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Memorial Tiles: John J. Dorland

DORLAND, John J.: 1852 - 1906

Tile sponsored by Lila L. Dorland,* widow of John J. Dorland

John was the son of Philip Dorland (1817-1870) (Tile # 14) and Charlotte Trumpour Dorland (1823-1905) and a United Empire Loyalist descendant through both parents.

He grew up on the family farm with nine brothers and sisters. At the time of the 1871 census, shortly after his father’s death, he was still living with the family and his occupation was listed as farmer. By 1881, four of the five Dorland boys, although still living at home, no longer listed their occupations as farmers: Julius Wilkson was a hotel keeper, Simeon Albert a dentist, Philip Thomas an upholsterer and John J. had become a clerk. Only twenty-one-year- old Peter listed his occupation as farmer.

John J. Dorland was confirmed in 1868 at the age of sixteen, in St. Paul’s, Adolphustown, the precursor to St. Alban’s, along with nine other young people of the parish.(1)

Many young people from the area moved to western Canada or the United States in the mid- to late 1800s seeking new opportunities. John Dorland travelled all the way to California and is found on the 1880 San Joaquin, California census. He is listed at that time as a single, white, male, farmer, and partner to the head of household C.H. Patterson. His twenty-four-year-old brother Peter is also listed in the same household and his occupation is listed as a farm laborer.(2) John became a naturalized American citizen on September 8, 1888.

In 1892, when John is forty years old, he is described on the California Voter Register as being six feet and one-quarter of an inch tall, of florid complexion, with blue eyes and light brown hair.(3) By the time of the 1900 San Joaquin census, John is described as a forty-eight-year-old naturalized citizen who was born in English Canada, has lived in the United States for twenty-six years and is a dry goods merchant. He had been married for fourteen years to Lila L. Dorland.(4) Lila Potter was born in Wisconsin in 1857, and she and John married in California in 1886 but had no children. John’s brother, Simeon Albert, joined him in California and became a naturalized citizen in 1892. According to the Voter Register, Simeon also had blue eyes and brown hair and was marginally taller than his brother John. Simeon is described on the Voter Register as six feet and three-quarters of an inch tall.(5)

John Dorland died in California in 1906, and his wife, Lila L. Dorland,* sponsored this tile to his memory in the church where he had been confirmed as a young man.




References

1. “Church Register,” cited in In The Beginning: A history of St. Alban’s (St. Alban’s New Horizon Committee, 1984), p. 21.

2. “John James Dorland,” 1880 United States Census, via www.familysearch.org.

3. “John James Dorland,” California Voter Registers 1866-1898, via www.Ancestry Library.com.

4. “John James Dorland,” 1900 United States Federal Census, via www.Ancestry Library.com.

5. “Simeon Albert Dorland,” California Voter Registers 1866-1898, via www.Ancestry Library.com.