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.

Do you know Mrs. Myatt, a Bouchard-Burke born in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton?

St. John the Baptist Church - Photo by Cal Shook

Do you know Mrs. Myatt, a Bouchard-Burke born in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton?

Mrs. Myatt was a survivor of the Halifax Explosion and is the person I believe my great Aunt Anna Bella Landry was talking about in the following quote.

“…my cousin living over on the Dartmouth side… just on the other side of Halifax Harbor.  Well she was injured.  She lost an eye and she was badly hurt.  I can’t remember her name…  I don’t know if she died since or not. I know her sister’s name was Marie. But that was a sister to her and I can’t think of her name. 

Of course, my Uncle Joe, they never found a bit of him. They never found one bit of him. That was my Aunt Pauline’s husband.  And they never found him at all, he was blown to bits because he was right on the wharf when the thing went off and they didn’t find him.” -  Anna Bella Landry Bradley, Halifax Explosion Survivor 

Mrs. Myatt is the daughter of Joseph and Pauline (Bouchard) Burke from River Bourgeois, Cape Breton.  She was born between 1889 and 1894. 

The Burke Family moved to Halifax around 1905.

Her father Joseph, a stevedore, was killed in the Halifax Explosion on December 6, 1917.

Mrs.  Myatt’s mother, Mrs. Pauline Burke was visited by G. Hoban of the Halifax Relief Commission on 16 of December 1918 who recorded the visit as follows: 

“Mrs. Burke seemed depressed…   Her married daughter Mrs. Myatt who had been injured in the explosion and lost an eye had contracted influenza and died leaving three small children, and this was a great blow to her.”   G. Hoban, HRC Case #393 

Can’t begin to imagine how it must have felt, losing a husband and then a daughter to influenza, leaving her three children without a mother – so devastating. 

On 10 of February 1919 an E. Williamson of the Halifax Relief Commission went to visit Mrs. Burke then wrote:

“ Called for Mrs. Burke… Child stated her mother was out.  Had gone to Dartmouth to nurse a cousin who was very sick with a cold.”  – E. Wlliamson, HRC Case #393

Two months after her daughter dies, Pauline goes over to Dartmouth to take care of one of her daughter’s children, a cousin to her other children.

I wonder if anyone in this family beside Mrs. Myatt was injured during the Halifax Explosion.   Her death in 1919 appears to have left Mr. Myatt (though he’s never mentioned) a single parent with three young children.  I’d appreciate any additional information you might have about Mr. and Mrs. Myatt and their children. I have some of their names and ages below thanks to HRC Case #393 from the National Archives of Nova Scotia.  Any additions information you can give would be appreciated as I continue to write a memoir about my grandfather and his family.

Note:   Below is a list of Burke family members, Mrs. Myatt’s parents and siblings, their ages and occupation or schooling on December 6, 1917 (Halifax Explosion) The Burke’s were living in five rooms at 19 Stairs Street in Halifax.  Mrs. Myatt might have been 26 at the time living in Dartmouth with her husband and three young children.

Parents
Joseph – age 54 – stevedore at Pier 8
Pauline – age 50 – housewife

Siblings
Malcolm – age 27 – (widower) – Merchant – was staying with family intermittently
Harry – age 20 – “mentally affected (non disaster) lives at city home” HRC case #393
Annie – age 18 – Moir’s Chocolate Ltd.
Marie – age 13 – b. 19 Dec 1904 – St Joseph’s School – 6th grade
Clarence – age 8 – b. 6 Feb 1909 – St Joseph’s School – 4th grade (boys went in afternoon)
Eddie – age 5 –  b. 6 July 1912 – not school yet