Nellie Rose Daniels was born on March 7, 1891 in Birmingham to Rose Ann (Southam) and Walter Wallace Daniels. Walter was listed as a Brick Layer, jobber. (Walter Wallace Daniels b 1851 in Paddington, d June 22, 1927 in Shoreditch) The birth was registered on April 14, 1891 at All Saints, Birmingham.
Nellie was baptized on May 6, 1891 in the parish of Ladywood, St John, Warwickshire. Her parents were listed as living on Clark Street.
She had 2 older brothers, Walter Wallis and William Dudley (died at birth) and an older sister, Edith Florence.
On September 5, 1896, Nellie was sent to the Worcester Union Poor House Children Cottages on Midland Road. Her father had been sent to prison on June 20, 1896 and her mother was unable to cope with the children. Her father was released on November 27, 1896. On July 21, 1897, her mother died.
By 1901, her father had moved to 9 Brearley Street, Handsworth, Staffordshire.
According to the 1901 UK Census, her older sister Edith (8 years old) had moved in with her oldest brother Walter Wallis (22 years old). Walter was living at 133 Johnson Road in Erdington with his wife Harriet (23) and son Walter (8 months). Her older 1/2 brother, Josiah Charles Southam, wasmarried and living in Smethwick with his wife Elizabeth Martha (Mynott) and daughter Rose Margaret Daniels (b1897).
While at the workhouse cottage, Nellie received punishment. On May 6, 1903, she was punished for disobedience and on June 3, 1903 for being quarrelsome. Both punishments were bread & water for supper.
She went to school with children from the local area. At the cottage home, she was trained to be a domestic.
The Worcester Union Poor Law Institution discharged her on June 11, 1906 to the Birmingham Middlemore Immigration Homes. They had asked Middlemore Homes to re-settle her in Canada. They paid Middlemore £12 to kit her out and send her with a shipment of Middlemore children to Canada.
Permission was to have been received from the parents but often the parents could have been either dead, not found or just couldn’t care less. Girls were sent as Domestics (household cleaners and servants). Boys were sent as farmers or labourers.
On June 12, 1906, Nellie left the New Street Station in Birmingham by train for Liverpool. She arrived the same day at the docks in Liverpool, along with 159 other Middlemore children, with a Miss Riley in charge, and boarded the steamship “SS Siberian” in steerage class, one of the Allan Line ships. It was a 3 masted steamship capable of making the journey to Canada in 10 days. The ship first docked at St. John’s, Nfld, probably for ½ day to refuel and resupply. It docked at Halifax on June 23, 1906.
The passenger list states that she was 13 years old but she was actually Records were most of the times quite inaccurate. From the dock in Halifax at Pier 2, she went on to the 50 acre Fairview Station in Halifax.
This house was Dr. Middlemore’s receiving home in Canada where Nellie met her placement family.
Canadian families wanted British children to work on their farms as labourers and housekeepers. Local newspapers would advertise the arrival date of the ship. Families requesting children had to be recommended by their pastor and have applied to Middlemore. Once approved, the family would show up at the receiving home on the day that the new shipment of children arrived and then pick up their child.
Her 1st placement from the home was on May 26, 1906 to guardian Neil P. (Patrick) McKay at 154 Central Ave in Inverness, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, about 150 miles NE of Halifax, for 6 months. Her 2nd placement was in November 1906 with guardian Donald J. (John F) McKay at Quincey Street in Inverness. From the interview reports by Frank A. Gerow (the Canadian superintendent for Middlemore Homes), Nellie was very much opposed to going to school. Classes were taught in the Salvation Army Hall by Annie Delehanty (Mrs. D.A. MacIsaac) and her assistant Rose MacKay. (Neil Patrick McKay was born in Inverness on July 13, 1876 & died on July 27, 1967 in Halifax)
She went on to Quebec City from Halifax on board the “SS Corsican”, arriving on July 20, 1907. Her destination was listed as Stratford. She then traveled to Montreal on the GTR. Usually, Protestant children would board the Grand Trunk Railroad train and be forwarded on to Ontario. Dr. Middlemore did not have his own network of receiving homes in Ontario. He used those of Annie MacPherson, also into the business of saving the British poor.
She may have stayed for a while at the MacPherson House at 51 Avon Street, Stratford or moved in with her ½ brother JCS for a while.
Data from Nellie’s Placement Reports suggests that her trip to Stratford in 1907 was only to visit her 1/2 brother. She was in Inverness, NS until September 18, 1909, at the home of Donald J McKay. Her placement there was for a 3 year term. She left at the age of 18 in late 1909/early 1910 to go back to Stratford.
On December 26, 1910, Nellie married Albert Frederick Hall in Stratford. Her surname listed on her marriage certificate was Southam. Albert was born in December 3, 1886 in Shoreditch, London, England and commenced employment with the Great Western Railway in London on December 3, 1903.
He & his family lived at 24 Little Marylebone St, London. He quit without notice on January 6, 1904 in order to immigrate to Canada with his family (f Allan, m Jane, s Clara, s Eliza, b Walter). They left Liverpool on May 25, 1905 on the “Dominion” and arrived in Montreal on June 5, 1905 totravel by train to Stratford. There he was a Pipe Fitter Railroad Shop employee who started working for the GTR on November 6, 1905. In 1910, he worked 50 hours per week for 50 weeks earning $420 for the year. He had $340 of life insurance. He must have known JCS because they both worked at the GTR locomotive repair shop. Nellie and Albert lived at 153 North Street, Stratford (1911 Can Census). Present at the marriage were Clara May Hall (Albert’s sister) and Walter Hall (Albert’s brother).
Albert’s parents & sisters Clara May & Eliza Louise were living at 128 North Street, Stratford in 1911. Brother Allan William & his wife Annie Rosina (Blunden) were living at 38 Norfolk Street, Stratford. He served in the 28th Perth Regiment, enlisting in Canadian infantry during WW1 on January 23, 1915 in Stratford.
Albert’s brother Walter Jarvis, b May 11, 1891, had also served in the 28th Perth for 2 years before enlisting on April 7, 1915. (He had been living at 772 Elgin St in Winnipeg in 1911 Can Census. He moved to Ohio, married Wilhelmine Eland in (after 1921) and died on November 12, 1965 in Ohio, USA.)
After June 11, 1911 (date of 1911 census), Albert & Nellie moved to London, Ontario. Son Frederick James Hall was born on December 1, 1912 in London, Ontario. He died on December 22, 1912 from “marasmus”.
Son Charles Frederick Hall was born on June 14, 1915 in London, Ontario. Albert enlisted in the army on January 12, 1915 in Strathroy (400524) with the 33rd Battalion. (He was very eager to enlist) He had served in the 28th Perth Regiment (militia) since 1907 and was in the 7th Regiment before enlisting. He was deployed to Great Britain on April 1, 1917, after seeing his son for only 2 years. He was KIA on September 29, 1918, having served in the CEF in WW1, 58th Battalion, in France. He was buried in the Anneux British Cemetery in Cambrai, France. At this time, the family was living at 328 Salisbury Street, London.
In the Canada 1921 Census, taken on June 1, 1921, Nellie was renting at 583 1/2 Richmond Street, London with her son Charles.
After Albert died, Nellie married Alfred Ernest Meehan on October 1, 1921 at City Hall in London, Ontario. He was born in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England on April 6, 1892. He emigrated to Canada on the “Empress of Britain”, leaving Liverpool and arriving in St. John, NB, on February 18, 1911, his destination was Woodstock, Ontario. In 1945, they were living at 1081 Adelaide Street, London.
Alfred Ernest Meehan died on May 26, 1946. He was buried in the Woodland Cemetery in London, Ontario (Section F, Lot 205).
After Alfred’s death, Nellie and Charles moved to Niagara Falls and then on to Richmond Hill. Nellie died on June 25, 1952 at the Toronto General Hospital and is buried at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church Cemetery at 10066 Young Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario.