Sisters

 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 her sisters, Kate and Alice, in Cochrane in Northeastern Ontario and Rosa’s obituary mentioned her living sisters. Despite of the separation the sisters endured, they managed to keep in touch. 

L to R Kate Harrison and Bea Letcher
Obituary of Rosa Atkins Conway

Phoebe Field and Emily Coleman
Phoebe and Emily were born to William Titchworth and Nancy Mulholland; Phoebe was born in 1849 and Emily in 1847. William and Nancy had three girls and three boys. When their mother died in 1856, Phoebe and Emily were sent to live with Hugh and Flora Aker. I believe Flora is their maternal aunt. I’m sure during this traumatic time the girls grew close to each other.

Both girls grew up and married. Emily married Darius Coleman on 1 Dec 1865 and lived in Caradoc, Middlesex County, Ontario. Unmarried, Phoebe moved with her father to Kansas between 1865 and 1870. While there, she married Edward Field. By 1881, she and her husband had moved to Metchosin, British Columbia with their infant son.

Phoebe was the recipient of many letters from her family. Although none of the ones I received were from Emily, the 2 women must have kept in touch. What interested me about these two, is that Emily had been living with her sister, Phoebe, in Metchosin  when she died. She’d been living with Phoebe for a year before her death. I can’t figure out why Emily was living with Phoebe. Emily’s husband died quite young, in 1911 while Edward, died in 1917 so it wasn’t to support the other after a spouse’s death. Emily had a son in Seattle, Washington. Did she move there and realize it wasn’t a good idea so moved in with Phoebe? Was Phoebe lonely and wanted company? Whatever the reason, it is touching that they supported each other.

Emily Coleman spent her last year in the home of her sister, Phoebe Field

Hannah Cranston and Mary Rhodes
Hannah Rhodes married James Cranston on the 16 July 1850 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. James had land in Essex County, Ontario, Canada where they lived for years. Hannah had an unmarried sister named Mary. I cannot conclusively find Mary in any census records in Canada or United States until 1901. The only reason I know Hannah had a sister Mary, is because she is in the 1901 census living with Hannah in the household of Hamilton and Emily Cranston (Taylor) and is listed as Hamilton’s aunt. It is most likely that Mary was unable to work in her older age and moved in with her sister.

After Hannah died in 1904, Mary continued to live with her nephew and his family until her death in 1912.

James and Hannah Cranston with Mary Jane, their daughter

Neil Munroe and Mary Jane Miller
This isn’t a story about a sister helping another sister. Instead, it is about a brother helping a deceased sister. I had always been told that Neil and  Mary Jane Munroe had no children. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they had a daughter, Mary Christine, in the 1901 census. Suspicious, I looked at the 1911 census which said she was adopted. 

Past research has shown that family members would take in a child when a woman died. I knew it wasn’t on the Miller side, so I researched Neil’s family and discovered that Neil had a sister Rosina who married Arthur Robson. Rosina died when her daughter was 4 years old. Neil and Mary Jane, with no children of their own, took in and raised Mary Christina. This is a case of brother helping brother-in-law

Mary Jane Miller Munroe on right
Mary Christina Robson
Neil Munroe on right with father-in-law Thomas Miller

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