Uncle Bert Edwards
Written by Nikki-ann on Sunday, 6 April , 2008 at 5:22 pm
In the past I have found the Halton Information Network very useful. Last year it helped me find newspaper references (birth, marriage and obituary notices) to my Great Great Great Uncle Bert and his family. Once again it has proved very useful. This time I believe I have found a photo of him.
Uncle Bert, age 23, left England and his family and sailed to Quebec, Canada in 1904. As far as I know, he went on his own - such a big step for a young man brought up in the countryside. He moved to Burlington, Ontatio where he spent the rest of his life (as far as I know) and never returned home. He married twice, outliving both wives, and had a couple of children. He was an employee of the Burlington Water Works, an operator for 40 years and an inspector for a number of years. Bert was a member of St. Luke’s Anglican Church, and also a member of the Foresters, and the Burlington Horticultural Society.
Uncle Bert sent letters home. Nan gave me a few of them and from reading them I can tell he missed home, but he loved Canada too. One of his letters from 1953 reads:
“I wish I could walk in some morning and see you. I am sure it would be a great treat. You know I wouldn’t mind walking up the hill to see your Granny. What fun it would be.”
“Granny” was his little sister, my Great Great Nan. Granny would have loved to have seen Bert walking up the hill, after all she hadn’t seen him for nearly 50 years by then!
Uncle Bert died in 1958. His daughter Mary continued writing to family back home in England (who at that time she’d never met) while Uncle Bert was ill and then after he died. Mary’s daughter Sharon also wrote letters, but lost contact in the mid 1970s.
I contacted the Burlington Historical Society about the photo of Uncle Bert and an archives volunteer kindly responded. She assured me that the photo more than likely is him as there was only 1 engineer with his name. She has said she’s going to look at the original photo and file tomorrow to see if she can tell me any more about him and that she’ll add any notes I have to the file. I’m hoping she’ll be able to provide me with a higher resolution scan of the photo so I can show it to Nan as I’m sure she’d love to see it. I’m sure the Historial Society also have a photo of Bert’s son-in-law so I’m going to enquire about that too.
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Category: Edwards, Family History
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