Latta Ancestry – Four Generations in Canada (Part 1)

Four Generations of Latta Men in Canada, c.1906

The Latta family emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1768 and then came to Canada in 1833 (refer to the previous post about the Latta Ancestry – Ireland to Canada). In the above photograph, four generations of our direct Latta lineage in Canada are gathered together:

1.          Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906),seated
2.          James Gilbert Latta (1852-1938), left rear
3.          Walter James Latta (1873-1932),right rear
4.          James Cyril Latta (1901–1986) at 5 years of age. 

The stories of these four generations of Latta men are based on family history and Ontario vital records (birth, marriage and death).

James Cyril Latta (1901–1986) and Jane Evelyn Sexsmith (1902-1996)

The Ontario Birth Records indicate that James Cyril Latta was born on March 18, 1901 in Thurlow, Ontario. He was the first-born and only son of Walter James Latta (1873-1932) and Sadie Elizabeth Coulson (1881-1941). Cyril had only one sister, Marjorie Uldean Latta, who was born in Toronto, Ontario on April 28, 1905.

James Cyril Latta Family Tree

On September 7, 1931, James Cyril Latta (1901–1986) married Jane Evelyn Sexsmith (1902-1996), who was known as Jennie. The Ontario Birth Records also show that Jennie Sexsmith was born on September 26, 1902, the daughter of Henry Sexsmith (1866-1940) and Minnie Brown. Cyril and Jennie had one son, Wayne, in 1935.

As the following ancestry chart shows, Jennie and Cyril were both related to Jane Rath (1823-1917) who was born in Enniscorthy, Ireland. Jennie was the great-granddaughter and Cyril was the great-grandson. For more information on the Rath family history, refer to the Genealogy Report – Descendants of Henry Rath prepared by Dave and Lucille Wright, November 2004.

James Cyril Latta - Ancestry

Cyril and Jennie were both graduates of the Ontario Business College in Belleville, Ontario. Jennie worked at the Tweed Theatre and the Tweed News Office. Cyril was a salesman for WearEver Aluminum cookware throughout Ontario. He would put on a home demonstration-cooking the whole meal-on top of the stove using WearEver pots. Included in the meal was roast beef, vegetables, and a wonderful chocolate cake “baked” in a frying pan on top of the stove. The cookware was “waterless cooking.”

During the second World War, Cyril and Jennie worked at the Battawa factory making war materials. He returned to aluminum sales after the war. In his later years, he worked at the “new” liquor store in Tweed and was the Bailiff for Central Hastings. Cyril loved to hunt, fish and sell!

Cyril Latta died on June 19, 1986 at the age of 85. Jennie Sexsmith died on December 9, 1996 in Picton, Ontario at the age of 94.

Cyril Latta and Jennie Sexsmith Headstone

Smith Ancestry - 2nd Generation: The Story of Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948) and Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982) – Part 2

About Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982) - Updated August 21, 2017

Bridget Bessie Cannon was born on August 21, 1891, in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Her mother was Ann Loughlin (1866-1938), age 25, and her father was William Daniel Cannon (1859-1935), age 32. (In celebration of her birthday, this posting is being updated on August 21, 2017 with personal documentation provided by Bessie's great granddaughter, Annette.)

Bessie Cannon Birth Certificate 1891

Cannon Family Tree

The Cannon Family Tree shows that Bessie was the fourth of seven children in a family of five girls and two boys born during the 14-year period from 1886 to 1900. The 1901 Scotland Census lists her as age 9. The records show that most of the Cannon children emigrated: Annie and William went to Australia, Bessie and Margaret went to Canada and Henry moved to Canada then the United States.

Bessie served in the Scottish Women's Land Army (see registration card below). According to the family history, she was a very strong, interesting woman for her time. "She actually shot and killed a German soldier who would have raped and killed her during her service in the Boer war and was also engaged to wed another man before meeting Ernest - and she quickly broke off that engagement."

Bessie Cannon met Ernest Milburn Smith while he was recovering from his wounds at a hospital in Scotland during World War 1. At the end of the war, Ernest proposed marriage and Bessie accepted. The marriage record (presented below) indicates that they were married on January 15, 1919 in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Ernest Smith and Bessie Cannon Marriage Certificate 1919

Ernest Smith and Bessie Cannon, circa 1919

As a young married couple, they sailed from Liverpool, England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on the S.S. Baltic which transported Canadian soldiers and their war brides (third class free passage). The following records show that they departed on August 13, 1919 and arrived in Canada on August 21, 1919 to begin a new life.

Bessie (Cannon) Smith - Canada Immigration 1919

Bessie (Cannon) Smith ID Card - S.S. Baltic 1919

Many war brides were transported in smaller ships such as the Corsican, Grampian, Megantic and the Tunisian, which could carry up to 2000 passengers. The Olympic (sister ship of the Titanic) was by far the largest ship to bring soldiers and their dependents to Canada. It could carry more than 5000 passengers. The voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada usually took 7 days. Most ships left from Liverpool but with many dockyard strikes during 1919, a number also left from ports at Southampton and Glasgow. During the winter months, the ships docked at the eastern Canada ports, such as Pier 2 in Halifax.

It is noteworthy that more than 50,000 war brides came to Canada after the World War 1 in an immigration scheme that was paid for by the Canadian government. In January 1919, the Government of Canada passed an Order in Council offering the dependents of Canadian soldiers free third class passage from Europe to Canada. (More information about war brides is available online at Canadian War Brides of the First  World War.) 

Bessie Cannon, circa 1927

Bessie Cannon - 90th Birthday 1982

When Ernest died in 1948, Bessie had been married for 29 years. She was 56 years old and carried on, cheerfully enduring many hardships. She lived for more than 30 years. During that time, she raised one of her granddaughters until she married. Then, in her senior years, Bessie was offered a home with her daughter (Doris) and her husband. 

Bessie (Cannon) Smith - Obituary 1982

Bessie died on February 12, 1982 after celebrating her 90^th birthday with her family. Her obituary states that Bessie was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. May she rest in peace! 

Read more about Ernest Milburn Smith and Bessie Cannon in Part 1 of this blog posting.

Smith Ancestry - 2nd Generation: The Story of Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948) and Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982) - Part 1

The 1^st Generation of our Smith Ancestry in Canada is about Russell Cannon Smith (1920-1995) and Margaret Cecilia Mumford (1922-1998). In the 2^nd Generation of the family history, the focus is on Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948) and Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982). This is their story (updated August 20, 2017)!

About Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948)

Ernest Milburn Smith was born on May 5, 1894 in Tantallon, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. He was the fifth of eight children (six boys and two girls) born to John Caleb Smith (1852-1940) and Deborah Emmeline Boutilier (1859-1940). At that time, his father was 42 years old and his mother was 34 years old.

Ernest Milburn Smith 1916

When he was 21 years old, Ernest Milburn Smith enlisted for service in World War 1. He joined the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force on December 21, 1915. According to the records, all five of his brothers also enlisted (see Smith Ancestry – Remembering the Battle of Vimy Ridge).

While fighting in France, Ernest was wounded in the shoulder and sent to a hospital in Scotland to recover. During his stay at the hospital, Ernest met Bridget “Bessie” Cannon. When the war ended, Ernest and Bessie were married on January 15, 1919 in Govan Parish, Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Scotland. Ernest was 24 and Bessie was 27.

On August 13, 1919, they boarded the S.S. Baltic in Liverpool, England and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to start a new life. Upon arrival in Canada on August 21, 1919, Ernest was discharged from the army. His discharge paper (presented below) indicates that, at 25 years old, he was 5 feet, 7 1/2 inches tall with brown eyes, brown hair and a "fresh" complexion.

Ernest Smith - Army Discharge Certificate 1919

The 1921 Canada Census indicates that Russell Cannon Smith (our direct line ancestor) was their first child. His Certificate of Birth states that Russell was born in Halifax on March 18, 1920 and that his father was a shoe repairer by trade. As the family tree shows, Ernest and Bessie had three more children over the eight years from 1920 to 1928 – Eunice (Una), Doris and Jean.

Ernest Smith and Bessie Cannon Family Tree

Ernest and Bessie were married for 29 years when he passed away at the age of 54 years. The Nova Scotia Certificate of Registration of Death (No. 005851) notes that Ernest made his living as a cobbler (shoemaker). It also records that he stayed at Camp Hill Hospital for several months before he died on November 9, 1948. His death was due to heart failure caused by arteriosclerosis and complications from diabetes. Ernest was buried at the Halifax Fort Massey Cemetery on November 12, 1948.

Read more about Bridget “Bessie” Cannon in Part 2 of this blog posting.

McConnell Ancestry – Emigration from Ireland to Canada in the 1800s

The family history records note that, during the summer of 1827, the McConnell family and several members of the Moncrief family sailed from Belfast, Ireland to seek better fortunes in Canada. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean was quite a test of endurance. In the Johnson/McConnell letters, a family member recorded that the hardships endured on the sailing vessels included crowded conditions, no facilities, very little food and no medicine. Many died of “the fever” and from scurvy. The deceased were buried at sea with little or no ceremony.

For those who made it to Canada, it was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire because, at that time, the Irish were thought of as the lowest form of mankind. Settlers walked from Montreal to Ottawa, then came down the Rideau River by raft to Kingston. From there, they took boats to Belleville and then walked or rode through the heavily timbered land to find their homesteads. They acquired the land but that was just the beginning. They had to build cabins and barns and then clear enough land to grow food. They were true pioneers!

Why did so many Irish emigrate? History records that, from 1820 to 1847, most people living in Ireland were trying to survive on a small piece of land in a crowded country, the most crowded one in Europe. In 1821, there were 251 people to the square mile. In industrialized Ulster, for each square mile of land fit for tillage or grazing there were 434 people trying to support themselves. More than 300,000 Irish farms had less than three acres. Under such conditions, the efforts to keep alive often did not last long.

For all rural Ireland in 1841 the average age at death was 19 and not a fifth of the population lived beyond 40 years of age. Famine and cholera appeared in the early thirties, and varying degrees of crop failure haunted the early forties, even before the total loss of the potato crop in 1845 and 1846. Emigration offered a way out. It was relatively heavy in the eastern counties of Ulster from 1815 to 1820. In most of Ulster during one three-year period in the early thirties, two out of every hundred people left the country.

Ireland County Map

Famine and fever made 1846 a year of wholesale agony. It brought death to about half a million people in Ireland. The survivors lived in a miserable confused state of economic dislocation Two-thirds of the population was “reduced to a state of pauperism.” The pressure of population, even in the thirties, had made one labourer in three an excess mouth to feed. The high unemployment, low wages and inflated rental costs swelled the ranks of the poor. After the famine, very few rents were paid and evictions were widespread numbering in the tens of thousands. People owed each other but couldn’t pay. So, most small tradesmen went bankrupt. From such conditions, 200,000 people fled as emigrants in 1846-1847. By 1849, in the little town of Antrim near Belfast, “Nearly every door is closed. The people can scarcely live in it.”