Paper Trail Existance

In contrast to the story about the secrets of great grandmother Gertrude - there is the paper trail of great grandmother Mary Francis Hutton.  My mom remembers her as a stern and unloving figure. I know her for the trail of records that illustrate the adventures of a woman living in a pre-enfranchisement era.

Mary Francis was born into the middle class of the 1880's in northern England.  Her father was a baker, her maternal grandfather a confectioner rumored to have had his own candy factory. A more fanciful rumor about this branch of the family is that they descend from the same family as the Scottish Poet Robert Burns. I've yet to substantiate this but Robert Burns did have several siblings - so maybe someday I will solve this particular mystery.

What amazes me about MF is the difference in the life she led in comparison to her contemporaries (in my family tree) that were living the rural life in Canada.  1911 I have one great grandmother getting married, having babies (see the post about secrets...) and in England I have another great grandmother living with her sisters, no parents and working as a restaurant waitress.  This may not sound like a big deal but there were four unmarried women holding their own - all working - making their own way in the world.

The family lore that comes with this story is that MF (and likely her sisters) did not like their step-mother.  Their mother Annie had died in 1907 and their father had remarried a few years later in 1909 to a woman much younger than himself.  There was such an age difference in fact, his new bride was only 3 years older than his oldest child. I can see how some young ladies would be annoyed that their step mother is closer to their age than that of their father.  I see this as one reason they may have struck out of their father's home to live their own lives, in a time where women usually went from father's home to husband's home.

These women were also on the adventurous side. On June 29, 1912, just over two months after the sinking of the Titanic, Mary Frances and her sister Margaret set out for Cape Town, South Africa.  Over the next 10 years (all) the girls would travel back and forth from Cape Town to England. They usually traveled two at a time, and sometimes was it one sister accompanied by the eldest child and brother, John Robert Hutton.

The story (I have no facts other than the passenger lists) is that Mary Francis and her sister had a tea room in Cape Town.  The period of time the Huttons were there seems to have been an uneventful one (in terms of the history of South Africa).  The Boer war had been over a decade prior and the Aparthied far off in the future.  In any case, Mary Frances returned to England in the midst the beginning of WWI, arriving in April of 1916 only to ship herself off to Canada in November of the same year. There are no hand me down stories of why she left Cape Town or why she decided to come to Toronto on the verge of winter.

Life in Canada "slowed" her down.  She never traveled back to England or South Africa - unlike her siblings who continued to travel. Within a year of her arrival she was married to a baker who was also English and trying to make his way in the metropolis.  At the time of their marriage in 1917 they were living together - how progressive - but with parents on another continent who is to stop them! By 1920 the children began to arrive, 6 in total over the next 8 years. Maybe her stern and unloving demeanor (at least my mother's perception of it) was a result of some sort of caged bird feeling but I will never know.

Secrets...Part 2

In Part 1, I was writing about my Great Grandmother, Gertrude (Gertie) whom I discovered was an illegitimate child born to Mary Ann Robinson.  Gertie and Mary Ann were raised as sisters, along with 9 other "siblings" (in actuality aunts and uncles).  There is another child (George) in this mix that may belong to Mary Ann or possibly one of the other sisters - but there are no official records to support this - only speculation since Sabina would have been 43 at the time of his birth.

Back to Gertie. Gertie had another secret...which may not have been very well hidden secret.  Gertrude's first child, a daughter came into the world on the 16th of December in 1911. Her new baby daughter was born at her new husband's family farm house...3 months into the marriage.  This may not be shocking to our 21st century social etiquette but it is shocking for 1911!

Gertrude and her new husband were married in September of 1911. Not by their local clergy but away, in Toronto.  While not a particularly far distance from their home town, in 1911, without an automobile, a 45km trip was either by horse or train.  From this record I gleam that Gertrude was up to 6 months pregnant at the time. There is no family lore that this daughter was born early or was premature in any way.  This would have been a tad scandalous if I'm to believe what social historians tell us - okay I mean Downton Abbey.  As if a impending child wasn't reason enough, I have other reasons to believe this was perhaps a marriage not blessed by the presence of close friends and family (ie. parents and siblings):

The witnesses. Witness number 1 for the groom is Charles' cousin Clifford Fawthrop. On the face of it this does not seem strange, many cousins are as close as siblings.  Clifford however is a cousin of Charles who grew up in eastern Ontario, far from the immediate family in the town that bears their name. Clifford, in 1911, was a young man of 19 bearing witness to his elder cousin's wedding.  While 19 is young, the second witness was MUCH younger.

Witness number 2, for Gertrude, was Inez Dalby.  Inez would have been known to Gertrude as her niece since Gertrude was raised as a sister to Inez' mother (although in truth Gertrude and Inez were actually first cousins). With large farming families it wasn't uncommon for the eldest child of a family to marry and begin having children while his/her mother may still be bearing children - resulting in aunts and uncles younger than their own nieces and nephews; these children would have been raised together more like siblings/cousins being of about the same age. So, it may not have been weird for Gertrude and Inez to be good friends - but at the time of Gertrude's wedding, Inez was but 16 years old.

So, we have 16 year old niece/cousin witness, long distance cousin witness, possibly 6 months pregnant bride, and wedding in a far-enough-away city.  Seems scandalous enough to me for a Tuesday in 1911. By all accounts these two lived on to have a happy life with many children, grandchildren and lived to see many great grandchildren. It makes me wonder what the whole story was...

The Secrets and Secrets...part 1

As the name was meant to suggest, part of this blog was meant to touch on the things I have found while doing my extensive family research.  The time has come to share some of the secrets I have found.  Some stories get passed through the generations - some do not - and some become legend or rumor.  In my research I have proved rumors and furthered some into further mystery but I have also uncovered secrets. Unknown secrets.  I've begun to piece together fictional stories of the lives of ancestors from the bits of "truth" (ie. primary documents).

Let me share with you my Great-Grandmother.

What could be so scandalous about this handsome woman you ask? Gertrude Robinson grew up in a typical rural Ontario farming family until I discovered in fact it may not have been so typical. Another researcher who turned out to be a cousin of mine in some capacity (cousin's removed...I'll explain that to you later when you are bored and want to know) - she pointed me to a birth record for Gertrude when I told her she had the incorrect parents for Gertrude.  Birth record? What birth record...I hadn't found Gertrude's birth record yet.  My cousin's tree contained the birth record - I clicked on it and saw the secret.  Her parents were not Sabina Petty and Peter Robinson as we had all been told, not Sabina and Peter as listed on her marriage license, not Sabina and Peter at all. Secret number one. Gertrude was the illegitamte daughter of Mary Ann Robinson and one Robert Milroy.

This was a well kept secret. Sabina and Peter raised Gertrude as their own, with Mary Ann as her "sister" and she officially told her children (who told their children, who told me...) that Sabina and Peter were her parents.  Her mother (Mary Ann) died young, 43 - unmarried and of heart disease. The story whirling in my mind is that of a socially shunned woman who died of a a lonely heart. Mr. Milroy - my actual Great-Great-Grandfather, came from a notable local family, later married, had legitimate recognized children but he too died a bit young - only 57. Heart disease as well.




Gertrude may not have known of her own first secret but surely she did know about the upcoming secret...in part 2. Stay tuned.

To blink or not to blink

As you might expect "Don't Blink" is a cheesy name for a possibly equally cheesy horror movie. IMBD information right here!

It is also apparently something you will read in a university bathroom stall:

Don't Blink

Is it a warning? A suggestion? One of the reasons I think people write on stall walls is to get a reaction.  This scrawl is howling to have other things written in response to it...such as "why" or "because the boogie man is waiting for you".  Maybe someone was just feeling festive about the upcoming Halloween season.  On that note here is an interesting story I came across today about a "murder house" in Los Angeles, CA.  Enjoy!

Have You Wondered?

...Where do you get your set of values?

I'm sure many of us can point to family, religion, and our general up bringing as the harbinger of our web of values but I feel like I know that there is a great invisible hand which attempts to work its magic on us. What am I getting at?  Take a look at this bathroom graffiti:

"Books Before Boys B/C Boys Bring Babies!" and written below in a different colour although it is not evident, and presumably by another person is, "Love This! Education gives you choices!"

I've been debating sharing the toilet poetry, the profane and the profound scribbles I find for a while but this just pushed me over the edge.  It is this type of benevolent bathroom education that no one asks for but for better or worse given passively.  I have divided opinions about the piece because I've come to learn that life isn't always as clear as right and wrong or good and bad. Is this message bad? Perhaps. Is it misguided, most likely. The more I stare at the two statements the more I feel like these two people are on completely different pages. You can have boys and an education, you can have boys and no babies, you can have babies and education, you can have no boys, no babies and still no education, you can have books, no boys, no babies and no education...or, maybe, you can have everything you want.