Robert Benjamin Bannister Sr.

Brief Life History of Robert Benjamin

When Robert Benjamin Bannister Sr. was born on 27 July 1854, in Onondaga, Brant, Ontario, Canada, his father, Robert Bannister, was 39 and his mother, Mary Pearce Fielder, was 33. He married Ellen Harrison on 2 May 1893, in Onondaga, Onondaga, Brant, Ontario, Canada. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He lived in Onondaga, Onondaga, Brant, Ontario, Canada for about 10 years and Brant, Ontario, Canada for about 10 years. He died on 13 October 1931, in Onondaga, Brant, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 77, and was buried in Onondaga, Onondaga, Brant, Ontario, Canada.

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Family Time Line

Robert Benjamin Bannister Sr.
1854–1931
Ellen Harrison
1872–1942
Marriage: 2 May 1893
Robert Benjamin Bannister
1895–1971

Sources (10)

  • Robert Banister, "Canada Census, 1911"
  • Robert Bannister, "Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927"
  • Robert Benjamin Bannister, "Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947"

Spouse and Children

World Events (5)

1867 · Ontario Founded

On July 1, 1867, the province of Ontario was founded. It is the second largest province in Canada. A third of the population of Canada live here. Before it was Ontario it was called Upper Canada and had a Governor.

1871

British Columbia joins the confederation.

1883 · Mining Boom

In 1883, there was a mining boom in Northern Ontario when mineral deposits were found near Sudbury. Thomas Flanagan was the blacksmith for the Canadian Pacific Railway that noticed the deposits in the river.

Name Meaning

English (of Norman origin): from Old French banaste, banastre ‘covering for a cart or wagon; basket’, i.e. a large wicker container. In the 12th century a Norman family of this name had estates in Orne, Normandy, and in England. Ricardus Banastre appears in charters relating to the Earls of Chester c. 1120–29. With what sense the Norman surname was acquired is unknown. It can hardly have been occupational, contrary to Reaney's view that it denoted a basket maker. It is possible that many or even all of the later bearers of the surname were descended from this knightly family. However, several men with this surname in the 14th-century Poll Tax Returns are described as servants or agricultural laborers, while Ricardus Banastr', recorded in 1381 was a butcher. It is conceivable that these men took their name from Middle English banastre, a borrowing of the French word, and that it referred to a basket or hamper they used in their work. Alternatively, they may have belonged to branches of the knightly family that had fallen in the social scale. The term denoting a stair rail is unconnected with this name; it was not used before the 17th century.

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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