The Trussler Clan - page 1 - by Hartley Trussler

The history of the Trussler Clan must begin in 1833 when George the First and his brother John came to Canada from England. When I was in England in 1967 and 1969 I visited some Trusslers in Midhurst Sussex and tried to find some family connection but was not successful. However, I did find that a Trussler was buried in the old Church at Easebourne not far from Midhurst in 1275. There are quite a few Trusslers in and around Midhurst and Chichester and strangely about half are Trusslers and half are Truslers. As you probably know, George spelled his name with 2 - s's and his brother John with one s.

They were game keepers on the Petworth Estate and the reason they came to Canada as George I often stated was because they were afraid they might be caught poaching . The penalty for poaching even in those days, even killinq a rabbit or pheasant was being sent to Australia on a convict ship. only about half the convicts survived the voyage and George and John didn't want to take chances. So in May 1833 they boarded a small sailing ship from Portsmouth with their families for Canada. They both had large families, George had 6 and John about the same. The trip across the Atlantic and up the St. Lawrence took about a month and the hardships were almost inhuman They landed at Quebec where they stayed for a week or more for a ship to Montreal. From Montreal they had to take small boats between the rapids and carry their stuff over the portages. Near Brockville little James, who was only ten, fell overboard and the skipper wouldn't stop to rescue him and he was never seen again. It was thought he was picked up by fishermen because he could swim and it was afterwards known there was a Trussler in that neighborhood. I believe too that Harriett, who was about nine or ten died on the way across the ocean. It was said Elizabeth (Gilbert) wife of George never fully recovered from the tragic loss of her children.

At that time Waterloo and Brant Counties were being colonized by land companies and George settled in German Mills. Now Preston and Cambridge, John went to Camlachie. There was no work just then but one of the settlers promised him work when haying started. George said: "We can't live on grass until that time." - and I guess the kind hearted farmer kept them from starving. He worked for a living in that area for a few years and then bought lots 144-145 and 146 on the corner of the Huron Road and the Town Line between Waterloo and Wilmot Townships, now named Trussler Road. Here he settled and started clearing the land of the dense forest and lived the rest of his life. When he died it was willed to his youngest son George the Second and has passed down to the youngest son ever since - from George I to George II, from George II to Oscar, from Oscar to Clifford and from Clifford to Stewart. Now in the fifth generation.

George the First was a strong burly man with an aggressive personality who never backed down from anybody. At Bees and Fairs it was the custom to have contests of strength, such as wrestling and boxng and he was generaIly the last in the ring. His wife Elizabeth (Gilbert) was a tall red haired lady of the English gentry upper class. A good wife and excellent mother. The Trusslers were a prolific breed and the families of George and Elizabeth now in the sixth generation number in the hundreds. I haven't been able to research the family record of their family - namely John, Harriet, James, Fanny, David, William, Thomas and George, but I suppose some of their descendants are here today. However, I have gotten a pretty complete record of George Junior's family, which now in the fifth generation numbers in the hundreds and is spread over all parts of the world.