Picture of my mom and dad . My dad met my mom in England as she was serving in the woman’s Air Force . They married and my mom came to Canada after the war as a war bride Photo Roger Rattray
The centre item is a telegram to my Grandma letting her know he arrived in Europe OK and of course send some cigarettes :)- Roger Rattray
Hi Linda : I found this in the my dads old scrapbook and thought it was a good time to send it just prior to Remembrance Day . I found my dad in both articles as he served with the RCAF in England . Roger Rattray
Sandra Rattray My husband ‘s father, Howard Rattray, and his father, John Rattray and their predecessors, owned part of Indians’ Landing. The story that was passed down was that the Indians used to trade their furs in there (at the former Patterson’s Furniture Store and Funeral Home or embalming room) This was common knowledge to many of the older locals-The Little Door by the River
“Renting rooms in a house at a total revenue of more than is being paid for the whole place seems to be developing into a racket”.
One such case bared the fact that a tenant of a nine-roomed house in Overbrook, for which he was paying $27, asked the committee to allow him an increase of $4.25 from $21.75 for three rooms. The increase was disallowed.
A landlord in the West End who had converted a single house which formerly rented at $45, into a duplex and was occupying the lower half himself, sought permission to charge $65 for the upper duplex. He was allowed $50.
However, all landlords were not unreasonable, by any means, and wherever increases were justified in 1942, they were given–of 17 cases heard, increases were allowed to tally or partially on 15.
A summer cottage in Woodroffe renting at $175 for the season was allowed a $25 boost to $200 instead of to $250 as sought. The present lease expires this month and the increase was for next year. The judge remarked that it was early to ask for next year’s rental. “Not at all,” replied the land lady. “We have people wanting to rent it in January for the summer.” There is a cabin and garage on the property, for the same rental, and the cottage is furnished.
A single house in Lower Town which had been gutted by fire was made into three apartments. The landlord occupies one and wanted $45 each a month on the other two, claiming he spent $8,000 in remodelling. A tenant argued that it was not worth the price since there was no electric stove or refrigerator and she had to buy ice. The walls are gyproc and we hear all the noise. The rooms are small the bathroom is only 4 1-2 by feet and it has no window, so have to pay extra electricity for the ventilator,” she said, and enumerated several other things which were wrong with the apartment. When she stopped talking Judge Daly remarked dryly “Aside from all that, though, the place is all right?” Everyone, including the landlord, laughed heartily. Rental was set at $40
"I rented three rooms in the lower part of the house believing I'd pay half the rent, lights, heat, etc. I've got in two tons of coal already for it." . . . "You've got two tons of coal?" interrupted Judge E. J. Daly during a fiery case at the Rentals Committee session last night. "That's no way to do. You should pay the landlady rent and let her pay expenses. I think I'll fix it that way." The tenant got excited. "If you do. I'll never have any life with her." she said emphatically. Her landlady, who asked a boost from $15 to $30 a month for the winter months, remarked, "It used to be rooms. Then she padlocked the door so we couldn't get through, so it's a flat now. I'm supposed to be the landlady but at times I feel like the tenant." The rental was set at $23 a month the year round."
The Ottawa Journal
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
11 Dec 1942, Fri • Page 24
The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
27 Mar 1942, Fri • Page 22
A tenant of two rooms in Center Town won a $5 a month reduction from $15 when he explained that others in the house had to pass through the room he ate in on their way to the toilet which was just beside his room. "There's no light and no ventilation in it." he said. "You'd better have the sanitary inspector there." J. C. G Herwig told him. "The Same Thing." Explaining that his tenant expected to be married but went to war instead, "it's about the same thing." a lawyer sought a changeover from $10 a month with $4 worth of services, to $25 a month without services. The tenant who had a three-year lease helped fix up the place and agreed to pay SI 8 a month before he discovered ht'd have to go before the committee to have it ratified. "But you're asking$23 a month?" the judge asked the landlord's mother. "Yes," she replied, "when my son found I'd have to come here for him he said I'd better ask more to pay for my trouble." The judge chuckled, "Well, well, ask and ye shall receive, eh?" The tenant said the place was not worth any more. "It's on posts. It has no foundation, the walls are not finished and there's no furnace or hot water . . . but there are cockroaches!" Rental was set at $20 a month. Judge Daly encountered some more interesting cases.
In April of 1946 she bought a house on Frank Street in Carleton Place complete with hardwood floors. They really enjoyed the new space after dealing with three people in one bedroom for a few years. Marian and I both smiled as we talked about the first electric (mechanical) washing machine she bought. I remember my Grandmother telling me the same story about hers and how it made life easier for a lot of women. Her sister babysat and lived with Marian until Muriel married in June of 1947. When her sister minded her son, Marian played cards, bowled, and enjoyed fellowship with women her own age at our local Zion Memorial Church.Marian MacFarlane
The overseas contingent will leave Perth tonight at nine o’clock. They fall in at the grounds at eight o’clock and parade to the station headed by the Citizens’ Band. The parade state of the overseas contingent from Perth is as follows: Scott C. Lieut., Wright. W. E. Col. Serg., Brown A. C., McFaulds J., McLean W., Cameron H.G., Carr F.C., Fraser E., Joynt W.J., Pearce V.G., Wright W., Sinclair A., Spalding E.
The above photo card was a friend of my grandfather’s whose name was Bernie. He had no family and was a great companion to Grampy Knight until he died in the trenches in WWI. Grampy always told me if anything happened to him to look after Bernie’s picture so someone would always remember. I still have it today.
When the sun rises today in Canada it becomes the 100th Anniversary of Vimy Ridge. Today should be nothing short of a day of respect for the men and women that have and continue to fight for our countries.
Carleton Place Remembrance Day parade photo that hangs in the lobby of the old Mississippi Hotel
As a child my father and grandfather would don their dress overcoats, berets, their war medals and proudly march with their fellow war heroes behind the flag bearer of The Cowansville Canadian Legion Branch Number 99 on November 11th. The photo of Bernie was always kept in a business envelope in my Grandfather’s upper right pocket.
Grampy Knight had fought with the British Army in WWI in France and had been one of the first soldiers to be poisoned with mustard gas in the trenches. My father had participated in WWII with the Canadian Army and his greatest disappointment was that I never followed suit.
As a child I would always march in the Remembrance Day parade with the Brownies and then later the Girl Guides. We would stand on the frozen front lawn of Cowansville High School and listen to speeches and see the widows place their wreaths on the cenotaph.
Branch 99 of the Cowansville Legion that my Dad and grandfather marched in year-Photo from Ville de Cowansville
At 11 am the lonely sound of the “Last Post” played with the mandatory two minute silence following. It was always so deathly quiet you could hear the ghosts of the dead soldiers whisper. In the previous weeks the Legion members would sell poppy badges that everyone still wears in Canada to remember all those who were lost in the wars.
Photos of a collection photos of my grandfather and friends from WWI – Cowansville, Quebec newspaper with my Grandfather F.J. Knight in the middle. (2001)
Each November 11th we would stand and solemnly recite the poem “In Flanders Fields” and I remember it like yesterday. The poem was written by Canadian John McCrae and my grandfather had met him during the war and the poem was written upon a scrap of paper on the back of Colonel Lawrence Cosgrave in the trenches. He wrote it during a lull in the bombings on May 3, 1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, the day before.
It was first published on December 8, 1915 in Punch magazine, in London, England and became a poem that is has always been related to war heroes like Bernie. If anyone after reading this poem does not understand what our military goes through everyday, then please watch the video. Even though some of my memory blows through the wind now, I can still remember every word of that poem by heart. I remember them for Bernie.
Now today we remember The Battle of Vimy Ridge– one hundred years ago.
I am proud to say that my Grandfather Frederick J. Knight was one of the founding members of Branch 99 of the Canadian Legion in Cowansville, Quebec.
lindaseccaspina 