Do you know the Gibson’s of Cape Breton?

River Bourgeois, Cape Breton by Cal Shook

While in this time of transition, as my husband and I are getting ready to move, I’ll be seeking answers to some questions that continue to surface as I write a memoir on my great grandfather Michael Landry’s family.

At the time of the Halifax Explosion the Landry family owned and occupied 38 Union Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were not alone; the Gibson’s of Cape Breton were living there also. Do you know the Gibson’s of Cape Breton?

Joseph Gibson and his wife Alice, plus their two daughters, Mary and Vernetta, moved in shortly before December 6, 1917.  They rented three rooms: a kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom.  They were making payments on a piano and owned a violin and accordion.

At the time of the explosion, Joseph was around 28 and Alice 23. Daughter Mary may have been around 3 years old and Vernetta possibly less than a year. Not long after the explosion, Alice and the girls went to live with her parents, Andrew and Mary (Thibeau) Robertson, in River Bourgeois, Cape Breton.  One of the girls “had been badly cut about the head,” said mother Alice in a statement to the Halifax Relief Committee, on January 1st, 1918.   Joseph did carpentry work in Halifax for a little while then joined them.

Alice Gibson’s parents were Andrew and Mary (Thibeau) Robertson.  Joseph Gibson’s parents were Thomas and Marie Anne (Thibeau) Gibson. Joseph died around 1968 and Alice around 1926, in St. Peters, Cape Breton

Any pictures or information about this family before, during, and after the explosion and how you acquired them would be welcomed.

Note:  Special thanks go out to cousin Linda Landry Horne for the many hours spent at the Nova Scotia Archives doing research and to Kristin Josselyn Morin for genealogy assistance.

A Father's Love - Halifax Explosion

This year’s December 1st lighting of the Tree for Boston on the Common marks the 99th Anniversary of the Halifax Explosion.   I am eternally grateful for all the aid given by the Canadians, Americans, and other countries.  For without this life giving generosity many more would have died.  Thank you for the gift of family.

What follows is a short remembrance based on my great grandfather Michael Landry's experience.

9:00am
December 6, 1917
Halifax, Nova Scotia

It’s a warm beautiful sunny day in December.

Sixty one year old, widowed dad, Michael is at his job at the Round House about a half mile from home.

He’s walking toward a rust colored freight car parked next to an outbuilding.  His job is to clean the car. Michael walks between the building and the car, unlatches and slides open the door, then climbs in to assess what needs to be done.  Before he can open the door on the other side, he feels the ground rumbling.  As its force increases, he’s knocked off his feet.  The large metal box shakes violently.  There’s a deafening sound reverberating within its walls as Michael’s body is jostled about.  Abruptly it stops.  Silence.  

Shops C.G.R. adjacent to the Round House – Photo #36
(Halifax Relief Commission Photos – Mass. State library)

Lying on the floor, Michael lifts his head and turns toward the door.  The air feels heavy and it’s dark outside. Getting up, he makes his way to the door and climbs down.  As he rounds the car, he sees a debris field containing a mixture of splintered wood, glass fragments, and shattered equipment.   There’s a huge dark cloud hovering over the harbor.

My family, he thinks as he stumbles through the debris and heads toward home.    

Oh, God, my family, my two girls.  He starts running out of the yard.

C.G.R. Round House – Photo #41
(Halifax Relief Commission Photos – Mass. State library)

As he's running, he thinks about his two girls and how he'd hugged them before he left for work. 

He thinks about his older daughter, fourteen year old Anna Bella at home doing the household chores; something she's done since her mother's death in January.  Elizabeth, age eleven, is at school.

He continues to run. The usual landmarks are missing.   Somehow his internal compass takes over as he makes his way down what was Young Street to look for Elizabeth.  The time it takes him to reach St. Joseph’s School feels like an eternity. The closer he gets the worse it looks. Houses are in various stages of demolition.   

As he approaches the parishes block, he sees there’s no roof on the church and the walls are barely standing.   The school is a windowless bulged-out mess.  A set of stairs has collapsed, so he moves around the building to discover a few children and a couple nuns covered in blood with soldiers assisting them.  

"Has anyone seen Elizabeth Landry?" he asks.  

“She’s not here,” said Sister Cecilia.

Burnt District – Photo #16

(Halifax Relief Commission Photos – Mass. State library)

Michael heads down the hill.  He smells the burning ruins and flesh.  Human carnage is strewn about the ground with cries of anguish coming from under the wreckage.  Soldiers and civilians are pulling people from the rubble.   Fireman using their equipment are doing their best to keep the fires at bay, but there aren’t enough of them.  

He fears that Anna Bella may have perished. It appears that the area where the house stood is now totally burned. 

In front of  him, the injured are being loaded onto horse drawn carts and motor powered vehicles. Running from one to the other he checks for his two girls. It is hard to find them since most everyone is unrecognizable. He continues his frantic search.

  

Then he hears, "Papa, we're over here!" 

He turns to see two girls, seated and holding each others hands, on the back of a buckboard. One has a swollen face and is covered with blood and dirt.  The other is covered with plaster dust.  

"Anna Bella, Elizabeth!"

"Yes, Papa, it's us," says Elizabeth.

Michael moves to them and wraps them in his arms

----------------------
To read more about the family during the explosion at "A Picture on the Wall."

Permission granted for photos used in this blog:  Folder #17 Photos 1-79, MS Coll. 90 Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee Records. State Library of Massachusetts Special Collections.

She Lost Her "Best Friend"

A simple Landry family story about the legacy we leave and a not so typical friendship through the eyes of thirteen year old. Though given in the first person, it is compiled from various conversations with my great Aunt Anna Bella Landry (Bradley) and research information available at the time of this writing.

Michael and Charlotte (Bouchard) Landry Family - Circa 1915

January 1917
Halifax, Nova Scotia

I’m thirteen years old and I’m crying uncontrollably. My best friend is gone. Please, it can’t be true, I need her too much. I’m a mess.

The rest of the family is attending the wake and funeral.  They thought my constant crying would be too disruptive, so I’m home.

While sobbing, my thoughts turn to this past year.  It started off great. Each day my younger sister Elizabeth and I would get up early and help Mom get breakfast ready.  Because we have five older brothers, we love having time with Mom.  There are actually four boys at home because Leo has gone overseas to fight for our country.  Also, there would have been three girls, but older sister Bernadette died two months after she was born.

Following breakfast, Dad, Joe, and Dan head off to work. Elizabeth and I clear the table then head out to St. Joseph’s School.  While we’re gone Mom cleans the dishes and does other chores like washing laundry and keeping the house spotless.  All of this is done by hand. We didn’t have a dishwasher or a washer and dryer.

When we returned home, Abe and Jimmy head off to school.  Girls go in the morning and boys in the afternoon because the boy’s school is being repaired.  Mom is spending more time teaching me how to keep house.

Then one dreadful day in June, we got news that Leo had been killed in the Battle of Y-Press in Belgium.  This left a big hole in our family and Mom was never the same.

Summer into fall is hard to remember.    As the days got colder and colder Mom continually went outside, without a coat on, to hang laundry.   When asked about it she’d say she had too much to do to bother with her coat.  Our over protective Mom, not wearing a coat didn’t make sense to me.  Then she got weak and started coughing.  Before long she was getting behind on everyday chores.  Our immaculate house was looking a bit disorganized and laundry was piling up.  Elizabeth and I were worried and so were Dad and the boys.  Mom was hospitalized and diagnosed with Tuberculosis.   She didn’t make it.   I not only lost my Mom, I lost my best friend.

Note:   Great grandmother Charlotte (Bouchard) Landry was 46 years old when she passed away. She sewed the dresses that Anna and Elizabeth were wearing in the picture above.  Charlotte was thrifty with money and she raised children who knew how to take care of it and provide for their families. Her love and dedication to her family live on in the current generations.

Landry family picture:
Back row from left to right –  Private Leo , Michael (Dad), Joseph, Annie Adams (Dan's first wife), Daniel, Charlotte (Mom)
Front Row:  Anna Bella, Elizabeth