From England to Almont: An early 20th-century veteran’s journey

EDITOR’S NOTE: Lynn Nolin, who is involved with the Almont Historical Museum, has published a story about one soldier’s journey. This two-part series begins this week and concludes Nov. 11 — Veterans Day.

“This issue of the (Almont Museum) Lamplighter holds a special place in my heart as I share the story of Jesse Page Treadgold, who left Almont in November 1916 to return to England and fight in the ‘War to End All Wars.’ His story is especially poignant in November, when we observe Remembrance/Veterans Day in the United States and Europe. We begin with how the Treadgold family came to Almont. This is the first story I have written in the Lamplighter about my own Almont roots. I hope you enjoy it and it inspires you to share your family stories with your family during the upcoming holidays.” ~ Lynn Nolin

ALMONT — The Edwardian Exodus: From England to Canada, 1908. Staverton, Northamptonshire, England. Left to right: Joe, Kathleen and Jesse with parents Catherine and William Treadgold, circa 1900.

It is the spring of 1908; Joe, dressed in a suit, stands still for the photographer. The photograph will serve two purposes: a keepsake for his parents and a 2-by-2-inch passport photo. After paying 90 cents, he returns home to pack a small trunk, secures his savings in his chest pocket and takes a train to Liverpool. Liverpool was a bustling shipping and industrial city 150 miles northeast of Staverton, a small farming village. Emigrants generally left for three reasons: fleeing poverty and unemployment, such as the 1.25 million Irish who left during the Great Famine from 1845 to 1851; escaping political and religious persecution, which drove many Russian and Polish Jews; or seeking a higher standard of living.

A combination of the first and third causes led Joseph to leave the village where his family had lived since at least the early 1700s. It was not an easy decision. His family worked as shoemakers, farmers, stable hands, servants and midwives. When England began enclosing farmland in the mid-1700s, smaller farmers were gradually squeezed out, making way for large manor farms. The upper class controlled the land and field access, exiling locals in their own communities as common watering and grazing rights were stripped away.

The occupational shift took place over 150 years as Joe’s family transitioned from farmers and shepherds to servants and laborers on manor farms. Joe realized he could never own a farm or advance his station in life if he stayed in England. Bidding farewell to his parents, Catherine and William, his brother Jesse and his sister Kathleen, Joe departed just shy of his 22nd birthday. As the eldest, he hoped to help his younger siblings emigrate once he established himself.

Joe’s steerage ticket cost $20 to $30, equivalent to about $700 today. Working as a general laborer and bank teller since age 14, he had saved $45 (more than $1,200 today) to begin a new life in Canada. After seven to 10 days at sea and 2,850 nautical miles, the S.S. Virginian docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 5, 1908. Joe collected his trunk and traveled 1,250 miles by train to St. Thomas, Ontario.

A job awaited Joe as a farm hand for William Jackson, a member of the Canadian Parliament and a gentleman farmer. It is unclear how Joe obtained the position. He may have answered an ad in local newspapers back home, or Jackson, who may have had ties to Northamptonshire, may have inquired about young men willing to emigrate. Employers also sometimes paid passage when workers were needed. Regardless, Joseph had a job, room and board, and a clear path toward farm ownership as he began working the land in the spring of 1908. Letters and postcards flowed between him, his family and friends in Staverton. He especially looked forward to news from the Webb family, particularly 22-year-old Amy.

Joe and Amy had reached an understanding before he left England: Once he established a farm and saved enough for ship passage, she would join him so they could marry. Amy, an orphan who went to live with an aunt and uncle in Yorkshire at age 11, regularly visited her grandfather in Staverton. Her childhood friendship with Joe eventually turned into love.

Jesse Treadgold arrives in Canada, 1909. Left to right: Joe and Jess Treadgold, circa 1912.

Another spring arrived at the Jackson farm in Ontario. Joe persuaded his brother Jess, who was two years younger and his closest friend, to join him in working for Jackson. Driving a horse and wagon to the train station, Joe was anxious to see him; homesickness had been his greatest struggle over the past year. On April 9, 1909, Jess arrived on the same ship Joe had taken a year earlier. Carrying $25 and a small trunk, Jess declared his entry to Canadian officials. Physically, Jess was the opposite of his tall, slim, ginger-haired brother: shorter and stockier with jet-black hair and a darker complexion. Both, however, shared a strong work ethic and the dream of owning a farm.

The Treadgold brothers worked on the Jackson farm until the spring of 1910, saving as much as possible. High farm prices in Ontario put ownership out of reach, making it clear that farm labor alone would not provide sufficient income. Learning that British-owned copper mines in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula were hiring, they used their savings to travel by boat to Sault Ste. Marie. They crossed into the United States on May 29, 1910, trading farm work for jobs at the Victoria Copper Mine in Ontonagon, Michigan. Joe was 24 and Jess was 22. Joe declared $240, while the ship manifest listed no cash for Jess. From the port, they traveled by train to the western Upper Peninsula.

Mining settlements were company towns where workers lived in boardinghouses and bought necessities from company stores. The company also regulated leisure activities. Nearly all residents were men, and the dense forests and rocky terrain contrasted sharply with the green fields of England and Canada.

Mining was dangerous, demanding work with frequent accidents and deaths. Assignments depended on physical ability and education. Because Joseph was well-read and skilled with figures, he worked above ground. Jess, who was shorter and stronger, worked below ground. Canceled wage checks reflect the difference in their pay; at a time when many miners were illiterate, literate workers earned significantly more. Although Jess could read and write, his physical build determined his assignment.

Because few mine workers could read, Superintendent George Hooper noticed employees who showed an interest in books. Hooper led the Victoria Mines from 1906 until his death in 1923, when his son Thomas took over. After seeing Joe purchasing books at the company store, Hooper invited the tall young Englishman into his impressive library.

“Joe, any time you want to read a book, you come here and borrow one of mine and save your money,” he told him. In time, the two men began discussing books and current events. Hooper eventually asked Joe what he truly hoped to achieve, adding that he could not imagine Joe wanted to work for a mining company all his life. Joe explained that he and his brother were saving to buy farms of their own.

Hooper took the conversation to heart and quietly began looking for farmland. His son Thomas was engaged to a woman from Almont, Michigan, where Hooper learned of a reasonably priced farmhouse and 40-acre farm on Shoemaker Road. While visiting Thomas and his future bride, he inspected the property. On returning to Ontonagon, Hooper recommended it to Joe, who trusted his advice and bought the farm sight unseen.

Setting Roots in Almont Township: Old Forty’s Farmhouse, circa 1917

After a year and a half at the mine, Joe left for his new farm in Almont. He wrote to Amy, who was working as a domestic servant for the Fitzwilliam family in Yorkshire, asking her to join him. He arranged their wedding at an Episcopal church in nearby Dryden, and they married on Sept. 26, 1911.

Jess followed his brother to Almont, living with Joe and Amy at the property known as “Old Forty” while working as a farmhand nearby. Although he had not yet bought a farm, the region offered fertile land alongside access to shipping hubs, railroads and streetcars for transporting crops. He decided to settle in the area.

The conclusion of the story will appear in next week’s issue, Nov. 11, of the Tri-City Times.