Workday Wednesday - John Bertram & Sons of Dundas Ontario

   When I think of my ancestors and work, I always think of my great great grandfather George H. Dennie and his son William George Dennie. They both worked at John Bertram & Sons of Dundas, Ontario. This is an updated post of one I did back in January. I wanted to fill out the story more and so have deleted the older one.

The Workers of John Bertram & Sons of Dundas, Ontario

1936 (75th anniversary photo)

first row, second from right - George H. Dennie

     George worked there first of course and then got his son William in later. While working here William met George Fraser and the two became fast friends. George Fraser went on to become Williams oldest child's God Father. That child was my grandmother Elva Irene Dennie. She of course called him uncle George and then her children likewise called him Uncle George (that would be Great Uncle), then her son William F. Goodwin (my father) had a child (me - John F.W. Goodwin) and it was Uncle George again (that would be great great Uncle now). Finally I had children and he was uncle George to my kids (great great great uncle George). That is five generations of my family that Uncle George new and spent time with. He was able to tell me personally about my great great grandfather and great grandfather, both of whom I never had the honor of meeting myself. Both were honest, hardworking men for whom family came first. I would have liked to have known them, but since I couldn't, I will say that getting to know them both through Uncle George was a great experience. not only did I see them through his eyes; but reflecting back on it, I realize that I got to know them by the friend they picked to have as a member of our extended family. Uncle George Fraser was a great man and since I couldn't know my relatives personally; I'm sure glad I knew Uncle George because of them. Uncle George was a driver in the Second World War and when the then Princess Elizabeth and her husband Phillip toured Canada; Uncle George was one of the army drivers assigned to her motorcade. Six drivers would rotate positions in the motorcade. Front right and left army car drivers, followed by and RCMP car, followed by the Limo with the Princess or her husband (they weren't allowed to go together), then another RCMP car, then the second Limo (the Limo's were driven by one of the army drivers), then another RCMP car and finally the last two army cars with their drivers rear right and left. Uncle George said that mornings before starting out that Prince Phillip would often come out and smoke with the drivers and chat. Now as uncle George tells it, the RCMP gave strict orders to the drivers that no other vehicles were allowed in the motorcade and that if any tried to enter, it was their duty to keep them out whatever the cost. So one day they had to get the Princess from one engagement to the next in half an hour down a highway that would normally take 45 minutes to an hour to get to. So they were flying down this road at high speed with uncle George in the rear left guard position. As they passed an on ramp he noticed in his rear view mirror a car come on the highway behind the motorcade. It was gaining on them fast. As it caught up to the motorcade (there were only two lanes going in the direction they were going) with both the rear guard cars holding the two lanes it tried to go around on the shoulder to uncle Georges left. Now when he told me this story I was so intrigued and blurted out "so what did you do?. Uncle George with out missing a beat said "I came over to the left." So he side swipes the car as it tries to pass and forces him off the road into the center ditch; where he said he viewed it in his mirror going flying and tumbling end over end. Then he "moved back into the lane and took up his position and continued to the destination".  When he got to the destination the RCMP officers all came over and congratulated him on his fine driving skills and shook his hand. He said as far as he knew the driver of the car that tried to pass him was found dead in the car by the local police, and as to why he was travelling so fast and trying to pass they didn't know.  The character of the man tells us a lot and this character was a great man. I will always "Remember When..." I got to sit and listen to uncle George tell me about his life and that of my relatives lives. Thanks for the memories Uncle George.

1998 - Victoria (7) with Liam (1) seated on her lap & Miranda (3) with their

Great Great Great Uncle George Fraser

Those Places Thursdays - 1646 Highland Ave. (Week 1 - Remember When Your First Memory)

    Well I haven't posted in a while and so I checked the blog prompts and saw "Those Places Thursday" and Immediately thought of my grand parents home at 1646 Highland Ave. in Windsor, Ontario.  My Dads mother Elva (who I have blogged about before) married and settled down with Vic Boismier. They owned the home on Highland and it was where they lived until they each passed away. I never knew them to live anywhere else, all my life.

Grandma Elva Boismier (Nee Dennie) with me John F.W. Goodwin (age  1) Aug 1967.

            Above their home was a small apartment. It had two bedrooms (average size), a bathroom, a living room and the smallest of kitchens. You got to the apartment by going up the back stairs and their was an enclosed porch at the top with some storage space, and the door to the apartment.

Me in my parents room 1968.

Me in the old bathroom (notice the cast Iron tub). 

Christmas 1968 (living room - with door to my parent bedroom top right corner - which is where the picture above (of me in their room) was taken from). 

Me at 2 and a half with my parents William F. Goodwin & Noella A. (nee Lafleur).

     Now my parents lived up their to get started when they first married and had me, until I was about 4 or 5 years old. Then my Dads brother (my Uncle Vince) lived their, and my aunt Orleen. each started out or got back on their feet living their. Later in the 80's my grandmother's sister (my great aunt Gladys) moved down from Hamilton with her three kids and lived their for a year or so.  For the last year of high school my father moved us out to the Forest Glade area in Windsor, but all my friends where still down in the area near my grandmothers. We had lived in the area and I went to high school a few blocks from the Highland home. So I had a key and if it got to late to take a bus out to home, then I would just go there and crash. She kept it partly furnished and left some bedding up there in case I needed to come by.  I learned  how to walk in that apartment and one day soon after, at the age of 10 months (my First Memory).... My parents where going out one night and my mother took me out on the back porch to head for the car, when she remembered she had forgotten something (her purse maybe), and went back in the apartment to grab it. My dad was just grabbing his keys and wallet and was still in the apartment, when he saw my mother without me. He asked where I was and as she realized she had left me on the porch without closing the gate to the stairs, they both started for the door just as they heard me go THUMP, THUMP, THUMP...PETTY, THUMP, THUD down the stairs and land on the cement at the bottom. I can still to this day remember standing there looking down from the top and trying to manage the top stair (that was extra height, by the way). Then falling and rolling with the banisters going by, and finally coming to a rest on the cement on my back, looking up the stairs at my parents as they came running down in a panic. I was taken to hospital and kept for observation for a few days. To this day I am afraid of heights, and think this is why. But I was fine. Later I remember my 5th birthday which was downstairs in my grandparents dining room, I had a party with friends and got my first 2 wheeler bike with training wheels. We took pictures and the next day my dad took the training wheels off before he headed to work. My grandfather watched me during the day and I set out back and forth down the side walk out front trying to master the act of balance, pedaling and steering that little beast. When my father got home, I rushed out to show him how well I could ride my bike. He was impressed that I had learned in the day. We had Christmas dinners, thanksgiving dinners, saw my Great Uncle Ordel and his family off (as they passed through Windsor, on there way to move to California), and so many other events I can't even remember them all. When my Mother and Father split to divorce, my mother asked me if I wanted to live with her or my dad and I said my dad, she dropped me at my grandmothers with some clothes and the keys to the house (she moved out that day and left my dad to take care of selling it). He picked me up the next day, but everything seemed to revolve around that house for  me until high school was over and then gradually it slipped away. When My grandmother finally passed on, I got to go through the house and take whatever I wanted since I had just started my own family. I took the dinning room set since it reminded me of all those family gatherings and a few other nick knacks that reminded me of my grand parents.  Unfortunately at some point my grandmother had gotten rid of the open front high bureau desk that my grand father always kept his important things in. It was damaged, but I would have loved to have had it. It was that item that really spoke to me of him.

My father would be standing in front of the house (so you can't see it) while my mother stood watching me walking around at 1 year of age, 1967. 

   So when I think of "Those Places Thursday", I almost always "Remember When...." we use to live, play, visit, eat, party, laugh, cry, and talk; at 1646 Highland Ave., in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It goes together with childhood for me.

Tech Tuesday - Working with Ancestry

   Well after taking advantage of the 'Free Canadian Records Weekend" at Ancestry a month or so ago; I decided to take the plunge. This past weekend Ancestry was offering 25% off membership fees and so I joined.  I have uploaded my GenFile and have been checking the records that come up. I have busted through a brick wall and added family members to my tree, records to my files and already made a new contact with another distant cousin.  I have come upon some other info that leads to Ireland and records in the U.S.A. for family there.  I figure that once I have everything uploaded, records connected and downloaded, that maybe I will try an upgrade and get the world access for at least a month. I am enjoying the information, however there is a lot of mess to weed through too. As with normal research, you still have to check and verify everything.  You can't assume other's have done so.  Over all I have to say I am finding it worth while. I would encourage other's to join. However I would encourage it with the proviso that they have already done all the research they could on their own and have run out of lines to follow. I enjoy that the fact that there is a ground I have built on.   So how about you, do you have the need for the tech of computer searches through Ancestry? Will they help you to fill out your tree and "Remember When....?

Those Places Thursday - Great Grandparents Ouellette of Warren, Ontario

   When I was a little kid and up until I was 10 years old; we use to go up north to Warren, Ontario to visit my Great Grandfather Isreal Noel Ouellette & Great Grandma Aldea (nee Gervais) almost every summer.  We live in Windsor, Ontario across the river from Detroit, Michigan. Warren is about an 8-9 hour drive north past North Bay but before Sudbury.  My mom & dad would load up the car and off we would go to Grandpa Wilfrid Lafleur & Grandma Desneige (nee Ouellette)'s house in Windsor to meet up with them and get on the road. Sometimes we would have other aunts and uncles join us too. So our little caravan of family would head up the highway 401 and then over to the 400 and finally the 11.  Now we would visit other relatives up there including my other great grandparents (GGranpa Eugene Lafleur and GGrandma Marie Louise (nee Trudel), but we spent the most time at the Ouellette's and that is were most of the big get togethers would be. We would go to a hotel and get up early to do some visiting and when we were headed to dinner before going to Great Grandma's I never understood why. I mean even at the age of 6 I knew not to fill  up before going there. No matter if you did just eat or not, she would take out food. AND let me tell you Great Grandma Ouellette could cook. I loved her food. Besides the food everyone would get together around the table and play cards and talk and visit into the wee hours of the night. During the day it was always fun to go blueberry and raspberry picking behind their home. They had a large piece of land with a hill behind it, and on top of the hill was one of those giant red and white Radio broadcasting poles. Great Grandpa rented his property out to them. Of course being northern Ontario the land is part of the Canadian Shield of bedrock so it is great for a young boy to go climbing and exploring with his dad. I use to love those excursions every summer. The Ouellette homestead wasn't much more then a little shack of a home, but it was a mansion of family love and togetherness, where all were welcome. I miss those times and my great grandparents and grandparents too; however it is always great to "Remember When....."

Motivational Monday - Free Canadian Records at Ancestry Was Great Help

    Well I don't know if you took advantage of the "Free Canadian Records Weekend" at Ancestry the other weekend; but I did. I found 35 records I didn't previously have. Birth, Death and Marriage records. Which added not only new info to my family genealogy records; but a few new people also. The marriage records lead to parents I didn't previously have info on and even new multiple great grandparents. I am now trying to add that info into my records. 

    Along with that there were a few new Facebook groups started this last month or so for the Nipissing, Ontario; Sturgeon Falls, Ontario; Sudbury, Ontario areas. I joined them since my mother's side of the family is from this area and some of them still live there. I posted the family names I am researching there and had several hits within days. One of them is a distant cousin. We share my Great  Great Grand parents as relatives. Her through one of their daughters and I through a son. Anyway I sent here a preliminary e-mail with pictures of my Great Grand Parents (the Son); their son, and then his daughter (my mother), then of myself with my kids. To fill her in on the line and let her know a bit about us. She was on vacation and didn't get back to me for a few weeks; but when she did, she sent some photo's and basic info also. The best part was she had photo's that included My great great Grand father. No one I know of in our family line has any pictures of him. This alone was worth the contact, if nothing else comes of it (which I hope is not the case). 

   

   So two great events this month have helped me move my family Genealogy record forward. I can't wait to see what comes next. Have to say that if you haven't been using Facebook for your genealogy research, you should.  There are all sorts of groups on their site that might help you too. I continually check into the message boards/forums on the genealogy sites and they have helped; but I wouldn't have made this contact without Facebook. This cousin hasn't been on the forum's to the best of my knowledge. 

Eldege / Ildege Lafleur 

Born - Oct 30, 1861 - Quebec, Canada

Thanks to distant cousin Diane Ertl for the picture.

Here is the church marriage record of Eldege Lafleur to Elmire Lemay.

St. Philippe, Chatham in Quebec 

between 1882 - 1885

Thanks to free Canadian records at Ancestry.com

This is the Marriage record of Eldege's son Eugene Lafleur to Marie Louise Trudel.

Nipissing, Ontario - Aug 28, 1918

Thanks again Ancestry.com

    I have been contemplating a membership at Ancestry.  Have to say that if I can come up with the fee, I am more likely to sign up now that I have seen this sample of what they have available for me. Maybe I could smash some of the brick walls in my records. The biggest being my dad's dad. John F. Goodwin of born in Aurora, Illinois back in 1908. That is all we really know about him. Anyway its been a busy month and I haven't blogged for nearly that long, but I have to say I "Remember When...." I use to visit Great Grandpa Eugene and Grandma Marie Louise; and it is good to have a picture of his father now. I hope this helps others to get motivated to check out the other resources they may be avoiding. 

Shopping Saturday - Downtown Windsor Kresge Store

The above picture was taken in July 1958 of Ouellette & University Ave. of Downtown Windsor, Ontario. I was looking for a picture of it to go with this blog and found it online at "internationalmetropolis.com"; thanks to Andrew for allowing me to use it here. Check out his blog if your interested in this area or researching about family in the area, it really is a good site. 

     I use to go to the Kresge Downtown all the time when I was a kid and into my teens. As a kid my grandmother Elva (nee Dennie) use to take me there to help with her shopping and or to get me clothes. She always called it "The Dime Store" though. She would say "Let's go to the Dime Store and get you some new pants for school"; and I knew we were headed for Kresge's. Of course when I went there it was a little later then in the picture above. It was in the 70's through mid 80's. So the only real difference was the cars and clothing/hair styles. Back then though downtown was the place to go on a Saturday to shop. The mall in Windsor was smaller at the time and was not the main destination to go shopping yet. It was the secondary place. Kresge's was the Walmart of it's time. They had everything there, toys, clothing, house hold goods, and some food stuff, tools and a dessert counter up front. To the one side, front right was a lunch counter with all the red vinyl top stools spaced out along it. People that worked downtown where always there. When I got older after my parents divorced and I moved in with my father, he got a job at the Book Center downtown. It would have been about half a block down behind where the guy was standing to take this shot. I later worked there on Saturdays going to the bus station on to pickup the Toronto Star bundle of papers when they came in on the Greyhound bus. My friends and I use to always go to Kresge's to shop. My mother's one brother (my Uncle) Mark got his first real job at Kresge's. I remember going in and seeing him there in his white uniform (kitchen staff). 

     My grandmother Elva died on my 26th birthday. The first home I remember with my parents was the apartment above her home on Highland Ave. My parents moved in there to get started out as a young couple. My grandfather Vic use to babysit me and I have fond memories of those early days. Grandma was Quite the character and I will always miss her. However when I think of Saturday Shopping I will always think of her and "Remember When....."

Matrilineal Monday - GGGrandma Sarah Walker *Actually Maria Chappell - Updated Dec 12, 2016*

     I was looking for info. on my Great Great Grandfather George Dennie and following him back in time through the Canadian Census'.  I got lucky and found him in the 1901 Census of Halton County, Nelson Township in Ontario.  The Lucky part was that he and his wife Sarah where living with her father William Walker. I now had her Maiden name and her father's. I was able to trace him back in the census records and find his wife and kids too. All in all a great find. I expanded my lines and opened a new branch I really had no info. about or hope of finding at that point. I now knew my relations definitely go back to Ireland. This was something that had been passed down as part of our family heritage, we are part Irish, Scottish and French Canadian. I  now know we are. Research...never know what your going to find. Remember(ing) When.....

The Wrong Family / Wrong Record

  *Well I have to report that I made a mistake back here. When I was doing my research for this line I found this record and it fit the facts as I had them at the time. My family lore had said that Great Grandpa Dennie had been born in 1901 and was actually to young to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force to serve in WWI. On his Attestation papers we were told his mother had lied for him and said he was born in 1899 so he could enlist; knowing he was determined to go. It said his mother was Mary Dennie. Again an assumption was made that she went by her baptized name of Mary and her given name was Sarah. However I have since come across other forms (his marriage License and such) that give his mothers full name (maiden name) and they state clearly she was Mary Chappell. So I have expunged my records of the Walker lineage and the mistake and have corrected it to the Chappell lineage. Goes to show you that when your dealing with information handed down, often the truth is not always "Remembered When ..." properly.  Make your corrections and move on with the facts. updated Dec 12, 2016 by the blog author - John Goodwin*

The right family and right record.

Marriage Record for William George Dennie to Gladys Forwell showing his Mother as Maria Chappell.