The Norwegian Bride– Not Your Ordinary Bride

 

 

 

The sailing ships averaged 38 days from ports in the United Kingdom, 50 days from Germany and 51 days from Norway. The general health of the passengers of the season was good; out of the passengers from the United Kingdom only 11 deaths occurred on the passage, and of the 337 deaths recorded in the sailing ships from Germany and Norway, the greater number, viz: 311 were children who died from infantile diseases incidental to the long voyage, closeness of atmosphere and the want of proper nourishment suitable to their age.

• From a letter dated Quebec, 10 June, 1868 from L. Stafford to The Baron Falkenberg, Norwegian consulate, Quebec: “It is my duty to inform you that a party of Norwegian emigrants, numbering 85 souls, equal to 64 adults, at present on board the ship Caroline, from Christiania, (now lying in the stream,) and destined to the Western States, have been represented to me as having neither the means to pay their fares to the West, nor to provide for their daily support. I have already, I believe, informed you that the system hitherto existing of affording temporary relief and land passage to destitute emigrants is abolished by the curtailment of the grant for immigration purposes, and I shall, therefore, I regret to say, be unable to render these poor people any assistance. The Captain of the Caroline expresses his intention to land them in city this afternoon, ans as our sheds are already fully occupied and we have no room for their accommodation, I trust that your official position may enable you to adopt some means of affording them protection and relief. I shall also feel obliged by your communicating the substance of this letter to your Government, and I hope you will explain to them the hardships to which all emigrants must necessarily be exposed, who land here without sufficient funds to carry them through to their destinations.” The reply was: “I am duly in receipt of your esteemed favor of the 10^th inst., and note contents. With reference to the poor emigrants lately arrived per Norwegian ship Caroline, I beg to inform you that on the arrival here of Norwegian emigrants, who have no complaint to make respecting breach of contract, which, in the present instance is not the case, my function ceases, and I can officially take no notice of them. I must, of course, advise the Master of the Caroline to land his passengers whenever he thinks proper, within the limits of the law, and if through over-crowding or otherwise, malignant fevers should break out, the responsibility does certainly not fall on my shoulders. I consider the present case, as well as the subsequent ones, which, no doubt, unfortunately will occur as great hardships, particularly as your communication of the 4^th May last, conveying the Canadian Government’s intention not to assist indigent emigrants for the future has barely had time to reach Norway, and be made publicly known there.”

 

The bridal crown came in use at the end of the middle ages, with the Virgin Mary’s crown at the forefront. The crown was undoubtedly the most expressive part of anything the bride would wear. It would be a symbol of her purity and virginity. Women who did not qualify in that category or who were pregnant or who were widowed were not allowed to wear the bridal crown. In some districts pregnant brides were allowed to wear smaller crowns or a modified version of the hodeplagget – a head covering that married women wore with their bunad.

Bridal crowns varied from district to district. They, as a rule, would be richly decorated with detailed silver work and, of course, would be very valuable. Some crowns could be so heavy that they would have to be sewn into the bride’s hair in order for it to sit properly in place. A very strong neck was necessary to carry this honorable head piece the entire day! Some crowns were owned privately, but many were owned by the church. Usually the crowns would be rented out and the price was usually one “daler”- Norwegian money unit prior to 1875.

That would be the custom of bride gifts, a folk tradition that was kept alive until the mid-1800s, when a new Norwegian law abolished the bride’s right to these gifts. Baklid conducted the research for his recent doctorate in the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo.

Before marrying for love came into the picture, the primary intention of a couple’s union was economic. Throughout history, it turns out that the groom often gave one or more traditional gifts to the bride.

According to Baklid, the bride could draw on these gifts if she became widowed. The basic principle underlying the gifts was that she would be financially secure if her husband died.

Clipped from The Frankfort Bee,  16 Dec 1887, Fri,  Page 6

 

 

 

 

Blakeney:
Was originally called Norway Pine Falls, then Snedden’s Mills after the first settler Alexander Snedden in 1822. Then it was called Rosebank in the 1850s – which is one of the names showing in the Historical Atlas for Lanark County, however Blakeney PO shows at the same place.

 

Clipped from The Evening Independent,  14 Feb 1948, Sat,  Page 3

 

Clipped from The Circleville Herald,  18 Nov 1929, Mon,  Page 1

 

 

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun andScreamin’ Mamas (USA)

The McArthur Love Story

How Many Women Does it Take to Replace a Team of Horses?The Doukhobors

 

90 Day Fiance and Mail Order and War Brides

Everyone has a guilty pleasure, and mine just happens to be 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? on TLC, Sunday nights. (repeated throughout the week) I can tell you that TLC rounded up some real “sweethearts” this season and I wonder if they went out of their way to find “love” to shock us all.

Most of these male candidates on the new edition of the series are so much older than their future brides and I swear they act like they shouldn’t be allowed within 300 feet of their local high school.

The show’s shock and awe premise is based on couples who must marry someone they’ve met from another country in 90 days, or their special US “K-1 fiance visa” is revoked and the partner is sent packing.

Brides have been coming to this country for years in one form or other. There were mail-order brides which originated on the western frontier in the 19th century.  At that time, the number of men in the west far outnumbered the number of available women. Lonely farmers and ranchers would seek wives from “Back East” by placing ads in newspapers and magazines.  Interested women would write back and send photographs, and the couple did not usually meet in person until the woman showed up for her wedding to a man whom she had never actually met face-to-face.

My Grandmother was a War Bride after the first world war. In Cowansville, Quebec there were many women who had married military personnel in times of war or during their military occupations of foreign countries.

Mary Louise Deller Knight said she found herself coming over to Canada in a ship loaded with women. The war brides came because of the man they loved, and most brides had no idea what life in Canada would be like. They arrived tired dusty and weary, and some were met by their husbands and some had no one as their husbands were still deployed in the service.

My Grandmother was invited to a wedding shower within a few months of her arrival, and she went with a smile, but had no idea what it was. She thought that a shower was just a form of hospitality from a neighbour blessed with water. Mary Louise used to complain about the Canadian weather from the day of her arrival until she went back to visit England in the early 60s. She returned  from the UK saying she would never go back there because she froze the whole time because of their terrible heating system.

For a not-so-fortunate few, there were disappointments. The government had only undertaken to pay travel fares one way—so an unwelcome or unhappy war bride with no means of returning to her family faced a precarious situation. Eventually, they found help, from the Red Cross, sympathetic neighbours or communities, and managed to return to their families in Britain. In 1946 a total of 61,200 war brides and children came to Canada after WW11 and only 50 disgruntled women announced their return to England because of Canada’s high prices and housing and clothing shortages. Life wasn’t the romantic dream for Brit women who married a soldier.

Tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers had arrived and were turning the heads of young British women who were desperate for a distraction from the misery of war. No matter what year it was, the brides from any era were finally free to begin a much bigger journey. Good or bad—just like 90 Day Fiance.

 

 

Janice Shail sent me this: My mother in law is Patricia Crawford …this is her story:

My mother in law is a war bride who came to Carleton Place at the end of World War 2. When she came, she and many others arrived on a special train for war brides. She travelled across the ocean, arrived in Halifax, and got on the train Many stopped in the middle of nowhere and she remembered they let off a young girl with her suitcases and continued on down the track. Many times she wondered what ever happened to them.
She herself was just 18 years old and that is amazing to think about–to come to a country for the love of a young Canadian soldier. She is now 90 and her husband passed away awhile back— but the memories of the war are there for her too in so many ways.

Thanks Janice

Trudy Jones

January 8 at 6:57 PM  · 

 

My mother (Violet Jones) being a war bride, is pictured here enjoying her first winter snow experience in Canada. She married my father, Gordon Jones, who was serving in Europe and stationed in England during WWII. This photo was taken at my father’s homestead in Eccles Hill in the Eastern Townships. My mother didn’t have any winter clothing so she is wearing a pair of heavy wool pants that belonged to a male relative. This photo was taken in the mid 1940’s. My mother resides in Sutton where she and my father raised my brother and I. My mother will be turning 100 years old in August of this year. 

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CLIPPED FROM
The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada11 Nov 2006, Sat  •  Page 21

It Pays to Advertise… Classified Ad Brides

Pallbearers and Bridesmaids–A True Story

No Country for Old Bridesmaids Dresses!

Splinters of Sinders Nichols and Brides

Women in Peril– Betrayed by Heartless Scoundrels 1882

The Home for Friendless Women

Laundry Babies – Black Market Baby BMH 5-7-66

Embroidery of the Insane?

Women in Peril 1868 — Mathilda Routh

Did You Know About the House of Industry?

The Very Sad Tale of Hessie Churchill

All the Single Ladies?

I’m Every Woman?

Splinters of Sinders Nichols and Brides

Two Lake Ave West historical homes.

Sinders today and Rose’s Custom Sewing tomorrow

Sinder’s Bridal House

I love brides- I wrote a Carleton Place “bride’s blog” months ago, and in case you didn’t see it: Here Comes the Bride —The Weddings of Carleton Place

 

This week I found this picture from a 70s Carleton Place Canadian at the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum. Is that John Denver in that picture?

 

Photo from the Carleton Place Canadian files from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Did you know Abner Nichols Jr. once lived in the beautiful red brick home on Lake Ave West now occupied by Sinders? He built it in 1899– probably because it was near their lumber business on corner of Lake and Moore where Mac’s now is.

Photo from Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum–Lake Avenue and Moore Street in 1936, when it was the site of W.A. Nichols’ Sons Lumber Supplies. You can just make out the Moore house at the far right in it’s original location before it was moved to Bridge Street and became the home of The Roy Brown Museum.

 

Photo from Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum–Around 1950 the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and Moore Streets looked like this. Originally the site of W.A. Nichols’ Sons Lumber, it became W & S Building Supplies around 1948.
Mac’s Milk, which remains on the site today (as simply Mac’s), was built in 1988. It was then known as Waugh and Snedden.

 

 

 Photo from the Carleton Place Canadian files from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

“Sufferin” Sinders! What was Happening on Lake Ave West Today? Here is a reminder. Remember most building’s you look at in Carleton Place have a story. Let’s pass them on.

Photo by Linda Seccaspina

 

 

Sinder’s is at the Wedding Palace Bridal Show! Check out their set-up from last year then come see us them weekend for all the new styles and another great contest!

Sinder’s facebook page

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal, 06 Jan 1948, Tue, Page 19

 

Hawkins Clan Estate Saves The Wedding Day!

I wanted to write a happy wedding story today, and during my research on Google I found a local wedding tale that took place in 2012. Because a local business rose to the occasion it needs to be told again, because we need to be reminded of the great people in Carleton Place.

Michelle Chartrand and her fiancé Trevor Davis were to be married at the West Carleton Meeting Centre in May of 2012. But a fire in that very building destroyed their dreams that week along with many others.

“I freaked out, I had a good hour of packing and crying and we just went right into crisis mode,” admits the bride-to-be.

Her fiancé Trevor Davis said despite the fire, changing the date was not an option. Of course many of the other venues were already booked, but thanks to generous offers from local organizations and the help of the Majic 100 morning show, the wedding happened after all. Our very own Stonefields Heritage Farm, a local historic farm on the 9th line near Carleton Place took care of all the arrangements to make sure the couple could still have their happy day. After all, Stonefield’s believe is that life’s most beautiful moments are meant to be celebrated.

Photo from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum —Annie Bella Brunton & Adam Wesley Jones

The farm is a very historic property in our area. It not only boasts an old stone farmhouse, country gardens, log cabins, and rustic barns, there are acres and acres of rolling farmland. One of the Ottawa Valley’s founding families, the Hawkins clan first settled in the area now known as Beckwith-Carleton Place in 1816. Their small one-room log farmhouse still stands on the Stonefields site today and has been lovingly renamed The Settler’s Cabin in honour of the family.

Over the years, the family built barns and sheds to house their animals, equipment and tools. In 1857, they erected the large stone farmhouse. The 120 acre farm changed hands only a few times over the years.Most recently, Phyllis and Brian Byrne lived on the farm for 35 years and raised their children in the old farmhouse. They expanded the stone home by adding a great room. They maintained the old buildings and designed the gorgeous country gardens. Theirs was a home full of love and laughter. They hosted huge family gatherings and card games in the pub with friends.

In 2010, Stephanie Brown and Steve Malenfant purchased the farm with plans to continue that tradition. Entrepreneurs at heart, they set to work to transform this picture perfect location into an exclusive and timeless venue for life’s celebrations. They renamed it Stonefields. Although the story’s still being written, so far, it’s been full of happy endings. Like the wedding that was almost lost in 2012.

Chartrand and Davis said,

“They really made us feel like ‘you know what guys’? We’re going to take care of everything, don’t worry about calling all of the other people, all of the services that need to be changed, we are going to take care of it so you don’t worry”.

And that is what we do in Carleton Place and Beckwith. We take care of each other in our county limits and outside. Remember that.

Related reading–

Annie Bella Brunton & Adam Wesley Jones