The Leiths
 I  have known about the Leith connection with the family of "Capt" George Wilton for some years now:-

                                          i.e. John Wilton ,born 1810 married Ann Leith
                                               Thomas Wilton,born 1816 married Charlotte Leith
                                               Albert Wilton,born 1842 who was a son of Thomas and hence grandson of "Capt" George married Elij Leith.
                      The father of Charlotte and Ann was a John Leith who came from Ireland
                                           Sophia Wilton (1818-1888),daughter of "Capt" George Witon ,never married but was probably engaged to a Leith who died relatively young (ref Evel Prim)

   This was the extent of my knowledge and various inquires from across the pond were subsequently ignored--the population of Ireland in the early 1800's was approx 8 million and certainly nobody in Canada had the faintest idea as to where I was to start looking. Chasing rainbows is not my idea of enjoyment!
      The situation was further complicated in that I had what seemed like conflicting information i.e:-

                                      John Leith married Jane Hamilton
   Children are Hamilton,Ann,Charlotte etc

                                       Rev William Leith,Enniskillen Dragoon Guards, married Jane Hamilton
   Children are Hamilton,Ann,Charlotte etc

     Recently however it has come to light that John Leith came from Co.Fermanagh and in fact from the Parish of Devenish near the small village of Monea. Monea as the crow flies is approx 5miles across Lough Erne from where I live. With this knowledge I decided to find out what I could about the Leiths.

       The 1821 census of Ireland has been virtually destroyed and as far as Fermanagh is concerned only the parishes of Derryvullen and Aghalurcher have survived---so no Devenish in the 1821 census 

       The earliest record I can find is in the 1788 Voters List (P.RO.N.I ref T/808/15075) of Malcolm Leith of Cornerk

        Church Records :-

     a)  Devenish Parish Records:-
              Marriage   30th ?Dec 1806   Christopher Leith and Prudence Armstrong

              Christening    25th Dec 1807   Mary Anne of Christopher Leith and Prudence Armstrong of Castle Hume
                             _________________________________________________________________________

              Christening  9th/4/1808 or 9  Hamilton to James Leith and Jane Hamilton ---   Fermanagh Militia

              Christening   27/12/1812   Anne of Jas Leith and Jane Hamilton of townland Moyglass
                                               _____________________________________________________

                Marriage  2/1/1819   Wm Leith, unknown place and Mary Bustard, unknown

                 Christening   John Leith, 5/5/1822  ?townland  fathers name William and mothers maiden Bustard

      It is now that I mention the Rev Hamilton Leith --born 26th Jan 1818 and died 21st April 1901 --Does anyone know who his father and mother were??

      b) Inishmacsaint Parish Records:-

               I have so far identified 44 references to Leiths in births,marriages and deaths from this parish and although I am virtually certain that they all are probably related I have no way of proving it. I have included the following which I consider relevant because of the time period,name similarity and townland ref.

                   a) births             John Leith 30/5/1819   Carrick    father John; mother Anne
                                            Malcolm Leith  26/7/1814  Carrick   father John, mother Anne
                                            Robert Leith  2/3/1824  no townland  father Robert, mother Mary
                                            Jane Leith  17/5/1825  Largylinny  father Robert, mother Mary  
                                            Charles Leith 16/12/1826  Largylinny  father William, mother Mary
                                            Mary Leith  18/2/1827  Largylinny  fatherRobert, mother Mary
      There are several other births to William and Mary but after 1830 (The approx time period the John Leith went to Canada) and are these children offspring of Wm Leith and Mary Bustard ???

                  b) marriages            no marriages recorded for Leiths of this time period

                 c) deaths                 Jane Leith  ?townland    age 50   18/11/1823      born   1773
                                                Robert Leith  ?Tulnadall  age 62  9/5/1824         born   1762
                                                Anne Leith  Cleenish  age 85  13/11/1831          born   1746
                                                 Anne Leith  Carnesk age 53  12/7/1832            born   1779
                                                 Anne Leith   Castle Archdale,late of Carnesk    born    1748   died 28/1/1840 age92
                                                 Charles Leith  Largalinny  age 88 13/1/1888      born 1800
                                                 Ed Leith   Tulnadall   age44  4/3/1843               born 1799
                                                  Glen Leith  Largalinny   age 84  21/1/1891       born  1807----I can find no record of his baptism
                                                  James Leith  Drumsillas,Rossory  age77  15/3/1830  born 1753
                                                  Mary Leith   Glenwinny  age92  13/5/1885    born 1793
                                                  Leith  ??    ?townland     age92   16/7/1834    born 1742
                                                  Robt Leith  Tullinadull    age62    9/5/1824      born 1762
                                                   Robt Leith Largylinny    age 82   10/1/1849    born  1767
                                                   Wm Leith  Largylinny    age 36   4/4/1831   born 1795
                                                    Wm Leith  Glenkeel,Boho  age 78  4/5/1849  born 1771
                                                    Wm Leith  Enniskillen  age70  18/1/1875   born 1805---I can find no record of his baptism

  Iin addition I have searched Methodist, Presbyterian and St Macarten's cathederal (C.of I),Enniskillen records and found no more Leiths. The cathederal records were a major dissapointment as the church dates from the 1600's and records prior to approx 1850 have been destroyed. 
                              I have also referred to two books in particular which refer to the Parish of Devenish :--

                The Parish of Devenish and Boho by E. G. Elliott. Ths book besides being a document in its own right draws heavily on a previous work The Parish of Devenish by W.B.Steele. Both books are extensive in their lists and record the only known record of any part of the 1841census for Fermanagh as well as Religious Census 1766,Rent Rolls for the Ely and Montgomery Estates,Roll of Electors 1788etc------No Leiths found

              The above paragraph relates to the Parish of Devenish but as can be seen the vast majority of Leiths are in townlands in the Parish of Inishmacsaint and it is in documents relating to this area that I found the following.

                             a) 1796--lease of Largylinny-------no Leiths

                             b) 1814---Cornerk townland (this is often confused with Largylinny,they were adjacent to each other)----Humes Estate---Malcolm Leith 

                             c)Tithe Aplotment Books of 1834   Largylinny for an area of 62 acres, a??? William Leith paid his dues. The ??? refers to this mans first name which starts with the letter R and is a spelling of something I have never come across before. The land is described as "heathy",which means it is quite fertile and covered in gorse bushes.

       As people who know me, know that anything I have on my website I can substantiate and this brings me to the topic of the :--

          Rev William Leith, Enniskillen Dragoon Guards--until someone in Canada can give me more verifiable information on this gentleman.--I do not believe he existed!!
                         I have found no trace of him in :--
           a) any army list relating to Irish regiments from 1814 to 1820 including Waterloo

           b) The chaplaincy lists for the British Army
  It is also worth noting that there was also no such regiment as the Enniskillen Dragoon Guards at this period of time and I feel this is an example of how information can get distorted on its trip across the atlantic. With time it gets added to,subtracted from and generally botched up and as a result is passed down from generation to generation, usually losing nothing in the telling
eg "Capt" George Wilton was supposed to have been at Waterloo. It took me 2 years to prove he was no more at Waterloo than I was.

         At the time of the siege of Enniskillen in 1689, just before the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 between catholic King James 2nd and protestant King William 3rd, several regiments of dragoons and foot soldiers were raised to defend Enniskillen and take part in the Battle of the Boyne. Initially a regiment called Coyngham's Dragoons was raised in 1689 changing its name to the 6th Enniskillen Dragoons in 1751. The regiment was subsequently amalgamated with the 5th Dragoon Guards to become the 5th Enniskillen Dragoon Guards in 1927 and the Royal Enniskillen Dragoon Guards in approx 1950
     The above is historically one of the most famous regiments of the British army , its motto being Quis Separabit (who shall seperate us) and their battle honours are legendary
              At Waterloo in the charge of the Union brigade ( 1st,2nd and 6th Enniskillen dragoons { the 2nd dragoons were the famous Scots Grays all mounted on grey horses}) practically the whole brigade was annihilated as a fighting force after inflicting heavy casualties on the French. Wellington so praised the Enniskillens that a statue of an Enniskillen Dragoon was erected on the Wellington Memorial in Hyde Park,London
              In the Crimean war in the Battle of Balaclava ,800 men of the heavy brigade (mostly the Enniskillen Dragoons) routed 3500 of the Tzar,s finest cavalry and so demoralised the Russian cavalry that they did not follow up the subsequent disaster of the charge of the Light Brigade later thet day.

   I also checked to see if William's name was in the list of 27th Reg of Foot (Enniskillen Fusileers) This regiment was responsible for holding a very important crossroads until the Prussians arrived. In his book "The Green Square" (the army fought in a square formation) the author Fox printed the names of approx 700 men involved in this action and at the end of the battle only 20 to 30 men survived. All officers were killed and Napoleon was quoted as saying "those devils with castles(the regimental badge is that of Enniskillen Castle)on their caps did not know when they were beaten".Wellington himself after the battle came across a surviving Enniskillen soldier who was about to be hanged for stealing a pig.He inquired what regiment was he from and what was his misdemeanor and when he heard he was an Enniskillen Fusileer he ordered the soldier to be cut down and was heard to say as he rode away--"if he had an army of such men he could conquer the wold"

          From the above description even if William wasn't a minister (for which I can find no evidence) and he was a soldier in either of the above regiments it is highly unlikely he survived, let alone made it to Canada. The Irish by repute may not have been much good except for drinking, singing and building railroads but they certainly can fight as the annals of the British Army testify.

          I have taken some photographs of the later Leith gravestones in Derrygonnelly "Old Churchyard" with distant views of their original homestead

           Present day Leith gravestone and farm in Canada

         A page on the discharge document of Coporal John Leith of the Fermanagh Militia. It is quite an interesting document in that it gives a lot of his personal details :--
                      age 51,served a total of 21 years 7 months (1 year 258days as a private and 19 years 318 days as a coporal)
                      height 6ft 1 inch, brown hair,grey eyes,fair complexion and his occupation is a weaver
                His reason for discharge being given as "a reduction in militia staff and being worn out!!" This appears to be dated 24th June 1829
      I find the doctors comment on the bottom of the page interesting in that he was worn out from severe chest pains and a hernia on his left side What's changed!!