August 24, 2012
The world is a small place
Recently I've been corresponding with a 2nd cousin once removed. We are related on our Irish side. I found out her mother's second husband, her father, was French Canadian descent so I backed up her tree and found a familiar town and a familiar name. So, we are very distantly related on our French-Canadian side as well as our Irish side. Small world and what you learn from dead ancestors.
August 7, 2012
I See Dead Relatives
Finding your relatives in old cemeteries is like finding a needle in a haystack. Recently we went searching for relatives in Provincetown, MA but unfortunately did not come across them. There were three town cemeteries and until we got home we weren't sure which one they were in. It is believed they are somewhere in this cemetery pictured. We did come across a distant cousin though.
June 29, 2012
More on Internments
By the spring of 1917, so much of Canada's workforce had entered the armed forces that industry and agriculture were severely short of labour. As a result, all able-bodied internees were paroled from the internment camps to work in factories, railway camps and mines. Parole conditions included travel restrictions and required parolees to carry identity cards and report regularly to local authorities. Those assigned to railway labour in northern Ontario experienced conditions as hard as in the camps. Some 1,300 prisoners were paroled from Kapuskasing that spring. Approximately 60 men remained in camp for health or security reasons. They were soon joined by 400 prisoners of war transferred from the Fort Henry internment station. To hold these more dangerous inmates, high barbed-wire fences were erected around the camp and a stricter regime was instituted. Soon the camp's population again rose to over 1,200 prisoners. The majority now were German prisoners of war, mostly sailors and merchant seamen taken from German ships in the Caribbean.
Why was Fredrich Gerull considered "dangerous"? Most likely he was just a merchant seaman like Grandpa who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Update: Fredrich was most likely in the German military and was captured and interred on behalf of England in Canada.
June 6, 2012
D-Day
Today is D-Day, the longest day for Allied Soldiers. When visiting Normandy not too long ago, I was taken by the impossibility of success. Looking at that hill that they had to climb in order to defeat the Germans looked insurmountable by itself.
May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day Past and Present
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| Delia Beaulieu Thibault |
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| Nana Gerull, Mom, Nana Thibault |
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| Catherine Roche Reynolds |
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| Mary Ester Donovan Reynolds |
May 7, 2012
May 6, 2012
The postcard
The depicted person, Heinz Gerull, sent this card to his brother Friedrich. The post card was written on 12 November 1916 in the town Ruß or vicinity (presumably). The card was postmarked on 13 November 1916 in RU.. (OSTPREUSSEN). The Canadian 2-Cents stamp was stuck on it later. I think that Friedrich and Heinz came from the area of the town Ruß.
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| Ruß, d. 12.11.16 Lieber Bruder! Send Dir hiermit meine Photographie und wünsch gleichzeitig eine frohe Weihnacht. Dein treuer Bruder Heinz. Schönen Gruß von Vater u. Mutter. Rusne, d. 12.11.16 Dear Brother, Send you here withwith my photograph and wish the same time Merry Christmas. Your faithful brother Heinz. Best wishes of father and mother. |
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