Version 6.01

11 February 2025

David March © 2014

MARY ETHEL SAWDEY

Mary "Ethel" Gillespie was was born on 12 February 1881 in Holland Township, Grey, Ontario to James Gillespie (b 1848) and Isabella Boyde (1856-1889). Her siblings were: Isabella Jane (1878-1936), Elizabeth Alberta (b 1880), John Herbert (b 1883) and James Albert (b 1885). She was raised in Holland, Grey, Ontario.

Ethel married Albert Charles Sawdey in about 1909. He was born in December 1880 in Nebraska, USA to Charles Edwin Sawdey (1858-1930) and Harriet M Porter (b 1859). He had a sister, Nellie M born in 1882. Albert was living in Wayne Township, Jones, Iowa in 1885, Anamose, Jones, Iowa in 1895 and Felton, Clay, Minnesota in 1900. According to census records, Albert immigrated to Canada in 1902 or 1903. By 1910 he was working as a carpenter and living at 803 5th Ave North in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Albert and Ethel had three children: Muriel (b 1910), Gordon (1913-1991) and Elizabeth Ethel (1913-2011). Albert died on 26 February 1921 in Saskatoon and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon.

In later city directory entries Ethel is recorded as Mary. She continued to live at 803 5th Ave N, Saskatoon with her children until about 1940 when Gordon married Mildred Anne (Millie) Bodman (1918-2013).

Ethel died on 29 June 1953 in Calgary, Alberta and is buried alongside her late husband in Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon.

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

According to her obituary, Mary Ethel Sawdey had a sister Elizabeth Doney who lived in Toronto at the time of Ethel's death in 1953. Mary Ethel Gillespie was born 12 February of 1881 and had a sister Elizabeth Alberta who married a Doney. Mary Ethel Sawdey was born in February 1881, but no record of their marriage could be found that proved that Mary Ethel Gillespie married a Sawdey and so there is a small element of doubt that the correct ancestry has been found for Mary Ethel who married Albert Charles Sawdey.