Born: 12 Nov 1859 • Tuckersmith Township, Huron County, Ontario, Canada Died: 7 Jun 1944 • Grand Forks, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, USA Buried: Pembina County, North Dakota Religion: Presbyterian Parents: Not yet identified in surviving records Spouse: William James Crombie (1857–1942) — married 4 Mar 1881, Tuckersmith, Ontario
Mary Manson stands at the heart of the Crombie migration story—from rural Ontario’s Presbyterian farming communities to the northern plains of North Dakota. Her life follows the classic pattern of late‑19th‑century Ontario families: marriage within a tight-knit Scottish‑Presbyterian community, westward relocation, and decades of settlement life marked by farming, church, and kinship networks.
Across more than sixty years in North Dakota, Mary appears consistently in census records as a married farm wife, later a housewife, and finally a widowed elder living in Grand Forks. Her household produced one of the most enduring Crombie lines in Pembina County.
Born in Tuckersmith Township, Huron County, Mary grew up in a region heavily settled by Scottish and Scottish‑Canadian families. The Manson surname is strongly associated with:
Scottish Presbyterian immigrants arriving 1830–1850
Rural townships around Goderich and the Huron Tract
Agricultural communities tied to local Presbyterian congregations
Although her parents are not yet identified, her birth location and marriage record place her firmly within this cultural and geographic context.
Date: 4 Mar 1881
Place: Tuckersmith, Huron County, Ontario
Groom: William James Crombie (1857–1942)
Their marriage marks the union of two Ontario farming families. Within the same year, they left Ontario and arrived in the Dakota Territory, part of the broader westward movement of Canadian settlers seeking land and opportunity.
Mary and William arrived in 1881 and established themselves in Pembina County, where they farmed and raised their children. Census records document their presence in:
1900 – Cavalier, Pembina County (Married; Mary as wife)
1910 – Cavalier, Pembina County
1920 – Cavalier, Pembina County (Mary listed as Housewife)
1930 – Advance Township, Pembina County
1935 – Grand Forks, ND
1940 – Grand Forks, ND (Married; living with husband)
Her final years were spent in Grand Forks, where she died in 1944.
All children and dates drawn from your Ancestry tab :
William R. Crombie
1885–1885
Infant death
William Ransom Crombie
1887–1977
Born McLean, ND
Long-lived farmer; major descendant line
Grace Crombie
1888–1888
Infant death
Albert Harrison Crombie
1891–1964
Born Concrete, Pembina County
Known for WWI-era service and local community life
Francis Cleveland Crombie
1893–1944
Born McLean, Pembina County
Named for President Grover Cleveland
Venus Snell (“Vensus”) Crombie
1901–1945
Born Cavalier, ND
Youngest child; lived through the Depression and WWII era
Year |
Event |
|---|---|
1859 |
Born in Tuckersmith, Huron County, Ontario |
1881 |
Married William J. Crombie; migrated to Dakota Territory |
1885–1901 |
Birth of six children |
1900–1930 |
Multiple census records in Pembina County |
1935–1940 |
Residence in Grand Forks, ND |
1942 |
Death of husband |
1944 |
Death in Grand Forks; burial in Pembina County |
Mary is the foundational matriarch of the Pembina County Crombie line, linking:
Scottish‑Presbyterian settlers in Ontario → Mary Manson (1859–1944) → Marriage into the Ontario Crombie family → North Dakota descendants across multiple generations
Her life forms the bridge between the Crombie origins in York/Huron Counties and the long-established North Dakota branch you’re documenting.