The Hemsley's

Gordon's grandfather Robert McEwan married Harriotte Hemsley a young woman whose family lived around the corner and down the road from the McEwan home in Downie Township. Harriotte was the daughter of Thomas and Harriotte Hemsley.  I have two  pictures of Harriotte's parents. But, aside from the pictures and the dates of births, deaths and other factual material that found its way into census and church records, I know almost nothing about who they were. What I do know is that Thomas Hemsley and Harriotte Patching were born in the early 1800's in Sussex County, England. They grew up in neighbouring villages a few miles north of the English Channel. They were married in 1831 (Remember that date. It is essential to one of the few stories I know about them) when he was 29 and she was 23. Sometime between then and 1845 they emigrated to Canada either following (or with) Thomas' younger brother William. It was William who first leased the land in 1842, and later purchased the deed to the farm which was located on the first concession of  Downie Township.  Now for my three stories:   Story 1.  From what we know Thomas and Harriotte had been childless from the time of their marriage in 1831 until they arrived in Canada.  And then it happened: Daughter #1 was born in 1845, followed by daughter # 2 in 1847, daughter #3 in 1848, and finally daughter # 4 in 1851. This story of the sudden fecundity has been told enough times in the family that I have made notes of it on at least two occasions.  When Gordon recorded the story in his reminiscences he suggested that it was something in the "Canadian clime" which allowed them to be blessed with four daughters.  Well, that is one possible explanation.   Now, to story 2: This story was told by Gordon's grandmother Harriotte about her father.  The family grew turnips on their land and it was the job of the girls and their father to hoe the turnips.  I am sure that it was a hot, dirty and tiring job.  Thomas, the father, would tell the girls that they only had to hoe until they found the magic turnip and that would be the signal to quit work for the day.  When questioned further about how they would know when they had found the magic turnip the father always reassured them that they would know when it was found. Of course, it was always he who found the magic turnip and it was always just about the time when the evening meal would be ready back at home. I am sure that no one was fooled. Story 3. This comes from Annie Warden a granddaughter of the Hemsley's.

Tuberculosis: the Dreaded Disease

Throughout the 1800's tuberculosis was a leading cause of death across the industrialized world. As with any disease in which the cause is unknown a whole body of myths grew up around the causes and prevention of the illness.  One such myth was that the germs that caused TB could be transmitted through clothing. Attached is a cartoon from the August 8th 1900 edition of Punch Magazine. The cartoonist Samuel Erhart illustrates - in dramatic form - the common belief that the trailing material in woman's cloaks could pick up germs from the streets. Once in the house the germs could be transmitted to innocent family members.  Rural Ontario was not immune from either the scourge of TB or the myths that grew up around the disease. A distant relative of Gordon's who lived in Perth County died of consumption in the early 1900's. After her death, a fur coat which she owned was given to her nieces.  Ten years later when the nieces each contracted and died of TB in their early 20's the conviction in the community was that the inherited fur coat was the culprit.  And this rumour instigated a second tragedy that these families had to face.  Not only did they lose family members but the whole family became tainted with suspicion of being carriers of consumption. Furthermore, I am sure that there was guilt and blame among both the family who gave the coat and the family who received the coat. Gordon who was born in 1914 remembers as a child that his mother and other family members did not want to be kissed by the those distant relatives.  And, as a child Gordon remembers being nervous about visiting the relatives because of the  "dreaded consumption".  

Perth County Fashions 1860's (pt. 2)

In the previous blog I posed the question of whether the dresses of woman in pioneer Perth County in the 1860's were a reflection of current fashions in Europe and the large centres of North America, or were they completed removed from the influences of the outside world. The early 1860's was a period in which hoops or multiple petticoats held the skirts out into a dome shaped floating circle. As the 1860's progressed the fashion designs began to show skirts that featured a slight movement towards the back. Then, as the decade progressed, sleeves narrow, and the circular hoops decreased in size at the front and sides and increased at the back. This shift in emphasis can be seen in the top picture taken in 1868 of Princess Louise, the daughter of Queeen Victoria. The next picture of an unknown woman, taken in the Cooper studio in London Ontario sometime after 1867, clearly shows the highthened emphasis on the train. In order to show off this new silouette, photographs begin to use a sideview photo of the subject. How quickly the fashions moved from London, England, to the big Canadian centres such as Montreal and then into the rural communities of Perth County is an interesting question. One website suggests that it was not uncommon for fashion plates to appear in North American periodicals a year or more after they first appeared in Paris or London. While the pace at which fashion trends moved through the different layers of society may be unclear, it is evident that young women in Perth County followed the fashion dictates of the time. The final two pictures show Gordon's grandmother Harriotte Hemsley and her younger sister Carrie in photos taken in the Owen studio in Stratford. Harriotte was born in 1850 and was married in 1872 and therefore it is reasonable to suggest that these pictures were taken in the 1860's. Based on the evidence of these pictures it would seem logical to conclude that young women in Perth County in the 1860's were aware of current fashions in the major centres of Canada and of Europe. While the material and the detail in the dresses worn by the women in Perth County might be less sophisticated than the comparable dresses worn in Europe, the differences were the result of social class and wealth rather than in geography.

Robert McEwan, Gordon's Grandfather

In a previous blog I told the story of John McEwan who was the first of the McEwans to settle in Perth County. He married Agnes Ballantyne who, like John, had been born in Scotland. Their first child who was born in 1849 and who was Gordon's grandfather, was named Robert. If John and Agnes had remained true to the traditional pattern of child-naming, then Robert would have been called after his paternal grandfather. However, since Agnes' father was also a Robert, it may have been that the baby was named after his maternal grandfather Robert Ballantyne. Few stories have been passed down about the character of Robert McEwan. What we do know is that in April 1872 he married Harriotte Hemsley. At first they lived on the Huron Road just west of Stratford and later moved further west to Kasterville. Finally they settled on Lot 19 Concession 3 in Downie on 50 acres of land just west of both the Ballantyne land and the Hemsley land. Here are pictures of Robert and Harriotte, likely on their wedding day, and of the house in which they lived with their three children, Harriotte, John, and Agnes.