The Stainton Line

The Stainton story begins in Westmorland, England. James Stainton was born and baptized on 9 January 1814 in Heversham, the son of Thomas Stainton and Eleanor Addison. Parish records from Heversham document a stable rural English family, grounded in farming and church life.

In 1835, James married Elizabeth "Betsy" West (1808–1893), a former governess from Liverpool. Within a few years, they joined the wave of English families leaving northern England for Upper Canada. Family tradition holds that James was an activist against the War Measures Act, and his departure around 1830 may have been partly political. By 1839, the family was settled in Darlington Township, Durham County, Ontario.

This was not speculative migration. It was part of a coordinated movement supported by family networks and Methodist connections. James became a farmer in Darlington and raised a large family. Census records from 1851 and 1861 show a stable household with steadily growing children: Elizabeth (1836–1885), Eleanor (1839–1864), James Jr. (1840–1850), John W. (1841–1934), Thomas (1844–1933), and William.

James died of typhoid fever in January 1865 and was buried at Zion Church in what is now Hampton, Ontario. His daughter Eleanor had died the previous year, also of typhoid, at just 25 years old.

Thomas Stainton (1844–1933) carried the line forward. He married first Margaret E. Garfat (who died in 1870), then Phylina Jane Scott (1849–1933). Phylina's parents, Jacob Scott and Ann Mary Virtue, had emigrated from Ireland—Jacob from Armagh, Ann from Enniskillen. Thomas and Phylina raised eleven children, including Herbert (1880–1983), who would live 103 years. Remarkably, Thomas and Phylina died within three weeks of each other in March 1933—Phylina on 10 March, Thomas on 31 March.

Herbert Stainton was born 10 August 1880 in Darlington, Ontario. He married Annie Maud Michael on 14 September 1904. Annie (1880–1959) was born in Harmony (now part of Oshawa). Herbert and Annie had seven surviving children, including Eleanor Jane Stainton (1922–1975). Herbert became Charter Member and Elder Emeritus of Hillcrest Christian Church, living to see 23 grandchildren and 55 great-grandchildren.

In 1962, at age 82, Herbert returned to England and was photographed at Windermere in the Lake District—the ancestral Westmorland region his grandfather James had left 130 years earlier. Herbert died 15 November 1983 in Toronto, aged 103.

Herbert's brother Elmer Scott Stainton (1891–1918) enlisted in September 1915 and was killed in action at Arras, France/Belgium on 2 September 1918, just two months before the Armistice. His enlistment papers, death certificate, and service medals remain in the family collection.

The Stainton line is one of structure, continuity, and rootedness—from Westmorland to Durham County, from Methodist settlers to twentieth-century Canadians.