Fonds

Members of
the Bacon family first settled in the Hatley area of the Eastern Townships some
time in the 1800s. Charles James Stewart Bacon (1829?-1878) moved his family to
the Sherbrooke region in the mid-1860s, after living in South Carolina for many
years. It was there in about 1853 that he had married Mary Elizabeth Chapman
(1833-1884), a native of Saluda County, South Carolina. The couple had six
children: Charles Thomas Stewart Bacon (1867?-1873), Mary Emily Bacon
(1862-1940), Sophie Estelle Bacon (1863-1943), Frederick John Abney Bacon
(1870-1935), Carolina Amanda Isabelle Bacon (1874-?) and Lilian Eleanor Madison
Bacon (1875-?).

In the
mid-1860s, Charles James Stewart Bacon worked as a merchant and insurance agent
in the areas of Sherbrooke, Hatley and Compton. He apparently continued to work
until the end of his life. He was also a major landowner.

In 1871, he
was appointed as official receiver for the judicial district of Saint-François,
to handle bankruptcy and insolvency cases. In addition, he worked as an estate
liquidator. Following his death in March 1878, his widow Mary Elizabeth Chapman
took over the administration of the family's property and finances, as well as
guardianship of the couple's children (with Samuel Justin Foss as co-guardian).

In April
1884, shortly before her death, Mary Elizabeth Chapman Bacon transferred
guardianship to her daughter Mary Emily Bacon, who also began running the
family's affairs, a responsibility she shouldered until at least the early
1900s. Her brother Frederick John Abney Bacon studied at Bishop's College
School in Lennoxville, then entered medical school at McGill University in 1893.
In the end, however, he pursued a career as a teacher before becoming a
principal for a school board.

The Bacon
family includes various other members, all related in some way to Charles James
Stewart Bacon. These include Frederic Bacon (1826-1902), a farmer in the Hatley
area; Charles' sisters Sarah Bacon (?-1861) and Emily Bacon (1811-1898);
Caroline Bacon (1821-1896), an artist married to John Coleman (1818-1849);
Caroline Sarah Bacon (1848-1887), the wife of Ernest V. Norton from Missouri;
and John Weston Bacon from San José, California.