Sundays Strays and Surnames - "Aunt Maggie", Rosebank, Orkney, Scotland

Shown here are two more of my ‘stray photographs’. One is a photograph; the other a postcard. Neither has anything written on the back.

The photo has a label written in ballpoint pen is: 

“Aunt Maggie at Rosebank, Orkney”.

The postcard reads in ballpoint pen: “Rosebank in foreground where Aunt Maggie lived”. Its title reads: “The north side and Brough of Birsa”. 

No further information on either photo is available at the moment.

I feel sure someone somewhere knows of ‘Aunt Maggie’ who lived at Rosebank, in the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

These photographs were found far off, in British Columbia, Canada, so there may still be family here in Canada. 

Please comment or contact me if you recognize Aunt Maggie from Rosebank in Orkney or even the house or farm at Rosebank.  I believe there's more than one Rosebank. but this was in Birsa.

"DONATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED" - Home for Aged and Infirm, Victoria, BC. Canada, February 1909.

I am always interested to know what people were reading in the past.

If a relative is on this list of Victoria, BC donors to the Home for Aged and Infirm in February of 1909, you learn what periodicals were in their home. And if a relative was an inmate of the Home, it’s good to see that quite a variety was available to them to read.

From the 1909 Directory¹, this must refer to the Home for the Aged and Infirm (men) on Cadboro Road, near the then Willows Hotel. John M. McIntosh was listed as the Home's manager. 

Even a very small newspaper notice can help with your genealogy!

"DONATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED" [Home for Ages and Infirm, Victoria, BC, Canada. February 1909]

"The manager of the Home for Aged and Infirm acknowledges with thanks, the following donations for the month of February: Mrs. L. J. Quagliotti, San Francisco newspapers; Mrs. B. W. Pearse, Illustrated London News; Mrs. H. D. Helmcken, magazines and illustrated papers; Mrs. H.K Prior, Seattle newspapers; Mrs. Reade, Lloyd’s Weekly; a friend, People’s Friends; a friend, underclothing; Mr. Jas. Morrison, reading matter; Mr. N. Shakespeare, reading matter; Mr. Horton, Tit-Bits²; Mr. Allen, London Weekly Despatch; Standard Stationery Co., magazines and periodicals; Hibben & Co., magazines; Colonist and Times, daily papers; Mining Exchange, BC Poultry Gazette and Western Clarion."

Found in the Victoria Daily Colonist, Tuesday, 9 March 1909, page 6. 

(Surnames not emphasized in the original.)  Available on-line via The British Colonist, 1858-1980. I was using microfilm when I located this notice. 

References

1. Directory of Vancouver Island and Adjacent Island, Province Printing Company, Victoria, BC, Canada, 1909, page 440. British Columbia directories from 1860 to 1955 can be read on the Vancouver Public Library website.

2. Tit-Bits from all the interesting Books, Periodicals, and Newspapers of the World was a well known British weekly from 1881, which compiled articles and news from many other publications. See the Tit-Bits Wikipedia article here. 

Sunday Strays and Surnames - Prince Rupert, BC - Sheppard

These strays are from a larger set of photographs from a summer trip to Prince Rupert, BC, and beyond, apparently post World War II.  Please comment or contact me if you are interested in the photos or if you have further information.

Sheppard Family Connection - Vancouver, BC

A few photographs include the name “E. Sheppard of 1649 Comox St., Vancouver”. Looking at the old 1940s directories, I believe this was Mrs. Enid H. Sheppard. 

Also identified on the one snap, shown here, are “Shuffleboard companions, Tommy ___, June Black, Bill ___”.

I believe this must be Enid Sheppard standing beside the Coquitlam. 

Posted a bit late due to illness. See my list of previously posted Stray Photographs here. 

Valley of Flowers by Veronica Eddy Brock - review - Tuberculosis in Canada

Valley of Flowers - cover - by Veronica Eddy Brock (Coteau Books, 1987)

Just this last week I read Valley of Flowers by Veronica Eddy Brock (Coteau Books, 1987). This is, as the author says, fiction, set in the 1940s, but she was in a Tuberculosis (TB) sanatorium in Saskatchewan for several years, just as her heroine Alexandra was, so it's certain her experience and her knowledge inform the story.

 It's not as bleak a read as you might think and well worth your time. Alexandra and the girls she's hospitalized with mostly are able to make the best of their situation. But strict rules, boredom, and little or no visits from family or friends take their toll. As do the inevitable deaths of patients they have come to know.

Tuberculosis is not new. Ancient Greeks wrote of 'phthisis' which likely was TB or a very similar disease. Many genealogists will see this as a cause of death on death certificates. A more modern term, often seen, was 'consumption'.

Most families will have members who died of TB as did my favourite great aunt, Diana Gilchrist, in Ontario in 1882. And I remember how worried my parents were when my Dad was told he might have TB after being tested (as we all were) in a mobile TB screening unit in Vancouver in the 1950s.
Another close family member was away from his family for a year.

In Canada, the first sanatorium opened in Muskoka, Ontario in 1897. The Tranquille sanatorium (King Edward VII tuberculosis sanatorium) was built near Kamloops in BC in 1907. This became a village of its own. By the 1960s, Canada had 61 'San's and dedicated TB units.

Treatment relied mainly on fresh air and sunshine, enforced rest, nutrition, and isolation. But there were surgical treatments too, described in the book, like the removal of ribs intended to collapse a lung, or even the removal of a lung. It was not till the 1950s that patients routinely received drug therapy.

If you would like to learn more about Tranquille, or if you are wondering if you can obtain medical records of a relative who had TB, contact me for a Canadian Medical Records - Genealogy fact sheet.

You can learn more about the history of "Canada's Role in Fighting Tuberculosis" by visiting this website, produced by the Saskatchewan Lung Association for Industry Canada. See some photographs of the Tranquille Sanatorium on Michael Kluckner's Vanishing BC website.

Today, tuberculosis is low in Canada for much of the population, but still for 2017 1,796 cases of active tuberculosis were reported. Everyone one of those cases is a person with family and friends, and for those born in Canada, TB affects indigenous people, particularly Inuit, disproportionately.

This time last year, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer issued a "Spotlight on Eliminating Tuberculosis in Canada" which she said was "largely inspired by the current momentum to eliminate TB coming from the force of leadership within Inuit communities..." which needs "sustained support from many players, including governments, academics, experts and other stakeholders. "

Last December, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami announced the Inuit Tuberculosis Elimination Framework. 

This is something all Canadians can support. Let your M.P. know you do.