Like many immigrants, home children came to Canada to have better lives. They left a legacy, but not necessarily a history. Here is one home child's story.

On June 7, 1900, George Davis shivered from the damp air as he stood on the deck of the S.S. Siberian. He was travelling in a group with other children, set to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Liverpool, England, for a new home in Canada. His final destination would be a farm in a place called Dumfries, NB. A city boy, the 12-year-old understood nothing about farming.

George was one of more than 100,000 children from the British Isles who came to Canada-in many cases the Maritimes-between 1869 and the late 1930s. These children have been referred to variously as home children, orphan immigrants, child immigrants, or little immigrants. Most of the children were not orphans; they were institutionalized because they lost parents, or their parents simply could no longer care for them. It was the Victorian era, post Industrial Revolution; a time of great change. Poverty and disease had reached epidemic proportions in poor enclaves in cities.

Children were placed in workhouses, residential schools, reformatories or homes run by philanthropic societies. The name home child stuck because many were sent to Canada or Australia by British charitable homes-well-meaning agencies, in many cases with religious affiliations or funded by private individuals-attempting to provide them with a better life through immigration. The British government supported these programs in order to reduce their numbers of disadvantaged and destitute children. First, the immigration programs gave children a new start; second, they eased the financial and moral strain on British society. Victorians tended to see poverty as shameful, a result of laziness or vice. Canada supported the programs: the boys typically provided farm labour, which was in demand, the girls domestic help.

The group George came with comprised 108 children, most  between the ages of 11 and 14, and two adult escorts. Back home in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, George knew the routine. Now, the fear of the unknown tormented him. He tried his best to contemplate good thoughts about his future: he told himself it would be a better life than his existence in dirty, sooty West Bromwich, with its smelters and coal mines. His home county wasn't nicknamed the "Black Country" without reason. The adults had told the group the air was clean in Canada and everything was green, except in the winter when it was cold and white, covered with snow.

George reflected on his parents and sisters as the voyage to Canada began. His father, James, was a gruff man with little tolerance for childish games or misbehaviour. His mother, Tryphena, was a gentle soul who seemed to have time for all. She was a frail woman, sick most of the time, and had died recently from an infection after a miscarriage. George didn't understand why she died; he only knew the somber fact his mother was gone. His father began spending more time away from his family-he couldn't cope with the responsibilities.

The boy was taken into the care of Middlemore Homes. A family took in the older sisters, Edith and Mabel. Sara (Sadie), the youngest, became a domestic servant. He sensed he would never see them again. Perhaps some day he would return and find them.

Middlemore and other charitable homes advertised the availability of children in Canadian newspapers and through local churches; the Presbyterian Church acted as their agents in New Brunswick. They screened and passed on the requests to Middlemore Homes in Birmingham, England. In George's case, Jim Miller, a farmer in Dumfries, NB, submitted a request for a farm labourer, and the staff selected George-his admission document described him as "a very big boy for his age."

On June 18, the ship docked in Halifax, on schedule. George and the others were taken just outside Halifax to Fairview Home, maintained by Middlemore to receive and process the immigrant children. They typically remained there for a few days after the voyage, to acclimatize.

When it was time for the children to join their sponsors, the superintendent of Fairview gathered them together. He said the boys would be put on trains destined for the station closest to where their sponsors lived. Once there, they were to leave the train and wait at the station until the sponsor came for them. He emphasized that no matter how long it took they were to continue wait. Some children would panic, and run off.

"Sure hope mine shows up quick," thought George.

Given the mores of the day, staff would personally escort the girls to their sponsors' homes.

The superintendent also told the children to respect their elders, and work hard for their sponsors. Finally the group was led in a short prayer of hope for their new lives.

George was taken to the Halifax train station and given a one-way ticket to Harvey Station, NB. According to Fredericton's Daily Gleaner, July 5, 1906, "each boy sent out from Middlemore has 2 suits of clothes, 3 shirts, 2 flannel vests, 3 pairs socks, 3 handkerchiefs, woolen scarf and mitts, 2 caps, brush and comb, Bible and bag to contain same."

So began a new life in an unknown land. Children faced loneliness, hardship and sometimes abuse in their new lives. Many had difficulty adjusting to rural life in Canada. They were treated as inferior-Britain had "rejected" them, so perhaps there was something wrong with them. Many were overtly discriminated against.

Sponsors were expected to feed and clothe the children, and send them to church and school. There were inspections to assess conditions; however, many worked in remote areas, so visits weren't always practical.

Middlemore's files record an inspection visit to the Miller farm five years after George arrived, but by then he was gone. He had found work at the newly constructed Great Northern Paper Company, across the border in Millinocket, Maine.

George-my grandfather-didn't like to talk about his early years. Once when I asked him a question he shrugged it off and said, "Why do you want to know about that?" I learned many of the details later through genealogical research and stories of others like him.

He seemed to flourish on the farm. The work was hard, but later, one of George's sons worked for Miller-evidence that he was treated well.

While at the farm George fell in love with a tall, lanky girl named Janet Amanda Palmer. On June 15, 1910, they got married at her father's farm, near Hawkshaw, NB, a picturesque area along the St. John River north of Fredericton. George and Janet made their home in Maine, where the first of their five sons was born a year later.

George grew to love the outdoors. He returned to the St. John River Valley, becoming a fishing and hunting guide on the Tobique River. He became interested in taxidermy-learned from books-and set up shop in Fredericton, with a second shop in the border town of Vanceboro, Maine. His clients were Americans who visited the area for its excellent hunting and fishing.

In the 1930s, George and Janet purchased land along the St. John River near Prince William, known locally as "The Barony." From there he operated his taxidermy business, and also became a proficient gunsmith. The New Brunswick Museum, in Saint John, displayed several of his mounted animals. His pride showed whenever he mentioned this fact.

I recall spending time with him in his shop. He showed me how to tan a squirrel's hide and walked me through the steps of the mounting process. I never did manage to get him to talk about his life in England, even during these times together.

Three of his sons, my father and two of my uncles, served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. His youngest died in a plane crash during pilot training.

As children, we were fascinated with this uncle we never got to meet. George got emotional talking about his youngest boy, the only time we got a glimpse beneath his rough exterior.

Janet, his wife of more than 50 years, died on November 22, 1963. George passed on June 19, 1967. Today, their descendants are prospering all across Canada, and in Japan.

George Davis, a poor, young immigrant from an English city, made a contented life for himself in rural Canada… life for this home child did get better.

Lost memories

Many descendents of home children aren't aware of their ancestry-as adults, former home children typically didn't discuss their past. Here are some facts and figures to help fill in the gaps.

• More than 100,000 children came to Canada as so-called home children.
• Most children were not orphans, although they were sometimes called orphan immigrants. They were institutionalized because of severe poverty. Most came from poor urban areas.
• Dr. John T. Middlemore, a Presbyterian minister, founded Middlemore Homes, but there were approximately 50 child-care organizations sending children to Canada.
• Barnardo's, started by Thomas Barnardo, was the largest and most well known of the homes. He had planned to become a medical missionary in China but after going from Dublin to London for medical training, he decided to stay there, devoting himself to destitute children.
• The first Middlemore children arrived in Canada in 1873. For the first 12 years all Middlemore children were sent to Ontario. In 1885 the first group of children were settled in York County, NB.
• In 1893 Middlemore switched its operations to the Maritimes. In 1898 the Fairview Home, built at cost of $1,000, was opened outside of Halifax, and became the reception home for Middlemore children. 
• Until 1935 Middlemore children were placed in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and also Ontario and Manitoba.
• The Allan Line carried more children to Canada than any other steamship line. Sailings were from either Glasgow or Liverpool.
  

Web connections

Here are a few websites useful for anyone with a personal or genealogical interest in home children.

• Library and Archives of Canada; collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/home-children
• Young Immigrants to Canada; http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/homeadd.html
• Canadian Centre for Home Children; canadianhomechildren.ca/index.php
• Home Children Canada (Pacific); www3.telus.net/Home_Children_Canada
• British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa; bifhsgo.ca/home_children.htm.

Steve Davis, an amateur genealogist, was born in Woodstock, NB, and now lives in Calgary.