David Morrow : Short Biography

David Morrow and his entire family boarded the S.S. Lake Manitoba in Liverpool, England on May 12, 1910, travelling 3rd class (steerage).  David had $250 in his pocket.  They arrived in Quebec City, Quebec on May 22th and then boarded a train, arriving in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 26th.  They were met by James Conly and lived close to him and his family at 348 Chalmers Ave.  After about a year, they moved to their own house at 379 Chalmers Avenue.

Why did they leave?  The family story is that the farm was too small to divide up between the 7 boys, and the older boys were talking about emigrating to Canada anyway.

Picture below: David and Mary Jane with their children in Canada in 1914

The story according to Mary Morrow Leighton 

When David and Mary Jane’s daughter Mary Leighton was 84 years old, she told her own daughter, Aileen Jackson, the story of the Morrow family’s journey. The conversation was recorded and transcribed. 

In Mary’s own words:

“Dad always wanted to go to New Zealand, you know. That was where he wanted to go, but he found it was a big undertaking. They had to go in a boat, for what? six weeks or something, and the cost would be terrible, you know. So he came out himself to Calgary and stayed 6 months and he worked in a lumber yard. He was staying with relatives there, the Millens. They were relatives of Mother’s. And he stayed there 6 months just to see what it was like and how he might like it. So he came back and oh, it took him about two years before he could get everybody in a mind to come. The young people, the older boys, were talking of coming out, you know. Oh, there were so many young people going to Canada and the States at that time, you know. Well, Dad said, “Well, if you’re going we’ll all go. There won’t be an Atlantic Ocean between us anyway”, he said. … So, anyway he came back and decided to go out there. Well then my cousin Maggie Conly was in Winnipeg and we were supposed to call on her and when we called on her she wanted us to stay a while and she had rented an empty house across the street. … And they put - everything was in it, you know, to put us up. So we went in there and for - we thought we’d stay a week maybe and then go out to Calgary. We were on our way to Calgary, but during the time the boys went out and they got jobs. One was working at Eaton’s and one was at a packing plant somewhere. And they never did move. It was a small house. It was a very old house and then the next year there was a big house in the next street, the one on Chalmers, that was for sale so Dad went and he bought that.“

The journey

The entire family boarded the S.S. Lake Manitoba in Liverpool, England on May 12, 1910, travelling 3rd class (steerage). David had $250 in his pocket. All were sea sick for a time. They arrived in Quebec City, Quebec on May 22th and then boarded a train, arriving in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 26th. They were met by James Conly who had rented a house for them nearby at 348 Chalmers Ave. They spent their first night sleeping on the floor as a prairie thunderstorm raged above them. According to his daughter Mary’s reminiscences, they had never seen lightning and rain like that before and were quite frightened by it. They lived in the rented house for about a year, then moved to their own house at 379 Chalmers Avenue. (See above photo of them sitting on the steps of 379 Chalmers in 1914).

The Morrows were a close family. Even in adulthood, most of the children and their own families lived in the same neighbourhood in Winnipeg, within a few houses or streets of each other.

S.S. Lake Manitoba – Ship’s manifest notes:

 The incoming ship manifest (Canadian document) of the SS. Lake Manitoba indicates that the ship sailed from Liverpool, England on May 12, 1910 and was bound for Quebec, Canada. It arrived there on May 22, 1910 at 2:45 p.m. There was a total of 1505 passengers on board; 328 in 2nd class cabins and 1177 in steerage. 1260 were adults and 245 were children. (Note: children were considered to be half an adult; therefore 245 children = 122.5 adults). The medical and civil examiners inspected all passengers before they were allowed to leave the ship. Dr. Lessard did the inspection for the 2nd class cabin from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. The civil examiner was John Payne. (Medical and civil inspection: 90 minutes /328 people =2.3 minutes per person!) Drs. Dobbin and Nadeau inspected steerage passengers from 3:30-5:00 p.m. 23 people were detained for medical reasons. The Civil Examiner was Mathieu Beaulieu Morisset. (If each doctor inspected half steerage passengers [1177/2=588.,5], each passenger's inspection lasted only seconds, including the civil examination. (90 minutes/588.5 people = .15 minutes or approximately 9 seconds) Given the number of passengers and the rapidity of the medical checks, it is not surprising that the information on the ship’s manifest re: the Morrow family members’ names and ages have errors. (eg. Mary Jane is listed as Maggie, and the ages of some of the children are off.) The special CPR train left Quebec City at 10:00 p.m. The outgoing ship's manifest (English document) indicated that the Morrows were 3rd class passengers; on the incoming manifest (Canadian document), they were listed as steerage passengers.

David was carrying $250 in his pocket according to the incoming ship manifest.

The entire family entered Canada under the British Bonus plan. Each member had "British Bonus Allowed" stamped beside their name. David had "returning Canadian" written beside his name, as he had already travelled to Canada 3 times previously

Background 

David travelled to Canada 4 times:

- before he got married in 1886 (to Mary Jane Watt)

- again around 1891. (He was away when his father died on July 14, 1891)

- in 1907, arriving in Quebec City on the Lake Erie, on June 1st.  He was marked as a Returned Canadian, a farmer.

- and finally in 1910, with Mary Jane and their 10 children.

1. Margaret (aka Maggie or Peggy) 18?7

2. John (aka Jack) 1888

3. Daniel 1890

4. James (Jim) 1891

5. David Morrow 1892

6. Mary 1894

7. Robert (Bob) 1896 

8. William (aka Bill)

9. Elizabeth Jane (Betty) 1902

10. Thomas (Tommy) 1904

(Aside: So what was the relationship between David Morrow and James Conly?  David's sister, Esther, married William Wharry. Their daughter was Margaret, who later married James Conly.  Therefore, James is David's niece's husband, and his sister's son-in-law.).