From the Editor
Laurine's last best chance
By Judi McLeodSaturday, august 20, 2005
People who never give up find a special place in my heart.
In missions that seem impossible, there are always the naysayers. Those not willing to try so hard always seem to be there to discourage you. That's even before you come up against bureaucracy, red tape and dead end streets.
None of the above could turn annette Jennings away from her life quest.
It was a daunting quest that began with a sepia toned picture. Jennings, who was searching her family tree, came across Laurine, a little girl, through no fault of her own destined to cross the ocean from England to Canada.
"I can only imagine how this little girl of 10 felt being sent so far away from home to Canada," Jennings told Canada Free Press in a letter to the editor.
In painstakingly fitting the pieces of the family tree puzzle together, Jennings discovered that Barnados, a British orphanage, had sent two of her ancestors to Canada from England.
Successful in tracing one of them, she is now in regular contact with his descendants.
"I cannot find the other. I do not know what happened to her," Jennings relates.
This amateur sleuth across the ocean is trying to trace the daughter of the second family member, who if still alive, is likely to be in the Toronto area, where she was born, married and divorced.
The forlorn little girl of the photo would now be in her 80s.
But that's no deterrent to annette Jennings, who can't forget the sadness of her picture.
The little girl keeps calling out to Jennings from a faded picture.
"This story is my last best chance. I do not want to give up as it is possible Laurine is still alive," says Jennings.
Laurine's mother was Henrietta Cook and her story has been carefully pieced together by Jennings.
"Henrietta was born on September 4, 1895 in Exeter, Devon. She had an older brother, Frank, who is, my great granddad, and three half siblings: Mary, John and Ernest.
"Ernest, too was a home child, but I have traced his descendants who are all in the United States of america."
For reasons unknown Henrietta was taken into care at Barnados on November 4, 1904.
Henrietta was sent to Canada, destination Toronto on april 25, 1907, arriving in Canada on May 7, 1907.
"I believe she did live and work in the Innisfil area and there was a Thornton, Ont. Post Office box address for her," said Jennings. "I believe she worked as a maid and she would have been around 12 years old."
The Henrietta trail goes cold and is not picked up again until 1916 when an address at 462 Sherbourne St. Toronto was found for her. at that time Henrietta was working with the Children's aid Society and possibly the Salvation army.
The paper trail shows that Henrietta married a man named Thomas Davies on July 26, 1916. The couple divorced three years later on June 6, 1919.
On October 24, 1939 an ad appeared in the Toronto Star, reading: "Will Henrietta Davies, mother of Laurine born 1919, please contact Randolph 4151?"
The ad provided two valuable clues for Jenning's search. Laurine would have been born the year Henrietta and Davies divorced, and in 1939 would have been 20 years old. It's possible that Laurine had been taken into care by the Children's' aid Society, as the Randolph number was a telephone exchange for the society.
The divorce of her parents took place back in a day when "adultery" was the speediest way to get one, and Laurine may have changed her surname.
This story is one that searches for Laurine, daughter of Henrietta Davies, nee Crook.
Back in England where the story all started, there is a big family all descended from Henrietta's brother, Frank.
"The actual road Frank was born on, which is Stepcote Hill, Exeter is now really famous as it is one of the oldest parts of the city," explains Jennings.
"Smythen Street, where Henrietta was born, ran close by to Stepcote Hill, which was a very poor area then,"
The woman who searches for a little girl from across an ocean has never given up on finding Laurine.
"as Laurine is likely to have married and changed her name, finding her in the Toronto telephone book, is not likely to happen, although I did write to every Davies in the book to no avail."
annette Jennings touched Canada Free Press when she wrote, "This story is my last best chance."
Now CFP hopes its generous Toronto readers will make that "last best chance" work.
annette's email is jennings_annette@yahoo.com
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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