Gibson Girls of Cape Breton - Which one was injured? – Halifax Explosion

Photo by timkraaijvanger 

As I’ve work on my family’s memoir, A Picture on the Wall, there have been many unanswered questions like this one, “Which of the Gibson’s girls, Mary or Vernetta, were injured in the Halifax Explosion?"  If after reading about them below, you think you know or have an idea of  how I might find out, I’d appreciate your sharing either in Comments below or on Facebook.

In a conversation with my great Aunt Anna Bella Landry, she told me about her home at 38 Union Street and mentioned the people in the house at the time of the explosion. Not everyone survived, but “… the other woman with two children, they come from the second floor down to the basement and they got out.” Thanks to the help of family members and research, I’ve discovered that the woman and two children were Alice (Robertson) Gibson and her two daughters, Mary and Vernetta.

At 38 Union, the Gibson family - Joseph, Alice, Mary (about age 3) and Venetta (0-1) had recently moved in and lived upstairs across the hall from Daniel Landry and his pregnant wife Annie (Adams) Landry and their 18-month old son Clarence. Daniel’s father and siblings lived downstairs.

On the morning of December 6, 1917, Daniel Landry’s sister, 14-year-old Anna Bella Landry was at home on the first floor, doing household chores.

This was the morning of the Halifax Explosion.  To get perspective, I’ve interviewed family members and done extensive research. From this, it seems likely that after the two ships collided and the Mont Blanc caught fire and drifted into Pier 6 and about the time that barrels of Benzol heated up then exploded like rockets into the air, Alice probably looked out the window and thought the ship was about to blow up.  She better get herself and the girls out.  Alice then would have grabbed her two girls, brought them into the hallway then knocked on Annie’s door urging her to get Clarence and head out, because they were in danger.   Annie chose to stay and pray instead of leave.

This time of the morning was probably Annie’s usual prayer time and the possibility she could have seen the initial collision and a smaller fire,  she might have figured the fire would be out shortly like usual. 

Alice then took her girls and headed down the stairs as the Mont Blanc exploded.

The force of the blast shot Anna Bella’s limp body out of one side of the house then buried it under shattered pieces of their destroyed home mixed with fragments from the ship. The other side of the house imploded forcing everything within it downward.  In an instant - Annie, the child within her, and son Clarence were under debris in the basement not far from an overturned coal stove.  Somehow Alice and her girls wound up in a space below the foundation where she was able to get the girls out, but one of the girls was bleeding, she was badly cut about the head with shards of glass sticking out around it.

Sadly, Annie, her unborn child, and Clarence didn’t make it out.  (From Dispair to Hope)

Rescue workers were able to dig Anna Bella out.  Though injured, she’d live into her 100’s. (A Picture on the Wall)

After a short stay at Camp Hill Military Hospital, Alice Gibson and the girls went to live with her parents in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton.  Not long after, Joseph would join them.

According to medical records, the girl who was injured had four-inch and two-inch cuts around her head that had become infected and she would be scarred for life. Though there are several references in Halifax Relief Commission HRC#1960, the girl’s name was never mentioned.

If you know which girl was injured, or know a way of finding out, I'd appreciate your comments either here or on Facebook.

Genealogy information below:

Alice Robertson was born in 1894 in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton, Canada. Her parents were Andrew and Mary (Thibeau) Robertson.
Joseph Gibson was born about 1888 in Amherst, Nova Scotia to Thomas and Marie Anne (Thibeau) Gibson.
Joseph Gibson and Alice Robertson were married on 14 Feb 1914.
Around 1915 their daughter Mary Gibson was born.
Around 1917 their daughter Vernetta Gibson was born.

(Note: I’ve been unable to find Mary or Vernetta Gibson’s birth records and am using the 1921 Census to estimate their ages.) It might be helpful to know when they were born? 

Correction sense blog was posted: Joseph Gibson was born about 1888 in Amherst, Nova Scotia not in 1890 in Amherst, England - to Thomas and Marie Anne (Thibeau) Gibson.

Uncle Jimmy Landry – Played Hooky – Halifax, Nova Scotia

My great Aunt Anna Bella Landry Bradley has left me with many stories about her family’s life in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  What follows is one of them, a story about her bother and my great Uncle Jimmy and his sometimes mischievous nature. It starts with a quote from Aunt Anna Bella and then my account using additional information that she and others have given me.

Photo by Paul Brennan at Pixabay.com

 “I remember when we were in school and Jimmy use to like to get out of school once in a while; play hooky on school. Well we had truant officers in them days you know, came to the house…  And this truant officer came to my mother and he was giving it to my mother… We all lived in the same place, the same house, up and down.  Dan come out and said you don’t do nothing to my mother. You get the hell away from here… and don’t come back here, he said. Then the guy took off. See that’s how protective Dan was of my mother.   My brother Dan, your Uncle Dan, Yeah… But don’t you dare come back here, Dan said. He took off. “ – Anna Bella Landry Bradley*

The truant officer and youngest son Jimmy were walking up to the Landry’s home at 38 Union Street. This isn’t the first time he’d found Jimmy out of school and he was furious as they made their way to the front door. Jimmy is slightly behind him staring down at the ground as the officer repeatedly bangs hard, with his fist, on the front door. A few seconds later, mother Charlotte answers the door.  As the officer yells at her about her parenting skills, she backs up.  A door can be heard opening on the floor above her.  Charlotte’s second eldest son, Dan, having heard the man’s verbal assault on his mom, rushes down the stairs. The truant officer looks up in horror as he sees this enraged muscular build man making his way down the stairs. Dan’s yelling, “You get the hell away from here and don’t come back here.”  The officer takes off down the street.

Moments later, after their mom and brother got over the shock, Jimmy would have been punished. She was strict.  Even though he disliked school, Jimmy made it to tenth grade, which was the furthest of any of his siblings; not bad for the early 1900’s.

 Did you like school? How about play hooky?

For more stories about Aunt Anna Bella Landry Bradley and her family, check out the following links:  From Despair to Hope;  The Armouries, a Great Uncle, and the Halifax Explosion;   A Father's Love;   A Picture on the Wall;

*The quote has been edited slightly in grammar and tense to its help flow.