52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 14 (Maiden Aunt)

Although a cousin rather than an aunt, my focus this week is Ethel May Adelaide Allen.  She is a first cousin of my father, but as my father's father had been the youngst of 12 children, many of my father's cousins were more like aunts and uncles.

Ethel was born December 30 1909, the third child of Robert Herbert Allen and Ida Mary Halm, in Sunnidale Township, Simcoe County, Ontario.  Ethel was only 16 years old when her mother died in 1925.  Neither she or her only brother, William "Bill" George, ever married.  The two lived together in their family farm house until their deaths.  They never had electricity installed in the house. 

During my childhood, Bill and Et, were kept apprised of the happenings of my father's immediate family by my aunts and uncles who still lived in the Brentwood area.  As there was no electricity, there was no telephone, so my aunts and uncle had to make personal visits to inform their cousins of deaths in the family.  These aunts and uncle have spun many a humourous story of the experiences visiting the rustic home.  One time, my uncle Garnet went to sit down and the couch moved: it was Bill laying on the couch.  But as the house was in darkness, Garnet had not been aware of anyone already on the couch.

I cannot remember Bill's appearances, but Ethel always managed to get to the family funerals.

On one occasion, our family was enroute from Kingston to the funeral home in Creemore.  As we passed through Brentwood, we recognized Ethel standing on the side of the road near the laneway to her house.  Our car was full and my father felt bad not being able to stop to pick her up.  We were most surprised when we arrived at the funeral home, after having stopped for gas, and Ethel was already there!  Apparently my Uncle Ab had also spotted Ethel on the road and was able to stop to give her a ride and would have passed us when we stopped for gas.  Ethel's explanation:  she knew that there would be a number of family members going past her house enroute to the funeral home, so she positioned herself out at the road knowing that someone would stop to pick her up!

In later years, a nephew would escort her to family funerals.

Ethel died on February 13 1995 and is buried with other family members in the Angus Union Cemetery in Angus, Simcoe County, Ontario.