Rosetta (McKinnon) Kirkwood
/Rosetta (McKinnon) Kirkwood (sister of Wilma McKinnon's paternal grandfather)
Wilma Bush sent this information written by Kirk Tierney:
Rose Kirkwood was born a McKinnon, a successful Marmora clan of lumber, farming and mining men, originally from Prince Edward Island. She met Thomas M Kirkwood when he was working on the building of a railway between Kingston and Marmora, carrying ore and lumber. At the time, huge amounts of lumber were used in smelting ore, so the two went hand in hand.
Thomas M Kirkwood became a fast friend and business partner of Daniel Laughlin McKinnon, who later married Kirkwood's sister. In fact there were broad dealings between the Kirkwoods and the McKinnons, and multi-generation intermarriage. TMK and DLM worked in Sudbury, where they both carried out an ore-roasting contract, and stayed for nearly 30 years starting in the 1890's. There are Kirkwoods and McKinnons there still. They co-owned many businesses, including railways, mines, smelters, stores, ships, boarding houses and even a resort in the Sault.
Rose was a beautiful, strong-willed, wiley, and a woman of the emerging lands. She had a lot of real world knowledge compared the norm, but she was not a "finished" lady.
Anecdote from "Babs" Kirkwood, Rose's granddaughter:
Rose lived with us in Montreal, after the death of her husband. I remember that she had the devil in her at times. For example she really had Tom as her favourite, and he could do no wrong. Every meal, the girls cooked her food and set it on a tray for her, and brought it to her and propped her up and served her. But only Tom could take the tray away. Only Tom. And she almost always left him a dime for his efforts. That's just the way she was.
Anecdote from Diane Holmes Kirkwood, Rose's' granddaughter-in-law:
I hardly ever spoke with her, because she would never talk to me. About the only time I did was the first time we met. I was over at the Kirkwoods' place at Christmas in Montreal, well before Tom and I were even engaged. Rose looked at me, raised her finger to me and said "You'll never be allowed to marry my Tom, because you are a black Protestant !". And that was the last time we ever spoke.
(This is interesting, since half the Kirkwood family is Protestant and half Catholic. Rose's father-in-law was in fact educated to be a Presbyterian minister, while her mother-in-law was a Quebecois Catholic.)
Note from Ida Kirkwood Tierney, Rose's granddaughter:
Grandma was much loved, but sometimes very crusty. She loved plain truth. She had a lot of influence over her children and her husband.
Anecdote from J. K. Hollinghurst, RAF, Rose's granddaughter Kaye's boyfriend, in a letter to Kaye.
Tell Grandma that I think she's cute too, and be sure to say "How the hell are ya!?" to her for me.
She died at home, probably in Montreal West; she moved with the family into the Norgate flats in the same year as Ida and Bab's wedding.
Allan Stacey of Chelmsford added: Kirkwood and McKinnon had a summer resort five miles west of Sault Ste. Marie at Pointe aux Pins from early 1894 until sometime later when the main hotel burnt.
Alexander Kirkwood (b. 1822 d. 1901), Thomas's father, was responsible for advocating for preservation of forestland, resulting in Algonquin Park (ca. 1886). He was head clerk in the Ontario Crown Lands Department, retiring in 1900 after 47 years of service.
Note from Ida Kirkwood Tierney, Rose's granddaughter:
Grandma was much loved, but sometimes very crusty. She loved plain truth. She had a lot of influence over her children and her husband.
Anecdote from J. K. Hollinghurst, RAF, Rose's granddaughter Kaye's boyfriend, in a letter to Kaye.
Tell Grandma that I think she's cute too, and be sure to say "How the hell are ya!?" to her for me.
She died at home, probably in Montreal West; she moved with the family into the Norgate flats in the same year as Ida and Bab's wedding.
Allan Stacey of Chelmsford added: Kirkwood and McKinnon had a summer resort five miles west of Sault Ste. Marie at Pointe aux Pins from early 1894 until sometime later when the main hotel burnt.
Alexander Kirkwood (b. 1822 d. 1901), Thomas's father, was responsible for advocating for preservation of forestland, resulting in Algonquin Park (ca. 1886). He was head clerk in the Ontario Crown Lands Department, retiring in 1900 after 47 years of service.
