Accident in Brockville in 1922

[suedent]

For a change a family story that may well be true. My gg-uncle Frederick Hoskin reportedly emigrated to Canada from Cornwall & died in a Lorry fire. I have managed to find the details of his death.

He died at the General Hospital in Brockville, Leeds, Ontario on 9 Nov 1922. His occupation was Truck Driver & he died of extensive burns (duration 11 days).

Does anyone know if the newspaper archives for that area are available online. I would love to know if the burns were indeed the result of a lorry fire.

Also he was buried at Ganonque(?), Ontario and his residence was given as Mallorytown. Are these places near Brockville?

TIA

[v.wells]

Gananoque (e with slash on top) and Mallorytown are near Brockville, Ontario

http://www.journalismnet.com/papers/canada.htm
www.world-newspapers.com/canada.html may give you a lead. And google maps for locations.

[suedent]

Thanks for those links Vanessa.

Thanks also for helping with the geography.

[IanBrowness]

My gg-uncle Frederick Hoskin reportedly emigrated to Canada from Cornwall & died in a Lorry fire... Does anyone know if the newspaper archives for that area are available online.

Your story, when first posted, piqued my interest and I leafed through the Toronto Globe and Mail Archives - which are online - on the offchance the accident might have been reported there; however Eastern Ontario stories even today get rather short shrift there and I could find no reference to it. The Recorder, the local Brockville paper, unfortunately does not have its archives online, but today I was at Library & Archives Canada where they had back issues on microfilm. I could see nothing around the date of the actual accident; however...

A week after Fred's death, the Brockville Recorder (a weekly) for Thursday, November 16, 1922 carried the story, which began:
"GASOLINE TANK EXPLOSION FATAL |
"Fred Hoskin, Aged 30, Injured at Mallorytown, Succumbed to Injuries |
"Fred Hoskin, aged about 30 years, died at the General Hospital Thursday from injuries received two weeks ago when he was terribly burned about the body through the exploding of a gasoline tank, near where he was working, in the vicinity of Mallorytown. |
"The deceased, as far as is known, had no relatives in this country, but is survived by a wife and two children in England. He resided at the Grand Central Hotel for over a month..."
The article continues, mentioning the good impression he made on those who knew him and indicating that burial arrangements were to be through "G.R. Quirmbach's undertaking parlors."

The Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid, or "OCFA" (see http://www.islandnet.com/ocfa/homepage.html ), lists two cemeteries in Gananoque, St John's Roman Catholic, and Willowbank, but so far I haven't been able to locate an OCFA reference to Fred there or back in Brockville, where the article suggests he was last residing. He may not have a marker or his burial may simply not have been indexed yet (OCFA is rather like the British NBI in that it's informative, but not 100% complete). If you PM me, I can send you a scan of the full news clipping.

Take care,
Ian

[suedent]

Hi Ian,
thank you so much for this info. I had emailed the Brockville Recorder quite a while ago but I haven't had a reply.

It's interesting to hear that he had no family in Canada, I had looked for a marriage in the UK & not found anything but I did find a marriage in Ganonque where all the details fitted for Fred. His wife was born just a few miles from Fred in Cornwall so it looks like she went back home.

I had looked at the Cemetery Finding Aid, I have a few relatives in Canada on my mum's side too & have found some of them. I check it every now and again for updates.

Sue