SIMS FAMILY CEMETERY

Sims Early Family History

From England, to Canada, to America

Edwin Walter Sims could trace his family back to the small town of Idbury, in the Cotswold Hills of Oxfordshire, England. Prior to the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), Oxfordshire was predominantly an agricultural area, and the majority of Idbury residents in the 18th century were farmers. Here John Sims (1717-1798) and Mary Cozens (1726-1760) raised their children. Their youngest son John (1760-1828) and his wife Jane Bridge (1763-1837) raised 9 children in Idbury, and all but one of whom stayed in the general area for their entire lives. It was Solomon Sims (1796-1877), the great-grandfather of E.W. Sims, who had larger horizons and felt he could do better by moving to the city of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. By 1788, Cheltenham had blossomed into a health and holiday “Spa town” visited by George III and other royals with establishment of horse racing in 1815. By 1822, Solomon lived near Cheltenham and married a “hometown” girl from Idbury, Mary Halford (1792-1873). Solomon made his living first as a timber dealer and, later, as a builder. After going bankrupt in each profession (1826 and 1841), he decided to move his entire family to Canada and start over as a farmer. Solomon and his family arrived in Montreal around June of 1842 and traveled by water to their final destination of Brant, Ontario. Here the family cleared a farm where Solomon remained until his death May 5, 1877. Three of Solomon’s children were known to have moved with their parents to Canada: Edwin, Robert, and Eliza Ann. Robert (1824-1880) remained a farmer in Brant, Ontario his entire life. Eliza Ann (1830-1913) and her husband Joshua Taylor moved to Virginia, USA in the 1890’s to be closer to their youngest son Frederick. The eldest son, Edwin, like his father, had broader horizons. He earned his living as a conveyancer (one who supervises the transfer of real property from one person to another) and was appointed Crown Commissioner (charged with the management of United Kingdom Crown lands). He and his wife Mary Alice Duckworth Sims (1824-1903) were devout Plymouth Brethren and raised their family in a Godfearing home. Providing a home which valued virtue and industry, two of their children went on to become Evangelistic preachers: Walter Sims (1847-1916) and John James Sims (1851-1933). Walter was trained as a teacher but quickly became a newspaper reporter for the Toronto Globe newspaper. Hoping to better his prospects, he became superintendent of a railroad news agency in Detroit, but frequently evangelized the word of God to local audiences. His bold message and stirring Gospel lectures led him to leave Detroit and move to West Bay City, Michigan around 1878 where he established the Christian Assembly and West Side Academy.

Walter Sims represents the American Protective Association, a group with a paranoid distrust and fear of Catholics holding elected office

He was also editor and proprietor of the West Bay City Daily Post. He continued lecturing on the separation of church and state throughout the Midwest and Canada. Into this strongly religious, educated and peripatetic family, Walter and his wife Elizabeth Knowles (1841-1917) brought 5 sons: Edwin Walter (1870-1948), Robert Henry (Harry) (1874-1917), George “Reg”inald (1876-1954), Herb (1878-1954) and William (Bill) (1881-1959).

Sims family first born sons pose for photograph circa 1906

Herb, Edwin Walter, and Bill Sims showing off their fishing gear in Bay City, MI circa 1900