Waterloo Region Generations
A record of the people of Waterloo Region, Ontario.

Rev. John Caven

Male Abt 1800 -


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  • Name John Caven 
    Prefix Rev. 
    Born Abt 1800  of, Kirkcolm, , Wigtown, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Residence 1830  Kirkcolm, , Wigtown, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Residence 1847  North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Occupation 1853  North Dumfries Concession 07 Lot 01, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    superintendent of common schools 
    • Jan 10 1853.'97Moved by Mr Buchanan, seconded by Mr Robert Cranston, That Mr John Caven be local superintendent of common Sehools for the Township of North Dumfries, for the present Ye,ar.'97Carried:
    Eby ID Number Waterloo-51964 
    Died Saint Marys, Blanshard Twp., Perth Co., Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I51964  Generations
    Last Modified 7 Nov 2024 

    Family Mary Milroy,   b. Abt 1800, of, Kirkcolm, , Wigtown, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Children 
     1. Rev. William Reid Caven,   b. 26 Dec 1830, Kirkcolm, , Wigtown, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1 Dec 1904, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 73 years)
    Last Modified 12 Nov 2024 
    Family ID F23143  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • THE REV. WILLIAM CAVEN, D.D., PRINCIPAL OF KNOX COLLEGE, TORONTO.

      Principal Caven was born in the parish of Kirkcolm, Wigtonshire, Scotland, on the 26th of December, 1830. His ancestors on both sides had been settled in that neighbourhood for centuries, and several of them figure conspicuously in the local annals. They were in their day strenuous supporters of the Solemn League and Covenant, and the names of some of them are enshrined on the roll of the "Wigton Martyrs." One of the most cherished traditions of the family on the mother's side relates how one of them, for refusing to abjure his faith, suffered grievous bodily mutilation at the hands of the dragoons of "Bloody Claverse"-known to history as John Graham, Viscount Dundee. A less accurately authenticated tradition identifies Margaret Wilson, who suffered martyrdom in 1685, along with Margaret Maclachlan,10 as a member of the family from which Principal Caven's mother is descended.

      His father was the late Mr. John Caven, a sound scholar and a very worthy man, who was by profession a school teacher. The late Mr. Caven was a member of the United Secession Church, which, by its union, in 1840, with the "Relief" Church, as it was called, formed the United Presbyterian Church-an organization which still retains a separate corporate existence in Scotland and the United States, though it has long since lost it in Canada and some of the other colonies, owing to successive unions between it and other Presbyterian bodies. Not being a member of the Established Church of Scotland, Mr. Caven was in those days ineligible for the position of a parish schoolmaster, but he had no difficulty in obtaining pupils, and enjoyed a creditable reputation alike as a sound scholar and a successful instructor. He emigrated from Wigtonshire to Canada in the summer of 1847, and for a short time took up his abode near Galt, Ontario, in the township of North Dumfries. After a time he removed to the neighbourhood of St. Mary's, where he continued to reside down to the time of his death a few months since. He resumed his labours in the work of education after his arrival in Canada, first as a teacher, and afterwards as a school superintendent, and was greatly beloved for his amiability and uprightness of character....


      The Canadian Portrait Gallery. by John Charles Dent, Assisted By A Staff Of Contributors. Vol II. Toronto: Published By John B. Magurn. 1880.

  • Sources 
    1. [S1609] Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950, Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11887-4 , System Origin: Scotland-VR , GS Film number: 1068037 , Reference ID: - 2:18FW3LV.
      William Caven chr. 13 Jan 1831 Kirkcolm, Wigtown, Scotland, b. 26 Dec 1830, s/o John Caven & Mary Milroy

    2. [S2193] Journal of the Proceeding & By-laws of the Municipal Council of the County of Waterloo.

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - Abt 1800 - of, Kirkcolm, , Wigtown, Scotland Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - 1830 - Kirkcolm, , Wigtown, Scotland Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - 1847 - North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOccupation - superintendent of common schools - 1853 - North Dumfries Concession 07 Lot 01, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - - Saint Marys, Blanshard Twp., Perth Co., Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth