Month: August 2016

Jennie’s early travels

Gwen Harris Fleming Lives ,

Jennie Fleming, Alexander and Jean’s youngest daughter,  was 29 years of age in June 1869 when she boarded a steamer in

Jennie-Fleming
Jennie Fleming

Owen Sound to  Collingwood and then rode by train over very rough tracks to Toronto.  Her journal of this trip has survived containing the log of the stops on the rail line and the places they visited.  We presume she was travelling with another person though she does not reveal any names.

The trip had several purposes: to attend a Disciples convention in Bowmanville, to see some sites in Toronto, and to procure dry good supplies for the store in Kilsyth. You are welcome to read the full account as best we could transcribe it from this document in our Dropbox folder.

This same diary has a short account of her trip in September 1871 on the steamer Meteor from Marquette on Lake Superior in Michigan to southern Lake Huron.  Again – no companions are named but she might have been with her brother Charles and his new wife Eliza (Lyda) Warren. She doesn’t say whether the steamer took them home to Owen Sound, or they had to journey by train. The voyage, however, seems to have been  blissful – no storms, no accidents.

View Diary of Jennie Fleming 1869-1872

 

Small progress report

Gwen Harris Announcements, Uncategorized , , ,

Although this blog has been very quiet we have been making progress in further research into the lives of  Alexander and Jean (Stewart) Fleming’s family.

Ruth Larmour was fortunate to have in her possession a journal written by Jennie Fleming of her travels from Kilsyth to Toronto by train in 1869, and to Marquette, Michigan by steamer in 1871. The diary has been donated to Grey Roots Museum and can be viewed there, but we will make the transcription and our notes available through this blog as well.

Jennie-Fleming-diary-page-cropped-sm

We are also pleased to announce that the Bruce County Historical Society will be publishing in the 2017 Yearbook Edition – The Fleming Family: Early Oliphant Campers  –  Ruth Larmour’s recollections and reminiscenses  of the many Flemings who camped in the Fishing Islands of the Saugeen Peninsula from 1885 to the present, and especially of  her cottage, Clan Stewart Camp, on Little Squaw established by Jennie Fleming and her nephew Roy in 1906.

From this point forward, we’ll post something about new work on the family history each month. Please send questions or comments.

Fleming Sports Day August 13, 2016

Gwen Harris Announcements

The Fleming Sports Day is being held at Leith, outside Owen Sound, in Grey County on Saturday August 13, 2016. This is an annual event (usually) at which descendants of Alexander Fleming (1799-1869 ) and his grandson, Christopher A. Fleming (1857-1945) of Owen Sound and their friends gather to partake in competitions, food, and friendship along the shore and at family cottages. It’s day long from 9 am to 5 pm.  If you’re a Fleming descendant or friend drive  into Leith and look for signs for Fleming, McKay, Lewis.

Ruth (Fleming) Larmour will be conducting tours of the historic Springfield House (originally in Derby Township) that is on the estate, and will be available to answer your questions  about the history and genealogy of the Fleming family of Derby Township.

springfield-house-4x6
Springfield House – Leith, Grey County