Week 5: Challenge

 CHALLENGE

What would my ancestors find challenging?  

My first thought was the challenges experienced by my immigrant ancestors.  What made them decide to leave the homeland?  What did they encounter aboard ship travelling across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to the New World?  What did they encounter once they arrived in the New World and foraged into the wilderness to establish their homestead?

Unfortunately, most of the immigration took place in the late 1600s for the Van Hornes, mid 1700s for the Schells, early 1800s for the Allens and mid 1800s for the Bates and Mumbersons.  I do not have family stories passed down the generations of their personal stories and challenges.  I do not even know the story behind of what spurred the Coopers to leave England for Wales and then Ontario in the early 1900s.

So I have decided to focus on my grandparents, George Schell and Martha Jane Irene Bates, with some details flushed out by comments and stories my mother has told me over the years of what she knew about growing up on the family homestead in the mid 1900s.

George Schell was born May 4, 1895 in Sunnidale Township, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.  He was the oldest child of John Schell and Mary Deadman.  Although he would have been appropriate age, George did not enlist in World War I.  Nor have I found any indication that he was drafted.  He may have been exempt because of his Mennonite religion or maybe because he was farming with his father.

In early 1916, John purchased a farm in the hamlet of Brentwood in Sunnidale Township.  According to my mother, he had obtained a mortgage to make the purchase.  Unfortunately, John died May 24, 1916 at the age of 49 of pernicious anemia and exhaustion.  Mary was now a widow of 10 children, with the youngest being only 6 years old.

This left George, at the age of 21, taking on the challenge of keeping a roof over his widowed mother and siblings by maintaining the farm, albeit with the help of his brother John Junior (age 20) and probably his 16 year old brother Alfred.  But most of his siblings would have been too young to do much of the work necessary to maintain the farm.  Not only did he work the farm, he also oversaw the building of a new larger house for the large family.  

Taking on the challenge of providing for his family at such a young age, made a life long impact on my grandfather.  But it never dimmed his love of family.  He was also a very superstitious man and strongly believed that he would also die at the young age of 49 like his father.  According to my mother, the year her father turned 49, the family was very apprehensive.  Fortunately for the family, George survived that year and did not die until October 7 1974 at the age of 79.

On March 10, 1927, George married Irene Bates in Toronto.  George was 31 and Irene was only 21.  Irene moved into the family home.  Even when the siblings moved out, they were always welcomed back home.  So my grandmother had the challenge, as a young bride, to maintain a home not just for her new husband, but his mother and siblings.  In addition to the usual housework, Irene also helped with milking the cows and other farm work.  And during my mother's childhood, boarded one of the two local school teachers.

My great-grandmother Mary died November 23, 1940 of pernicious anemia like her husband.  She had been ill for awhile and was frequently visited by her 10 siblings and their families, as well as her now adult children and their families.  Of course, whenever these family members visited, my grandmother had the obligation of ensuring everyone was well fed - even if it was just "a cup of tea and a piece of pie".

George's youngest brother, Stanley, never married.  As an adult, he moved to Toronto rather than staying to work on the family farm.  On a visit home one weekend in 1944, he was in automobile accident that left him crippled for the rest of his life.  George was faced with the challenge of visiting the site of accident and seeing the body of the driver of the car.  Undoubtedly in his mind were the thoughts that it could have been his baby brother.

With the use of a cane, Stan had been able to return to work in Toronto but in later years returned to Brentwood and split his time living with George or another brother, Will, who also farmed in the area.  By the 1960s, Will had retired and was living with his wife in a house just down the road from my grandparents who were still living in the farm house (but no longer farming).  On Feburary 22, 1966 Stan was alone in Will's house when a fire started in the house.  With his limited mobility, he was not able to get out of the house in time.  George had became aware of the fire at this brother's house and raced down the road but was not able to save his brother.  That played on his mind the rest of his life.  It had not helped that one of his superstitions was having 13 people at the dinner table.  A few months earlier, at the family Christmas dinner, my younger brother made the 13th at the table.  When George tried to raise objection, my mother told him that as the toddler was in a highchair, he was not technically at the table.  I guess that was the start of the 'Kiddies' Table at my grandparents for family holiday dinners from that point on.

Despite the challenges that my grandparents encountered during their life, they did have a successful life.  My grandfather maintained the family farm through two World Wars as well as keeping his family well fed during the Depression in the 1930s.  I remember him as enjoying life and being playful.  So he never let his life challenges get him down. 

Although my grandparents sold off most of the farm land in the 1960s, they retained a few acres and the farmhouse.  During my childhood in the 1960s, they maintained a good size vegetable garden and chickens.  This property is still in the family as my cousin and her husband raised their 3 daughters there.  So over 100 years later, the property is still in the family, having been home for 5 generations.  Actually the land has been in the family longer than that.  When my great-grandfather John Schell had bought the property in 1916, he had purchased it from one of my other great-grandfathers - Thomas Edward Bates.