Ezra Anthony Healy ^{1 2}

   Another name for Ezra was Rev. E. A. Healy.

  Research Notes:

One of the original 12 settlers who immigrated from Drayton, Ontario, Canada to the present location of Drayton, North Dakota.

From the "History of Drayton, ND" (http://draytonnd.com/living-in-drayton/history-of-drayton-nd/):
In late March 1878 a group of individuals met in Drayton, Ontario, Canada, for the purpose of planning their migration to the newly explored lands of the province of Manitoba. The decision was made to leave Drayton on April 10. The original party consisted of J. Walter Fawcett, his wife and child, Ezra Healy, his wife and child, Albert Wallace, Wesley Patmore, James Healy, Harry Wallace, and George W. Healy. This small group was joined enroute by Alexander McCrea, and they traveled by rail to a point 12 miles east of Grand Forks, ND. They had their baggage shipped to Fisher's Landing (then the northermost end of the railway), from which they traveled on foot and wagon through the Red River Valley to Pembina, ND. Impressed with the area, they decided to stay, and A. W. McCrea, as eldest man in the company was given the right to choose the spot for a new settlement. He chose the present location of Drayton, which was eventurally named for the settlers' Canadian hometown.
Within weeks of the first settlers' arrival, at least three cabins had been erected, and prairie was broken to begin farming on each of the claims selected by members of the little colony. The population was augmented by the arrival of other individuals attracted by letters from their settler friends, including Henry Healy, Frank Wallace, Rev. Almon Healy and his wife, A. W. McCrea's family, William Mills, Frank Healy, Robert Tweedlie, Nathan Upham, James Bellamy, T. U. Henry,l Ambrose Smith, Joseph Smith and his son D. K. Smith, R. B. Richardson, Isaac Mussel, and Charles, Frank, and Richard Edwards and their mother.
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He was the first postmaster in Drayton, North Dakota. The first post office was established on July 1, 1878, with mail carried by stagecoach.
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Excerpts from a posting by Dave Minder in 2001-2002 on boards.ancestry.com:

It Runs in the Family

My grandmother, Myrtle Simmons was a lifelong resident of Peel Township. She saved several newspaper clippings in her family Bible. The one that first sparked my interest in this family was a fragment of a 1931 obituary from the Drayton newspaper. The deceased was Wesleyan Methodist preacher the Reverend Dr. Ezra Healy, born in Smith Falls, Ontario, March 25, 1844, and educated in Montreal. Ezra's family were pioneers in Drayton, Ontario. Ezra himself helped to found another Drayton, in North Dakota.

What remains of Ezra's obit:

"in his attitude modern life and scientific achievements, never faltered in his advocacy of the Christian religion.

Besides his widow and his daughter Miss Winifred Healy, Dr. Healy leaves two brothers, George Healy of Ontario, California, and Frank Healy of Corona; his sister Mrs. Peter Dayman of Longbeach, and his brother-in-law, Alfred Wallace former Lieutenant Governor of California.
His colleagues at the University of Southern California and hundreds of friends gathered to pay tribute to Dr. Ezra Healy ... emeritus of the U.S.C. Religion who died August... a long illness.
Funeral services were held at University Methodist Church with the Rev. William C. Hodgson officiating, assisted by Dr. R. G. Von Kileinsmid, Dr George Bovard, Dr Alfred Inwood, Dr. Bruce Baxter and Dr. S.S. Sampson. Burial was in Inglewood cemetery."�

A monument erected in 1989 in Drayton, North Dakota credits several Healys with the town's founding.

"Dedicated to the pioneer spirit of Alexander McCrae, Ezra A. Healy, Mary Healy, Willie Healy, George W. Healy, James C Healy, J. Walter Fawcett, Susanna E. Fawcett, Edgar Fawcett, Levi Wesley Patmore, Albert J. Wallace, Henry W. Wallace, who on a spot just south of this monument founded the town of Drayton on April 26, 1878." The Healys are certainly our Drayton, Ontario Dr. Rev. Ezra, his wife Mary Edmunds, and his brothers George and James. William's connection is not yet discovered. It is wondered if the Wallaces are related to Alfred who became Lt Gov of Calif. There were several Fawcett families living near the Healys in Drayton in 1871 and attending Weslelyan Methodist Church. There were some Wesleyan Methodist Patmores and Wallaces in Wellington County, but no McCraes of this denomination. As McCrae is on the top of the list, it is likely that he led the others to the new Drayton.

Ezra's parents and siblings all emigrated to Drayton, Dakota. And so did most of their Simmons relatives. These pioneer of two Draytons were not seeking religious or political freedom. Nor were they fleeing poverty.

The Reverend Dr. Ezra Healy was descended from English Sea Captain William Healy who migrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts about 1630 becoming one of New England's first settlers. William's descendents remained in Massachusetts for more than a century. Ezra's great grandfather Jabez Healy migrated to the wilderness of Shoreham, Vermont where he farmed: Rev. Josiah F. Goodhue wrote in the "History of the Town of Shoreham, Vermont 1761-1861" that Jabez settled a little east from where John Jones now lives, about 1785; soon sold that place, and settled on the farm now owned by Ira Bascom. Jabez remained in Shoreham, but his son Ezra was called to be a Methodist minister in the wilderness of Eastern Ontario. Jabez brother Benjamin, was also in Shoreham where he was a member of the Universalist Society. Clearly religious freedom was available in the United States. Jabez and Benjamin's uncle, Ebenezer, migrated from Massachusetts to Cayuga, New York where he was to be the first settler in the town of Sennett. E. Storke writes: "Deacon Healy was as sincere, devoted and very liberal member of the Baptist Church. In his barn, erected in 1796, now standing, and owned by his grandson, Philo W. Healy, the Baptist Association was formed in 1801 and its members were always free and welcome guests in his house."� As an occupation, Ebenezer ran a tavern which was "liberally patronized, the bar especially so. Everyone at that time drank intoxicants, dominis, deacons and professors alike."�

Dr. Rev. Ezra's grandfather Rev. Ezra Sr. was born on March 14, 1790 in Shoreham, Vermont, and died December 27, 1849 in Elizabethtown, Ontario. He was not only a preacher but, like his father, a farmer. Ezra was mentioned in "Leeds and Grenville: Their first Two Hundred Years" by Ruth McKenzie.

"Another preacher of note was Rev. Ezra Healy who went to the Rideau circuit in 1822. Mr. Healy came from Vermont. As circuit preacher, he had to cover a very large territory, but he had great physical stamina. A contemporary described him: (As) the portly, presentable and prepossessing Ezra Healy. He stood six feet and one and one-half inch in his stocking feet. He had enjoyed but six months of schooling in his whole life -- yet many thought (his sermons) wonderful. He had a warm, affectionate heart... combined with a great amount of religious fervour."

A clipping from The Ottawa Journal, Sat., May 22, 1971 refers to Ezra Healy riding the Methodist circuit between the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers "in the wilderness". It notes that Wesley United Church in Stittsville, Ontario, dates back to a class formed by Mr. Healy in 1819.

Ezra and his family finally settled in the Brockville area where he became the first minister of Greenbush Church. "Services were held as early as 1831, before the floor was put in. The church was built as a community church to be used by Methodists, Quakers, and Bible Christians."

Ezra died at the age of 59 helping a neighbour fight a house fire. The inscription on his monument at the Greenbush cemetery reads:

"Ezra Healy, aged 59 years, 41 years he faithfully served his God, 29 were spent with great acceptability and usefulness in the ministry; being rendered instrumental in the conversion of many souls."�

The Rev. Dr. Ezra's father, Almon Healy, was the son of Abigail Stewart and the step son of Eunice Chipman, a descendant of at least four of those best known pioneers, the passengers of the Mayflower - John Howland and his wife Elizabeth the daughter of Pilgrim John Tilley and his wife Elizabeth who were on the boat. Passenger William Holmes was also an ancestor. Eunice Chipman's Puritan ancestor pioneered not only in Plymouth but in Barnstable and Connecticut in the 1600s. In the late 1700s, Chipmans were named as founders of Ezra Sr.'s birthplace, Shoreham, Vermont. In the early 1800s, Eunice's family found their way to the Brockville area. While the original Pilgrim may have left England for religious freedom, that is not what brought them to the bush of Vermont and then to Ontario. The biography of relative Timothy F. Chipman, a soldier, politician and an entrepreneur in Vermont, presents an insight into this family:

"In his declining years, he resigned his public stations and retired to private life. In the year 1810, during a revival of religion, he became a hopeful convert, and with his wife and several of his children united with the congregational church at Shoreham. He sustained his Christian profession unblemished and found the doctrines and promises of scripture the joy of his soul, until the day of his death, which occurred at his homestead on his original purchase, in the seventieth year of his age."�

The same year that Rev. Ezra Sr. died in the fire, his daughter Melissa from his first marriage, settled in Maryborough Township, on the outskirts of Drayton, with her husband John Simmons. John was born in Ireland. His family had pioneered in the Brockville area where John and Melissa met. John and Melissa were the ancestors of the Simmons bridge builders of Maryborough Township. John's obituary reads:

One of Drayton's earliest pioneers in the person of John Simmons now sleeps his last sleep on the prairies of North Dakota. He was laid to rest on Sunday 28th May at Drayton, Dakota. He was born in 1819, of Irish descent, and attained an age few men reach viz: four scour years. He immigrated into the Queen's bush from Brockville in 1849, having married in 1848 Melissa Healey, sister of Almon Healey. The family consisted of three daughters and four sons, viz: Tunis, Harriet, Maria, Albert, Alva, Lydice and Alexander. His wife died about the year 1871 and was buried in the old Methodist cemetery in this village. About five or six years ago he left Ontario for Dakota along with his son Tunis to join several of the family who had preceded them. He was in fairly good health until within a short time of his death.

His greatest desire for several months previous to his demise, was that he might be able to return to his native home in Ontario and be buried in the same plot beside his wife. The old family residence on Main Street was torn down only two months ago and stood on the site on which Mr. Arthur Samis is now building a new brick residence.

He was a man possessed of good moral principles, and it was often remarked that he was equal if not superior in managing affairs for the public to all others of his day. In fact it was generally conceded that he looked after others people's rights more than after his own, and he often disobliged himself in order to oblige his neighbors. His advice was often asked by men in better position in life than he was; but when John Simmons could not devise some plan to overcome a difficulty harmoniously it was generally given up, even by men who considered themselves his superior. In politics he was a life-long Reformed; in religion a Methodist, and although he wavered at times he found great consolation in trusting in his Savior in whom he had faith that he would some day be found among those who had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and the writer has every reason to believe that the deceased has passed through the pearly gates into the celestial city where sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


Melissa's elder brother Almon also migrated to Maryborough Township, perhaps about the same time she did. Almon farmed here until 1878. The Dr. Rev Ezra was Almon's first born. His second child, Henry, married Lucy Dales, daughter of Drayton pioneer Edward Dales. The Dales family arrived from Newmarket in 1848 and settled in Peel Twp, at the north east corner of Drayton. According to the following 1958 article from the Drayton newspaper, Almon was also a preacher.

"Recalls Days of Drayton Circuit
Miss Mary Healy of 215 E. Olive St. Corona, California, great grand daughter of Methodist circuit rider Rev. Ezra Healy stationed at Drayton a century ago, visited here last week on her first trip to Canada. Miss Healy told The Advocate that her father was born here in 1860, son of Rev. Almon Healy: he was the youngest of eight. The Healy family left here for North Dakota and founded the town of Drayton there, later going on to Ontario, California, where Miss Healy was born. Her great grandfather's saddlebags may be seen in the Methodist Museum in Los Angeles. Her father was Francis Asbury Healy; he was 19 when moving to North Dakota; he died just four years ago in California aged 94. Miss Healy's uncle Ezra was Dean of Theology at the University of California.

Rev. Ezra Sr. was never stationed in Drayton but died in Elizabethtown. It seems, however, that the younger Ezra was stationed in Drayton for a short while. The 1871 Maryborough Township census lists Esra Healy, age 27, preacher, living with his father Almon. The father's occupation is given as farmer. The Mount Forest Confederate's, personal name index shows Ezra was appointed in Methodist Church in 1873 and superannuated in 1876, 1877, and 1878.

The 1885 census of Dakota confirms that the entire family went to ND, it lists Almon as a farmer age 65 wife Lucy age 59. Names Ezra Frank, George, Herny Henry W. and Lan 25, Henry H. 15, Ida 13. Ethel M. 11, Clara A. 8. No Willie. Lucy, Lucy A, and Mary C.

Wallaces Albert J. Frank, Harry and John D.
⁵

  Death Notes:

Obituary from the Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug 1931, p. 24:
DR. EZRA HEALY SUCCUMBS
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Dean Emeritus of U.S.C. School of Religion, 87 Years of Age, Was "Grand Old Man of Campus"
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Dr. Ezra A. Healy,l 87 years of age, dean emeritus of the school of religion of the University of Southern California and known among thousands of students as "the grand old man of the camp0us," died early yesterday at the family residence, 625 West Thirty-fourth street, following several months of illness induced by a broken hip suffered by a fall to the pavement.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at University Methodist Church, with interment following at Inglewood Cemetery. In charge of the services will be Rev. William C. Hodgson, pastor of the church, assisted by Dr. R. B. von KleinSmid, president of the University of Southern California, Dr. George F. Bovard, president emeritus, and Drs. Alfred Inwood, S. S. Samson and Bruce Baxter. Dean Walter Skeele of the college of music of the University of Southern California, will preside at the organ.
NATIVE OF CANADA
Born at Smith's Falls, Ont., Can., March 25, 1844, Dean Healy was graduated from Victoria University in 1872, subsequently being awarded degrees of master of arts and doctor of divinity by his alma mater. He married Miss Mary Priscilla Edmunds July 5, 1872.
Entering the Methodist ministry in 1867, Dr. Healy was a successful pastor of churches at Stratford, Mitchell and Montreal, Can., until 1878 when he moved to Grand Forks, N. D., at which city he helped to found and became one of the first trustees of the University of North Dakota.
HONORED IN SOUTHLAND
Coming to Los Angeles more than thirty years ago, Dean Healy soon became influential in the religious and educational progress of Southern California. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Southern California and in 1907 became dean of the Maclay College of Theology of that institution. He continued as active dean until 1921 and then was engaged in teaching for several years. At one time he was president of the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California and at the time of his death was an honorary member of the board.
A permanent member of the Southern California Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Dean Healy was widely known and esteemed as a minister who, while progressive in his attitude toward modern life and scientific achievements, never faltered in his advocacy of the fundamentals of the Christian religion.
Besides his widow and his daughter, Miss Winifred Healy, Dr. Healy leaves two brothers, George Healy of Ontario, Cal., and Frank Healy of Corona; his sister, Mrs. Peter Dayman of Long Beach, and his brother-in-law, Alfred [sic] Wallace, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of California.
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  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Wesleyan minister, 1872, Maryborough, Wellington, Ontario, Canada.

• Residence, 1872, Maryborough, Wellington, Ontario, Canada.

• Immigrated: from Canada to the United States, 1878, Drayton, Pembina, Dakota Territory (North Dakota), United States.

• Occupation: notary public, PM & JP, 1880.

• Census: U.S, 14 Jun 1880, Drayton, Pembina, Dakota Territory (North Dakota), United States. ⁶ Enumerator: E. A. Healy
Household:
Albert J. Wallace, self, M, W, 27, Canada, Scotland, England, farmer
Francis S. Wallace, boarder [brother], M, W, 22, Canada, Scotland, England, farmer [worked on farm with Albert]
Alexander McPhail, boarder, M, W, 24, Canada, Scotland, England, farmer

• Census: U.S, 14 Jun 1880, Drayton, Pembina, Dakota Territory [North Dakota], United States. ⁷ Census enumerated by E.A. Healy.
Household:
Ezra A. Healy, head, W, M, 36, Notary public & P.M. & J.P., Canada, New York, Canada
Mary P. Healy, wife, W, F, 35, Keeping house, Canada, anada, Canada
Francis A. Healy, brother, W, M, 20, Farming, Canada, New York, Canada
Sarah Smith, boarder, W, F, 33, Helping in house, Canada, Ireland, Canada This event was shared with Francis Asbury Healy and Mary Priscilla Edmunds.

• Acquired: Homestead patent, 21 Jun 1883, Drayton, Pembina, Dakota Territory (North Dakota), United States. ⁸ One-quarter of section 35 (next to his brother Henry).

• Voter registration, 25 Aug 1892, Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, United States. ⁹

• Marriage, 26 Jun 1888, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹⁰ Ceremony performed by E. A. Healy of Pasadena, witnessed by A. J. Wallace of Pasadena.

• Voter registration, 22 Sep 1888, Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹¹

• Marriage, 21 Jun 1888, Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹² Ceremony was performed by P. F. Bresee, minister of the Gospel. Witnesses were A. J. Wallace of Pasadena and Ezra A. Healy of Pasadena. "His Father & Mother born Long Iselen" [sic]

• Marriage, 16 Oct 1895, Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹³ Ceremony performed by Ezra A. Healy, Minister, M.E. Church, witnessed by Robert I. Craig of Long Beach and Frank A. Healy of Pasadena.

• Occupation: Dean of the College of Theology of the University of Southern California, 1913, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹⁴

• Marriage, 29 Aug 1919, Los Angeles, California, United States. Ceremony performed by J. A. Davis, Minister of the Gospel, assisted by Ezra Healy. Witnessed by Ezra A. Healy of Los Angeles and A. J. Wallace of Los Angeles.

• Census: U.S, 6 Jan 1920, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹¹ Household:
Ezra A. Healy, head, M, W, 75, M, imm. 1878, na. 1884, Canada Eng, New York, Canada Eng, Professor, university
Mary P. Healy, wife, F, W, 75, M, na. 1884, Canada Eng, New York, New York
Mary W. Healy, daughter, F, W, 39, S, North Dakota, music teacher at home
Kate Woolner, companion, F, W, 53, S, imm. 1884, England, England, England This event was shared with Mary Priscilla Edmunds and Mary W. Healy.

• Occupation: pastor of the University Methodist Church, 1905, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States.

• Occupation: university professor, 1920, Los Angeles, California, United States.

• Marriage, 7 Jun 1915, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹⁵ Ceremony performed by E. A. Healy, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, witnessed by Kenneth Wallace of Los Angeles and C. C. Hagar of Los Angeles.

• Marriage, 5 Jul 1916, Los Angeles, California, United States. ¹⁶ Ceremony performed by E. A. Healy, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at 2137 W 21st in Los Angeles. Witnesses were V.P. Baker and Hoyt M. Leisure, residents of Los Angeles.

• Census: U.S, 2 Apr 1930, Los Angeles, California, United States. Address 625 34th Street, Los Angeles, California.
Household:
Ezra A. Healy, head, M, W, 86, M, 28, Canada-English, New York, Canada-English, imm. 1878, naturalized
Mary P. Healy, wife, F, W, 85, M, 27, Canada-English, Canada-English, Canada-English
Charlotte Skinner, house-keeper, F, W, 58, wd, Illinois, New York, Illinois, private family This event was shared with Mary Priscilla Edmunds.

• Marriage, 25 Sep 1925, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Californlia, United States. Ceremony performed by Ezra A. Healy, Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the presence of J. Furgusson Mohr of Philadelphia and Helen Wallace Davis of Newton Centre, Massachusetts.

• Residence: 625 34th Street, 1930, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States. This event was shared with Mary Priscilla Edmunds.

Ezra married Mary Priscilla Edmunds, daughter of Ira Edmonds and Emma Haines, on 15 Jul 1872 in Maryborough, Wellington, Ontario, Canada. (Mary Priscilla Edmunds was born about 1845 in Canada and died after 1930.)

  Marriage Notes:

Ceremony performed by William Hayhurst. Witnesses were William Edmunda of Maryborough and Serena Healey of Maryborough.