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Giving Up a Dream

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My Great Grandad Jerry had a goal. He wanted to be a farmer on his own land. His grandfather, William Jerry and his wife Hannah, moved from Norfolk, England to Pickering, Ontario, Canada in the 1830s. They moved to a country where they could afford to purchase land rather than working as an agricultural labourer. Herbert Jerry (holding gun) with parents and 3 brothers   Grandad Jerry’s proper name was James Herbert Jerry, but everyone called him Herb. He grew up in a family that was very poor. They needed money so badly, that according to the story that my grandmother told me, when he turned 11 he was hired out to work on the farm of Mr. James Ballard. On his first day of work Mr. Ballard sent him home and told him not to return until his ripped and torn pants were replaced. The sight of Grandad in is ragged clothes had brought blushes to Mr. Ballard's daughters. The family was so desperate for money that his mother and sisters stayed up all night hand sewing him a new pair of pa...
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Branching Out

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  My maternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth “Lizzie” John(s), branched out from her family in Wales, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada. Why did she leave her home? It was done for love! Lizzie was born August 31, 1882 in Gwindy, a small farm near Whitchurch Pembrokeshire, Wales. (mapcarta.com). Her parents, Charles John(s), a farm laborer and Sarah Nicholas married at the register office in Haverfordwest a month after her birth, on September 30, 1882. My mother told me that Charles always denied that he was her father. Sarah insisted he was the father, even putting his name on Lizzie’s birth registration, even though the weren’t married. Charles and Sarah had 8 children, one who died as an infant. Lizzie, the oldest, is living with her family in the 1891 Census in Milford, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. However, by the 1901 census she is working as a domestic servant. There are two possible 1901 census records with Elizabeth John working as a domestic. One of them is in Ste...
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Sisters

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  I was fortunate to come from a large, supportive family of eight children. There were six girls and two boys. Yes, I have five sisters who can be bossy and opinionated but are always there for me. (My brothers are too, but his post is about sisters). I know I can rely on them. Which got me thinking about some of my female ancestors and examples of how they were supportive of their siblings. The Atkins Family William Atkins and Fanny Green of Buckinghamshire had seven children before Fanny died in 1904. There were five girls. Three of the girls, Beatrice, Alice, and Rosa were sent to Canada to work as domestics under the British Home Children program.  In this program, poor, charity-case children were sent Canada and often worked under difficult conditions. What amazes me about this family is that somehow, the sisters all kept in touch with each other. Rosa arranged for Kate to come to work at the same house she was at. Beatrice travelled from Moose Jaw Saskatchewan to visit ...
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