How far back can Ruth Short's Scottish and English ancestry be proven?

Ruth Ethelwyn (Short) Ellingwood, mother of Dick Ellingwood, was born in Ontario in 1893 to John Gerald Short and Mary Pattullo. Behind them are four emigrant families: the Shorts (from Rugley, Northumberland), the Jeffreys of Foulden, Berwickshire, the Pattullos who settled Caledon in 1820, and the Robsons of Eckford, Roxburghshire. Mary Pattullo's brother George was the father of Duff Pattullo, Premier of British Columbia. The archive carries the line two generations above Ruth's parents, mostly on compiled accounts. The FamilySearch tree carries the Jeffreys back to the 1630s. The question is how much of that the records will bear, and how far back Ruth's line can be proven.

Trail

7 Oct 2026: The Pattullos placed

The research on the wives' families found Mary Pattullo's father named as Halkett Pattullo in two indexed records, her marriage at Woodstock (1879) and her death at Spokane (1932) (FamilySearch record indexes for the families of the Ellingwood wives, as cited on WikiTree). A study of her brother Thomas, the Barkerville miner, names her as the youngest of Halkett and Jane (Robson)'s children (Bourdon, "Barkerville's Thomas Robson Pattullo in Life and Death," BC Studies 185 (Spring 2015), pp. 49-77). Her brother George Robson Pattullo was Duff Pattullo's father, so Duff was Ruth's first cousin, as Cudge's memoir has it. The Shorts and Jeffreys came from WikiTree, which cites Ward Skinner's compiled Descendants of William Jeffrey: John Short, first postmaster of Newcastle, Canada West (W. H. Smith, Canada: Past, Present and Future (1851), vol. 1), and Mary Jeffrey, sister of Andrew Jeffrey, mayor of Cobourg.

8 Oct 2026: Brought in as pages

Under the ruling that researched generations become pages, the Shorts, Jeffreys, Pattullos and Robsons were brought in, nine pages from Ruth to Alexander Pattullo and Jean Watson. The weakest steps: Alexander and Jean are named only on WikiTree, and John Short and Mary Jeffrey only on WikiTree citing Skinner (both compiled, probable).

10 Oct 2026: Ruth's marriage certificate

The Spokane certificate of 1921 (Washington certificate of marriage, Richard Everett Ellingwood and Ruth Ethelwyn Short, Spokane, 1921). Ruth signed as "Ruth Ethelwyn Short," born in Ontario, her father "John Gerald," deceased, born Ontario, and her mother "Mary Pattullo," born Ontario. The first record seen here that names Ruth's parents.

10 Oct 2026: The FamilySearch tree compared

The FamilySearch pedigree (FamilySearch Family Tree: the Short, Jeffrey, Lyall, Pattullo and Robson ancestry) was set against the archive, the Ancestry tree (which stops at Ruth's parents) and WikiTree, read again (WikiTree profiles for the Ellingwood line's ancestors (Woodbury, Cheever, Pattullo, Short, Jeffrey, Elliott, Adams, Deyoe, Rice, Warren, Holdershaw)). They agree on the six people above Ruth's parents. FamilySearch has two dates wrong: Halkett's death (1855 for 1865) and Jean Watson's birth (1768 for 1771). It adds twenty-four people:

• Mary Jeffrey's parents: William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall, emigrants of 1820 to Cobourg and Keene. WikiTree has them from Skinner, with Mary Lyall's gravestone at Peterborough. Probable.
• Jane Robson's parents: Thomas Robson and Jane Clark, married at Eckford in 1793. The place and the names of her children fit. Possible.
• A father for John Short: a John Short born 1785, with nothing to show for it. WikiTree quotes the Short family history that John was born at Newcastle, England.
• Six more Jeffrey, Lyall, Steele and Simpson generations in Berwickshire. They rest on a step the family's own compiler says has no record ("No record has been found of his birth, baptism or marriage," of William Jeffrey), and they carry errors: a man dying aged a hundred, an Aberdeenshire birth for a Polwarth bridegroom, and Berwickshire people dying in Picardy.

WikiTree's sources turned up more than the trees:

• Halkett's 1809 baptism is indexed with both parents named, Alexander Patullo and Jean Watson.
• Their marriage is indexed at Inveresk, 9 Oct 1806 (FamilySearch record indexes for the families of the Ellingwood wives, as cited on WikiTree).
• A Caledon local history (Trimble) has Alexander coming in 1820 and his wife and children, Halkett among them, in 1823.

10 Oct 2026: Ruth's birth, her parents' marriage, and the Short family's records

Images downloaded from FamilySearch, read and filed the same day:

• Ruth's birth registration: Woodstock, 13 Jan 1893, "Ruth Ethelwyn," daughter of John G. Short, manufacturer, and Mary Pattullo (Ontario birth registration, Ruth Ethelwyn Short, Woodstock, 1893). The step from Ruth to her parents is proven.
• Her parents' marriage registration: Woodstock, 5 Nov 1879 (Ontario marriage registration, John G. Short and Mary Pattullo, Woodstock, 1879). It names the groom's parents, John Short and Mary Jeffrey, and the bride's, Halket Pattullo and Jane Robson, and so proves both steps above them. It gives John G.'s birthplace as Newcastle, Ontario, settling that question, and his age as 31.
• Ruth's brother and sisters: the birth registrations of Jeffrey Robson (1880), Jeannie Beatrice (1884) and Arthur Wendell (1886) (Ontario birth registration, Jeffrey Robson Short, Woodstock, 1880, Ontario birth registration, Jeannie Beatrice Short, Woodstock, 1884, Ontario birth registration, Arthur Wendell Short, Woodstock, 1886). They now have pages, with Mary Isabella (1881).
• The family in Chicago: the 1900 census in Hyde Park (1900 United States census, Chicago (Hyde Park Township, ward 34), Cook County, Illinois: John G. Short household). John G. came in 1896, the family in 1897, and his birth is given as December 1847.
• John G.'s death certificate: Spokane, 1916 (Washington certificate of death, John G. Short, Spokane, 1916). It names his parents again, John Short, born England, and Mary Jeffrey, born Scotland, and gives his birth as 22 Dec 1845. Two records say 1847 and one 1845: an open question.
• Halkett's brother James: his second marriage, at Brampton in 1879, aged 71 (Ontario marriage registration, James Pattullo and Emeline Trueman [?], Brampton, 1879), names his parents "Alexander Pattullo" and "Mary [?] Watson." That is a second, independent record for Alexander and a Watson as the parents of this family.

10 Oct 2026: The gravestones

From Find a Grave:

• The Short family stone (Gravestone of John Short (1808-1858), Mary (Jeffrey) Short and their daughter Jane): John Short, "born Aug. 6 1808, Rugley, Northumberland, England." That settles his birthplace, a hamlet near Alnwick: WikiTree's "Rufley" misread it, and the family's "Newcastle, England" garbled it. Mary Jeffrey, "born Jan. 8 1809, Berwick, Scotland" (the county), died 1 Nov 1883. Their daughter Jane was born at Cobourg in November 1836, which favours Cobourg for the marriage that January.
• Mary Lyall's monument at Peterborough (Monument of Mary Lyall, wife of William Jeffrey, and Isabella Hall, Little Lake Cemetery, Peterborough, Ontario): "Mary Lyall, wife of William Jeffrey, aged 83," with no "Edna." William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall were brought in as pages under the 8 Oct ruling; their daughter Mary's link to them is still compiled and probable.
• A Thomas Robson and Jean Clark, "natives of Roxburghshire," buried in Canada, d. 1841 and 1844 (Gravestone of Thomas Robson (d. 1841) and Jean Clark (d. 1844), natives of Roxburghshire). They match the FamilySearch tree's parents for Jane Robson and are named on her page as possible; the cemetery is not yet known.
• Alexander Pattullo's stone at the Melville White Church, Caledon, as transcribed (Gravestone of Alexander Pattullo, Jane Watson and Thomas Pattullo, Melville White Church Cemetery, Caledon):
  • he was a native of Dundee, died 8 Dec 1828 aged 54, and a death notice says he was killed by a falling tree;
  • Jane Watson died in 1852 aged 83, which supports FamilySearch's 1768 and puts the 1771 baptism in doubt;
  • Halkett put up the stone in 1855, which is where the "1855" death on FamilySearch comes from.
  • The contributor's notes turn up a Pattullo-Halket couple in Fife (1788) and a Janet Halket Patullo (1755): a lead for the origin of Halkett's name.
• Find a Grave's memorial for Halkett (Find a Grave memorial 195354125, Halket Pattullo, Christian Cemetery, Princeton, Oxford County, Ontario) gives him born 31 Jul 1809 at Inveresk with Musselburgh and lists ten children.

10 Oct 2026: The family pages on Find a Grave

Eighteen pages of the families' memorials (Find a Grave memorials of the Jeffrey family: William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall, their children, and Andrew Jeffrey of Chirnside, Find a Grave memorials of Thomas Robson (d. 1841), Dixon's Union Cemetery, Caledon, and of Jane Robson Pattullo, Woodstock, Find a Grave memorials of the Pattullo family: Thomas Robson Pattullo, George Robson Pattullo, Duff Pattullo and George Pattullo the writer, Find a Grave memorial 195354125, Halket Pattullo, Christian Cemetery, Princeton, Oxford County, Ontario):

• The Robsons were at Caledon. The Thomas Robson and Jean Clark stone stands at Dixon's Union Cemetery, Caledon, the township where Jane married Halkett in 1833. Find a Grave lists her among their children with Margaret, James and Euphemia. Two Roxburghshire natives of the right age, in her own township, given her as a daughter by two separate trees: her parents, probably. They now have pages.
• Halket's death, 1855 after all. Jane Robson's stone at Woodstock (Gravestone of Jane Robson, widow of Halket Pattullo, Woodstock Presbyterian Cemetery) reads "her husband who died in Blenheim, this county, June 7, 1855, and is buried there," and gives her own age to the day (born 2 April 1809). The printed genealogy pictured on Halket's memorial also has 1855. The "error" this thread put on FamilySearch was not one; Bourdon's 1865 stands against the family's stone, and the page now has 1855 with the conflict noted.
• Alexander Pattullo's stone, seen in a photograph on FamilySearch: "in the 55 year of his age, a native of Dundee," Jane Watson "in the 84 [?] year," and "Erected by Halket Pattullo A.D. 1855."
• The Jeffreys:
  • Andrew Jeffrey's stone at Cobourg says he was "born at Foulden, Scotland," 1800.
  • Find a Grave gives William and Mary Lyall a second son, William (1802-1879), of King Township, whose stone had already been found, and a daughter Catharine (1806-1882), Mrs. Adam Hall.
  • The Isabella Hall on Mary Lyall's monument died in 1922 (misread here as 1872), aged 85: very probably Catharine's daughter.
  • At Chirnside, "Andrew Jeffery, smith and feuer in Chirnside" (1734-1810) lies with his wife Catherine Steel and a son Peter: the FamilySearch tree's father for William, a smith like him. Still unproven.
• The Short stone is at the Woodstock Presbyterian Cemetery. A clipping of 1904 has the funeral, near South Haven, Michigan, of Richard J. Short, "a native of Canada," lately of Chicago: very probably John G.'s brother.
• The writer's portrait. The window photograph is on the memorial of George Robson Pattullo (1879-1967), the writer, confirming it is not his father.

10 Oct 2026: Where the Shorts lie, the Hall monument, and the Robson sisters

The last memorials read that day (Find a Grave memorials of the Short family: John Short and his children, and John G. and Mary (Pattullo) Short at Spokane, Find a Grave memorials of the Jeffrey family: William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall, their children, and Andrew Jeffrey of Chirnside, Find a Grave memorials of Thomas Robson (d. 1841), Dixon's Union Cemetery, Caledon, and of Jane Robson Pattullo, Woodstock):

• John Short is buried at Orono, Lawrence Cemetery, under his own broken stone, "aged 50 years" (Gravestone of John Short (d. 1858), Lawrence Cemetery, Orono). The tall Woodstock stone is a cenotaph.
• John G. and Mary (Pattullo) Short lie side by side at Greenwood, Spokane, under matching markers, "1845-1916" and "1852-1932".
• John G.'s brothers and sisters:
  • Isabella's stone at Woodstock calls her "daughter of John and Mary Short, born in Newcastle, Ont., Aug. 1, 1848" (Gravestone of James Hay Jr. and Isabella (Short) Hay, Woodstock Presbyterian Cemetery).
  • Joseph William's obituary (Obituary of Joseph William Short, High River Times (Alberta), 10 Jan 1924, p. 1) has him born at Newcastle in 1842, in the hardware business at Woodstock from 1870 until he went west to High River in 1883. John G. was a hardware merchant there in the 1880s, very probably in the same business.
• Mary Lyall is commemorated on the Hall family's monument at Peterborough, with her daughter Catharine Jeffrey (Mrs. Adam Hall). The Jeffrey family's names reach down to the Shorts: Mary (Jeffrey) Short's grandchildren included Thomas Lyall Hay and William Hall Short. That is the first evidence beyond the family accounts that Mary Jeffrey was Mary Lyall's daughter.
• The Robsons:
  • Jane's sister Margaret (Mrs. Buckham) was "a native of Eckford, Roxburghshire," by her stone near Brampton.
  • Her brother James, "a native of Roxburghshire," lies at Dixon's Union Cemetery, Caledon, near the parents' column, and named a son Thomas Clark Robson.
  • Her sister Euphemia (Mrs. Foster), buried at the Melville White Church beside the Pattullos, named children Jane Clark, Thomas R. and Lucinda, as Jane named hers Thomas Robson, Jane and Lucinda.
  • Jane's parentage is still compiled, but the names, the parish and the township all agree.
• Halket's death: a larger photograph of Jane's stone shows 185-, so 1855.

10 Oct 2026: The brothers and sisters brought in

By the ruling of 10 Oct 2026 (Research decisions), every brother and sister of the line's couples now has a page: twenty-six in all, for John G. Short's, Mary Pattullo's, Mary Jeffrey's, Jane Robson's and Halkett's families, with the obituaries and stories that had been sitting in the sources. Reading for them turned up:

• Mary Jeffrey's sisters, from Skinner (WikiTree): Isabella, Mrs. George Gillespie of Otonabee, baptised at Foulden in 1801, by the Foulden register as WikiTree cites it; and Jean, Mrs. Grigg, of Peterborough and Fenelon Township. With Andrew and Catharine they make John Graham's "five children, one boy and four girls," which leaves the second son, William of King Township, the odd one out.
• Andrew Jeffrey's obituary (Obituary of the Hon. Andrew Jeffrey, M.L.C., Cobourg Sentinel, 1 Aug 1863): mayor of Cobourg in 1852 and a member of the Legislative Council from 1860, but "born at Swinton, Berwickshire," against "born at Foulden" on his stone.
• Halkett's children, from the Oxford County marriage registers: Jane (1862), Isabella (1862), Alexander (1866), Margaret and Lucinda (both 1 Jan 1868), George (1868) and Andrew (1889) each name their father, as indexed on FamilySearch. Alexander took his family to Sanilac County, Michigan, where he died in 1880.
• Thomas Robson Pattullo's life, from Bourdon's article read in full: the Cariboo from 1861, his "Tillicum" letters (1872), the gold at Philadelphia (1876), the will that favoured Andrew and Mary, his death at Barkerville and Captain Jack Crawford's "Under the Snow." Duff remembered his uncle throwing $20 gold pieces to the children at Woodstock in 1876.
• George and Andrew Pattullo (Cochrane, the Legislative Assembly, the Oxford County Archives): the Sentinel from 1870, Andrew's seat for Oxford North (1896-1903), the Good Roads Association, and the Pattullo Fountain at Woodstock, bought with Andrew's bequest.

None of this moves the direct line, but the indexed marriages are cheap to confirm from the images, and they carry the same father's name as Mary's.

Where it stands

Proven, from records seen:

• Ruth to John G. Short and Mary Pattullo (her birth registration and marriage certificate).
• John G. Short to John Short and Mary Jeffrey (his marriage registration and death certificate).
• Mary Pattullo to Halkett Pattullo and Jane Robson (her marriage registration).

Probable:

• Halkett to Alexander Pattullo and Jean Watson: documented by his indexed baptism, the stone he put up, and his brother James's marriage. The baptism image would make it proven.
• Mary Jeffrey to William Jeffrey and Mary Lyall: compiled (Skinner, Find a Grave). In support:
  • Mary Lyall's monument at Peterborough, shared with her daughter Catharine Jeffrey's family;
  • her brother Andrew's stone ("born at Foulden");
  • the names Lyall and Hall among Mary (Jeffrey) Short's grandchildren.
• Jane Robson to Thomas Robson and Jean Clark: compiled (Find a Grave, FamilySearch). In support:
  • their stone at Caledon, her township;
  • her sister Margaret "a native of Eckford," her own parish;
  • the grandparents' names (Thomas Clark, Jane Clark, Thomas Robson) and a shared Lucinda across the sisters' and brother's families.

Possible: William Jeffrey to Andrew Jeffery, smith of Chirnside, and Catherine Steel.

Unknown:

• John Short's parents, in Northumberland.
• Alexander Pattullo's parents, in Dundee.
• Jean Watson's parents: James Watson and Jean Dickson, if the 1771 baptism is hers.
• Mary Lyall's and William Jeffrey's parents. The FamilySearch tree's deeper Jeffrey and Lyall generations are still not usable.

New questions:

• Andrew Jeffrey's birthplace, Foulden or Swinton.
• John G. Short's birth year, 1845 or 1847.
• Jean Watson's, 1768-69 or 1771.
• Halkett's death: 1855 on his widow's stone, against Bourdon's 1865.
• James Durie Pattullo (b. 1855), whom Find a Grave makes a son of Halkett.

Next

Three of the four families behind Ruth's grandparents were Scottish, so the Scottish parish registers are the richest ground; the Shorts lead to one small corner of Northumberland. In order:

1. The free FamilySearch indexes, as screenshots. Each of these shows the parish, the date and the parents' names:
   • Halkett's baptism, 1809 (FQMQ-1H4);
   • Alexander and Jean's marriage, Inveresk, 1806 (XY9W-DYN);
   • Jean Watson's baptism, Prestonpans, 1771 (XY2G-V2K), and any other Jean Watson there in 1767-1772;
   • Mary Jeffrey's baptism, 1809 (Foulden or another Berwickshire parish);
   • Jane Robson's, Eckford, about 1809;
   • John Short's, August 1808, Alnwick parish, Northumberland ("England Births and Christenings").
2. Find a Grave, what is left (nearly all done 10 Oct):
   • the side face of the Woodstock Short stone;
   • the other faces of the Robson column at Dixon's Union Cemetery (James and Esther on it too?);
   • graves for Mary I. and Beatrice Short (Spokane?) and Jeff Short (Illinois), for their death dates.
3. Canadian censuses, free on FamilySearch and Library and Archives Canada:
   • 1851-52: John Short at Newcastle (his birthplace and religion, John G.'s age), and Halkett at Caledon (and the Robsons near him);
   • 1861: Blenheim Township, Oxford County: Jane Pattullo a widow, or Halkett living? This settles his death, 1855 or 1865;
   • 1861: Mary Short, widow, at Cobourg;
   • 1871 and 1881: the Shorts and Pattullos at Woodstock.
4. ScotlandsPeople images (paid) for the entries the indexes make worth it: Halkett's baptism first, then the Dundee baptisms of 1773-75 for an Alexander Pattullo whose mother might be a Halket.
5. Mary (Pattullo) Short's 1932 death certificate (N35X-8MK), for her birth date.