With today’s technology, from anywhere in the world, we can stay in touch with our relatives with a steady flow of text messages and Facetime calls. It is hard to fathom the length of time it took to communicate in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the timeframe for the letters between the Whan brothers in Australia and Canada.
As we saw in the previous post the ship that carried James from Scotland back to Sydney also carried mail and news between the continents. In this post you will read the angst the brothers in Australia felt when having to wait months or years for word from their Canadian brother.
Just to set the scene and remind you, amazingly we have copies of letters written by Samuel and Matthew in Australia to Andrew in Canada. Andrew held onto those letters and decades later, in 1992, John Wilson (Milton’s cousin) received copies from a descendent of Andrew in Canada.
This Andrew Whan (1826-1913) immigrated to Canada somewhere between 1851 and 1861. We know this because, on the 1851 Scottish Census, the two youngest sons of James and Agnes Whan are living at home. But by 1861 census, Andrew and Samuel are not in Scotland anymore. Land purchase records in New South Wales in 1857 show that Samuel Whan is living in Australia.
When and why Andrew went to Canada is a little fuzzy. But we do have a 1871 census from Ontario, Canada and he is married to Elizabeth and his oldest child, John, is 9 years old. John was born in Canada so it is safe to say Andrew has been there at least 10 years.
You may have noticed from above, that Canadian Andrew and his wife, Elizabeth in 1871 have seven children! And that won’t be all. Total is probably 14 children. I say “about” because sometimes ancestry trees and records aren’t accurate. Suffice it to say, there are potentially lots of Canadian Whan cousins. I also found an obituary for Andrew that said he came to Canada from Australia. I am a little skeptical of this because in one of the letters (not transcribed in this post) Samuel goes into a lot of details to describe the farm, animals and planting seasons to Andrew. The tone sounded like Andrew had never been to Australia so not sure. Plus what we have learned about the arduous journey by ship, I can’t imagine Andrew gets to Australia and thinks, meh, I am going to give Canada a try… ??
Now for the letters. The first excerpt is a letter from Samuel to Andrew with some bad news. The James mentioned here is their brother James. Not to be confused with “Young James” from the previous posts who was their nephew and Matthew’s son. I still get confused with the Whan tree so as a reminder, I posted the tree image above, with key figures highlighted:
Here is a portion of a letter from Samuel to Andrew but I have typed the full text underneath.
Armidale, September 5th, 1890
My Dear Brother
This is to let you know that our brother James is dead. He died on the third of September. He had a bad cancerous face. About 6 or 7 years ago he had been killing a possum and it scratched his face and his face has been bad more or less ever since. I suppose you know that he was not married. He was living with a family adjoining his farm and he has left them three hundred pounds and he has left the rest to be equally divided between Samuel, Matthew, Andrew, and our late brother’s son, James Whan in Glasgow. I want to know if you are alive. I must give the executors of his will if you are dead the children will get it if dead his children must name some clergyman or some honorable person to send it to. I am in bad health I will … (a few words are on a fold and hard to read).
Anyhow Matthew wrote you I think not a very long time ago. Two years since I heard from you. Yours truly, Samuel.
Note: “James Whan in Glasgow” is the son of John Whan, a brother who remained in Scotland but had died long before this letter.
The following letter is one from Matthew to Andrew. This “Matthew” is Milton’s great-great-grandfather. Just to refresh the story – after his oldest son James (from previous posts) sailed back to Scotland, he and his wife Janet and their youngest daughter Mary moved to Australia
Here is page one of a letter from Matthew to Andrew with my transcript below
76 Grose St
Camperdown Sydney N.S. Wales Australia
March 2, 1891
My Dear Brother
I was happy to hear you are still alive. I wrote you nearly 2 years ago and registered the letter but it did not return and I thought you must have gotten it. But brother Samuel said you had not got it, perhaps it was not right addressed. Samuel did not give me your address so I will just have to address it as I did before.
I have been in Australia nearly six years. My wife died about 2 ½ years ago. I board in a private house has a room for myself, and I thank God he has given me good health and all the comforts of life, and the hope of glory
Our brother James is gone on a little before us. We shall soon follow. I am well pleased in the way our late brother was guided in making his will. All things to be sold by auction.
The people he stayed with was to get 300 pounds and his three brothers and brother John’s son and each one of us was to have an equal share, the sale is over. The lawyer wrote saying all things was not settled up yet but there would be over an hundred for each.
Dear brother I am not going to give you many particulars this time not knowing your right address I live about a mile out of Sydney. I have been working in the hospital grounds about 4 years. It is a splendid place. I am a long distance from Sam. But I have been at his place.
Now if this comes to you let me know as soon as you can and give me your right address.
May God Bless you my brother the blessing of the Lord maketh rich. I hope you know it by experience. From your Loving Brother Matthew Whan.
I send you this tract believing God for Christ’s sake will bless it to your soul. Trust in him at all times. He loved you and died in your stead. Come to the cross day by day and look at Jesus.
The postscript after Matthew’s sign-off is touching – he wanted to add a tract in with his letter. He wanted to make sure he was giving the gospel to his brother he hadn’t seen in decades. I am not sure what traits in us a strictly inherited characteristics from an ancestor you have never met but it seems so fitting that Matthew’s great-grandson, Milton had that same desire to tell others and he went on to spend his much of his life (and Mom too) in Japan spreading that same message – the good news of Jesus. (And we will get back to Milton & June’s story next post!)
Since this post has a lack of imagery, I leave you with one more census from Canada. This one is 1891. Some children have moved obviously this is 20 years after the last one. In the 1871 census Mary was the youngest child. We now have some new additions (the ones younger than 20) I find it interesting that it is way down the line – maybe son #5 that gets the name Andrew. So Andrew Sr. not only left his homeland but he left some of the Scottish Naming Traditions behind. It is the daughter of this son, Andrew that would ultimately keep the letters we now get to read!
From the Land Down Under to the Rising Sun 