William Workman - Family and Last Years

Family and Last Years

In 1831, at Montreal, Workman married Eliza Bethell (1805–1885). They were the parents of eight children, but only two daughters lived to adulthood,

• Louise Frothingham Workman (1834–1889), was married at Mount Prospect House in 1854 to Joel Clapp Baker (1827–1903), of Montreal. He was the son of The Hon. William Baker, of Dunham, Quebec, and his wife Harriet Clapp (1790–1868). They died without children.

• Eliza Workman (1843–1871), was the first wife from 1866 of Robert Moat (1839–1899), of Moat Park, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, and afterwards Montreal. They were the parents of at least one son, Major William Moat (1867–1941), O.B.E., of Johnson Hall, Staffordshire, who married Sybil Frances Spencer, great-granddaughter of Francis Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill.

Workman was greatly affected by the loss of so many of his children. He had been an adherent of the Unitarian Church, but according to one source he later found solace in Roman Catholicism. He turned increasingly to private worship and had a family chapel added to his mansion house. After he died, his wife retired to Ocean House, Cape Elizabeth, Maine (which may have been her childhood home), where she died. All of the Workman family are buried together at Mount Royal Cemetery.