under the title 3rd Ave Smith 8a Tree.

Ada A Messer was born on 26 February 1860 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to Thomas Messer (b 1832) and Mary Ann Huile (b 1827). Her siblings were: Charles (b 1855), Sophia (b 1858), Lambeth (b 1863), Nettie (b 1864) and Statia (b 1866). Ada was raised in Lunenburg and was married to Wallace Smith there on 27 November 1884. Wallace was born in 1848 in Chester, Nova Scotia to Timothy Smith (b 1797) and Ann (b 1804). He had at least one brother, George (b 1845). Ada and Wallace had two children: Lola Louise (1885-1964) and Guy (b 1887). The family lived in Lunenburg until at least 1911.

By the time of the 1891 census, Ada was listed as a widow. According to her obituary, Lola and her husband, Russell Edgar Ripley (1889-1953) moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1919. By the time of the 1921 census, Ada was living with them at 608 Temperance Street. If Ada moved there with the family in 1919, it is possible that she may have been the quilt signer - if the quilt was being made that late. It is also possible that Ada just came for a visit to Saskatoon in 1921 and was definitely not a signer. Ada died on 11 May 1927 in Lunenburg.

This family tree can be found on Ancestry under the title 3rd Ave Smith 8b Tree.

We were able to locate two Ada Smiths living in Saskatoon at the time that the quilt was being made. The first impression was that Alice Ada Ogden in 3rd Ave Smith 8a Tree seemed the most likely candidate for the Ada Smith signature because her husband was a Methodist minister and her husband was listed in the 1918 Saskatoon Henderson Directory. However, on all census records, birth records for her children and her marriage record, her name was recorded as Alice A Smith or Alice Ada Smith and never just Ada Smith. This leaves us with considerable doubt that she was the signer as it seems unlikely she would have used only the name Ada in her signature. The other possible candidate for the signature was Ada A Messer in 3rd Ave Smith 8b Tree. The problem is that we can only prove that she was in Saskatoon at the time of the 1921 census. At that time she was living with her daughter, Lola Ripley, and her family. According to her obituary, Lola and family only moved to Saskatoon in 1919, so it is unlikely that Ada was in Saskatoon in 1918. She may have moved with her daughter, but we don't know if the quilt was being signed in 1919 and we don't know how early in 1919 the Ripleys and/or Ada arrived. We could locate no other Ada Smith candidates with a connection to Saskatoon

Candidate 1

Candidate 2