A father's final letter to a son

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I've been sorting through several bins of decades worth of photographs, letters and other mementos collected by my parents and grandparents. It's a massive and very long overdue task, and I admit that it's slow going.

One reason this project is slow going is because of the many discoveries that I'm making. And in many cases, I stop the work and get lost in thought, pondering over photos or letters, like this letter that surfaced this week.

The letter is from my great grandfather to his son, my grandfather, and is written from a hospital, undated, except for the year: 1908. My great grandfather would then have been 74 years old. I don't know what town the hospital was, only that it is where my grandfather's "Aunt Maggie lives."  This was probably my great aunt, Margaret Grace Darling Ross Gillies.

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My great grandfather, Frank Gillanders Matheson, was recovering from an operation that left him a shadow of his former self, he wrote. What was that operation for, I wonder? He could no longer work, and said he had to leave the house where he and Annie, my great grandmother, lived. Their 28 year old blind and mentally challenged son, Alex would certainly have been with them, and possibly their daughter Annie, with her infant son, Andrew. The rest of their surviving children were living elsewhere, in service or apprenticed.

As can be seen here, Frank's faith played a large part in his life. He possessed a three-volume bible, in fact, that I wrote about here and as I noted in my last post, was a deacon at his local church. He was a devout Presbyterian. 

Frank's comments about his loneliness in hospital and about some of the people in his life give a brief insight into 1908 life in the Scottish Highlands. Is it odd that he doesn't mention his wife? I don't know.

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I don't think that in the end, Frank and Annie had to move, as his death registration notes that he died at the Railway Cottages at Delfaber, Duthil. But such a great worry that must have been.

My grandfather, John, emigrated from Scotland to Montreal in June 1907. I know he didn't get to see his father, Frank Gillanders Matheson again, as Frank died in June 1909. That he kept this 1908 letter from his father the rest of his life speaks volumes, doesn't it?

The never ending story continues....

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© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2020 All rights reserved

When Letters of Introduction were always a good idea

I wrote here about when my grandfather, John Matheson, left Scotland for Montreal on June 8, 1908. That was still a time when a letter of introduction from your church minister could often open doors when you searched for work or a roof over your head in a strange new place. In what has become an epic task, I've been slowly sorting through memory bins as I call them .... the bins of accumulated family records and documents. The finds are always rewarding. I recall many from years ago, when I did a purge, but now that so much of my life is immersed in all things genealogy, they of course have new meaning.

Here is a June 7, 1908 letter of introduction from A.M. MacLeod, Minister of the United Free Church of Scotland, written from the United Free Church Manse at Rothiemurchus, Avimore, as noted on the embossed letter.

Imagine in the whirl of packing and farewells, before you sailed the very next day to Canada, stopping at the Manse to get this letter of introduction.

I like that Rev MacLeod notes that while my grandfather wasn't a "member of the church, he has regularly attended its services and has been a devout and intelligent listener."

   

But the kicker is Rev MacLeod's closing sentence on page 2. Surely mentioning that the bearer's father is a church deacon and that he is "one of the most respected men in the district." was enough to ensure whatever doors needed opening for my grandfather in Montreal were opened. 

Perhaps it was my great grandfather Frank who secured this excellent letter of introduction on his son's behalf. 

The never ending story continues ....

© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2020 All rights reserved