Genealogy

The Fortin House and Manoir Papineau

Leave a comment

In the1600s  my ancestors left France and embarked on an adventure to New France. In 1651 Julien Fortin de Bellefontaine settled in Chateau Richer, near Quebec City, and built a home, while Claude Jodouin landed in Ville Marie (Montreal) in 1666 and remained in the area.

The Jodouin descendants moved east of Ville Marie (Montreal) to Varennes and Verchères on the south side of the St Lawrence River. Fortin descendants settled east of Quebec City in the Charlevoix, Baie St. Paul, Cap St. Ignace region on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

My third great-grandfather Francois Xavier Fortin (1755-1853) was born and baptized in Saint Pierre and Saint Paul church in Baie St. Paul and married Marie Rose Lemieux (1773-1853) at Saint Ignatius of Loyola Church in Cap St Ignace in 1793.

Marriage of Francois Xavier Fortin and Marie Rose Lemieux

Francois was a blacksmith and a farmer. While living in Cap St Ignace, they had two children. The births of their other nine children reveal that they moved four times over the years. I don’t know why they moved so often. Perhaps, the community required a blacksmith.

Their third child, Francois Xavier died in 1800 in St. Hyacinthe. Three more children were born in that community. Research does not enlighten us about the events that led to their next move. In 1808 they were living in Rigaud where their son Moyse Hypolite was born. The family settled in 1810 in the Seigniory de la Petite Nation in Montebello.

Joseph Papineau (1752-1841) became the first Seigneur de la Petite Nation in Montebello. He was a notary, surveyor, and landowner, who had bought land from the seminary in Quebec between 1801 and 1803.     

Joseph Papineau -first Seigneur de la Petite Nation

In 1810 Papineau sold land to Francois Xavier Fortin who built a home where the family finally settled in Montebello, Seigneury de la Petite Nation on the shores of the Ottawa River. For over fifty years the Fortin family farmed the land. Today this home is known as The Fortin House. It played a significant role in the history of the area.

Louis Joseph Papineau

 Joseph Papineau’s son Louis Joseph (1786-1871) purchased land from his father and began to build on the property. During the construction (1848-1850) of the Manoir Papineau, Louis Joseph and his family “borrowed” Francois Xavier Fortin’s home and they lived in his house while the manoir was being built. Changes were made to the Fortin house to accommodate the large Papineau family.

 The Fortin House “borrowed by Louis Joseph Papineau

Louis Joseph had an interesting career as a politician, a leader of the Patriot movement, a speaker of the House at the National Assembly, and for a time, was exiled due to his involvement in the Rebellion of 1837.

An aerial view of Manoir Papineau

The Manoir is situated on Cap de Bonsecours

Parks Canada manages Manoir Papineau.

  It is a National Historic site.   

Research does not tell us where Francois Xavier and Rose were living while the manoir was being built and the Papineau family were in the Fortin home, however, one might surmise that the Fortin children were married and living in the area. Perhaps, as was the custom at the time they cared for their elderly parents.

Route from Montebello to Ottawa

In November 1853 Rose passed away, and within two short weeks, Francois Xavier followed in December. Both are buried in the Notre Dame de Bonsecours cemetery in Montebello.

The Burial of Francois Xavier Fortin

In 1900 The Fortin House and surrounding farm were purchased by the Huneault family who continue to farm the land.

Sources

 Généalogie Québec, Francois Xavier Fortin/Marie Rose Lemieux mariage. https://www.genealogiequebec.com/Membership/LAFRANCE/acte/359845

 Généalogie Québec, Francois Xavier Fortin death/burial. https://www.genealogiequebec.com/Membership/LAFRANCE/acte/5961939,

“Canada, Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99W-X984?cc=1321742&wc=HCZJ-T38%3A13629401%2C13629402%2C14536101 : 16 July 2014), Cap-Saint-Ignace > Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1768-1822 > image 250 of 745; Archives Nationales du Quebec (National Archives of Quebec), Montreal.

“Canada Census, 1851”, database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWRX-R5H : 1 October 2021), François Xavier Fortin, 1851.

“Canada, Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8993-W5FP?cc=1321742&wc=HZM6-7M9%3A24354201%2C24354202%2C25955601 : 16 July 2014), Sainte-Madeleine-de-Rigaud > Sainte-Madeleine-de-Rigaud > Index 1802-1876 Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1802-1817 > image 403 of 540; Archives Nationales du Quebec (National Archives of Quebec), Montreal.

https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/qc/manoirpapineau

https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-hs/qc/manoirpapineau/culture/histoire-history/personnages-people/chronologie-chronology

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/louis-joseph-papineau

https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/papineau_joseph_7E.html

Great Britain, Military

The Life of a Sailor

Leave a comment

My 2X great-grandfather, George Murray Boggie, born in 1826 in Old Deer, Aberdeen, Scotland,1 spent his whole life in the Royal Navy. This was a life of adventure, variety, and camaraderie, but also homesickness, hard work, long hours, and sometimes sickness.

George didn’t start out wanting to be a sailor. When he was 15, and perhaps earlier, he and his brother, James worked as apprentice writers in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. They lodged with John Bradie, a newsroom keeper. 2 John probably worked at the same newsroom as George and James.

It turned out that writing was not the job for George. George started volunteering in the navy when he was 20. He served on about 14 ships between 1846 and 1854. In January 1854, he was serving on the HMS Euryalus. He then signed his indenture papers on 13 February 1854, which committed him to ten years of continuous service in the Royal Navy.3 The HMS Euryalus was commissioned in 1853 and soon after George joined the crew, it was deployed to the Baltic to take part in the Baltic Campaign as part of the Crimean War.4 The HMS Euryalus was part of an Anglo-French fleet that entered the Baltic to attak the Russian naval base of Kronstadt.5

Euryalus leading the line of battle during the Bombardment of Kagoshima, 18636

While I do not have a picture of Great-Grandfather George, Royal Navy Form 95 says that he was 5 ft., 7.5 inches tall, with a ruddy complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes. He had a tattoo on his left arm, his initials: G.M.B. 7

George was already married and a father with two children when he started his indentureship. His daughter, Mary, was 4 and my great-grandfather, Henry was just two years old. His wife, Elspeth Milne would have had her hands full with a young family and an absent husband. Elspeth would also have been worried about George as he was in active military service. As George remained a member of the Royal Navy his entire working life, it is probable that he participated in many battles.

Sailors were constantly at work when at sea. All ships were dangerous workplaces and injuries and death as a result of injuries were common. Their sleeping quarters were cramped, the sailors’ sleep was often disturbed, and their meals were neither copious nor balanced. Although some ships did issue a daily ration of lime juice and sugar, but in quantities not exceeding one ounce of each, assumably to prevent scurvy. The ships were cold, damp, and uncomfortable and their clothes could be damp for months at a time.  Most ships did not have a physician or surgeon on board so some health conditions could not be addressed quickly. Sailors’ wages were usually paid in arrears as a deterrent to desertion.8

Sailors were susceptible to tropical diseases and while dysentery can be caught anywhere, It’s a more common condition in tropical areas of the world with poor water sanitation. The Royal Navy sailed the world over, often in tropical waters. Dysentery on board was common. It is contagious and can be contracted from eating food prepared in unsanitary conditions or by drinking contaminated water. 9

As George worked on 14 ships before he signed up for continuous service in 1854, he already had a good idea of what he was getting into. On 5 February 1847, George was admitted to the Dreadnought Seaman’s Hospital to treat dysentery.10 The registration indicates that he was victualled for 46 days which, I believe means that he was paid for the 46 days that he was in the hospital.

The Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital provided seafarers with hospital care for 150 years. It started in 1821 as a wooden warship moored in the River Thames at Greenwich, England. After 1870, the hospital transferred to dry land at the former Greenwich Hospital Infirmary, and the hospital continued to treat sailors in Greenwich until its closure in 1986.11 In 1987, a Dreadnought Unit opened at St. Thomas Hospital in London.12

The ‘Dreadnought’, 104 Guns, At present Lying off Greenwich For The Seamen’s Hospital, ©National Maritime Museum

George was a member of the Royal Navy during the second half of the 19th century and, at that time, naval warfare underwent a complete transformation due to steam propulsion and metal ship construction. While Britain was required to replace its entire naval fleet, it managed to do so through unparalleled shipbuilding capacity and financial resources.13 When George started his career, he served on a wooden hulled steam frigate. By the time he completed his career, he would have seen great leaps of technological improvements.

  1. Scotland’s People, Old Parish Registers, Boggie, George Murray, 1826, Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, accessed 7 June 2024.
  2. Scotland’s People, 1841 Census, Boggie, George Murray, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, accessed 12 June 2024.
  3. Form 95, Indentured royal navy papers, Boggie, George Murray, dated 13 February 1854, National Archives, accessed 3 July 2024.
  4. Wikipedia, HMS Euryalus (1853), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Euryalus_(1853), accessed 20 November 2024.
  5. Wikipedia, Crimean War, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War#Baltic_theatre, accessed 20 November 2024.
  6. Wikipedia, HMS Euryalus (1853), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Euryalus_(1853), accessed 20 November 2024.
  7. Form 95, Indentured Royal Navy Papers, Boggie, George Murray, dated 13 February 1854, National Archives, accessed 3 July 2024.
  8. The Old Operating Theatre, Life at Sea: The Working Conditions and Health of a Sailor, https://oldoperatingtheatre.com/life-at-sea-the-working-conditions-and-health-of-a-sailor/, accessed 13 November 2024.
  9. Cleveland Clinic, Dysentery, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23567-dysentery, accessed 20 November 2024.
  10. Ancestry, Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital Admissions, 1826-1930, Boggie, George Murray, accessed 13 November 2024.
  11. Royal Museums Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/hms-nhs-nautical-health-service-transcription-project, accessed 20 November 2024.
  12. Seafarer’s Hospital Society, https://seahospital.org.uk/about-us/our-history/, accessed 20 November 2024.
  13. Wikipedia, The Royal Navy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy#:~:text=At%20the%20start%20of%20World,during%20the%20following%20four%20months

Genealogy

REMEMBERING GREAT-GRAND-UNCLE

Leave a comment

Arthur Symons, Private, 56th Battalion, Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Forces.

I once had a great-granduncle, Arthur. Until I started doing Genealogy, I had no idea there was such a title, but there it is, and I had one.

Of course, I never met him, but, as it is Remembrance Day I wanted him to be remembered.

My Granny’s mother, Lilian, had a family of five siblings, and Arthur was her younger brother. He was four years younger than her. Granny told me that Arthur immigrated to Canada in the early 1900s.

Despite many searches. I could find no information on his immigration. However, months after I started my research, I came across a border crossing Manifest from Canada to Sweetgrass, Montana.

It had all the information I had been searching for!

At this point, I was not sure he was even married, but the info on the border crossing gave me missing details and Arthur was beginning to become a real person.

The Manifest stated Arthur was 50 years old, accompanied by his wife, Catherine, son Alexander, and daughter Dorothy. It was dated the 18th of July, 1936. The family were visiting Yellowstone Park and Glacier Park. it gave Arthur’s address in Calgary, Alberta and his occupation as a Postal Porter. (1) It stated that he arrived in Canada at Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 19th of March, 1901 on the SS. Soman.

I haven’t yet found the passenger list for the SS Soman, but I keep looking.

When WWI broke out, he enlisted in the 56th Battalion Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Forces on May 3, 1915, in Calgary, Alberta. He was shipped back to the UK for training. While ‘back home’, he visited his sister Lilian – my great-grandmother – and had these photos taken with his sister and my Granny, Edith Bevan O’Bray.

Arthur Symons with his sister Lilian Symons Bevan. C. 1914-18

Arthur Symons with my Granny, Edith Bevan C. 1914-18.

Arthur Symons was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, in 1886. His siblings were Lilian Mary Symons—my great-grandmother; Thomas, who died in infancy; Arthur, Olive, and Ada, who was my Gran’s favourite Aunt, and only two years older than her.

Aunt Ada was also my Godmother. Together, they joined the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service) in 1918 (2)

Great-grand-uncle Arthur fought at the Battle of Passchendaele and was severely wounded in the right leg, right hand and left foot. He was transferred to the Granville Special Hospital, located in Ramsgate, Kent, England. An orthopaedic facility to treat soldiers with damaged limbs. Later because of air raids on the Kent coast, the hospital was moved to Buxton. He was medically discharged on 28th August 1919.

In part Two, I will explore his stay in the Granville Special Hospital for Canadian troops. The first line of his medical records, dated November 29, 1917, stated he was “Dangerously ill.”

(1) Canadian Postal Porter – Porter – Worker having manual handling duties, typically at a large sorting office or railway station in London. Tasks included the loading, unloading, segregation and transfer of mailbags or other containers. Porters were also employed at some other locations, such as the PO Savings Bank.

Historical Post Office roles

(2) Granny and her Aunt in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

Granny Was In The Wrens

Genealogy

Philadelphia Story

2 Comments

After my great grandfather retired from a successful 40-year career in the wholesale food business, he took an active interest in the stock market and managed his own investments during the time of the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929. Would he lose his life savings like so many unfortunate others at the time?

In a letter to his eldest daughter Josephine, my grandmother, dated June 2, 1932, he wrote:

“…if we could get rid of a lot of these Rotten Banks and Stock Market thieves the world would come around all right in no time. A person has no show with that New York Stock Exchange. Just a lot of crooks and I don’t think these common stocks have any value at all, not worth the paper they are written on, most of them, but all this will come (out) all right but people have got to lose a lot of money and that’s that.”

William Thomson Sherron (1863-1932) was born in Salem, New Jersey, the son of Albert Wood Sherron and Eveline Stokes Gaunt Githens. His wife, Gertrude Gill, (1869-1940), born in Philadelphia, was the daughter of Thomas Reeves Gill and Josephine Love.

In November 1891, William and his bride settled in their new family home at 100 W. Broadway, Salem, New Jersey, where they stayed for the next twenty years. This beautifully refurbished Queen Anne style Victorian house still proudly stands today.

(Their first home -100 W. Broadway, Salem, New Jersey)

The couple had three children – Josephine (1893-1964) Social Media – Then and Now, Roger (1895-1963) Sherron and his Texas Betty and Alberta (1906-1992) Elopement … or not?. Josephine, my grandmother, her stockbroker husband and their two sons eventually settled in Montreal, Quebec. Their son Roger had mental health issues and lived with them until their deaths. Alberta married very young, had a son nine months later and remarried happily a while after that and had three more children.

(Roger, Alberta and Josephine Sherron – 1906)

William first worked for Thomas Roberts & Co. in the wholesale grocery business for 25 years in Philadelphia before going into the same business for himself in 1905 at the age of 42. He opened his own office at no. 37 South Front Street, Philadelphia, about a half mile from their new home at 261 W. Harvey where they lived for the another twenty years.

Screenshot
Screenshot

(Invoice – front and back from the grocery wholesale business)

His wife and daughters took an active role the local Germantown social scene. Their endless teas, luncheons, bridge parties and charity fundraisers were regularly featured in the social pages of the local newspaper.

(Gertrude Sherron and her daughters in the Society Pages)

Along with the usual collection of family posed photographs in my dusty old boxes, I found a delightful photo of 55-year old William. He is holding up a string of sizable fish, possibly bass, outside “the Windsor Avenue cottage” (which looks more like an old country inn). He is wearing a light coloured baggy jacket and matching pants with a proper shirt and tie, white shoes and a floppy “fishing” hat. The smile on his face reflects pure joy for the day’s “catch”.

(William and his catch of the day!)

In 1930, just a couple of years before William’s death, the couple enjoyed an extended trip to Europe. They stayed at the famous luxurious Carlton Hotel in Lucerne while visiting Switzerland and I have the note sent to their daughter Josephine. William began the correspondence writing at a slant that became a little more difficult to maintain as he ran out of room on the notepaper. Then Gertrude took over filling every remaining inch of the note – to the bottom, up the sides and finishing up at the top of the page! Nevertheless, I could just barely make out from their undecipherable scrawls that they “adored Switzerland”, the hotel was “a dream” and “Interlaken was perfect”. As for Paris, Gertrude didn’t mince words when she exclaimed “Paris is a horribly dirty city.” However, she “loved London” and thought the people dressed “heaps better than in Paris.” At one point in the note, William generously invited their daughter to join them and wrote “I will pay the fare.”

(Excerpt of their note to their daughter Josephine)

So, it seems that William didn’t lose his money in the stock market after all, and had plenty to splurge on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe with his wife.

United States

The Great Central Fair of Philadelphia, 1864

1 Comment

Philadelphia lawyer McGregor J. Mitcheson (1829–1886) had a reputation as a passionate and eloquent defender of his clients’ interests in the courtroom, so it comes as no surprise that he was also a persuasive fundraiser. In 1864, he was one of many volunteers who helped to raise money to improve sanitary conditions, food and medical care for government soldiers during the American Civil War.

When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, thousands of men signed up to fight for the Union army. Soon, however, the filth and poor diets in the camps where the soldiers were housed led to outbreaks of disease. People realized that the government was not equipped to shelter and feed so many soldiers.

Civilians in the northern states responded by founding the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) in the summer of 1861, as well as other charitable relief organizations. These groups raised money for the Union cause and distributed supplies, including food, clothing and bandages, to military camps and hospitals. A branch of the USSC was set up in Philadelphia by some of the city’s leading male citizens, while the women set up their own organization to receive donations from church groups and other small, local aid societies2.

The Great Central Fair in Logan Square, Philadelphia, 1864.

These organizations held a variety of fundraising events, including concerts, plays and floral fairs, but the biggest and most successful event In Philadelphia was the Great Central Fair. It was held for 21 days in June, 1864 at downtown Logan Square. Volunteers built a vast central hall featuring Gothic arches, outbuildings, interconnecting corridors and a 216-foot flagpole. A range of donated goods were for sale including fine arts, lingerie, umbrellas and canes, arms and trophies and children’s clothing, while available services included a horse shoe machine and a button-riveter.

A number of northern cities hosted sanitary fairs between 1863 and 1865, but the only one that raised more money than Philadelphia was New York City. In total, the Philadelphia Great Central Fair raised more than a million dollars – $20 million in today’s money.

This huge endeavor required many hours of organization by hundreds of volunteers. An executive committee oversaw dozens of smaller departments and committees that were in charge of soliciting contributions of goods, money and services from members of every trade, profession and business in the city.

My three-times great-uncle McGregor J. Mitcheson dedicated many hours to the cause as secretary of the fair’s Department of Labor, Income and Revenue. Involvement in that department was something of a family affair: at one time, McGregor’s brother Duncan M. Mitcheson was assistant treasurer, and his sister Mary F. Mitcheson was a member of the women’s committee. McGregor was also chairman of a hard-working sub-committee, the Committee on Organization.

McGregor J. Mitcheson and his wife Ellen Brander Alexander, probably taken when they were visiting his sister Catharine Mitcheson Bagg in Montreal.

The Department of Labor, Income and Revenue was one of the busiest of the Sanitary Fair organization, and it succeeded in raising nearly a quarter of a million dollars, or one-fourth of the fair’s proceeds. Its goal was to raise donations equivalent to the wages of one day’s labor from working people in every branch of industry, one day’s income from their employers, and one day’s revenue from all corporations. Railways and coal mining companies proved to be the most generous donors. This committee also had a large table at the fair where a variety of goods were sold, bringing in $7228.

Committee members personally visited company worksites such as iron works and large mills. Owners would tell their employees to stop work and call them together to hear a speech about the need to help the soldiers. Most employees were so inspired that they agreed to donate a full day’s wages, and their employers also gave generously. Official fair historian Charles J. Stille credited this success with the fact that the organizing committee had nothing to do with partisan politics, and had no specific religious affiliations. Everyone was free to give or not to give.

The committee raised funds in Philadelphia, in smaller Pennsylvania cities such as Bethlehem, Harrisburg and Reading, in rural parts of the state and in neighbouring New Jersey. Members of this committee were so hard-working that it acquired the nickname the laborious committee.

Stille singled out McGregor J. Mitcheson for his hard work. “Through spirited explanatory addresses by Mr. Mitcheson, at the invitation of the proprietors of the leading establishments, six eight, and even twelve manufacturers have been thus visited by the officers and committee; the works stopped, the people collected and addressed, as we have stated, within one day.”3

McGregor also played a memorable role in the fair’s closing ceremony. A large crowd turned out on the evening of June 28 to watch as members of the fair’s executive committee marched onto a platform in the square. The bishop offered a prayer of thanksgiving, then McGregor J. Mitcheson led the singing of the Doxology,4 a hymn of praise. After that, McGregor invited the crowd to sing the Star-Spangled Banner, and finally the crowd broke into an enthusiastic rendition of Yankee Doodle.

Photo Sources:

Queen, J. F. (1864) Buildings of the Great Central Fair, in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Logan Square, Philadelphia, June. United States of America Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1864. Philadelphia: P.S. Duval & Son Lithography, -07. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670451/

Cabinet card photo by William Notman, Montreal. #70199. Bagg family collection.

Notes and Sources

  1. McGregor J. Mitcheson (born Joseph McGregor Mitcheson) was the youngest son of English-born merchant Robert Mitcheson and his Scottish-born wife Mary Frances McGregor. His older sister, Catharine Mitcheson Bagg, was my direct ancestor. McGregor grew up in Philadelphia and practised law there for many years. He married Ellen Brander Alexander Bond, a widow, in 1869, and they had three children.  
  • The Doxology is a four-line hymn often sung during church services The version sung at the fair’s closing ceremony: Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

This article is also posted on my personal family history blog, http://www.writinguptheancestors.ca

Genealogy, Immigration, United States

A Picture of Annie

Leave a comment

For many of my ancestors, I have a name, a date of birth and sometimes a death date. That doesn’t tell you much about their lives, who they were or what they looked like. Who resembles them? Having a picture that you can document of them is a treasure. I still have many images of unidentified people. Some you can guess at but still you aren’t sure.

I have no pictures of Annie Sutherland (1878-1953) or much information about her except for one entry in my grandfather William Harkness Sutherland’s diary, “ Annie visiting from New York”. Annie was his first cousin, the daughter of his uncle William Sutherland and Jessie Johnston.

I thought I would try again to find Annie after researching her brother William. Annie is not a unique name so I didn’t have many expectations when I entered her name, birth year, and parent’s names in Ancestry. Up popped her visa for entry into Brazil in 1948! This document had her date of birth, her nationality, her parent’s names, her occupation and her picture! There she was for all to see at 69 years of age.

Annie Sutherland disappeared from Canadian records after the 1901 census when she was living with her parents at 21 Rose Ave along with her sisters Agnes, Isabel and Jessie and her brother Davison. 

Single women at the turn of the century had few career choices open to them, one being a teacher. Annie and two of her sisters taught school. I imagine Annie wanted a little excitement in her life, so she immigrated to New York City in 1902 and moved in with her brother William. She continued to teach school.

She originally taught at regular public schools. Religion was important in the family, like many Scottish Presbyterians at the time. They attended services regularly and were involved in the church life. The males, like my grandfather, were encouraged to become ministers but none had the calling. So, it is not surprising that at some point Annie began teaching at the Biblical Seminary of New York (which became the New York Theological Seminary). 

Wilbert White founded the Prostatant nondenominational school to train Bible teachers, missionaries and YMCA (Young Mens Christian Association) workers. This was a ministry for the “real world” with the Bible being the centre of the curriculum. Women formed a large part of the diverse cultural student body and the staff. In 1921 the school moved downtown to East 49th Street. There, in a nine-story building, students, staff and other borders lived together. Annie lived at the school and according to the 1940 census was a teacher making $4,764 a year, a large salary for anyone at the time.

Teachers have the advantage of summers off, and Annie Sutherland travelled the world. While she taught others to be missionaries, perhaps she did missionary work herself during her vacations. She can be found on many ship manifests as she sailed to Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, England, France and the Mediterranean, being away for two months at a time.

She, like her brother, decided to become an American citizen. She filed her declaration of intention in 1920, which included her renouncing her allegiance to George the V, King of Great Britain and Ireland. She received her naturalizing certificate five years later.

I last found her alive in New York City in 1950, living at the Prince George Hotel, having returned from another trip.

There is an Annie Sutherland buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, who died in 1953 at 74 years of age. Is that Annie’s final resting place? Did she eventually return home from her travels?

Notes:

“Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965”. Family Search, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013. Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records. Accessed on Ancestry March 10, 2020. 

Mount Pleasant Cemetery: Annie Sutherland age 74 died 1953. Land, Section 33 lot 2650. accessed October 18, 2024.

New York Theological Seminary Records 1895-2005-https://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/libraryweb/locations/burke/fa/misc/ldpd_11693150.pdf

Year: 1901; Census Place: 
Toronto (Centre) (City/Cité) Ward/Quartier No 3, Toronto (Centre) (City/Cité), Ontario; Page: 2; Family No: 17 Ancestry.com. 
1901 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Library and Archives Canada. 
Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada:

Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: 
m-t0627-02648; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 31-1008 Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: 
Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 – 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: 
Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21 Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

England, Genealogy

Not…Quite…Forgotten

2 Comments
Driving into Helmsley.

The North Yorkshire town

Where my ancestors toiled

In the nearby fields

And laboured

In the limestone quarry

Or – in one case – bent over smartly

As footman to the local Earl

Is now a pristine tourist destination

For posh Londoners

(Who like to hunt partridge, grouse and pheasant)

With high-end clothing shops

And luxury gift boutiques

Lining the old market square

Two wellness spas

And at least one pricey Micheline-recommended restaurant

Serving up the likes of Whitby crab

(with elderflower)

Or herb-fed squab

On a bed of

Black Pudding.

The oh-so pretty North Yorkshire town

Where my two-times great-grandmother

A tailor’s wife

Bore her ten children

And worked ‘til her death at 71

As a grocer

(So says the online documentation)

Now has food specialty shops as eye-pleasing as any in Paris or Montreal

With berrisome cupcakes and buttery French pastries

(Some gluten-free, some vegan)

Mild Wendsleydale cheese

(From the udders of contented cows)

Locally-sourced artisanal game meats

Hormone-free, naturally

And free-range hen’s eggs with big bright orange yolks

That light up my morning mixing bowl like little suns gone super-nova.

And, for the culturally curious

Packages of the traditional North Country oatcakes

(Dry like cardboard if you ask me.)

It cannot be denied

Nary a wild rose nor red poppy is out of place

In this picturesque

Sheepy place

3000 years old!

(Apparently)

Where my great-grandfather

During WW1

Managed the Duncombe saw mill

Supplying timber for telephone poles

And trench walls.

Where because of the highly variable weather

(I’m assuming)

Rainbows regularly arched over the hills and dales

From Herriotville to Heathcliffetown,

Back then

As they

Do now.

(At least I met with one as I drove into my ancestral town– and thought it a good sign.)

Off-season,

This is a town for locals

Not for overseas imposters like us.

I was told…

The natives drive only short distances as a rule

From dirtier, busier places

like Northallerton

(but an hour away)

Through the awesome

(no hyperbole here)

Primeval forests and heathery plateaus

Of the much storied Moors

On narrow snaking highways.

Wearing rainproof quilted jackets in boring colours

They walk their well-behaved dogs

Spaniels mostly

In and out of ice cream shops

And cafes

Or up and down

the daunting (to me)

muddy

….medieval

…………..Fairy

…………………….Staircase

…………………………………..along

…………………………………………..the Cleveland

…………………………………………………………………….Way.

To visit quaint Rievaulx

And admire the Grade II Heritage cottages

With their bewitching thatched roofs

And wisteria-laced windows

Where the skeleton of the old Cisterian monastery

Rules the blue horizon

Like a giant antique crustacean trapped in grim History.

(Unlike myself, they do not pay the ten plus pounds to visit the Monastery ruins.

“And would you like to donate an extra 75p to the National Trust?”

Sure. Why not?)

They just like to walk their dogs.

Yes, all is picture-perfect these days

(It’s early October in 2024)

In my ancestral town

In the North of England

Where at least two in my family tree

Travelled the Evangelical Circuit

From Carlisle to Whitby

Preaching thrift and abstinence

And other old-fashioned values

To men and women with calloused hands

And a poor grasp of the alphabet.

Except, maybe, for the Old Methodist Cemetery

*no entrance fee required

Just around the corner from our charming air bnb

Where the crows, flocking for winter (I guess)

Caw maniacally in the moulting trees

And a black cat might cross your path

(It did for me)

And the old tombstones jut out helter-skelter like crooked mouldy teeth

From the soft-sinking Earth under which some of my ancestors lie,

Mostly

,,,,,,,But

Not ,,,,,,,,

,,,,,,,,,Entirely

Forgotten.,,,,,,,,,,

Genealogy

Transportation carries people west

Leave a comment

It constantly amazes me how technology can influence where people live.

When I was examining the lives of my great great grandparents and their predecessors on my fathers’ side for instance, I noticed that their moves usually followed easier travelling circumstances.

In 1815, for example, a small settlement known as Bear Brook arose along the border of a small creek by the same name. The area is now in Russell County. Initially, settlers from Montreal used the waterway to get there. By 1820, a new road from Montreal replaced it to link then-Bytown (Ottawa) through Cumberland, Clarence Point, Plantagenet Mills, L’Orignal and Hawkesbury.

My great great great grandparents were among many French-Canadian families from Lower Canada who travelled along the new road to settle in the area in 1854 to farm.

There must have been some Irish among them too, because part of the community was renamed Sarsfield twenty years later to honour Irish hero Patrick Sarsfield.

By then, loggers used the old creek and to float timber to mills in Carlsbad Springs. They were still doing so when Gustave Hurtubise was born in Sarsfield in 1884. Gustave, the elder brother of my great great grandfather was the first child from our family born in the town. Two years later, our cousin Sévère D’Aoust built the Roman Catholic Church in the village where my great grandfather Jean-Baptist would be christened. That same year, the community lobbied for a local stop along J.R. Booth’s Railway line in 1886. They built a small building to entice Booth.

Jean-Baptist Hurtubise arrived in Sarsfield on February 16, 1889. His future wife, Marie-Berthe (known as Martha) Gourdine, was born in a neighbouring town, Clarence Creek, October 3 the same year.

The year the youngsters turned eight, the Old Montreal Road got paved and engineers constructed the Canadian Northern Railroad through Cumberland to Hawkesbury.

They were only 16 years old when the two got married in Clarence Creek on January 7, 1915

My grandmother, Anne Marguerite Hurtubise was born in the same town the following November. Her sister Donna came a year and a half later.

The family left Sarsfield and moved to Cluny, Bow River, Alberta, sometime between Donna’s birth in 1917 and the 1921 Canadian Census. By this time, the train was established across the country, so they and others took it to go west.

For some great shots of various buildings in the town from that period, refer to the images on http://www.prairie-towns.com/cluny-images.html.

Somehow, the couple got land and a home. In 1921, the Census reported that 31-year-old Jean owned a farm with a three-bedroom wooden house on it.1 It was located in section 7, township 22, range 21, Meridian 4. His wife Martha and the two girls didn’t work.

Unfortunately, they arrived just in time for five successive droughts that we now know as the Prairie Dry Belt Disaster.

In 1931 and 1932 they suffered from the dustbowl, when top soil was so dry that it blew into homes.

Then the locusts came in 1933.

I grew up listening to stories about those times, but got a better understanding of what they faced when looking at the photos on a University of Saskatchewan website https://drc.usask.ca/projects/climate/.

My great great grandparents were among 750,000 farmers who had to abandon their farms between 1930 and 1935.

By 1938, the family had moved to Edmonton and my grandfather and his wife had to depend on the incomes from their daughters’ jobs, my grandmother as a nurse and her sister as a clerk, to survive.

1Data from the 1921 Census of Canada, Enumeration District 2, Bow River, Alberta, section 7, township 22, range 21, Meridian 4, page 6, line 28.

Montreal, Quebec

R. Stanley Bagg, Tory Politician

Leave a comment

Robert Stanley Bagg (1848-1912), was a Montreal businessman, sportsman and life-long Tory. A newspaper report of his death noted, “He was a staunch Conservative both in and out of power, and some years ago was president of the Liberal-Conservative Club giving a great deal of his time to the work of organizing as well as well as to public discussion. He was well known amongst the French-Canadian people and spoke French almost as fluently as his mother tongue.”1

My great-grandfather’s interest in politics was not limited to reading about the issues of the day in the newspaper (The Gazette was a die-hard Conservative-leaning publication) or debating issues privately with his friends. Stanley became actively involved in the Liberal-Conservative Club after it was founded in 1895 as a rallying point for English and French-speaking Conservatives in Montreal. The club took a leading role in the Dominion (federal) election of 1896, and the Quebec campaign of 1897. No doubt to Stanley’s dismay, the Conservatives lost in both elections.

The Conservatives had been the party of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, who is said to have been a personal friend of Stanley’s father, Stanley Clark Bagg (1820-1873). They were in power until 1896, when Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s Liberals defeated them, and Laurier remained prime minister for the next 15 years. One of the main differences between the two parties was that the Conservatives promoted loyalty to the British Empire, independence from the United States and protectionism in trade, while the Liberals were in favour of free trade.

Robert Stanley Bagg, portrait by Adam Sheriff Scott. Bagg family collection.

Stanley played a role in many party activities, especially after his retirement from the family real-estate business at the turn of the century. Trained as a lawyer, he frequently chaired public meetings, he served for several years in the early 1900s as president of the Liberal-Conservative Club, and he twice attempted to run for a seat in the House of Commons in Ottawa. The first time was during the Dominion election of 1896 in the St. Lawrence riding, east of Mount Royal. This was the area where Stanley’s ancestors had lived and owned property for almost a century. Stanley was the third candidate in the riding, and the nomination papers he submitted showed he had considerable support among both English and French-speaking party members. However, four days later, when it became apparent that the other Conservative candidate had broader support, Stanley withdrew his name.

In 1905, The Gazette anticipated that Mr. R. Stanley Bagg might run as an independent candidate for the provincial legislature vacancy in the St. Lawrence division caused by the death of the incumbent.2 The newspaper’s prediction was wrong, however, and he did not run. A few years later, in the federal election of 1908, Stanley did put his name in for the Conservative nomination for the St. Lawrence division. This time, Henry Archer Ekers, the outgoing mayor of Montreal, won the nomination by a narrow margin, and Stanley called on the meeting to make the choice unanimous.

Although he never did run for office, Stanley appears to have been a popular speaker at Conservative party functions, and the newspapers reported on his speeches on several occasions.

When he addressed a meeting during the 1897 provincial campaign, The Montreal Star summed up his remarks:

“Mr. R. Stanley Bagg was the last speaker. In a really eloquent and polished speech this gentleman drew a picture of the possibilities of the Province of Quebec under good government. Especially strong were his commendations of the Flynn educational programme, which would bestow that priceless boon of education upon the poor as well as upon the rich. This education would enable the growing generation to intelligently study the questions appertaining to the government of the province, and when the young people became enfranchised, such study would enable them to vote for honest government, for the party and platform that best represented the best interests of Quebec.“3

In January 1900, Stanley was president-elect of the Liberal Conservative Club and a general election was coming soon. In remarks to a meeting, he pledged to put forward the interests of the club, the Conservative party and the county, adding that the Conservative party was the “true patriotic party of Canada.”4

Later that year, during the Dominion election campaign, The Montreal Star quoted his remarks to a Tory campaign rally: “Never in the history of Canada has there been an election so important, so fraught with vital interest in the whole Dominion, as that in which the people of this country are now engaged. The relations between Canada and the Mother Country are, at the present time, peculiar. The South African (Boer) war afforded Canada an opportunity to demonstrate Canadian loyalty and Canadian valour, and today we have as a result an exceptional chance to secure favours from the Mother Country, which never before presented itself. The Imperial sentiment is strong throughout the Empire and the British people are disposed to accord to the colonies trade concessions the value of which to ourselves cannot be overestimated.

“There is but one way in which Canada can benefit from this opportunity, and that way lies through the return of the Conservative party to power. The Conservative party is pledged to use its best efforts to secure a mutual imperial preferential tariff …. The Conservative party stands for protection, for stability in the tariff, for patriotism and for progress.…”5

Eleven years later, Stanley again focused on the topic of reciprocity (free trade) with the U.S. In an hour-long address, he noted that, as someone who had taken part in a large number of election campaigns and given close and continuous study to public affairs, he had been invited to give his views on the great question now before the voters. He “emphatically urged that reciprocity be thrown out. He not only showed that the pact would be commercially injurious to Canada, but appealed to the patriotism of the electors, their spirt as Canadians and Britons. He reminded them, amidst ringing applause, how Sir John A. Macdonald had denounced the attempts of Liberal leaders to bring about unrestricted reciprocity in 1891 as ‘veiled treason’.”6

These accounts of Stanley’s speeches may seem old fashioned today, but I was pleased to discover them as they provided a window into my ancestor’s thoughts. He clearly identified as Canadian and British, although his ancestors also included Americans and Scots.

This story is also posted on http://www.writinguptheancestors.ca

See also:

Janice Hamilton, “Horses, Snowshoes and Family Life”, Writing Up the Ancestors, Sept 21, 2024, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2024/09/horses-snowshoes-and-family-life.html

Janice Hamilton, “The Silver Spoon”, Writing Up the Ancestors, ”, June 12, 2024, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2024/06/the-silver-spoon.html

Sources:

  1. “R. Stanley Bagg Died Yesterday,” The Gazette, (Montreal, Quebec), July 23, 1912, digital image, https://www.newspapers.com/image/419604976 accessed Aug. 4, 2024.
  • “St. Louis Division; Mr. Parizeau’s Supporters Enthusiastic.” The Montreal Daily Star (Montreal, Quebec), 10 May, 1897, p. 4, digital image, https://www.newspapers.com/image/740883625 accessed Oct. 1, 2024.

Asia, England

Troop Train Across The Sind Desert 1916

Leave a comment

In 1916, William sailed for India. He was to take up garrison duties in Multan, India (now Pakistan) to release regular troops to fight in the War.

William Clegg lived in Liverpool during the early 1900s. He was married to Louisa and together they had eight children; one child was stillborn, one child died at age two and another at six years of age, leaving five living children.

At that time and for many years afterwards, life in Liverpool was hard. Living conditions were crowded, poor and unhealthy. There was not much work, and only a few could hope for a fulfilling life. William earned his living as a paint grinder a dirty, noisy and unhealthy job.

In April 1914, one of the children named Evelyn aged six died. This must have been a very hard year for the family. When WW1 was declared on August 1, 1914, William joined the Territorial Army. He probably wanted to get away from the death and poor living conditions and maybe hope to get a better level of pay to support his family. He was 32 years of age, and he left Louisa eight months pregnant!

The Territorial Army is an army of volunteers which supports the British Army. Volunteer units have existed for centuries, but in 1908 they were merged to form the Territorial Force. Members of the Territorial Force were mobilised in the First World War and served alongside the regular army. [1]

One of the units was The Fifth Battalion King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, which had its HQ at 65 St Anne Street Liverpool.

William was supposed to be part of the Home Guard and serve in England but at some point, he agreed to transfer to the Rifle Brigade. He was immediately sent to the Curragh in Ireland, and then to Douglas on the Isle of Man for training.

By 1916, he and other troops were on their way to India as part of the “The Indian Trooping Season.”

Normally, troop ships left England in September and returned on another ship, with the last ships leaving India in March. This pattern was probably established once troop ships no longer sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and started using the “Overland Route’ and then the Suez Canal after its opening in 1869.[2]

Travel was restricted to the cooler months so that acclimatised troops from Britain were not travelling from the ports of Bombay or Karachi to their cantonments during the heat of an Indian summer.

William travelled on the troop ship “Ballarat,” which was mistakenly diverted to Karachi by senior officers.

It was against regulations to cross the Sind Desert from Karachi to Multan because of abnormally hot temperatures, but William and the other troops with him did so anyway.  They were exposed to terrible conditions. More than 200 men suffered from heat stroke and 20 of them died.

During an inquiry, three senior officers were blamed for not looking after the men. Questions were raised in India and England.

The governments of India sent the following telegram to the British House of Commons:

We can now give a considered opinion, having received a report of the committee. The responsibility for diverting the ship from Bombay to Karachi rests with Brigadier-General Roe who was acting as Quartermaster-General at the time. He knew acclimatised troops had never before been sent in large numbers by rail in the middle of Summer through the Sind Desert. He knew, or should have known that the Commander-in-Chief in December 1915, had decided that Karachi should not be used as a port at which wounded and sick British troops should be landed and distributed to other stations, on account of danger of sending in the hot season through Sind.

It follows, that before (the ship) Ballarat was diverted to Karachi, the Acting Quarter-Master-General should have consulted the Commander-in-Chief but did not do this. Having taken on himself the responsibility, he should certainly have warned Karachi military authorities to take special precautions for the safety of troops during the journey by rail. He did not do this.

We, therefore, must hold him responsible, and propose to remove him from his appointment as Deputy Quarter-master-general. It is clear from evidence, that the mischief began before disembarkation, many men having been seen on deck bareheaded in the sun, a thing no officer with Indian experience would have allowed. All the officers on board were quite inexperienced, and we cannot hold them blameworthy.” [3]

The lengthy telegram went on to add that the troop train left Karachi with 13 officers and 1013 men and was insufficiently equipped, overcrowded and without experienced officers.

The three British officers named in the inquiry were “cashiered,” which means they were dismissed from their positions for a breach of discipline.

William Clegg and 19 others died in the Multan Military Hospital, which is now in Pakistan. He left behind his wife and 5 children.

He was originally buried in Multan but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has found it impossible to maintain War Graves in Pakistan so his name also appears on the large British War Graves Cenotaph in Karachi.

William was the grandfather of my husband John Clegg.

[1] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/army-auxiliary-1769-1945

[2] https://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Trooping_season

[3] http://papersPast.natlib.govt.nz/dominion

Working together to help genealogists discover their ancestors