The Fortune Family Descendants

Isn't it generally recorded that she lived with Ethel? I'm not sure during what years Ethel and her husband lived in Jamaica and London. At any rate, I believe that most, if not all, of Mary's children left Winnipeg. Alice lived alternately in New Brunswick, Montreal and Chester; Mabel settled in Victoria.

I don't know about Robert Fortune but I'm sure it would be easy to track where Clara Fortune Hutton settled, since there's ample info on her husband at one of the links posted above.

One of the links also sheds some light on something I'd always wondered about, which was whether or not Mary stayed on in that vast house that was finished the year before she was widowed. According to the source I'm referring to, she did live there for some years afterwards.
 
My, but it has been a busy weekend on this site. I was aware of the posts but was unable to post until now.
Sandi - I cannot help you with Charles Fortune. I know nothing more about him than you can find here on ET. I am glad to hear that you will treat the family memory well in your literary effort. I would like to be kept abreast of your progress, and if I can be of help, please let me know.
Re: Mary moving to Toronto. I am surprised to learn that she stayed in the Winnipeg house until 1920. As far as I know, the three daughters who survived the Titanic were all married by 1913, and her two older children were already married and moved out prior to the trip to Europe. Robert moved to Vancouver, and Clara moved to Ontario. As Brian noted, Mabel went west, Alice eventually went east and Ethel settled in Toronto. I suspect that Mary's move to Toronto was simply a matter of being close to one of her children as she entered her golden years (she was 69 years old in 1920). I further speculate that Ethel was probably best situated to look after her mother, and Ethel may well have been closest to her mother.
 
Robert - I would be very pleased to keep you up to date with my advancing work and would value your input.

I find it very interesting that the Canadians on Titanic seemed to have had so many connections to each other. Hudson Allison, of Montreal, lived and worked in Winnipeg for a time before he was married and it is probable that his business dealings would have brought him into contact with the Fortunes. I am looking to see if I can find evidence of this connection.

Long after I started my research into Canadians on the Titanic I learned of Alan Hustak's book, which is excellent. I first heard of this book when a friend in Montreal was interviewed by Alan because she is living in the home the Allison's had in Westmount at the time of the sinking.

I find it interesting that Charles was educated at Bishop's College in the Eastern Townships not far from Montreal, and was intending to go to McGill University, leading me to wonder what connections the family may have had to Montreal to have influenced this choice. Do you know anything of this?
Many thanks.
 
Hi Sandi - as a Canadian, you'd know better than I would, but isn't Magill one of Canada's most elite universities and, thus, one to attract students from across the country?

It's interesting too that Alice's husband is referred to as being from Montreal at the time of their marriage. Robert - do you know if this is true and, if so, how your grandparents met? (please feel free to ignore me if you feel my questions are impertinent)

And, Sandi, I really see the appeal of Canada during the industrial age as a setting. I know there was a lot of injustice, but I still romanticize it as a really vigorous time.

Incidentally, (if you don't already know about it) I recently discovered that if you google "Dau's Blue Book", you'll access a lot of links relative to the social registers from that period. In some cases, you'll discover where you can order copies (prices probably vary), but some of them are reproduced online.

In those days, a different volume was printed each year for a particular locale deemed to have enough worthwhile people to fill a volume. Toronto and Montreal each probably had their own volume, while other large regions of the country were lumped into one. I saw the Lusitania Ryersons in one volume (forget now which city they lived in). I don't know which volume, if any, would cover Winnipeg. Or if you'd deem it worth your while...
 
Brian - It's McGill, and you are correct that it is one of the most pre-eminent universities in Canada. Not at all surprising that Charles would go there.

I do not know the precise details of how Charles and Alice met. I do know they were both very good golfers and I have a number of trophies that they won from the years before their marriage. I must check them to see if there is a timeline hint buried there.
 
Brian, thanks for the lead on the Blue Book. I will check it out.

As for the education of Mark Fortune's children, I would assume that if Charles graduated from Bishop's college in Lennoxville, Quebec, that it would have been in vogue at the time for wealthy young men from Winnipeg to go east for their high school perhaps called "upper school" education. The only private school for girls in Winnipeg at that time would have been Havergal (Later known as Riverbend, Rupertsland and now Balmoral Hall).

Robert, would you have any information about where Alice and her sisters were educated?

Also, I was very interested in the golf story. It is possible that your family may have been involved in the founding of the St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg. I will see what I have in my files. I believe it was incorporated around 1905.
 
Sandi - No, I do not have any information on where Alice and her sisters were educated. Also, the golf trophies are all located at my cottage, and it may be a couple of weeks before I can get out there, but it is on my "Do List".
 
Here are the gleanings from the golf trophies:

Charlie Allen and Alice Fortune knew each other as early as the summer 1909, when they won two mixed foursomes at the "WGC" (Winnipeg Golf Club?). They were married in June 1912.

Alice won a Canadian Tournament at Pinehurst (where?) in 1914 (as Mrs CH Allen). There is also a trophy from Beaconsfield (west of Montreal) from 1919, but no name is engraved on it. Alas, Sandi; no mention of St Charles Country Club.

A pewter stein presented to Charlie Allen indicates that he worked in Montreal until 1939, at which time he and Alice moved to Halifax, NS.
 
Thanks, Robert, for the information on the trophies. Well, I find this all very impressive. Here's what I have to share. The Winnipeg Golf Club, founded in 1894, eventually became the Southwood Golf Club many years later, and exists to this day. From 1909 to 1914 it also had a hunt club with hounds and a full time hounds master from Ireland. This would have been the place where the elite played golf until the St. Charles CC was established. Alice must have been a very good golfer. The only Pinehurst I can find reference to is the huge resort in North Carolina, which is the right fit for the time. Being that she was experienced with world travel and the Grand Tour, it would make sense that she and Charles would seek out mid winter golf vacations and thus get to know Pinehurst, so perhaps the trophy came from the US. See this website for more information:
http://www.since1895.com/since1895.html

What do you know about Charles? Was he from Winnipeg?
 
Sandi, you are a wealth of information. Thank you.
On closer examination, the trophy from Pinehurst is indeed the golf resort in North Carolina. It took a magnifying glass, but it is indeed there.
Sorry, but I have no info on Charles, other than what is in his ET biography. As far as I know, he was a Winnipegger (if that is how it is put)
 
I see from the Ellis Island records that Mabel Fortune, Charlotte Armstrong and Mabel's son Robert sailed into New York as first class passengers on the Aquitania in the spring of 1924. Robert's put at 8 years of age. Charlotte Armstrong's marital status is put as divorced.

Other family members recorded as sailing into New York up until 1924 (as high as the records at ellisisland.org go) are Ethel and Crawford Gordon and sons sailing in from Kingston. Mary Fortune also made it down to Kingston a couple of times.

I didn't check Charles or Elizabeth Allen yet - figured too many people with those names would have sailed into New York. Will check when I have more time.
 
Brian - As and when you check the Ellis Island records for the Allens, you may have better luck using the name Alice, rather than her middle name Elizabeth (which she never used).

Re: the Gordons, which "Kingston" are you referring to? I am guessing Jamaica; it is the only one that makes sense.
 

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