When I’ve been searching the information on the S. S. Metagama, often the headline says the “Famous” Metagama. Even on Ancestry.ca, one of the welcoming banners talks about someone grandparents fleeing Poland on the Metagama. Below is a painting of the Metagama leaving Liverpool.
And below is a little clip I stumbled across “J. Mikulec Arrival On S. S. Metagama”. Its no one I know, but it shows the deck that Gramma Gallson may have walked on. The year of the video is 1919, so not far off Gramma’s adventure in 1920.
I do not know why Florence left England to come to Canada. There are many reasons why she’d want to start a new life and just as many reasons why she’d want to stay with her family. Phyllis would be 6 or 7 when Florence left and if Phyllis was Ellen’s daughter, then it likely would have been fairly easy to leave. Then again if Phyllis was her own daughter, perhaps Florence thought she could make a new life in Canada and then send for Phyllis later.
I can only imagine the scene that could have played out in that later circumstance. Phyllis likely refused to leave; Hannah and Ellen likely refused to let her go. Hannah was Phyllis’s legal guardian. And then what effect did that have on Florence’s mental well-being, a possibly fragile mental state that could have been showing signs of bi-polar disorder. Florence’s decision to join the Oversea Settlement Committee to sail across the ocean to Canada with $5.00 to her name likely seemed rash and impulsive to Hannah. So allowing Phyllis to go with Florence, then or later, was likely out of the question.
Below is the ship’s manifest. Peters, Florence; age 22; she’s with “Miss Taylor’s Party”; Destination is Montreal; she’s a domestic. AND she just might be the only one on board with only $5.00 in her pocket.
February 11, 1920 – Below is the Canada, Ocean Arrivals Form 30A, which relates to Page 33a, Line 13 above.
Peters, Florence; age 22; Single; Domestic; Intended occupation Domestic; Birthplace London, England; Race British; Citizenship English; Religion Church of England; Object in coming to Canada “to take up employment”… By whom was passage paid? “Overseas Settlement C’tee”; Intend to remain permanently in Canada? Yes; Name of ? on which passenger has order or ticket: C. N. R.; Nearest relative in country from whence passenger came: Mother, ? Peters, 42A St. Marys Road, Willesden; If ever in insane asylum where and between what dates: no; Ever had tuberculosis or epilepsy? No; Physically defective? No.
Really? How many people have spent time in insane asylums that there’s even space for the dates?
The Overseas Settlement Committee: There’s a lot about this on the internet. Here’s one small piece:
“The toothless Emigrants’ Information Office was immediately replaced by the much more authoritative Oversea Settlement Committee, which from 1920 incorporated as its women’s branch the newly-formed Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women. Priority was initially given to the soldier settlement scheme, which between 1919 and 1923 assisted 86,027 war veterans and their dependents to relocate on land in the dominions.”
To read a little more about the Overseas Settlement Committee, click HERE.
I would like to know who covered the medical costs for these British subjects in 1920?
What Florence did for the remainder of 1920 will likely remain a mystery but on December 23, 1920, two days before Christmas, Florence made her way over the Canadian border to Buffalo, NY.