Mary Janeway
THE LEGACY OF A HOME CHILD
MaryJaneway
THE LEGACY OFA HOME CHILD
MARY PETTIT
NATURAL HERITAGE BOOKS
A MEMBER OF THE DUNDURN GROUP
TORONTO
Copyright © 2000 by Mary Pettit
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanic, photocopying or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Published by Natural Heritage Books
A Member of The Dundurn Group
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Pettit, Mary, 1948-
Mary Janeway: the legacy of a home child / written by Mary Pettit.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55488-413-1
1. Janeway, Mary, 1887-1964--Fiction. 2. Home children (Canadian immigrants)--Ontario--Fiction.
I. Title.
PS8581.E8554M37 2009 C813'.6 C2009-900096-2
Edited by Laura Higgins and Jane Gibson
Design by Blanche Hamill, Norton Hamill Design
Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Printing Limited, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books and the Government of Canada through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit Program and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
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To my parents, Robert and Gladys Hewson, for opening their hearts and their home to Mary Janeway, who in turn enriched all our lives.
“If, as psychiatry has told us, the years of our childhood are the years that shape our inner lives forever, then the practice of child emigration—the act of uprooting children and sending them, alone, across the ocean to work in a strange land in a strange occupation—must be regarded as one of the most Draconian measures in the entire history of children in English-speaking society. Its impact on the life of a sensitive child—even one who was placed in reasonable circumstances—is difficult to measure, sometimes difficult even to imagine“ 1
Kenneth Bagnell,
The Little Immigrants: The Orphans Who Came to Canada
“I don't know why they needed a girl…after all they had Annie. My grandparents never talked about Mary. My grandma was a bit hoity toity. I got the feeling that things weren't too good for Mary…you know she ran away.” 2
Joseph Jacques,
grandson of Daniel Jacques
Mary Janeway required extensive research in order to authenticate the historical context of the late 1800s in rural Ontario. I am indebted to many for their encouragement.
To Barry Penhale, my publisher, who took a long time deciding whether to publish my work but decided that Mary Janeway certainly ‘deserved attention’;
To Joseph Jacques, grandson of Daniel Jacques, for his willingness to share his past;
To David Lorente, Chair of the Heritage Renfrew Home Children Committee, for trying to help me locate Mary's name on juvenile immigration records and ship passenger lists. To David and Kay Lorente, for reading my manuscript twice for correctness;
To Kenneth Bagnell, author of The Little Immigrants, who willingly gave me permission to quote from his book;
To John Duncan, for his artistic ability in creating the sketches which help to tell my story;
To Barry Hoskins, publisher of Heritage Cards, for his photographs of the late 1880s and his artistic ability in scanning turn of the century photographs;
To Stella Clark, Branch Head of the Stoney Creek Library, and the staff of the Wentworth Libraries, for helping in my endeavour to research my subject thoroughly;
To Elizabeth Nelson-Raffaele, Curator of the Gibson House Museum, and Millie McClintock, Assistant Curator of the Historic Zion Schoolhouse, for kindly responding to queries about foodways and schooling in the 1890s;
To Joanne Reynolds, for fielding questions about nineteenth-century social customs;
To the Special Collections Department in the Hamilton Public Library, for their assistance while I sifted through the archives searching for authentic illustrations;
To Elizabeth Duern, English teacher at Saltfleet high school, for proofreading to identify the ‘comma splices’;
To George Milovanov, Head of the History Department at Saltfleet high school, for his advice on its historical authenticity and relevance to high school Canadian history;
To Gary Rawnsley, Eric Turner and Bill Stubbings, for their computer expertise and patience;
To Brian Carnahan, a freelance photographer for the Hamilton Spectator, who tried very hard to find my ‘good side’;
To Rosa, from Rosa's Day Spa and Silvana Elia, my hair stylist for their expertise and patience on ‘photograph day’;
To Laura Higgins of Natural Heritage for her quiet persistence in authenticating historical references and to Jane Gibson of Natural Heritage for her editorial experience;
To my best friend Catherine Steel, for her enthusiasm and willingness to proofread, chauffeur and be my research companion (and for the champagne when she witnessed the signing of my contract);
To my aunt, Beth Kelterborn, for always being able to answer the question, “Does this make sense?” and for her wisdom which only comes from years of life experience;
To my daughter, Allison, for her candid, honest but gentle criticism;
To my husband, Paul, for his faith in me that never wavered, even when mine did;
And finally to Mary Janeway, the little orphan girl who left her legacy behind because she trusted me with her story.
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