William Brown McEwan (1868 – 1961)
William Brown Mcewan third child to John McEwan and Janet Stevenson was born in Toronto March 7th 1868.
Like all of John's boys William learned the trade of shoemaking. He did not remain with his trade however and instead joined and insurance firm. Working his way up the ladder William became a manager for the London Life Insurance Company. At age twenty-six he married Annie Grinnell on September 4th 1894 in Toronto. Annie (1869 – 1953) was born in Chiltenham, England. William and Annie had two children Myrtle (1895 - 1989) and William Halford (1901 – 1986). After his wife died Will went to live with his daughter Myrtle Watts, on her farm just north of Toronto, near Newmarket. William lived to the ripe old age of ninety-three. When he died in 1961 he was buried in Toronto at St-John’s Cemetery, Norway, Toronto, Canada, My mother told me fond stories of her Uncle Will. She often visited her cousin Myrtle in Toronto. A cousin and great-child of William told me that the picture with the uniform was taken when Will worked as a driver of a horse drawn street carriage, for the city of Toronto in the late 1800. *Will's daughter Myrtle married Harry Watts born in 1894 in Toronto. On May 22, 1915, at Woodbine Racetrack, Watts rode Tartarean to victory for the King's Plate, finishing in 2:09.20.
They had three children. The family owned a longstanding butcher shop in Toronto's East York until Watts' death in 1940, in Toronto. He is buried in Toronto's historic St John Norway's Church Cemetery. After a successful career as a jockey, Watts retired from the sport, and became a butcher. For More on Harry Watts |