Uncle Peg’s Chronicles
November 17, 2022
“As Long as There is Hitlerism There is War”
Number of pages in Outline Descendant
Report: 130 (up from 127 last chronicle)
Number of pages in basic Descendant Report: 201
(up from 196 last chronicle)
Francis
Holmes is # 1. I am now # 298. # 294, where I was last week, is Robert Floyd
Holmes.
Matthew
Williams, Jane William’s grandson, is last at # 421, up from # 417, and his son
is # ii.
#417
is now Melissa Grace Wellman.
This
should change weekly, if I’m doing my job.
News
From Holmes
Daniel and
Mary – Mark MacKillop and Kaylyn Herrold – Raymond G MacKillop and Brenda J
Miller – Raymond Lloyd MacKillop and Lillian D Shipley – James W
McKillop and Arletta E R Holmes – Charles R Holmes and Phoebe J McMonagle – Daniel
Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt – Samuel Holmes Jr and Phoebe Holstead.
~
I had a
request for a copy of Mum’s essay that I posted daily for ten days leading up
to Remembrance Day, on my Facebook page. For those who don’t have a Facebook,
here it is. She did not date it, but presumably she wrote it in October, 1939. She
was seventeen years old. My only change was the addition of a few periods
(unless I made a typo). I did some googling. You might like to do that as well.
The
First Month of the War
In the last
week of August, the interest of Great Britain, Canada, and all other colonies
was directed towards Poland because Hitler, the German leader, had marched some
of his troops into Poland and laid claim to Danzig, an entrance to the Baltic
Sea.
Great Britain
and France who had made a treaty with Poland, promising to protect her in case
of war, ordered Hitler to remove his troops from Poland and if they did not
listen to the orders war would be declared and the orders were not heeded by
Hitler. So on September 3 war was declared by Great Britain and France against
Germany.
Immediately
after war was declared Great Britain began mobolizing forces for the navy,
army, and the air force and it was only a few days before troops were landed in
France. While all this was going on in Great Britain, parliament was held in
Canada, which was made possible by the Statutes of Westminster passed in
19 , and they decided to give what aid
would serve best for the cause. The house voted $100,000,000 for the war. [Date was 1931.]
On Thursday,
September 7, another cession of parliament met and on the following Sunday, war
was declared by Canada. War had been declared by Australia, New Zealand and the
other colonies a few days before. Canada also began to mobolize troops for
army, navy and air force. The Government had decided to send one army division
of 20,000 men and to recruit another division.
Meanwhile,
several cities had been bombed in Poland, the women and children were rushed
out to other countries and the Germans made an advance of about fifty or sixty
miles in Poland. The British troops had not yet reached Germany.
Over the week
end the troops arrived in France and several million pamphlets were dropped in
Germany. Many millions of dollars were lost in the sinking of ships both the
enemy and the Allies. Up to this time the British lost sixteen ships and the
French one. It was not long until the sinking of the ‘Athenia’ took place. This
was a passanger ship and several Canadians were on board. Out of the number
that was on board 128 were reported dead or missing and 200 wounded or ill.
Also Westerplatte the Polish munitions station had fallen after six days of
assault. Hitler now hints that peace be made after he has taken Poland. [Date of sinking of the ‘Athenia:’ September 3, 1939.]
The next very
important step taken in the war was the entrance of Russia into the war on the
side of the Germans. Russia, a few days before the war had made a peace pact
with Germany and she now began to mobolize troops and these were slowly moving
into Poland.
Poland was
soon to fall, not only because of the entrance of Russia into the war but
because of the badly equipped armies which she had but she did not yet give up
the struggle. Anglo-French forces were moving slowly but steadily against the
German Westwall which is a system of fortifications extending from the Swiss to
the Belgian boundaries. Also the ‘Courageous’ another British vessel was sunk
by an enemy submarine. There were 1260 on board and 578 were reported missing. [Date of sinking of the ‘Courageous:’ September 17, 1939.]
Poland now
could stand no more, she was portioned by Germany and Russia. But the spirit
with which she fought tells us that she will rise again and form a strong
nation.
Hitler has
now reached his aim but the peace treaty which Hitler expected to follow the
fall of Poland did not take place. The allies have decided that as long as
there is Hitlerism there is war.
~
I took my
computer into the shop for it’s annual cleaning, tune-up, and anti-virus
vaccine this week, and it just happened to be on my best writing day. I don’t
have WORD on my tablet, so my journal time was limited. So, I am giving you a
little assignment, just for fun. Who will be brave? Sorry, I can't insert a snippit: if you want to see it, request an email.
https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/9049/images/007627149_00274?pId=316379
Richard English’s
descendants fit into our family tree twice. Two young ladies married into our
family.
I recall
reading, I know not where, that the early colonists who owned a book or books
did not list the names of their books in their wills. They just said they had a
book or books and a Bible or Bibles. I have found that to be so. This will of
Richard English was written in 1748; he left a specific book to his son, John.
He gave the title of his book and a hint as to the author of said book. See the
above paragraph, near the end.
Who can find the
name of the book, the author, and for bonus kudos, approximately how many pages
are in it and how much it would cost to buy it. Hint: try Abe Books for the
cost. Second hint: I can’t afford it. Well, I could if I really really really
wanted it, but I have my doubts if I’d be able to slog through it, so I don’t
particularly want it.
I may choose
Richard English’s will for “Where There’s A Will.” I’d like to follow up his
descendants with a hypothesis and a question. I have a feeling that Richard
English was an educated man. This, in colonial speak, means he was literate,
perhaps well enough to be a clergyman, teacher, town clerk, attorney, doctor, etc.
He may have studied in England, or Harvard – some place like that. If he was
educated, he’d have studied the classics, perhaps several languages, the Bible,
or healing. I don’t know this for sure. He did pass his husbandry tools to his
son, so he could have been a farmer with a love of books. He did sign his name.
If I can find his inventory, I might get a better idea. If I am correct in my
assumption, did he pass this learning down to future generations?
If I choose this will, I have some work to do. But, I already have enough to do for now, so I’ll tuck the thought into the back of my mind for later.
That’s it for
this week, folks. The only other thing I’ve been up to, besides looking up
endnotes, meal preparation, sticking pins into a doily, vacuuming up Piper and
Simon, and raking leaves, is that blastid book, which continually plays tricks
on me. I’ll get it done, but not without losing some hair.
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