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The baby of the family was also named Obadiah. He was born in 18201, twenty years after his eldest brother, Thomas, was born. On Hallowe'en 1844, at age 24, he married Mary Goodfellow2, also 24 and a recent immigrant from Brampton, County Cumberland, England3. Her brothers were Rev. John Goodfellow, a Wesleyan Methodist minister, and William Goodfellow, both living in Toronto.
Obadiah and Mary lived in Hamilton1, where he worked as a carpenter on McNab Street5. In 1845, Mary gave birth to their first daughter, Margaret1. In 1849, Madeline Ellis was born4, and sometime between then and 1852, Zenah was born, and Madeline and another baby died3.
Perhaps because of so much sadness, or the prospect of finding gold or a new life in California, Mary and Obadiah decided to emigrate there in 1853. It took them a month before they arrived in San Francisco on Nov. 7, 1853 with daughters Maggie and Zenah3. The following year, Mary died there, Jan. 26, 18543. No records have yet been discovered to find out what happened to Obadiah and his daughters.
Sources:
1. Barton Census, 1851.
2. Walker, Dan, & Fawne Stratford-Devai. Marriage Register of Upper Canada/Canada West, Gore District, 1842-1856, p. 19.
3. McKenzie, Donald A. (1988). Obituaries from Ontario's Christian Guardian: 1861-1870. Lambertville, NJ: Hunterdon House, p. 292.
4. Reed, Ida. Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register, Vol. 1, p. 283.
5. Ontario Directory for 1851, p.62.