Indentured Service ~ Canada's British Home Children (BHC)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2022: Week 33 (SERVICE)

I have always had an interest in history. 

Ever since I was young I have read historical fiction. 

When I first heard about British Home Children coming to Canada for a better life I never thought about what that would have actually been like. 

I read the stories of children arriving to a new family. 

A home in prosperous Canada. 

My perception of the BHC experience was warm & fuzzy.

I never once considered what that must have been like for the young children leaving behind everything they knew. 

Leaving behind their families, heritage, and culture. 

Being separated from their siblings. 

I thought they were all orphans.

Many were not. 

They left their parents behind.

When I found my X2 great uncle in the registries of Bernardo's Children arriving in 1898 at the age of 12 -  I began to view things differently. 

I then found his sister, aged 14 arriving in 1902. 

In trying to understand their experience I began searching. 

I was shocked & saddened to find these quotes from Toronto Senator, Frederic Thomas Nicholls:

"We beg to assure him (Dr. Barnardo) that whatever else he may do in his philantropic efforts to purify the slums of London and hoever good and reformed morally, his waifs may be, they are not wanted in Canada. He had better dispose of them elsewhere." 1   August 7 1891

"We do object that Canada should be made a dumping ground for a class of humanity for whom we have no use and whose presence cannot but be a source of contamination to the rising generation of our country." 1    January 5 1894 

"These waifs and strays are tainted and corrupt with moral slime and filth inherited from parents and surroundings of the most foul and disgusting character, and all the washing and clean clothes that Dr. Barnardo may bestow cannot possibly remove...There is no power whatever that can cleanse the lepers so as to fit them to become desirable citizens of Canada." 1     April 1891

Looking at the British Home Children Registry I had a further shift in how I viewed the experience of the children who came to Canada.

"...Placed With / Indentured To.....
August 1903: Alfred Augustus BAKER -
Silver medal for good conduct and length of service."2 

Indentured Service!

How could I have ever thought they were coming to new homes in Canada. 

The children brought to Canada for a better life were little more than unpaid workers. I'm sure there were some who were treated like family, but for the majority they were not treated well. 

July 25th 1898 Alfred arrived in Canada as a British Home Child. 

He arrived on the ship Labrador through Quebec to the Toronto Bernardo's home for 'distribution'. What a strange way to word the program that was sending young children in need to a new country for a new life. It seems to me that the phrase really did portray the results of the program. 

The intent had been to send children from England to new families in Canada. Sadly that isn't what happened for many of the children sent by ship to Canada and elsewhere in the world. 

The record that I find notes that "In 1898, A. A. Baker, 9, arrived at Quebec, Canada, along with a group of 92 children enroute to Toronto, Ontario, Canada." 3  

The documents indicate that Alfred was 9. Alfred was 12. 

Researching indicates that sometimes the incorrect age listed was done in legitimate error. Sometimes it was done to allow for more years of service for smaller children. We will never know what the actual reason was for Alfred.  The follow up documents I found note that he was born in 1898, and was 12 when he arrived. 

The August 1903 edition of Dr. Barnardo Magazine Ups and Downs on page 55 Alfred is noted as having received a Silver Medal for good conduct & length of service. The April 1903 issue of the same magazine mentions a letter that says Alfred A Baker will be 17 in April. It also says that Alfred A Baker arrived in 1898, and was placed with Mr. Johnston. The British Home Child Registry notes that Alfred Augustus Baker was going to Avonhurst **, Northwest Territories, Canada with Mr. Johnston. The records indicated he remained there until 1903.  Where he went in 1903 I have not yet found. 

** Not to be confused with the current Northwest Territories. In 1905 the landscape of Canada changed with the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Avonhurst is, and always was, part of Saskatchewan. 

Alfred's sister Edith Jemima Baker was a British Home Child arriving in Canada 25th of July 1902 when she arrived on the ship New England to the port in Boston. She then traveled to Canada, Edith Jemima Baker is listed as residing at Bernardo's Home in England in the 1901 census. Her age listed as 13 matches all of my research to date.  I find a record of Edith at the New Road School in London, admitted the 8th of  January in 1894. I know this is my Edith because the birth date matches, and her father is listed correctly. Noted right above her birth date on the admission record is 'weak intellect'. I wonder if this relative shared my 'late reader' label. There is no indication that she lacked intelligence later in life.  "In 1902, Edith Baker, 14, arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, USA, along with a large party of about 400 children en route to Toronto and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Her brother, A(lfred) A(ugustus) Baker arrived previously in 1898 on the Labrador with Barnardos." 4  

There is no record that I can find who Edith lived with in Canada until she moved to Manitoba to live with her sister Amy Louisa (nee Baker) Dendy. In 1905 Edith married John Zarn, and they had 8 children.

Alfred & Edith's older sister, Amy Louisa Baker,  is my X2 great grandmother. She was born on the 18th of March in 1875 in England. She died 23rd of December 1949 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She married William Herbert Dendy on the 10th of December 1893 in England. William Herbert Dendy was born on the 27th of July 1867 in England, and died 25 December 1929 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They had 11 children. Six children were born in England, and 5 in Canada. My great grandmother was their first born in Canada. The family immigrated to Canada in 1903, and settled in Manitoba. They did try their hand at farming in Alberta for a time (see Bachelor Brothers - Uncle Alf & Uncle Charlie for more about that) and also lived in Saskatchewan where their 9th child was born.  

Amy Louisa (nee Baker) Dendy on right, William Herbert Dendy in back.
Likely their daughters Amy in back, Rose (my great grandmother) in front
not sure who the other two are, but based on ages there are a couple to choose from.
Guessing 1909 since Rose looks about three so Amy was probably expecting Den born in 1909 

I don't know if my X2 great grandparents came to Canada to be closer to Amy's siblings who had been sent to Canada. Amy was already married when her younger siblings left to Canada in 1898 and 1902. Amy and her family arrived in 1904, and originally settled in Manitoba where my great grandmother Rose was born.  Amy and family were then living in Saskatchewan in 1907 and 1909 where two sons, Albert & Den, were born. I don't know when brother Alfred married his wife Flora Isabel Cameron  (from Saskatchewan), but their first born child was named Amy in 1912. It's possible that Amy Louisa moved to Saskatchewan to be closer to Alfred. We also know that Amy Louisa was living near sister Edith in Manitoba.

 The records indicate that Amy Louisa and her family were moving between Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta during the years of 1903 and 1929. 

I don't know why that was happening at a time in the past when most folks didn't move around a lot.   

I don't know what happened to their parents Alfred A Baker & Jemima Jane North. 

I do know that the family names continued in the family's of all three children. 

I do know that all three went on to have family's, and appear to have been successful in life.

I do know that Amy's daughter Rose (my great grandmother) was so attached to her family that she took her brother out of the institution as soon as she was able (see Blog linked above for more about that). 

I also know that Edith Jemima remained connected to Amy Louisa's family after her marriage because I found her playing matchmaker for niece Amy Florence Dendy in 1906. 

Amy Louisa was born Amy Baker, and married William Herbert Dendy to become Amy Dendy. Her daughter was born Amy Florence Dendy, and when she married Jack Baker she became Amy Baker. 

Amy Baker became Amy Dendy, and then Amy Dendy became Amy Baker. 

I was only able to tease this apart using the video of my grandma explaining a family photo along with this side story. 

More details were provided from the book From Generation to Generation. 5

Indentured Service - finding the children who deserved better!!!

If you know more please comment or message me with the details. 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Footnotes:

1  Choice Quotes About the Home Children From This Magazine. The Canadian Manufacturer and World Frederick Nichols. British Home Children Canada. Retrieved August 18th 2022 from
https://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/frederick-nicholls.html

2 Alfred August Baker. British Home Children registry as retrieved August 18th 2022 from 
http://www.britishhomechildrenregistry.com/Person/bhcInfo/55283

3 RootsChat.Com, RootsChat Reference Library, Database for Special Interest Groups(DBSIG), British Home Children, Quick Search. Retrieved August 18th 2022 from 
http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/dbsig/dbsig-quick-search.php?dbsig_num=1&surname=BAKER&view=3969#top_data

4 RootsChat.Com, RootsChat Reference Library, Database for Special Interest Groups(DBSIG), British Home Children, Quick Search. Retrieved August 18th 2022 from 
http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/dbsig/dbsig-quick-search.php?dbsig_num=1&surname=BAKER&view=3968#top_data

5  From Generation to Generation, compiled in 1958 and 1987 by committee and members of the the Kirkham Bridge Women's Institute, printed by Sanderson Printing I Souris, Man.  Retrieved August 18th 2022 from http://travelsdocbox.com/Budget_Travel/73522110-F3-4-n-v-j-rn-contents.html

Sources:

Alfred August Baker. British Home Children registry as retrieved August 18th 2022 from http://www.britishhomechildrenregistry.com/Person/bhcInfo/55283

Alfred Augustus Baker, British Home Children, A Virtual Cemetery, Find A Grave, Retrieved August 18th 2022 from 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/222328905/alfred-augustus-baker?fbclid=IwAR1SzKI3L1zLtPfJAdY4RYoaFsJeOLjPAkbl_MRwDob1d_sMPGvu3Vjbwxw

British Home Children. Veterans Affairs Canada. Government of Canada. Retrieved August 19th 2022 from 
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/people-and-stories/british-home-children

Edith J Baker. British Home Children Registry. Retrieved August 18th 2022 from 
http://www.britishhomechildrenregistry.com/Person/bhcInfo/55313

Edith Baker Zarn, British Home Children, A Virtual Cemetery, Find A Grave, Retrieved August 18th 2022 from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111283305/edith-zarn

Ups & Downs 1903 Editions. Retrieved August 18th 2022 from
https://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/ups-and-downs-1903.html

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

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