Author: Gwen Harris

1931 Canada Census

Gwen Harris Canada Census, Resources , , , ,
Excerpt from 1931 Canada Census – Schedule for Population – North Grey, Derby, Ontario

The event all genealogists in Canada have been waiting for has arrived: Library and Archives Canada released its digitization of 234,678 images of the 1931 Canada Census on June 1, 2023. The collection is open for browsing by location – province, district and sub-district. (1)   Eight days later, Ancestry, using its Handwriting Recognition software,  delivered  a searchable indexed database to subscribers. Family Search will soon follow with its index. Images may also be browsed by province and district at FindMyPast.

The enumerators recorded details on more than 10.3 million people. Canada’s population after the First World War had grown 18% from the 8.7 million of 1921. Many immigrants were from Europe, attracted to agriculture in the Prairie provinces. At the same time and especially in Ontario the urban population surpassed the rural as men and women left farms to work in factories and offices. Trouble appeared in the late 1920s with crop failures in the west and the stock market crash of 1929 in the east. By 1931 the Great Depression had taken hold with rising unemployment, homelessness and hunger. By 1933 unemployment was 33%. During this time, the Prairies were beset by drought and insects  to bring on the Dirty Thirties. Not all were devastated: property owners and people with jobs fared much better. These outcomes are captured in the data on house values, income, and employment. (2)

The Census provides a snapshot of how families were managing across the nation. Questions concerned housing, income, employment, ethnicity, nationality, education – and, very interestingly, possession of a radio.    

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How Kilsyth Almost Got a Train Station

Gwen Harris Derby Township, Owen Sound , , , , ,

The 1850s was the decade of railway fever in Canada West. Every community from the tiniest hamlet campaigned to have a railway line – and the citizens of the Township of Derby were among them. We don’t know if the Flemings invested in railway bonds, but they must have followed the local Council meetings, and they eventually benefited from improved access to markets for their produce and greater ease of travel.

Image: The Toronto Grey and Bruce, Toronto and Nipissing, and Lake Simcoe Junction Railways 1877. Adapted by Rod Clarke from map of the Province of Ontario by James Campbell & Son of Toronto, 1874. The TG&BR extension from Teeswater to Kinloss was never built. Map also shows Northern Railway Toronto-Barrie-Collingwood-Meaford.

In the 1850s, railway building was booming. Over 2,000 miles of track were laid in the provinces of British North America. [i] By 1859 the Grand Trunk Railway ran from Quebec City, through Montreal and Toronto, to Sarnia, with extensions to Chicago, Illinois and Portland, Maine. Its rival, the Great Western, had lines from Niagara Falls to Windsor through Hamilton and London and connecting to Toronto.   The Northern Railway (previously the Toronto, Simcoe and Huron Railroad) reached Collingwood from Barrie in 1855.[ii] Jennie Fleming took this route for her trip to Toronto in 1869.[iii] But the great triangle of the Queen’s Bush along Lake Huron, the west half of Georgian Bay and south along the Garafraxa Road was unserved.   

Derby Township became involved with railway mania in July 1857 when Mr. Carney and Mr. W.A. Stephens came as a deputation from a railroad committee in Owen Sound – “to solicit a grant of money to aid in procuring the passing of the ByLaw for taking stock in the Toronto and Owen Sound Central Railway” (T&OSCR). Council was immediately enthusiastic and moved to set up a fund of 12 Pounds and 10 Shillings towards getting “sanction” from the ratepayers to buy ₤ 100,000. Further, Reeve Sam Jones and the Council expressed their thanks to the deputation “for affording them an opportunity of expressing their desire to see Railway communication afforded to the County of Grey and for honoring them with the first call for pecuniary assistance towards that object.” [iv]  The proposal, complete with routes, costs and benefits, and considerations, was documented by J.W. Tate in the Report on the proposed route of the Toronto and Owen Sound central railway.[v] The proposed route would run from Weston, up the Humber Valley to Mono Mills, across to Orangeville, north to Chatsworth and from there either along the Sydenham Valley through part of Derby Township or along another stream to the north of Owen Sound.[vi] 

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The Legacy of Ancestors

Gwen Harris Announcements, Fleming Lives , , ,
Excerpt from photograph of the 1927 Fleming Family Reunion in Kilsyth, ON
Excerpt from a photograph of the 1927 Fleming Family Reunion held at Springfield Farm, Kilsyth, ON. (Fleming Family Papers)

People have asked us: “why did you write a book about the Flemings of Derby Township?” Why did Ruth, a Fleming descendant with a trunk full of family records, and I, a friend who loves history, spend years compiling a four-inch thick book of stories, photographs and charts? One person remarked that family histories are mere vanity projects, suggesting, I submit, a poverty of outlook. There is much to be learned from past generations, as TV viewers of the PBS program Finding Your Roots know very well. Knowing the stories can be inspirational and motivational.

Some people have a memory store of recollections about their forebears – at least their grandparents and sometimes great-grandparents. Sadly, most do not and may barely know the stories of their parents’ lives. Deprived of stories about their families, children must make their lives without the grounding of knowing who they are — a loss of wisdom and understanding.

Indigenous peoples seem more attuned to ancestral knowledge — learning from the stories and traditions passed from generation to generation, how earlier generations survived their journeys and their times of deprivation, how they found spiritual connection and celebrated life.  

The Seventh Generation Principle from an ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophy holds that to be a good ancestor, people should look forward seven generations to make decisions that will benefit their descendants. Looking back seven generations, we can ponder the legacy brought about by the actions of our ancestors.  [https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/seventh-generation-principle ]

The answers for the Flemings are evident in the family history. In 1843, Alexander and Jean left their ancestral home in Perthshire for the wilderness of Upper Canada. After seven years of preparation, they were ready for the voyage. The first years were hard: they were in their early forties, trans-Atlantic crossings were perilous, and pioneer life was harsh. But with vision and resoluteness, they and their nine children succeeded, bequeathing customs, values and opportunities to their descendants.

We wrote the book to tell this story through four generations — as a legacy of knowledge and learning. Distribution to family members who had pre-ordered (about 150) took place in December 2022.

The book is also available at Ginger Press in Owen Sound at $85 CDN plus tax. Use the Contact Page at Ginger Press to inquire about ordering or contact me by leaving a comment to this blog post.

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The Fleming Family History Is Ready

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Image of the back and front of the book cover. Front shows the board and batten Springfield House.

It’s here! After many years of research by Ruth Larmour and Gwen Harris, much transcribing of original documents, countless hours building the family tree in Ancestry, much fact-checking, many interviews with descendants, many searches through land records, newspapers, directories, and other archives, much reference to written histories, the long-awaited Flemings of Derby Township: A family history has been printed.

It is available for purchase at Ginger Press in Owen Sound. Price is $85 CDN plus tax. Use the Contact Page to place an inquiry about ordering or contact me by leaving a comment to this blog post.

The project dates from the early 1900s when Roy Fleming, an artist and teacher in Ottawa,  and his cousin C.A. Fleming, a businessman and educator in Owen Sound,  had the idea to compile a family history.  As members of the generation of the firstborn in Canada, they were imbued with the family sagas of trials and triumph. From their fathers, they delved into their Scottish roots in Perthshire’s, Logeirait parish and from their uncle, William, captured the recollections of the voyage to Quebec in 1843 and pioneer life Canada West. In Vaughan Township they farmed leased land, and with their earnings, bought land in Derby Township where they settled in 1850.   Theirs is the story of determination, resolve, faith, resourcefulness, and good fortune.

This family history draws on many original letters and earlier family manuscripts supplemented and enriched by extensive research to describe the times and conditions and to gather biographical information about family members over four generations. In Canada, the period covered is roughly 1850 to 1920. The story follows the Flemings to many parts of Canada and the United States where they engaged in many different professions.

The book is richly illustrated with photographs, sketches, and maps. It is thoroughly indexed and footnoted. One might even say it is encyclopedic. This video provides a quick taste and view of what to expect.

Youtube video at https://youtu.be/bJ79v0QbTu0

Postscript: The book received this favourable review by Scott Dunn of The Owen Sound Sun Times — Ginger Press carries on the tradition of celebrating local stories (December 10, 2022)

Fleming Migration to the United States

Gwen Harris Fleming Lives , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jean Agnew (1862–1950) and her cousin Robert Fleming (1860–1894) were the first two of the Fleming families in Kilsyth to emigrate to the United States. Over the fifty-year period 1880 to 1930, 22 of Alexander Fleming and Jean Stewart’s 70 grandchildren (33%) left Derby Township to try life across the border. All but four stayed in the USA.  The female Flemings were as adventurous as the male – a 50/50 split. Most were between the ages of 20 to 40. (1)

Image shows four Fleming women who lived in the United States on holiday in California, c 1910.
Outing to Ocean Park, CA. Bottom left, Minerva Fleming talking to Christina Fleming. Jean [Walmsley] on the far right. The woman behind Christina might be Jean Agnew. The men, Messrs Watson and Dury were friends of the Walmsleys. c. 1910 (Source: Fleming Family Photos)

The United States was a magnate for young people seeking better prospects for education, employment and income. The late 1860s to 1896 was the Gilded Age of rapid economic growth, technological invention, and industrial production. Hydroelectricity powered new factories. Cities in the East attracted new immigrants, and the West offered land and gold. Toronto, in 1891, with a population of 181,000, was small compared to the closest U.S. cities: Buffalo at 254,000, Detroit at 205,000, and Philadelphia at over one million.

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