The Maple Leaf Flag, the European Union, and that house in Ingersoll

Now Ingersoll is one of those places which my Canadian cousins talk about.

It is a town in Oxford County on the Thames River and is in south western Ontario, with a population of just 2016.

The nearest cities are Woodstock to the east and London to the west, and on a visit our Chris took this picture, commenting,  “this is a house in Ingersoll, typical of the Victorian architecture you'll see in the older part of town. 

However, if you look closely at the flag pole, you will see under the Canadian flag, the flag of the European Union”.

And that has to have a story, although at this stage I am not sure what it is.

But Chris has promised to find out adding, “I will make an effort to get a better picture at some point, with both flags flying and in better light” although I think the image he sent is fine.

Still it would be interesting to know why the flag of the EU is there in Ingersoll.

And that just leaves me with the tale of the “Mammoth Cheese”, which was a giant wheel of cheese weighing 7,300 pounds.

It was made in 1866 to promote the area’s cheese industry and was exhibited at the New York State Fair in Saratoga, NY, and then in England.*

Picture; Ingersoll, 2018, Chris Pember

*Ingersoll, Ontario, Wikepedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingersoll,_Ontario#Early_history

The Hidden Treasure .............. another story from Chris Pember

Over the years, every once in a while I have experienced some degree of meagre good fortune or luck. 

Easter Sunday March 27, 1910, Toronto, Ontario. Henry Bailey Pember centre

Whether it was a rare open parking spot on a crammed street, small winnings in the hockey pool at work, or the time in grade 4 when I guessed correctly on how many candy canes were in the prize jar, I’ve had a few graces come my way.

Never did I imagine, however, a priceless treasure that would be revealed to me, a treasure hidden for years.

My interest in genealogy, something which formed as a mild but unpursued curiosity as a child, expanded rapidly two years ago as I sat with my ill father in a hospital room in Woodstock, Ontario.

Due to a weak heart and respiratory illness, he was on death’s door, and it was during the course of conversation one day in that palliative room that I simply asked him where his mother was from.

Learning of the birthplace of my grandmother, Laura Isadora Hall of Derby, kindled a renewed and much deeper interest in family origins and history. As I delved into genealogical research, I was able to make contact with cousins of whom I previously knew nothing about, cousins in both the Old and the New World.

Meeting with Ken Cox and family, Ken is second from right, January 2016

Through hours of research and reading over documents, I have gained knowledge of family branches, of incredible personal histories, twists, tragedies and triumphs.

Most important, however, is the establishment of contact, meeting and the bonding with members of my widespread family.

Even then, I feel that I still have just touched the tip of the iceberg.

 It was through the online sharing of old photos by some of these family members, several of whom are well-accomplished genealogists who have taken much time and effort to preserve family memories, that I was able to print off pictures for my terminal father to see before he passed away. He was able to learn more of his family’s history, both sides, and before his eyes came the pictorial memories of previous links in the chain.

I still recall the childlike excitement I felt inside every time I brought a new picture to him, with the story behind it. For me, not only was it a process of discovery of identity, but also a last service to a dying father.

One picture, in particular, has touched me in a way that I can only describe as bittersweet. On Easter Sunday, March 27th, 1910, in a photographer’s studio in Toronto, Ontario, posed the first Canadian Pember family of my immediate line.

His name was Henry Bailey Pember, a 2nd-great-grandfather who with his wife Sarah Hampson Pember, had emigrated to Canada from England in the nineteenth century. Mother Sarah had passed away three years earlier, but there in the old photo, are the children with their father, they themselves the root and branches of a family which has spread too many provinces in this country.

This old, beautiful photo had thankfully been preserved in the collection of the caretaker of many similar photos and documents, my cousin Ken Cox of Orillia, Ontario. Ken’s grandmother, Alice Victoria Pember Cox, was one of the young women in the photograph, she being one of the daughters of Henry and sister to my great-grandfather, William Hampson Pember.

Through the years, Ken has compiled and safeguarded a large depository of family history.

We were able to make contact through Ancestry.com, previously knowing nothing of each other, and this last winter were able to meet for the first time.

Now, at that time I had recently seen a smaller copy of the family portrait, but meeting Ken that day at his house, I was amazed when he brought out the large original and asked me to take on the task of caretaker of the photo.

I gladly obliged and seeing this family treasure for the first time, knowing that I would act as its new custodian was a very emotional experience for me. For, I not only felt the joy of the photo’s discovery, but also the sadness knowing that my father, who had passed away only months earlier, would have very much desired to see such a great family treasure.

Several months later, this great photograph now hangs over my fireplace, beautifully framed by the expert hands of Elizabeth McKinnon of McKinnon Custom Framing.

Sitting under museum glass, with the names of each of the family members listed, so that posterity and future generations of the Pember family will know and remember the faces of the earliest links of the chain.

© Chris Pember, 2016

Location; Canada

Pictures; Easter Sunday, March 27th, 1910, Toronto, Ontario. Henry Bailey Pember, centre, William Hampson Pember, fourth from left, Alice Victoria Pember Cox, farthest on right and meeting with Ken Cox (second from right) and family in January 2016. he Hidden Treasure
from the collection of Ken Cox and Chris Pember
   

Of Towers and German-Canadiana

The first of a series of stories on Canada’s history

Written by my cousin Chris with  pictures by Andrea.  They live in Ontario.

“So where are you taking me anyways?”

It was probably the fourth or fifth time as we rode in the SUV that my wife, Andrea, had asked that question.

When we left the house on that beautiful morning last August, I had told her simply to pack her camera, to bring water for herself, and that we would stop along the way to pick up some coffee for the journey.

It was going to be a surprise trip, I had said, knowing that as an avid photographer, this rare monument we were heading to would be fun for her to gain a few captures.

Not only would it be a photography exercise for Andrea, but the day trip was going to be a micro-pilgrimage for me, someone with an interest in the German-Canadian heritage drawn from my mother’s side of the family.

Coming off the Ontario provincial highway called the 401, one heads north up regional road 8 towards the city of Kitchener for about 2 km before taking a series of short runs through a newly developed residential area and then onto Pioneer Tower Road.

It is there, along the east bank of the Grand River that the unique 18.9 metre-high monument called the Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower will come into view.

A designated National Historic Site of Canada, it was completed in 1926 by descendants of the original Mennonite families who had come from Pennsylvania to settle in the Waterloo area, along with members of the Waterloo Historical Society. As the commemorative plaque reads:

“In the year 1800 a small number of Mennonite families arrived from Pennsylvania to settle Block 2, former Six Nation land along the Grand River. Others, mainly Mennonites, following during the next three years until problems regarding ownership of the land curtailed the migration. 

Representatives were sent back to Pennsylvania to raise the money necessary to secure clear title to the land, with the result that a joint stock company was formed and 60,000 acres purchased. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers quickly took up this land, creating the first sizeable inland settlement in Upper Canada.”

It was these people who contributed to the beginning of the tangible German character of Waterloo County and surrounding area, pioneers who spearheaded further German immigration into the region and which eventually culminated in cities and towns with names such as Berlin, Hespeler, Heidelberg, Baden, New Hamburg, Jakobstettel (St. Jacob’s) amongst many others.

When it was built, the Tower stood as a unifying monument to all these German-Canadians and was also considered a symbol of presence, identity and reconciliation at a time when anti-German sentiment was still present in post-Great War Ontario.

The Tower itself conveys a picture of Old World blended with New World. One sees the field stone courses, typical of the construction material employed in the building of German-Canadian farmhouses in the area.

The traditional Swiss-style roof is built of copper and at the pinnacle there is a small but clearly-visible wind vane: a Conestoga waggon, the historic symbol of the Waterloo immigrant pioneer.

Although it is no longer possible to ascend up the stairs to the observation level anymore (the door is locked at the base due to vandalism and other youthful mischief), the bank upon which the Tower stands still overlooks the Grand River and the trails which run beside it.

Bicyclists and hikers passing by generally seemed oblivious to us, but some interest by a young couple was piqued as they observed Andrea circling the Tower, capturing angles and showing overall fascination with the monument.

As for me, I was stuck in pensive contemplation, considering the history behind it and feeling a sense of connection.

We strode back to the SUV, and I asked Andrea if the surprise trip was worth it. Yes, she enthused, happy as she was with the pictures and the enjoyment of the overall serene setting under a blue summer sky.

Although it was a further drive northwest of Kitchener, we journeyed to the Olde Heidelberg Tavern, in the crossroads village of Heidelberg, where we feasted upon Waterloo-style schnitzel and pork hock dinners, for which the Tavern is famous. I relished every bit of the delicious sauerkraut that came with my pork hock and complimented the host on the house brew.

All in all, it was a wonderful and significant day trip and was one more fun excursion into an Ontario county which I have become more interested in spending time in.

© Chris Pember

Pictures; of the Tower,  August 2013, © Andrea Pember