From the woodlands and plains of Western Canada to the Scottish firth, the Solent Coast and the Finnish lakesides, these women and so many more are all reasons why I'm here.
Here's a wee bit about some of the ones I know about:
Great-great-great Grandmothers
Marguerite McMillan (nee: Dease) (1818-1904)
St. James Parish, Manitoba.
Photo taken circa 1900
My Father's Mother's Mother's Father's MOTHER.
In keeping with imperfect records of the time, my great-great-great Grandmother, was born in either 1815,1818 or 1820 in either Fort Alexander, Rupert's Land or Rainy Lake. She was a Metis woman, daughter of well known trader John Warren Dease and Genevieve Beignet, from present day Green Lake, Saskatchewan, site of a Northwest Company post in the 1790s.
Marguerite gave birth to nine children, and lived into her 80s. Her husband was a signatory to various Metis petitions and a buffalo hunter, trader and guide.
She would have had not only a huge household to run but would also have been involved in the preparation of the buffalo for the robe trade.
Thanks mother and my other 15 great-great-great Grandmothers who I know less about but owe no less to!
💓
Great-great Grandmothers
Virginie McMillan (nee: Bruce) (aka: Granny Mac) (1862-1949)
outside Winnipeg, MB photo circa 1920s
My Father's Mother's Mother's MOTHER
Virginie was Marguerite's daughter-in-law, herself having deep roots in the Red River settlement. Her father was a La Loche Boat Brigade leader.
Her uncle, John Bruce was for a time, one of Louis Riel's closest confidantes and president of the Metis provisional government.
My own Granny, who knew her simply as "Granny Mac", would fondly recount visits to her home by streetcar in 1930s Winnipeg, where she'd regale her with stories of old days and give her sweets.
She had five children and at least 15 grandchildren, (that I know of), probably more.
Thanks Mother!
💗
Catherine Smith (nee: Parisien), (C. 1857-1932)
Winnipeg, Manitoba
My Father's Mother's Father's MOTHER
Catherine Parisien is another of my maternal ancestors whose Red River roots run very deep indeed. Her father Pascal fought for the Metis at Batoche, as did several cousins. Her grandfather Augustin, was among those present (and actually part of the firing squad) at the execution of Thomas Scott, a pivotal event in Metis and Canadian history.
Herself of French Metis heritage, she married into the English Metis Smith family, eventually settling along with her offspring in the Rooster Town area south of Winnipeg, after the city expropriated their land.
Following the death of her Smith husband, she remarried but stayed close to her children's household. Her death was noted in the Winnipeg Free Press as the passing of a "Pioneer woman of the west".
Thanks, Mother!
💓
Hilda Ojala (nee: Kartano) (1868-1940)
Intola, Ontario
My Father's Father's Mother's MOTHER.
Hilda was one of the first wave of Finnish immigrants who would eventually settle and form the community of Intola, Ontario, near Thunder Bay.
She was originally from Virrat, Finland, north of Tampere. For decades her and her husband lived meagerly and worked the land while raising their nine children. When my grandfather was very young, he fell gravely ill and his Granny Ojala nursed him back to health (it was mentioned goat's milk was somehow involved!). He maintained that he would have died a young boy if not for this woman.
Thanks, Mother!
💗
Evelyn Fanny Reed (nee: Day) (1882-1978)
Portsmouth, England
My Mother's Father's Mother's MOTHER.
Evelyn Fanny Reed passed away just one year before I was born, at the age of 96.
Widowed for over 60 years, she raised her daughter in the north end of Portsmouth, England following the death of her husband at the Battle of the Somme during the Great War (WW I).
She was one of the throngs who crowded to Portsmouth Harbour to watch as the body of Queen Victoria was brought over from the Isle of Wight, where she had died in 1901. She related this story to my mum. I know of no other mother ancestor of mine who was widowed longer nor lived longer than she.
Thanks, Mother!
💓
Great-Grandmothers
Agnes Smith (nee: McMillan) (1881-1935)
Winnipeg, Manitoba
My Father's Mother's MOTHER
And now we get closer to the mothers of people that I have known and loved.
My own Granny's mother was born and raised Catholic in Winnipeg in what would have been a difficult era to be Metis (or "half-breeds" as the census referred to her family as). She would have spent most of her younger years in the St. James Parish on or near her grandfather's old river lot.
She would have witnessed, in her first 30 years, an incredible change to Winnipeg as settlers poured in from the east, increasing the population by 17 fold. Marrying teamster Alex Smith, a fellow Metis, in 1902, she had 15 children of her own, over a span of 22 years, Winnipeg's largest family of the time.
My Granny recalls her mother being a generous and sociable woman who'd hand out an assortment of beautiful flowers from her garden to passersby just to brighten their day. In contrast to her tall, lanky husband, she was a well built woman but an incredibly graceful dancer. Granny recalls her mother and father dancing to fiddle music during weekly socials at their home in Winnipeg's south side "Rooster Town".
Life took its toll on my Great-Grandmother and she sadly passed away at just 53 years of age, when my Granny was just 10 years old. Somewhere, she is brightening someone's day and being joyous and strong for her family.
Thanks, Mother.
💓
Margaret (Meg) Currie (nee: Gemell) (c. 1900 - 1965)
Edinburgh, Scotland
My Mother's Mother's MOTHER
Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, Margaret Gemmel, my grandma's "Mam", had four children with James Currie. One of those children, Jim died when just a boy from I believe, tuberculosis.
My grandmother always kept his picture displayed somewhere in the house.
After my grandma moved to Canada, her Mam would often ask in letters I've read, when her daughter was coming back home across the pond because she was "missed terribly."
Husband James oversaw construction for the Royal Navy and spent years travelling. For a time, they both resided at his post in Malta. In the 1960s, Margaret became ill and lived with her eldest son's family in Alberta, Canada.
She was known to especially enjoy Kit Kat bars, a strong family trait evident in her granddaughter (My mum) and I.
Thanks, Mother!
💓
Hilma Freeman (nee: Ojala) (1890-1971)
Intola, Ontario
My Father's Father's MOTHER
With one eye reading the Vapaus and the other eyeing an attractive dress, my paternal great-grandmother was a Red Finn with an eye for style.
She came to Canada with her parents at a very young age, settling in Intola, Ontario near Thunder Bay. Before her 25th birthday, she had met my Great-Grandfather and had two children by him. It was not a match made in heaven, however. While he spanned North America working in mines, on railways and wherever his wandering and enterprising spirit took him, she preferred a more secure stable life. Nominally married, they were seldom together and she had a child by another man in the 1920s.
My Great-Grandfather helped make sure her and their children were well looked after though and by the 1940s she was living in a large house on Cardero Street in Vancouver's West End, which has somehow survived to the present day.
Her latter years were spent with my Dad's family in Surrey, BC and eventually at the Finnish Canadian Rest Home in Vancouver.
Thanks, Mother! (looking good)
💓
Evelyn Rose Gregory (nee: Reed), aka: Nan (1909-2000)
Portsmouth, England
My Mother's Father's MOTHER
Nan was the one Great-Grandmother I met. My earliest memories involve watching her weathered papery hands with a knitting needle (oh and picking up a spoon I dropped when I was 3 (sort of an in-family joke)). Residing in Portsmouth, England her entire life, she visited Canada numerous times after her son (my Grandfather) moved here and married in the 1950s.
Nan's father died in the First World War when she was just seven years old and she was raised by her mother who lived to be almost 100.
With her husband, who was a tradesman, she raised my Grandfather and Great Aunt.
She knitted sweaters and mittens for me when I was a boy, and sent some all the way from England or brought them on her visits. She was a keen letter-writer and never forgot birthdays, often including a five or ten pound note in a card for me.
A favourite saying was, when discussing any weather-related phenomena, she'd reply "It's the tides, dear!". No doubt that was informed by her spending her entire life practically beside the Solent, in the naval town of Portsmouth.
Thanks and love you, Nan! 💓
Grandmothers
Merle Freeman (nee: Smith) aka: GRANNY (1925-2008)
Surrey, BC
My Father's MOTHER
What can I say about my "Happy Granny" (as I used to call her)?
Too much, far too much, for just a few paragraphs. I feel incredibly privileged to have had her as a big part of my life growing up. The youngest of 15 children born into a decidedly non-privileged family in Winnipeg, she overcome an extremely unpromising set of circumstances and challenges with her outlook and inner resolve.
She also played a mean game of cards and could talk non-stop for 2 or 3 hours on the telephone, if allowed! Her home was the family home.
I remember visiting "all the parks in Surrey" with her one day when I was about 8. Another time, she and I went for a ferry ride to Nanaimo and back on the then new Tsawwassen-Nanaimo route. For a few years running, we'd go to Denny's in Blaine, Washington for a New Year's breakfast as a special treat. One time, Gene Kiniski was there and gave her his phone number!
The stories I heard from this woman and the life lessons learned through them and just observing her, have shaped a huge part of who I am. One day, I'll write more about her.
Thanks and I love you, Granny! 💓
Margaret Gregory (nee: Currie) aka: GRANDMA (1931-2008)
Victoria, BC
My Mother's MOTHER
If there are genes for creativity, I'm sure I got almost all of my limited supply from this woman.
A published author of about 20 books, a painter and green thumb (not to mention filling the home with music), I am as equally privileged to have had this grandmother in my life.
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, she worked for years at a typewriter, writing copy for the BBC, then CBC, before finally penning novels in the 1970s and 80s as "Elizabeth Graham". All this while raising two girls.
Her roast potatoes were second to none, with everyone in the family having tried to get close but never quite equalling them. Her pride in her Scottish heritage was always there too, as the songs she'd hum and whistle would attest to.
Some of my fondest memories were of staying up late with just her watching British shows on PBS, sipping ginger ale, and talking.
A few words would never do my Grandma justice, so I'll leave you with a favourite dittie:
Love you, Grandma 💓
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Mum and I, 1979
The only redhead in the entire known family tree. 💓
"Thank you for fighting Covid 19"
