Hello!
I found the marriage record for Thomas McNaught and Mary Ada Horner (not Homer) on 27 August 1902 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I'm attaching a request form, with the certificate number, for the document if you want to order it as it could contain very useful information.
I can't figure out how they may have met or came to be in Winnipeg as Thomas was living in British Columbia at the time. There is the possibility that Mary Ada went to the Halcyon Hot Springs to "take the waters".
I found a probate record for Mary Ada McNaught who died 28 November 1913 in Southport, Lancashire. She left her estate to her sister Sarah Agnes Horner (not Homer). With that information I was able to find her in the censuses. She and her sisters ran a school for young ladies. Her parents were Thomas Horner and Sarah Ellen Hoyle Wheelwright. Her other sisters were Anne Irene and Clara Blanche.
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...I also found a bit of an obituary for Mary Ada. I don't have a subscription to the British Newspaper Archives so couldn't look at the actual article that was in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser on 29 November 1913. But I copied what I was allowed to see:
"On November 28th, at Saxenholme, Mary Ada McNaught Horner). widow of the hue Thomas McNaught. solicitor, Halcyon. British Columbia, formerly Edinburgh"
I found a couple of articles, appearing in a lot of US and Canadian newspapers on the 6th, 7th and 8th of September 1888, about Thomas McNaught on his first visit to North America, which I'm attaching. I also found his passenger record for that trip. He sailed from Liverpool on the Servia on 6 June 1888 and arrived in New York on 15 June 1888 :
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=...It appears he didn't return to Scotland but I haven't been able to find where he was for the first few years. He may have been in the States but since the 1891 census was destroyed that could be hard to confirm. I did find him in the 1901 Canadian census living in British Columbia. It's difficult to read (I had to download it and play with it in my graphics program) and the person who transcribed made some errors. He's on line 40. He does give 1888 as the year he emigrated and his birth date as 27 October 1852..
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=0&indiv=tr... Thomas was the Postmaster for Halcyon Hot Springs from 1 September 1899 to 20 June 1905 and was secretary of the Sanitorium. I'm attaching his listing in the 1905 Directory which gives a nice description of Halcyon.
In December 1905 he went to Scotland for a visit. Mary Ada had gone ahead a few months before, probably to spend time with her family. According to an article in the Phoenix Pioneer Newspaper (article attached) he died about January 1906 in Over Garrell, Kirkmichael (not Kirkmantle), Dumfries, Scotland. Mary Ada obviously returned to Southport, Lancashire after Thomas died and resumed teaching at the family school.
I found this picture of Thomas taken in 1902:
http://www.basininstitute.org/search/details.html?id=3372It might be a good idea to contact the Rossland Museum as they have all the Halcyon Hot Springs company fonds and may have pictures, newspaper articles or other such things about the McNaughts.
P O Box 26
Rossland, BC
V0G 1Y0
Canada
Tel: 250-362-7722 or 888-448-744
Email:
rosslandmuseum@netidea.comHope that's some help.
Cheers,
Soosi