The thought of being so poor that you’re forced to give away one or more of your children will chill the blood of any modern-day parent. The past is another country, however, and from 1869 to 1930 more than 100,000 British children were given up to charities to be rehomed overseas. Many were lost from families who were so desperately impoverished that they could no longer afford food.
Barnardo’s was among the charities and church institutions involved in the process. They believed that children stood a better chance of a healthy and ‘moral’ life on farms in Canada, Australia or New Zealand than in the slums and workhouses of Britain. Although some of the children were treated well, others were abused or regarded as a source of cheap labour.
Searching for ancestors who were child migrants can be tricky because of privacy laws and family divisions. Rosemary Johnston has been astonished to discover an entire branch of her father’s Edwardian family who were sent to Canada by Barnardo’s. Genetic genealogy has been her gateway to the past.
“My father William Johnston was born in Belfast in 1925 to William Johnston senior and Elizabeth Mullen,” Rosemary explains. “Dad seldom spoke about his family – it was a closed subject. During the 1950s he went to live in Montreal, and worked as a carpenter – the job was probably arranged by a relative.
“However, Dad didn’t like Montreal – he found it too hot in summer and freezing cold in winter – so he returned to Northern Ireland. He married my mother Kathleen in 1958 in Belfast, where I was born.”
During the early 1990s, Rosemary took part in a university exchange programme, and because of her dad’s history she chose Montreal. “I phoned Dad and asked where he’d lived. He remembered the street name, so I set off to find it. After hours of walking I still had no luck. The sense of a family connection with Montreal remained, however.”
Rosemary began researching her tree in 2013, after her father died. She was amazed to discover that William Johnston senior had eight siblings. “I had only met one of them. Researching the others, I expected to find a Canadian connection. However, they had all stayed in Belfast.”
In 2018 Rosemary bought Ancestry DNA tests for herself and her partner, and her genetic profile provided a revelation.
“Ancestry allows people to connect with other users who share a genetic link. I was intrigued to discover that my closest link was a previously unknown second cousin, Cathy, who lives in Ontario, Canada.
"My closest DNA link was a previously unknown second cousin"
“I emailed Cathy and asked her if she was a Johnston. She replied, ‘No, I’m a Mullen.’ I knew instantly that we were related through my paternal grandmother Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Mullen.
“I told Cathy this and she replied, ‘The lost sister, Elizabeth!’ I wondered what she meant.”
Rosemary had only one childhood memory of Elizabeth, or ‘Granny Mullen’ as she was known. She was bedridden, and lived with her daughter Lily nearby in Belfast. “Granny Mullen came to stay with us to give Lily respite. She was horrible! She lay on the sofa in the living room, yelling at us kids to shut the door. Later I learned that she died of pernicious anaemia, so she probably felt the cold. I asked relatives if her illness made her the way she was, and was told that she’d always been like that.”
Elizabeth married William Johnston senior who died in 1948 at No. 3 Emergency Camp in Crossgar, near Belfast, where the family lived after their house was bombed in the Blitz. Did this explain Granny Mullen’s bitterness? Later, a relative told Rosemary that Granny Mullen’s husband William was an alcoholic who squandered his wages on drink and gambling. “He served during the First World War, so perhaps his experiences of combat made him the man he became?
“Apparently, Granny Mullen was a storyteller. She had ‘second sight’ too. She would sometimes remark, ‘There’ll be a letter in the morning’ – and there would be.”
Rosemary adds, “I was astonished to discover from Cathy that Granny Mullen had four brothers, Oswald, William, James and George. All of them were born in Belfast in the late 19th century.” Cathy is James Mullen’s granddaughter, and she had a fascinating tale to tell.
The boys’ story unfolded after James Mullen died in Toronto in 1965. His son Ken applied for a pension for his mother, and was told by authorities that James was born in Belfast and came to Canada under the Barnardo’s scheme. This was a total shock.
Due to privacy concerns, the charity was wary about disclosing information. However, after Ken told them that his father had a distinguishing mark (a mangled finger), Barnardo’s provided precise details of James and his brothers’ early lives. The charity also sent heart-rending photos taken when they were admitted.
Their backstory was truly tragic. The four boys and Elizabeth were born to William John Mullen and his wife Lizzie McMurray. William John was a sailor who stole money from his employer and did a runner, leaving Lizzie and the five children destitute and facing the workhouse.
Lizzie contacted Barnardo’s from the Belfast Union Workhouse and said that she couldn’t bear the children to grow up there. Oswald, William, James and George were admitted to Barnardo’s in 1903 and sent to its children's homes in East London. Oswald was the eldest, born in 1888 and George the youngest, aged only six when he was sent away.
William and Oswald arrived separately in Canada in 1903, while James and George travelled together in 1906 on the SS Dominion. On arrival, they were placed with four families in the province of Ontario – James in Cambray, Oswald in Thamesford, William in Niagara, and George in Huntsville. Barnardo’s provided the last-known address for each of the boys, which intriguingly for George was Montreal, where Rosemary’s father had worked.
Cathy was thrilled to discover the missing link in the chain: the great aunt Elizabeth who became Rosemary’s Granny Mullen.
“Mullen is such a common name that if Cathy and I had merely exchanged trees then we might never have been certain of the link. However, with the DNA test there can be no doubt.
“Cathy told me that her grandfather James Mullen called himself a proud Irishman but didn’t elaborate on his roots. He was very much a family man to his wife Sadie Riley and their four children, including Cathy’s father George Oswald Mullen, named after two of his uncles.”
James said that he had worked on a farm in Lindsay, Ontario, where he badly injured his finger, and that he hated agricultural life. He was proud to have served in the First World War, and later worked as a machinist.
Little is known of William and Oswald’s boyhood experiences in Canada or their pathway through life. Barnardo’s said that Oswald joined the Army and moved to Michigan in the USA. William joined the Canadian Light Infantry, and his last-known address was in Pasadena, California, in 1948.
“George’s last-known location was Montreal in 1923, and that reminded me of a mysterious photo I had inherited. It seemed to have been taken in the 1950s and there are names attached, but I had no idea who they were.
“One is named George, and he looks around 50. Another is called Stanley, and the picture was taken on his 21st birthday. Also named are Vera, Raymond, brother Leslie, and sisters Irene and Hilda. Was George Granny Mullen’s brother, and did Dad live with him in Montreal? Is that the house I went searching for?”
Canadian records recently gave Rosemary a breakthrough. “A 1949 Montreal voters’ list on Ancestry puts George Mullen (misspelled Mullin) living at the same address as Vera, Stanley and Raymond Mullin. A scan through the baptism records gave Stanley’s birthdate as 1924, Montreal, and his parents were listed as George Mullin and Vera Golding. I’m convinced that this is my great uncle and his family.”
Discovering that Granny Mullen’s brothers were sent to Canada was deeply poignant for Rosemary. “I understand how much she must have suffered,” she says. “It’s unbelievable to us today, the thought of sending our children away and a sister losing her four siblings. It’s also heart-rending to think of my granny and her mother in a workhouse.”
Did Granny Mullen’s bitterness lie in loneliness? “Cathy pointed out that she named her three sons William, George and James. Did she keep her lost brothers alive by naming her sons after them?
“If Dad did live with George’s family in Montreal, then Granny Mullen had clearly managed to keep in touch. Perhaps her ‘second sight’ was wishful thinking, always hoping for news of her kin across the ocean.”
Now genealogy has reunited the family. “It has been a pleasure to get to know Cathy and my other Canadian cousins. We would love to hear news of William and Oswald Mullen. Perhaps they, too, have descendants who would be thrilled to meet their ‘lost’ cousins.”