My great-grandmother, Mary McKay
One day about one hundred years ago an impoverished peddler
knocked on my great-grandmother, Mary McKay's door on Ormond Street in Thorold,
Ontario.
The McKays were Scottish immigrants who had come to Canada
to help build the Trans-Canada Railroad through northern Quebec. When workers were needed in the Niagara
region to work on the Welland Canal they left Quebec and moved to Thorold.
The peddler, Mr. S., was so poor that he kept all of his wares in
one paper bag.
My great-grandmother bought a table cloth from that bag
because as she told my aunt later,
"I knew what it
was like to have nothing."
She was his first customer.
Mr. S. eventually opened a successful furniture store on
Front Street in Thorold and he and Mary McKay were friends for the rest of their lives.
Mary McKay's grand-daughter, who is my 96 year old aunt,
still has a trunk that she bought at his store.
The odd thing about the story is that I have, on occasion,
met the great-grand-daughters of Mr. S. even though they grew up many miles
away in Toronto.
By co-incidence they are cousins of one of my closest
girlhood friends.
I didn't know about the old connection between our families
until my friend's father passed away a few weeks ago.
I happened to mention to my aunt that I was going to a
funeral and she recognized the name.
My friend asked me to write the story down so that she could
send it to her cousins.
So here it is, Wendy - a charming story, not important to the history
of Canada maybe, but certainly one of a million strong threads that weave us
all together.
5 comments:
What an interesting story - it's a small world! I've been stunned a few times by connections between people I'd never have envisioned.
neato
A wonderful story!
P.S. Still wracking my brains about your contest. Why can't I come up with an appropriate entry???
Is Mr. S Mr. Steadman ? My family bought just about everything, including my textbooks for Merritton High School from Steadmans .
I love this story. Thanks.
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