We want to thank Dr Lynne Tammi-Connelly, for giving us permission to share this slice of history.

We are humbled by the work carried out to bring this and other atrocities in Scotland to light!

As tomorrow sees the start of GRTHM

I am sharing a personal story of one of the girls from my family who was trafficked to the colonies in the 20th Century.

This is Gracie

Born to an Irish Traveller family in1903, in a tent on the outskirts of Ayr, Scotland, mother a Pedlar, father a Basket Maker. At the age of six, taken, by the authorities, with her mother and two sisters, Margaret and Mary, from their camp near Perth to Perth Poor House where her mother had to sign the girls over into the care of Quarriers children’s home. The mother could not read or write and her ‘signature’ on the official papers is an X mark. She had the process of handing over her girls and what would happen to them ‘explained’ to her but given she thought she could simply ask for them to be returned indicates that she didn’t understand what she was signing her girls over into and she remained adamant to her death that she did not know that they could be trafficked to Canada without further consent.

The girls spent three years in the children’s home. They had no contact with their parents or siblings during this time. Their father, being illiterate, had several letters written on his behalf requesting that the girls be returned to the family, even the local priest sent a letter, all to no avail.

The girls were sent to Canada aboard the SS Grampian, arriving in Quebec on 2nd June 1913 and onward to Fairknowe Home, Brockville, Eastern Ontario where they would await to be ‘chosen’ by families who engaged them as indentured servants. Living conditions were poor, with many living in barns and being fed scraps – the farm dogs were better housed and fed. Girls as young as nine were indentured as housekeepers.

Gracie’s oldest sister Margaret, being of working age (14) when she arrived in Canada, was immediately put into indentured service. Mary (aged 12) went to live with a family in Athens, a small village near Brockville, and Gracie (aged 9) was homed with a family in Ottawa. Mary was so disturbed by the separation from her younger sister that the man from the family in Athens went to Ottawa to look for Gracie. There he found her being used as a housekeeper. It’s not clear what he said or did to the family in Ottawa, but it was enough to have Gracie given into his care and she was reunited with her sister Mary.

There is no doubt that the Athens family provided a loving and caring home for Gracie and her sister. The father was unique in his time as he believed in post secondary school education for women. Both of the girls went on to further education and both became teachers.

Gracie’s sister Margaret’s life was a bittersweet one. Her time in indentured service was harsh, treated no better than a slave. Sadly, as mentioned earlier, this was the case for many of the children of working age sent to Canada at that time, indeed they later became known as ‘Canada’s Little Slaves’. She escaped this life by marrying a fellow Scot, but her happiness was short lived. Margaret fell ill in her mid 20s and as her condition worsened she lost her sight. Her husband called Gracie to her bedside hoping that the sound of Gracie’s voice would heal her, sadly this was not the case and Margaret died shortly after the visit.

Gracie married and had two daughters. Other than stories of camp fires and her father and brothers leaving the camp for work, Gracie shared little of her life in Scotland, although, when older, she did share with one of her daughters that she carried a ‘sense of loss’ for her family, particularly her parents and her older brother [my grandfather] throughout her life. That said, Gracie lived a full and happy life in Canada and was greatly respected in her community. Gracie died in 2002 at the age of 99.