1990 Reunion In Montreal

Patsy Wightman and Donald Nosworthy
Montreal 1990

Don visited Patsy at hospital. They had not seen each other since 1963.

Grandpa's 1936 Indian

One of my favourite songs is Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”. It is a tragic romance story song that revolves around the singer’s love for both his redheaded girlfriend and also that of his motorcycle. Whenever I hear the song I think of my Canadian grandparents for a couple of different reasons. They first met in the 1930s when she asked him to give her a ride on his motorcycle. The characters in the song, James and Molly, met in a similar way when she gets a ride on his Vincent motorcycle. The song contains a line about the superiority of the Vincent over other makes, Nortons, Indians, or Greeves, won’t do. Grandpa’s motorcycle was an Indian and he would often fondly reminisce about it thirty or forty years later.

The week before his wedding my grandfather had a minor accident with his bike. Nothing serious, he was dinged up but no broken bones and nothing so bad as to postpone his marriage. However, his new bride insisted that he get rid of the Indian immediately. The motorcycle must have been hard for Grandpa to part with. I am sure it was his first vehicle and it surely represented some incredible freedom for a young man in the midst of the Great Depression. He managed to hold a job the whole time and he was helping to support his mother and younger siblings since his father had abandoned the family. Somehow he still managed to put away enough to buy the Indian. However, it must not have been the most practical mode of transportation in Montreal winters.

This is not a photo of his bike but it is a restoration of one from that era.

Donald Nosworthy in the Artillery

This was my Grandfather's artillery brigade. He is the last one seated on the far right of the next to the last row. I think this was taken in the 1930s.

BATTERY WINS GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S CUP

The 10th Medium Battery of Montreal has been awarded the Governor-General's Cup for highest general efficiency. The unit is the second Montreal battery to have won the cup since it was originated in 1882, the first being the 7th Medium Battery in 1923. The 10th Battery also won the Wilson Smith Cup for efficiency at gun practice.

The officers of the battery seated, from left to right are: Lieut. J.S. Walford, Capt. E.T. Renouf, Major R.E. Bliss, commanding officer, Lieut. C.M. Benett and Sec. Lieut. V.G. Scu?

More From Toronto 1953

More photos from July, 1953, taken at the "Beaches" in Toronto. Above is my Mom, Peggy Nosworthy at the age of 15.

Previous posts from the Beaches can be viewed HERE and HERE and HERE

Granny Nosworthy

Dave Nosworthy sent me these scans recently. This is Mary Falconer Nosworthy (Bolivar) at the age of 72. Granny would live another twenty years. This is from Christmas 1958 at her youngest son's, Bruce's, house. She is seated with Bruce's wife, Patricia, and grandchildren, Bob and Sheryl.

All the other photos I have of Granny are later than this and less clear. Hopefully we can uncover some that are even earlier. Check your shoeboxes and send them along.

Uncle Buddy

This is Uncle Buddy around 1984. He was living in Montreal in the late 1950s when he disappeared. There were rumours and wild speculations for decades afterwards. It was a mystery for nearly fifty years. Then one day I got an email from someone named Glenn Nosworthy. He had run an internet search using the combination of Nosworthy and Boliver. He found a genealogy site with my contact information. Long story short is that Bud had gone off to Australia and started another life and it turns out another small family and Glenn is his son, and our cousin.

Years later Buddy and his second family did return to Canada and he lived out his life in St. Catherine's, Ontario. So, Glenn went poking around the internet looking to find his roots and stumbled onto this huge family including a half-brother, Brent.

Don Nosworthy 1976

This is easily my favorite photograph of my grandfather. It captures so much of his personality. I did not pose him at all. He was just hamming it up on his own, playing with one of my cameras. This was taken at my mom's old house in Shawnee, Kansas in 1976.

Uncle Roy's House

Another photo from my 1993 trip to Toronto. My wife and I were staying at her sister's house which is only four houses up the hill from this one where Uncle Roy and Aunt Margaret lived for many years. In fact, exactly thirty years earlier I had spent a few nights in this house as well, up in the third floor dormer. This is at 155 Silver Birch Avenue in the Beaches district just up the hill from Queen Street and the lake. It has since been remodeled inside and parking spaces have been added as seen below in the photo from 2011.

Bolivar farmhouse

One of my early contacts in my genealogy search was Vincent Boliver. He is a 4th or 5th cousin. He still owned some property in the area and he sent me this photograph of the old Norman Bolivar (Granny's father) homestead. I believe this was torn down in the late 1970s. This dormer style is prevalent in Lunenburg County and is known as a "Lunenburg Bump". I understand the purpose was to catch the sea breeze and to also in most cases provide a bit of shelter at the house entrance.

The entire town of Lunenburg is designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site and is known for the very colourful architecture. I urge you to visit there. In the meantime you can take a virtual tour.

Aunt Myrtle

The last time I was in Toronto in March of 1993 I made it a point to contact Myrtle. I called here up out of the blue. We had never met and we had never even spoken before. But we made arrangements to meet at her apartment in Burlington, a suburb, and get acquainted. She greeted me very warmly and we spent the morning trading family stories. Before I left I got her to pose for a few photographs among her collections of vases and figurines. Doesn't she look grand here? Sadly she passed away later in November that same year.

Myrtle Leona Nosworthy September 11, 1907, Halifax, NS to November 29, 1993 Burlington, ON. She had one child, Fred, with her first husband, George Turnbull, and five children, Albert, Donald, Joan, Beverly, and John, with second husband, John Reid. She later married Wilf Squiers. I think I got that right.