Events of the Past Can Affect the Future

I wrote this article was written in 2012 and has been updated for use here.

I have done some indexing for TONI (The Ontario Name Index) project for the Ontario Genealogical Society.  While doing so, I came across a family all of whom died in the same year.  I wondered what would cause such an event.  Was there an epidemic at the time, or was there something else?  It was in 1958.  I did not think that it would be an epidemic as I do not know of one going through Ontario at that time.

So, I googled the father’s name, the residence and the year.  I found that there were, indeed, unusual circumstances.  Ernest and Mary Freda Hammill lived in a two-room log cabin in Alice Township, Renfrew County, Ontario.  The couple had a three-year-old son, Ezra, and the wife’s brother, Leonard Burger, was there at the time.

For some reason, a fire started under the porch.  A number of errors were made and the family died in the fire.  There was confusion over jurisdiction and one person reporting the fire was referred to other agencies.  By the time the fire department from the army base at Petawawa arrived, it was too late.

Because of the deaths, an inquiry was made into the situation and recommendations were made.  One of the recommendations was the formation of the Petawawa Township Fire Brigade.  This was a step forward, but the ultimate change was that the surrounding areas began to co-ordinate responses to emergencies such as fires.