Thomas Henry George Newbury (5 Oct. 1900 - Aug. 1948) m. (22 Sep. 1921) Alice Edith May Latham (22 Sep 1900 - 17 Mar 1991)

1900

Tommy was born in England at the end of Queen Victoria' reign (1837-1901) into a family of three older sisters and one older brother. His oldest sibling, Lizzie, would already have been twelve years old. His closest sibling, Annie would have been five.

1904 - 1906

His father died in 1904 when Tommy was 4 years old. In 1908 Tom moved to Orillia, Ontario, Canada with his mother and brother William and sister Annie in 1908. There were already several aunts and cousins in Orillia. His sister Millie followed about a year later and Lizzie arrived in 1910 with her husband and five year old daughter Connie. Before he enlisted, he worked in a tack factory.

1915 - 1918 WWI

Tom and his brother Bill went to England for WWI. Tom didn't go to the front though, he was too young and there apparently were other, less dangerous jobs. Rumour has it that they visited some Newburys while they were overseas. Here is a picture of Bill in France in 1916, he's the one in the middle: small version, large version (273 k).

1918 - 1933

Tom and Bill also worked on the steamships - freighters, possibly shoveling coal. Here is a picture on a ship. Tom is on the left and Bill is on the right, I don't know who is in the middle: larger version (201 k).

While in Toronto he learned to be a linotype operator. His brother Bill had married Tish Walker in 1919, she worked at Woolworth's in Toronto with Alice Latham. Because of this connection Tom met Alice. He used to sing "I found a million dollar baby in the five and dime". Thomas and Alice were married in Toronto on September 22, 1921 - that was Alice's 21st birthday. She was about 2 weeks older than Tom and there was a fair bit of teasing about him being "just a kid". Before they left Toronto they had seven children, George (1922), Raymond (1923), William (1925), Thomas (1927), Shirley (1928), Elizabeth (1930) and Connie (1933). His sister Annie's four children were baptized on the same day, at the same church as the wedding - quite a commotion!

Here's a picture of Tom and five of the kids (George, Raymond, Bill, Tommy and Shirley) in Toronto: a different shot.

1933 - 1935 Kingston, Green Bay Point in Barriefield

When the youngest, Connie, was about 3 months they moved to Kingston, Ontario in a truck (1933). Shirley remembers that all the Bridal Rose dinner plates were broken when they arrived. Some of this set was auctioned off when the farm on 33 Hwy was sold (1993-4). Tom had come ahead first and gotten a job as a linotype operator at Hansen and Edgar's. He lived in a house on University Ave. where a Mrs. Bruton looked after the house for the man who owned it. When the rest of the family arrived they rented a house around the corner on Earl St. - it may have been called the "Stone Jug". When they moved in it was so cold that the pipes had frozen. The boys were always into things - like the coal yards and the lake, Raymond almost drowned one day. Shirley attended Victoria Public School for a few months. The kids all managed to come down with the measles.

After six months Tom decided it would be better to move to the 'country', which at that time meant "The Point" at Barriefield. Tom walked to work from there, Hansen and Edgar's was located where the Queen's Hotel is now - Brock near Bagot. Their nearest neighbours were Dollar Bill and Johnny Stewart. Dollar Bill lived in a steel hanger suitable for water planes, Shirley doesn't remember ever seeing a plane there though. Well known for his bootlegging, he also had a store in there with candy for the kids. He biked into Kingston with a box tied onto his bike and returned with papers to burn in his round wood stove. Shirley remember one winter when she came upon the hole in the ice that Dollar Bill had made to get his water. It had started to freeze over again and rather than poke it with a stick or toss a rock at it she decided to just jump right on it with both feet. She of course broke right through and was completely soaked but because they'd always been told "Not to call us it you get yourself in trouble" she managed to pull herself out and get home and dried off without anyone noticing.

They also had an icehouse at The Point. The Newbury boys with some help from the Norman boys cut ice in the winter and packed it in sawdust. It lasted right through to summer. There was an emergency one day when some woman in Barriefield had a stroke or something and some people came to get ice to make her more comfortable. One day Shirley was fishing into the open water that was created from cutting the ice. She managed to slide right into the river! There she was splashing around until someone pulled her out.

Here are three pictures of students of Barriefield Public School.

Alice raised chickens and geese to sell. Their milkman was Joe Galivan and Raymond started working on their dairy farm. They paid him 2 calves. He gave them back the male calf for wintering the female for him. He brought her home in the spring. They kept her tied up on a rope. She was like a pet; she would try to come inside the house for bread! Connie died at the point from pneumonia, she was about two years old - in those days there wasn't a whole lot they could do for you.

1936 - 1939 On to Hwy 15 ...

After three years (1936-7) they moved to the farm on Hwy. 15. Tom bought three red and white cows from Greenlees. Buddy Bingley (Tom's nephew) lived with them at some point and attended Barriefield School. After seven years a new owner of the farm decided to live there.

In 1936 Caroline Bester died. Tom took the train from Kingston to Orillia for the funeral.

1939 - 1944 WWII

Raymond went off to the war when he was 15 1/2 (1939), he came home with pleurisy when he was 19 (1943). He had to stay at St. Mary's of the Lake Hospital. Shirley used to ride her bike from 15 Hwy to SML to visit. Raymond never married but there was a girl named Jean in England. Things just didn't work out I guess. There was mention that she wanted to wait till he was 21 before they married, not to mention the prospect of moving to Canada.

George also joined the Army but he had to claim to be 18 because Raymond had already signed up and said he was 19. When he came home he had taken some shrapnel in the leg. When he decided to reenlist they said he was too old and he had some trouble convincing them of his real age because of the earlier misinformation.

In 1941 Tommy died from Diabetes, he was 16. Annie and Millie came down from Orillia for the funeral.

In 1943 they moved to a house owned by Mrs. Rett Brawley somewhere around Harrowsmith/Sydenham. It's hard to imagine today, but the cows had to walk from one farm to the next! This would have been around 20 miles and the path would have been through Kingston. Shirley remembers the farmer across the road helping them burn some brush - it ended up getting out of control and the fence posts burned as well. Mrs Brawley, who lived in part of the house, probably though this was a wild bunch. Shirley remembers her and Betty attending Forest Hill School while they were there.

1945 - 1946 After WWII

After 2-3 years it was on to McEwen's in Railton. Here is a photo of Tom and Alice at McEwen's: larger version. Shirley went to grade 8 at the Railton school. Then she had a year off before starting to work at the Kingston General Hospital. Betty joined her about 6 months later. Shirley and Betty worked at KGH for three years from 1946-48.

The family moved to a farm on Eel's Lake behind Sydenham. The train track ran close by and Shirley used to fish off the tracks. They ate what they caught there.

1947 - 1948 Settling down on Hwy 33

Around 1947 the gratuity the DVA paid Raymond was enough to buy the land on the Hwy. 33 farm, about 3 miles west of Bath, Ontario. Bill already had the equipment and the cows. Raymond continued to work on the lakers and in the lumber camps while Bill worked the farm. Shirley returned to work on the farm for a while before she moved into town and found work at Kresge's in 1948. Tom continued to commute to Kingston to work at Hansen and Edgar's until his death in August 1948. The rest of this story will have to wait till I get a link up to Alice's tree.

Here's a picture of Alice with five of her children - back row: Bill, George, Raymond; front row: Shirley, Alice, Betty: larger version.

Newbury family markers at the Cataraqui Cemetery near Kingston, Ontario.