52 Ancestors: Great-Grandmother Myrtle Massey Had a Difficult Life and an Early Death

The Sandercock Family in 1916

I don't remember my Great Grandmother as she died many years before my birth. She was born Myrtle Louisa Sandercock on October 29th 1895 in Middlesex County Ontario. She was the only girl in a family of seven children born to Samuel and Ann Sandercock.

At some point before her marriage to my Great Grandfather John Massey in 1913 the family had moved to St. Marys Ontario. I do not know how John and Myrtle met each other but John's father Thomas worked for the J.D. Moore company who just happened to own the building right next to the hotel that Myrtle worked in so that may have something to do with it.

Myrtle with a tray at the hotel in about 1910 - 1913

At her marriage Myrtle was just 18 years old but her life was not going to be easy over the next few years. Myrtle and John had their first child in May of 1914 and over the next 16 years she would have a total of 9 children. But 1914 would also bring the start of the Great War - a war that would see her two oldest brothers killed and her father sent home due to ill health.  Myrtle was particularly close to her brother James who was killed in 1918. I still have a letter James sent to his sister in 1918 that she kept until her death.

Of course there were the usual struggles for Myrtle and John as well. Money was in short supply as it was for many. John always worked but with 9 kids what he made did not go far. I remember my Grandfather telling me how when he was older and had his first job his mom would resort to taking coins from his stash that he kept in a cup in his room. He shared this room with his 8 brothers. He never said anything to her about it as he knew she needed it.

So the Great War of 1914 - 1918 saw the death of her two oldest brothers. The 1920s were a struggle for her, being pregnant and nursing young children most of the time. The 1930s brought the great depression and then to top it all off 1939 saw the start of another war. A war poor Myrtle had to see her own sons take part in. I am sure she could not help think about her own brothers who died in the first war as she watched her own sons go off to the second. 

John and Myrtle about 1942

Myrtle died at the young age of 49 in 1944. My grandmother told me that "Myrtle was doing the washing in the morning. She told her husband Jack that she was not feeling well and went to lie down and never woke up. It was a brain aneurysm"

Her Funeral card reads:

"Entered into rest suddenly at her late residence, Water St. South, St. Marys on Monday October 2, 1944, Myrtle L. Sandercock, beloved wife of John Massey in her 49th year. The funeral: Resting at the above address where funeral service will be held Thursday October 5 at 2p.m. Interment in St. Marys Cemetery"

St. Marys Journal-Argus, October 5, 1944, p.4 - Obituary - Mrs. John Massey

Stricken suddenly on Monday morning in the midst of her daily work, Mrs. John Massey, formerly Myrtle Sandercock, died in her 49th year at her home on Water St. South.  She had been in apparent good health and on Sunday had gone on a walk and on Monday she started her washing as usual.  Around 8:30 she was unable to continue and died about two hours later.
Born near Prospect Hill, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sandercock who reside in the West Ward, she had lived in Lucan before coming to St. Marys as a little girl.  Here she attended both Public School and Collegiate Institute, and 30 years ago married John Massey who is employed at Maxwell Ltd.  She was a member of St. James Anglican Church and had been among the first members of St. Marys Home and School Association.  She was a faithful worker for Red Cross objectives.Mrs. Massey was the devoted mother of nine children, four sons being in the Services: Charles, in the Army at Debert, N.S.; Pte. Bill  Massey in France; Pte. Cecil Massey in England; John with the R.C.A.F. at Jarvis; and Kenneth at home;  Mrs. C.J. Langford(Marjorie) and Mrs. G.E. McKinnon(Helen), both of St. Marys; and Dorothy and Evelyn at home.She also leaves four brothers: Jack, in the U.S. Army; Harry, overseas; Wilbert of St. Marys and Frank of Detroit; besides four grandchildren: Tommy and Jimmie(twins) of St. Marys and Billy and  Jimmie of Kingston.The funeral service is being conducted this afternoon at her late residence by Rev. M.H. Farr of St. Paulís Anglican Church, Stratford, with interment in St. Marys Cemetery.

Maxwell Factory In St.Marys Ontario

This is a photo of my Great Grandfather John Massey at work in the Maxwell Factory in St.Marys Ont. John is the guy in the middle with the funny look on his face. I am told he was a bit of a clown at times so the photo would seem to back that up. I think the photo was taken around 1920.

William Massey Paid A Heavy Price

When I found out that the next topic for the Canadian Genealogy Carnival is Black Sheep Canadian Ancestors I thought to myself, "This is a Genealogy Carnival that I can take part in" For if there is one thing that I seem to have an abundance of it's Black Sheep Ancestors. The only hard part about participating in this Blog Carnival is deciding what ancestor to talk about. There is my great grandfather the hard drinking Sunday school teacher who wrote racist poetry as a hobby. Also my ancestor the railway worker who was arrested for stealing Winchester rifles from a boxcar. My bigamist ancestor. The Gambler. The rum runner and his wife who ended up in a penetentiary. And of course we can't forget my ancestors who were mixed up in the massacre of the Donnelly family. Canada's notorious family, the Black Donnellys, were massacred February 4th, 1880 by a vigilante committee.

However my favourite Black Sheep Ancestor is William Massey. William was my 4th Great Grandfather and he lived in the small town of St.Marys Ontario. The details are sketchy but it seams William worked for the Wells Fargo company in the early 1860s as a stage coach driver. One of the things that Wells Fargo did was transport money from place to place. One day for reasons we will never know William decided to help himself to over $888 dollars. This may not seem like much money to us today but back in 1863 it was a lot of cash.

Well I guess William was not the smartest criminal who ever lived as he soon found himself in front of the local magistrate on an indictment of larceny. I do not know much about the workings of the Canadian Justice system in the 1860s but it seems that this Court appearance was some kind of preliminary hearing to see if charges were warranted. Sort of like a Grand Jury in the United States. One interesting little side note is that one of the jurors was Timothy Eaton. Mr Eaton went on to found the Eaton department store chain. For you Americans out there, Eatons was Canada's equivalent of Sears.

Anyhow it would seem that the jury thought there was enough evidence to warrant charges so William was sent home to await his trial. However old William did not want to take his chances in court. He decided to get the heck out of Dodge and head south for the border, and a few weeks later he was in Massachusetts where he enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in the Civil War.

Now it appears William being the crafty criminal mastermind that he was may have enlisted under the alias of John Smith. However William, or John Smith, did not much care for Army life for he soon deserted and made his way back to St.Marys just before his death in November 1865. It is hard to say what William's reasons for going back to St.Marys might have been. One can only speculate. His daughter claimed that he was so broken in body and spirt after the war that he died soon after returning. Whatever the reason it would seem he paid a heavy price for that $888.00 in stolen Wells Fargo money.

A Hairy Situation

This rather strange photo came to me in a box of family photos. I unfortunately don't know the name of this person but the other photos in the box are all my Elgie and Facey relatives so this person probably is as well. The Elgie and Facey families lived in Ontario, just south of a place called St.Marys. I would think it has to be some kind of gag photo as no one in my family has had hair like that (not even in the 70s). I think the photo was taken about 1900.