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	William Henry Mallett and Jennie Elizabeth Mitchell
William H Mallett	Family

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William Henry Mallett was the only son of Frederick James Mallett and Mary Ann Lake. This may or may not be a photo of him, taken about 1870, when he would have been a teenager. He was born in 1856, in West Williams Township, Ontario, near the present day village of Sylvan and the towns of Parkhill and Strathroy. When William was born the town of Parkhill was known as "West Wood" or perhaps "Westwood". He was one of the oldest grandchildren of James Mallett and Elizabeth Crook, and was the first to carry the Mallett surname in their family in his generation.

William's father Frederick died in 1868 when William was only 12. His mother Mary Ann carried on farming for a time but was forced to sell the farm in 1872. William was still at home on the homestead in West Williams in the 1871 census. A letter written in 1878 by one of William's cousins to another one of his cousins states that by that date, he had settled in (or near) Plattsville, Ontario, but in the 1881 census, still single, he was living with his mother and sisters in Brussels, Ontario. In the census, his trade is listed as "Watchmaker", and he may have actually been supporting the family, because he is the only one in the household with an occupation.

William married Jennie Mitchell, sometime between 1881 and 1891. The marriage date was probably about 1889, given that their first child, Frederick W was born in April 1890, and Jennie was barely 18 in that year. In 1891 William and Jennie and Frederick were living in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. According to the 1891 census, Jennie was born in Ontario. There does not appear to be any record of their marriage in Ontario, so it seems they must have met and married in Manitoba, probably in Deloraine. William's mother Mary Ann was living with him in Brandon in 1891 too. In the 1901 census, William and Jennie were still in Brandon, with another child; a girl called "Rena M(arvel)". Both children were born in Manitoba. In 1901 there was a lodger living with the family as well whose name was Elmer, Weston W. He is described as a jeweller's apprentice and as William's nephew. He was 19 years old in 1901.

William can be placed in Manitoba as early as 1886 when he appears in Henderson's Manitoba Directory. His residence was given as Selkirk (which included Brandon), his occupation as Watchmaker. Brandon didn't exist much before this; the railway had pushed that far west only in 1885. In later directories William H Mallett Jeweller can be found in several Manitoba municipalities: Lennox in 1888, Deloraine in 1889, Rosser Ave. in Brandon in 1890, and Souris in 1892. In 1892 there was also a Mallett J, Jeweller, on Rosser Ave. in Brandon. The J was probably Jennie; perhaps William was trying to run two shops. William seems to have had his shop only at Rosser Ave. in Brandon after that. The block which contained the shop became known as the "Mallett Block", and was referred to as such in city directories right up to the 1970's.

Several of William's immediate family followed him to Manitoba. In 1891 William Alexander McKee, (who had married William's sister Eliza Ellen in 1881) showed up in the census of that year in Deloraine, Manitoba. His occupation was given as Jeweller, and he was a widower. Obviously Eliza Ellen had died, probably in Manitoba, since her death does not appear to have been registered in Ontario. Perhaps Alexander and Eliza came west about 1889/90 and carried on the jeweller's shop William had started in Deloraine in 1889. Alexander later married May, or Mary (?) and stayed on in Deloraine running his Jeweller's shop. He can be found in Manitoba directories up to the mid 1920's, always in Deloraine.

Also in 1891, James Conboy, who had married William's sister Mary Jane in 1881, was working with William, apparently in partnership at the Jeweller's shop on Rosser Ave. in Brandon. In the city directory for that year the business is listed as "Conboy and Co". The Conboys went back to Ontario. Apparently they stayed in Manitoba only a few years.

In 1904 John Henry Matthews and Annie (Mallett) Matthews came west to Brandon from Acton where they had lived since they married. Annie was another sister of William. In 1905 the city directory listed "Mallett (WH) and Matthews (JH) Jewellers and Opticians 833 Rosser". The Matthews stayed on in Brandon and are both buried in Brandon cemetery. John Matthews eventually became proprietor of the "Brandon Harness Co". "Harness Maker" had been his and his father's trade back in Acton, Ontario.

William and family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, about 1916. He had a Jewellry shop at 1433 Commercial Dr and lived at 32-1708 Charles St from 1917 to 1921. In 1920 Frederick was working with his father as a Jeweller's apprentice and living at the same address. Also in 1920 William's mother Mary Ann, who had been living with the family of James and Catherine Bethune at 950 Keefer Ave in Vancouver, died. At this time William purchased several cemetery plots in Ocean View Cemetery in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver. Mary Ann is buried there, as is William's nephew Bert Raymond McKee, but no one else from William's family. William is still listed as the owner of these plots.

By 1921 William had moved uptown to 756 Robson St in partnership with George T Munn, who married William's daughter (Rena) Marvel. Frederick was no longer mentioned in the city directory for that year. The business was listed as "Mallett and Munn, Jewellers and Opticians". By 1924 this business was no longer in the city directory, and there is no other record of the family in Vancouver. It is about this time that William, in his 68th year, Jennie, and George and Marvel Munn, moved to Los Angeles, California. William retired shortly thereafter, but George carried on in the Jewellry business. George and Rena both died young; they and William all predeceased Jennie. At the time of her death in 1950, she was the owner/operator of a Beauty Salon in Los Angeles. Her son Frederick, who was living in Hamilton, Ontario, when she died, inherited the bulk of her estate. His wherabouts after 1950 are not known, but William, Jennie, George and Marvel are all buried in Los Angeles.