Mary Birston

MARY BIRSTON (OTHERWISE NANCY BIRSTON)

is the daughter of Magnus Birston (1811-75) and Nancy Lyons (1815-93) [Red River Ancestry.ca] http://www.redriverancestry.ca/BIRSTON-MAGNUS-1811.php

Mary Birston (Otherwise Nancy Birston) was born on 13 July 1854 at Mapleton in the Red River Settlement of Manitoba in Canada. In 1827 the Birston family had settled on Lot 9 at Mapleton, becoming one of the very first half-breed settlers in the area just south of Sugar Point at the southern edge of the Indian Settlement. Mary married William McKay Taylor in 1872. He was the son of an Orcadian named Samuel Taylor and his half-breed wife, Nancy McKay. Samuel Taylor was the Stonemason who built the St Clements Church [Red River Ancestry.ca] http://www.redriverancestry.ca/BIRSTON-MAGNUS-1811.php

Paternal Ancestry

Mary Birston (Otherwise Nancy Birston)'s father was the third son and youngest child of Alexander Birston (1775-1829) and an unknown Canadian First Nation woman. Her grandfather was from South Ronaldshay in the Orkneys [Red River Ancestry.ca] http://www.redriverancestry.ca/BIRSTON-ALEXANDER-1775.php

Metis Script Application

BIRSTON, Mary (wife of Wm Taylor) - Scrip number 12336 - Amount 53.33$. 1878/01/10. [Library and Archives Canada, Metis Script Applications, refence File. RG15-D-II-8-f. Volume/box number: 1391. NO IMAGE PRESENTLY AVAILABLE]

Marriage and Children