This post is meant to bring further explanation to the Picasa album of postcards recently uploaded for all to view-
It really is a brief history of the McGinnis clan from out of Chatham, New Brunswick-
To paint the scenario surrounding our family during the 1909 Pacific Yukon Expositon Fair one might want to know just how all this came together in Seattle and to know a little about family background and just who some of the players are. What one needs to appreciate is that these families all remained close-knit as following their paths from Canada should point out. Then, after I finish this, I will invite you to look at another Picasa album I have placed online for family members to view. I suppose this is just my way of judging just what your level of interest is as hinted at in your last e-mail reply. The album I mention is composed of scans of a collection of postcards my Mother saved during that summer of 1909. Some unrelated cards may have drifted in over the years but I scanned the entire collection in order that others might glean whatever might interest them. Some are priceless to me especially for I personally can detect the level of excitement in the brief correspondence contained on some of them, some of the same feelings and experiences that I went through in my early twenties during the Century 21 Worlds Fair. That Fair actually brought Elvis to Seattle to make a movie, and don't think that didn't make the city feel proud.
Mother's family, the McGinnis clan, I like to think was a tight knit group during that year of 1909 for sure. It may not have always remained that way for as is typical of many families, and that includes my own current group, family members can begin to drift apart over the years especially as they slowly relocate to other areas of the country. But this particular clan was a bit different in that they followed one another and in 1909 essentially they had been in the Puget Sound area for about twenty years. One would settle somewhere, spread the word, and others would follow. Thus it went beginning in New Brunswick, on to Chicago, to Seattle and on to Florence. One of Mother's aunts went to New York after her marriage in her home town but she and her family also arrived in Seattle in 1889 bypassing Chicago.
The city of Chatham, New Brunswick during the mid to late 1800's was a thriving city of ship builders. Many wooden ships were launched from the local ways where my great-grandparents, newly arrived from Ireland, raised their family. Of course this was the era of wooden ships and New Brunswick had abundant timber resources near by making the small town highly competitive in the construction of sailing vessels. Wooden vessels required carpentry skills and some of these ancestors gained their skills in these very shipyards. Exactly which ones have not been discovered but the basic skills were learned there and as time went on some surely passed their skills on to one another. Thus was the pattern of the families migration to the Pacific Northwest and it is highly probable that the destruction of Chicago and later Seattle by conflagration determined the actual path of this family. They were carpenters by training and by interest for rebuilding required skills immediately, just as happens today in any city after a disastrous hurricane for instance. The tragedy drew skilled men and their families required for rebuilding. I believe that one older McGinnis brother was the first to Chicago a few years after that cities fire but he did establish himself and most likely did participate in some of the final stages of reconstruction.
But Chicago was prospering in spite of the disaster and then George Pullman came on the scene and began his empire of passenger and luxury rail car construction. Pullman was ahead of his time and he constructed a city from the ground up adjacent to all his industrial facilities just to the south of the main city of the time. The new town was meant to service his employees, it was a company town, but it was elaborate, it was not a coal mining type of company town. Of course the town was named Pullman and the fact that Mother's older brother Thomas was born in Pullman, strongly hints, the McGinnis brothers most likely were employed from time to time in the massive construction project. I believe that this is where the oldest brother Patrick began learned the construction contracting business.
Patrick moved on to Seattle in about 1882 and went about establishing himself in the young city, which at the time had a population of around 10,000 people. Cousin Robert Ferguson, also a trained shipbuilder appears on the scene in 1884 working in the shipyards of Seattle. The other brothers, remained in Chicago employed in the final stages of the construction of Pullman. But then something happened in Seattle as the city had a disastrous fire in the central business district. The brothers left Chicago and came to Seattle.
The exact dates of the migration to Seattle by James, Hugh and Arthur have not been found but they were in Seattle the year of the fire that occurred on June 6, 1889. James McGinnis and his family appear in the 1889 Territorial Census, a requirement leading up to Statehood in November of that year. Unfortunately the microfilm copy of the census page omitted the month and day it was recorded. They all do appear in the city directory of that year where as older brother Patrick appears alone in the 1888 directory. Thus the question arises, did they migrate before or after the fire? One can only speculate but to me personally, I suspect Patrick convinced them to come west probably because he wanted to participate in the reconstruction and he needed help. I am sure that any skilled carpenter in Seattle at the time of the fire was immediately employed for months to come and Patrick was calling in reinforcements. This tends to point to the time of arrival probably between July and sometime in the fall of 1889.
Sister Sarah and her husband Patrick Fitzpatrick and two of their children also arrived that year. Sarah’s husband was a printer by trade, something he learned in New Brunswick. Their eldest daughter was born somewhere in New York State in 1888 four years after the marriage of the parents in Chatham. The family also appears in the 1889 Seattle city directory leading one to conclude that the word went out for the clan to gather so to speak, for Seattle held promise of opportunity for everyone. This same year Sarah in all likelihood traveled back to New Brunswick and aided her Mother and her older brother John in also emigrating to Seattle. So there they were in late 1889, all settled in Seattle all in the vicinity of Seattle current day International District, more commonly known as Chinatown.
So the cast of characters present in Seattle in 1890 are:
Patrick McGinnis, the elder brother, a bachelor all his life, to Seattle in 1882, a construction contractor
Robert Ferguson, cousin, also a bachelor all his life, a Shipbuilder
James McGinnis, second eldest, his wife and two children, Maggie (died in 1902) and Thomas, Mothers older siblings.
John McGinnis, third eldest, a bachelor all his life, lived his remaining years in the household of his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Patrick Fitzpatrick.
Arthur McGinnis, the next born, his wife Mary Margaret, and two children, Mary Margaret (Mayme) and John P. McGinnis
Patrick Fitzpatrick, the printer, his wife Sarah, Mother’s aunt, and two children, John and Margurite along with the matriarch of the clan, Margaret (McCarron) McGinnis brought to Seattle by Sarah and son John (mentioned above).
Hugh McGinnis, the youngest, and his wife Catherine. Their first child will be born in Seattle
As has been recently established, James McGinnis and his family as well as cousin Robert Ferguson left Seattle to establish farms in Florence in 1891 followed by Brother Hugh in 1899.
Mother and her brother James Jr. were born in Florence, brother John was born in Seattle shortly before the final move to Florence.
Brother Hugh and Catherine had six children, the two youngest were born in Florence, the remaining four most likely all in Seattle.
Robert Ferguson had brought his father from New Brunswick to live with him in Florence in 1891. He died in 1908, the very year that his niece Mary Mills arrived in Florence, presumably to care for her grandfather in his last year of life. Her arrival date is not known precisely, she very well may have arrived after her grandfather’s death.
The families were thus divided between two locations, and the Seattle families were in the perfect place to serve as hosts for all the other visiting relatives, anxiously waiting the time for the fair to open when they would have their allotted time to stay with relatives and take in all the magic of the Yukon Exposition. There are two or three cards with Chatham, New Brunswick postal stamps. Exactly who the originators are we aren’t certain at this time but more than likely they are related, maybe a brother or sister in law of either Sarah or Arthur or a member of the Ferguson line. But it appears they came from as far away as the Maritimes to visit family and be introduced to new family members while taking in the sights of the fair.
One fact might occur to those that read through the brief messages of the postcards is that the mails were the method of choice for communication between all these people. Telephone service in 1909 was probably not an option between Florence and Seattle so the mail was the best way to send messages back and forth. Post cards during the busy time of the fair certainly was a popular option as one can see browsing through the cards.
Mother of course is Agnes or Aggie. Her mother is Mary Ellen, more commonly known as Nel or Nell. Tom or T.M. is most likely Mom’s elder brother Tom. John more than likely is her older brother but it may very well be a cousin John P., son of Arthur. Mamie or Mayme, that remains questionable. It might be cousin Mary Mills living with her uncle Robert Ferguson, or it might be a cousin from Seattle, a daughter of Arthur McGinnis. At this point in time it is impossible to be certain of the author of each postcard.
Since trains were the method of choice of travel it became important to let people know the day of arrival so they might be met in East Stanwood, or to at least give warnings of comings and goings. One subtle message wants to surface in one or two messages, and that is, when are you coming home so I can see the fair, or even, get yourself home and get your butt back to work. I am using a vivid imagination here however.
So dive in and enjoy a visit to the fair with all the McGinnis clan.
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