Home Destroyed, Family Scattered - Halifax Explosion

Monarch by Cal Shook

The phrase “Home Destroyed, Family Scattered” was used by a Halifax Relief Commission worker to describe my great Grandpa Joe’s family.  This phrase resonates as I go through records in an effort to discover where family members, tenants, and others were located after the Halifax Explosion on December 6, 1917. 

Many residents of Halifax and Dartmouth frantically searched for loved ones, only to discover that their homes were leveled and, in many cases, consumed by fire.  It would take my Grandfather and his family a minimum of four temporary shelters and two and a half years before they would have a place to call home.

Thanks to the generosity of some newspapers, individuals could pick up a paper for free and look for  information about a relative or friend that they hadn’t been able to find. This material and that of the Nova Scotia Archives virtual collection, featured in last month’s blog, plus previous trips to the Archives with the aid of family members, have helped me to gain insight into their many losses and their efforts to build a new life.

Even with this extensive research, there are some missing pieces as I continue to write a memoir about my Grandpa Joe's family, "A Picture on the Wall."  I’m hoping that there is a Halifax Relief Commission record for the Simon and Hilda (Burke) Myatt family who were living in Dartmouth at the time of the explosion. I’d like to include them in the narrative.

It appears that there might be some information missing from the HRC Case# 451 about great Grandfather Michael Landry’s family. What leads me to believe this, is that in their file there is a Leo Landry, a carpenter, who was lodging with a Mr. D. Sampson after the explosion due to a severe cut to the head.  Leo is not my Grandpa Joe's brother, since he died in the Battle of  Y-Pres in June of 1916. I believe the Leo, mentioned in this claim file, might be related to a Samuel Landry who lost a son Michael Landry as a result of the explosion.    According to the 1917- 1918 McAlpine Directory, there was a Leo Landry,  a carpenter  who was boarding at 36a Stanley. There’s a Samuel Landry (h=head) and Michael Landry (b=boarder) living at the same address.  If Samuel Landry filed with the HRC (Halifax Relief Commission), there could be some records related to my Grandpa Joe's family. 

If you have any information about the Simon and Hilda (Burke) Myatt family of  Dartmouth or of Simon, Michael, or Leo Landry who were living at 36a Stanley Street in Halifax at the time of the explosion, I'd appreciate your sharing it with me.