Thank you for all the research and reporting you are doing Michelle. I am very grateful for the time you spend researching and writing these articles because the truth must come out.
<< Did Bertha die 'knowing her brother was buried in Woodstock' because Claire told her that? How long had Claire been pursuing this search for Percy's grave before Bertha died in 2004? Oddly, Bertha's obituary doesn't even mention Percy, or any of her siblings apart from the three sisters who survived her. Her obituary doesn't even mention her husband, who according to Ancestry, was Pierre Brassard. >>
I, too, would like to know how long Claire had been searching for Percy, and whether her zeal to bring him home really had to do with her mother’s dying wish, or more to do with all the brouhaha surrounding the TRC hearings (plus the Kamloops “discoveries”). You likely noticed the impressive granite monuments at the Long Lac cemetery for Bertha and her younger sisters Rachel and Genevieve (Echum), but Claire doesn’t happen to mention where THEIR parents (her grandparents) Duncan and Mary Ann Nabigon are buried, or show off their monuments to the CBC reporter. They’re Ancestors too, aren’t they? What, no markers? Memorial funds only cover headstones for former residential school students? Pity.
Percy will get a fine headstone too, no doubt, courtesy of the Ontario government’s largesse. The $45,000 will also pay for his “welcome home” feast this summer, and whatever it is the pathology lab is looking for (I doubt we’ll be informed of those pathology results; the news story here is the repatriation and the fact that the province is making amends for the horrific “sin” of caring for Percy for nearly 20 years).
Your part 2 shows that Bertha, Percy's older sister, sought residential school admission in September 1946. The application form signed by her father shows that she had spent the previous school year (1945-46) at the Long Lac day school, and the three years prior to that (i.e. 42-43, 43-44, 44-45) at St. Joseph's. So she WAS at the IRS in the fall of 1944, and again in the fall of 1946. But which year was it that Percy "was taken" to the residential school? 1944? or 1946?
Claire's story suggests Percy went to the school in 1944 and was only there for a couple of months before he was taken to hospital (which makes sense, as the school would have likely found he needed care beyond what they could reasonably provide).
Kimberly Murray's report, however, says that his removal to McKellar Hospital took place in November 1946, which is likely accurate because there is Indian Agent documentation. So it seems he was briefly at the IRS, as a charity case not an enrolled student, as you point out, for a couple of months in 1946 when he was 8, and Bertha was indeed at St. Joseph's that fall, so at least that part of the story is true.
My speculation is that the infant Percy who died at 3 months of age in 1938 was one of a pair of twin boys, and when he died the surviving twin was given Percy's name to carry it on (the CBC article shows a photo of Percy's mother holding twin infants). The surviving twin would have had a different official name, but it was discarded in favour of commemorating the deceased child. One has no way of knowing how such a loss might have been dealt with in the family, in terms of what the other young children were told. Bertha, Kenny and George were only 5, 4, and 3 years of age respectively in 1938, so they would perhaps have little memory or understanding of the tragedy. And being one of a pair of twins might also explain the surviving Percy's health problems.
Perhaps Bertha mis-remembered which year it was that Percy was taken to hospital, thinking it was 1944, which would explain why they thought he'd been taken at age six. Murray's research showed it was 1946, hence they realized he must have been eight years old at that point.
It seems to me that Claire or Kimberly Murray SURELY would have turned up the infant Percy's death certificate in their research, but they perhaps chose to ignore that hiccup because it made the story too complicated (?) (Look how many words I've used here to lay out my "theory"!)
Just an additional note re the above. The Ancestry pages for Duncan Nabigon and Mary Ann Chapais (courtesy Nina Green) indicate that there was another boy in the family besides Kenny, George and Percy: a Harold Nabigon is listed among the couple’s offspring, with no birth or death dates, so it’s impossible to know where Harold fits in chronologically. There’s no sign of a Harold Nabigon in the 1940s Ft. William quarterly returns, so could Harold be the twin who survived and came to be KNOWN AS Percy? (a stab in the dark, obviously; Harold might have been born later in the 40s, after the youngest girls; or the Ancestry info could be incorrect).
Just a heads up regarding Ancestry. I've used it frequently, and can tell you without a doubt, that many of the trees on there are inaccurate. The account owner can put in whatever they want. Verification is at the account-holder's discretion.
The info may be 100% accurate, but it may also be quite incorrect
One of my ancestors died at a young age in the 1800s after catching a disease on the ship from Ireland to Quebec. It will cost at least $100,000 to dig up and find their remains. Where do I collect my money? Liberal.ca?
Does anyone remember the saying 'Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me'?
What we now should be sorry about, is getting 'fooled' thousands of times already.
in terms of dollars, "fooled" billions upon billions of times already
Thank you for all the research and reporting you are doing Michelle. I am very grateful for the time you spend researching and writing these articles because the truth must come out.
<< Did Bertha die 'knowing her brother was buried in Woodstock' because Claire told her that? How long had Claire been pursuing this search for Percy's grave before Bertha died in 2004? Oddly, Bertha's obituary doesn't even mention Percy, or any of her siblings apart from the three sisters who survived her. Her obituary doesn't even mention her husband, who according to Ancestry, was Pierre Brassard. >>
I, too, would like to know how long Claire had been searching for Percy, and whether her zeal to bring him home really had to do with her mother’s dying wish, or more to do with all the brouhaha surrounding the TRC hearings (plus the Kamloops “discoveries”). You likely noticed the impressive granite monuments at the Long Lac cemetery for Bertha and her younger sisters Rachel and Genevieve (Echum), but Claire doesn’t happen to mention where THEIR parents (her grandparents) Duncan and Mary Ann Nabigon are buried, or show off their monuments to the CBC reporter. They’re Ancestors too, aren’t they? What, no markers? Memorial funds only cover headstones for former residential school students? Pity.
Percy will get a fine headstone too, no doubt, courtesy of the Ontario government’s largesse. The $45,000 will also pay for his “welcome home” feast this summer, and whatever it is the pathology lab is looking for (I doubt we’ll be informed of those pathology results; the news story here is the repatriation and the fact that the province is making amends for the horrific “sin” of caring for Percy for nearly 20 years).
Your part 2 shows that Bertha, Percy's older sister, sought residential school admission in September 1946. The application form signed by her father shows that she had spent the previous school year (1945-46) at the Long Lac day school, and the three years prior to that (i.e. 42-43, 43-44, 44-45) at St. Joseph's. So she WAS at the IRS in the fall of 1944, and again in the fall of 1946. But which year was it that Percy "was taken" to the residential school? 1944? or 1946?
Claire's story suggests Percy went to the school in 1944 and was only there for a couple of months before he was taken to hospital (which makes sense, as the school would have likely found he needed care beyond what they could reasonably provide).
Kimberly Murray's report, however, says that his removal to McKellar Hospital took place in November 1946, which is likely accurate because there is Indian Agent documentation. So it seems he was briefly at the IRS, as a charity case not an enrolled student, as you point out, for a couple of months in 1946 when he was 8, and Bertha was indeed at St. Joseph's that fall, so at least that part of the story is true.
My speculation is that the infant Percy who died at 3 months of age in 1938 was one of a pair of twin boys, and when he died the surviving twin was given Percy's name to carry it on (the CBC article shows a photo of Percy's mother holding twin infants). The surviving twin would have had a different official name, but it was discarded in favour of commemorating the deceased child. One has no way of knowing how such a loss might have been dealt with in the family, in terms of what the other young children were told. Bertha, Kenny and George were only 5, 4, and 3 years of age respectively in 1938, so they would perhaps have little memory or understanding of the tragedy. And being one of a pair of twins might also explain the surviving Percy's health problems.
Perhaps Bertha mis-remembered which year it was that Percy was taken to hospital, thinking it was 1944, which would explain why they thought he'd been taken at age six. Murray's research showed it was 1946, hence they realized he must have been eight years old at that point.
It seems to me that Claire or Kimberly Murray SURELY would have turned up the infant Percy's death certificate in their research, but they perhaps chose to ignore that hiccup because it made the story too complicated (?) (Look how many words I've used here to lay out my "theory"!)
Just an additional note re the above. The Ancestry pages for Duncan Nabigon and Mary Ann Chapais (courtesy Nina Green) indicate that there was another boy in the family besides Kenny, George and Percy: a Harold Nabigon is listed among the couple’s offspring, with no birth or death dates, so it’s impossible to know where Harold fits in chronologically. There’s no sign of a Harold Nabigon in the 1940s Ft. William quarterly returns, so could Harold be the twin who survived and came to be KNOWN AS Percy? (a stab in the dark, obviously; Harold might have been born later in the 40s, after the youngest girls; or the Ancestry info could be incorrect).
Just a heads up regarding Ancestry. I've used it frequently, and can tell you without a doubt, that many of the trees on there are inaccurate. The account owner can put in whatever they want. Verification is at the account-holder's discretion.
The info may be 100% accurate, but it may also be quite incorrect
One of my ancestors died at a young age in the 1800s after catching a disease on the ship from Ireland to Quebec. It will cost at least $100,000 to dig up and find their remains. Where do I collect my money? Liberal.ca?
Good work Michelle!