The Life of

Wes Paul Gerrard

of Toxteth, Liverpool, England

Father: Stanley Wester Gerrard Mother: Bertha Evelyn Fyfe

Samuel Gerrard

Gerrard, Samuel (1767-1857), merchant, was born in Ireland in 1767, and came to Canada about 1787. He entered business in Montreal, and became a partner in the firm of Parker, Gerrard, and Ogilvy, later Gerrard, Gillespie and Co. This was one of the firms which financed the XY Company between the years 1797 and 1804; and through it Samuel Gerrard acquired after 1804 an indirect interest in the North West Company. When the firm of McTavish, McGillivrays and Co. failed in 1825, Samuel Gerrard was appointed one of the trustees; and it largely fell to him to unravel the tangled finances of the North West Company. His papers, which are now in the Sulpician Library in Montreal, naturally contain a vast amount of material of interest to the historian of the fur-trade. Gerrard died in Montreal on March 24, 1857, aged 90 years; and his wife, Ann Grant, who was the granddaughter of Richard Dobie, died in Montreal on October 18, 1854, aged 81 years. Their only surviving child, Samuel Henry Gerrard, died in Germany in 1858. For further details, see Charles Drisard, L'honorable Samuel Gerrard (Bull. des rech. hist., 1928).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 28.

Archibald Wester Gerrard

b. 1769 (North America) d. 14th May 1864 (95) Longford

Samuel Gerrard ( )

Archibald Gerrard

b. 1839 (Longford) d. (Liverpool)

Phillip Gerrard

 b. 1869 (Dublin) d. 1943 (Wallasey) (74)

Stanley Wester Gerrard b. 1908 (Liverpool)

Wester Paul Gerrard b. 1943 (Toxteth)

Wesley Paul Gerrard b. 1968 (Toxteth)

William Wes Gerrard b. (Chelsea)

Taken from "The Warden" Saturday May 21st. 1864

"Mr.Archibald Wester Gerrard, of Glen Lodge in the County of Longford, Ireland, who died on the 14th., inst,. at the advanced age of ninety-five years was born in America, at the commencement of the war with that country, his Father being then an Officer in the British Army. At an early age, the son also entered the Army, and in 1798 he assisted in driving the French from our Shores. At Castlebar and Vinegar Hill he shared the perils of the day and did good service, until wounded by a bullet in the thigh. In one of those engagements the Colonel of his regiment was separated from his men and surrounded by three pikemen who engaged him with determined fury. Being an expert Swordsman, he was for some time able to defend himself but at length was on the point of being overcome, when the gallant soldier, seeing the danger of his Commander snatched up a musket, darted from the ranks, and with unerring aim, three were stricken to the ground, and the life of a brave old soldier spared. 

In 1801, we again find him fighting under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, in Egypt, and assisted in capturing the large gun which now lies in front of the Horse Guards. A few years afterwards, he retired from the Army and settled on a farm in Ireland, where he has since lived in peace and contentment, his candid and generous nature having endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.

He was a man of genuine integrity and principle, whose chief delight was in holding sweet communion with his God, and in reading and meditating in His Holy Word. After a long eventful life in which he faithfully served his Sovereign and his Country, he has been called to his rest, full of years, and in possession of all his faculties to the last moment of his life. Seldom has a kinder or more generous hearted man left earth." 

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Last Updated: 06/01/2008