Anne Georgina (Rust) D'Eye
Section 12, Lot 631
Prospect Cemetery
At the turn of the century, many adults died at a fairly early age due to a susceptibility to a range of diseases for which there was no known cure. Annie Rust D’Eye, who died at the age of 26 from “Phthisis,” or pulmonary tuberculosis, was one such victim. Her antecedents may be traced to Edgar Rust and Ann D’Eye, who married in England in the 1820s. They took the somewhat unusual step of applying for a royal warrant to legitimise the using of a joint surname. “D’Eye,” which denotes “little island,” is Norman in derivation, and appears to have been that of a well-known family in Suffolk. Royal permission was granted, many years later, to adopt the double-barrelled surname. A new coat of arms was also designed, incorporating elements of those of the two families. George Hastings, a son of Edgar and Ann born in 1836, immigrated to Canada in the latter part of the century. By 1885, he had opened a grocery business and taken up residence with his family near Keele and Dundas, the heart of the growing community of West Toronto Junction. One of his children was Annie, who was unmarried at the time of her death. A great-grandson of George is George (also Hastings) Rust D’Eye, the dynamic former Chairman of the Toronto Historical Board and former Solicitor of Metropolitan Toronto.