The little village of Blakeney is between Almonte and Pakenham.  It is most likley that if Maggie had any free time she may have come down to this beautiful spot on the river and had a picnic or played in the water.  It was about 4 km for her to walk to school but the Mississippi River was only one km away from where she lived.

The Mississippi River is a tributary of the Ottawa River; it has no relation with the Mississippi River in the USA. 

In the late 1800's This area was very busy with a Sawmill, Gritsmill, Cheese Factory (Snedden) and a Woolen factory.

Hazelbrae the receiving home for grandma and her sister

Maggie Jane Kerr was my grandma, her sister was Mary Annie Kerr.  They both came to Canada as British Home Children.  Upon their arrival they stayed at Hazelbrae receiving home in Peterborough until they were accepted and placed in someone’s home. Grandma 12 and her sister 9 were sent to separate families. I can’t imagine how difficult that was for them.  

 Hazelbrae was torn down but you can see a photo of it at this link: https://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/hazelbrae-barnardo-home.html#PhotoSwipe1569272002190

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A Heritage marker was placed close to the location of the home on George street, Peterborough.  About 10,000 children stayed at Hazelbrae on their way to being placed with a family.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course the children had to go to church. I was lucky the church on George street was open, so I went in and took pictures.  I can't say the people there were very welcoming. There was a sign: NO Visitors. I went in anyway and wondered how welcome the little children felt going there back in the early 1900's. 

Reverand S.J. Shorey was at the church during grandma's time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the Hazelbrae monument with about 9,000 of the children’s names listed.  Just this year they added a whole new panel of names.  As new records are found the number of children acknowledged increases.  

The monument is at the corner of Church and Barnardo Street in Peterborough, Ontario Canada.  To look at all the names of those young girls taken away from family and country is quite moving. 

Hazelbrae was just a couple blocks away on George Street and the church (now United) is a few blocks further West on George St.

 

Every name is a child taken away from country and family in England

Here you can see me next to Mary Kerr and  Maggie Kerr’s names.

These are the girls sent to Canada in 1901.

This is an etching of what the home looked like.

Maggie Jane Kerr -Blakeney summary

When Maggie left Hazelbrae she went to a very small village called Blakeney.  It’s the kind of place where if you blinked you would miss it.  If you drive West of Ottawa for about 45 minutes you will find it right on the Mississippi River.  Yes, there is a Mississippi River in Ontario.   Almonte is the closest large town.

1901, June 19: The Barnardo records say that she was going to live with a Mrs W.S. Snedden of Blakeney - a farmer.

Barnardo Record for Maggie Kerr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn Snedden and Janice Davis - Blakeney

Through a bit of last minute research, I connected up with Marilyn Snedden a relation of the W.S.  Snedden family; she still lives in Blakeney.  She so kindly drove me around to see the area and showed me where the Snedden family lived, went to church, and to school.  She also gave me a copy of the family book she wrote ‘The Snedden Saga’.  This book helped me figure out more about the W.S. Snedden family.

I figure out from the book that it was the young family of William Stephen Snedden and his wife Harriet who requested to have Maggie work for them.  Maggie and her sister Mary were still in England for the 1901 census and boarded out to Samuel and Phoebe Parker Pulloxhill, Bedfordshire.  I will have to do some more research into that family.

 

But, from the 1901 census in Pakenham Township, Ontario, I see that William Snedden Sr. and his wife Eliza Ann Dickson, had their son William S. &  his wife Harriet and their 3 children living with them.  His other son Alexander lived near by with his wife and children.

So when 12 year old Maggie arrived she would have been taking care of William and Harriot's children: Ethel, age 9, Alice Kathleen age 3, and William just 1 year old.  Also William Sr. was 72 and Eliza was 69, and it sounds like neither were in very good health.  
Marilyn Snedden reported there was much illness and death that occurred in the home at 4139 County Rd No 29, Pakenham.  An obituary from 1893 says that this was the fifth death in 2 decades of the children from William and Eliza.  Many of their children died from TB.

4139 County Rd No 29 Pakenham. William and Eliza Snedden home where Maggie lived 1901-1908

In 1902 the Barnardo record makes mention of Maggie staying with the 'old people' while the 'younger people' moved to the North West Territories (Saskatchewan).  This is when the younger William Stephen, Harriet and their 3 children moved to Lumsden SK.

William Snedden Sr. died in 1906 at age 77, which left Maggie to care for the elder Eliza Snedden who was then 74.  Maggie left the Snedden's prior to Eliza dying in 1909 but I expect that she spent a lot of time taking care of her.  

It appears from various sources that William Sr. and Eliza's other son, Alexander, and his wife Abigail and their two girls lived in the house after William Jr Snedden moved to Sask.  The Snedden Saga states that William and Eliza moved into the village and Alexander lived in the house, but both William (1906) and Eliza (1909) died at lot 1 concession 8 which is 4139 County Rd. No 29.  Also there is no mention in the Barnardo records of Maggie changing houses so I think she stayed there.

My Uncle tells a story of his brother Bill going to the Snedden's home and not being welcomed in.  I wonder if this was the home in Pakenham Ontario and therefore it would have been Alexander living there, or if it was in Lumsden and therefore would have been William Jr.   We will never know for sure. Regardless they were not welcoming to him. Alexander died in 1927 in Pakenham likely his family remained on the farm.  William Jr. died in 1945 in Lumsden which is a half hour drive North of Regina, it appears that they also had a farm.   

In the next post I will show some photos of the school house and general country side.

Millbrook - William Preston Davis

As a British Home Child my grandpa, William Preston Davis (WP) sailed to Canada and took the train with other children to the Marchmont House receiving home in Belleville Ontario.  
He didn’t have to wait long at the home before he was on his way to Millbrook, a small town in Peterborough County.  

A good place to start this post on Millbrook is with the Grand Trunk Railway station.  WP arrived at this station on the 13 May, 1899.  He probably waited for someone to pick him up and wondered what this new life would bring.  He was 15 years old.

This photo of the train station is on the wall at the old school - now library - in Millbrook.

This photo is on the wall at the Red Lobster restaurant in Peterborough.  I saw it when I went for supper with Margaret Tinney.

WP lived with and worked for William Tinney in Cavan and learned the blacksmith trade.  He then moved to Millbrook and worked for Mr. Campbell.

This Barnardo document above, shows that in June 1903 WP had moved to Millbrook and was working in the blacksmith shop for Mr. Campbell.  It’s not clear from the document if he lived with Campbell or not.  It also doesn’t give a first name for Mr. Campbell.There was George Campbell family in Millbrook and we thought that was the one WP worked for but that Campbell was a farmer, so it didn’t fit.Initially I was told that the Campbell family of Millbrook went to the St. Thomas Anglican Church a pretty little church in town.

The photo above is the St. Paul's Anglican cemetery. You can see George Campbell listed on the document.  I was fortunate that there was a historical event at the cemetery and the chapel was open with displays.

 

I now believe that is not the correct Campbell family.  The Campbell who was a blacksmith in Millbrook was Henry Campbell - see below.

At the Trent University Archives (TUA) I found this old document which shows Henry Campbell a blacksmith in Millbrook. There were other blacksmiths but none with the name Campbell.  So I think this is the man WP worked for when he moved to Millbrook.I wondered if WP lived with Henry and I found my answer at the TUA.


The Voters’ List for 1904 Millbrook shows  Davis, William living on Ann Street and Campbell, Henry Blacksmith living on Tupper Street.   This shows me that WP was not living with Campbell in 1904.  He may have lived there initially because he was still ‘indentured’ with Barnardo’s and had not finished his time. Henry Campbell was not in the graveyard at St. Paul’s Anglican cemetery where people from St. Thomas were buried.  So which church did Henry and his family attend?  There were surprising number of churches in the small village of Millbrook, but I discovered that he attended St. John’s in Ida, the same church as the Tinney family.


St. John’s Ida. The minister, shown in the photo above, was the Ven. Thomas W. Allen 1853-1906.  WP attended this church with the Tinney and the Campbell families. So the connection between WP working for Tinney and then Campbell makes sense to me.  Tinney and Campbell were both blacksmiths in nearby towns, they probably were friends and when WP became a full blacksmith Henry Campbell hired him. 

Campbell is buried at St. John’s church yard in Ida.  I made a detour on my way back to Toronto and stopped in the pouring rain at Ida to take a photo of Henry Campbell’s grave.  The condition of the stone is poor with lots of moss on it.  I expect that no one comes to see this spot.  I cleaned it off as best as I could with my hand and took some photos (which won't upload right now). So I'll post later.

Photos of Millbrook

Millbrook is a village that has seen many movie production teams on its streets.  You will notice that there are no power or telephone lines on the Main Street.  They are buried.  This makes it a popular location for filming.

If you want to see they town look at 

• The Music Man (2003), 
  
• Ice Princess (2005),
  
• A History of Violence (2005),
  
• Sketches of a Small Town by Stephen Leacock (2011),
  
• Life with Robert Pattinson (2014) and
  
• Anne with an E.
  

But here are some of my photos of this lovely little place where my grandpa lived.Thanks to Kim for all her help
The Main Street which is called King Street

Hard at Work

Checking out a map of Cavan at the Trent University Archives.

Trent University Archives

My first half hour was spent trying to get TU IT to connect me to their new WiFi system.  A bit frustrating & although the finally did get me connected it is not reliable. 

Regardless I had ordered my boxes in advance so have been plowing through them. 

 

What did I already know?  In the town of Cavan William worked for William Tinney. In Millbrook he worked for a Mr. Campbell a blacksmith.

What did I find that's new?

The only Campbell on the voter list for 1901-05 is Henry Campbell a blacksmith.  Now we know who he lived with and I can research on him at a later time. We know the street he lived on.

In 1904 WP is on the form to add people to the voter list and his name is hand written on the actual voter list booklet. So it appears his name was added after the printed list was published.  This list was registered in Dec 1904.  It is not clear what date his name was added.  

William lives on Ann Street, Millbrook.  Henry Campbell lives on Tupper street, so WP remained in Millbrook after he was released from the Barnardo’s. 

 

Before lunch I was going through a file that is marked Immigration.  I’ve not found any info on WP but there are documents on other children.  I’ll make note of them and post the info on the BHC Facebook page in case someone is looking for information on them.  

Other notes about the archive.  Parking is not easily found. The archivist Jodi is very helpful. Being here makes me want to go back to university.  

The archives closes for lunch from 12:30-1:00 so it’s time to head back.