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Odd story hidden here with Esther Alice and John Joseph Helme
Back in the early 1900s, I suspect, that a failing, or loveless marriage wasn’t something to talk about.
It wasn’t until I started to sniff around in my family history that I began to think that my great grandparents separated quite soon after the family migrated from Belmont UK to Canada in 1914.
Speculation on my part as I’ve never been able to confirm it
All I can do is piece the information available to me together.
What I’ve found so far.
On the 20th of May 1913 John Joseph sailed from
Liverpool to Canada on a ship called “the Arabic”.
He lists his brother Benjamin Helme on the Manifest.
Benjamin lives in Belmont.
He sends a postcard to my grandmother in December.
My great grandfather’s handwriting
My mother, John Joseph’s granddaughter,
daughter of the Miss Helme to whom this postcard was sent,
believed that he sent it to prove he was in Canada.
Her note is here.
I love that my mother’s handwritten
note is part of this story
I do understand why she may have had
these sorts of suspicions about her grandfather
Facts that I know for sure:
John Joseph migrated to Canada in May of 1913
His wife and 4 daughters migrated in 1914
He for some unknown reason returned to the UK in 1916
1921 Canadian census - he is not on it
1922 - Esther Alice sails to UK
1922 - She returns to Canada on August 31, lists herself as a widow
