After my mother passed away a couple of years ago, I became the informal family "archivist". I now have in my possession several boxes of family photographs, as well as various and sundry documents, including birth certificates, passports, and newspaper clippings of family events dating back more than 100 years. I have catalogued and scanned many of them and have uploaded them to a family photo website.
As I put together the family history I now recognize the missed opportunities for family conversations. Particularly poignant for me were a series of photos I found in an envelope that I don't recall ever seeing before. They were never put in a family album for display. Instead, they were, quite literally, placed in the bottom of a shoebox for decades. Theses pictures showed my grandfather's emigration from England to Canada in March of 1949 aboard the Ascania.
That's him on the left, with three of his Lancashire buddies. He was the oldest of the group, age 43. Their adventure was documented in the "Bolton Evening News" under the headlineThree Bricklayers Seek New Life in Canada
So, what was going through his mind as he peered down into the lens of the camera? Here he was in the wide open sea, going to an unknown world. Did he have any idea of what Canada would be like?
Was he prepared for this when he stepped off a train in Riviere du Loup?
What was he thinking as he arrived in Toronto in late winter, 1949, with all his worldly possessions in one battered steel case? (I still have this case, bottom left, to this day.)
It would be great to speak with him now about all that went on for him during these very tumultuous times.
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