tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75027335464910410832024-03-13T00:35:44.653-04:00Ian Hadden's Family HistoryAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.comBlogger426125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-65145028448894372782015-03-06T11:49:00.001-05:002015-03-06T11:49:19.013-05:00It's Moving Day ... For Ian Hadden's Family History Blog<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After several years on the Blogger platform, I have decided to move my blog over to WordPress.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of my posts are moving along and the migration appears to have been successful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The new address for Ian Hadden's Family History blog is my 'custom' URL:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_839751866"> </a></span><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.ianhadden.org/">www.ianhadden.org</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">New posts will be coming although I suspect I will need to ask for some patience on your part as I get accustomed and comfortable with the new blog platform environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">See you in my new 'digs.'</span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-38133303012087007822015-02-28T10:45:00.000-05:002015-02-28T10:45:33.208-05:00Registration Now Open For The Ontario Genealogical Society Scottish Special Interest Group Symposium<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Scottish Special Interest Group of the Ontario Genealogical Society is hosting a Symposium to be held on Friday, August 21, 2015. Registration for the day long event is now open.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The day will feature a line-up of speakers and a marketplace. For those arriving early, a piper will enhance your marketplace browsing. The event is being at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Brampton, Ontario and the registration fee including a continental breakfast and lunch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Click <a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/scottish-sig-symposium-tickets-15845340841" target="_blank">here</a> to register or contact scottishsigogs@gmail.com for further information.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-91889045208152564132015-02-27T12:52:00.000-05:002015-02-27T12:52:04.697-05:00A Look At Crestleaf<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Creastleaf</a> is a free online resource that provides tools that allow you to build a family tree. It provides free space of up to 1 GB for family photos (more space is available for a fee) and also allows you to share the tree with other family members so they can add to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Really, from my view, <a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Crestleaf</a> is about capturing family stories. This is accomplished, presumably, by different family members adding their own perspectives to family events and their photos of the events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My experience is that family photos get passed along, sometimes divided among siblings, when parents pass away. Often, these photos may end up collecting dust in a forgotten box. Consequently, one family branch may not know of nor ever have seen photos of great grandparents and past special family occasions. Using a online resource tool like <a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Creastleaf</a> might allow for better family sharing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Creastleaf</a> boasts in providing access to almost 90 million genealogy records. This is a reference to the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and <a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Crestleaf</a> uses the June 22, 2011 version of the index containing almost 90 million names. <a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Crestleaf</a> is not a site to conduct a "reasonably exhaustive search" of records. Other than the SSDI, there are no other records available.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Crestleaf</a> recently published a family relationship chart which they have kindly provided to me and gave me permission to share. The chart is available for printing on the <a href="http://crestleaf.com/blog" target="_blank">Crestleaf blog</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Crestleaf</a> site is free and easy to use. I was able to set-up a free account and get started on a basic family tree in just a couple of minutes. If you are looking for a way to tell and share the stories of your family, presumably with other family members who may live some distance from you, using <a href="http://crestleaf.com/" target="_blank">Crestleaf</a> just might be a good means of connecting. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-86750173585383349602015-02-19T11:28:00.000-05:002015-02-19T11:28:47.953-05:00In The Newspapers For All The Wrong Reasons: Snippets From The Life Of John Gaull<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today, we might refer to it as his '15-minutes of fame.' But for John Gaull, his mentions in the media tended to be for all the wrong reasons or at the least for reasons he likely would not have asked for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Genealogists have long known that newspapers can be a great source of rich information and stories about the lives of our ancestors. It is for this reason that I try to spend as much time as I can searching through newspaper archives to find the stories of those in my family who laid the foundation for who I am.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the case of John Gaull, archived copies of the Aberdeen Journal from the 19th century provide me with three stories: he was a victim of fraud; he was accused of fraud; and, when he died he funeral procession took two hours and covered a distance of about eight miles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John Gaull is my 4X great grandfather and as I remind myself, he is not to be confused with his grandson, my 2X great grandfather also a John Gaull.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The records I have found tell me that John (the elder) was born in 1806 in Inverurie, Aberdeen, Scotland, one of at least six children born to Alexander Gauld and Elspet Harper. Early newspaper mentions confirm what later census records report, that John was employed as the farm overseer at Whitehaugh, an estate owned by Lewis Xavier Leslie of Old Aberdeen, in Chapel of Garioch. In that capacity, John can be found listed in newspaper advertisements as the contact person when the estate had land available for prospective tenant farmers or when livestock and farm equipment was being offered for sale.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In December of 1850 however, John along with several other men of Aberdeenshire fell victim to a fraud perpetrated by a man named James Forbes. Forbes forged John's signature as well as the signatures of two other men on a bill in the amount of 400 pounds. Forbes had committed a similar fraud on two other occasions with different victims, each time passing off the forged notes as legitimate obligations. When his fraudulent activities were uncovered, Forbes is reported to have 'escaped' to America only to be tracked down by constable John Scott and returned to Scotland to face justice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On Monday, December 16, 1850, Forbes was brought before the High Court of Judiciary in Edinburgh where he plead guilty to the three frauds. He was sentenced to 21 years transportation. No mention is given as to where Forbes was sent but I'm guessing it was likely Australia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In November of 1877 the newspapers report that a horse dealer named Alex Smith brought a lawsuit against John Gaull, accusing John of selling him a mare on July 31, 1877 that was sick and subsequently died. Smith alleged that John knew the horse was unwell so completed the sale in order to avoid the loss himself. John told the court that he believed the horse to have been in good health at the time of the sale, that he had offered Smith no warranty and, that Smith had subsequently re-sold the horse to a John Mackie who later returned the horse to Smith. John alleged that Smith had brought the lawsuit to recoup losses that Smith was solely responsible for. Following an adjournment of one month, the case returned to court on December 26, 1877 where Smith gave up the case and the court found in John's favour including granting him expenses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally, confirming the information on John's death registration, a death notice was published in the Aberdeen People's Journal newspaper on August 20, 1892 (page 6). But there was also a separate funeral notice for John published on August 13, 1892 in the Aberdeen Journal (page 6), two days after John died. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UbD12i-NaSHuh_8c4vPBN_g-JdPxxPY342JHHdKewjZhjvMaq17ls3poWLJCelTMTw7RLpV0rmeQrIk3lq2Gm6oQLR5Lv1qu5yLqh-uKRtFpg3-YgrKLncDIoK93BWAioj-ckxwJg2A/s1600/GAULL+John+b1806+funeral+notice+Aberdeen+Journal+newspaper+13+Aug+1892+p1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UbD12i-NaSHuh_8c4vPBN_g-JdPxxPY342JHHdKewjZhjvMaq17ls3poWLJCelTMTw7RLpV0rmeQrIk3lq2Gm6oQLR5Lv1qu5yLqh-uKRtFpg3-YgrKLncDIoK93BWAioj-ckxwJg2A/s1600/GAULL+John+b1806+funeral+notice+Aberdeen+Journal+newspaper+13+Aug+1892+p1.JPG" height="294" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The funeral notice states that his funeral procession would be proceeding from Skene and travelling to his burial site at the churchyard in Kintore, a distance of about eight miles. In 1892, that funeral procession was take an estimated two hours to complete.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-50298756543291645332015-02-08T14:19:00.000-05:002015-02-08T14:19:02.021-05:00Ontario Genealogical Society 2015 Annual Conference Registration Now Open<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The following announcement has been released by the Ontario Genealogical Society about this year's conference:</span><br />
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<span class="ArticleDescription" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"Online registration is
now open for this year's Ontario Genealogical Society annual conference, "Tracks
through Time" from May 29-31, 2015, at Georgian College Campus, Barrie, ON,
Canada. <br /><br />The conference theme "Tracks through Time" originates from the
130th Anniversary of the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway across
Canada. Many family historians have their roots in the immigrant laborers who
built this railway across our vast country. Other ancestors were tempted by the
transportation routes and migration opportunities allowed by its completion.
Still others worked for the railway company itself over the years to follow. As
researchers, we "track" our family history through time in many ways, always
attempting to ensure we are "tracking" the right people from the right line. The
variations on "Tracks through Time" are endless. <br /><br />View <a href="http://strongmail1.multiview.com/track?type=click&eas=1&mailingid=2125140&messageid=2125140&databaseid=Mailing.DS125140.2125140.108652&serial=17327767&emailid=ian.hadden@rogers.com&userid=37762531&targetid=&fl=&extra=MultivariateId=&&&2016&&&http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference/">program
and registration details</a> to join hundreds of other family historians seeking
new methods and record groups for "Tracking their Families though
Time."<br /><br />Follow updates on the <a href="http://strongmail1.multiview.com/track?type=click&eas=1&mailingid=2125140&messageid=2125140&databaseid=Mailing.DS125140.2125140.108652&serial=17327767&emailid=ian.hadden@rogers.com&userid=37762531&targetid=&fl=&extra=MultivariateId=&&&2017&&&http://www.ogs.on.ca/">OGS
website</a>, <a href="http://strongmail1.multiview.com/track?type=click&eas=1&mailingid=2125140&messageid=2125140&databaseid=Mailing.DS125140.2125140.108652&serial=17327767&emailid=ian.hadden@rogers.com&userid=37762531&targetid=&fl=&extra=MultivariateId=&&&2018&&&https://www.facebook.com/groups/ontgensoc/">Facebook</a>
and <a href="http://strongmail1.multiview.com/track?type=click&eas=1&mailingid=2125140&messageid=2125140&databaseid=Mailing.DS125140.2125140.108652&serial=17327767&emailid=ian.hadden@rogers.com&userid=37762531&targetid=&fl=&extra=MultivariateId=&&&2019&&&https://twitter.com/OGSProvOffice">Twitter</a>
and watch for video interviews with some of the Conference Speakers on the OGS
<a href="http://strongmail1.multiview.com/track?type=click&eas=1&mailingid=2125140&messageid=2125140&databaseid=Mailing.DS125140.2125140.108652&serial=17327767&emailid=ian.hadden@rogers.com&userid=37762531&targetid=&fl=&extra=MultivariateId=&&&2020&&&https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnN6MbIJBMg7r8lXs2yEJGQ">YouTube
channel</a>."</span></span><br />
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<span class="ArticleDescription" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The addition of the short videos on the Society's YouTube channel are a great innovation allowing participants the chance of getting to know some of the conference speakers in advance. So far, two such videos have been posted; one featuring Janet Few and a second featuring Thomas MacEntee.</span></span><br />
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<span class="ArticleDescription" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The program has much to offer genealogists, from beginner to advanced.</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-81564391104146305702015-02-05T12:15:00.003-05:002015-02-05T12:15:54.980-05:00The 2015 Merner Family Reunion Announced<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'Cousin Marg' has notified me by email that the 2015 Merner Family Reunion is set to be held on Saturday, July 11th. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In addition to not being held as it has been typically on a Sunday, there is also a change of venue. In past years, the reunion has been held at the Seaforth (Ontario) Golf Club but this year the family gathering will take place at the farm of Larry and Louise Merner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Merner Family Reunion is a gathering of the descendants of Jacob Emanuel Merner (1789-1869) and his wife Susanna Schluchter (1787-1875). Jacob and Susanna were both natives of Switzerland who immigrated to what is now southern Ontario, Canada with eleven of their twelve known children. They are the 3X great grandparents of my wife through their daughter, Anna and her husband Jacob Staebler.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EmdsSbHZRYN9et9xq5TRK2CnDGY9VXQ_iNSLbEkwpRpcKxASHCEsyg9a7WFQVZ3PCZqKSspPeOKG9Gbki970f9pT20NSjz6RPYpwfg9YvaIVphb_4z8Ljoii2FxNefuBmrR7l9a6on0/s1600/MUENER+Susanna+Schluchter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EmdsSbHZRYN9et9xq5TRK2CnDGY9VXQ_iNSLbEkwpRpcKxASHCEsyg9a7WFQVZ3PCZqKSspPeOKG9Gbki970f9pT20NSjz6RPYpwfg9YvaIVphb_4z8Ljoii2FxNefuBmrR7l9a6on0/s1600/MUENER+Susanna+Schluchter.jpg" height="400" width="280" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An incredibly accurate, though incomplete, genealogy of the Merner family was published in 1976 by the late Ruth Merner Connell. This Merner genealogy is available on <a href="http://ancestry.com/">Ancestry.com</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'Cousin Marg' promises more information and details on the 2015 Merner Family Reunion later but for now, those interested can hold the date. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-22081565891913367312015-02-03T12:11:00.001-05:002015-02-03T12:11:24.050-05:00The Genealogy Do-Over: To Do Or Not To Do, That Is The Question<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In December 2014, noted genealogist <a href="http://hidefgen.com/" target="_blank">Thomas MacEntee</a> announced that he would be leading a <a href="http://www.geneabloggers.com/announcing-genealogy-doover/" target="_blank">genealogy do-over</a>, a chance to set aside your genealogy database and start again, hopefully not making the same mistakes that most, if not all of us, have made particularly when starting out with research into our family's histories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At first blush, it sounded to me like thoughts I have had about the things I would change if I could live my life over again. "If I only knew then what I know now!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I even thought that I could see traces of a genealogy '12-step- program': admit your obsession, recognize your past name collecting habits, learn to research your genealogy within acceptable genealogical standards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Starting over is very tempting! In May 2012 I indicated that I was going to give it a try - and I did - with mixed results. After decades of genealogy research and education, the 'new' database that I started looked good. All facts about my ancestors were properly entered and documented with primary sources. But I stopped out of frustration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The more I have thought about the current genealogy do-over initiative, one that admittedly thousands are following, the more I see as a good skill building opportunity. Thomas has laid out a sound genealogy research plan for the 'do-over' group. He has built in sufficient flexibility to allow participants to personalize their plans and share innovations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have decided to follow the initiative but not actively participate. My reasoning for this decision is simple: it is in my estimation not good use of my time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The database of my ancestors (and for clarity, the database includes my wife's family) contains 16,788 individuals today. I freely admit that because of past genealogy 'sins' there are errors in the data and not all sources are cited. There are in too many instances, sources cited but very poorly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm working on fixing those errors, little by little, each and every day when I find the time to work on my own family research. I also enjoy that every day I can find something to fix which usually leads to new research clues and greater depth in understanding the lives of 'those upon whose shoulders I stand.'</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-38044793723838515732015-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:002015-01-25T07:00:01.493-05:00Happy Robbie Burns Day!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today is the day that Scots around the world commemorate the birth of Scotland's favourite son, poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 - 21 July 1796).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is a day that was celebrated in my family most notably following my father joining the Highland Creek Pipes and Drums. A couple of years after my father joined the band as a piper, I joined the band as a drummer.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4k7gSDlZnol2KmrZS2dgaKIWcLQMArXZTu89xKjdjnkedrdfOJzvCABpT1EA3jQg0-r79wgQRvPDRZeU-g9Cs37GzE3DxaHRI4XpTLzjyw-867HxXKrzgd97qnZnXEX55FxB6t38VduU/s1600/HADDEN+John+and+Ian+pipe+band.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4k7gSDlZnol2KmrZS2dgaKIWcLQMArXZTu89xKjdjnkedrdfOJzvCABpT1EA3jQg0-r79wgQRvPDRZeU-g9Cs37GzE3DxaHRI4XpTLzjyw-867HxXKrzgd97qnZnXEX55FxB6t38VduU/s1600/HADDEN+John+and+Ian+pipe+band.JPG" height="640" width="432" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ian Hadden, member of the Highland Creek Pipes and Drums, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with his son John abt. 1984</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each year the band organized and held a large Robbie Burns night that included dancing, a buffet dinner including haggis, a performance by the band and, of course, Burns' <i>Address To A Haggis</i> performed incredibly well by a band member. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Burns dinner and dance served as one of the band's chief fundraisers each year. Funds raised were used to purchase new uniform items and band supplies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wherever you celebrate and however you celebrate Robbie Burns Day, be safe and have fun!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-46985659110096018422014-12-31T12:49:00.002-05:002014-12-31T12:49:47.642-05:00Family Members We Lost in 2014<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As 2014 winds down to a close, I thought it worthwhile to reflect back on those connected to my family that we lost this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They are people who we were part of our family circle and who made a difference in our lives, however large or small. They are relatives that we won't forget, who will live on in our memories, and who will be in our thoughts as the New Year unfolds.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Gregory Phillip Francis Donovan</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2G6_fs6g0TO1ffxS9mfYTGKsTWbhFSj0VHSzEChL4RrfvffQCQ5BkTXQj0SKH8X698VlimlcFoQt24UtqTAyCKtb5894u-ygFrv7X4erh7kMEgNTZ_Y5amWsuO_mnATbRmPOoGdO_00/s1600/DONOVAN+Greg+at+wedding+1+Jun+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2G6_fs6g0TO1ffxS9mfYTGKsTWbhFSj0VHSzEChL4RrfvffQCQ5BkTXQj0SKH8X698VlimlcFoQt24UtqTAyCKtb5894u-ygFrv7X4erh7kMEgNTZ_Y5amWsuO_mnATbRmPOoGdO_00/s1600/DONOVAN+Greg+at+wedding+1+Jun+2013.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'Greg' was my son-in-law Phil's father. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Greg was die-hard Toronto Maple leafs fan. Perhaps unusual given the long rivalry between Toronto and Montreal, but true. His quiet demeanour could quickly be enlivened when a conversation turned to hockey. His love of his family, especially his two sons, Phil and Jason, as well as his grandchildren was always evident. Greg passed way on November 21, 2014 in Oshawa, Ontario.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Susan Ann (Kamula) Benedetto</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB96fE9KBsX6myzui3zvIxtz0Y2wdf1QcFc9H_oAt6gDYKOYSyZPGmxNFfezTt5YWaT3gIlpp4Hr2qQ__ihZXrDm7fMEGUj8PRgdM5lNVdCmoCobRHH2z57uQXAwPABnHxjlwxTJx1lco/s1600/BENEDETTO+Susan+(Kamula).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB96fE9KBsX6myzui3zvIxtz0Y2wdf1QcFc9H_oAt6gDYKOYSyZPGmxNFfezTt5YWaT3gIlpp4Hr2qQ__ihZXrDm7fMEGUj8PRgdM5lNVdCmoCobRHH2z57uQXAwPABnHxjlwxTJx1lco/s1600/BENEDETTO+Susan+(Kamula).jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Susan was my sister-in-law; the wife of my late wife's brother Anthony. Susan was a scientist who taught for many years in high schools in Cambridge and Kitchener, Ontario. She was also a devoted mother to her son Nicholas and daughter Catherine. Sadly, she was stricken by a still unidentified illness that rendered her immobile and hospitalized. She passed away on May 16, 2014 while enjoying a family weekend away at a cottage in Muskoka, Ontario.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysWmUEkP3Gc_7jXKruH8brN9zQUOhUYH3dQ7Y6gNsTxUzn8Kwyx42KMgF8C7K6S-qwbv4mmFebvkif4HVt-0bGdv19AyPiip9kd8UiGL-wmbxWJ6gAQbt-G2APhyphenhyphenlS-RQpdubEsCZdZE/s1600/WORKS+Howard+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysWmUEkP3Gc_7jXKruH8brN9zQUOhUYH3dQ7Y6gNsTxUzn8Kwyx42KMgF8C7K6S-qwbv4mmFebvkif4HVt-0bGdv19AyPiip9kd8UiGL-wmbxWJ6gAQbt-G2APhyphenhyphenlS-RQpdubEsCZdZE/s1600/WORKS+Howard+(2).jpg" height="320" width="199" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Howard was the father of our son Chris' partner Matt. Born in England, Howard never lost his love for '60's music and the original vinyl recordings that he played non-stop. A true family man, Howard loved having family and friends with him at his Haliburton lakeside retreat. A skilled butcher, he passed away suddenly while at work on October 20, 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>John Gerald Foley</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkD2cdKrTtJFTBoasB5eAWVxbvZ82tgkJyZLQOaiyQMyKOCMgL3L4xaalUcWevJ-toDamW0QBo87Dh75LrOrhCWtIcU3bwBUFUAY_svpN9X3J9mXOqC-R2W_-UNXitcZIvkgIzkKd8LM/s1600/FOLEY+John+Gerald+from+funeral+home+obituary+page+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkD2cdKrTtJFTBoasB5eAWVxbvZ82tgkJyZLQOaiyQMyKOCMgL3L4xaalUcWevJ-toDamW0QBo87Dh75LrOrhCWtIcU3bwBUFUAY_svpN9X3J9mXOqC-R2W_-UNXitcZIvkgIzkKd8LM/s1600/FOLEY+John+Gerald+from+funeral+home+obituary+page+2014.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John, or 'Johnny' as he was known, was my first cousin, once removed. He was the son of Gerald Foley (born Lewis Fitzgerald Foley), after whom both John and I received our middle names. Johnny was a fun loving family man who passed away on December 1, 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>William David Armstrong</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40TOLUZ1bz2foKmAmRwdd-O001_2q_uljU_310MB-ZQ5fP7abT64NVyXnpYKg9UFOy0UeB40ulYOQ_DQpi9nhjCkQkFadJnkqq5T4ve5mG4F2uvFsSjqzQQPTqYr74s6UVO9UYp99wv4/s1600/ARMSTRONG+William+David+from+obituary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40TOLUZ1bz2foKmAmRwdd-O001_2q_uljU_310MB-ZQ5fP7abT64NVyXnpYKg9UFOy0UeB40ulYOQ_DQpi9nhjCkQkFadJnkqq5T4ve5mG4F2uvFsSjqzQQPTqYr74s6UVO9UYp99wv4/s1600/ARMSTRONG+William+David+from+obituary.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">David was my wife Ellen's step-cousin. David lived, as he wanted, a full and independent life until the frailties of age took him from us on September 15, 2014 in the former city of North York (Toronto), Ontario.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This list would not be complete without finally mentioning ...</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Ivy 'Hadden'</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPt0B9Y5m9uXZ7U_1wHorGW0gS9GhPJdDQrpStvw-pgtFCYtjV10aGCaznDxJtX8HfJFy6Xm7ohD1LWte_XIoBaGoDrcHM9bdQnGADihb-cgnhRpI2mjozHVoCu4BxvxiEd0OS9fx00Ko/s1600/HADDEN+Jenna+with+Ivy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPt0B9Y5m9uXZ7U_1wHorGW0gS9GhPJdDQrpStvw-pgtFCYtjV10aGCaznDxJtX8HfJFy6Xm7ohD1LWte_XIoBaGoDrcHM9bdQnGADihb-cgnhRpI2mjozHVoCu4BxvxiEd0OS9fx00Ko/s1600/HADDEN+Jenna+with+Ivy.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ivy was our daughter Jenna's best friend and constant companion. Ivy was Jenna's birthday present in 2003. For more than eleven years, Ivy shared both happy and sad times with Jenna, providing the unconditional love that dog owners know so well. After enjoying a weekend of camping and running in the surf of Lake Erie, quite suddenly Ivy became very sick, passing away peacefully on August 28, 2014 in Guelph, Ontario, with Jenna by her side. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I truly hope that I haven't inadvertently forgotten anybody and I hope even more that I don't have a list to share at the end of 2015.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-9330226715197181452014-12-25T07:00:00.000-05:002014-12-25T07:00:07.179-05:00Merry Christmas And Happy New Year From Our Family To Yours!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ellen and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Recently, Ellen's family gathered at a 'secret' Orangeville, Ontario location to celebrate Christmas. Just before a wonderful dinner was served, we heard the familiar sound of jingle bells from the back deck of the house. We </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">received a surprise visit for Santa Claus himself, to the delight of young and old. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately, the location was far enough north that there was sufficient snow on the ground and rooftop to allow Santa's reindeer to make a perfect landing on the roof.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even 'Chef', our nephew Andrew's newest family addition was joyous and excited to meet Santa.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_036TIVCXGhNdkv10ACO8CAWwcNu96S4I6yPfVNnvXSbWCJmUYwzDXYxU_Va1TYBU48N46105Zg96jtt-UKxnRuaH5fTs4fJzBV2g7eEmOxcA157Ypr37PRJhEeEcpRQS33bPBPHgtg/s1600/IMG_1179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_036TIVCXGhNdkv10ACO8CAWwcNu96S4I6yPfVNnvXSbWCJmUYwzDXYxU_Va1TYBU48N46105Zg96jtt-UKxnRuaH5fTs4fJzBV2g7eEmOxcA157Ypr37PRJhEeEcpRQS33bPBPHgtg/s1600/IMG_1179.JPG" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After each of the children had a turn to sit on Santa's lap and speak with him, Santa invited them to reach into a small red bag that he carried. Inside the bag were candy canes and as one of the kids found out, a photo envelope that Santa quickly tucked away back into the bag. With the kids quizzically looking at Santa, he relented and admitted that he always traveled with a photo of his 'Sweetie.' </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Santa slowly pulled the envelope out of the tiny sack and allowed the oldest of Carl and Tess Wagner's great grandchildren present to open the envelope. Seven-year old Eva stared in amazement at the photo of Mrs. Claus and quickly explained to her young cousins that she knew it was Mrs. Claus because she had seen the same picture when her Grammie had 'googled' Mrs. Claus a few days earlier. Santa graciously allowed Eva to keep the photo which Eva showed willingly to all present but never let out of her possession.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We hope that your Christmas is filled with the magic, wonder, family and joy that we have shared!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-63603208331239048472014-12-11T14:01:00.000-05:002014-12-11T14:01:00.415-05:00Zion Evangelical Church Follow-up And Church Records I Didn't Expect To Find<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In my last post, I recounted my wife Ellen's family connection to Zion Evangelical Church, now Zion United Church, located in Kitchener, Ontario. Ellen's paternal great grandfather, Rev. Louis Henry Wagner, and paternal great-great grandfather, Rev. Jacob Wagner, were both pastors of the church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At the time of our visit to the church in late October, the church was closed and we learned that the church building had been sold to a Kitchener developer, the sale to be finalized in June 2015. One month later, we returned to Kitchener and visiting the church was on our priority list of things to do. Really, what we wanted was just a chance to take a photo of the church sanctuary and pulpit used by Ellen's great grandfather. We were seeking a family keepsake; what we got was so much more!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBpFC93WLYo1ctUe4D53v_WCqSkoEw7fhz4dhR0yRG3v6_Oi5-9SsDRmJ2pln07JLUUrsMXGBegNjIZ9OGCAnGqFC_pMRRBVdXeojBZU_mpxRVih9Vs613xnvcoXO0nYfRuvqgrhKOPA/s1600/HADDEN+Ellen+in+Zion+Evangelical-United+Church+2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBpFC93WLYo1ctUe4D53v_WCqSkoEw7fhz4dhR0yRG3v6_Oi5-9SsDRmJ2pln07JLUUrsMXGBegNjIZ9OGCAnGqFC_pMRRBVdXeojBZU_mpxRVih9Vs613xnvcoXO0nYfRuvqgrhKOPA/s1600/HADDEN+Ellen+in+Zion+Evangelical-United+Church+2014.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ellen (Wagner) Hadden standing in front of the sanctuary and pulpit where her great grandfather, Rev. Louis Henry Wagner, held Sunday services and preached at Zion Evangelical Church (now Zion United Church) in Kitchener, Ontario</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were greeted by the current church Pastor, secretary, and treasurer. After a warm welcome, we explained our interest in their church and they immediately pointed us to a collage they maintain of all the pastors in the church's more than 170-year history. The collage (seen below) is located in a display case and includes photos of both of Ellen's ancestors.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJkK2yWlFv4mwmaxEgzO2Gyv4iDK066OdYgA-k37n90HbMrX7Zpxe5OFHqfoJZk1ddY9xA33S8biWJxW4M9UlPpYGmQck3ZgvgAL9WYNBRCzjTf_n7Z9rXihcmVfUA6tfcAzZo8yp5fJ0/s1600/ZION+Church+Ministers+display.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJkK2yWlFv4mwmaxEgzO2Gyv4iDK066OdYgA-k37n90HbMrX7Zpxe5OFHqfoJZk1ddY9xA33S8biWJxW4M9UlPpYGmQck3ZgvgAL9WYNBRCzjTf_n7Z9rXihcmVfUA6tfcAzZo8yp5fJ0/s1600/ZION+Church+Ministers+display.JPG" height="640" width="632" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Collage of Ministers who have served Zion Evangelical/United Church in Kitchener, Ontario. Rev. Jacob Wagner is top row, fourth from the left, and Rev. Louis Wagner third row, fourth from the left (my apologies for the glare from a fluorescent ceiling fixture that partly obscures the top row of photos).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unexpectedly, we were provided by the church treasurer with a private tour of every part of the church building, including an accounting of some of the church's history.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As an added bonus, when our tour was wrapping up, we were shown a display of some church artifacts that had been found as the church begins it's decommissioning. The church will be sending it's records and artifacts to the <a href="http://www.united-church.ca/local/archives/on" target="_blank">United Church of Canada Archives</a> and so what we were shown were some of the duplicate copies of church records from 1914-1915. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Copies of the church's annual reports listed all members of the congregation and the amounts of their financial contributions to the church and it's missionary endeavours. The church congregation list, complete with the addresses of all the church's members. Special church service programs such as that used in September 1954 to mark the centennial of Kitchener, complete with a church history and photos compiled by Ellen's first cousin, three times removed Albert Liborius Breithaupt.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSxUqEBkuK1UFVyZ6ohFRbwWQt1_uK8-ndZRty81TWvnyyT-qiTDYBLSZ691vRBvSi2RMbya0aoqWNz3YvUT0dr9PRcwqyQ9rLEkbVf8IomPrC-VlVjMtbITPqGkK9VXr3BV6cFzPmr0w/s1600/ZION+EVANGELICAL-UNITED+CHURCH+Kitchener+100th+service+booklet+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSxUqEBkuK1UFVyZ6ohFRbwWQt1_uK8-ndZRty81TWvnyyT-qiTDYBLSZ691vRBvSi2RMbya0aoqWNz3YvUT0dr9PRcwqyQ9rLEkbVf8IomPrC-VlVjMtbITPqGkK9VXr3BV6cFzPmr0w/s1600/ZION+EVANGELICAL-UNITED+CHURCH+Kitchener+100th+service+booklet+.jpg" height="640" width="416" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cover of the Zion Evangelical Church service program celebrating </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the Centennial of the City of Kitchener in 1954</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we think of church records there is a tendency to restrict ourselves to baptisms, marriages, and funerals or burials. The records I saw, a couple of which I now possess, thanks to the good folks at Zion United Church, show the opportunity to have a different view into the church life experienced by our ancestors. What great finds!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sadly, the final church service at Zion United Church will take place on June 7, 2015. We intend to be there.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-40669772916660855242014-11-16T12:50:00.000-05:002014-11-16T12:50:06.989-05:00The End Of An Era For A 'Family' Church<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The end is drawing close.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Zion United Church, located at 32 Weber Street in Kitchener, Ontario, has been sold and will cease to function as Zion United Church in 2015.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgkPfV4mSA68tIQDot3JA4hpzgYsbYUuLrva8FERevUb1Cx3FP4SqyCHOnCgndKG7j_8_yXcuwCEMaic5mXagZifcM180cm60bSk0WOp7ffHE1OBoMgsvZp2bUVBxkanIIzSWDZmqlZcQ/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+-+Zion+Evangelical+-+United+Church+Kitchener+ON.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgkPfV4mSA68tIQDot3JA4hpzgYsbYUuLrva8FERevUb1Cx3FP4SqyCHOnCgndKG7j_8_yXcuwCEMaic5mXagZifcM180cm60bSk0WOp7ffHE1OBoMgsvZp2bUVBxkanIIzSWDZmqlZcQ/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+-+Zion+Evangelical+-+United+Church+Kitchener+ON.JPG" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zion United Church (formerly Zion Evangelical Church), 32 Weber Street, Kitchener, Ontario (photo by Ian Hadden, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Evangelical Association was basically a German Methodist church that eventually merged with the United Church of Canada. Sadly, the decline in the number of parishioners and attendance, down to 25% of what it was forty years ago, means that the church's operating costs are much higher than it's revenue. So, the church has been sold. Fortunately it's exterior is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For my wife's Wagner ancestors, this church played a central role in their lives dating back more than 150 years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Third great grandfather Jacob Hailer was instrumental in helping to establish a church for what was then the Evangelical Association. He allowed his workshop to be used as the first church Sunday School. He also permitted the traveling Evangelical Association ministers to stay in his home when they visited the then village of Berlin, Canada West.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of those itinerant ministers, Jacob Wagner married Jacob's eldest daughter Margaret in 1849. Their eldest son, Louis Henry Wagner, my wife's great grandfather, would follow in his father's foot steps, become a minister, and eventually pastor of the Zion Evangelical Church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Margaret's sister, Catherine married Jacob's best friend Louis Breithaupt in 1853 and, as their family grew to prominence in the growing community of Berlin, they too centered their lives around Zion Evangelical Church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When Margaret died in 1918 (shortly after Berlin was re-named as Kitchener), her son Louis as church pastor used the church's stationery to pen a poem in tribute to his mother.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_7HQpVCj-RM2tl-lLYZa8EiQoNhHzucTLy64ZcMjjmRIegTl99GenhDqeDdkPf9EF6vBnfcehpGiSLtzpeJ1xsQEa3ZFq8iRzr2ZRfQzkafqBnWyDHag-u2BrV5VKsnDTQ3QCiLcyBY/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+church+blog+post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_7HQpVCj-RM2tl-lLYZa8EiQoNhHzucTLy64ZcMjjmRIegTl99GenhDqeDdkPf9EF6vBnfcehpGiSLtzpeJ1xsQEa3ZFq8iRzr2ZRfQzkafqBnWyDHag-u2BrV5VKsnDTQ3QCiLcyBY/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+church+blog+post.jpg" height="312" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zion Evangelical Church stationery used by Rev. Louis Henry Wagner to author a tribute poem to his mother Margaret Hailer Wagner Bean on her death in 1918. (Note that the church address at the time was 10 Weber Street (now 32 Weber Street) and that the central steeple of the church is now missing)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The tribute poem for Margaret Hailer Wagner Bean of Rev. Louis Henry Wagner reads as follows:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Memories of Our Mother</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Our Mother's gone.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The fields, from which she gleaned</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The fallen stock of golden grain</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Have long since given their ripened store</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To other hands. The orchard, bright in bloom,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And promise of a full supply,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Will yield its burdened bough to others</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Will these too be as generous with their gifts</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>As she was want to be?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Or withholding much, impoverish but themselves?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her home, where, through these many years</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Of saddened widowhood,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>She reigned serenely well,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>--- Her word was law,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Respected every wish ---</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>That home, of daughters well brought up,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And sons much loved and honored true,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Will miss the mother's smile.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her gentle words of caution and of love</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Will n'er be heard again.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her voice is gone. Her hand,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>So warm to welcome home,Will never give its kindly hold</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To those she loved so well.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The stranger, made a noble friend,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Will miss her cordial help.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her church has long since ceased</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To see her in her wanted place;</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>But when the ring of bell will call to worship here,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her memory still continues fresh and sweet</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And long to come, when we</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And here this house of God have passed away,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>She still will linger on in hallowed thought.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Our Mother's gone? No. Never.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her disembodied spirit may linger near,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And still its good unfold.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her smiles, her words, her loving deeds</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Will never pass away.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>She lives. Though to its place</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>We lay her washed frame, she lives.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Our Mother lives, and loves us still.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And when this sad requiem is o'er,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And each his weary way</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>To distant home we break,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The memory of our mother dear will linger.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her soothing hand will still be laid on throbbing brow.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Her smile will cheer the lonely heart.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-13043197436566667632014-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:002014-11-11T07:00:02.001-05:00Lest We Forget: Remembering Carl William Filkin<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They were best friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two kids from Longford Mills, Ontario. That's where they met, likely sometime around 1910, when they were both in their early teens.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex and Carl were always up for adventure. Friday, October 1, 1915 was to be the start of their greatest adventure. They were going to defeat the army of the German Kaiser.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex was Alexander Smith Morton whom the records show was a couple of years older and a couple of inches shorter than his best friend Carl. Alex, born on May 21, 1895, was 20-years old on that Friday in 1915 at the volunteer enlistment centre in Toronto, Ontario. Carl, whose birth name is recorded as William Carl Filkin, born March 14, 1897, was the eldest son of William Mark Filkin and his wife Alma Maud Armstrong.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbnanotrVLVEP32BlNNbuCQ_bMecWUsYlpGB6vMTuuXB5Xt6RWLPdp2FcqdYcgRwnAcJKcIyhddXu67egQ4Fhknov-TPn2pi4HMIDU59SMPqJZrs6xfycnBevbxQ1_duOBqO6rW6rLPo/s1600/FILKIN+Carl+William+birth+1897+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbnanotrVLVEP32BlNNbuCQ_bMecWUsYlpGB6vMTuuXB5Xt6RWLPdp2FcqdYcgRwnAcJKcIyhddXu67egQ4Fhknov-TPn2pi4HMIDU59SMPqJZrs6xfycnBevbxQ1_duOBqO6rW6rLPo/s1600/FILKIN+Carl+William+birth+1897+-+Copy.jpg" height="40" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Extract from Provisional County of Haliburton birth register, page 145</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex and Carl joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force, although, perhaps neither could understand why they just didn't call it 'the army.' They were among the 640,000 Canadians who would serve King and Country in The Great War.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Carl and Alex enlisted in the 92nd Highlanders Battalion and were even assigned consecutive regimental numbers. Carl was number 192913 and Alex was number 192914.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As privates, Carl and Alex first trained in Toronto before being shipped to England in April 1916 for further training. Once in England, they were both first transferred as reinforcements to the 15th Battalion, a unit of the Toronto 48th Highlanders.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally, around the middle of September 1916, they went on their last great adventure together; they went to war in France. They joined the British-led Battle of Arras.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I suspect that their weeks in the trenches of France were not quite the adventure they thought they had signed on for. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wet, muddy, cold and terrifying. This was not drill work anymore. Real bullets were being shot at them. Real bombs were exploding near them. Real soldiers, young men just like them, on both sides of the battle line, were dying in front of them, the screams keeping them awake at night.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then on October 28, 1916, Alex was hit. As Carl would later write to Alex's brother Robert, "Alex was hit with a piece of shrapnel in the right arm and the missile pierced his chest." It was Carl who, while still under enemy fire, carried his best friend to the field hospital where the severe wound was dressed. It was Carl who watched his best friend die on that October day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The war wasn't finished with Carl Filkin. He kept on fighting and according to Carl's recollections of his time in war, shared with his son William, he and a Major Mavery would often sneak across 'No Man's Land' only to return to their trenches later with a kidnapped German prisoner in tow whom they would interrogate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In early April of 1917, as the Canadian troops readied themselves for their greatest battle at Vimy Ridge, Carl was shot in the left arm. For the better part of two days, Carl lay in a field, taken for dead before finally being rescued and removed to a field hospital where the first of numerous surgeries removed part of his left arm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Information traveled slowly in those days, almost 100 years ago, and so it wasn't until November 15, 1917 that the Orillia Times reported that "Private Carl Filkin, son of Mr. Harry Filkin, Longford Mills, and who went overseas a year ago, last May with the Highlanders, was wounded in the left arm by gun shot. He was taken to England, where his arm was removed. He is feeling fine now, and hopes to be home for Christmas." The newspaper got the name of his father wrong, but Carl did eventually come home, minus his left arm and his best friend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Carl took a course in accounting, saw a pretty girl playing the piano at a party and declared to a friend that he was going to marry the girl. True to his word, on May 21, 1921, Carl married that piano-playing pretty girl, Hazel Hicks. The marriage was officiated by Carl's brother-in-law Rev. Albert C. Hie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Carl worked as an accountant while Hazel worked at home, raising their sons. They lived in Calgary, Alberta for a while when Carl was President of the Prest-O-Lite battery plant located in that city. Eventually, they returned to the Toronto area and lived in Mississauga, Ontario where Hazel passed away in 1965 and Carl in 1976.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex Morton never returned to Canada. He was buried in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France, joined by more than 7,650 other brave heroes of the First World War.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8VgqQPTFtI08GHFJG3uySNnEOZh6GjuMkdLiUIQ6HrMsy8QgRzmqnzmP3woz5n3INKs0d7PVqMjNHvu-eMNFevnsaerMEUTEm3wyBcE40zZxZptB6qQAh0yexfU6SjmDK8ZGAxVvguo/s1600/MORTON+Alexander+Smith+gravestone+from+Veterans+Affairs+site.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8VgqQPTFtI08GHFJG3uySNnEOZh6GjuMkdLiUIQ6HrMsy8QgRzmqnzmP3woz5n3INKs0d7PVqMjNHvu-eMNFevnsaerMEUTEm3wyBcE40zZxZptB6qQAh0yexfU6SjmDK8ZGAxVvguo/s1600/MORTON+Alexander+Smith+gravestone+from+Veterans+Affairs+site.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gravestone for Alex Morton, Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France (photo from <a href="http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/583466" target="_blank">Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veteran Affairs Canada</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two young heroes went to war. One did not come home; the other came home forever changed. Lest we forget!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-60245562661005113502014-10-12T11:08:00.002-04:002014-10-12T11:08:52.157-04:00Happy Thanksgiving!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, an annual tradition of enjoying the bounty of the harvest season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We are beginning our feasting today by attending a dinner with some of Ellen's cousins whose company I very much enjoy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tomorrow, we gain some additional weight by having dinner with those of our kids who can attend at my son's home </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">(I think there will only be three of six present) plus at least one, but hopefully more, of our grandkids.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have much to be thankful for! Most of all, I am thankful for the doctors, nurses and therapists who aided me four years ago when I inexplicably developed Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), a condition I had never heard of, nor could pronounce, let alone understand. The condition caused my total paralysis, (well, at least from the neck down) and for a moment or three, my death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Those medical professionals were able to resuscitate me in the Ajax-Pickering Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, and help me over the next several weeks begin to regain my strength. They taught me how to walk again and become mobile. They returned my sense of independence to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am thankful that I have been blessed with these past four 'bonus' years, with many more yet to come (I hope!). I am thankful that in the past four years I have been able to 'hang out' and do some traveling with my wife, hold my grand daughter, walk my eldest daughter down the aisle and sing at her wedding. I am thankful that we have been able to continue to offer help and encouragement to all of our kids as they work hard to establish their own niches in this often overly-harsh world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I suspect we all have much to be thankful for and that is my, at least, partial list. What is on your list?</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-51340386809502229362014-10-12T07:00:00.000-04:002014-10-12T07:00:04.731-04:0052 Ancestors: Jack Hangs Up The Blades For A Life Of Service<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the fourth and final part in a series of posts that primarily set out to capture the professional hockey career of John Osborne 'Jack' Filkin, or, 'Uncle Johnny' to my wife.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The previous three posts about Jack Filkin's hockey career can be read here:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2014/08/52-ancestors-living-dream-john-osborne.html" target="_blank">52 Ancestors: Living The Dream (Part 1)</a></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2014/08/52-ancestors-road-to-nhl-john-osborne.html" target="_blank">52 Ancestors: The Road To The NHL (Part 2)</a></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2014/10/52-ancestors-jack-becomes-los-angeles.html" target="_blank">52 Ancestors: Jack Becomes A Los Angeles Millionaire (Part 3)</a></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack Filkin learned to play hockey, likely on the frozen ponds and rivers of his native Ontario, Canada. It is clear from all of the records that Jack loved hockey and would do whatever was needed to find a place on a good team. He was scouted a signed by the New York Rangers. He didn't make the NHL team following the 1929 training camp but rather was assigned to the Rangers' pro farm team, the Springfield (Massachusetts) Indians. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">His second pro hockey season was spent in the California Hockey League playing for the Los Angeles Millionaires. Unfortunately, no cumulative statistics for the team or the league could be found for the 1930-31 season. However, various newspaper articles and family-held press clippings tell of Jack impressing with his speed, his goal scoring touch and his ability to play both a finesse and physical style of hockey. Whatever it took to succeed. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDJ2e0dmTONOraOsXb1Ga9d-m7qlwudUlMxlwjkzaNpetr287343buiV9O857qUiNNlxzECyKhkhyCiYCvf5aK1P-sp72RCJSzmhm3-i3s6k4xWH2Cwt9husUL965jSZB_uqQku7UP18/s1600/FILKIN+Jack+-+Los+Angeles+Millionaires+1930-31.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDJ2e0dmTONOraOsXb1Ga9d-m7qlwudUlMxlwjkzaNpetr287343buiV9O857qUiNNlxzECyKhkhyCiYCvf5aK1P-sp72RCJSzmhm3-i3s6k4xWH2Cwt9husUL965jSZB_uqQku7UP18/s1600/FILKIN+Jack+-+Los+Angeles+Millionaires+1930-31.JPG" height="640" width="505" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jack Filkin as a Los Angeles Millionaire (original photo privately held)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack's Los Angeles Millionaires finished second in the league that year to the Oakland Shieks. Jack was near the top of the list of goal scorers, probably in the top ten players, possibly as high as the top five in the league.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is not surprising then that Jack's pro hockey contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Arrows of the Canadian-American Hockey League for the 1931-32 season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack was off to the 'City of Brotherly Love' to join an Arrows hockey team being coached and managed by Hockey Hall of Famer Herb Gardiner. The team played all of it's home games in the Philadelphia Arena on Market Street in the city's west end. Statistics for the 1931-32 season show that Jack played in 31 games, assisted on three goals, and accumulated twelve minutes in penalties. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What that record does not show is that jack sustained a career ending injury towards the end of the season. Jack's hockey season was ended early when he severely broke one of his legs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The following hockey season, Jack attempted a comeback with the 1932-33 Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Hockey League. Leading up to the Eskimos' opening game, an Edmonton sports reporter introduced the new member of the local team in this way:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Over on the left wing, McKenzie</i> [Edmonton Eskimos coach] <i>has a big, robust speed merchant in the person of Jack Filkin, 25-year old sniper who has had his share of pro competition...Filkin had a bad break with the Arrows, suffering a badly fractured leg, and he never did regain the form expected of him.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Although his hockey career came to a disappointing end, Jack had lived the dream. But it was now on to other and perhaps even greater things John Osborne Filkin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With his hockey career over, John returned to Toronto with his wife Hazel (Latimer). They settled into a pleasant home on Vaughn Road in the Toronto borough of York. John and Hazel welcomed into their family two daughters. John went off to work each day according to voters lists as a salesman. Eventually John took up the profession of tree surgeon as recorded in numerous subsequent voters lists. Eventually this profession would be described as Landscape Architecture.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfP9dLL6l2agPmxYWqQmlaVEUtTCbwd0uwyE3TCCQ0xZwOcGJeCpFsAWyZ-S4ypwHkrEB8V3ErpPD_VYDfNItzxoC0sEpp90o9lVlsbI4Kmc1QaF6arD9-SfqYMrIyTWV95jZzf6SYvVI/s1600/FILKIN+John+Osborne+blog+photo+from+Lions+newsletter+1965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfP9dLL6l2agPmxYWqQmlaVEUtTCbwd0uwyE3TCCQ0xZwOcGJeCpFsAWyZ-S4ypwHkrEB8V3ErpPD_VYDfNItzxoC0sEpp90o9lVlsbI4Kmc1QaF6arD9-SfqYMrIyTWV95jZzf6SYvVI/s1600/FILKIN+John+Osborne+blog+photo+from+Lions+newsletter+1965.JPG" height="400" width="341" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Filkin in 1965 (from Lions Club International newsletter)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1950, John became a member of the Lions Club service organization. According to a variety of club archived records, in 1958, John became the President of his local Lions Club branch. The following year he became the Zone Chairman for the Lions Club. He then spent 1961 and 1962 as the Lions Club's Deputy District Chairman, followed by two years in the role of 100% Deputy District Governor. From 1965 through 1967, John was a Director of the Lions Club International, representing Canada.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John's dedication to service through the Lions Club is well documented, both in Lions Club archived records and in the many newspaper articles from across Canada and the United States reporting on John's message to fellow Lions Club members at the many conventions at which he was invited to be the keynote speaker.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When not inspiring and encouraging Lions Club members, John found time to serve as the Commissioner of the Parking Authority for the Borough of York (Toronto, Ontario) or 16 years. In the 1971 photo below, John Filkin is seen helping Borough of York Mayor Philip White cover a parking meter, an act that offered free parking in the borough for the busy shopping season the week prior to Christmas.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpni1PHAEb-6nrpbdCFumxZ1d8igiCDVmqv0iqIoRkDqtPtg6DIpZBSMu7P2QiFNogtHApu-CFveqjcnIdi_QQXWvGQyemS2HTktno1ggU_X1jG3NtQfK20rcFdf7-5fUPg9ucvVPXEUI/s1600/FILKIN+John+as+parking+authority+comm+with+York+Mayor+Philip+White+20+Dec+1971+TorStar+p56.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpni1PHAEb-6nrpbdCFumxZ1d8igiCDVmqv0iqIoRkDqtPtg6DIpZBSMu7P2QiFNogtHApu-CFveqjcnIdi_QQXWvGQyemS2HTktno1ggU_X1jG3NtQfK20rcFdf7-5fUPg9ucvVPXEUI/s1600/FILKIN+John+as+parking+authority+comm+with+York+Mayor+Philip+White+20+Dec+1971+TorStar+p56.JPG" height="640" width="482" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John 'Jack' Filkin (left) with York Mayor Philip White, December 1971 (Toronto Star newspaper archive)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Following a life of giving joy to hockey fans and serving his community, at home and abroad, John Osborne Filkin passed away on April 28, 1977 having followed his dream, served his community well, and teaching all of us how to live life well.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-47855515753234348092014-10-05T07:00:00.000-04:002014-10-05T07:00:04.356-04:0052 Ancestors: Jack Becomes A Los Angeles Millionaire<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have, admittedly, been delinquent in continuing the story about John Osborne (Jack) Filkin, my wife's uncle through marriage and, in his younger days, a professional hockey player. This is Part 3 in a four part series about Jack Filkin. You can read the previous two parts of this story here:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Part 1 -<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2014/08/52-ancestors-living-dream-john-osborne.html" target="_blank">52 Ancestors: Living The Dream - John Osborne 'Jack' Filkin</a></span></b></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Part 2<span style="color: blue;"> - <a href="http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2014/08/52-ancestors-road-to-nhl-john-osborne.html" target="_blank">52 Ancestors: The Road To The NHL - John Osborne 'Jack' Filkin</a></span></b></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack grew up in small town Ontario, Canada. Here he learned to play hockey, and play it at a high level. In an era before the blades of hockey sticks were curved, Jack played with a standard straight-bladed hockey stick. With that straight blade, Jack developed the unique skill of being able to shoot the puck either left handed or right handed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At five feet, eleven inches in height and one hundred seventy-five pounds, Jack would have been considered a big winger, even a force to be reckoned with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1929, the general managers of the professional hockey teams had no farm systems from which </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">to draw </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">for the big league team. They needed to scour hockey leagues looking for young talent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) were looking for new talent, according to press reports, they were "told of" Jack who was "known in the Maple Leaf country as Goal-a-Game Filkin, this because he has averaged a goal every game since he began donning the steel blades in league competition."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The 1929-30 season didn't work out as hoped for. Jack attended the New York Rangers training camp and was sent to the New York Rangers' Canadian-American Hockey League affiliate team the Springfield (Massachusetts) Indians. Although Jack was a fan favourite, his goal scoring touch was missing. He recorded just one goal and one assist while spending 30 minutes in the penalty box.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Following the hockey season, Jack returned to his Ontario home. In Toronto, he was known as Police Constable Filkin, Badge Number 788. In that first 'off-season' of 1930, Jack managed to take time off of his 'beat' to marry Hazel Latimer.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKa0Hog8C7maRXNybs4EPAUPaWuZod-glUf8gxZWdJJi89JIY2KnhXeNAAYEMi9VVbj6-Rs_kFN2mr9IqbUyEudxsx3zyMFcagvL8HbvU0t7RgehiAsd6JlM8PY-K6hustWNwGfFz0ww/s1600/FILKIN+Jack+-+Springfield+Indians+1929-30+-+newspaper+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKa0Hog8C7maRXNybs4EPAUPaWuZod-glUf8gxZWdJJi89JIY2KnhXeNAAYEMi9VVbj6-Rs_kFN2mr9IqbUyEudxsx3zyMFcagvL8HbvU0t7RgehiAsd6JlM8PY-K6hustWNwGfFz0ww/s1600/FILKIN+Jack+-+Springfield+Indians+1929-30+-+newspaper+photo.jpg" height="640" width="348" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Osborne 'Jack' Filkin, 1929-30 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Springfield (Massachusetts) Indians </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">newspaper photo clipping </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Newspaper source and date of publication unknown)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On November 10, 1930, it was back to hockey for Jack. But this time, Jack was on his way to play hockey in California where his professional contract had been purchased. Jack was going to be a Los Angeles Millionaire.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There does not appear to be a compiled listing of the statistics from the California Hockey League available for the year that Jack played there (1930-31). However, a review of the press clippings available to me strongly suggests that Jack's scoring touch had definitely returned, with numerous multiple goal games reported.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hazel joined Jack in Los Angeles and, together, they were able to connect with Hazel's aunts, uncles, and cousins in the Knox and Squires families. Hazel's mother, Mattie Diona (Knox) Latimer was from California and had left the state the day after she married her Canadian husband, Edward Latimer, in 1906.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ht4Pb_y5VDj2D0WZlEyZF3jQ1qDDecIvKwxpPNglUxElzZcsxwitR2bIPcGsaopUVwivdIaKNFb-XQnEqIJqYNBFk0WoLIg1xeXD6IkboxPuLyYwHE1pxT3X8HUseN8ramokiAeGCCY/s1600/FILKIN+Hazel+Latimer+portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ht4Pb_y5VDj2D0WZlEyZF3jQ1qDDecIvKwxpPNglUxElzZcsxwitR2bIPcGsaopUVwivdIaKNFb-XQnEqIJqYNBFk0WoLIg1xeXD6IkboxPuLyYwHE1pxT3X8HUseN8ramokiAeGCCY/s1600/FILKIN+Hazel+Latimer+portrait.jpg" height="640" width="490" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hazel (Latimer) Filkin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Original privately held)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The year of 1931 brought about more change for Jack. Maybe it was because of his goal scoring success in California, maybe it was because of team requirements, or maybe it was a combination of both but, whatever the reason, Jack's professional hockey contract was purchased again by another team. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack was gong to spend his third season as a Philadelphia Arrow. He did not know it when he crossed the U.S.-Canada border in the Fall of 1931 that the 1931-32 hockey season would be his last.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-57557848646021300382014-08-24T07:00:00.000-04:002014-08-24T07:00:03.330-04:0052 Ancestors: The Road To The NHL - John Osborne 'Jack' Filkin<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When last we left our intrepid hero, Jack Filkin had
finished the 1927-1928 hockey season on a high note as a member of the York
Bible Class hockey team that won the city of Toronto championship. (<a href="http://ianhaddenfamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2014/08/52-ancestors-living-dream-john-osborne.html" target="_blank">click here to read Part 1</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Based on an assemblage of newspaper clippings, collected
by one of Jack’s brothers, it is recorded that for the 1928-1929 hockey season,
the now 23-year old Jack found a place on the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
team in the old Toronto Mercantile Senior League, a tough industry based league
of teams representing a number of companies from around the city. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack’s skating ability, stick handling, and even a deft
scoring ability did not go unnoticed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lester Patrick, the legendary coach and general manager
of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League came calling. So, according
to border crossing records, on October 23, 1929, Jack was off to Springfield, Massachusetts
and the training camp of the New York Rangers, then a fairly new NHL franchise.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack toiled for coach Lester Patrick (inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947) and played with Frank Boucher (inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958) and Earl Siebert (inducted into the Hockey Hall of
Fame in 1963) along with other hockey greats of the era.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ultimately, Jack Filkin did not make the New York Rangers
team (and is listed on the New York Rangers team website as having “missed the
cut”) but was sent to the team’s Canadian-American Hockey League professional
farm team, the Springfield (Massachusetts) Indians. The team is said to have
derived its name from the Indian Motorcycle Company that manufactured the
famous motorcycle in Springfield.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back home in Orillia, Ontario, Jack’s hockey success did
not go unnoticed and in an undated newspaper clipping probably from the Orillia
area, the following headline and article appeared,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack
Filkins Playing Professional Hockey in Springfield, Mass.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Was
Popular Player With Orillia Intermediates.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Jack
Filkins once the idol of the Longford team that captured the trophy in the OWL
league, and later a popular star on the Orillia Intermediate team, is now
playing the professional game with Springfield, Mass. Jack was a chemist at the
Longford Standard Chemical Co., and made a great hit with the fans during
1925-26-27. In 1928 and 1929 he played for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.,
Toronto, in the Mercantile league. He plays a good brand of hockey and the fans
are not at all surprised to see him crashing the professional ranks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There
is no doubt but that Jack will make good. He has a world of speed, is a clever
stick-handler and has one of the most terrific shots ever seen on local ice.
Playing hockey, as he has, from his earliest days, he has developed a pair of
wrists that are the envy of all those who like to get verve into their shots on
goal. His sense of direction is acute and very few of his shots go wide of the
mark.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRcjOGZY1jS6VzKltgKwYY_cva39o6we9qVg6xZ-QRe7z5zRn9WSdY7U-0neKcl2ijQP-jt9AurQWe5RX-ezCXrmLc2wJYCqCA3lsAo-I_OtH1emeA41bdAVs6CV1cj9W_pBkIH3Dwo4/s1600/FILKIN+Jack+-+Los+Angeles+Millionaires+1930-31+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRcjOGZY1jS6VzKltgKwYY_cva39o6we9qVg6xZ-QRe7z5zRn9WSdY7U-0neKcl2ijQP-jt9AurQWe5RX-ezCXrmLc2wJYCqCA3lsAo-I_OtH1emeA41bdAVs6CV1cj9W_pBkIH3Dwo4/s1600/FILKIN+Jack+-+Los+Angeles+Millionaires+1930-31+-+Copy.JPG" height="634" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jack Filkin in his playing days, abt. 1930 (Original photo privately held)</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One family story held that Jack did play in one NHL game
but that does not appear to be true. Rather, Jack did play one game against an
NHL team! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before training camp broke for the New York Rangers and
their farm team the Springfield Indians, the two teams faced off against each
other. On a night in early November 1929, the game, according to sports reporter
Victor N. Wall, offered “Springfield hockey fans their first peep at the young
hockey stars imported from Canada to play with the Indians, their first glance
at the New York Rangers, one of the outstanding clubs in the big league, and their
first chance to see the changes in the rules.” One of the most significant rule
changes made in hockey was introduced that year, the ability to make a forward pass.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Spingfield Indians were coached by Frank Carroll who
told reporter Wall, “I want to give Springfield fans every chance to see these
youngsters and that’s why I am placing an entirely new team on the ice at the
start. To show that I want this to be a really new team I am sending Filkin, a
left handed shot, in at right wing.” Of course, what Frank Carroll didn’t
mentioned was that his right winger Jack Filkin had an unusual talent, the
ability to shoot both left handed and right handed. In an era of straight
hockey sticks, with no curve or warp in the stick blade, this was an effectively
deceptive weapon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The 1929-30 hockey season was not great for Jack and his
Springfield Indians team. At that time, professional hockey teams played a
season consisting of only about half the number of games currently seen in the
pro leagues. Springfield amassed a losing record of 14 wins, 23 losses and 2
ties, finishing 5<sup>th</sup> in the standings and out of the playoffs. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jack
Filkin scored one goal, assisted on one other, and accumulated 30 penalty minutes
while playing in 34 of the team’s 39 regular season games. It is likely that Jack, a regular on the team, missed five games due to injuries.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Following his less than stellar pro rookie season, Jack’s
career was to be influenced by two great events: the Great Depression and Jack
got married (not that getting married and the Great Depression should be viewed as being related to each other).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the next post,
Jack becomes a Millionaire!</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-64205948752500848082014-08-17T15:45:00.000-04:002014-08-17T15:45:36.188-04:0052 Ancestors: Living The Dream - John Osborne 'Jack' Filkin (Part 1)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sure, I’m retired and could say “I’m living the dream”
but this isn’t about me. No, this is about Uncle Johnny, or more accurately
Ellen’s uncle John Osborne Filkin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I was growing up, I had only one season of sports,
serious sports – hockey season. It lasted twelve months each year. I played in
organized leagues during the Fall, Winter, and Spring. I played ‘road hockey’
using a tennis ball in place of a puck before school, during recesses, at lunch
time and, after school until the street lights came on and I was begrudgingly required
to call it a day. Sure, I played some
baseball in the summer and some football in the Fall but life really revolved
around hockey, hockey, and more hockey.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I knew every player in the National Hockey League (NHL),
as for most of the years when I was young, there were only six teams. More than
anything else, I dreamed of developing my skills and being good enough to one
day play hockey professionally, especially to be in the NHL.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Recently, I took a second, closer look at a border
crossing card from 1930 for Ellen’s Uncle Johnny. The card stated that his
reason for entering the United States (he crossed the border from Sarnia,
Ontario to Port Huron, Michigan) was to play hockey in Los Angeles, California.
Playing hockey in California? Many, many decades ago? That, to say the least,
piqued my curiosity!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It turns out there are many records, some of which are found
in obscure non-genealogically oriented databases, that provide evidence of
Uncle Johnny’s hockey career. And then the ‘honey hole’ was presented to me by
Ellen’s cousin and Uncle Johnny’s daughter, Jule. An old family scrapbook
collection, assembled by one of Uncle Johnny’s brothers, containing all the
press clippings they were able to gather eighty years ago pertaining to Uncle Johnny’s
hockey career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So this is the story of John Osborne Filkin. He was known
widely by the name ‘Jack’ but my wife knew him only as ‘Uncle Johnny.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John Osborne Filkin was born April 25, 1905 in the tiny
hamlet of Irondale, Ontario, Canada. Irondale is located on Salerno Lake in a
rural, heavily-wooded part of Ontario, far from, well, almost everything. John’s
father was William Mark Filkin, a chemical engineer who about twenty years
earlier had immigrated to Canada from his native Birmingham, England. John’s
mother was Alma Maud Armstrong who had been born in the small town of Minden,
Ontario.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Summers during Jack’s childhood would offer, as they do
today, opportunities for water sports – swimming, fishing, and canoeing. The
Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons meant attending school and no doubt for Jack, a
chance to skate and play hockey on the frozen ponds and rivers that were
plentiful in his part of the province. Jack’s teen years meant chances to
work in a local sawmill but he always found time for hockey. Jack probably played
hockey whenever and wherever he could, just like I did years later. But he was
different. He was truly dedicated to the game and very talented.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1927, Jack climbed the joined the amateur hockey ranks
eventually joining team of the York Bible Class, a young men’s organization
established a few years earlier by Denton Massey, a member of one of Canada’s
more famous families. That year his hockey team won the championship of the
city of Toronto.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Part 2, a look at the Road to the NHL.</span></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-39812921027377850032014-08-10T07:30:00.000-04:002014-08-10T07:30:00.782-04:0052 Ancestors: Andrew Kimmerly, A United Empire Loyalist<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The episode of the U.S. version of the popular television show <i><a href="http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/who-do-you-think-you-are" target="_blank">Who Do You Think You Are?</a></i> broadcast this past week featured Canadian actress Rachel McAdams, along with her sister Kayleen, and highlighted the struggles of the United Empire Loyalists during and after the American Revolutionary War. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In short, the Loyalists were those British subjects living in the '13 colonies' who remained loyal to the British crown and typically either fought for or supported the British side during the American Revolution. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the tide of the war turned against the British, these Loyalists were compelled to leave their homes and their land, most fleeing to the safety of what is now Canada.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Among those who had decided to remain loyal to the crown was a 15-year old Andrew Kimmerly (my wife Ellen's 4X great grandfather) who joined the Kings Royal Regiment of New York, likely the 2nd Battalion, in May 1780. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Preliminary Treaty Of Paris Painting" by Print by John D. Morris & Co. after painting by German artist Carl Wilhelm Anton Seiler (1846-1921) - Extracted from PDF version of Seals and Symbols in the American Colonies poster, part of a U.S. Diplomacy Center (State Department) exhibition on the 225th anniversary of the Great Seal. Direct PDF URL [1] (21MB). Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PreliminaryTreatyOfParisPainting.jpg#mediaviewer/File:PreliminaryTreatyOfParisPainting.jpg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Andrew headed north and into Canada where he petitioned for and, in 1792, was granted 200 acres of land in Adolphustown, Upper Canada (now Ontario), near the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have always found it interesting that just two generations later, Andrew Kimmerly's granddaughter Eleanor Ann married Francis Dwight Faulkner (Ellen's 2X great grandparents), whose family had been very actively involved in fighting as Revolutionaries, or as they would be termed in the United States, as 'Patriots.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My wife therefore is in the rather unique, or perhaps just unusual, position of qualifying for membership in both the <a href="http://www.uelac.org/" target="_blank">United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada </a> and the <a href="http://www.dar.org/" target="_blank">Daughters of the American Revolution</a>. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-10905589808869124322014-08-03T07:00:00.000-04:002014-08-03T07:00:00.294-04:0052 Ancestors - James and Janet Little<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is going to be a short post about my 4X great grandparents James Little and Janet Little. A short posting because I don't really don't yet know a great deal about them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Scottish records indicate that James Little married Janet Little, probably around 1827 or 1828. This date is based on the birth of the first child Peter about 1829. The record of the marriage of their son James, my 3X great grandfather, states that Janet's maiden surname was Little meaning that she had the same married surname. There is no evidence, at least none that I have found, that suggests that James and Janet were related to each other in any way prior to their marriage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">James was born about 1801 in Dumfriesshire whereas Janet was born about 1810 in Fifeshire. After their marriage, James and Janet settled into life first in Dumferline in Fife where most of their children were born. They then settled in Hutton and Corrie Parish, Dumfriesshire, an area just to the north-west of Lockerbie, Scotland, known infamously for the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. There, they raised their family of seven known children, consisting of three boys and four girls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">James worked in the area as an agricultural labourer until his death sometime in the latter part of the 1860's. Janet continued to live in Dumfriesshire until her death in 1886.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-5282445837188230492014-07-27T07:00:00.000-04:002014-07-27T07:00:00.942-04:0052 Ancestors: James Hadden (abt 1804-1871)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">James Hadden is my 4X great grandfather. I really don't know that much about the life that lead but various records tell me that he was born about 1804 in Fetteresso, Kincardineshire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have searched Scotland's Old Parish Registers and could find no baptismal record for James. This suggested to me that either the register book containing the baptismal record for James no longer exists or James' parents, William Hadden and Agnes Robb were not 'church going' people and the baptism of their son was not a high priority for them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What the Old Parish Registers do inform me is that James Hadden married Mary Smart on May 25th, 1833 in Inverurie, Aberdeen, Scotland. James was about 29 years old and his bride, Mary was 25 years old.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The young couple settled into life together in New Hills, Aberdeen, Scotland, a small village near the location of the present day Aberdeen Airport. James seemed to do well working as a farm overseer. Mary and James also started a family; their first child, a daughter whom they named Mary was born December 31, 1833. A son, Alexander 'Bean' Hadden was born in 1837 and another daughter, named Jane was born in 1837.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Their apparently happy existence was cut short however when Mary died suddenly in 1840. Eventually James re-married. His second wife was Janet or Jessie Jamieson and unfortunately I could find no record of their marriage in the Old Parish Registers of Scotland but other records do provide confirmation that they were married, likely around 1847 as their first of two known children (both sons - James George Wood Hadden and William Hadden) was born in 1848.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">James continued farming up until his death from bronchitis on March 12, 1871 in Aberdeen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Curiously, several years ago while suffering from a concussion that caused severe headaches and an inability to focus for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time, I decided to 'kill some time' by searching Google for images of James Hadden. I had no realistic expectation that I would find a 'photo' of my 19th century ancestor but what I did find astonished me nonetheless. A photo was found of James' gravestone!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The photo had been taken by Colin Milne in St. Peter's Cemetery on King Street in Aberdeen. Colin had taken photos of several gravestones that he referred to as 'strays' and then posted them on <a href="http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nescotland/index.html" target="_blank">his website</a> in the hope that family members might one day find them. I contacted Colin and he kindly provided me with a copy of the original digital file for my use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">James Hadden gravestone, St. Peter's Cemetery, Aberdeen, Scotland (photo courtesy of Colin Milne)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I then contacted City of Aberdeen staff who informed me that the people listed on the gravestone do not represent the names their records show are buried in the plot. The gravestone lists seven family members: Mary Smart, William Hadden (James Hadden's brother), William Hadden (son of either William or James), James Hadden, James G. W. Hadden, Jessie Jamieson, and Alexander 'Bean' Hadden.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As it turns out, Mary Smart is not buried in this plot. Her name on the gravestone is a 'memorial' only. The same is true for James' brother William Hadden. James Hadden and Jessie Jamieson are buried here along with James George Wood Hadden, Helen B. Smith McKnight, James Reid, Elspet Scott, John McKnight, and Christian Mackie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The City of Aberdeen staff informed me that James Hadden bought the plot in section 39 of the cemetery in 1842. "In the olden days in Aberdeen it was not uncommon for family's to use graves for close friends or even neighbours as money was so tight."</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> I was able to identify that John McKnight was James' step-son so perhaps Helen was John McKnight's wife and I have no idea as to who Elspet Scott, James Reid and Christian Mackie are? Identifying them and their relationship to James Hadden is another task to add to my genealogy to-do list!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-7774370099950864402014-07-20T07:00:00.000-04:002014-07-20T07:00:00.475-04:0052 Ancestors: John Jacob (John Jacob) Hailer 1804-1882<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I decided to stick with my wife Ellen's family lineage this week, in part because I have a real fondness for the history of Waterloo County in Ontario, Canada and in part because the only true family artifact that we possess is one that belonged to this week's subject Johann Jacob (or John Jacob) Hailer, Ellen's third great grandfather. He is perhaps better known simply as Jacob Hailer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Johann Jacob Hailer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jacob began his life in Wilferdingen, Baden, Germany on December 20, 1804 and records indicate that he was baptized just three days on December 23, 1804. Jacob was the son of Christian Hailer and his wife Maria Barbara Zachmann. It's possible that Jacob was not seen as a healthy baby so the need for a baptism as soon as possible. Perhaps the baptism occurred quickly with respect to the Christmas festivities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1911, one of Jacob Hailer's grandsons, William H. Breithaupt, who was also the first president of Waterloo Historical Society, wrote a book that includes the story of Jacob's immigration to North America. In short, we know from passenger lists that Jacob Hailer, described on the list as being a "turner" by profession, arrived in the port of Baltimore, Maryland sometime between July 1st and October 1st, 1829. On board the ship that carried him across the Atlantic Ocean were members of the Riehl family, noted by William Breithaupt as being a father accompanying his son and daughter to the United States. Once in Baltimore, Jacob was introduced by the senior Riehl to another daughter Margaret and her younger brother who had sailed to the U.S. in 1828.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jacob followed his new friends, the Riehls, when they moved to Buffalo, New York in 1830 where that same year, he married Margaret. Records show that Jacob and Margaret Hailer established a home across the river in Chippewa, Upper Canada (now Niagara Falls, Ontario) where their first child, a daughter they named Margaret was born in 1831. Just a few months after the child's birth, they moved again, this time following the trail laid out over the previous three decades by various small waves of the group known as the 'Pennsylvania Dutch.' It was a long difficult journey on rough hewn roads, passing around and over swamps near present day Hamilton, Ontario, to reach Waterloo Township.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For their first year, the Hailers lived in a log house in German Mills, a tiny village located just north of the village of Doon. In 1833, Jacob Hailer purchased one acre of land, located at what is now the intersection of Scott Street and King Street East in central Kitchener, from Bishop Benjamin Eby. This was the same Benjamin Eby who suggested the name of Berlin for the town which beforehand had often been referred to as Ebytown due to five of the villages six houses being occupied by members of the Eby family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jacob immediately established a home for his family along with a woodworking shop in which he could ply his trade of manufacturing wooden furniture, including chairs, spinning wheels and lamp stands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jacob is described as a deeply religious man who was instrumental in establishing the Evangelical Association (sometimes referred to as the German Methodist) church in Canada. Jacob used his workshop as both a church meeting place and Sunday school. Travelling ministers would preach in the workshop and then stay in the house as guests of the Hailer family. It was through this that the Hailer's eldest daughter Margaret met and married a young Rev. Jacob Wagner. The Hailer's second eldest child, also a daughter, Catherine, married Jacob Wagner's best friend Philip Ludwig 'Louis' Breithaupt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1876, although there was no apparent milestone type of event, Jacob was presented with a monogrammed walking stick or cane. It is ivory handled with a gold band covering the joining of the handle to the wooden cane. On that gold band is inscribed "J.J.H. 1876." We aren't certain as to exactly how it happened, but that cane, once presented to Jacob Hailer has passed down through five generations of family hands to my wife, Jacob Hailer's great-great-great granddaughter.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0davArJvnmzgjD4C80RcI5HKCJ-cKfR8vxqjG80kGkb1NLDZDr7mGBoV9F_8EK30jNIwjxXKF7MLtXAyHLkntUspXYQcyi9PHxj_CaKM1bRHA40m2EicOXxCAppDogfEPbZk9P6MSGs/s1600/HAILER+Jacob+John+cane+handle+1876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0davArJvnmzgjD4C80RcI5HKCJ-cKfR8vxqjG80kGkb1NLDZDr7mGBoV9F_8EK30jNIwjxXKF7MLtXAyHLkntUspXYQcyi9PHxj_CaKM1bRHA40m2EicOXxCAppDogfEPbZk9P6MSGs/s1600/HAILER+Jacob+John+cane+handle+1876.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ivory-handled grip of Johann Jacob Hailer's cane, presented to him in 1876</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jacob was about 72 years of age when he received the presumed gift of his monogrammed cane. He would die six years later of "old age" on March 6, 1882 and be interred in Kitchener's Mount Hope Cemetery. Years later Jacob, purported to be the first German to settle in the area currently renown for it's German heritage and annual Oktoberfest, was inducted into the <a href="http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/region-hall-of-fame.aspx" target="_blank">Waterloo Region Hall of Fame</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlClaHJ-8qZxNhLM4ElvO8D-iueSjLcN5MPXmgOR5eQo64OxwQZiKuUX_o91YvvdvDmW9FvqtYJ-0w8lFRz_qQkXwZaA5EoFDcQwWxKEZ541P9Fki1MO9r-fQZDo0UlFNZ4hMIz74bBBQ/s1600/HAILER+John+Jacob+with+cane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlClaHJ-8qZxNhLM4ElvO8D-iueSjLcN5MPXmgOR5eQo64OxwQZiKuUX_o91YvvdvDmW9FvqtYJ-0w8lFRz_qQkXwZaA5EoFDcQwWxKEZ541P9Fki1MO9r-fQZDo0UlFNZ4hMIz74bBBQ/s1600/HAILER+John+Jacob+with+cane.jpg" height="640" width="514" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Johann 'John' Jacob Hailer with his cane, probably about 1880</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course, it is only circumstantial evidence that the cane belonged to Jacob. It bears Jacob's initials and has been passed down and retained by the family and, there are no other ancestors for whom those initials and timeframe fit. Could the cane have possibly belonged to someone else with the same initials and just by happenchance it fell into the Wagner family. The 'clincher' was finding a photograph, taken by photographer C. R. Lundy of Berlin, Ontario, probably about 1880, of Jacob posing with his beloved cane in hand. For Ellen, it makes holding her ancestor's cane all the more a connection to her family's history. </span><br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-77950850339971106102014-07-13T07:00:00.000-04:002014-07-13T07:00:00.489-04:0052 Ancestors: Rev. Louis Henry Wagner (1857-1945)<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Amy Johnson Crow of the </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 22px;">No Story Too Small</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;"> genealogy blog suggested a weekly blog theme of '52 Ancestors' in her blog post "</span><a href="http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">." I decided to take up the challenge of the 52 Ancestors blog theme as a means to prompt me into regularly sharing the stories of my ancestors. So over the course of 2014 I will highlight an ancestor, sharing what I know about the person and perhaps more importantly, what I don't know.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">A switch again this week to one of my wife Ellen's direct ancestors. This week the story of her paternal great grandfather Rev. Louis Henry Wagner. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODZk0JwpDiAXs2fUX26rAQeaEfUYaj_MIsb8TrkCIWV0wAVWJx7Z8IMjyx0Ngy4JyhxI_H2X8uDk4p0q4VvN8VQ9AQhMHcZP5CKFa7dQwFNF3WZ4mmjcynbXZRYDJQDKtkYW6DtqiYDY/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+from+application+to+leave+canada+1918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODZk0JwpDiAXs2fUX26rAQeaEfUYaj_MIsb8TrkCIWV0wAVWJx7Z8IMjyx0Ngy4JyhxI_H2X8uDk4p0q4VvN8VQ9AQhMHcZP5CKFa7dQwFNF3WZ4mmjcynbXZRYDJQDKtkYW6DtqiYDY/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+from+application+to+leave+canada+1918.jpg" height="640" width="516" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Rev. Louis Henry Wagner (photo taken about 1918)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">I have always found Louis to be an interesting man. Born in New York State, he was raised and received his early education in Berlin, Waterloo County, Ontario, apprenticed at a young age as a tanner and leather belt maker, attained post-secondary education in the State of Illinois as a land surveyor only to return to work in Ontario as an accountant and salesman before settling into life as an itinerant preacher for the Evangelical Association.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Louis Henry Wagner was born in Grove, Alleghany, New York on April 11, 1857. His father was Rev. Jacob Wagner, an Evangelical Association preacher whose 'territory' included not just western New York state but also parts of southern Ontario. On his trips into Ontario, and the German community in Berlin, Jacob would stay with Jacob and Margaret Hailer. Jacob Hailer was said to have been the first German to settle in Berlin and he would offer up the space of his woodworking shop to serve as a church gathering place for the Evangelical Association. It was here that Jacob Wagner met his wife, the Hailer's eldest daughter Margaret (or Margaretha), the mother of Louis and his older sister Catherine, or 'Katie' as the family called her.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Before he was a year old, Louis' family was moving to Berlin to live close to his maternal grandparents because his father Jacob Wagner had decided to change careers, moving to the business world, establishing a tannery in partnership with his friend and by then brother-in-law Louis Breithaupt. Mere months after the family move was complete, and just one week after Louis' first birthday, Jacob Wagner died.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Fortunately for Louis, his family rallied around and supported him, his mother and sister. It appears that Jacob Wagner had died intestate, that is, he did not leave a Will naming a guardian for his children and the laws at the time did not automatically cede guardianship to the mother. So on September 3, 1859, letters of Guardianship were granted by the court to Jacob Hailer for both Louis and his sister Catherine. With his Berlin pioneer grandfather as his guardian, Louis went to live with his uncle Louis Breithaupt, after whom he had been named. Interestingly, Louis took up maintaining a diary as a teenager in December 1872 and much can be learned about 19th century Berlin, Ontario life in the pages of Louis' diary volumes. His first diary entry, dated Sunday, December 15, 1872 begins with "We were all in church as usual ...." </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Over the years, the maturation of Louis is evident as his writings evolve from descriptions of the numerous times he was off to church, to his arguments to be allowed to apprentice in his uncle's leather business, to his frustrations with the apprenticeship progress and his desire to find excitement in life, eventually leading to the anguish he experienced when his wife Mary Staebler died of typhoid fever in 1887, leaving him a widow with a one year old son.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Louis was educated as a land surveyor at Northwestern College in Naperville, Illinois although he does not seem to have ever practised that profession. When he returned home to Berlin, he took up employment as an accountant and salesman - again with his uncle Louis Breithaupt's Eagle Tannery. In 1882, he made his final career change. After having been so involved in his church, Louis applied to the Canada Conference of the Evangelical Association, who that year were meeting in nearby St. Jacobs, Ontario, and on April 20, 1882, he was granted his first preacher's license as a "Preacher on trial." His first appointment was as assistant pastor in Sebringville, Ontario. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">On May 20, 1884. Louis married Mary Staebler in Berlin, Ontario. Their only child, Louis Jacob Gordon Wagner was born on May 10, 1886 in Hespeler, Ontario. On July 4, 1889, Louis married for a second time to Sarah Lodema Moyer with whom he had three additional children: Ida Louisa Wagner, Carl Henry Wagner, and Margaret Florence Wagner.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Louis spent the remainder of his long life continuing his work as a minister and officiating at many family events including the June 2, 1901 wedding of his cousin Albert L. Breithaupt to Lydia Anthes in which childhood friend and future longest serving Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King served as Best Man.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpqjSxd7o5rDCIVJYfyMJdYOecbhtp5VqfWQIb0qw2CWwCJdbqIZdy81Nvforfs9Ac_OA11yFBuL9nt-3f4tpptkdsFxWv3bHyoQobdQ81TlOYMGHmvLoO2NpK2jjsVK9Pb5s_18Rd04/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+with+Carl+Edward+'Ted'+at+christening.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpqjSxd7o5rDCIVJYfyMJdYOecbhtp5VqfWQIb0qw2CWwCJdbqIZdy81Nvforfs9Ac_OA11yFBuL9nt-3f4tpptkdsFxWv3bHyoQobdQ81TlOYMGHmvLoO2NpK2jjsVK9Pb5s_18Rd04/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+with+Carl+Edward+'Ted'+at+christening.JPG" height="640" width="340" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Rev. Louis Henry Wagner holding his great grandson Carl Edward 'Ted' Wagner</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Even late in life, Louis continued to officiate at family events including baptizing his great grandson Carl Edward 'Ted' Wagner, Ellen's brother. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Louis Wagner died in his residence at 253 Weber Street in Kitchener, Ontario on January 8, 1945 at the age of 87. He rests in peace in Kitchener's Mount Hope Cemetery with his wife Sarah.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kfvZTinM8pURw5lGSvurwEgFAhKQcvEmepfrL7TuIzQwx8t9B3oVxhysl-cRmd89Rj4mBjchrHuzO73aEqTFB4jUsurLiwNWWoqxsrtb_g3-GXe_IG0pVEzwAu4JajWWvHm5kzLEtOU/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+and+MOYER+Sarah+Lodema+gravestone+Mount+Hope+Cemetery+Kitchener+ON.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kfvZTinM8pURw5lGSvurwEgFAhKQcvEmepfrL7TuIzQwx8t9B3oVxhysl-cRmd89Rj4mBjchrHuzO73aEqTFB4jUsurLiwNWWoqxsrtb_g3-GXe_IG0pVEzwAu4JajWWvHm5kzLEtOU/s1600/WAGNER+Louis+Henry+and+MOYER+Sarah+Lodema+gravestone+Mount+Hope+Cemetery+Kitchener+ON.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Rev. Louis Henry Wagner and Sarah Lodema Moyer gravestone, Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Ontario (photo by Ian Hadden)</span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-56023677149276779352014-07-09T09:42:00.001-04:002014-07-09T09:42:30.110-04:00The Case of George Irvine – An Enigma Wrapped in a Conundrum<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My cousin Pamela Gaull posted some comments on my recent
blog post about one of our common ancestors, Mary Jane Gaull. In one of her
comments Pamela pointed out that George Irvine, born George Gaull, had listed
his father as being George Irvine on his marriage registration. Pamela makes a
valid point in suggesting that the father of the twins could have been a man
named George Irvine just as ‘young’ George listed on his marriage registration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It got me to thinking about George and what we really know
about him from the records found to date. So here is my analysis of those
records and the questions that I still have lingering in my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We know from George’s birth registration that he was born on
February 8, 1860 at Whitehaugh, Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeen, Scotland, United
Kingdom. George was one of two twin boys, the other being John Gaull, and their
mother was Mary Jane Gaull. The births were registered by the twins’
grandfather, Mary Jane’s father, John Gaull on February 28, 1860 at Chapel of
Garioch. The births were registered as being “illegitimate” and no father is
named for the boys. According to the birth registration, George was born at
3:00 A.M. and his twin brother John was born at 4:00 A.M.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We know from the 1861 Census of Scotland that George was
‘boarded’ out to the family of James and Isabella Hooey who lived in nearby
Inverurie. James and Isabella Hooey (the spelling of this surname was offered
as Howie in the Will of the twins’ grandfather John Gaull) were not a childless
couple in search of a child, for the same census that records George ‘boarding’
with them also records that the Hooey’s had three daughters living with them in
the household. These daughters were aged 22, 15 and 12. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Were the Hooey’s (or Howie’s) in search of a son? I don’t
know. James Hooey was recorded as being 47 years old in 1861 and his wife
Isabella was recorded as being 48 years old at the same time. Given the age of
their youngest daughter in 1861, that is 12, the Hooey’s would have been 35 and
36 when that daughter was born respectively, therefore young enough to have had
additional children. Their youngest daughter would have been born about 1849
thus pre-dating civil registration in Scotland. Each of the three Hooey
daughters recorded in the 1861 census record are recorded as being born in
Aberdeenshire suggesting a likely long-term residency for the family in the
county. Yet the Old Parish Registers, Catholic Registers and the civil
registrations do not provide any additional Hooey children either being born or
having died. There were 39 births registered between 1835 – 1854 under the
surname of Howie but none with the parents recorded as James and Isabella. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is in my view then still a mystery as to why George, the
oldest of the twins, was ‘boarded’ out. I also can find no record suggesting
that there was a financial transaction involved in the ‘boarding’ out of
George.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is evidence that the family kept ‘tabs’ on George though. For example, in his Will, dated December 3<sup>rd</sup>, 1892, Mary
Jane Gaull’s father, John Gaull refers to his acknowledged grandson George as
“George Gaull sometimes named George Howie [or Heowie], sometimes George
Irvine.” John Gaull, the grandfather, directed that one hundred British pounds
sterling be paid to George from his estate. Clearly, John Gaull knew of
George’s surname change(s).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In all of the records I have reviewed, it seems that there
are only two likely candidates as the father of the twin boys. Alexander
Glennie, the man who married Mary Jane Gaull just a few months after she gave
birth to the twins, and George Irvine, the man named by twin George (Gaull)
Irvine on his marriage registration in 1883. I am not convinced however that
there is evidence, meeting the Genealogical Proof Standard, for a determination
that either man is their father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The only evidence in favour of the case for Alexander
Glennie is the circumstance of his marrying Mary Jane Gaull six months after
she gave birth to the twins. However, there is no evidence that Alexander
accepted Mary’s child John and assisted in raising the boy. In the 1871 Census
of Scotland, Alexander and Mary Glennie are found residing at Tillyfro in Cluny
whereas the then eleven year old John Gaull is residing with his grandparents
John and Mary Gaull in Chapel of Garioch. In 1881, the twin John Gaull was
still living with his grandfather who by then was widowed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Both of the twin boys were married in 1883. John Gaull
married Harriet McKenzie on June 15<sup>th</sup> at New Inn in Cluny and George
(Gaull) Irvine married Isabella Watt on December 5<sup>th</sup> at 48 High Street in Airdrie. As was
required, both of the twins were asked to provide information about their
parents as part of the registration process for their marriages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John did not provide a name for his father, rather he simply
indicated his mother to be “Mary Gaull married since birth of Bridegroom to
Alexander Glennie and now his widow.” Twin brother George however provided the names
of his father as George Irvine, a farm servant, and his mother as "Mary Irvine
MS [maiden surname] Gall." Aside from the misspelling of the Gaull surname on
George’s marriage registration, it is known that his mother Mary did not marry,
and was not married at the time of George’s marriage, to a man named George
Irvine. John’s marriage registration recording of his parent’s names is
accurate whereas George’s is not accurate with respect to the recorded marriage
of his stated parents. That Mary Gaull and George Irvine never married is fact
however, that fact in and of itself does not rule out the possibility that a
man named George Irvine was the father of the twins George and John Gaull.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In order to determine if George Irvine is possibly the
father of the twins, it is necessary to find a man named George Irvine who was
of an age and living in close enough proximity of Mary Gaull to be the father.
There were six men named George Irvine living in Aberdeenshire in 1861, the
year following the birth of the twins when the census was taken. One of these
was just one year old in 1861 so he can be ruled out as the possible father.
Two other men are unlikely to be the father because of their age; one was 77
years old in 1861 and the other was 55 years old and while they might have had
the potential for fathering children, it is unlikely they would have been in an
intimate relationship with a 22 year-old Mary Jane Gaull. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two of the remaining
three men were of the ‘right’ age, one was 27 years old in 1861 so would have been about 25 in 1859 when Mary became pregnant but he lived in Fraserburgh, about 37
miles away. The other man was 23 years old in 1861 so he would have been about
21 years old when Mary became pregnant, that is, he was the ‘right’ age for a relationship
with Mary but he lived in Foveran, a distance of more than 20 miles away. I
think both of these men can be ruled out of fathering the twins because they
don’t appear to have been living close enough to Mary to have been in a
relationship with her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This leaves only one George Irvine, who was recorded as
being 20 years old in 1861 so would have been about 18 or 19 years old in 1859.
This George Irvine lived in Old Meldrum, a distance of about seven and one-half
miles away. He is also recorded as having be born in Chapel of Garioch so was familiar with the town and many of it's families. Of all the George Irvines in Aberdeenshire at the time, this man
appears to be the most likely candidate to be the father identified by George
Gaull Irvine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In addition to being about the right age and living in close
proximity to Mary Gaull, this George Irvine was a farm servant, just as George Gaull
Irvine would record for his father’s occupation on his marriage registration.
George Irvine, the possible father, is recorded in the 1861 Census of Scotland
as being a ploughman servant to David Philip, a farmer of 197 acres. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately that is where the evidence seems to end. I am
still left with two possible fathers for the twin boys, George and John Gaull.
I have found no record in which John Gaull states the name of his father and
the only record found to date in which George states the name of his father is
his marriage registration. But that recording of the father’s name is built
around a fabricated marriage between his mother Mary Gaull and a man named George Irvine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My cousin Pamela might be right. A man named George Irvine could be the father of the twins. But until additional records are found, I am of the opinion that we can't definitively determine the identity of the father of the twin boys John and George Gaull. We can only determine good possibilities.</span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502733546491041083.post-37760458383545838232014-07-06T07:00:00.000-04:002014-07-06T07:00:00.988-04:0052 Ancestors: Mary Jane Glennie (nee Gaull) 1837-1925<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Amy Johnson Crow of the </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 22px;">No Story Too Small</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;"> genealogy blog suggested a weekly blog theme of '52 Ancestors' in her blog post "</span><a href="http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 22px;" target="_blank">52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">." I decided to take up the challenge of the 52 Ancestors blog theme as a means to prompt me into regularly sharing the stories of my ancestors. So over the course of 2014 I will highlight an ancestor, sharing what I know about the person and perhaps more importantly, what I don't know.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Mary Jane Glennie (nee Gaull) is my 3X great grandmother and one of several ancestors that I would love to have had a chance to meet. Mary didn't invent anything for the betterment of mankind; she wasn't famous at all but I have always had an impression that Mary was one of those 'tough-as-nails' on the surface but marshmallow interior individuals who all of us likely know at least one of. There is no singular incident that leads me to this impression. It based purely on my view of her life in it's entirety.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Mary Gaull was born around 1837 in Broomhill, Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She was the daughter, and unusually it appears the only child, of John Gaull, a farm overseer, and his wife Mary Christie. It is likely that Mary's upbringing was comfortable for the times, but by no means extravagant, given her father's farming abilities. But her upbringing was also likely rather strict as her father appears to have maintained high moral standards.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Life for Mary Gaull thus became more difficult when she gave birth to twin boys, out of wedlock, in February 1860. Mary named her sons George and John but the name of the twins' father has not been found in any record to date. As was the practise in Scotland at the time, the birth registrations for the twin brothers clearly and boldly labels them to be "illegitimate" children. Mary's father, John Gaull even decades later in his will referred to them as his "illegitimate" grandsons.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">I have commented previously that I do not know the reason but it is clear from all records that Mary 'gave' one of her twin sons, George, to the family of James and Isabella Hoey (or Hooey or Howie) who lived in Inverurie. George would later change his surname to Irvine. Mary raised her remaining son John (one of my great great grandfathers) in her parents home, but only for a few months, for in August 1860, when the twins were just six months old, Mary married Alexander Glennie at Chapel of Garioch. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Alexander Glennie was a farmer who settled his wife, her son, and eventually the five known children that Alexander and Mary had together on a 60 acre farm at Tillyfro, Cluny, Aberdeenshire. Was it possible that Alexander Glennie was the father of the twin boys? Absolutely, but there is no evidence found to date other than the circumstance suggested by his marrying Mary so soon after she gave birth to the boys.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Sadly, Alexander died in February 1879 leaving the farm to his wife. Mary was aided in the running of the farm with monies from her husband's estate along with monies subsequently inherited from her father's estate when he died in 1892. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">When John Gaull died, according to his estate file, he left money for his grandson George Irvine and 'liferent' on the Gaull farm at Cairnley to his other grandson John Gaull. The residual of the estate went to his daughter Mary Glennie, minus the amount of 250 British pounds which John claimed in his Will that Mary had borrowed to aid in settling her husband Alexander's estate. Mary denied that she owed her father the money and John Gaull's estate executors finding no "voucher" nor other corroborating documentation of any such loan noted their finding in the estate inventory, deducting a single shilling from the estate seemingly as a token gesture to John's wishes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Mary thus continued to run the farm at Tillyfro, hiring farm hands as needed, until her own death at the age of 88 on the 30th of March 1925. Mary Jane (Gaull) Glennie was laid to rest in the kirkyard of the church in Cluny, Aberdeenshire, in the same grave as her son James who had died six years earlier at the age of 51.</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Contact me with your stories, questions and comments at ian.hadden@rogers.com</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06830769690458493191noreply@blogger.com3