52 Ancestors: #1 - Rhona MacDonald Marshall (1933-2003)

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.  The premise:  write once a week about a specific ancestor.  I have been planning to write profiles on my ancestors for awhile and this us definitely the push I needed.  The problem - who to start with first.  After much thought I decided to begin with the person I know best - my mother.

Rhona MacDonald Marshall was born on February 21, 1933 at the Maternity Hospital in Dundee, Scotland – the 8^th child of Robert Burn and Eliza Hamilton (Burnett) Marshall.  She was baptized in St. Mary Magdalene’s Church in Dundee on March 24, 1933.  At the time of her birth, the family was living at 65 Main Street, Dundee.  When Rhona was just two years old, her father, Robert, died of Chronic Rheumatism of the heart.  After Robert’s death, the family was to move to 50 Glenconnor Drive.

Rhona’s two oldest brothers, David and Robert and an older sister, Rachel were in the forces during the Second World War.  Her oldest sister, Helen (Nell), was working to help support the family.  During this time, a couple of Canadian cousins stationed in England came to visit the family in Scotland, bringing a Canadian soldier friend with them – William Henry (Harry) Crossman.  Harry (as he was known) and Rhona’s sister Nell were to marry in 1942.  When Rhona’s mother Eliza became ill, Harry made a death bed promise to look after the three youngest children, Norman (who was 14), Vina (who was 12) and Rhona (who was 10).  Eliza passed away on March 29, 1943 in Dundee from Carcinoma of the breast and acute gastritis.

On May 27, 1945, Rhona was Confirmed in St. Ninian’s Mission, in the Diocese of Brechen, Dundee.

When the war ended, Harry returned to Canada to prepare for the arrival of Nell, Norman, Vina and Rhona.  Unfortunately, before all the paperwork for immigration was complete, Norman turned 18 and was required to do a mandatory two year military service, forcing him to remain in Scotland.

On April 5, 1946 Rhona (then 13), Vina (then 15) and Nell (who was 30 yrs. old and a War Bride) left Southhampton, England on the Aquitania landing at Pier 1 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on April 10, 1946.  They then boarded a train for farm life in the small town of Balcarres, Saskatchewan, Canada.

From the time she arrived in Canada until she turned 16 yrs. old, Rhona attended the one room Tipperary Schoolhouse in Abenethy, Saskatchewan.  In her words, “the teacher was not much older than about 19 – we had some fun as well as lots of hard work to do.”  She left school at 16 to work (I believe at the Balcarres Hospital). 

About a year before Rhona passed away, she wrote a short bio on herself and described her life on the farm:

“I leaned to plow the fields, drive the tractor, ride horses.  I was not allowed to drive the combine as I was told it was too big for a 14 year old to ride.  I had other chores to do as bring in the eggs, feed the animals – never learned to milk the cows as every time I did they would kick the pail over when half full and spill it so I gave up.  I loved the farm.  I brought in the wood for the fire, ice and snow in the winter.  We had fun as well as work, we had hay rides and sleigh rides, church suppers, barn dances, country fairs.”

Rhona began dating a young man from a neighbouring farm, John (Jack) Farrell.  That relationship didn’t last as Jack started seeing someone else while working in Toronto.  Rhona then began to be courted by Jack’s older brother Robert (Allan) Farrell. 

Rhona and Allan (as he was known) were married on August 15, 1953 at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Balcarres.  Allan was working as a mechanic while Rhona stayed home to look after their first child – a daughter, Judy, who was born in December of 1953.  In 1954, Allan, Rhona and Judy moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where they welcomed the birth of two more girls, Heather (born in 1956) and Alana (born in 1961).  Life was not easy for Rhona and Allan as Allan suffered from Juvenile Diabetes.  In August 1962, Allan was admitted to the hospital where he passed away on August 12^th.  He was buried on their 10^th wedding anniversary – August 15, 1962.

On December 21, 1963, Rhona married for the second time to a family friend, Douglas Sinclair Kay (Doug was the brother of Rhona’s sister in law, Helen).  They were married at St. George’s Anglican Church in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  A couple of days after the wedding, Doug, Rhona and the three little girls (Judy – 10, Heather – 8 and Alana – 2) boarded a train to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where Doug resided.  They were to reside at 631 Mercille Ave., in St. Lambert, Quebec – downstairs from Doug’s parents, later moving to their first house at 325 Oak Ave.

Rhona and Doug (and family) were active members of St. Barnabas Anglican Church in St. Lambert, where Rhona was a member of the Ladies Evening Guild.  She was also very active in the Church’s Annual Rummage Sale where she “manned” the same station for nearly 40 years.  For a time, when the children were in school, she would look after the children of friends.  In later years, she became involved with the Girl Guides, eventually becoming a Sparks leader.  She did volunteer work as a school monitor at St. Lambert Elementary School in St. Lambert.  She was also an avid crocheter and reader.  Doug’s parents, Adam and Clarice Kay, were members of the Order of the Eastern Star and Rhona was very active in helping out at the social events beside her mother in law. 

Rhona and Doug finally got to have a honeymoon when Doug took Rhona home to Scotland in October 1970 – the first time being home since immigrating in 1946.

Rhona became a widow once again when Doug passed away on April 7, 1989 from complications from Parkinson’s Decease.

Doug’s sister, Helen was, at this time, also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and encouraged Rhona to once again help out with their social events and anything else a non-member was allowed to participate in.  On September 26, 1991, Rhona finally became a member of the Order herself, joining St. Lambert Chapter #15 in St. Lambert, Quebec, later joining Friendship Chapter in Chambly, Quebec.  She was a very active member in the Order right up until her death.  She was very involved in, and was in charge of, one of the Chapter’s charities, the Cancer Gift Cupboard collecting and making items for the local

hospital that the Chapter supported, The Brome-Missisquoi Perkins Hospital in Brome, Quebec.  When she passed away, a memorial contribution was made from the hospital’s organizer and Rhona’s name was entered in the hospital’s Remembrance Book.  Rhona loved the Eastern Star and said: “when I miss a meeting for some reason, I feel as though I have missed something special.”

In 1998, Rhona was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer.  After a complete hysterectomy and a round of radiation, she went into remission.  She never let this “blip” stop her and when well enough, continued with her activities with the church and the Eastern Star. 

In her little bio she wrote “I will be 70 years old and feeling fine.  Sometimes I feel that I have not done much then I think well, I have my health and get around – sometimes with a cane.  But other than a stiff leg and the odd backache, I guess I’m not too bad off.”

Rhona was eventually forced to slow down when, in April of 2003, she suffered two strokes.  After surgery to remove a blockage and a month’s stay in a rehabilitation centre, she went to live with her daughter, Heather.  In late August of 2003, however, her cancer returned and she was admitted to the hospital on Labour Day weekend. 

Rhona passed away on September 8, 2003 and is buried at the Jardins Urgel Bourgis Cemetery in St. Hubert, Quebec.

She is greatly missed.

©2014, copyright Alana Farrell

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy – Challenge #7

This weeks challenge for the 52 Weeks To Better Genealogy by Amy Coffin is to play around with Google Maps to determine the locations of addresses in our family history. I've used this feature before to locate places where my mother and her family lived in Scotland, before she immigrated to Canada. Unfortunately, the pictures that I saved are on my computer at work!

However, this past weekend, while working on the GB Games category, " Expand Your Knowledge", I used Google Maps to create a timeline, with a map, for my great grandfather, David Fenton Marshall. You can see the map here. While I was creating the timeline, I again used the street view to see if the buildings where he lived still existed (that's why it took me so long to create the timeline - I get so distracted when playing with things). For the most part they did, but in some instances the address no longer existed or the building was now being used as something completely differenct. In a couple of cases, there was only and empty lot. Because of his many locations (he was a travelling salesman), I'm only posting pictures of a few of the buildings.

This first picture is where he was living in April 1861. He was living with his aunt, Margaret Kynock and her family at 19 MacDowall Road, Edingburgh, Scotland. If this is the original building, which it looks like it might be, it was a really nice house! They lived where the white door is on the right hand side of the picture.


This next picture shows the general location of where he lived in August 1870, at the time of his marriage to Rachel Wyse Hume. He lived at 11 East Adam Street, Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the address no longer exists.


In May of 1871 he and Rachel were living at No. 1 Montgomery Place West, Edinburgh. It is shown in this picture where the yellow door is with the sign reading "Harlies". It looks to be all closed up now, but looks like it used to be a TV/video game store.


Skipping ahead a few years, he and his second wife, Christina Lynton, were living at 17 Caldrum Street in Dundee (where the white door is). This was were he lived at the time of his death in 1922.


Just for a little extra fun, I decided to see if I could find the house where my parents lived when I was born. Sure enough, I found it. I was surprised because the last time I checked Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan still did not have the street view available. We lived at 732 9th Ave., NW, Moose Jaw (it's the house on the corner). That is where we lived when my sister got hit by a car when she was 5 yrs. old. Right up until the last time I was there, in 2005, the house was always a greenish blue colour. The little white house next door is where my Aunt Nell (Helen Crossman, nee Marshall) lived.


I also found the house where I'm living now (for obvious reasons I won't give the address). It's a duplex. I didn't see my car parked on the street so this must have been taken while I was at work.


I enjoy working with Google Maps. I think it's a wonderful tool to be used for locating ancestral homes, creating timelines and I'm sure a whole lot more. There are many features that I haven't yet explored but plan to in the near future.

Fate or Coincidence?

My sister is forever telling her kids, and myself, that everything that happens in our lives is preordained in the Book of Life. Was it my destiny to buy a new car last month? Was it my destiny to have my tooth extracted last Saturday (they could have rewritten that chapter!)? Some people say that we make our own destiny. If that were the case, it wouldn’t have been my plan to have my tooth pulled!

All the time growing up, we had heard the story that my stepfather, Douglas Kay, had been in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the day that my mom arrived in Canada. My mom (Rhona MacDonald Marshall) was 13 years old when she left Scotland aboard the Aquitania via Southampton, England on April 4, 1946, landing in Halifax on April 10th. She traveled with two of her older sisters, Vina (aged 15) and Helen (Marshall) Crossman (aged 31). My Aunt Helen (or Nell as she was always called) was a War Bride and was coming to Canada to be with her new husband, William Henry Crossman (uncle Harry). When my grandmother, Eliza Hamilton (Burnett) Marshall, passed away in 1943, my Aunt Nell made a death bed promise to look after the three youngest children, my mom, my Aunt Vina and my Uncle Norman. As “fate” would have it, just before leaving, my Uncle Norman turned 18 years old and had to do his mandatory 2 years military service, causing him to stay behind in Scotland. After spending a few days in Halifax, my mom and her sisters boarded a train and headed west to Balcarres, Saskatchewan to live on the Crossman farm.

My stepfather always loved ships and trains and loved taking pictures of them. In April 1946, when he was 19 years old, he traveled from Montreal to Halifax to see the ships arriving, of which he took many pictures. On April 10th, he happened to take a picture of the Aquitania as she was arriving and on April 11th he took another picture of her while in dock, with all the War Brides at the railing. Was it fate that he was there that day or just a coincidence?

Was it fate that just after the war ended, Doug’s sister Helen married Forbes Peter Farrell (my future father’s oldest brother) and she moved to Balcarres to live on a farm not too far from the Crossman farm? At this time, Doug (still living in Montreal) was working for Canadian Pacific Railway on the cross-country train. When the train got to Indian Head he would jump off and go visit his sister in Balcarres, eventually becoming good friends with the Farrell’s; Forbes, his brother-in-law, Robert Allan, John (Jack) and their sister Lillian (who apparently had a big crush on Doug).

When my mom left school at 16 years old and was out working, she started dating Jack Farrell, who later dumped her for his future wife, Cathy! My mom then starting dating Jack’s older brother Robert Allan (or Allan as he was always called), eventually marrying him on August 15, 1953, making my mom and Doug’s sister, Helen, sisters-in-law. Fate or coincidence? Of course, my mom and Helen (by this time my Aunt Helen) became good friends and she was often at Helen’s house when Doug was there visiting (my mom, not being able to hold a grudge if her life depended on it, also became good friends with Cathy!).

In 1955, my mom, dad and my sister Judy (then just 2 years old), moved to Moose Jaw, Sask. (about an hour from Balcarres), where my Aunt Nell and Uncle Harry had already moved to. This is where my other sister, Heather and I were born. Doug remained friends with my mom and dad after they moved, often going to visit them when he was “out west”.

On August 12, 1962, my father passed away at the age of 35, due to complications from his diabetes, leaving my mom a widow with 3 young children. He was buried on August 15th, my parents 9th wedding anniversary. Of course all the Farrell family and the Crossman family and my Aunt Vina’s family were all at the funeral. Was Doug there? Who knows? I do know that after my dad died, Doug would still come to visit my mom when he was in town, making sure that she was doing o.k. Eventually, their friendship grew into much more and they were married on December 21, 1963 in Moose Jaw. After they were married, we all boarded a train and headed for Montreal.

My mom and stepfather were married for 26 years when he passed away on April 7, 1989 at the age of 61, from complications due to his Parkinson’s Decease. My mom passed away on September 8, 2003 from cancer, at 70 years of age.

So was my mom and stepfather meeting and eventually getting married preordained or was everything just one big coincidence?