A Gift From Kansas

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Painter Lady

When I returned home after time spent with my father, this past summer, I was determined to interview my paternal aunties about my family. I had never felt such an urgency to record their stories as I did after losing my Mom, her laughter and her memories. The thing is…once a person collects the archives, the narratives, the recordings and the photographs, it’s important to sort them into some concrete ‘container’. They need to take a shape.

This morning, my camera battery is plugged into the wall recharging. My tape recorder is set to pause at minute 22 of an interview with my Auntie Ruth Rollingson…my ancestral record from Dick Chandler (sent to me by my cousin, Anne) is open to L400 William Thomas Haddow and I am so excited and blessed, I am bursting at the seams! Auntie Ruth speaks about her memories of my Great Grandmother, Mary Eleanor Haddow’s crocheting and her obsession with good manners and courteous behaviour. Later, I will publish this recording here, as a part of the provenance of today’s MAGIC! But for now…I have to write about yesterday’s delivery.

Mary Eleanor Haddow, with her family. She is center back.

The Haddow Family

My grand Uncle, William Thomas Haddow (usually called Tom), married Emma Stafford. (much more to be said about Emma…as well as her brother Charles, who apparently ended up a well known photographer in Calgary and archived by the Glenbow Museum…but that will have to wait). Tom and Emma had two little girls; Agnes Mary (Mae) and Edith Emily. When Edith married Robert McKeown, she received as a gift, a crocheted table cloth from my Great Grandmother Mary Eleanor.

Mary Eleanor Haddow on her wedding day to John Moors

Yesterday, I received a box delivered to my door, from my beautiful cousin Anne who lives in Kansas…you guessed it! Wrapped in tissue, lovingly, and with photographs that provide treasured provenance, the table cloth. I broke out into tears AND hoots of every sort. My cousin, Margy, joined me at the feast table as I retold the story for her. I am so blessed beyond belief. I ran my fingers over the delicate crochet, knowing that this was made lovingly by a woman I treasure simply through the few stories that remain of her. I am grateful to you, dear Anne.

This photograph shows the table cloth in use sometime in the 1940s and includes young Anne, with her mother, Edith.

Photograph provided by my cousin, Anne.

This next photograph shows Edith’s son, Gerry, enjoying a Christmas feast some time in the mid 1950s. An exceptional photograph…with a very special table cloth.

Photograph provided by my dear cousin, Anne.

And this morning…warmed by Christmas light, the beautiful gift of a table cloth, to be treasured forever as a special remembrance and reminder of the power of family and of Christmas love. Your generosity amazes me…I cry as I type these words.

Now, this treasure has been tucked away, to be kept safe for future generations.

Meeting Mike

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Painter Lady

As a result of conducting family ancestral research, I have connected with new cousins. Some suggest that the past should be left in the past. I’m not really in support of that concept. When I met Mike, I felt that I had met someone who absolutely was connected with my history and my way of being. For Pete’s sake, he takes awesome photographs of birds!

Photo Credit: Mike Moffat, Green Heron at Grindstone Creek

Although my trip to Hamilton was a short trip, the more I spoke with Mike, the more I felt connected with family. I am grateful to you, Mike, for introducing me to your Mom (my Dad’s cousin) and your family (your son is a musician…so is mine) and your beautiful wife. Thank you for being such a generous participant in the search for my ancestors in their resting places.

Hamilton Cemetery on York Blvd is a magical location, featuring a Gothic Revival style building erected sometime between 1855 and 1862. Having initially researched relations on the Elliott, Haddow and Moors branches of my family, I was thrilled to be able to say my prayers at the resting place of many of my ancestors. Next visit, I fully intend on leaving flowers…and will try to time my visit without my pooch, Max, and with the event, Doors Open Hamilton, similar to our Doors Open Calgary. I want to make certain that I visit the Hamilton Public Library archive collection in order to round out my knowledge about the area as it relates to my family. I’m still pretty amazed that I managed to navigate my way on the 401 south west and to the QEW on my own. My next drive will also include a stop at Paris, Ontario, home of Penman’s textiles.

A Distant Cousin Connects

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Painter Lady

I am so blessed. I putz around to a great degree these days…sorting, tossing, accumulating and sorting again. As my readers know, I feel like it’s important to work on my family research and the archives on such research can become pretty extensive at times. I enjoy sharing my findings with my parents when I come upon something new. Today ‘the new’ came in the form of a message from Anne in Kansas, sharing that I had attached an incorrect photograph to my Agnes Mary (Mae) Haddow South on our ancestry.ca site and I had! But what was wonderful about that was that this was a distant cousin who was sharing this news with me. Undoubtedly, we will remain friends now, as it seems that Anne is the keeper of family history to the south of the border, while definitely I am doing the same to the north. She and I will most definitely become pen pals.

I liked that all of this today sparked a memory for my father…a drive that he shared with my grandfather John Moors, between 1967 and 1968. Grampa had made a visit with us in North Bay, Ontario and he insisted that my father head out with him, on a drive to Powassan, to meet the Souths. This is what my father wrote of this memory.

“I knew all about this Agnes Haddow — Her husband (Elkanah Alfred South) had one of the first saw mills in Powassan. Don’t know if he was the guy but some guy named South took the first team of oxen up north (to Powassan) and is buried in a grave way out in the middle of the bush about 3 miles from Powassan. I could not believe it when Dad directed me right to it. He was on the trip that took the oxen up there as a young boy (don’t remember how old). Dad even knew where the old house was and all that was left of it was parts of a stone basement walls.Then Dad looked up some lady named South living in Powassan that day-I did not go in the house but it must have been a living relative.”

Thank you, Anne, for putting us in touch with a memory. Here are photos of Grace Rebecca, my Grandfather’s sister, as a young girl. She would have been a wee girl when she lost her father, John Moors, on May 19, 1918 in an enemy bombing in Etaples.