After the death of Joseph Henry Peters in 1910, Hannah would have struggled I'm sure to make ends meet. Perhaps the Great West Railway helped her out.
My curiosity got the better of my wallet and I paid Find My Past to see the 1921 Census for Hannah. And I got a BIG surprize!
Hannah Peters; Head; 51y4m; F; Widow; ... Office Clearner @ Great West Railway, Paddington Ellen Peters; Daughter; 27y10m; F; Single; ... quilt Machinist @ Manor Park Works, Harlesden Edith Peters; Daughter; 18y4m; F; Single; ...Quilt Machinist @ Manor Park Works, Harlesden Albert Peters; Son; 16y2m; M; Single; ... Shop Assistant @ Matthews & Steel, Harlesden Phyllis Peters; Daughter; 7y5m; F; Father Dead; Full Time student Rose Smith; Sister; 39y2m; F; Single; ... Calander & Laundry @ Highfield Model Laundry
Phyllis? Daughter? Born 1924? When Joseph is dead and Hannah is 44? Nah nah, I say. (quoting John Pinet!!)
Who is this Phyllis?
This is totally Hannah throwing herself under the bus for someone. And I have much admiration for her. But who is she covering for?? Ellen or Florence? That in itself is question that may never be answered, even with DNA. But I know its one of them. All I have is the evidence and you can make your own decision.
I now know where Vera comes from - Phyllis Vera Peters. Gramma Gallson (Florence) named her 2nd born JoanVera.
Gramma Gallson's oldest child, Jean, named her first "born" Colleen Phyllis. She doesn't know why she chose Phyllis - says she just "liked" the name.
We know that Gramma Gallson names her children after special people - how special is Phyllis Vera to her?
Gramma Gallson was 16 when Phyllis was born (Ellen was 18) - could have been either.
My sister Carol thinks Gramma Gallson would not have left her child in England and immigrated to Canada in 1920. But I think she may have, if she had the intention of bringing her over once she got established. And with that in mind, she would have talked about Phyllis to her American born children. Aunt Jean would have heard Phyllis's name repeatedly. Aunt Jean and Mom were VERY chatty people and Gramma Gallson was likely the same.
Phyllis looks amazingly like Aunt Jean.
Phyllis with husband Bernard
Jean (middle) with Joan and Phill
If I have it right, Phyllis is a half-sister to Jean, Joan & Phil. And now the children's names had a "ring" to them: Phyllis & Phillip, Jean & Joan.
The resemblance could follow through Ellen as well.
So now I moved forwarded:
42A St. Mary's, Willesden, London
Phyllis wouldn't be of voting age yet.
1935 Electoral Register - 67 Victoria Ave., Wembley, London
1936 Electoral Register has the same address, same people
1937 Electoral Register - same address, same people with the addition of Bernard Bramwell Thorpe. Bernard and Phyllis were married Q2 1937
Interesting piece of history here:
About 1939 England and Wales Register
Historical Context
Initially taken due to the onset of war with the purpose of producing National Identity Cards, the register later came to be multi-functional, first as an aid in the use of ration books and later helping officials record the movement of the civilian population over the following decades and from 1948, as the basis for the National Health Service Register. The 1939 Register is an extremely important genealogical resource, not only for the rich detail and information recorded for each person and household, but also in helping to bridge a thirty-year gap in census data. The census taken in 1931 was destroyed during the Second World War and no census was carried out in 1941 due to the ongoing conflict. The register, as held by The National Archives, contains data only for England and Wales and does not include records from households in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
1939 Electoral Register Same address, only Hannah, Ellen and Edith and one "still living" therefore redacted. Not sure who this would be since Phyllis and Bernard moved out. (see below) Perhaps Albert moved back in?
1939 Electoral Register
Hannah Louisa - passed away January 28, 1948 leaving £1070 to her two daughters. I note that Phyllis is not mentioned and even though Phyllis was married and on her own, I think that if Phyllis were Hannah's true daughter, she would have been included in the probate.
On paper, according to documentation, Phyllis Vera Peters is the illegitimate daughter of Hannah Peters, and sister to Florence Peters, my grandmother.
Phyllis Vera Peters showed up on the 1921 British Census, within the family unit of Hannah, Ellen, Edith and Albert Peters. The mystery is whose daughter is Phyllis REALLY? Her birth registration lists Hannah as her mother, with no father. Hannah would have been 45 at the time, so I have come to the conclusion that Phyllis was either Ellen's or Florence's daughter.
I felt that if I could find a descendant of Phyllis, perhaps I'd get the answers I was looking for. So I continued my search through the Electoral Registers.
1946 Electoral Register - 89 Tudor Court
1954 Electoral Register - 89 Tudor Court Bernard is on the bottom of the previous column
Ellen has passed away. I recorded her passing as 1962, however I actually do not know if this is true.
My next step would be to try and find any Canning on Facebook and in particular Suzan Dove nee Canning and Brenda Canning nee Thorpe. I felt that women might be more inclined to keep old boxes of photos and memorabilia.
I found a marriage between a Suzan Canning and a Dove. Looking from the other "side", I could find a marriage between a JONATHAN Dove and a Canning.
I searched Facebook for months, looking for a Suzan Dove, Suzan Canning, Stephen Canning or Paul Canning in England. And then..... I find her. Suzan Birdsall Canning, who has "Friends" who are Dove's and a brother Paul!! I messaged her a few time, but I saw she wasn't very active on Facebook, but Paul was. So I FB messaged him and he messages back promising to tell Suzan to message me.
AND SHE DID!
This is a picture I already had of "Edie in her garden". This one and Gramma Gallson's passport picture were the only pictures we had of the Peters.
Suzan sent me this picture of Edie! Ancestry has a "colorize" option. It looks great!
This is a picture of Phyllis and Bernard Thorpe.
Bernard & Phyllis
Suzan let me know that her Mom, Brenda Thorpe was adopted. Phyllis had a son, Phillip, who only lived a few days, and then adopted Brenda. I was a little disappointed but Suzan also told me that her "Gran" (Phyllis) was very dear to her and she had great memories of her. Brenda died a couple of years ago (around 2020ish).
Suzan also had very fond memories of Aunt Edie and then revealed the open family secret: Brenda was actually the daughter of Aunt Edie and when Aunt Edie was dying she told Brenda that she was real family - not an outsider. Edie was born in 1903 and Brenda was born in 1943. The story is likely true. Phyllis would have known that when SHE was born, Hannah adopted her to save whatever scandelous repercussions against the reputations of Florence or Ellen. So Phyllis likely didn't think twice to adopt Aunt Edie's baby as her own, her only son having died as an infant.
Suzan was born Canning and married Jonathan Dove. They had 3 children and then Jonathan died. Suzan entered into a relationship with Giovanni Lisi and had 2 more children. She is now with Mark Birdsall and goes by Suzan Birdsall.
Shortly after this, Shelley Canning reached out to me on Facebook. She is Suzan's younger sister. Shelley had Aunt Edie's scrapbook which is where the drawing of Gramma Gallson came from. I hope to get more insight into this scrapbook soon.
UPDATE: Suzan Birdsall passed away January 2024, and her father passed away Christmas Day 2023.
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.
Pennington, Oswald Franklin; SS 'Metagama' Leaving Liverpool; Comhairle nan Eilean Siar; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/ss-metagama-leaving-liverpool-166581
This is from the Library and Archives Canada website from 2010, which I can no longer find:
Settlement Schemes by Glen Wright, Library and Archives Canada
Introduction
The genesis of post-First World War settlement schemes began in Britain during the war as a plan to settle ex-service men and women throughout the Empire. An Overseas Settlement Committee was established and, for the first time, the British government took a direct interest in emigration. Legislation was passed, agreements were entered into with the various Dominions, and potential emigrants were recruited and selected to resettle in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These initiatives made the 1920s a unique decade in the history of British immigration to Canada.
To me, Grampa was always "old". In 1960, when I would have my first memories of Grampa, he was 80. So, yes, he was old. Between 1960 and 1968 (the year we moved from Rutherglen to Porcupine), I remember going to Aunt Edna's house many times for many occasions and seeing Grampa. I don't remember him at our house, which had been his home for many years.
The tale that was passed down to us was that as a teenager, Grampa stowed away on a British freighter and made his way to Canada. This is sorta-kinda true except perhaps the part about stowing away and the freighter. The closest truth to stowing was that Grampa left without telling his family and maybe without telling the Russian government.
My own memories of Grampa are very sparse. He smoked a pipe and he said god-damn a lot in his broken English. Everything was god-damn-this and god-damn-that, but he said it like it was just a part of the sentence. “I went to the god-damn store and bought some god-damn butter… I milked the god-damn cow and had some god-damn supper…”
Mom remembered having a dog when she was a child and they weren’t allowed to feed the dog at the table, but Grampa would sneak food off his plate to a waiting mouth under his dinner plate saying, “Take that, god-damn-ya!”
Johannes Õunpuu was born in Mustjala County, on Saaremaa Island, Estonia, an isolated island facing the Baltic Sea. The day he was born in 1896 was November 12. At that time Estonia was using the Julian calendar, but in February 1918, the country adopted the Gregorian calendar and 13 days were added to all prior birthdates to make up for an 11-minute per year drift. Therefore, in official Estonian records , Grampa’s birthdate is November 25. However, Grampa consistently reported his birthday to be November 13 on all his army documents.
In 1896, the country was still a territory of Imperial Russia. Czar Nicholas II had just become the emperor after the death of his father Alexander III in May of that year. There was a lot of tension between the wealthy German minority and nobility who “hindered the russification of the country and Estonia continued to serve as an outpost of Western culture.” This is a quote from a booklet sent to me by Kaido, my Estonian cousin. I was surprised to learn that Estonians are not ethnically or linguistically related to Russians, Germans, Latvians or Lithuanians, all of whom are Slavic, Germanic and Baltic origin. Estonians are closely related to Nordic peoples, especially the Finns and descendants of Vikings.
Mom told us to never say Grampa was from Russia or was Russian. That was a big NO-NO!
In 2025, I relented to a friend’s “no regrets” insistence and decided to subscribe to Apple TV. The first show I watched was The Reluctant Traveler with our own funny Canadian Eugene Levy. In Episode One, he was in Finland, the origins of the Estonian people.
Eugene’s summary is that Finns are the happiest people in the world. And the top three things that are important to them are family, animals and simple.
Most recently, in April 2025, I watched Sisu, a fantastical and over the top film on Netflix about a Finnish man who, against all odds and logic, survives being hunted by the Germans after the end of the war. (Yes, I watch too much TV.) While there’s no direct translation of the Finn word sisu, its meaning is a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds. In the end, I could sense and see my grandfather in this almost Marvel-type character.
One of the most intriguing things about 23andMe was their DNA matching option to Historical DNA from archeological digs around the world. So when ancient Viking DNA matched my DNA, I didn’t even have to question that it came from my paternal side. Vikings' personality traits, according to Google, are courageous, independent, adventurous, honourable, disciplined and industrious. A letter from Grampa’s brother, Eduard, in Estonia mentions a fence that Grampa built to surround the family property before he left at age 16.
Knowing some history of Estonia and my grandfather’s backstory was extremely important in forming the full picture of my grandfather, why he thought the way he did, what motivated him and in the end, what pushed him into suspicion and silence.
Grampa was a typical Estonian in being well educated in a country where elementary school was free and compulsory. While Russia’s illiteracy rate was 70.4 percent, Estonia’s was 3.8 percent. During the 1940s and 1950s, Grampa wrote many letters to Eduard, his brother, which I had translated into English. My translator, Ellen, was impressed with Grampa’s writing and said she could tell he was well educated. He also had beautiful penmanship. My mother thought the letters would likely have been written in secret, as Mary forbade Grampa from speaking or communicating in Estonian.
At the time Grampa left his homeland, Estonia and half of Latvia were sometimes called Lifland or Luuimaa in Estonian. In one of Grampa’s military documents, he claims his birthplace as Arensberg, Lifland, which was previously Kuressaare until the Russian occupation.
Estonian peasants got their surnames between 1822-1835. In fact, the 1826 Estonian census is the first one where peasants are listed with surnames. They were previously known by the farms they lived on. Also because Estonian documents were often written by Germans or Russians, the surname Õunpuu was misspelled as Ounpu or Aunpuu or Aunpu because in the Russian or German language, there’s no letter for Õ.
It seemed next to impossible to not only locate the Estonian documents I needed, but then I couldn’t read them. They were written in Estonian or German. Luckily, I connected with a relative, Maale Jaagola, in Estonia who went to the archives at the University of Taartu, retrieved documents, translated them and mailed them to me. Maale only asked that I reimburse him for his costs.
Grampa was the oldest of nine children of Mihkel Õunpuu and Leen Toompuu. Two of the children died as babies which was sadly common at the time. What is a little different is that the next child to be born after the death of the baby, was given the same “christian” name as the one who died. So Grampa had two brothers named August and two brothers named Eduard.
When Grampa left Estonia at the age of 16, he left behind two sisters, Aliise age 2, Juuli age 8, and two brothers Juulius age 9 and Kaarl age 12. He had witnessed the birth and death of another baby sibling August in 1903. My grandfather had pictures of Juuli, Juulius and Kaarl with their birth and death years on them. All in all, Leen Toompuu had lived through the deaths of four children, before dying in 1932.
On Saaremaa Island where Grampa was born, surnames assigned or chosen were based on many different elements including nature and thus my ancestors chose Õunpuu meaning "apple tree"; a compound of õun (apple) and puu (tree). Ellen told me over tea one day that my great-grandmother’s surname, Toompuu, is based on a blooming tree in Estonia similar to Canada’s dogwood tree.
In a letter from Kaido Õunpuu, Grampa’s nephew in Estonia, dated June 1, 1988, he says “He (Grampa) lived a short time in Tallinn and then escaped on board a ship to England.”
Documents actually show that in 1913, before the Russian revolution, Johannes Õunpuu, age 16, was possibly recruited by Alexsander Matt, a fellow Estonian born in Arensburg, who at the age of 19 had already made several ocean crossings, always with a different group. On June 13, the S.S. Columbia made its way from Finland to Glasgow, carrying Estonians, Finns and Russians whose destination was “CPR, Chapleau, Ontario”, Canada. On June 16 the ship arrived at Ellis Island, New York. The ship’s manifest states he is able to read and write English, while this may have been true, he couldn’t speak English. He had $25 and his destination was a “friend”, Johannes Lonn, in Chapleau.
I have no proof that Grampa ever made it to Chapleau, as my enquiries to CP Rail were dead ends. They claim they never kept any of those records. Canadian Pacific Railway were huge supporters of the war effort and encouraged their workers to sign up, offering six-month wages to full time workers and their jobs back upon their return from the war. All this brings me to the conclusion that he never made it there, otherwise, why would he not go back to CPR. By the time Grampa enlisted, he would have had three years with the railroad, qualifying him for the incentive.
Sometime before 1916, Grampa changed his name from Johannes Õunpuu to John Edward Gaalson, which morphed over the years to Gaallson, then Gallson. There is no Estonian word “Gaalson” and even though the suffix “son” was observed in Estonia as being “son of”, the word “gaal” means nothing. Also, in the Estonian birth registry, there’s no indication that Grampa had a second name, and if he did, it wouldn’t have been Edward. John’s youngest brother was Eduard, which leads me to conclude that Grampa’s second name was a fabrication as well. According to the Vital Statistics from Tallinn, none of the Õunpuu family had second names.
UPDATED March 27, 2024: Email response regarding an query I made for information from the E-J Tanner and Shoemake Archive: Thank you for contacting the Syracuse University Libraries. I’m copying our Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) on this message, as this department maintains the papers of members of the Johnson family. The SCRC appreciates your… Read more: Gallsons in Endicott, New York
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
The following is extracted from my book STIGMA (V3), so some of the content may feel out of content. Phillip John Gallson was born in Zolpho Spring, Florida on March 18, 1926. Part of Uncle Phill’s story is pivotal to GG’s story even though he was only three and a half years old when he… Read more: Gallson: Phillip John
Below is a Timeline of John Gallson's life as my sister, Donna and I have been able to put together using military and life documents. There are many interesting things in this table, some surprizing and some trivial. For me, the most significant year is 1930. Gramma Gallson was committed to a mental asylum in… Read more: John Gallson – Life Timeline
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… Read more: Johannes Õunpuu leaves Estonia
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. … Read more: John Gaallson – World War I
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… Read more: Õunpuu: Mihkel
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… Read more: John Gallson – Obituary
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,… Read more: John Joins the US Army
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… Read more: John’s Post-Army Life in USA
Below is a map sketched by Hilda Howard, Mom's half-sister, when I visited her in Toronto the in late 1990's maybe. So while she was trying to remember the layout of the Mattawa farm, she also was remembering things about Grampa.
Aunt Jean was the first of three children born to Grampa and GG. She was born January 10, 1923 in Shawmont, Waterville, Maine. She was baptized on April 15 at the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Waterville. Aunt Jean worked from the moment she could walk out the door of the Mattawa childhood home, continuing… Read more: Gallson: Jeannette “Jean” Ellen
Joseph Philip Peters was born in 1838 in Newry, Armagh, Ireland. He was Florence Maud Gallson’s grandfather. Joseph signed up with the Royal Navy and served on the HMS Hastings in 1859 as a Seaman 2nd Class. However, in the 1861 census, Joseph was onboard the HMS Topaze “a 51-gun Liffey-class wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy” in the Esquimalt… Read more: Peters: Joseph Philip
WW1 – Volunteered in 1915 and was sent to the Eastern Front where he took part in heavy fighting in the Dardanelles. On the evacution of the Gallipoli Peninsula he was draftered to Egypt and served in the important operations in that theatre of war, but contract malaria. He was in hospital for some time,… Read more: Peters: Joseph Henry
UPDATED March 27, 2024: Email response regarding an query I made for information from the E-J Tanner and Shoemake Archive: Thank you for contacting the Syracuse University Libraries. I’m copying our Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) on this message, as this department maintains the papers of members of the Johnson family. The SCRC appreciates your… Read more: Gallsons in Endicott, New York
Post UPDATED... I finally have the death registration of Philip James Peters, Grandma Gallson's brother and Edith's twin. It say Philip died March 9, 1907, age 4, of acute capillary bronchitis, pulmonary congestion. Place of Philip's death is the same address as Grandma's birth.
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
Post UPDATED... Suzan was the daughter of Brenda Canning and the granddaughter of Phyllis Vera Peters. Suzan Birdsall Obituary, Death - January 21, 2024 - London, England – Suzan Birdsall, who was affectionately known as Sue, passed away, and it is with profound grief and heavy hearts that we share this news with you. Earlier… Read more: Canning: Suzan (m. Birdsall)
Click here to read update I finally decided to make an application to the Archives of Ontario, under the Freedom of Information Act, to get any documentation existing on my grandmother, Florence Peters. It was surprizingly easy.I filled out a very simple form, giving very brief information about GG (Gramma Gallson), why I wanted the… Read more: Freedom of Information
The Treatment Act of 1930 replaced the Lunacy Act 1890 which stipulated that anyone admitted had to be "certified" which required a magistrate's oversight - in other words, needed a warrant. Also, there was NO option for self-discharge.
The following is extracted from my book STIGMA (V3), so some of the content may feel out of content. Phillip John Gallson was born in Zolpho Spring, Florida on March 18, 1926. Part of Uncle Phill’s story is pivotal to GG’s story even though he was only three and a half years old when he… Read more: Gallson: Phillip John
My sister Carol and I have had many discussions on Gramma's mental illness. It is puzzling to us. It makes no sense to us that one person in a family, randomly, out of no where, has a mental illness that incapacitates them so severely that they're admitted to an insane asylum, never to be released… Read more: Gramma & My Meandering Thoughts
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… Read more: John’s Post-Army Life in USA
After the death of Joseph Henry Peters in 1910, Hannah would have struggled I'm sure to make ends meet. Perhaps the Great West Railway helped her out. My curiosity got the better of my wallet and I paid Find My Past to see the 1921 Census for Hannah. And I got a BIG surprize! Hannah… Read more: Smith: Hannah Louisa (m. Peters)
On paper, according to documentation, Phyllis Vera Peters is the illegitimate daughter of Hannah Peters, and sister to Florence Peters, my grandmother. Phyllis Vera Peters showed up on the 1921 British Census, within the family unit of Hannah, Ellen, Edith and Albert Peters. The mystery is whose daughter is Phyllis REALLY? Her birth registration lists… Read more: Peters: Phyllis Vera (m. Thorpe)
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.
This is from the Library and Archives Canada website from 2010, which I can no longer find: Settlement Schemes by Glen Wright, Library and Archives Canada Introduction The genesis of post-First World War settlement schemes began in Britain during the war as a plan to settle ex-service men and women throughout the Empire. An Overseas… Read more: Overseas Settlement Committee
Florence's time in Canada from February to October will likely remain a mystery but on October 23, 1920, she attempted to cross the American border to Buffalo, NY. I say "attempted" because there are TWO border crossing forms. The first one on October 23, 1920 is stamped REJECTED, but is then marked "passed NF 10/25/20"… Read more: Florence – Domestic Whirlwind
The pictures below are the only toddler pictures we have of my Mom (Joan), Aunt Jean and Uncle Phil. Its very odd there aren't more, because the picture of Grampa with Aunt Jean as a baby shows they had a camera. The story that Mom relayed was that Mary originally told the children that Mary… Read more: Florence in Widdifield and Hospitalized
Below is a drawing sent to me by Shelley Canning, who is the granddaughter of Phyllis Vera Thorpe (nee Peters) (I'll add a post about this later). Long story short, Phyllis was registered at birth as the daughter of Hannah Peters, Gramma's mother, so, on paper, Gramma's half-sister. Gramma's older sister, Ellen, and younger sister,… Read more: Florence – the Drawing
Hannah married Joseph Henry Peters on Christmas Day 1890. Because Smith is such a popular name, its important to find a few collaborating pieces of evidence. So addresses and occupations are important here.Joseph: 23 Walmer Road - Fa:Joseph Peters - Seaman (deceased by 1890)Hannah: 21 Walmer Road - Fa: James Smith (b. 1843) - China… Read more: Hannah Smith’s Rabbit Hole
St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital - abandoned now, in St. Thomas, Ontario. This website has LOTS of pictures of the hospital in its abandoned, run down, condition. St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital - Ontario Abandoned Places (talkingwallsphoto.com) Interesting note on this webpage: "January 2020 – Actor Jason Momoa intends to film a post-apocalyptic television show inside the former… Read more: St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital
Florence's time in Canada from February to October will likely remain a mystery but on October 23, 1920, she attempted to cross the American border to Buffalo, NY. I say "attempted" because there are TWO border crossing forms. The first one on October 23, 1920 is stamped REJECTED, but is then marked "passed NF 10/25/20" with her passport number. The second one is dated the day she actually crossed the border. I am assuming that the normal procedure to cross the border for non-Americans included a 2-day waiting period. The information on these cards are repeated on the large list below.
Mae Helen “Maisie” Huard (nee Gallson), passed away peacefully at the Algonquin Nursing Home in Mattawa, Ontario, in the early morning hours of March 22, 2022. She was 82 years old.
The pictures below are the only toddler pictures we have of my Mom (Joan), Aunt Jean and Uncle Phil. Its very odd there aren't more, because the picture of Grampa with Aunt Jean as a baby shows they had a camera. The story that Mom relayed was that Mary originally told the children that Mary was their real mother and that Gramma Gallson was there looking after them while Mary was away. This would mean that Mary would need to destroy any photo that existed of Gramma with her children.
In 1976, my sister Carol wrote to the Ministry of Health, St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital, asking for information about Gramma. At that time, the hospital preferred to communicate with physicians, so instead of answering Carol directly, they sent a letter to Dr. Wall, Carol’s doctor in North Bay.
The additional information given here is that Gramma was only in St. Thomas Hospital from November 1945 to February 1960 - less than 15 years. She was actually in Toronto for the first 15 years of her commitment, from December 1929 to November 1945. Its very ironic that Mom worked and lived in Toronto in 1942. From Frankish Avenue to New Toronto Mental Asylum is a 50-min transit ride. So close and yet so far!
Carol wrote again in 1980, requesting more information.
From December 21, 1929 to November 9,1945 Florence was at New Toronto Hospital when she was transferred to St. Thomas hospital. This letter says she lived in Mattawa, but all documentation shows she was only in Widdifield.
Below is a picture of the New Toronto Hospital from inside one of the "cottages".
The Mimico Asylum was referred to as a "cottage system" with underground tunnels connecting all the cottages. This is the best site I found with pictures and history of the hospital. (CLICK HERE). The verandas have been removed and the buildings and property are now the Lakeshore Campus of Humber College.
Interesting side-story:
In all the years I lived in Toronto, I only ever tried to find the "hospital" by just driving around the area where the downtown hospital used to be. I didn't do a lot of research and only had a foggy idea about the "cottages". I even took Mom for a drive once to look around in an area I thought may have been where the hospital used to be, but didn't find anything interesting. Around 2010, I joined a theatre group called Etobicoke Players and volunteered to work as their Front of House Manager. I drove to the building where they held the plays, an older early 1900's type building, parked the car and looked straight ahead out the front windshield and saw this.
And I knew immediately what I was looking at. It was an epiphany!! 🙂 I remember saying out loud, "Holy crap! Thank you Gramma!"
In 1986, I wrote to the St. Thomas hospital, trying to prob them for more information.
Years later, I went to the Ontario Archives and made a personal request for information and this is all they would give me.
And in 1988, I wrote to Mary Morrison asking for information as I had nothing to lose.
