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.
Adah, Pennsylvania
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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 and my Dad’s sister Vera.
While working for Myrtle, Joan took a 3month course at Algonquin Secondary School with Lloyd’s other sister, Vera, and his cousin, Iva Rose. It was a training course for women who wanted to assist in the war effort. Joan took Drafting and Machine Shop. This course would also give Joan a good paying job in Toronto so that she could save for her wedding.
