The Story Behind a Forester's Ribbon

I believe that the things left behind help us fill in and remember the life stories of those who have gone before.  This Canadian Order of Foresters ribbon badge and pin belonged to Russell Gerald Cassell, Randy's maternal grandfather.   That's him pictured in front of a healthy sunflower row with his wife Agnes.

This link shows the many charitable connections made by Foresters lodges in Canada and the US from 1870's to the present day.  A sense of community and belonging were encouraged by the group. The black reverse side of the ribbon was worn facing out at the funeral service of a member to show respect and solidarity.  

 

                             

Using the online history source, Manitobia, I found the picture above of a Foresters group in the book Elkhorn 1882-1967 by Marion Sipley.  About the lodge, she says it was organized on November 25,1879 and their charter was received June 10, 1889.  It is amazing to me that men who were busy carving out homesteads, building homes and adapting to life on the prairies had time for a fraternal social organization. I have also read these groups were vital to having some insurance for families whose breadwinners were seriously injured or killed in the times before Life Insurance was affordable for the average man.   The same book says the lodge was terminated in 1966.

As an aside, this same book filled me in on something I've often wondered about Elkhorn.  It says the village was named when a C.P.R. Crew man found a 3 foot long elk horn while working in the area and the name stuck.  That makes sense!

                                       

In between the two ribbons is sewed a tag that bears the name of the manufacturer, Dominion Regalia Co Ltd at 2 Elm Street (at Yonge) in Toronto.  What a surprise to discover that the company still exists and makes ribbons and more as it has been for over a century!  Dominion Regalia has been making the poppies for all of Canada since 1996 when they were awarded the contract after many years of having the work done by disabled veterans in workshops across the country.  

The picture below from a reunion in Elkhorn in 1990 is of Grandpa Cassell in the middle in a dark suit surrounded by his dozens of descendants and their spouses.  His life has made the world a better place and what a legacy he and Agnes have left behind!  

A Day of Celebration

The group photo below of the wedding day of Ewen Pearn and Edna Boulton on August 15, 1945 has always struck me as such a happy group of people.  It was probably just an ordinary Wednesday "after haying and before the fall rye was ready to cut" that had been planned as a day for the two families to bless the union of their children but it ended up with then Prime Minister Mackenzie King saying:

"It's the greatest day in our history; no other day has meant so much"

 Thanks to their daughters Linda and Carole, let me tell "the rest of the story". 

#1 Faye Boulton in front with the bow, #2 Lee Boulton, #3Patricia Pearn, #4 Vi Boulton,  #5 Jean Boulton, #6 Ruth Boulton, #7 Merle Cassell (later Boulton)

In back #8 Hazen Bigney #9 ???  , #10 Louisa Roe, #11 Susan Bigney, #12 Erle Pearn, #13 Frank Boulton ( just his hair), #14 Alice Pearn and  #15 Albert Pearn (groom's parents),  #16  Don Bradley ? and #17 Walter Pearn, The Groom and Bride  Ewen Pearn and Edna Boulton, 

#18 Margaret Boulton , #19  Bevis Boulton, #20 Thomas Boulton and #21 Elsie Boulton (bride's parents), #22 Herb Boulton,  #23 Anthony Boulton,  #24 Edwin Boulton

Edna Kathleen Boulton was the eldest daughter of Thomas and Elsie (Bushby) Boulton. After graduating from Kinloss and Reston Schools, she took a teacher training course in Winnipeg and then taught at Kelvin, Glenallan and Blair. It was there she would have met handsome bachelor Ewen Pearn and their story began.

 The wedding car may have belonged to Ewen's brother Walter and the decorations are amazing!  We wonder if the writing was done with a grease pencil or some type, shoe polish or ?  Zooming in helps read the writing - Mr. + Mrs. on the window, Just Married on the door, windshield and sun visor. The picture below shows "Help" on the passenger fender!

At 11:00, the Rev. Dr. Harvey presided over the wedding ceremony at the farm of the bride's parents and Ruth Boulton played the organ. The clipping from the paper says: 

The bride looked charming in an afternoon dress of mid blue.  Dainty pink blossoms held her blue waist length veil and her corsage was of pink roses.The groom's gift to the bride was a gold heart shaped locket and the bride's gift to the groom was a wrist watch.   

 After the ceremony, a buffet luncheon was served to 35 guests and Edna changed into her going-away outfit - the deep coral dress pictured above. Edna and Ewen took the steam train to Winnipeg for their honeymoon and when they arrived the city would have been one big party! It was not in honour of the happy newlyweds however, it was V-J Day!  Victory in Japan meant World War Two was all but over!  The following Proclamation declaring August the 16th a civic holiday was found online at Manitobia on Page 2 of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune. 

                                        

The couple stayed at the Clarendon Hotel across from Eaton's which was all decked out in bunting for the victory celebrations.  One can imagine parades and the newspaper reports that 10 people detained for public drunkenness that night were freed as a victory gesture and six others being held were pardoned!  Stores and offices were closed but reopened on Friday with the sales that day as found in the Tribune posted below. 

Above left- little Randy with the Pearns and right - at their 50th Anniversay Celebration

Ewen and Edna celebrated 60 anniversaries together and are fondly remembered. Granddaughter Cheryl shared with me that Edna surprised everyone, including Ewen, by showing up for breakfast on the morning of their 60th anniversary in her wedding dress!  

Mackenzie King was correct, the greatest day for so many. 

Green Souvenir Mugs

These two beautiful mugs were recently found in the Boulton home.  As is usually the case, while searching the internet for something else I came across some information on them when I wasn't even looking for it!

The mugs both have faint writing on them that says they are souvenirs of Virden, Manitoba.  One wonders the history of these mugs; if they were purchased together and when.  As they date to the turn of the century, I assume they belonged to Randy's great grandmother, Ann Boulton.

Ann Boulton (1844-1936)

 Found online at this site, EAPG, stands for Early American Pressed Glass and covers a wide range of glassware made in the US and Canada from about 1870 - 1910.  This particular design matches one called "Lacy Medallion" or the "Colorado" pattern. It seems to have been made in Pittsburgh and other locations by the U.S. Glass Company. Etsy had one similar for sale  when I wrote this post for $28.15.  This Ebay page  also features several designs of mugs, small pitchers, toothpick holders and more with various place names written on them in the same style.

 I think they are beautiful mementos of a time gone by and display them proudly in our home!

Patience Emily Wooler Bushby (1859-1908)

The story of Patience Emily Wooler/Wooller, Randy's great grandmother, is both sad and inspirational.  She overcome a less than optimistic start in life to marry and raise nine children in England in the late 19th century and the beginning of the next.  

The above photo of Patience in about 1900 came from a great granddaughter who has a locket that contains this picture. It no doubt belonged to Patience's daughter Elsie and then her daughter Vi and now her daughter Sharon. She was Randy's great grandmother as well, born three days less than exactly 100 years later!

Patience Emily Wooler was born on November 13, 1859 in Battersea, London, England.  This is an inner-city district of south London but further research made me look deeper for the story.  Patience Emily was born in the Islington Workhouse.

A view of Islington Workhouse from 1819, from http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Islington/

If that word makes you think of Oliver Twist and

you are a lot like me.  A fascinating history of the workhouses can be found online at  http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ 

Under the new Act, the threat of the Union workhouse was intended to act as a deterrent to the able-bodied pauper. This was a principle enshrined in the revival of the "workhouse test" — poor relief would only be granted to those desperate enough to face entering the repugnant conditions of the workhouse. If an able-bodied man entered the workhouse, his whole family had to enter with him.Life inside the workhouse was was intended to be as off-putting as possible. Men, women, children, the infirm, and the able-bodied were housed separately and given very basic and monotonous food such as watery porridge called gruel, or bread and cheese. All inmates had to wear the rough workhouse uniform and sleep in communal dormitories. Supervised baths were given once a week. The able-bodied were given hard work such as stone-breaking or picking apart old ropes called oakum. The elderly and infirm sat around in the day-rooms or sick-wards with little opportunity for visitors. Parents were only allowed limited contact with their children — perhaps for an hour or so a week on Sunday afternoon.

To understand how Patience came to be born there is in the story of her mother, Ann (below).

Ann Wooller from Ancestry contributor Richard Wooller with title Aunt Ann (in Aunt Cis's writing).  Richard is unsure as to the identity of the child on Ann's knee but thinks the photo may date from 1900 and it is a grandchild. 

Ann was born second of nine children in 1839 to Edward Wooller and the former Sarah Wood.  In the 1841 and 1851 census, Edward is identified as an "Ag Lab", which I interpret as a farm worker.  In the 1851 census where Ann is 12 years old, her occupation line is blank where her nine year old sister is noted as a scholar.  I assume from that Ann did not attend school but stayed home to help with the housework and younger children.  An unfortunate thing then happened and Ann found herself pregnant and single.  As Peter Higginbotham says on the above noted website,

 Unmarried pregnant women were often disowned by their families and the workhouse was the only place they could go during and after the birth of their child. 

It is amazing to me that the admission of Ann to the workhouse and her 4 day old unbaptised daughter is available online at Ancestry.  It says they arrived from 20 Albert Terrace on Balls Pond Road nearby. The discharge "At her own request" on November 25 is also there along with the baptismal record for the same day at Islington Parish in the county of Middlesex.

Luckily for us, Patience did not become a victim of the so called Baby Farmers of the time that would accept the illegitimate babies for a fee and then more often that not, the babies would become sickly and die.  The 1861 census of England shows young Patience living with her grandparents in Arlington and Ann is a house servant for Simeon and Emma Miers in Bloomsbury, about 70 miles apart.  Miers was a merchant and with six children and 2 house servants, and ten years earlier he was noted to be a shoe maker and hosier.  Six years later, in February of 1867 Ann married James Sanders, a domestic servant or coachman.  They went on to have a family of 4 girls and 3 boys.

After being raised by her grandparents, Patience married in 1878 at the age of 18 to a carpenter, James William Bushby (above).  I wonder if she ever had contact with her mother or half sisters and brothers or even knew the true story of her birth. With hundreds if not thousands of descendants across the world today, Patience made her mark despite a rocky beginning.