Laura

My grandmother Margaret was the second youngest of eleven children, the breakdown of which was seven boys and four girls. Her eldest sister Laura, born "Mary Loretta” was the eldest child of Roddie and Josephine (MacAulay) Steele. Laura was the first to leave home and head to the States – a path that many of her siblings would also follow.

Laura Steele

My grandmother talked about her siblings a lot and the majority of them I never met. Her stories and the odd photograph were the only connection I had to these people. In the past few years, we’ve been fortunate enough to get to know Laura’s granddaughter Cheryl. She has in fact become one of my favourite cousins. Cheryl and her husband David purchased my Grandmother’s home on PEI after she died. This has led to many treasured family get-togethers in the summer when they are ‘home.’

This past summer they came to the Island to par take in my parent’s 45^th wedding anniversary. A few days after the party they came to the farm and spent an afternoon and evening with us. Cheryl brought with her a box of her Grandmother Laura’s photographs she had found. Mom, Cheryl and I spent the entire afternoon going through these photographs, Mom was able to identify many of the relatives in the photographs. We saw many images of my Grandmother’s siblings that we had never seen before. These photographs provided us with a glimpse into their lives. I knew these siblings all lives in the ‘States’ but what I did not have was a sense that they were all there “together.” Laura had many snapshots and some studio portraits of her, Philip, Joseph, Bernard, Cyriene, and Sadie. Here are a few highlights from Laura’s collection:

M. Joseph Steele

 

 



L to R: Laura (Steele) Raymond, Cryiene & Mildred Steele

Philip F. Steele

Laura (second from left)

Joseph (third from left)

Bernard (far right)

 

 Sadie (Steele) & Walter Halforth (sp?)

 

 

Sadie Steele

Of all the photographs we saw, this one surprised me the most. I’ve always known how much I resemble my Dad and the Rossiter side of my family. Yet, people have always felt there was a resemblance between myself and my cousin Louise, Mary Anne’s granddaughter. I certainly saw a resemblance between Louise and the photograph of Sadie above. But when I looked at the photograph below, I was shocked at how much I resembled Sadie – especially around the eyes. Unfortunately, I also grew up hearing Sadie always referred to as “the crazy one.”

Sadie Steele

On a previous trip to Cheryl’s home in New Hampshire, I was delighted to discover a slate that Laura had saved from her childhood. The Steele children who had used this slate when attending school had engraved their initials into the slate. Words cannot express the excitement I felt when I saw this slate. Cheryl said the slate had been found in Laura’s hope chest.

I never met Laura, but I am so grateful to her. I am grateful that she saved the slate, that she documented many aspects of her and her siblings lives via photographs, and that she saved these photographs. All of these items, today, offer our family a glimpse of the story of the lives of those who came before us.