A place to honour my ancestors: Moynahan, Coughlin, Broderick, Annal, Brennan, Hussey, Hess and Duffy. (Essex & Kent County Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Ireland, Scotland); and Creighton, Moreland, (Nova Scotia, England and Scotland); and Foreman (Ireland, Scotland and Norway)
On the morning of December 6, 1917, there was an explosion in the Halifax Harbour that injured 9,000 people and killed 2,000.
This blog post is an update to previous posts about the impact of this explosion on our ancestors:
My grandmother Dorothy Moreland was only seven years old and was living with her sister Florence at a foster home because her father John Miller Moreland was overseas fighting in WWI. The foster home at 500 Gottingen was destroyed.
My 2nd great-uncle Francis Clifford Tomlin was a tinsmith at the Hillis & Sons Foundry and searched day and night through the ruins of north end Halifax and the next day's blizzard looking for the bodies of his daughter, mother-in-law, 4 sisters-in-law and their families; 3 brothers-in-law; all those who worked with him at the Foundry. He died of meningitis on March 21, 1918 and when the Halifax Relief commission refused to give his widow, Maggie a survivor's pension, she was angry and made a point of carving into her husband's headstone that he was a victim, putting the date of the explosion before the date of death. This post is the story about his family that survived.
As a family historian and genealogist, I know that there is only so far I can go in recreating the lives of our ancestors from paper records. The very best information about the lives of our ancestors is often found in thestories and conversations with their descendants and extended family.
In 2009, Carolyn Tomlin, (the grand daughter of Frank C.
Tomlin (1882-1918) shared a lot of information about our Tomlin-Nickerson Nova Scotian roots and I have her permission to share it here.
Francis Clifford Tomlin's Headstone (1882-1918)
Francis C. Tomlin's Headstone at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, N.S.
(Source: Photo taken by Carolyn Tomlin)
The Tomlin story starts with this photo of a headstone that held clues to anotherwise unknown factaboutFrancis C. Tomlin (a tinsmith who worked at the Hillis Foundry, Halifax) and the Halifax Explosion of 1917.
Carolyn explains:,
"This (head)stone is at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax.
Francis C. Tomlin searched day and night through the ruins of north
end Halifax and the next day's blizzard looking for bodies after the
Halifax Explosion. He lost his daughter, mother-in-law, 4 sisters-in-law
and their families; 3 brothers-in-law; all those who worked with him at
Hillis Foundry where he was a tinsmith. He caught pneumonia, typhoid
and then died of meningitis on March 21, 1918. The Halifax Relief
commission refused to give his widow, Maggie, a survivor's pension and
she was angry when she put the stone up - she made a point of carving in
stone that he was a victim, putting the date of the explosion before
the date of death."
Detail of Francis C. Tomlin's Headstone at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, N.S.
Read "Injured By The Explosion Dec 6, 1917; Died Mar 21, 1918" (Source: Billion Graves)
Francis Clifford Tomlin (1882-1918) is Effie (Tomlin) Creighton's Brother Our 2nd Great-Uncle
The tree above demonstrates how we are descended from Francis C. Tomlin
Carolyn said that when she was growing up "... in Halifax; our back yard shared a fence with my Dad's cousin Gladys (Melhuish) Garrison, whom ......was Effie Tomlin's daughter." See the picture below with Effie on the far right and Clyde Garrison (second from the left) who married Gladys Melhuish.
Photo fromBarbara Huston Collection: (L to R): Emily Creighton, Clyde Garrison, (my grandmother) Dorothy (Moreland) Creighton and Effie (Tomlin) Creighton-Melhuish (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Photo from Doreen Evan Collection: (L to R): Emily (Creighton) Rudge, Gladys (Melhuish) Garrison, and Edith (Melhuish) Laidlaw
A Missing Tomlin? Twin Albert Clarence Tomlin
According to Carolyn, a Tomlin
is missing from our family tree: "Effie's third brother Albert, who left N.S. for Massachusetts.
American census info indicates he lived in a boarding house, unmarried,
and somewhere else I heard he worked in factory."
When I looked, I found Albert at Family Search and he was a twin!
Twin boy: Albert Clarence Tomlin was born 12 Feb 1877 (Source: "Canada Births and Baptisms, 1661-1959," database, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLG4-MLB : 27 November 2014),
Albert C. Tomlin, 12 Feb 1877; citing Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 12
Feb 1877, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,318,438.)
Twin girl: Frances C Tomlin was born 12 Feb 1877 (Source: "Canada Births and Baptisms, 1661-1959," database, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLG4-MLR : 27 November 2014),
Frances C. Tomlin, 12 Feb 1877; citing Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 12
Feb 1877, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,318,438.)
I have been unable to locate the twin sister. She does not appear with him in the 1891 census so we can only assume that she died (a death record has not been located)
I did locate Albert. In the 1896 McAlpines Halifax Directory he is working as a cotton weaver and in Halifax at King's Place with his father Samuel.
By 1918, Albert is living in Massachusetts and enlisting in the Army for World War I.
Massachusetts, World War I Selective Service System draft registration cards, 1917-1918) Film
MASSACHUSETTS North Easton City, no. 41, T - Z Fairhaven City, no. 42, A - R
Source: "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBRT-HCM?mode=g&i=135&cc=1968530
: 14 May 2014), Massachusetts > image 136 of 652; citing NARA
microfilm publication M1509 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and
Records Administration, n.d.).
The Tomlin House
Carolyn wrote that "The whole family of Samuel & Emily appear in the 1881 Canadian
census, under the name Twomlin on King St. Halifax. The house still
exists, except it has been moved round the corner to Robie St. This
happened when I was a teenager; my Dad pointed it out to me as his
grandfather's house."
I checked the two following Wikipedia websites and could not see a house that fit this description.
I sent an email to Heritage Nova Scotia asking for assistance in locating this house (if it still stands) and I was redirected to the Nova Scotia Archives who responded:
"There was only one house part of James Dempster’s
North End Planning Mill on the 1879 Hopkins City Atlas of Halifax, Plate
No S. See Maps on our web site and you can look at the atlas. The Goad
Fire Insurance Plans of 1895, 1899, 1911
have a small two storey building or residence on the south side of the
street. By 1914, the house has a one storey addition at the rear. The street appears on the 1878 City Atlas but we did not find it laid out on
the 1889, 1895, 1899 Goad Atlas. The 1911
atlas show the street but it is unnamed. The 1911 Atlas calls it
Garrack Street.
We perused the Halifax City Directories on-line and
found Samuel Tomlin listed as a labourer at 84 Grafton Street. By 1880,
he is listed as a coal hawker and later as a coal carrier. The first
year he resided on King’s Place is 1888 and
his home was on the east side of the street. The only street in the
area where that fits this description is Love’s Lane later known as
Kings Lane and today is June Street. This street runs from Cunard to
West and was originally a cow path.
Please forget the previous. We checked a 1901
Halifax City Directory and found Samuel Tomlin living on King Street
which ran between North Street and St. Alban’s Street west of Robie
Street. This is where Francis “Frank” G. Tomlin and his
daughter Veronica Tomlin lived when they were killed as a result of the
1917 Halifax Explosion."
The Nickersons
The last of the oral history shared by Carolyn Tomlin is about the Nickersons:
" ....But Emily Tomlin was Emily Nickerson, daughter of
James Nickerson & Esther Purdy.
Plug those names into the search engine on
Ancestry, and it'll take you back to the 1500's in England.
The 1871 Census of
Canada shows Emily - but Esther is dead by then and a stepmother is there;
and in our home town of Clark's Harbour on Cape Sable Island there is the
Archelaus Smith Museum, which has hand-written records of the local families,
and one Emily Nickerson married to a Samuel Thomlin of Halifax. Voila! I have a
picture of it which I can't lay my hands on, but I will find it.
The Nickersons
came from Cape Cod after the expulsion of the Acadians to take over the Atlantic
fishery."
Carolyn Tomlin concludes her message by saying, " I kept my Tomlin name when I married because I am literally the last of the
Tomlins."
Halifax Explosion Postcards
I am grateful to another distant cousin (Doreen Evans) who is filling in more of the Nova Scotia gaps with wonderful photographs.
I have added four postcards below depicting the Halifax Explosion so that you can have a better idea about the conditions that poor Francis Tomlin searched for his lost family members. They are scanned from the photograph archive held by Doreen Evans (granddaughter of Effie Tomlin)
Daughter Veronica Tomlin died in Explosion
As you recall from the beginning of this post, "Francis C. Tomlin searched day and night through the ruins of north
end Halifax and the next day's blizzard looking for bodies after the
Halifax Explosion. He lost his daughter," and many, many other family members and co-workers.
You can
view the death certificate and other information about his daughter
Veronica Tomlin who died in the Halifax Explosion Dec. 6 , 1917 here: https://novascotia.ca/archives/remembrance/list.asp?ID=1731 Veronica is buried st Mount Olivet Cemetery, Halifax, NS.
You will read from the photograph of her death certificate that she died from "shock due to injuries in explosion" which was the standard cause of death in most of these death records at the time of the explosion.
Ashpan Annie, an infant survivor of the Halifax Explosion on 6 December 1917.
Another Explosion?
Doreen Evans also sent photographs of smoke clouds that appear to be coming from the opposite shore in Halifax and at first I thought they were related to the Halifax Explosion but then I looked more closely at the clothing in the photo below.
Above: Young folks walking with smoke visible in the background
You can see the young women above are wearing short dresses (below the knee)
which would make it a different time period than the 1917 explosion.
When I researched further, I came across a reference to the Halifax
Explosion II. This referred to an explosion of munitions at the Magazine
near Dartmouth, (The Bedford Magazine explosion) (July 18-19, 1945)
Above: Young Men in foreground looking at the smoke
Cloud of smoke over the rooftops
I cant be entirely sure, but I believe these photographs may have been taken of the explosion of munitions at the Magazine
near Dartmouth. If you have any thoughts, please add them to the comment section below.
Many thanks to distant cousins Carolyn Tomlin and Doreen Evans for helping to fill in the stories about the Tomlins, Nickersons and Melhuishes in Nova Scotia. There are so many more stories waiting to be told. Nova Scotia is a beautiful place with a wonderful history that I love to research.
Did you know you have 32 3rd-great-grandparents? Did you know that "By the time you hit those seventh great grandparents, you have a whopping 1,022 slots on your family tree to try to fill."? (Source: The Legal Genealogist)
Professional Genealogist Christ Cowans says, "at roughly 25 years per generation — your seventh great grandparents lived only about 300 years ago." That's not really that long ago but I am far away from knowing all 1022 of my grandparents!
Fan Chart
This fan chart has 30 spaces for your 2 Parents, 4 Grandparents, 8 Great-Grandparents and 16 2nd Great Grandparents. How many spaces can you fill in?
I have been doing genealogical research since 1981. That's over thirty years and I still have huge gaps in my research. This is common among genealogists!
My filled fan chart (excluding all living family members)
My Paternal Grandparents
My Maternal Grandparents
My 32 3rd Great Grandparents
I inherited this photograph from my grandmother Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan and on the envelope was written "Great Grandmother". This means that this is a photo of one of my 3rd Great Grandparents.
The problem was that on my paternal side of my family tree, this photo could have been one of eight women. Luckily, I had help from my distant cousin Vicky Hess who identified this enchanting woman as Mary *Steinbraun* (*see notes at bottom on spelling).
Mary Ann Hess' mother: Mary *Steinbraun*
26/32 3rd-Great-Grandparents
At the end of the day, I know some information about 26 of my 32 3rd-Great-Grandparents and I have a picture of only one - Mary Steinbrun (1829-1873). I love genealogy because I love discovering new ancestors and the research NEVER ends!
More on Mary Steinbraun
* From Kim Simpson: "I really think Mary Ann Hess’ mother’s name was Mary Steinbraun....... On Gabriel Hess’ marriage record it reads as Mary Steinborn; on Joseph Hess’ death it reads Mary Steinbrum;" * From Vicky Hess:Oral family history has her being born in " Alsace Lorraine. French and German both claimed Alsace, so searching has been a problem. The relatives also said they came to Canada from/thru Pennsylvania."
No Story Too Small has issued a New Year's Challenge: "Have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.”
This week's post is about my great grandmother (GG) Mary Anne Elizabeth (Broderick) Moynahan.
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Pictured left to right: Cindi Moynahan,
great grandmother Mary (Broderick) Moynahan and Lori Moynahan. 539 Campbell Ave. Windsor, Ontario (circa 1959)
