Day 51 Tues-Orphans, Tunnels and Canals!

Woke like clock work at 5am with a rotten headache…which as I am writing this at 5.30pm has hit again with a vengeance…who knows why, but I am sure drugs will help..

The saga of the frozen ice bricks continues 😫😫😫😩😩😩😢😢😢 doing my had in…I went to the desk yesterday afternoon to ask could they freeze my ice bricks and explained why… I gorgeous looking Indian girl Isha was her last day and had been chatting for around 10-15 mins with the Older gentleman at the desk…they both were having a wonderful conversation about Jaipur where she us from and he had travelled the world extensively and knew Jaipur well and was in fact flirting with this young women only she was a but to dumb to realise…eventually with a line up behind me, the man left…I asked Isha is she could have these Fri Prem showed them to her and she trolled off to the kitchen to as could they do it for me… only she said I had food in my bag I wanted melt cold..I am still starching my head how she got I had food in the bag…anyway they said no they couldn’t put food into their fridges with hotel food….😳🤪 ok let’s start the story again..I explained again. No this is only bottles of water I freeze and some ice bricks… I have food in my fridge in our room 307 that must have kept cold while we travel…😁😁😁 she smiled ok so off she went again to the kitchen…she came back smiling saying leave the bag with me… so I unsurely handed over my bag of half frozen ice bricks…I arranged to pick them up at 6.30 am, at 6.30 am I front th desk explained what I required and what Isha had organised yesterday…
So wait, wait, wait… next thing the chef arrives he had searched the fridge and no lime green bag filled with ice bricks…I explained the had to go in the freezer…He came back 10 ins Mater sort no bag in his freezer…so back to the main desk…where the young guy on the desk, said I’ll check the staff room…back he comes with my defrosted ice bricks they had been sitting I their bloody fridge…I was so angry I nearly ate him,… I know it wasn’t his fault but honestly his bloody thick are the staff on these desks… I am honestly having a nervous breakdown over stupid frozen ice bricks…just so we can carry food with us for breakfast etc…. Eating out 3 times a day is just so expensive but at this rate for my sanity I think I need to change how we are going about our self sufficiency….😫😫😫😫

Anyway as I unpacked the freezer bag this arvo…everything was still cool, not cold but cool enough not to spoil…whewwww it’s a flamin daily drama that’s a pain in the neck..firstly every room we book must have a fridge… then we have no idea if it’s got it’s own freezer and that’s a 50/50…until you open that fridge up you have no idea….

Anyways enough about my darn ice brick drama I am using this as therapy so I don’t have a mental breakdown 🤪🤪🤪😂😂😂!

So packed off up the Hwy we headed…once out of the city on our way to Ottawa I asked John if we were going anywhere near where my Great Grandfather had been as an Orphan here… I reread the story my cousin Elizabeth had sent me about GGWhiteside…he was mums grandfather…from her mothers side…
The sky’s were getting darker an angrier looking, we had a few very heavy storms hit us in the way there….had to stop at a Tim Horton’s for a cuppa on the way…it appears over 1/2 the freeway did 2 plus they had no eftpos so only cash…lucky we have some….

I’ll put Lib’s story in next and then the story I found about the whole saga…it was just so very sad…at the end of my story…long one today ….but you don’t have to read it all..

(Here ‘tis from Lib my cousin…..

Great grandfather ANDREW WHITESIDE.

As a 12 year old orphan, on 28th March, 1890 he left from the Quarrier's Orphan Home, Glasgow on the SS Siberian arriving in Canada on 10th April, 1890. Andrew was sent to the Fairknowe Home at Brockville where he didn't stay for long. In a statement from Mr. Quarrier the director of the home, he reports that "about 90 of the 129 boys who came here a week ago have been placed out, and it will be useless to apply for any over 10 years of age". Andrew, as one of the many older boys was 'placed out' to a farmer primarily to provide cheap or free labour. In the 1891 Canadian census, it is recorded that he was taken by farmers Allen & Parthena Ann Snider Mainse (Leeds South District, Ontario).

I remember my great grandfather however was too young to be interested in his life's story. Family folklore was that he was a stowaway on a ship to Canada so I was extremely surprised when I discovered that in fact his childhood must have been so traumatic and sad.

The trail of Andrew goes cold until he shows up, as a 19 year old on a Outward Passenger List of the ship Jumna departing London, England on 11 May 1897 bound for Brisbane, Australia with his only surviving brother (who did not go to Canada). At some stage, Andrew had made his way back to England however I'm at a loss when this occurred.)

Sadly Andrews mum seems to have disappeared from the story…His 4 sisters, 3 were sent to New Zealand and 1 into service in Glasgow…..poor young man, must have had a truly…Seems he went to serve in South Africa in the Boer War… His father had been killed in a mine explosion…his mother did get a pension from this.However an older returned solider marry her….not sure what happened to the money…but after a couple of years he left her destitute, she and Andrew were living on the streets of Glasgow when she was offered for him to be looked after and schooled in the orphanage…it seems his mother never wanted for him to go, but from the story below I would say they made it sound idealic and like he would have a better life than living in the streets with his mother…there is heaps more to the story I want to add but can’t find how to copy it…. If I can copy it…I’ll post at the end a story about the Orphan children in Canada…it’s a big story so no pressure to read..will keep this as a record of what happened… just so very sad….

(Lib just sent me this as well today….He went back to Scotland when he was 18 (the age they were allowed independence) Intermittently I follow the fb group of the British Home Children plus another similar but really, I realistically can only allot a certain amount of time to research - have actually done very little at all for the last couple of years at least). Essentially great grandad was a farm labourer (evidenced in a census) and stated as that until he turned 18. One day I’ll get back to it all and dig around for some more info.) He and his bother ended up on a boat coming to Australia when he was 19…

After Lib sent me all the info while were driving up the Hwy…we decided at the last minute to visit a Brockville… also known as the city of a 1,000 islands….ohh my goodness were we so glad we did…it was a treasure trove of delights with amazing buildings as well as. Rail-tunnel right in the middle of town we could walk through…I was blown away with some of the Edwardian style homes here…wish we had more time, but by the time we had a yukky pizza for lunch at the 1,000 Island Brewing Company….our time was running down…so off we headed to see the tunnel which was not far from the harbour that has a Tall ship moored…

The tunnel was very wet with stalactites growing from the minerals leaching out of the rocks and bricks used to make this unreal tunnel…it’s light up with colourful lights synchronised to music….it’s 1,750 feet long…14 ft high….and did I say very wet…my shoes were saturated….didn’t help that we got poured on once out heading back to the car quite a number of blocks away…I was in total awe of the magnificent homes around the city centre…. The tunnel was constructed by a crew led by BOOTH AND SON of Yorkshire, England. The first 400 feet at the southern end is unusual as this part of the tunnel is man-made and was designed to carry Water Street over the track. Later in 1863, Brockville's City Hall was built over a portion of this end of the tunnel.

Having been and seen what we could for our short time here we headed for Ottawa…once Coker we drive in on the scenic root which put us near the candle which seemed so many of…plus fair smack in the middle of town…wow oh wow the buildings here are stunning….I really do love architecture both old and new….John missed our turn to head to the motel tonight which ended up being a bonus…got to see more unreal buildings on our 2nd run around…

Arrived at our motel called Casino Motel…looked pretty ordinary from outside…. We couldn’t get in but eventually got the owner attention…a list if do’s and don’ts even though she us very friendly….the rooms are big comfy and yes it has a good size fridge with a freezer,.. another Rotter of a headache more drugs…it was such a splitter I started to think Covid….everything we get these days we panic it’s covid….silly me…it did go with the help of drugs…

After John had his poppy nap which are more and more theses days….this trip is wearing him down I can see that…anyway we headed out after 7 pm to find somewhere to eat….the lady in the office told us there are heaps of places to eat up the street to the left of the motel…so off we set….the whole area it turns out is French speaking, French writing and French nearly everything…plus the area is being revamped…so messy footpaths streets and out front of most buildings which really are homes not that nicer a home but a home many now turned into restaurants, hairdressers and the like.

Took us a bit but we did find a place but we did manage to find a Steak House….as soon as walked into this places and a couple of other places they started to Speaking to us in outright French….until we opened our mouths, many could but didn’t….. the 2 lovely waitresses thankfully could speak both, French and English….We bought Ribs and Chicken dinner….the chicken was in this amazing light crisp batter that just melted in mouth… plus what she called a tossed Salad…. With a ginger and lime dressing….wow the flavours were just so tantalising. ….The tossed salad was more like a Caesar salad……very different than ours tossed salad but very, very tasty…
Another day done…Family History included amazing sights.even good food all in all a good day…

(Story behind my Great Grandfathers early life…Andrew Whiteside….

From the late 1860s right up to 1948, over 100,000 children of all ages were emigrated right across Canada, from the United Kingdom, to be used as indentured farm workers and domestics. Believed by Canadians to be orphans, only approximately 12 percent truly were. These children were sent to Canada by over 50 organizations including the well-known and still working charities: Barnardo’s, The Salvation Army and Quarrier’s, to name a few.

CEO and founder of the British Home Child Advocacy and Research Association (BHCARA) Lori Oschefski says, “Barnardo’s sent over thirty thousand children here and was by far the largest organization sending children to Canada. Many BHC became known as "Barnardo Home Boys" despite the fact many came from other organizations.

For the most part, these children were not picked up from the streets but came from intact families, who, through sickness or even death of one of their parents, had fallen on hard times. Because there was no social system in place to help them get through these difficult circumstances, the family had no other way than to surrender their offspring to the organizations.

Sometimes this was meant to be a temporary solution until the family got back on their feet and there are cases on record where some parents went back to pick their children up, only to find that they had already been sent away. Sometimes the parents received an ‘after sailing’ notification, informing that their children had been emigrated a week before.

Once in Canada, the children were sent to receiving homes right across the country until farmers picked them up or they were sent on to their destinations with a cardboard sign around their necks. There were at least seven applicants for every child shipped to this country.

“These children are not to be confused with ‘Guest Children’ who were temporarily sent from evacuation zones in the U.K. to Canada during the Second World War to be kept safe from areas under attack. The British Home Children were sent away to work, some never to see their families again.

The child migration scheme was born during the Industrial Revolution. Traditional extended families were broken up and many moved to urban areas to find work and a better life. And so, if anything happened to one of the parents, there was no immediate family nearby to take them in. Abandoned British children lived and died in the streets and workhouses were overcrowded.

Emigration was seen as a brilliant solution. The children would be sent to Canadian farms under contract. The terms would require that children be housed, fed, clothed, and sent to school. A small fee would be paid for fostering younger children, older children would help with chores, and more extended labour would be required from adolescents. At 18, the terms of indenture were to be discharged. The clean, fresh air of a Canadian farm was seen as a definite better alternative to living in the slums of a large city.

Canada was marketed to the parents and the children as a haven within the storms of their lives where money grew on trees and the adventure of travelling to a land where cowboys and lumberjacks were, sounded appealing. The parents were relieved that a way had been found where their children would be safe and healthy.

However, the harsh truth was that the monitoring of children’s placements was often neglected, and many children found themselves essentially abandoned to new lives which were worse than the old. Siblings were separated. Girls assisted farm wives not only with housework and children but on the fields, as well. Boys became farm workers who were grossly overworked.

While some of the children were indeed accepted into the families they worked for and were practically adopted, many of these children suffered. Children could be ‘returned’ and reassigned. Many were moved from one farm to another. Some ran away or simply disappeared; some died from ill-health or injuries resulting from neglect and abuse, and some committed suicide.

In the very least, the belief in eugenics that was running rampant throughout the U.K. and North America caused children to be considered inferior stock to their Canadian counterparts. They were stigmatized as such, merely because they were poor and needed help. In communities where these children were meant to be fostered and nurtured, they were often taunted and made to feel shame for being a Home Boy or Home Girl. This shame caused many Home Children to remain silent about their backgrounds their entire lives.

Some influential political voices were raised against bringing the children to Canada in this way, but it was more about the dangerous and filthy ‘Street Arabs infecting’ Canadian society than it was about the welfare of the children.

During the First World War, many Home Boys enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, just to get back to see any family that they might still have in the ‘old’ country. Some ran away from their placements and lied about their age to achieve this or to get away from a bad or abusive placement. During the war no children were sent here.

The scheme began again in earnest in the early twenties. Many households were in dire straits after the loss of so many young men in the war and then the deaths of both men and women during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

It wasn’t until 1924 that children under the age of 14 were discouraged from being sent. Even so, some young ones slipped through the cracks. In any case, the majority of children continued to be sent right up until the advent of the Second World War, after which heightened social consciousness condemned the sending of any more children to Canada in this way.

Over ten percent of the current Canadian population are descendants of the Home Children, although many are still unaware of their heritage. This is one of the many reasons why the Home Children and their determination and perseverance deserve to have their huge contribution to the founding of our nation recognized and their stories heard.
Britain not only sent children to Canada, they also sent them, up to the early 1970's to Rhodesia, South Africa Australia, and New Zealand. In 2009 the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to the Child migrants who were sent their and in 2010 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offer their country's apology. To date, Canada has offered no aplology. Canada claimes there is not enough interest in the British Home Children and it wasn't even on the political radar.

"Canadians don't expect their government to apologize for every sad event in our history," sic (Jason) Kenney told reporters. "We have laid out some criteria for that, and the reality is we haven't seen a demand or an expectation for that." "This is not something that has really been on the radar screen. I haven't in my 12 years as an MP heard anyone ask for that.")Læs mere