Version 6.01

11 February 2025

David March © 2014

JOSEPH NEEDHAM and CHARLOTTE MATILDA NEEDHAM née STERNE

Joseph Needham was born on 23 March 1876 in Bramhall, Cheshire, England to Thomas Needham (1844-1916) and Sarah "Hannah" Baker (1839-1924). His siblings were: John Needham (1872-1939), James (1874-1958), Thomas (1879-1957) and Sarah Hannah (1881-1960). Joseph was raised in Heaton, Staffordshire, England and lived there until at least 1901. According to census records he immigrated to Canada between 1904 and 1906. In 1911 he was living on 5-26-W2 near Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan and was a Methodist Clergyman.

There are a couple of mentions of him in "Blended Heritage", a local history book for Unity, Saskatchewan. He graduated from Wesley College in Winnipeg and preached at various churches in the Unity area from 1914 to 1918. Oddly, there was no family history for the Needham family in the book. According to his death registration he had been a clergyman for 40 years and retired in 1950.

Joseph married Charlotte Matilda Sterne on 16 June 1915. Charlotte was born 22 February 1879 in Bruce County, Ontario to Francis Sherlock (Frank) Sterne (1840-1905) and Frances Ann (Fanny) Kidd (1843-1925). Her siblings were: Eliza "Ethel" Sherlock (1874-1949), Mary Ann (1875-1963), Ida Priscilla (1877-1959) and William Henry Sherlock (1880-1978). In 1881 the Sterne family lived in Carrick, Bruce, Ontario. After her father's death in 1905, Charlotte, her mother and some of her siblings moved to Boston, Massachusetts.

Joseph and Charlotte had four children: Priscilla (1916-1996), Josephine K (b 1916), Anna (b 1919) and Thomas Francis (Frank) (1922-1975). In 1916 and 1921 the Needham family was enumerated in Unity. In 1916 Charlotte and baby Josephine were enumerated as patients in the Unity hospital and Joseph and Priscilla were enumerated together on 4th Ave in Unity. Charlotte died on 10 May 1946 at an unknown location and Joseph on 8 April 1953 in New Westminster, British Columbia. According to his death registration, he had lived in British Columbia for 4 months preceding his death. Charlotte and Joseph were buried in Pleasant View Community Cemetery, Unity.

Charlotte signed directly under Joseph on the quilt. J A & Leva Hagerman and CM & Annie D Coakwell, also from Unity signed in a similar fashion very near them. Also, J H and Velma G Stanton, who we believe to have been from Wellington, Alberta signed in a similar fashion in the same area of the quilt. All of these couples were Methodist, so it seems likely that they were in Saskatoon on church business. Unity is about 200 km from Saskatoon. We feel quite certain that Charlotte and Joseph from Unity were the people who signed the Jos Needham and Charlotte Needham signatures.

Joseph was a Saskatchewan politician, clergyman and public administrator. See Wikipedia.

This family tree can be found on Ancestry under the title 3rd Ave Needham 2 Tree.