National Sibling Day

April 10th is National Sibling Day. Most people have siblings, though not as many as in earlier times. My 4x great-grandmother Elizabeth McKay Thomson was one of eleven siblings, all of whom survived to adulthood. She had nine children herself, and most of her siblings had families of the same size.

I have one younger sister. Here's a picture of us from a few years back - she's the little blonde:

She's ok though she insists I tried to kill her when she was a baby. My story is that I was just looking into the crib to see what they brought home when it tipped over. She survived.

My father liked to joke.



















Speaking of my father, he also had a younger sibling. My dad and his brother Mel were close. They were two and a half years apart in age.

My dad on the left, my uncle on the right

Jones Falls, 1938

They remained close into adulthood. My mother recently shared a lovely story about the brothers. Upon his return from WWII my dad underwent major surgery on his leg which left him with a permanent limp. After his discharge from Sunnybrook Hospital he needed to use crutches for a period  of time. At the same time he had fulfilled his lifelong dream of attending the University of Toronto and studying music. Travelling from East York to downtown Toronto by streetcar on crutches would have been a nightmare. My uncle volunteered to drive my dad to class then pick him up later to bring   

him home. This would have been on top of holding down a full time job. 

My grandma Gertie was Russ and Mel's mother. She was one of twelve children, eight of whom survived to adulthood. The Kingswell clan was a close one. My grandmother's photo album is filled with pictures of her sisters and brothers. 

The family moved from Kingston to Toronto, and most of the family remained in the Toronto area. The exception was my great uncle Alf who moved to Buffalo. He was only a year older than Gertie and they remained close with many visits between the families over the years, even during war times. 

Gertie was also close with her younger sister Chrissie, the baby of the family. Chrissie spent lots of time with Gertie's family when the boys were young. My dad had fond memories of going to the movies with his aunt before the war. Gertie was close with her other two sisters Ollie and Liz as well.

So not a lot of heavy research in this post, just a bunch of fun pictures and memories of some of the siblings in my family.