Tear and Shriek and Whistle and Hustle

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

March 19, 2026

“Tear and Shriek and Whistle and Hustle”

 

“These were their settlements. And they kept good family records.”^[1]

Don’t forget to look for the title which is embedded in the chronicle.

 

 

 

FAMILY ALBUM

I know this photo is a review. Since completing and sending off my article for “Generations,” I have been working on “A Colossal Collection of Cousins,” Westmorland section.

This is one of the reunion photos, the first on in 1924, I believe.

Back row: Charles, Peter, Anna, William, and James

Front row: Hannah, Augusta, and Carrie

 

Charles wife, Phoebe, did not attend. Peter was married to Hannah. William was married to Anna, James was married to Augusta. Carrie’s husband, Alfred, had passed away by this time.

 

 

And I Quote:

 

Thank you.  Kennon read it and commented that this [award to Philip Anklesaria] was a big deal. Happy it made the newsletter.

~ Eleanor, on behalf of Kennon Wilson, on the honour that Philip received. Eleanor is in the Peter K Holmes line.

 

 

1925 to 1928

 

Those are the years that our Holmes ancestors spent renewing relationships that had somehow fallen by the wayside but with organization, letter writing, and challenging travel – by hook or by crook – they managed to come together again. They reacquainted and rediscovered their family ties. And then, one by one, they died, and many of those ties died with them.

2025 to 2028

My article is in the hands of the editor of “Generations,” Dave. Dave has a 66 - page journal to compile and send out to members of the New Brunswick Genealogy Society every three months. It’s a big job, and not one that I would like to do. All that fitting and formatting – too much for me. I’m happy to submit an article to him once in a while, to help him fill the pages.

This paragraph is not because I am selfish, but because of the way copyright works. The journal is copyrighted by the society, and the article is copyrighted by me. That means, it cannot be copied without permission. I would not submit the same article to another journal. What does that mean for my Holmes family and friends of the family? It means that you can join the society and get a virtual copy on our website, or, for a price, request a paper copy. I will adapt it for our family, but my own copyright will remain on it.  It is called my “intellectual property." I am now working on the family’s copy.

So, about my article. I wrote about Uncle Howard ‘Fenwick’ Holmes back in 2014, in “A Homestead on the Old Post Road.” Since I wrote and distributed my book, I have learned a lot more about both Fenwick and different places and ways to research. Most of what I wrote in the book is basically correct, but I found a lot more stuff. Right now, I am taking that book about Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt, and their children and grandchildren, and updating it. I have inserted it into Colossal Collection of Cousins, in a section I call Westmorland. I don’t know if I’ll live long enough to do what I want to with CCC, but I am puttering away at it. I especially want to get this sectiondone. Trouble is, rabbit trails and holes abound, and sometimes I fall into their trap.

So, although I am using what I wrote for “Generations” as the basis for my update, I am adding more to it for the family, including some maps and photos I did not have permission to use (copyright reasons) or I didn’t have space to include them. I shrunk the article to nubbins, and now I’m growing it again, but I still want to keep it neat and tidy. You, the family, will have access to it, but I probably won’t distribute it much beyond the family.

By the way, I will now send family members and friends of the family a copy of “A Homestead” in a pdf format, if you want it.

Clarification

I want to clarify something about my last chronicle. I wrote about Maud Lewis, and a couple of you thought I was writing about Maud, wife of Fenwick Holmes.

Maud was a Nova Scotia folk artist, who was a destitute and little-known physically handicapped folk artist in my neighbouring province, Nova Scotia.  Som of her original works now fetch over $100,000. I went with my cousin to view an exhibit of her work at the Art Gallery in Halifax.

She is no relation to our Aunt Maud (English) Holmes.

News from Holmes

                Congratulations to David Moore and Jayde Goldsworthy, who married in Cleveland, Tennessee, on February 22, 2026. David is the son of Paul and Ruth Moore. David is in the Charles R Holmes line; he my nephew. Jayde officially changed her name to Jayde Michell Moore, after her aunt and David’s sister. Thank you to Ruth for suggesting this marriage announcement and photograph for the chronicle.

 

 

FAMILY HISTORY LESSON

It is time to start posting my family history lessons again, for those who are interested. They are generally more in depth than the rest of the newsletter, so I put them at the end. But what, I wondered, as I often do, should I share?                                                                                                                                                                My grandmother did what many people used to do – she kept a scrapbook. It’s mostly newspaper clippings, with a few other bits of news that interested her that she found in other places. She cut them out of local newspapers and glued or pinned them onto an existing newspaper. Behind her clippings are songs of Christmas.                                                                                                                                                                I decided to do this with my Fenwick and Maud (English) Holmes portion of the Colossal Collection of Cousins. Easier said than done. It would be so much easier to print them off and copy them onto a piece of paper and then scan the pieces of paper. Why, you may ask? Because MS WORD has a mind of its own, one that overrides my copy and pastes into it. Another challenge is putting all these bits of information in chronological order.                                                                                                                                                                             Gram’s scrapbook was random – it didn’t follow a timeline. It is a gold mine of information, and has helped me with information about my specific branch of the family.Most, but not all the articles I included in this scrapbook are referred to in the article. Even if I didn’t include them, they helped me understand the times and places that Fenwick and Maud lived: full descriptions of the Rat Portage fires, for example. Theoretically, a writer can think of them and subtly include details in their article. I did not include this article – mostly for the amount of room it would take and because, admittedly, the writer slept through the area of Rat Portage and quoted the guidebook. But, if you read the entire clipping, you get an idea of the journeys and surroundings that Fenwick and Maud would have experienced.

For the full article, go to this link:

https://newspapers.lib.unb.ca/serials/118/issues/19200/pages/143757?highlight=%22Rat%20Portage%22%20%20steamboat

This ends week twelve of our centennial virtual celebration of 1926 – 2026.

A Little Vacation

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

March 5, 2026

“A Little Vacation”

 

“These were their settlements. And they kept good family records.”^[1]

Don’t forget to look for the title which is embedded in the chronicle.

 

 

 

FAMILY ALBUM

“Our son, Philip received an achievement medal and citation from the Japanese Military (not a usual accolade). We are so proud of him.” Shared by Celia (Nolte) Anklesaria of the Charles R Holmes line.

 

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force

February 26, 2026

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Achieve Medal 3^rd Class

Awarded to

Major Philip Anklesaria

V-22 Pilot, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262

 

                Since assigned to Marine Tiltrotor Squadron 262 as a V-22 pilot in 2021, he has demonstrated exceptional pilot skills, a wealth of knowledge of operation, deep understanding of Japan and actively supported and cooperated to promote mutual understanding and strengthening not only for Transport Aviation Group, but Japan and US cooperation relationship.                                                                                                              In particular, bilateral airmobile operation with one company from Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade cooperated with III Marine Expeditionary Force during Iron Fist 25 in2025, we conducted consecutive landing operation into one Landing zone, with 13 aircraft within a short time frame. Despite this challenging situation, he provided active yet precise advice and proposals based on his wisdom for operation of controller aircraft and air traffic control, allowing Transportation Aviation Group to establish initial operation capability and improve the interoperability. Both exercises were never met with problems and accomplished safely.                                                                                                                               Moreover, his three-time participation of bilateral exercises with Transport Aviation Group has been the key piece to greatly improve our interoperability.                                                                                                                For these reasons, he is being awarded with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Achievement Medal 3^rd Class in recognition of his contributions and achievements with our sincere gratitude and honoring his distinct service to Transport Aviation Group.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             AOYAMA Yoshiji

Colonel

Commanding Officer

Transport Aviation Group

Japan Ground Self-Defence Force

 

And I Quote:

 

See the description of the header photo.

1925 to 1928

 

Those are the years that our Holmes ancestors spent renewing relationships that had somehow fallen by the wayside but with organization, letter writing, and challenging travel – by hook or by crook – they managed to come together again. They reacquainted and rediscovered their family ties. And then, one by one, they died, and many of those ties died with them.

2025 to 2028

I don’t have a family history lesson for you this week, as I took a little vacation to the Halifax area in between chronicles. The only genealogy I did was to maintain my vigilance as editor of the NBGS Facebook group website. I have been in touch with Paula, who is editing my journal article. I know she will have an issue for me to deal with. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I think it might be the genealogy in the first part. That genealogy is there to demonstrate the difference between Maud’s early upbringing and Fenwick’s, but I don’t think I did it justice.

In Halifax, I saw history, both past and in the making. My cousin on Dad’s side, Cynthia, took me into Halifax where we walked the boardwalk, past little touristy shops and historical spots. We didn’t go into Pier 21, due to time constraints, but we saw some statues representing those who came to Nova Scotia in the 1920s, much later than our family members. We went through the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which represented many eras of sail. The 1917 Halifax Explosion and the Titanic story and items that floated to the surface were sobering and well done, in my opinion. We went to the Maud Lewis exhibit in the art gallery, which was lovely. They fixed up the real wee house (not a replica); it contains some of her art on the furniture that she painted. In case you don’t know, Maud and her husband were destitute; her art now fetches large sums of money.

 

As we walked to the Art Gallery, we passed peaceful but loud protesters on the sidewalk opposite, protesting on their lunch hour the massive budget cuts to the arts in Nova Scotia. This will have ramifications in our literature and publication, small archives, heritage, tourism and I’m sure, other areas. If the predictions come true, it will probably happen also in New Brunswick soon. As you may know, museums and archives often function on shoestring budgets, and rely on volunteers.

I think of the small museum in Petitcodiac, and the library that they are still working on preparations for it’s opening after several years. Will they survive cuts? I hope so.

I also had a couple of lovely visits with my cousin on Mum’s side, Cindy Steeves, and her husband, Greg. We sat around the table and told the same old stories and some new ones.

 

FAMILY HISTORY LESSON

I hope to be back with some family history in the next chronicle. I am redoing a bit of my article in preparation for my revision – not deleting much, but adding bits in different colours that I anticipate will be more reader friendly.

This ends week ten of our centennial virtual celebration of 1926 – 2026.

 

 The Maud Lewis House

 

 

 

My Objective to be Objective

 

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

February 12, 2026

“My Objective to be Objective”

 

“These were their settlements. And they kept good family records.”^[1]

Don’t forget to look for the title which is embedded in the chronicle.

 

 

 

FAMILY ALBUM

 

I found the header photo online. This is where Fenwick lived from 1913 to 1917. Not sure where his home was – perhaps not even built yet. He purchased property in 1914.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoricFloridaX/posts/4380944122229244/

 

And I Quote:

 

“I love the rambles.  So, from a fellow ‘rambler,’ keep up the good work!  I'm learning lots.” ~ Ruth

 

“I received this from our town librarian, who has at least a dozen non-fiction books to his credit, but also has done fiction.  No best sellers, but he loves to write.  Worth at least a Google Books try! The titles strike me as fiction, but I may be basing it on the Steven King authorship of one of them. Hope they have something that interests you!” ~ Jeanni (A blurb follows.)

 

Thanks to Jeanni who went looking for how-to nonfiction books for me, in reply to my comment in the last chronicle.

 

“Is Holstead the same as Halstead?” ~ Julia

 

It can be, Julia. Spelling was not a big issue at the time. I don’t know if we are related to those particular Halsteads, but our Holstead’s are also referred to as Holsted’s in the early records of Nova Scotia.

 

 

1925 to 1928

 

Those are the years that our Holmes ancestors spent renewing relationships that had somehow fallen by the wayside but with organization, letter writing, and challenging travel – by hook or by crook – they managed to come together again. They reacquainted and rediscovered their family ties. And then, one by one, they died, and many of those ties died with them.

2025 to 2028

My choir director is always saying, “that’s the first mistake I made today,” or sometimes “the eleventh mistake,” or something like that. Well, I made a mistake, actually about thirty of them, and now I am taking the time to correct them all, and it is not easy. And, it’s in footnotes – citations. Not the most fun thing, and usually I check those things after in the final revision.

I decided to do the easy thing, and as you know, using the easy means of doing just about anything doesn’t always work out. I decided to cut and paste the citations from the University of New Brunswick Archived Newspapers. I did the same thing for other sites. Eventually, I needed to refer to one of them, so I clicked on the link and said to myself, “Peggy, that is not the right newspaper.” It was a newspaper from 1926; Fenwick died in 1917, and there was nothing on the page that referred to him or to Rat Portage. When it happened a second time, I said to myself, “Oh oh, Peggy, you have a problem.”

How to fix it? Go to every footnote from that source. Look at the number, and find it in the text. See what it is about. Go searching the full text box for the article again. Sometimes it pops right up, and sometimes it does not – I have to put in a lot of key words to find it.

When I find it, I correct it, Chicago Style. I have a pink sticky note with the order in which to type it.

All because I didn’t read the Citation instructions provided by the University. I am to write my citations following their one guideline.

One good guideline for life is to learn from our mistakes. Another lesson under the belt.

My response to Jeanni’s friend.

Thanks to Jeanni, who put me in touch with a writer friend/librarian friend of hers,

in regards to advice on writing non-fiction. This is my response to her challenge.

She hooked, lined, and sinkered me.

Good morning, Jeanni and Dan. I went to your website, Dan, and had a read. Excellent, varied list of accomplishments. Especially tickled to see one co-written with your daughter.

 

Thank you for your suggestions, and they are written on my list of new book wishes. Darn, what a way to start - a passive sentence. That Jeanni, isn't she a corker! Stuck a challenge right in the middle of the email thread:  "I doubt she will reach out, being quite an introvert." I'll email anybody - just hate picking up the phone. 

 

I write for my "cousins" in a bi-weekly newsletter I call "Uncle Peg's Chronicles," and I write for a journal called "Generations." My New Brunswick Genealogy Society publishes the journal four times a year, and my aim is to dress it up a little and, well, to view my name in print, to be perfectly honest. I pick out a long-dead ancestor and write their story. Imbedded, I try to include, for my genealogical audience, hints as to where and how to find things about their own ancestors. I find the "showing" in non-fiction to be a challenge to accomplish - way more limited to the truth about them than a character I might create from my imagination, if I can even ferret that information out, and sticking to my objective to be objective. But, I give it my best shot and editor Dave always inserts my jottings in the journal . . . 

 

My rule that I follow to a point, and then I drift off to variations on a theme: Introduction - three or however many main points I need, and sub-points (and do use either nouns or verbs, not both, for said points), and conclusion relating back to the introduction. Basic as can be. Writing 101. Current article: Intro - a bridge in Rat Portage. I: New Brunswick. II: Ontario. III: (back to) New Brunswick (wife dies). IV: (back to) Ontario, alone. V: Florida, alone. (Tried to cross the border in a drunken state, had to sober up to enter the USA). Conclusion - bridging the gaps between said places.

 

Character development: Fenwick, a man with lots of charm, charms his bride, who sings for temperance meetings; charms his fellow new settlers in new settlement; takes out lots of mortgages (all his life) in the new settlement and back home; has two periods of insolvency; goes to Florida and works. He dies alone, in Florida, without a headstone. He always works, although at various careers. He starts out with quite a lot of community involvement, but it gradually dwindles. He dreams big, but seems to me, too big for his britches. He either lies or embezzles his story about being a mayor; he was a reeve but never a mayor. He is a functional alcoholic.

 

Because I worked for a functional alcoholic, and because he was my favourite leader ever (he hated to be called the boss), I have a personal bias in favour of my great-great uncle Fenwick. Said leader hit bedrock, and climbed back up. I don't think Uncle Fenwick did.

 

He caused a lot of problems for a lot of people. I can't imagine his wife's life. And yet, in my family, there are six Fenwick(e)s. Why? I wonder. My great-grandfather, his brother, did not like him one bit. Others obviously did - they probably saw more of his charm and less of his everyday self.

 

And this email is for your interest - to answer Jeanni's statement and hopefully brighten your day - not looking for assistance, just rambling down my road to Rat Portage in Keewatin, Manitoba, and Ontario (it took a little war).

 

If I live long enough, perhaps I'll write the book I want. In the meantime, I'll adapt the fictional advice to my needs. I don't want anything too technical, and I do have a newer version of "The Little Brown Handbook," an experienced editor, and several beta readers. I will buy Goldberg's book and probably King's as well; add it to my growing collection: Lamott, Littrell, Thom, and Zinsser.

 

Enjoy your day!

 

FAMILY HISTORY LESSON

My article is almost finished – a few loose ends to tie up and a gazillion revisions. Today, I give you some of my introduction and conclusion – which should refer back to the introduction in a non-fiction article. I’d like your take on the bridge analogy – do you like it or dislike it or think it a bit too much or unnecessary. You don’t have to help me revise, but if you see a typo or read a sentence that doesn’t make sense to you, you can tell me.

INTRODUCTION

 

NEW BRUNSWICK

 

My story bridges the gaps between places, times, and events in the rather short life spans of Howard Fenwick Holmes, my great-great uncle, and his wife, Maud Marion English, who moved from place to place and back again. They had no children, at least that made it to a census taking. They crossed the bridge from New Brunswick to Ontario and back to New Brunswick; alone, Fenwick returned to Ontario, and then went to Florida. The events are the piers girded between the life events I do not know about.                                                                                                                                                                                         The allure of traveling and living far from the family home exists.  Fenwick and Maud’s interest drew them towards the wilderness of Keewatin and Rainy River, which soon included Rat Portage of Manitoba and then Ontario. In 1905, the name of the community changed to Kenora.                                                           In my Holmes family, travel to distant, sometimes unsettled, places, was common. The reasons differed for individuals and eras:  necessity, a better life, a spirit of adventure, and even running away. Fenwick’s Puritan immigrant ancestor, Francis Holmes, left England in the 1630s to eventually settle in the young Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. His great-grandfather, Samuel Holmes Sr, loyal to the king, left Bedford, Westchester, New York, at the end of the American Revolution, to settle at Remsheg, Cumberland, on the Northumberland Strait of Nova Scotia, and later to the community of Westchester. His grandfather, Samuel Holmes Jr, moved hither and yon, starting about 1820, from Westchester to Amherst, Cumberland, to the ocean shores of the north-eastern tip of Cape Breton, then to two communities in New York state. He left his son, Daniel, to be raised by his maternal grandparents, the Holsteads. Daniel Holmes, father of Fenwick, left the community of Amherst in the 1830s for the new area of Petitcodiac, Westmorland, New Brunswick, building his home on what is now an offramp of the Trans Canada highway, halfway between Petitcodiac and River Glade. Two of Fenwick’s sisters, Fanny and Louisa, left for the wilds of Iowa after the Civil War. His brother, William, ran away to Maine. Adventure was in Fenwick’s genes!                                                                                                                                                                  In the 1881 census, Fenwick and Maud lived in the Province of Keewatin – B. No. 3 from Winnipeg River to Western Boundary of District 192 B along C.P.R. How’s that for an address?                                 The Holmes children, who were all born in Petitcodiac, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, received their education from their parents, Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes. The boys helped out on the farm and the mills. They worked at farming, lumbering, or with the railroad. Fenwick started with the railroad, and had several other careers. With the exception of Fenwick, the boys married farmers’ and millers’ daughters.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Howard Fenwick, the youngest of twelve children, was born on April 18, 1857, at the homestead in Petitcodiac, according to the 1901 census. He was christened on July 12, 1857;^[1] but his name was recorded as Charles Fenwick. This was the only time I saw “Charles” in relation to Fenwick. His parents, Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes, were about forty-four at the time of his birth.                                                           His father, a farmer, yeoman, and miller, made several land transactions, buying and selling, in the Petitcodiac area.                                                                                                                                                                      In his late teens, Fenwick left Petitcodiac for Andover, Victoria County, New Brunswick, where he began his railroad career. He met Miss Maud Marion English, of Woodstock, Carleton County, about seventy-five kilometers south of Andover. He was twenty-one and Maud, twenty-three, when they married at St. Luke’s Church in Woodstock. Rector Rev. T Neales joined Maud and Fenwick in holy matrimony on June 5, 1878.^[1]  . . .

CONCLUSION

Howard Fenwick Holmes died in the hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 20, 1917. He was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, the day after his death; alone.^[1] To date, there is no Find a Grave account for him, and I don’t know that he has a headstone.

I bridged some of the gaps of Fenwick and Maude’s lives, especially where and how they lived. What remains between the piers of knowledge are their personal lives, about which I can only wonder. Was Fenwick the charming individual I make him out to be? Would the young, singing Maud of church and temperance meetings have married Fenwick had she foreseen the future? Did they have and lose children? Was Maud knowledgeable about the many documents she signed, or did she just do as she was told? Why did Fenwick say several times in newspaper clippings that he the first mayor of Rat Portage, rather than the first reeve? How did he cope with being a functional alcoholic?                                                                 How do I feel about Uncle Fenwick? I am cautious. I am drawn to his charisma, and I admire him for sticking to his jobs with his disease of alcoholism. Without having the opportunity to chat with Auntie Maud, I feel for her, and I wonder if her life was sometimes difficult. If I knew, that might change my opinion of Uncle Fenwick. Who knows?

 

 

I will probably be away for three weeks or a month, as I am going on a wee journey during the week of my chronicle schedule.                                                        

This ends week seven of our centennial virtual celebration of 1926 – 2026.