Making Progress – the Writing of a Memoir About the Halifax Explosion

Joseph Landry (1889-1994)

The stories are coming together and it's looking like a book.

With the help of my editor, Sylvia Clark, I’ve been busy working on edits and revisions of a memoir about my grandfather, Joseph Landry’s family and their experiences, before, during, and after the Halifax Explosion.   Our main focus is to have a completed draft of their story called, “A Picture on the Wall” done as soon as possible.  Since the beginning of this year, an Introduction and four chapters have undergone multiple edits with upcoming chapters in various stages.  We’ve set an editing schedule of every two weeks.  The hardest chapters are in progress.  There are several missing pieces that would be beneficial to have. Below are two of them that concern the Burke Family.

For example:
Harry Burke, son of Pauline and Joseph Burke was at the City Home due to mental defect before the explosion occurred.  If you know anything about Harry and/or you have any idea where I could look to find out more about his situation, please share below or on Facebook.  "Landry, Burke, and Myatt Family Chart."

With the help of Paul C. Landry, we have the names of the family members of Mrs. Myatt, oldest daughter of Pauline and Joseph Burke.  Yet we haven't been able to find the Halifax Relief Commission record for this family at the Nova Scotia Archives.  There was a card showing that a record was kept, but unable to find the corresponding documents.  If you have any ideas or information to help us uncover more about what happened to them, we'd appreciate your sharing it with us.  "Do You Know the Simon and Hilda Myatt Family - Dartmouth NS - Halifax Explosion?"

First Aid - A Life Saver - Halifax Explosion

When you see a red cross what do you think of?

When it comes to the Halifax Explosion, I think of the civilian and

military personnel who had training in First Aid.  If it weren't for them, I believe that many more people, including some of my grandfather Joseph Landry's family, would have perished that day.

Among the groups that offered assistance were members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade.  According to a Report by the Halifax Centre Nursing Division of the St John Ambulance Brigade, “Within a few (hours) of the explosion, 62 had rendered first aid - arresting (hemorrhage), removing glass, plaster and splinters from wounds, applying dressing and splints where necessary. By the application of their knowledge of asepsis, they helped to prevent serious complications."  Not only had this group provided medical attention to people in the devastated area and in the hospitals after the explosion, but before the explosion, qualified nurses and doctors gave First Aid training to some members of the Army Medical Corps, police officers and firemen.

Many soldiers and sailors from other countries, who had similar medical training and access to supplies, would join the relief effort.  Rescue parties would come ashore with stretcher bearers. The stretcher bearers carried the wounded out of areas where access roads were blocked.

The first aid provided to the wounded before they were transported to the hospitals, saved many lives. I wasn't aware that there were so many people who had this kind of training until reading some of the Archibald MacMechan reports and doing further research related to these reports.  This shows that being prepared for a disaster can save lives.  If you have the time and/or feel led, why not seek out some first aid training.

Canadian Red Cross
American Red Cross

Resources:
Report: Halifax United Nursing Davison, No. 17, St. John Ambulance Brigade
Reference: Archibald MacMechan Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 volume 2124 number 33 - page 4 - Note: The parenthesis () in quote are possible word corrections like (hour) instead of "house".

The Military in Disaster Relief after the Explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia, December 1917  -  by Lieutenant Charles E. Matykiewicz, U.S. Navy

Women Trolley Car Drivers Hired After The Halifax Explosion

Maude Foley - Nova Scotia Archives

"It seems strange to see girls running the elevators and acting as trolley car conductors.  I saw a girl walking on the outside of a car and fixing the pole just like a man. What are we coming to anyway?"- by Carl Moulton of Connecticut in a letter to his girlfriend on January 23, 1918 while in Halifax waiting to go overseas.*

102 years ago today. for the first time, women were employed as trolley car conductors for the Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Company. Maud Foley, the woman in the picture above, was among the first hired according to the Nova Scotia Archives.

It was nearing the end of WWI and just weeks before, sections of Halifax and Dartmouth were destroyed after a collision between a fully loaded munitions ship and a cargo ship - the Halifax Explosion.  Nine men working for Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Company died as a result of the blast.  For the conductors who survived, many didn’t come back to work due to family circumstances or because they were helping out with the reconstruction effort.  This meant there was a shortage of drivers for the electric trolley cars.  Management discussed the possibility of women filling these positions and then realized it could work.

Trolley - Expo Rail

“On December 31 (1917) eight women conductors were in charge of cars, and a number of others were in training. The experience, so far, is that the services of women conductors are practically as efficient as those of men, and it is the intention to utilize women’s services for this purpose to the fullest extent possible.”**

In the early 1900s woman were making considerably less money than men.  Some woman in my family were making only $5 a week. The new women conductors pay was 45 cents an hour.  If they worked a 40-hour week they’d make $18 a week. The joy of their sudden sense of value and their new found affluence would be short lived since, once the men returned from war many women would lose their jobs to them. 

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* Maud Foley, street car conductor in Halifax, ca. 191; Nova Scotia Archives 199900096
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nsarchives/39513377794

** Report: "The Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Company and the Halifax Explosion". — 2 pages : 26 x 35 cm. Archibald MacMechan;  (year added to quote); https://novascotia.ca/archives/macmechan/archives.asp?ID=11

Nova Scotia SPC Rescued Animals with Help from USA – Halifax Explosion

Photo from - The Appalling Disaster

December 6, 2019 marks the 102nd Anniversary of the Halifax Explosion.  The explosion happened after a munitions ship and a cargo ship collided in Halifax Harbour. Its force leveled a section of the city of Halifax called Richmond.  To commemorate this year’s anniversary and the tree lighting ceremony on Boston Common on December 5, this blog is in memory of the animals who suffered and the men and women who helped rescue and care for them.

Prior to the explosion, many families in Halifax owned dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, and/or horses.  My great Uncle Jimmy Landry’s future wife Margaret “Rita” Jordan and her family were living in Halifax on December 6.  Her father, Charles H. Jordan, owned a blacksmith shop with a stable of horses.

Following the explosion, the animals of Halifax would suffer similar fates to those of their owners - with some being maimed or killed.  The secretary of the Nova Scotia SPC (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty), Mr. Murray, having assessed the magnitude of the situation, asked the Massachusetts SPCA for help.  Their response came quickly with a donation of $1000 and the deployment of two of their officers to Halifax to help with the relief effort.  Mr. Murray, these two men, along with a team of relief workers. would seek out and rescue animals throughout the city and into outlying areas. Because of the financial generosity of animal lovers from both countries, they were able to purchase much needed food and building materials. Barns were built to shelter the animals. Feed was delivered to nourish them.

It would take my great Aunt Rita's father, Charles Jordan a month to find his horses, some of which had to be put down. More than likely,  his horses survived as a result of this relief effort.

Thanks to all the rescuers, many families and businesses were reunited with their animals.


Note:  I'm grateful for family members who shared the information about great Aunt Rita Jordan Landry's family experience during the Halifax Explosion and to Archibald MacMechan, Halifax Explosion Historian collection article - The Appalling Disaster at Halifax. — February 1918. — From "Our Dumb Animals" p133. Massachusetts S.P.C.A. sends aid for animals in stricken city. Reference: Archibald MacMechan Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 volume 2124 number 295

Tree lighting ceremony on Boston Common on December 5 at 6:00pm https://www.facebook.com/events/1342416552631546/

A little information about my great aunt:
Margaret "Rita" Jordan Landry
Born: July 2, 1901, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada
Married: Boston  MA on September 4, 1924 to Peter James "Jimmy" Landry - born September 9, 1901 in Cape Breton NS Canada.
Parents: Charles H. Jordan - born abt. 1871 and Ida May Horne, born abt 1879

St Joseph’s School – Marie (Burke) Jordon – Halifax Explosion

Ross Dunn - bnw filter added

Looking at this photo it’s hard to believe that anyone made it out alive, but most did.

"Marie, my cousin, had a fractured skull... She was in bad shape for a while... It was quite bad, poor Marie." - Anna Bella Landry Bradley

At the time of the Halifax Explosion, my grandfather’s first cousin Marie Burke (age 13) was in her sixth-grade classroom located on the stage of the auditorium on the top floor of St Joseph’s School. The force of the explosion would blow off part of the roof above the classroom, causing the collapse of two over-sized doors onto some of her classmates.  Their teacher, Sister Ethelred, with the help of a student named Fudge, were able to free most of the girls, but three had not survived its impact. Along with the doors, beams had let go with one of them striking Marie Burke on the right side the head, crushing her skull. 

Marie stated that she had been taken to Victoria General Hospital where she didn’t regain consciousness for five days. Her stay there would span many weeks. She was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Epilepsy as a result of her fractured skull. 

Years after the explosion Marie moved to the United States where she married Clarence E Jordan (b 1905), son of Charles (b 1871) and Ida Horne Jordan (b 1879), on November 12, 1926 in Boston, Massachusetts.  

In her 30’s, Marie had brain surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital which left her seizure free.This gave Marie a freedom and self-sufficiency she hadn't known since before the explosion. She was grateful.

Marie Burke Jordan (b 1904-1997) is the daughter of Joseph (1864-1917) and Pauline Bouchard Burke (1868-1976).  Pauline and my grandfather Joseph Landry’s (1889-1994) mother Charlotte Bouchard Landry (1870-1917) were sisters.

Marie's father Joseph Burke was a Stevedore on Pier 8 the morning of the explosion, December 6, 1917 and his body was never found. 

Note:
I'm thankful for my great Aunt Anna Bella Landry Bradley's (1903-2007) sharing of family stories about the Halifax Explosion.  She was one of  my Grandpa Joe's younger sisters and he kept pretty quiet about it.

Other sources for information in this article - Halifax Relief Commission #393, Archibald MacMechan - Personal narrative Sisters Edevina, Rita, Ethelied, Maria Arilia of St. Joseph's Girls' School (Archibald MacMechan Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 volume 2124 number 18), FamilySearch.org

Could this be Annie and Clarence Landry who died in the Halifax Explosion?

Hundreds of photos spread out in two homes, one in the United States and the other in Canada as cousins sift through memories of two brothers and their siblings, who survived the Halifax Explosion. The brothers are Joseph and Daniel Landry. The present meets the past, as younger versions of our grandfathers and their families lie in front of us. Images are photographed or scanned, then forwarded to each other with the hope that family members will be able to help us identify the people we don’t know.

Then this photo is discovered.. Could it be?

In an interview, a couple years ago, I had been told that Uncle Dan had a picture of  his wife Annie and their son Clarence who died in the Halifax Explosion?  Could this be them? 

How are your identification skills?  My cousin Linda Landry Horne and I would like to know what you think. Do you think this could be them? Why or why not?

The first picture below is the one we found that we think could be Annie and Clarence. 

The second is a copy of the "picture on the wall" that hung behind our great Aunt Anna Bella’s bed.  

Annie (Adams) Landry is in the back row - third from the right.

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.