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We moved from the farm in 1968.  Its hard to believe I was close to being 12 years old – I seemed so much younger. This is my “childhood” memory of the layout of the farm.  Aunt Liza’s (Eliza Pennell) house is no longer there and our house burnt to the ground some years after we moved.  The “Pioneer Baby Graves” (“Indian Baby Graves”) were not graves – that’s just what Dad said they were.  They were just different shaped mounds.   Wayne built a fabulous tree house in the Forest (bottom right).  The “Lamb Pasture Hill” (bottom centre) was the “Calf Pasture Hill” to my older sisters.  The “Creek” (top left) is actually Blue Sea Creek – somewhat of a misnomer as it wasn’t blue and wasn’t from the sea.  

The “Outhouse” (centre) was not used in my memory.

The collage below of images below shows the house and the arrows point to where around the house the pictures were taken.

In the process of organizing all the pictures I had accumulated, it was interesting to find that I had a couple of different versions of pictures taken on the same day.  The bottom two pictures are examples of that.  But in examining these pictures, I’m struck by the question: Why is Dad dressed so formally (the only one wearing a tie, a vest and a pocket watch, the chain visible across the vest)?  This looks like a big occasion.  The whole family was there.  Everyone else seems under-dressed and Mom dated the picture 1948 AND she nor Carol are in the picture. Carol was born in November 1948.

Click on the image to zoom, then click BACK to come back to this page.

The story we were told about Grampa Gallson leaving Estonia was that he stowed away on a ship headed for England and lied about his age.  The more likely story is that he lied about his age so that he could join a group of Estonians headed to Canada to work for the CPR.  

Below is an extract from the SS Columbia ship manifest, June 7, 1913, from Glasgow, Scotland to New York City.  He is grouped together with many others who all came via the same Steamline from Finland. And his ticket (41) number is sequential with the others.

Here is the arrival at Ellis Island. In 1913, Estonia and half of Latvia were sometimes called Lifland. Grampa, born in November 1896, would have been 16.  So he lied about his age.

Here is another extract from the same trip. I believe Alexander Matt was a recruiter for the CPR.

Below are the handwritten Oceans Arrivals at Ellis Island for the Columbia. Hard to read but here’s what it says:

Name: Ounpuu Johannes; Age: 17; Sex: M; Married or Single: S; Occupation: Labr; Able to Read/Write: yes/yes; Nationality: Country of citizen: Russia; Race: Russian; Last Permanent Residence: Russia, Lifland; Name and address of nearest relative: Mich Ounpuu, Lifland, Kuressaare; Final Destination: Ont. Shapleau, CPR

Note:  #5 is Alexander Matt

Whether having a ticket to such final destination: Yes; Who paid: Self; Whether in possession of $50 and if less, how much? 25; Whether ever before in the United States: no; Whether going to join a relative or friend and if so, who: friend, Johannes Lonn, Shapleau, CPR, Ont. …

Note: #5 Alexander Matt: He’d been to Shapleau, Ont CPR in 1909 and 1911

I emailed the CPR and the CPR Archives and neither of them kept any records of these recruitments.

Click here for images of Grampa Gallson’s WWI documents.

In 1916, Grampa made his way to Webbwood, Ontario where he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Army on March 10. On August 8, he began to send $15 per month back to his father, Mihkel, in Estonia. He reported his trade as “Lumberjack”, not CPR worker.  He weighed 155 pounds. He disembarked the S. S. Metagama, the same ship on which GG immigrated, in Liverpool on August 19, went through a battery of Anti-Typhoid inoculations, but was diagnosed with mumps and parotitis on October 2.  By October 25 he had been misdiagnosed with Rubella which ended up being gonorrhea.  The next day, he bequeathed all his estate to a Miss Gladys Hall.

Between August 19, 1916 and December, 1918 Grampa had mumps, three rounds of gonorrhea, syphilis and a shrapnel wound in the head. He fought at Vimy Ridge, France and in the Battle of Passchendaele in Ypres, Belgium.  Battling venereal diseases came with painful shots of arsenic, mercury and galyl, which was also used for malaria.  His medical logs read as if the army just got fed up with him and sent him home on the S. S. Olympic back to Canada.  Three times he was discharged from the hospital as “cured” of syphilis.

While hospitalized in England during WWI, a doctor writes that because he’s Scandinavian and didn’t speak English, Grampa was thought of as being “mentally slow”.  How frustrating was that for him, to be treated as if he were mentally defective?  But Grampa learned, perhaps while recuperating in England, that he could use his charm and good looks to enamor young ladies to help him navigate English speaking society.

He was 22 years old, 5’ 9”, blue eyes – a “Lumberman” with his regimental number tattooed on his right forearm. His bad English, head wound and perhaps an unwillingness to talk about it, is the likely reason why his obituary merely says he was wounded at Passchendaele with no mention of Vimy Ridge.

Grampa received the British War Medal and Victory Medal.  These medals are reportedly on display in the Royal Canadian Legion 254 in Mattawa, Ontario where Grampa was a charter member.

In the early 1900s, there was virtually only one cure for syphilis. A relatively new discovery known as the “606 Compound” or Salvarsan but throughout Grampa’s detailed medical logs, there is no mention of him being treated with this. Civilian treatments for syphilis could cost between $300 and $1,000, which was out of reach for many patients. Some hospitals refused to admit patients with syphilis because there was such stigma surrounding it, and funding for public clinics was cut. Penicillin was not used for venereal diseases until the mid 1940’s.

Without being treated with Salvarsan, Grampa was not yet cured, but there was another golden opportunity for Grampa to seek treatment for free.

Toronto had a hospital specifically for WWI soldiers returning with syphilis, the Military Base Hospital on Gerrard Street, the former Toronto General Hospital.  If Grampa was forced into this hospital upon his return to Canada, perhaps it was here that Salvarsan would have been used.

I ordered the admission documents from September 1918 to December 1919.  I wanted to find his name so badly amongst the hundreds of soldiers who came back with syphilis and gonorrhea that I checked three times through the 15 multipage documents. It was with disappointment that I had to admit that Grampa never took advantage of this.

It was interesting going through the hundreds of names, many treated for influenza but mostly for venereal disease.  They were discharged either “to duty” or as “invalids” perhaps testifying to the success rate of Salvarsan.

The pictures of Grampa in his American uniform were thought to be his WWI pictures until my sister Donna stumbled across a 52nd Battalion website in 2010 managed by Lt. Tal Fisher in Thunder Bay.  On a mission to have Grampa’s name included in the website’s database as a member of the 52nd Battalion, she emailed Lt. Fisher all the pictures of Grampa.  Lt. Fisher’s response:

Did you know that all three photos are of a US WWI uniform, not Canadian.

The diamond patch on the left sleeve is most likely US Army 5th Division: which was a red diamond (there was a white ‘5’ in the center of the diamond, but this was removed after arriving in France. The 5th Div was assembled in France on 1 May, 1918 so the photo must have been taken some time after that.   

The chevrons low on the left sleeve are service chevron stripes: each one represents 6 months overseas duty which should indicate 2.5 years +.

The two chevrons high on the left indicate Corporal. 

The ribbons over his left pocket are too blurred to distinguish but there is clearly 4 or 5.

I managed to find and reconnect with Lt. Tal Fisher in August 2025 who is now living in Victoria, BC.  Grampa was never deployed while in the US Army, not in the 5th Division, not a corporal, and was only in the US army for 9 months. So it seems that Grampa had all his “army” photos taken in the USA using a borrowed uniform with bonus badges, ribbons and medals.  He was awarded only two medals: British War Medal and the British Victory Medal.  The cross medal on the uniform looks like a US Marine marksmanship medal. You guessed it – he was never in the Marine’s and beside “marksmanship skill” on his American Enlistment document, it says “none”.In August 2025, on a visit to Barbara Turcotte, I finally discovered a picture of Grampa in his Canadian uniform.

Below is information that Wayne sent me and I stored for the future.

The 52nd Battalion, 1915-1919

No sooner had Canada entered the war against Germany and its allies in 1914 than it was decided to raise an expeditionary force for battle overseas. The local militia, which mustered the day after war was declared, immediately began a recruiting drive to bring itself up to strength, and there was no shortage of men willing to fight. By March 1915 the 52nd battalion was formed as the first complete overseas battalion from this region of Ontario and, in short order, the 52nd had recruited 47 officers and 1,898 other ranks many of whom came from the old 96th. Before the war ended, more than 4,000 troops were to pass through the battalion. 

Within days of arriving in France in February 1916 aboard a cattle boat, the 52nd moved to the front, and was thrust into battle at the Kemmel Sector in early March of that year. Over the next three years 140 officers and 2,819 other ranks were casualties in battles such as Mount Sorrel, Flers-Courcelette, Ancre Heights, Vimy Ridge, Avion, Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, Damery, Scarpe, Drocourt-Queant, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, and Valenciennes. The survivors told stories of rat infested trenches, full of mud, of sleepless nights on ground sheets under single army blankets, and of ineffective rifles. One even recalled walking to the front without a helmet or gas mask, having been told to pick them up along the way from the casualties. 

The Lake Superior’s (as they were affectionately known), had a reputation for independence and audacity; they would take a back seat for no one. Private W.C. Millar wrote of their encounter with the Imperial Grenadier Guards on a narrow road in the Ypres sector: 

When seeing a bunch of trench-mud stained, unwashed Canadians coming along, the sergeant-major in charge of the Guards shouted out, in a voice which only an Imperial sergeant-major can assume, “Make way for the Guards, Make way for the Guards!!!”. Our lieutenant who, I have no doubt was seeing visions of a talk and possibly a bottle of champagne when we reached our billets, refused to be impressed, and made this characteristic reply: “To H–l with the Guards! Carry on, Fifty-second”. Needless to state the 52nd “carried on” and for once in their lives, the Guards took the side of the road for the Canadians. 

The 52nd left France with 380 decorations, including a Victoria Cross won by Captain Christopher John Patrick O’Kelly at Passchendaele in 1917. Its battle honours were subsequently carried by Port Arthur’s Militia unit, the First Battalion, the Lake Superior Regiment. 

Here’s where the 52nd Battalion sat in the heirarchy:

3rd Canadian Division

The 3rd Canadian Division joined the Canadian Corps in June 1916. 

  a.. 7th Brigade 

    a.. Royal Canadian Regiment 

    b.. Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry 

    c.. 42nd Battalion: Royal Highlanders of Canada 

    d.. 49th Battalion: Edmonton 

  a.. 8th Brigade 

    a.. 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles 

    b.. 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles 

    c.. 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles 

    d.. 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles 

  a.. 9th Brigade 

    a.. 43rd Battalion: Cameron Highlanders 

    b.. 52nd Battalion: New Ontario Regiment 

    c.. 58th Battalion 

    d.. 116th Battalion: Ontario County Infantry 

Grampa’s return from the war is interesting in that it lists what his position was.  You can see his entry on the SS Olympic ship from Southampton to ____ (I’ll find it).  He is listed as SPR, which is an acronym for a Sapper.  Thanks to Wayne, I found out what a Sapper was.

I watched a movie once where the sappers were pushing bombs under the barbed wire with long poles attached to them with a string to fire it. Once they got the bomb under the barbed wire, they would pull the string and hope they blew up the barbed wire and not them selves. Some times the string would get hung up on something as they pushed it in and the bomb would go off and blow them up.

**Sap:the extension of a trench to a point beneath an enemy’s fortifications

Middle French /sapper/, from Old Italian /zappare/, from /zappa/ //”to make furrows with a hoe”

This is a link to a hoard of document Donna was able to get from …. somewhere …. regarding the 52nd Battalion which was Grampa Gallson’s Battalion (WWI).  The order of them is not likely logical was Word exported the documents in alpha order.  To be honest, I’m not sure what the first page would be.

CLICK HERE FOR 52ND BATTALION DOCUMENTS

Johannes’ (John Gallson) Father

The following is from Malle Jaagoa – May 13, 2002.  Its the register of births and christenings of year 1865.  It is from the church.

The first 2 columns translated = day and hour of the birth

For Mihkel Õunpuu translation = 25 Sept afternoon

The third column translated = day of christening (there were 3 children christenings on the same day) which was 29 September

In 1865, Estonia used the old Julien calendar.  The Gregorian (New Calendar) wasn’t adopted into the Russian Empire until Feb 1, 1918.  The difference is 13 days.  The birth dates of people born before February 1, 1918 were recalculated, and 13 days were added to the original birthdates.  Therefore, 13 days added to 25 September 1865 = 7 October 1865

Mom had and recovered from Colon Cancer when she was in her late 70’s. Her doctor found her cancer during a colonoscopy and “rushed” her (within days I think) to the operating table and removed a big part of her colon. Because the doctor “got it all”, Mom didn’t need to go through chemo or radiation. The evidence of her operation was one HUGE scar on her abdomen. She went on to live to a ripe old age of 92.

After 1993, when Mom was diagnosed, we (her children) were all told to begin getting routine colonoscopies.

Since then, I’ve had many. My first one was the most horrendous experience of my life. I decided I would be the smartest person by scheduling my first colonoscopy and my first mammogram on the same day. My goodness, how could I take TWO days off work for stupid medical purposes!! And deciding NOT to get sedation for the colonoscopy was my 2nd BIG HUGE mistake. But I digress…

Every colonoscopy I’ve had which were every 3 years, then every 5, the doctor found pre-cancerous polyps. EVERY TIME. Today, December 2022, I had my latest colonoscopy and the doctor found NONE.

What’s with that?! What happened?

Was the doctor in a hurry? She check the box “Excellent” for prep. The post-report shows she got around EVERY corner, right around to the “end of the line” – and she found NOTHING!

What changed?

Thinking… looking back on the last 5 years, there’s a few things I’ve changed but ONLY in my diet.

• I don’t drink cow’s milk anymore, only soy beverage
• I snack on nuts (almonds, walnuts, pastitsios)
• I don’t eat red meat (only Costco meatballs occasionally)

 These are records from the archives in Tallinn that Kaido Õunpuu got for me in 1988.  Kaido is Eduard’s son.  I put on the pictures of Karl and Aliise.  You can view all the children in the Photo Gallery.

All records indicate that “Margaret” was Mary Morrison, born Mary Margaret Morrison.

John was actually only predeceased by his 1st wife, Florence. The predeceased son referred to here was Donny Morrison, who came to live with John as a young boy with his mother, Mary Morrison. Donny and Jackie (John) were blood brothers, (sons of Mary) and not John Gallson’s biological sons.

 After Grampa returned from WWI, December 1918, and was discharged from the Canadian Army January 1919, travelled across the border on June 10, 1919 at Buffalo, and moved to Wheeling, West Virginia. (1320 Water Street).  

On December 16, 1920, Grampa filed a Declaration of Intention for Naturalization, then two days later, on December 18, 1920, he travelled to Howitzer Co., 6th Infantry, Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, and enlisted in the United States Army for 3 years for which he was awarded a $90 bonus and travel pay back to Wheeling where he likely had his physical and received a typhoid and paratyphoid shots on January 14, 1921.  He only served for 6 months and 21 days before being discharged due to “reduction of the Army…” at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. He final pay being $142.25.  

Sometime during that 6 months or after, he must have been in Adah, Fayette, Pennsylvania, as the United States Veterans Administration have an “index card” (undated) with his name on it.

Uncle Phil wrote to the United States Army asking for Grampa’s records and he was told that those records were likely destroyed in a fire.

Today (March 13, 2022), I filled out an online form at https://vetrecs.archives.gov/. 
Update: January 20, 2023, received envelope from National Archives with “reconstructed” documents from the 1973 fire. Sent a thank you letter with a request for explanation of Adah index card.

When Grampa file his Declaration of Intention for Naturalization (No. 1914) to the US government, he had 7 years from December 16, 1920 to complete the application.  The application shows a lot of information.  It states he crossed the border from Canada to the US on June 10, 1919.  I search on Ancestry.ca through all the June 1919 border crossings at Buffalo and could not find his name. (Side thought: perhaps because he went by train, those records are somewhere else.)

Joan’s Life in a Nutshell

Joan Vera Smith nee Gallson was born in Wauchula, Florida, January 4, 1925. She came to Ontario, Canada in 1929. She lived in Mattawa, Rutherglen and Toronto. She married Lloyd Smith in 1943 and lived in Rutherglen, Ontario where she had 4 children. Lloyd and Joan lived in Porcupine, Gravenhurst and then North Bay. After Lloyd’s death in 1988, Joan married Albin Miklautsch and continued to live in North Bay. After Albin’s death she remained in North Bay until she required assisted living. She then moved Huntsville to be close to her daughter Carol shortly before her death in 2017.

Posts about Joan

• What was Mom like (from Wayne)July 3, 2024
  What was my mom like? My mom was awesome. She always had my back . Even made my sisters angry because she spoiled me so much.  She was a city girl who had to become a farmers wife and she did most things better than the farm girls like. Knitting , CREWEL EMBROIDERY, CROCHET, QUILTING… Read more: What was Mom like (from Wayne)
• John Alone With 3 ToddlersMarch 25, 2024
  SEE UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM.  Mom remembers being split up in homes.  I tried to find documentation from the Children’s Aid Society in North Bay, but I could find nothing.  At some point, Grampa managed to get the children back together again by hiring a young, pregnant, unwed mother – Mary Margaret Morrison.  Mary was… Read more: John Alone With 3 Toddlers
• Joan Vera Gallson’s LifeJanuary 17, 2023
  Joan was born in Wauchula, Florida, January 4, 1925 to Florence Maude Peters of London, England and John Edward Gallson of Saaremaa, Estonia (born Johannes Ounpuu).  In 1929, the Gallson family, including her older sister Jean and younger brother Phil, moved from the United States to Widdifield, Ontario, area. Joan’s first memories are when she… Read more: Joan Vera Gallson’s Life
• Joan in TorontoDecember 12, 2022
  In 1942/43, my Mom went to Toronto to work at the Inglis factory which had been retrofitted for bullet and guns manufacturing in support of the war effort.  It was an opportunity for Mom to make the extra money she needed to pay for her wedding dress. She went with my Dad’s cousin, Iva Rose… Read more: Joan in Toronto
• Joan Gallson – GalleryDecember 10, 2022
• Joan Gallson – The TeenagerDecember 6, 2022
  Mom didn’t remember having any aspirations or dreams – only “to get the hell out of that house!” She consistently described her life as a child as horrible, filled with beatings and abuse by the hand of her stepmother who allegedly made unreasonable and impossible demands that could never be fulfilled.  Stories of sneaking food… Read more: Joan Gallson – The Teenager

Joan’s Pedigree