The Descendants of Thomas Downing Sr and The History of Lime in the Beachville Area

Barbara B. Aitken is a public services librarian in the Douglas Library
at Queen’s University, a board certified genealogical record specialist, and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

The history of the Downing family of Beachville, in southwestern
Ontario, is intertwined with that of Oxford County’s lime industry.
Thomas Downing (1818–1900) and his family emigrated from Clovelly in
Devon, England, in 1851. Downing, who had recently completed his
apprenticeship in lime burning in England, was drawn to Oxford County
because of its large deposits of limestone. So, the Downing family
emigrated to the area, built a lime kiln two miles west of Woodstock,
set up a quarry, and began producing lime. The Downing house is now the
Beachville Museum.

In her genealogical account, Marion (Downing) Kilcup provides a brief
overview of English history (glimpses of everyday English life from the
16th to 19th centuries in the Devon towns), placing the Downing family
within this overview, with dates for comparison and family charts. The
text is well researched and well written, and the selection of
photographs and their placement adjacent to relevant text are superb.
This fine book is recommended for local-history and genealogical
collections.