Margaret Jackson, Local Nurse Arrested

Although this episode in Amherst history may still be in living memory, I hazard to repeat it here.  I came across the misadventures of Margaret Jackson while looking for information in the Oxford Journal about my great aunt. This is an incident that I had never heard before in my research of Amherst stories.

Margaret Jackson, local nurse, was taken into custody in 1932 charged with the murder of an infant child born to Mr. and Mrs. James Corbett.  It seems that Mrs. Corbett and her three week old baby Margaret Alice were being nursed by Jackson who prepared the baby’s bottles.  When the infant became ill, Nurse Jackson called Dr. Drury to attend who discovered Lysol in the milk.  Baby Margaret died the morning of May 10.  Miss Jackson and the evidence were immediately taken into custody.  During court proceedings, it was attested to by witnesses that Lysol was not used either by the neighbouring dairy supplying the milk to the Maccan family nor by the family’s maid Ruth Briggs.  Following court proceedings and a review by the Attorney General, charges against Margaret Jackson were dropped.  The local paper reported that the well known and popular nurse was congratulated by her many friends upon her release, “all of whom stood by her in the recent crisis that she was forced to face”.  In fact the newspaper editor wrote an editorial on August 31 about the steel character of Miss Jackson stating that “she conducted herself with a womanliness and a quiet dignity that could only come from a consciousness of innocence”.

Margaret Jackson herself wrote the paper following her release explaining that she was writing only because the Crown had dropped the charges before she had an opportunity to explain herself.  In her letter she stated that there was indeed Lysol in the Corbett home and Creolin (a substance that also could have been the culprit) in the neighbouring dairy. 

Jackson moved to Fredericton living there for 10 years where she working in her nursing profession.  She died in 1951 at the age of 67.  She had two brothers and five sisters and was buried in Amherst. 

The infant Margaret had three surviving sisters.  Their father James Corbett was a mechanical engineer at the Canada Electric Company in Maccan.

All concerned must have been deeply wounded by this sad story.  If you know more, I look forward to hearing from you.

I recently did an overview of some of my ancestors for a nephew and thought that I would share it here.

   

 This is the information on the attached photo collage:

Top Row:
Donald Herbert Atwater Thompson and Laurene Rosalyn Paul Thompson, (my parents). Don Thompson was a veteran of World War II at the age of 18, he received his certificate in accounting from Mount Allison University and worked for D. A. Casey Limited for 20 years before his death by fishing accident at the age of 41. Surviving were his wife Laurene and 6 children. Laurene Paul Thompson trained as a nurse at Springhill, Nova Scotia and practiced for a number of years. Soon after her husband’s death she established Thompson’s Answering Service which she ran as sole proprietor for 21 years.

Duncan Ross (my father's maternal grandfather) was the grandson of Alexander Ross who immigrated to Nova Scotia from Scotland in 1833. Duncan farmed the original land grant at South Victoria, growing food for shipping. His apples from his apple orchard were sold to Britain and the family grew flax which was woven into linen for local use. Duncan had 1 son and 6 daughters.

Maude Roberta Ross (1862-1955) outlived three husbands.  She was married to second husband John Ross cousin to Duncan Ross.  John died at the age of 38 leaving her 3 children.  She married Duncan who had 7 children and helped him with the raising of those children.

Ellen Laura Bell Furlong Paul (1895-1977) was married to Earl B. Paul. She was the daughter of Joseph Howe Furlong of Southampton, a descendant of Henry Furlong, a Yorkshire settler of 1755 to Southampton, Cumberland County. Henry Furlong established one of the first hotels in Cumberland County during the stagecoach era. Ellen and Earl had 10 children.

Francis Lavinia Shields married Elisha Budd Paul (father of Earl Barrington) and bore him 8 children. Lavinia was the descendant of Irish immigrants to Nova Scotia.

Elisha Budd Paul, (1858 – 1936) (father of Earl Paul) began working at the age of 12 and became a mine coal cutter by the age of 18. He was a councillor and Deputy Mayor for the Town of Springhill, Grand Master of the Provincial Workmen's Association and appeared before a Royal Commission reporting on the work of boy miners in 1889. He was a miner during the 1891 explosion and worked hard to introduce the United Mine Workers to Springhill. In 1904 he was elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature and served for two terms. In 1911 he served as registry of deeds and was made Deputy Inspector of Mines in 1912 serving until 1926.

Middle Row:
Ross Girls: Elsbeth, stepmother Maude, Elizabeth, Annie, Esther and Margaret. Margaret was the mother of Donald Thompson. Elspeth and Elizabeth moved to California at the age of 18, Elspeth becoming the secretary to a Supreme Court Judge and Elizabeth a school teacher. Annie purchased the family farm from her sisters and continued the farm until her death. Esther died at a young age.

Ern Thompson Family. My father Donald Thompson is the small boy on the left, Don’s brother Ken on the right. Don and Ken's mother was Margaret Isabel Ross Thompson (1893-1977) graduated from Empire Business College in 1914, with an average of 84. She did all of the business management of her husband’s butcher business in Springhill. Far right is Ernest Herbert Thompson. Ern and Margaret were raised in South Victoria, Cumberland County and made their home in Springhill.

Ern Thompson as a young man.  "Bubby" always was ready to play checkers and color pictures with his grandchildren. You can see in the photograph the bow to his fiddle which he played at local dances as a young man.

Bottom Row:
Earl Barrington Paul (1895-1984) was the son and grandson of Springhill coal miners. He was self taught as a machinest and rose in career to mining inspector, superintendant and finally General Manager of the Springhill and Glace Bay coal mines for Dominion Coal and Steel Company. Earl Paul was president of the Machinests Union, Councillor for Town of Springhill, Deputy Minister of Labour for Nova Scotia and Director of All Saints Hospital. 

My maternal grandparents were Ellen and Earl Paul.  Ellen Furlong Paul and Earl Barrington Paul at their cottage at spruce haven, West Pugwash.

Ernest Herbert Thompson (1877-1959) left school after grade 3 to work in the lumber mills of Cumberland County to help support his parents large family. Because he was too small to fell lumber, he was sent out to trap, hunt and fish game for the cookhouse. From those skills he developed a profitable and popular butcher shop for Springhill. Ern Thompson was one of 12 children. He is fifth from the left in this photo, a rare photo of most of the siblings, taken on the day of their mother’s funeral.

 Moore Simpson Thompson and Sarah Elizabeth Roblee Thompson. Moore and Sarah were
Ern Thompson’s parents. Moore was forth generation descendant of the first settler to Oxford, Nova Scotia. Richard Thompson arrived from Yorkshire on the ship “Two Friends” in 1774. He purchased land and established the town of Oxford. Richard built the first timber house in the area, ran a saw mill, became surveyor of highways, and gave land for the establishment of Oxford’s cemetery and Methodist Church. Sarah Roblee’s mother Abigail was well known as midwife to the area, helping with the sick in her local community.

I am so pleased that "Haunted Girl" has made the short list for the Atlantic Book Awards. Keep your fingers crossed until Thursday May 16 for the results. Either way it is wonderful to have Esther recognized. A rose between two thorns.

Christie bathers

When I worked on Amherst's Centennial celebration in 1989, the late Janet Christie gave me some photos to use.  This one of Christie girls digging for clams at Tidnish Beach is my favorite.  Imagine wearing those hosery on a hot day. 

Adam Porter brings a new life.

It is said that Adam Porter met Esther Cox while she was in Amherst jail, but I found no evidence of that.  Esther was sent to jail in November 1879 for theft and was released on December 20^th, even though her sentence was to be for 4 months.  We do know that Esther was still in Amherst in August of 1881 from a newspaper story about a bizarre incident when she was called on as a witness in the Amherst courthouse.   Esther married Adam in March of 1882. Both Adam and Esther were living in Springhill at the time of their marriage. 

Adam was previously married to an Olive Porter of Hants County in 1871 who died  but Adam was originally from Westville Pictou County.   He was one of 10 children of a second generation Scottish Presbyterian immigrant. By 1881 Adam Porter was living with his sister and brother in law Robert Conn and working at Albion Mines.   Adam moved from Pictou to Springhill, presumably to work in the Springhill mines, settling in with  his mother, sister and brother in law some time after 1881. His Brother in law Robert might have been related to the Conns of Conns Mills.  Robert and his wife are buried there.

Porter was 14 years older than Esther.  She bore him a son James in 1883. Adam and Esther’s son James went to Brockton Massachusetts with Esther and her second husband Peter Shanahan.  James married Nellie.  They both worked at the shoe factories in Brockton, he as a finisher and she as a stitcher. 

 I have never been able to find out what happened to Adam Porter in Springhill, nor have I been able to trace his son James in Brockton any later than 1905. Someday something will show up.

It's a new year!

And I'm turning over a new leaf.  Hoping to get back to my favorite pastime, researching stories from the past, mostly Amherst of course.  I received this wonderful photo once from a friend.  Although I had left Cumberland County Museum and Archives, as would often happen, an item would be put into my hands for my viewing while grocery shopping or at a yard sale.  This is one such item, and unless the Museum already has a copy, it will go to them.  I love the many Acadian names in this St. Charles Baseball Club 1913.  White, Cuvilier, Burke, Blanch.  Baseball was in its heyday then, even I (the physical activity hater) played with my brothers in the empty lot in our neighbourhood in my girlhood. In the days of this photo, baseball church leagues were popular.  Everyone in our area had heard of the Springhill fencebusters, particularly my family since both parents grew up in Springhill. A neighbour of ours once told me that my father was a pretty good ball player in his younger years, high praise for that generation.  If you recognize anyone, let me know.

Amherst Female Seminary

It is unusual for a town the size of Amherst to have such an advanced school for young women in the 1850’s but Amherst was full of   industrialists who wanted their daughters to be prepared for an elite role.  Although Charles E. Ratchford (1810-1889) receives the credit for the school in early documents it was in fact his wife Carolyn Ratchford (1813- 1889) and her sister Katherine Yates who developed and ran the school.  The sisters hailed from Albany New York and were graduates of the famous Emma Willard School for Girls in Troy, New York.  Charles, being the savvy political animal that he was, acquired funding from the provincial legislature in the early years of the Amherst Female Seminary to establish and run the school.  In the seminary’s first year, probably 1850, nine young women qualified at the Seminary to become teachers and six were already teaching in rural districts. 

Charles had married Carolyn in New York and brought her back to Parrsboro to meet his very successful merchant family.  At one time the Ratchford importing business brought goods from 163 ports to Partridge Island affording the family a large home, servants, schooners, and hotel. But by the time the Charles Ratchfords began a family, the merchant business was dwindling and Charles, being a barrister, moved to Amherst, briefly opening a store on Ratchford Street and  solicited for public service contracts from local politicians. So Carolyn’s family was young when she began the Seminary; Julia A born in 1837, Mary Alida in 1840 and C. Edward in 1845. Carolyn’s partner and sister Katherine never married.

Carolyn and Kate advertised in the British Colonist as well as the Islander.  They provided” board and washing” with instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, grammar and composition, philosophy, astronomy, botany, and of course embroidery. For an extra fee one could also learn piano or Spanish guitar, singing, drawing and French.  Each of two terms was five months.  The Ratchfords advertised exercise and if requested, riding, and promoted Amherst as a healthy part of the country within walking distance of public worship.  Carolyn also boasted of some impressive references such as Thomas DeWolf and Rev. Charles Tupper.  The school employed 6 women instructors including a French teacher.  One of their teachers, Madame Carritt(e), wife of Dr. Thomas Carritte of Great Amherst Mystery fame, decided to branch out on her own, leaving the Seminary and offering a “Female Boarding School” also in Amherst.  Boasting of being one of the principal teachers of the Amherst Female Seminary, Madame Carritt developed a service in competition with same. One wonders how the sisters felt about that.

Before the establishment of Female Seminaries in Nova Scotia, daughters had to leave the province to seek higher learning.  Although today we accept women teachers as a majority in their profession, in fact in early Nova Scotian teaching, men were considered the more appropriate teacher. 

In many parts of Nova Scotia, it was the Scottish tradition of parish schools that prevailed where men only were required to teach, partly because women were not allowed a leading role in public religious tasks, a requirement of teachers of the day. It was the Baptist and Methodists who more readily embraced the role of women in secondary education, albeit to make young women better mothers.

While the employment of women in the public school system was not readily adopted in the rural areas of Nova Scotia, women as educators in the private realm seemed to be more acceptable, particularly if their charges were only girls.  For example, the provincial Normal School, opening in 1854, did not allow its many female students to take examination for first class licenses until 1869; first class licenses being for the teaching of lower grades only. By 1870 however, Nova Scotians generally accepted the role of women as educators and understood the importance of good teacher training for women in the profession.

The success of Charles Edward Ratchford’s request to the Nova Scotia legislature for funding  (on behalf of his wife) to support the Amherst Female Seminary, indicates provincial acceptance of women as educators and of the higher education of women.

During the mid 1800’s Female Seminaries could be found at Acadia (Grand Pre Seminary), Berwick, Bridgetown and at Mount Allison University.

Ratchford’s success with the Amherst Female Seminary is a testament to the hopes and expectations for economic growth of Amherst’s industrial elite.

Young students of Amherst Female Seminary