RATCLIFFE and TOWLE surnames

[MadamemoiselleTonya]

My gandfather Hezekiah Ivan TOWLE passed away St.Catherines Ontario and his wife Carol Jean TOWLE nee RATCLIFFE deceased same location. I had been given an old metal trunk as a child and remember it had inside the lid the name Ratcliffe of either Staffordshire or Nottinghamshire maybe both on it.

The names Marketa, Hezekiah, Ivan/Evan, Kenneth are all passed on generationally from what I can recall being told from my grandparents when little. Somethingg about a G Grandmother from one of my dads parents side “Isabella Maria Sophia Marketa……etc etc”. My grands raised their three children born in Kitchener Ontario and New Market Ontario. Retired to St Catherines.

Everyone i knew of my fathers family has deceased and the two i know still alive refuse any contact whatsoever and will not give me anything to work with.

Any help woukd be amazing. Thank you so very very much!

[MadamemoiselleTonya]

Also Carol Jean Towle nee RATCLIFFE/CLIFFORD. I forgot to add that. This is all I can remember from very young age and being told of my lineage. Lost contact with all relations when father Kenneth William TOWLE passed Jan/21/2001 Kamloops BC born in either New Market or Kitchener ONTARIO. Thank you

[curtainhooks]

Hello
Do you know if your Grandparents Hezekiah and Carol were born in Canada, or if they moved there from Nottinghamshire/Staffordshire?
Were Hezekiah and Carol both travellers?

I'm not sure if it was the Towle or Ratcliffe side from England, but I found a ''Towle'' family living in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire (Lincolnshire is right next to Nottinghamshire) and the name Hezekiah is passed down, also found an Ivan Towle in Nottingham. This Towle family seemed to move to Canada around 1870, not sure if that's the right time.
There are a lot of Towle's from the Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire area so the writing on the trunk would make sense

Hezekiah Towle, Immigrantion Record, born around 1800 and arrived in Ontario in 1871
Could be a link to this family if it was the Towle's from Nottingham

Sorry if this is no help!

[MadamemoiselleTonya]

Not sure if they were born in Canada but I would think so.

I believe that the family in whole were very much rovers. The name comes up and then disappears a while then it appears again couple decades later and a lot bigger of a clan.

Was Towle perhaps a name that back in the 1900s to now woukd have been allowable to be used along with birth names to utilize for anonyminity?