William White and Eleda Mae Mitchell were married on December 16, 1907in Milbank. The families of both William and Eleda had arrived in Canada in the mid 1800s.

Eleda’s grandparents, Alexander Mitchell and Ellen Duncan, who had been born in Scotland, settled in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County around 1841. Robert Mitchell, Eleda’s father was born there in 1854. In the 1861 census Robert, seven siblings and his parents are shown as living in a one storey log house in Wellesley. Robert married Catherine Wilson, the daughter of English immigrants, and settled into farming in the Howick area.It was there that Eleda Mae was born on March 22, 1889, the second of threechildren to the couple.

The 1891 census records Eleda, 2, and her brothers Robert and Gordon living with their parents in Huron East, Howick Township. Eleda Mae’s mother died in 1894. In the 1901 census, 12 year old Eleda is recorded as living with her widowed aunt, Janet Mitchell, and her cousin, William, in Mornington, Perth North.

William White’s grandparents, Robert and Rebecca White, emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1854 and settled in Wellesley Township. The family included William’s father, William Sr., and his four brothers. By the 1871 census, William Sr.’s two elder brothers had become teachers while he and ayounger brother worked on the farm with their father. By 1881, Robert and Rebecca White had retired and moved to Mornington, Perth North where they were still living when the 1891 census was taken. In 1873, William Sr. had married Eliza McDonald, the daughter of Hugh and Jane McDonald who had been born in Scotland.

Their son, William, was born on August 4, 1881. He was born just after the 1881 census which recorded his parents, three sisters and his brother, Robert, living in Mornington where his father was farming. The 1901 censusrecords William, 19, still living with his parents and working as a lumber dealer. 

When William and Eleda married, he was already living in Stratford and, according to their marriage registration; he was working as a carpenter. Less than two years later, William bought the property on Front Street.William and Eleda moved into the house by 1910. Their son, Robert Kenneth, was born February 5, 1911, making him the first child to be born inthe house at 62 Front Street.

The family lived in the home for a number of years before moving to Calgary. It was there that the couple’s second child, a daughter, Grace, was born in 1920.

From the 1916 census for Calgary, it looks like William started a business asa builder. The census records his occupation as a builder and his brother, Robert, who was living with the family, is recorded as a carpenter. According to the census, William’s father and mother were also living in Calgary where his father’s occupation is noted as a carpenter.

Eleda White died in Calgary in 1954 at which time William moved to California to live with his daughter and her husband. Robert Kenneth White lived to be eighty and died in Calgary in 1991