My Grandmother Fenn
The two brothers decide to settle into America after their graduation. One became a judge in Toronto (it was then called York) and the other settled in Kalamazoo, Michigan and became a Presbyterian minister. Sister Mary was sent to Canada around 1869 to visit her brothers. I suppose her parents hoped they would find a suitable husband for her, but instead of her brothers finding one for her she found one for herself on the boat coming over. It would have been quite a long journey, perhaps three weeks and time for romance to flower; Editors note: Not in her blog but mother told me that he spoke only German and she spoke Scottish/English but this did not stop the shipboard romance. She met a young man coming over to take up a homestead outside of Plattsville. His name was Conrad Fenn of Bavaria. I am sure he needed a wife to share with him the arduous undertaking that lay ahead;
I hope, however, that he married her for love, not for his conveniences (I will never know) As soon as they landed, they were married by a Presbyterian minister and set off on a new adventure in a new land (how brave these early pioneers!) I never knew my grandfather. He probably died in his early sixties. He was found dead out in the barnyard one morning while doing his chores. after his death my grandmother and maiden aunt moved into a small house in the village of Plattsville
There were nine children to them: - Michael, John, Gilles, Will, Mary, Barbara, Lizzie, ??, and Aunt Jessie that I can remember. She was a widowed aunt who looked after my grandmother until she died. As if she hadn't enough children of her own my grandmother adopted two of her brothers children, Janet and Jim, in Scotland when they were orphaned. She died in my early teens so I remember her.
Every spring father would rent a pair of horses and a two seated carriage and we would drive down to Plattsville to spend a few days with father's folks. How far was it from Parkhill? I can't say but I know it was a day's journey. We'd leave very early in the morning and arrive at our destination in the evening. ( it was near the town of Galt).
Grandmother was very jolly: a plump, little lady with a hearty laugh. After dinner she would comb her hair into a neat bun at the back of her head and put on a clean apron. Then she was dressed up for the rest of the day.
We had interesting conversations with her and she'd tell us all about her "bonny bairn" when they were young like us. She always called children bairns as they did in Scotland.
I remember asking her once how she fed all her children (the eleven of them!) She seemed surprised by such a foolish question and answered "they had a large bowl of oatmeal porridge for breakfast and sometimes again for supper; ( you can blame her, Joan, Margaret, and Donald for the porridge I made you eat protestingly for your breakfast when you were small) . My grandmother Fenn had so much impressed me on the caloric value of good old oatmeal porridge in my youth that I still prefer a bowl of it in the morning today over other cereals.
She was also very thrifty. When we'd go on an errand for her she would give us a penny. even then we were beginning to realize you couldn't buy much candy with a penny.
She was deeply religious and believed implicitly in trying to live by the the rules laid down in the "Ten Commandments" Particularly she believed in keeping the Sabbath Day holy. This meant going to church with all of her eleven children Sunday morning. She'd bath them Saturday night in an old tin tub beside the kitchen stove, polish all their pairs of shoes, laying out their Sunday going to church clothes and then on Saturday all their meals for Sunday, for did not the Good Book say,
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all of the work; but the seventh is the Sabbath of our Lord thy God; In it thou shalt not do any work".
Her appearance was really regal when she appeared in a stiff black silk dress to accompany her flock of children to church, looking more like a descendent of our noble ancestor, the Marquess of Montrose, than Mrs Fenn, farmers wife and mother of eleven children.
My last memory is of being shown her very ample cape of the Graham Tartan she had worn on the boat bringing her to Canada. She must have been a very handsome lassie in that cape. No wonder young Conrad fell in love with her.
Now we shall bid adieu to your Scottish grandmother. She should be remembered by all of you.
I wonder if she ever saw her brothers again? I don't think they would have approved of her marriage. Do you?
I have inherited from her two beliefs:
The two brothers decide to settle into America after their graduation. One became a judge in Toronto (it was then called York) and the other settled in Kalamazoo, Michigan and became a Presbyterian minister. Sister Mary was sent to Canada around 1869 to visit her brothers. I suppose her parents hoped they would find a suitable husband for her, but instead of her brothers finding one for her she found one for herself on the boat coming over. It would have been quite a long journey, perhaps three weeks and time for romance to flower; Editors note: Not in her blog but mother told me that he spoke only German and she spoke Scottish/English but this did not stop the shipboard romance. She met a young man coming over to take up a homestead outside of Plattsville. His name was Conrad Fenn of Bavaria. I am sure he needed a wife to share with him the arduous undertaking that lay ahead;
I hope, however, that he married her for love, not for his conveniences (I will never know) As soon as they landed, they were married by a Presbyterian minister and set off on a new adventure in a new land (how brave these early pioneers!) I never knew my grandfather. He probably died in his early sixties. He was found dead out in the barnyard one morning while doing his chores. after his death my grandmother and maiden aunt moved into a small house in the village of Plattsville
There were nine children to them: - Michael, John, Gilles, Will, Mary, Barbara, Lizzie, ??, and Aunt Jessie that I can remember. She was a widowed aunt who looked after my grandmother until she died. As if she hadn't enough children of her own my grandmother adopted two of her brothers children, Janet and Jim, in Scotland when they were orphaned. She died in my early teens so I remember her.
Every spring father would rent a pair of horses and a two seated carriage and we would drive down to Plattsville to spend a few days with father's folks. How far was it from Parkhill? I can't say but I know it was a day's journey. We'd leave very early in the morning and arrive at our destination in the evening. ( it was near the town of Galt).
Grandmother was very jolly: a plump, little lady with a hearty laugh. After dinner she would comb her hair into a neat bun at the back of her head and put on a clean apron. Then she was dressed up for the rest of the day.
We had interesting conversations with her and she'd tell us all about her "bonny bairn" when they were young like us. She always called children bairns as they did in Scotland.
I remember asking her once how she fed all her children (the eleven of them!) She seemed surprised by such a foolish question and answered "they had a large bowl of oatmeal porridge for breakfast and sometimes again for supper; ( you can blame her, Joan, Margaret, and Donald for the porridge I made you eat protestingly for your breakfast when you were small) . My grandmother Fenn had so much impressed me on the caloric value of good old oatmeal porridge in my youth that I still prefer a bowl of it in the morning today over other cereals.
She was also very thrifty. When we'd go on an errand for her she would give us a penny. even then we were beginning to realize you couldn't buy much candy with a penny.
She was deeply religious and believed implicitly in trying to live by the the rules laid down in the "Ten Commandments" Particularly she believed in keeping the Sabbath Day holy. This meant going to church with all of her eleven children Sunday morning. She'd bath them Saturday night in an old tin tub beside the kitchen stove, polish all their pairs of shoes, laying out their Sunday going to church clothes and then on Saturday all their meals for Sunday, for did not the Good Book say,
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all of the work; but the seventh is the Sabbath of our Lord thy God; In it thou shalt not do any work".
Her appearance was really regal when she appeared in a stiff black silk dress to accompany her flock of children to church, looking more like a descendent of our noble ancestor, the Marquess of Montrose, than Mrs Fenn, farmers wife and mother of eleven children.
My last memory is of being shown her very ample cape of the Graham Tartan she had worn on the boat bringing her to Canada. She must have been a very handsome lassie in that cape. No wonder young Conrad fell in love with her.
Now we shall bid adieu to your Scottish grandmother. She should be remembered by all of you.
I wonder if she ever saw her brothers again? I don't think they would have approved of her marriage. Do you?
I have inherited from her two beliefs:
- that children should start their day with a bowl of porridge
- that the Ten Commandments should be our ethical guide through life carefully observed by all nations of the world - then would begin a real heaven on earth.
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