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Messages - silicondale

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1
Thanks for that. Weird. If correct, it means he made not one but two trips to Canada before returning to England, where he was recorded, with his wife, in the 1911 census, and they then travelled to Canada together in 1912.

His age in 1909 was 24, so 25 is probably close enough. Age 19 is clearly an error, as the ticket number matches. One correction, by the way - it was St John, New Brunswick, not St John's Newfoundland (which would have made his onward travel to western Canada much more difficult!). He gave his destination as High Bluff, Manitoba.

In March 1910, Percy travelled as a steerage passenger on ss Lake Champlain, arriving in New Brunswick but stating his intention to travel onward to Springside, Saskatchewan. He gave his occupation before departure from England as 'farmer' despite there being no recent farming history in the family.

These destinations are obscure, and I think must have been pre-arranged for him, probably by his wealthy uncle Joseph Henley in New Westminster, BC.

On 28th June 1912, Percy and Sybil embarked on the Empress of Ireland, travelling first class, from Liverpool to Quebec. This time their destination was initially Saskatoon, from which they travelled onwards to Elfros, Saskatchewan - and their subsequent lives are quite well documented.


2
Thanks for the suggestion, JJ. Yes, I have also corrected Wikipedia items. But this one is not Wikipedia. However, the historian is now writing a whole new article for publication in the Canadian art world, with updated and corrected data, so there's no need to do anything. There are still some unanswered questions, of course, but we're confident that the facts we have are now correct.   

3
Yorkshire (West Riding) / Re: Henry Willis steel manufacturers of Sheffield
« on: Wednesday 25 June 25 20:09 BST (UK)  »
I think you must be right, Molly, and I just misread the address. And many thanks for the maps! I don't live too far from Sheffield and have visited the city several times, but it's changed so much in recent years that I find it hard to visualise it. It's the same in London's east end, where I lived as a child in the 1950s. Much of it is unrecognisable today - though I suppose better than all the bomb sites. And the shop on Fish Street Hill disappeared long ago - where it was is now the back of a concrete and steel office building

4
Yorkshire (West Riding) / Re: Henry Willis steel manufacturers of Sheffield
« on: Wednesday 25 June 25 17:32 BST (UK)  »
Thanks, Molly! Have gone quite a bit further now. John Brown emigrated in 1881 with Louisa Ann Evans, granddaughter of William Willey, a prominent Sheffield cutler who had moved to London in the 1840s. After his death in 1853 his daughter Mary inherited his shop at 21 Fish Street Hill in the City of London (close to the Great Fire Monument). She married Evan Evans who continued to run the shop as a tobacconist/newsagent which also sold cutlery. Louisa was their daughter. But although John Brown had been living in Sheffield for several years, I've found no Sheffield connection between the two families.

John Brown left a family in Sheffield (including a son, Frank, born in 1882 after John had already  sailed to New York). After John left, his wife Caroline and their 6 children moved from Plumpton Street to Court 5, 8 Cambridge Road, Heeley - sounds to me like much smaller and cheaper accommodation. Caroline petitioned for divorce in 1894, and John Brown and Louisa Ann then married in Camden, New Jersey, in 1895. Frank eventually joined him in America and managed the organ-building business after his father's retirement.

5
Yorkshire (West Riding) / Re: Henry Willis steel manufacturers of Sheffield
« on: Monday 23 June 25 08:24 BST (UK)  »
Wow, Molly - I love the lateral thinking. Will check the address with the family's entry in the 1881 census but I'd bet it's the same.

And Alan, you may well have hit on the answer, that clearly any large order would have to be filled by a bigger company, not just the John Brown one-man-band.

Many thanks to both.

6
Yorkshire (West Riding) / Henry Willis steel manufacturers of Sheffield
« on: Sunday 22 June 25 23:09 BST (UK)  »
I have a John Brown (born Hunslet 1852) who was an organ builder, employed by the London-based organ building company Henry Willis & Sons in the 1870s. But John and his family lived in Sheffield throughout the 1870s. Was there any connection between the organ building company in London and Henry Willis steel manufacturers in Sheffield? Were they owned by the same Henry Willis? Or did the London organ building company have a branch office in Sheffield?

John Brown then emigrated to the USA in 1881, initially working for Hilborne Lewis Roosevelt, an organ builder in New York (this was a non-political cousin of US presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt). He later, in about 1885, set up his own organ building company in Wilmington, Delaware.

7
Yes, the wiki page is wrong !

I'm in touch with a Saskatchewan art historian who is trying to correct a lot of errors in the published biographies. They even got Percy's name wrong - calling him Peter.

8
Hi Daisy - Many thanks indeed for this. It does cast new light! I already suspected that they weren't doing this from their own resources. The 1911 census listed their occupation as "private means" which could have meant self-employed artists - but equally could have meant bank of mum & dad. I think that is exactly what it meant! Funded by Sybil's father or Percy's uncle, or both.

Last permanent residence as "British possessions" is strange. Sybil's published biography said (without providing any evidence) that they met while studying in Paris, but that was neither a permanent residence or a British possession. Both were born and bred in London and before going to Canada there's no evidence that I've found to suggest either of them lived anywhere else, including Paris.  Indeed, both studied at the Lambeth School of Art, and I am sure that is where they met!

However, just possible that Percy acquired a homestead in Saskatchewan on his previous visit in 2010 and they already considered this their permanent home.

Thanks again!
-Steve

9
Many thanks, Daisy -I found the Familysearch entry before, but as you say, it's not very helpful! I don't have an Ancestry subscription, but that does at least give the full information, and confirms the statement in the published biography that they both went to Canada in 1912. So Percy must have returned to England after his 1910 trip and the 1911 census entry is most likely to be correct.

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