John (Clofs) Closs & Elizabeth McReddin:

It is believed that the first Closs' in Canada were John (Clofs) Closs and his wife Elizabeth McReddin.  The name Closs may have been misread as Clofs due to the typesetting style of the time (s & f  were of similar construction).   Another explanation is that their son Charles who was illiterate had someone spell the name as it sounds.  What is known is that John & Elizabeth did immigrate to Canada from Antrim County in Northern Ireland, perhaps through the United States.

John & Elizabeth's ancestors in Antrim County were apparently employed in the wool and/or timber trades.  Unfortunately, all records of earlier family life seem to have been destroyed in a fire that ruined a great deal of family records and were lost forever to the Archives of Ireland in the year 1912.    Any previous information on the earliest Closs family that you might have to pass on to this site would be greatly appreciated.

John & Elizabeth apparently arrived in Canada via the United States where they crossed the St. Lawrence at Prescott.  It is thought they lived for a time in Prescott on a place called Windmill Farm.  It seems they went by boat to Brockville and then had to walk through the bush to Lanark to their grant of land which lay between Concessions 4 and 5 (nearest 5).  

On a hill near the fifth line, a shanty was built, hence the hill is now known as Shanty Hill.  The next house was built near the road in front of the present home.  It was replaced by a substantial log house (clap-boarded) on the foundation used by the present home.  In 1911, on a mild February day the house burned down.  The following year the present home was built.  All the present buildings were erected under the direction of John E. Closs, grandson to the first John Closs.

John Closs who died March 27, 1843 at age 65, and his wife Elizabeth McReddin who died March 13, 1864, age 72, are buried in the Lanark Village Cemetery, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.  The tombstone on the grave states that they were native of County Antrim, Ireland.  

In John Closs' will which was recorded at the registry office in Perth Ontario after his death, he listed 8 sons and 2 daughters.  David, Ellinore Jane, John, Henry (Michael?), Patrick, Edward, James, Morris, Mariah & Charles.

His wife Elizabeth was listed as owner of 100 acres Lot 6 Con 4, Lanark Twp. in the 1852 census.

Their daughter Mariah is listed in the 1852 census with her mother on the farm and in the 1881 census as living in Lanark Village

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