Sarah HOLGATE was most likely born in January of 1817. She was baptised on 08 January of that year.[1] Her father Samuel was a labourer, her mother was Mary BISCAM. Sarah was the youngest of five sisters (although one passed around age 2 before Sarah was born).
They were living in Newbigg, which is located in the Haxey parish of Lincolnshire. Over half the people living in Newbigg at the time were labourers.[2]
Sarah married Jonathan LEE on 22 March 1836, at the age of 19. He was the same age.[3]
On the 1841 census,[4] Jonathan and Sarah were living on Rawcliffe bridge with their children Thomas (1837)[5] and Mary (1839).[6] They lived very close to Sarah’s uncle Esau and his family.[7] Sarah must have been pregnant at the time of the census as the couple had a daughter Anne later that year.[8] Unfortunately, the daughter lived only a few months.[9]
The amount of people that emigrated to Canada from England in 1842 was 28,086, and the newspaper noted that all who stayed in the Colony were able to find work.[10] This along with talks on the courthouse steps[11] by people such as John Roaf of Toronto holding forth on all the virtues of Canada and information that the Lieutenant-Governor was looking to induce persons to cultivate land by offering them land at a “trifling sum”[12] were all likely influences on the young family to make their move to Canada. And move they did. With their next child Jonathan (1843)[13] being born at sea, the family immigrated to Canada.
They first settled in Tecumseh, then called Rygate, moving to the Wellesley Township in 1844.[14]
Wellesley had been settled later than most of the area in Ontario as the whole township was part of the Clergy Reserves, which had originally be set aside for protestant ministers. The Wellesley historical information indicates that the Methodist church received compensation when the lands were opened up in the early 1840s and the Lees may have benefited from this as Jonathan was a Wesleyan Methodist.[15]
The 1851 census found them still in the Wellesley township in Ontario with Jonathan’s younger brother Robert and his family. Both were living in log shanties at the time of the census, as were most of their neighbours.[16] By this time, they had added Robert (1845), Sarah Ann (1846), Ann (1849) and William (1851) to the family. Jane (1853) was also born there
In the spring of 1854, Jonathan, Sarah and the children moved to Minto where he took up 400 acres of land, lots 38 and 39, concession 2 and lots 37 and 38, concession 3. Jonathan, Sarah and family were only the second family to settle in the area.
Jonathan was the main promoter of the Salem Church there, donating the land both for it and the cemetery. He was a class leader in the Methodist Church.[17] Sarah picked out the area for the cemetery for the church. Unfortunately, Sarah died shortly after the move to Minto and she was the first person buried in that cemetery.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186203042/sarah-lee
[1] Baptisms (PR) England. Haxey, Lincolnshire. 08 January 1817. HOLGATE Sarah. Lincolnshire Baptisms. p 29. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 31 December 2018.
[2] GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, North Lincolnshire Unitary Authority (UA) through time, A Vision of Britain through Time. https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10189019 : accessed 03 January 2026.
[3] Banns (PR) England. Snaith, Yorkshire (West Riding). 4 Marche 1836. LEE, Jonathan and HOLDGATE, Sarah. Doncaster Archives. Yorkshire Banns. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 31 December
2018.
[4] Census Records. 1841. England. Rawcliffe Bridge, Snaith, Goole, Yorkshire & Yorkshire (West Riding). 06 June 1841. LEE, Jonathan [head]. HO107/1307. b18, f 43, p5. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 12 December 2018.
[5] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 7 May 1837. LEE, Thomas. Doncaster Archives. Yorkshire Baptisms. P60-1-A4, p 91. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[6] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 13 October 1839. LEE, Mary. Borthwick Institute for Archives. Baptisms, marriages and burials 1631-1878. p 110 & 11. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[7] Census records. England. Rawcliffe Bridge, Yorkshire. 06 June 1841. WELLS, Esau [head] H)107/1307/18 p 43. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 05 January 2026.
[8] Baptisms (PR) England. Rawcliffe, Yorkshire (West Riding). 25 August 1841. LEE, Ann. Doncaster Archive. Yorkshire Baptisms. P 60 1 G 2. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[9] Burials (PR) England. St John the Baptist, Knaresborough, Yorkshire (West Riding). 27 March 1842. LEE, Ann. North Yorkshire County Record Office. PR/KN 1/25, p 68. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 1 January 2019.
[10] Yorkshire Gazette (1842). Emigration to Canada. 01 October. p 3b. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[11] Leeds Times (1842) Lecture on emigration. 30 July. p 7d. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[12] Sheffield Iris (1842) Canada. 08 February. p 2f. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 21 December 2025.
[13] (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40.
[14] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
[15] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
[16] Census Records. Canada. Waterloo County, Canada West (Ontario). 12 January 1852. LEE, Jonathan (head). Roll C-11755, p 127. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 December 2019.
[17] Lloyd, Frank P. (1906) Historical atlas of the County of Wellington Ontario : compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co. p 40. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08476/1 : accessed 22 December 2025.
