The Glorious 12th - the Orange Lodge and my family

I inherited this picture from my dad after he died. I found it rolled up in a box of photos. You can see from the cracks on the paper that it had not been unrolled for some time.

From the writer's personal collection

In the middle are my grandfather Bill Brooks and my dad who had just had his third birthday. I know who and where (Kew Gardens in the Beach area of Toronto) but wasn't sure of the occasion. What was the RBP and who were these serious looking gentlemen? 

I knew my family were Orangemen and my sleuthing revealed that there was a connection. But first some background. The Loyal Orange Lodge was inspired by the July 12th 1690 victory of the Protestant William of Orange over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne near Dublin in Ireland.

grandorangelodge.ca

The first Orange Lodge was founded in Northern Ireland about 100 years later to uphold the Protestant Ascendancy during another period of Protestant-Catholic strife. Its goal was to defend Protestant civil and religious liberties. The order spread to Scotland, primarily around Glasgow and then to Canada in the early 19th century. Most of the early members were Irish but many Scots and English also joined. And this is where my family comes into the story.

My great grandfather John Andrew Brooks was a staunch Tory and a staunch Orangeman. He belonged to the Malvern Lodge 3019 and I believe he was one of the founding members. At one point he was the Grand Master of the Lodge. 

              Toronto Telegram, date unknown

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find out much more about his involvement with the Lodge. Like many societies the Orange Order is somewhat secretive about their rules and operations. I found an interesting Catalogue of Orange Supplies that had paraphernalia for sale but no real explanation of what the goods were to be used for. 

Guess this is where the term "hoodwinked" came from.

Toronto Public Library "Catalogue of Orange Supplies"

Or you could order your own flag:

Toronto Public Library "Catalogue of Orange Supplies"

My grandfather followed his father into the Order, no doubt feeling that involvement would give him status and a step up in the world. This 1920 letter talks about his moving from a lodge in the Dufferin Bloor area to one closer to home in the East end.

From the writer's collection

Bill became quite involved in the Lodge and two of its brother organizations. There is even less information available about the other two orders but I do know you had to be a member of the Orange Lodge before you could join the other organizations. The first was the Royal Arch Purple. My grandfather had this handsome certificate. It's huge and I was only able to scan it in two pieces.

From the writer's collection

And the other organization he belonged to was the RBP that started my story: The Royal Black Preceptory. It appears that the other two orders were stepping stones to get to the RBP which was seen as a more dignified and religious group. It was interesting to note that my grandfather apparently reached the Red Cross Degree which was the highest level of the RBP.

From the writer's collection

The Catalogue of Orange Supplies had some interesting stuff for this group:

Toronto Public Library "Catalogue of Orange Supplies"

But the most interesting item in the Catalogue is this page which clears up helps clear up the mystery of the picture and an item that's been in my sister's possession for a number of years:

Toronto Public Library "Catalogue of Orange Supplies"

We just knew them as Grandpa's jewels but didn't really know what they meant. Here they are in the handsome case. He sprung for the higher level jewels in the "original and artistic design" to show he belonged to York Royal Black Preceptory No. 686 that met at the Ulster Temple at 214 Main Street on the 3rd Friday in every month

From the writer's collection

This organization was obviously very important to my grandfather as $15 was a lot of money in the 1920s/30s. It was interesting to read about these groups as I never thought of him as a religious person. Religion was an important component of the Orange Lodge and the other organizations but I think the fraternal and benevolent side was also important and clearly filled a place in men's lives in the 19th and 20th centuries in Toronto. As the Order declined in relevance and Lodges closed my grandfather didn't continue his membership though I can't say for sure when his involvement ended.

From the writer's collection

Today is the 12th of July. The Orangemen still march but the event is nowhere near as popular as it used to be. Thankfully the 12th is no longer the day for sectarian violence and riots (at least not in Canada). Their slogan today: "Civil and religious liberty for all, special privileges for none".

From Landestreu to Landestreu

This is my maternal grandfather. His name was Jacob Besler and he was born on 28 December 1883 in Landestreu a town in Galicia, a province in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire.

From the writer's collection

Landestreu was a small town populated by members of Jacob's extended family - Baumungs, Kandels, Lowenbergers and Beslers (spelled Bößler in this town map. 

Courtesy of GalizienGermanDescencants.org

Beslers were among the earliest residents of Landestreu moving from Germany in the 1770s. The Austro-Hungarian Empire invited foreign settlers into its newly acquired province of Galizien. German settlers found the offers of transportation and special status attractive and moved east.

More emigration was to come, this time westward. In 1872 the Dominion Land Act was enacted by Canada's Parliament. For a $10 registration fee a settler would receive 160 acres of land. He would have to live on the land for six months of the year for three years, clear at least 30 acres, erect a house worth at least $300 and be a naturalized British citizen. Canadian officials actively recruited in Europe for immigrants to settle western Canada.

Library and Archives Canada, collecitonscanada.gc.ca

Some of the first settlers to take advantage of the Act were residents of Landestreu. They moved to Saskatchewan in 1890 and founded a village also named Landestreu in honour of their home in Galicia. The name of the town was eventually to changed to MacNutt in 1909 in honour of Thomas MacNutt, who was the Member of the Legislative Assembly at the time. But in 1902 it was still called Landestreu and this was the town that Jacob Besler emigrated to.

I have not yet been able to find Jacob on a passenger list but hope one day to locate him. I like to picture him heading for North America with other young men from his town, perhaps some of the Baumung and Kandel cousins who show up on Census records in the same part of Saskatchewan. He appears to have left Galicia in 1902 as his passport shows that year as does his land patent application. He was 18 years old

From the writer's collection

Jacob's passport lists his employment as "wagner" (wagon driver or wagon maker). Perhaps his opportunities were limited in the small village of Landestreu. No doubt the lure of free land beckoned.

By 1910 Jacob had met all the Land Act requirements and successfully claim his property. In reviewing his file I found that he had returned his first plot of land as it was too rocky to farm

Taken by the writer June 2018

The first land was granted to another settler; Jacob had more luck with is second grant of land which he took possession of in 1906.

Saskatchewan Archives Board, Department of the Interior

The immigration agents did not tell potential immigrants how hard it was to farm in Canada. They did not tell them how harsh the prairie winters were. But the farmers carried on. My grandparents married in 1915. A wife and family were needed to help farm as hired help were few and far between. My grandmother Bena and the older Besler children were expected to help with chores. My mother was the youngest girl and didn't have too many chores during the farm years. Here she is as a baby.

And with her Dad outside the family home.

From the writer's collection

The family resided in the log cabin that Jacob built. It was neither roomy nor well-insulated. My mother remembers lying in bed looking at the icicles that had formed on the roof of the cabin. The three girls slept together for warmth. The children walked several miles to a one room school house that was actually located over the provincial border in Manitoba.

My sister, niece and I recently visited the area with the mother - it was the first time she had returned to Saskatchewan since she was a child. 

Taken by the writer June 2018

Obviously there were changes but the isolation remains. Homes are far apart on large plot of land. As of 2006 there were only 80 people living in MacNutt. 

Taken by writer June 2018

Winters were particularly isolating. Even now the roads in the area are dirt and gravel only. There would have been no snow clearing. The family rarely went into town and did not even attend church on a regular basis. My mother remembers attending the Christmas pageant at the school. The family would pile into the sleigh with warm bricks wrapped in blankets to keep the cold out.

The 1930s were especially harsh in Saskatchewan and unfortunately Jacob was no longer able to support his family by farming. After over 30 years he abandoned the farm and moved to Winnipeg. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for him. Jacob worked for the Canadian National Railway in Winnipeg. In the late 1940s Jacob and Bena moved to Toronto to join their children. My grandfather died in 1961 when I was two years old so I don't really remember him. I do like this picture of him and me though!

From the writer's collection

On Canada Day I salute Jacob Besler for leaving his home in Europe to come to Canada. He was a 20th Century pioneer and played an important role in settling our western provinces. He helped make Canada the wonderful country it is today through sacrifice and perseverance and I am thankful that he did.