GELLEY GIRLS IMPORTED TO BE DOMESTICS IN CANADA : MAIDEN VOYAGES

 

EXCERPTS: Conditions in third class transatlantic ships had continued to improve markedly during the early 1920's, and now bore little resemblance to the horrors of the notorious steerage class before the Great War.  On the Zeeland, hot seawater baths were available with special soap that would lather in brine. The women could clean themselves and wash their clothes.  On one occasion an impatient chief steward tried to speed up the process by making two girls share the same bath. Edith insisted each woman should bathe alone, in privacy, and her argument prevailed.  Her tussles on behalf of her charges, who were looked down on by some of the crew as racially inferior, often  made her unpopular.  When she insisted that the third class women and children were moved to better quarters in the Zeeland, to minimizes the likelihood of them getting seasick, she encountered hostility from some of the crew, though she won her case...  (page 122)

Quote from Edith (page 123)

We had many Jews - all types -traveling as emigrants from Europe.  The looked as if a terror was behind them, running away with a real sense of fear... all the tragedies of the world seemed to be in their melancholy eyes.  They also seemed to have an awful fear of the sea on this, the first time they had ever seen the ocean, or  experienced what it could do when in the the mood.  How terrible it was for those poor, ground-down peasant types, and the persecuted Jews, to be storm-buffeted on a rolling ship, knowing little of what they might expect, only that it was a land of opportunity that awaited them - a strange land, a better life. Others had gone before and written home to say so....

Many of Edith's adult female charges had been recruited in their hone countries to be domestics, and were known as Gelley Girls, after the Commissioner of the Canadian Immigrations who had invented the assisted places scheme.  However, some would try to escape their escorts before their intended destination, having arranged clandestinely to meet a boyfriend or a family member.  They didn't get far...

*****

Edith also safeguarded unaccompanied children from possible sexual predators on board ships.  She would sometimes encounter very young girls who were being sent alone to a distant relative in the far country, and who had been laced, with the relevant photograph, on the passport of some unrelated male.  The man accompanying them was usually form the same home town or village, and of course this arrangement might be entirely innocent.  However, Edith would step in if she discovered that any young girl or boy had been booked into the same cabin as an unrelated adult male....

Picture Brides were another intriguing feature of Edith's shipboard life.  These were European born women who had consented to marry men already living in Canada or the USA without ever having met them. These women took life-changing decisions after answering a newspaper advert, then exchanging letters and photos, arranging their marriages by post... (page 125)

The Canadian immigration system was well organized' having interviewed each woman and noted her details, Edith would giver her a colour-coded piece of ribbon which showed her eventual destination: red for Manitoba or Saskatchewan, blue for Ontario, white for the maritime provinces.  The women proudly wore these ribbons like badges of honor, or campaign medals, pinned to their clothes....  They were grouped according to their ribbon colors  and then taken to their various destination all over Canada by so-called 'train girls.

(Page 126)

THE ROLE OF A CONDUCTRESS : MAIDEN VOYAGES

Edith Sowerbutt was one of a small but influential group of women who traveled the North Atlantic as a conductresses,  She started working for the Red Star Line, which was owned by White Star, in 1925, and continued in that role for six years, when assisted immigration to Canada ceased and she was made redundant, although that was not the end of her maritime career.  (page 118)

She had a great deal of practical experience of intercontinental travel, as well as fellow feeling for people who were prepared to travel to better their lives.  Edith was also a natural champion of those who were discriminated against on the grounds or race, class, or gender. Her innate sense of justice made her a formidable advocate on behalf of the passengers in her care, and she was delighted to be taken on as a conductress by Red Star in 1925  (page 119)

While Edith was available to unaccompanied women in all classes, her primary role was looking after the interest of those in third class, and processing their immigration applications.  She would introduce herself to each one, explain that she had a list of official questions, and record the answers by hand, then type up the details later.  On each voyage Edith complied detailed lists of all unaccompanied women immigrants across all three classes for the Canadian authorities.  To extract this information from each woman was often a race against time, because third class passengers were housed in the least stable section of the ship, and were therefore prone to seasickness....

(on the open Atlantic which was rougher) Edith relied on the services of interpreters, and was particularly fond of a remarkable character called Terps, an Orthodox Jew who spoke fourteen languages.  (page 120)

USEFULNESS OF EARLY STATISTICAL UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS RECORDS

With the 1950 census in hand, we may wonder how the early census records can be helpful to our research.   

Just to refresh, in 1776 Independence was Declared. Then there was the Revolutionary War.  Before a first President, George Washington, who was a military war General, was installed it was April 30th, 1789. He was an eight year, two term president.  The first Federal United States Census was 1790.

The earliest census are, but for the name of the head of household, usually a male and a husband, and the rest rather statistical. If you haven't seen these the questions are about how many males and females are in the household and what their age categories are. So we can't expect the names of every member of a household until 1850.

First if you do have ancestors on the 1850 you can reasonably related to at least some the family members ten years back based on the statistics, sometimes more.  You can also go forwards to see if people are named, depending on if they are alive and so on.

However, perhaps the most important aspect of finding the state and county and town or place of residence of a family member is because of how that relates to court records. Before there were civil record requirements (Vital Records) people pretty much kept a record of when people in the family were born or died in a Bible or such.  So, the older census are still helpful for locating them.  Our early colonial ancestors moved a lot, usually as the family expanded for the purchase of land to farm or ranch. If we know where they were, we can then attempt to find records of land purchases and sales, wills, and so on.

As a note, we would also like to find them on maps.

C 2022 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

BACK TO SCHOOL!

 

US IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1924 : MAIDEN VOYAGES

Note : This excerpt is about what was happening after the US Immigration Act of 1924 that was more restrictive than that of 1921. The government felt that America was overloading with the unskilled laborers that had come in previous decades.

 EXCERPT:  The U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 was even more restrictive than that of 1921.  The total number of European immigrants now allowed in annually was slashed to 161,5000 in any one year.  By comparison, in 1913. 1.141 million European immigrants had been admitted to the U.S.  In addition, visas were now required, and those were issued by US Consular offices in the countries of origin.  Any shipping line bringing in an immigrant without a visa, or surplus to the annual quota allowed to that country, could face a punitive $1000 penalty.  Immigration figures plummeted though some nations were still favored over others: British and Irish-born immigrants were allowed a generous proportion of the annual European allocation, and anglophones with valuable skills, such as British-born servants or nurses, were actively encouraged to emigrate to the North American continent.  (page 76)

Would-be immigrants could be deported if they showed signs of physical  or mental illness, but less well known is the discrimination against the illiterate.  Adults arriving at Ellis Island were required to read out loud forty words of a printed language - any language -; a wide variety of texts were supplied - to prove they were literate. This discrimination policy often split up families, and it particularly effected women from remote and traditional communities in eastern Europe, who were less likely to have been taught to read  (page 78)

IS THIS YOUR YEAR TO JOIN A HISTORICAL REENACTMENT GROUP? EXPERIENCING YESTERDAY TODAY

I love going to a historical site and finding volunteers or docents dressed in appropriate fashions, well educated on their topic, and ready to take people on a tour.  That's 'living history' or experiencing yesterday today.

 THE GRAND ENCAMPMENT.  https://thegrandencampment.com/  specializes in military re-enactment.

They do battle reenactments, have vintage vehicles and aircraft, and dance at the victory canteen to a 1940's era Big Band orchestra.  Over 500 people participate as actors and behind the scenes.  Let them entertain you and educate you.  The entrance fee is very reasonable; $10 for adults, $5 for children, group rates, and they have military. vet, and first responder discounts...

Coming up in mid October is one near Riverside, that's Southern California.

NEW WOMEN'S WORK ON THE BIG STEAMSHIPS : MAIDEN VOYAGES

 

EXCERPT: By the 1890s there was a boom in passenger shipping, and the major ports of Britain became the embarkation points for emigrants from all over Europe as well as the British Isles.  In 1893 large transatlantic liners started to leave from Southhampton as well as from Liverpool, which had previously been the main embarkation port for North America.  The White Star and Cunard shipping lines joined P & O in setting up offices and infrastructure in Southhampton, which was just a hour from London by train.  With the growth in the numbers of female passengers, gender-specific roles such as bathing attendants, nursery nurses, laundry attendants and masseuses we also created aboard the big ships.  The shipping companies received applications for women's roles board the ocean going ships far beyond the number of positions available.  The jobs were physically demanding, and those taking them would be living away form home - often in cramped, communal quarters - but, in an era of limited job opportunities for women, the idea of going to sea and earning an independent living was appealing to many.  (page 16)

A note:  Married women and women with children also took jobs on the steamships.

MAIDEN VOYAGES by SIAN EVANS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT BOOK REVIEW

 Excellent!

This book by Sian Evans is a must read if you're interested in what it was for women to work or travel on steamships. Following the careers of a few of the women who worked on these ships as well as celebrities who were passengers on them, we almost wish we could travel back in time and experience a historical voyage. There is much to learn here for anyone interested in writing a family history book that you can spice up with some research about the conditions of travel in the great steamship era, the 1890s through the World War II era.

When it came to accommodations, women and men employees were to lodge apart on board, when it came to women and children passengers traveling alone, male crew might keep an eye out for their safety, but it was female crew, stewardesses, who there for them, staving off sea sickness, even helping deliver babies.

In this book, you learn about the Unsinkable Violet Jessop who, in a career on ships of over four decades, survived three maritime disasters! One of them being the Lusitania. Another heroine of the seas was Edith Sowerbutt who among many other tasks, interviewed women who were traveling alone with the help of a translator.

You'll read about the people in steerage as well as the buyers traveling back and forth to Europe and the rich who were on board for adventures. Tallulah Bankhead, Thelma Furness and her twin Gloria Vanderbilt, and Spanish war journalist, Martha Gellhorn, and many more are mentioned. Ships like the Queen Mary, the Zeeland, the Aquitania, and the Lusitania... The health inspections and the card sharks and con artists.... Since shipboard romances took place, the blackmailers...

Although an easy and delightful read, I think some the information presented in Maiden Voyages is important and I've decided to do some excerpting over the next few weeks to give you a feel for the book and entice you to buy a copy since this is definitely a book for my own collection.

Quite an accomplishment for author Sina Evans, I've never come across anything like it.

C 2022  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy.

BOOKS! BOOKS! MORE BOOKS!

Hello My Readers,

Over the last few months I've been reading so very many books.  The libraries in my area opened up slowly and for a while it seemed like I was one of the few people who had returned to using the library. (Yes, we are still masking.) In fact a good number of books on my list are available only in e-books. Luckily, ordering books in from other branches is possible because I dislike reading e-books.  I spend a couple hours a day on a computer as is. I feel paper books are easier on my eye-sight and easier to fall asleep with too.

I started looking at what was on the Newly Purchased book shelves and I have to say that I have found some wonderful books that are history and genealogy oriented. I'll be excerpting parts of these books that I found especially illuminating or useful in the next several months and into the New Year of 2023.

I've always found that researching the history that our ancestors lived through is a great way to learn history overall, though often specific to their time and place. Some of the books I will be sharing with you concern Colonial American history. Others fall into the category of spiritual books, concerning a favorite subject of mine, which is reincarnation.

I'm fascinated with the notions that we might reincarnate into the same family groups, even have the same 'soul mate' spouse in more than one lifetime. I also like the idea that we might take some skill, talent, or expertise that we spent a lot of time on in this life into the next.  (I should be a very advanced genealogist by then!)

Hoping you're keeping cool!

Christine

COLORIZED FILM OF NEW YORK IN 1911 - Love it!

 

Certainly helps one imagine what it might be for immigrants who were coming off those steamships into America for the first time, though they usually got on a train ASAP to get to their final destination.

WILL YOUR DNA BE USED TO MAKE BIOWEAPON THAT CAN KILL YOU or THE PEOPLE OF YOUR ETHNICITY

MSN - DAILY MAIL - HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE WARNS DNA BIOWEAPONS 

A frightening and important thing to know.  Your DNA submitted for medical testing or genealogy might end up being used against you.

Excerpt: The congressman said the development of the weapons is worrisome given the popularity of DNA testing services, where people willingly share their genetic mapping with businesses to gain insight on their genealogy and health.

'You can't have a discussion about this without talking about privacy and protection of commercial data because of expectations of privacy have degraded over the last 20 years.' the Democratic lawmaker said.

*

 

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy