Ernest Benjamin Gillis Family History

John James Codville[1, 2, 3]

Male 1851 - 1915  (63 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name John James Codville  [4
    Born 19 Nov 1851  Qu?bec, Quebec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Christened 23 Mar 1852  Wesleyan Methodist Church, Quebec City, QB Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Gender Male 
    _UID C5862A1D46934FC1B053EB44E8528AA51651 
    Died 7 Oct 1915  London, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    • Y
    Buried Beechwood Cemetary, Ottawa, ON Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I742  Ernest Benjamin Gillis
    Last Modified 22 Jun 2014 

    Father Hilary Codville,   b. 6 Jan 1797, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 3 Jan 1873, Quebec City, QB - Wesleyan Methodist Church Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 75 years) 
    Mother Mary Anne Robinson,   b. 1814, COUNTY TYRONE, IRELAND Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Nov 1856, Quebec City, QB Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 42 years) 
    Married 24 Nov 1846  Quebec Ctiy, QB - Wesleyan Methodist Church Find all individuals with events at this location  [4, 5, 6
    Family ID F11  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Edith Anna Corinne Macdonell,   b. 23 Dec 1859, Quebec Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 19 Jul 1936, Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 76 years) 
    Married 26 May 1887  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Church of England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Children 
     1. Francis Hilary Codville,   b. 14 Jun 1889, Ottawa, ON Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 14 Jul 1970, Duncan, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 81 years)
     2. Maude Edythe Codville,   b. 25 Sep 1892, Ottawa, ON Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location
    Last Modified 29 Jan 2013 
    Family ID F239  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • John James (JJ, or Jack) Codville was born 12/9/1851 (1901
      Census says 11/19/1851) in Quebec City, QB, the son of Hilary
      and Mary Ann Robinson Codville. At the young age of five,
      John's mother died (1856), eight years later his older brother
      Hilary died (1864), and when he was 22, his father died (1873).
      When his father died, John and his sister Mary inherited the
      family assets. That same year, John invested heavily in the
      grocer firm Thompson, Codville, and Co., becoming a partner
      and providing the principal funds for its inception.
      When John's sister Mary was married in 1877, the wedding was
      held at John's home in Quebec City, QB.

      After the announcement in 1881 that the Canadian Pacific
      Railway would pass through Winnipeg, the number of wholesale
      establishments jumped from twenty-six to sixty while the
      number of grocery wholesalers increased from four to nine and
      stock values nearly tripled. Much of the growth was generated
      by local capital, but a large portion was beginning to be funded
      by eastern companies. The Thompson, Codville Company (later
      The Codville Co.) transferred its base of operation from Eastern
      Canada to Winnipeg. The company prospered by offering basic
      staple items rather than luxuries.

      The Thompson, Codville Company Building (Sures Building) is
      an historic landmark in Winnipeg today. Situated between the
      elaborate Telegram Building, built around the same time, and the
      Geo. D. Wood Building of the 1890s, this warehouse is a rare
      example of a modest-sized structure of the city's first boom
      period that has not been significantly altered. The building is
      located at 246 McDermot Avenue. In the photo, the second
      storey sign reads, "Buck's Stove Works, J.W. Griffin & Co.";
      while the main floor sign is, "W.G. McMahon Wholesale
      Provisions". The smaller sign is, "G.W. Macowen Raw Furs".

      In 1887, John married Miss Edith Anna Lorrine C. MacDonnell.
      They had two children: Francis Hilary MacDonnell Codville born in 1889 and Maude Edith Crawford MacDonnell Codville
      born in 1892.
      The Quebec grocer branch was closed in 1888, but John
      continued to expand the Codville Co which eventually had
      braches in Brandon and Calgary, Alberta (under Codville, Smith
      Co., Ltd.).
      In 1895, Codville and Co. moved from the Thompson, Codville
      Co. Building (Sures Building) to a larger facility. A stove retailer
      and a pork-packing firm moved in to share the original building,
      dividing the former Codville warehouse into two separate
      sections with individual entrances.

      In 1895, a rail spur line was built in the lane that ran between
      Bannatyne and Market streets to service Ashdown Warehouse.
      This ensured that goods could be delivered and shipped in
      railway boxcars directly to and from this locale, which
      encouraged other wholesalers to move to this area. In 1899, J.H.
      Ashdown commissioned architect J.H.G. Russell to design a
      warehouse for Codville and Company, a grocery wholesale firm,
      at 179 Bannatyne Avenue. This location was separated from the
      Ashdown Warehouse by an empty lot. Over the next eleven
      years Russell designed various additions to the two buildings
      eventually joining them and increasing their height to six stories.

      In his 1906 "A history of Manitoba: Its resources and people",
      George Bryce includes a biography of John James Codville on
      page 473 . This biography details that John was an "enthusiastic
      hunter... and has hunted and fished from California to the
      Atlantic Ocean".
      The family is shown in the 1901 Canadian Census living in
      Winnipeg. Household members are: John J. Codville, age 49
      (head); Edith A. C. Codville, age 38 (wife); Amelia L.
      MacDonnell, 68 (mother-in-law); Francis H. MacDonnell
      Codville, 11 (son); Maude E. C. Codville, 8 (daughter); and two
      domestic servants.
      Amelia L. Chesley MacDonell died at Winnipeg, 10/5/1902. She
      is buried in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with
      her husband Donald W. MacDonnell in the family plot where
      John James Codville is also buried.

      It is not known at this time when John and Edith moved from
      Winnipeg, but John and Edith had a home built in Ottawa,
      designed by Werner Ernst Noffke (1878 - 1964), one of
      Ottawa's most influential and prolific architects. Francis listed
      this address for his father as next of kin on his WWI attestation
      papers, signed 24 Sep 1914. The "JJ Codville Residence" still stands at 443 Daly Street and today serves as the home of the
      Polish Embassy.
      John James Codville died in 1915 at the age of 62. He is interred
      at Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, Canada. It is believed that
      after his death Edith moved to British Columbia to be near their
      son, Francis. Edith is buried in British Columbia.
      A letter from John to his sister Mary in 1881 details some of his
      (and his partner Bertie Thompson's) early efforts to establish the
      wholesale grocery business of Thompson, Codville Company in
      the booming town of Winnipeg. [4]

  • Sources 
    1. [S92] Marchand GEDCOM 2009, compiled by Frederick J Marchand.

    2. [S134] McKay GEDCOM 2009, compiled by Scott McKay.

    3. [S162] Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Trees (Reliability: 3).
      http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=26120745&pid=1782995053

    4. [S2] Jim Marchand Gillis GEDCOM, compiled by F. J. Marchand [(E-ADDRESS) FOR PRIVATE USE\,].

    5. [S9] Codville, Delores.

    6. [S202] Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967, Ancestry.com, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.Original data - Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut G?n?alogique Drouin.Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec,), 1,1091::0. (Reliability: 3).
      Marriage date: 1846Marriage place: Qu?bec (Methodist) (Qu?bec (Wesleyan Methodist Church)), Qu?bec
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=drouinvitals&h=12552701&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt