Across Oceans and Continents

These were one-way tickets on an ocean liner. A journey that was years in the making and that would forever change the course of their lives and of their family’s history. The journey across oceans and continents was so expensive and they had saved for so many years, they didn’t know if they’d ever return to their homeland. Ella recalls: “It took everything we had to get over, so there was no way of coming back.”

After converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 1932, Ella’s parents started making plans to emigrate to America. They would leave their homeland, their family, friends, occupations, and the comfort of a communal culture...to buy one-way tickets on an ocean liner.

It wasn’t fame or fortune that called to them, but the desire to gather together “in Zion” with other members of the Church and to receive the blessings of the temple. At that time, the only operating temples of the Church were in the United States and Canada, and there weren’t any announced plans to build any others in Europe anytime soon.(1) If families wanted to receive these saving ordinances and be sealed together, they made the sacrifice to emigrate.

Mesa, Arizona,would be their final destination, near where their missionary friend and sponsor John Freestone was living.

But Europe entered World War II in 1939, and their plans to emigrate were put on hold. During those war years, George served faithfully as the branch president of the Aberdeen Branch of the Church, one of only four branches of the Church in Scotland at the time.

After the war ended in 1945, their preparations resumed: Not only continuing to save what money they could, but preparing documents, passports and visas, medical records, and tickets, as well as selling virtually all that they owned (including the hand-crafted furniture that George had made) and bidding farewell to family and friends.

George's ticket for the train that would take him to
Southampton, to board the Mauretania.
Image source: Life History of George and Kate Findlay

They traveled essentially with the clothes on their back, and they also took along some of her father’s tools and books (he loved to read). Ella would have liked to have taken her special doll, or her uniform blazer with the embroidered patch on the pocket from the prestigious Central School that she attended (a college prep school) - unfortunately, these treasures were left behind. She did, however, bring her Mickey Mouse Club pin, which she still has today.

SS Mauretania

Their family wouldn’t make the journey all together but in three different waves. George (age 45 at the time) would depart first to pave the way for the rest of the family to come. He boarded the SS Mauretania in Southampton, England, on 14 December 1948, and they entered the port of New York on 20 Dec 1948. He then traveled across the United States by train, arriving in Queen Creek, Arizona,(2) on Christmas Eve.

Ella recalls that he wrote a letter to her while passing through cities and towns along the way, describing decorated Christmas trees and lights that adorned each station. This really piqued Ella’s imagination and curiosity, as such decorations were quite uncommon in Europe that was still recovering from the war, and for their family, which never had a Christmas tree when she was growing up.

While George was establishing himself and getting a home ready for his family in Arizona, Ella, her sister Ina, and her mother (Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie - she went by "Kate") stayed with her paternal grandparents, George Findlay (senior) and Charlesina Smith Love, at their home on Ferrier Crescent in Aberdeen.

There they stayed until May 1949, when Ella and her mother embarked on their journey. Ella was now 15 years old, her mother was 44. They boarded the train at the Aberdeen Train Station in the center of town, Ella’s grandmother Charlesina saw them off at the train station, as well as two of her father’s sisters, and perhaps a cousin who was her age.

They first headed to London for a few days, where they visited with the mission president, Selvoy J. Boyer, and also took time to go to the theater, to see “Annie Get Your Gun.” From London, they took the “boat train” to Southampton, England, where they would board their ocean liner, the SS Washington, on 13 May 1949 for the eight-day trans-Atlantic journey.

From an album Ella compiled

SS Washington

The SS Washington was a luxury liner of the United States Lines, traveling from Southampton to New York City. (Source) They traveled by either tourist or third class, and Ella’s impression was that most of the other passengers were also emigrants, including an Irish father and his three sons that shared the table with them in the dining hall, with whom they enjoyed socializing. On board the ship, there was plenty to keep them busy: movies, dancing at night (though they weren’t involved with that), and passengers could walk out on the deck to get some fresh air.

From an album Ella compiled

Their cabin had eight beds (bunk beds that were two deep) and a good-sized window - “It was roomy enough....It was very airy and bright.” The dining hall had long tables for eating, not super fancy but still nice. Ella describes the food onboard as being all-you-can-eat and “wonderful!” You have to remember, “We had come out of rationing. Everything was still a spare living. All the food that we had [on the ship]! And these Irish boys, oh my gosh, could they put the food away! We were just amazed!”

Early on 21 May 1949, their boat sailed into the New York Harbor. Ella and many of the other passengers woke up early that morning to greet the NYC skyline and wave at the Statue of Liberty as they came into port. Can you imagine the excitement?

NY Harbor, 1949

Ellis Island happened to be closed at that time, so the immigration officials came on board their ship to review their papers and clear them for entrance to the United States. They had to have a physical before emigrating, including a lung x-ray. When the immigration officials got to Ella, they took out her x-ray and paused and kept looking at it; “Scared us to death! What were they seeing? Finally they put it down and said, ‘Ok, you pass.’” Phew!

From the harbor in New York, they took a taxi to Grand Central Station, where they would board a train that would take them to Salt Lake City. They had several hours before the train disembarked, so they took advantage of the time to explore the station and gorge themselves on food, including milkshakes. They didn’t explore much beyond the station, however, for fear of getting lost and missing their train.

Ella returns to Grand Central Station - August 2005

Their total train journey took about two days and two nights, changing trains in Chicago. They landed in Salt Lake City, where  they were met by Ella’s father, and they spent a few days touring around and spending time with a cousin(3) who was also a member of the Church. Ella’s mother had discovered this relative through her genealogy research; they were related through the Bruce line in the Shetland Islands and they had converted to the church while living in (Liverpool?) England.

From an album Ella compiled

From Salt Lake City, they traveled by bus to their final destination in Arizona. Ella sure liked Salt Lake City and the few days they spent there, and often comments about how the scenery from that point on just got more and more brown and hot the closer they got toward Arizona. “By the time I got my feet on the ground, I had an instant nose bleed!” thanks to the combination of heat and altitude. Hah! It was now the end of May.

Ella’s sister, Ina, would make the long journey from Aberdeen to the United States by herself, also sailing on the SS Washington. She arrived in New York on 14 October 1949, five months after Ella and their mother. She was 21 years old.

I wonder what thoughts were going through George and Kate's minds all those years that they were preparing, during the voyage, and when they arrived in Arizona and their family was finally all reunited again. America didn’t necessarily offer them greener pastures, either literally (they settled in Arizona, after all) or figuratively: It’s no small task to start a new life from scratch.

Ella supposes that the transition might have been easier for her mother than her father: Her mother was an only child and her parents had already passed away, while her father was the oldest of 11 with his parents and many siblings still in Aberdeen.

For Ella, she doesn’t remember any bitterness or much sadness about their move (except for leaving her grandmother), but there was certainly some excitement to be reunited with her father again, and perhaps a bit of apprehension about the future also. The hardest part she says was while they were on the boat, pulling out of the harbor, thinking “This was it! This was it!” It was a little sad, especially because she wouldn’t see her “dear sweet grandmother” Charlesina again, but it was an adventure.

Ella’s parents did return to Scotland one last time, perhaps five or six years after they had emigrated, this time traveling by airplane rather than boat. Her father had a difficult time, however; he was so homesick for his homeland that he reluctantly returned America. “From what Mother said, he did not want to come back. ‘We have to go back. Our girls are there. That’s where we need to be.’ And so he did.”

Ella often comments about how she’s grateful that circumstances were such that she was 15 when they emigrated. Why? It meant that she was older and could remember her homeland and her heritage much more clearly, something that is so dear to her.

And of course Ralph is grateful that Ella’s family emigrated as well. He likes to joke that their 5 children were up in heaven saying, “Ok, Ella’s in Scotland, Ralph’s in Arizona…we’ve got to get these two together...” And indeed, looking back at their marvelous journey and all that’s transpired since then, we can see that there was certainly some heavenly help in guiding family members to where they needed to be.

From an album Ella compiled 

From an album Ella compiled

Notes:

1. The first LDS temple in Europe (and 9th operating LDS temple) was built in 1955, in Bern Switzerland. Source.
2. Their sponsor, John Freestone, was living in Queen Creek, AZ.
3. This cousin’s name was Louise Undine Loftus Anderson Clark. She was a second cousin of Ursula’s/Kate's, a descendant of Robert Bruce (1804-1852) and Mary Young (1795-1842) in Shetland. Undine lived in the avenues of Salt Lake City, near a cemetery.

Source: From phone conversations between Ella and KF, recorded on 6 July 2014. Also an additional conversation on 26 October 2014 (unrecorded, but notes taken).

From an album Ella compiled

From an album Ella compiled

Passenger List for Ursula/Kate and Ella, SS Washington, 1949

Passenger List for George, SS Mauretania, 1948

Passenger List for Ina, SS Washington, 1949

Our Family Lost and Found

The story of how Ella and Ralph first connected with our cousins in Shetland is a pretty amazing one. In Ella’s own words:(1)

Several years ago I was working on my mother’s father’s line, John Macdonald Beattie. He was the illegitimate son of John Macdonald and Elizabeth Beattie. I had spent much time researching this John Macdonald trying to find his parentage. I would time on Fridays at the Family History Library in Salt Lake - but to no avail!

This one Friday morning I lay in bed contemplating what to do. I decided not to go to the Library as I just didn't know of any more avenues to pursue. As I was thinking about this suddenly a female voice whispered in my ear, “Bruce.” Needless to say I was taken aback and thought - what on earth would I look for on the Bruce line? “It’s all done.” Wrong thing to say!

I got dressed and went outside to pull weeds out of our little flower bed. As I was kneeling down doing so, again that voice whispered in my ear, “Bruce!” So I stood up, thinking to myself, “This an effort of futility.” Let me mention why. My mother, Ursula Katherine Bruce Findlay had done a tremendous amount of work on the Bruce line and to me it seemed like it all had been accounted for.

However, I cleaned up, took some records with me and headed for the library. As I was driving, parking, walking into the library, down the elevator to the British Section and sitting down, I absolutely didn't know why I was there!

So I sat for a few minutes and I was prompted to look for marriages in the Shetland Islands. My grandmother, Ursilla Katherine Bruce was born in Burraove in the island of Yell, Shetland. She was one of six children. Three died in infancy, two brothers left for Australia and died quite young - so who was I to look for?

However, I went and found a microfilm on marriages in Shetland. I barely cranked the handle of the microfilm reader when I came upon the marriage of a Mary Jane Bruce. I thought to myself, “That’s a pretty name.” We don’t have anyone by that name in the records. In those times, names were used over and over again (sometimes making research very difficult). However, I kept looking at the document and her father was listed as Robert Bruce. Aha! Is there a link? However, there are lots of Robert Bruces in the islands! Mary Jane’s mother was listed as Christina Stove.

As I kept studying the document, I just had a feeling something was different. Were these parents married? So I decided to look for Mary Jane’s birth record. Found it! And yes, she was the illegitimate child of my great grandfather, Robert Bruce of Burravoe, Yell, Shetland and Christina Stove. My mother didn't know of this child and I doubt my grandmother knew as her father died when she was three years of age.

The next step for me to take was to find out if any temple work had been done. Yes, Mary Jane had been baptized and her endowments done, all by extraction, but she had not been sealed to her husband or their children sealed to them. Yes, they are an eternal family now with all 8 children sealed to them!

Through more miracles, I found present day cousins directly descended from Mary Jane! They are all very special people and it is a joy to visit them. Grandpa and I have had the privilege of visiting and staying with them several times in the last few years and always leave humbled and happy to have found them! Truly, “our family lost and found.”

Prior to Ella being inspired to look up the microfilm on marriages in Shetland, she had been corresponding with a young man named Derek at the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society. Ella and Ralph had met Derek on one of their trips to Aberdeen, and he had found some information that was relevant to the Bruce line, which he was excited to share with Ella. However, he was delayed in sending the information, due to some issues with his computer. Unfortunately, when Ella and Ralph received the next issue of the Society’s quarterly journal in early 1998, they saw a tribute to Derek - he had passed away unexpectedly. Initially, it seemed that the information Derek had found was laid to rest with him, but we now can see that Mary Jane Bruce was waiting to be found, one way or another!

How did Ella and Ralph first make contact with the living cousins in Shetland?

When Ella finally discovered she had family in Shetland, she wrote a letter to a relative (she can’t remember which one now), who unbeknownst to her had actually passed away. The man who who was now living at that address knew that that relative was related to N in Burravoe, Yell, so he gave the letter to N. N was the first person that Ella and Ralph made contact with - a great granddaughter of Mary Jane Bruce (a second cousin once removed to Ella). And so this beautiful relationship with the Shetland cousins begins.

Ella and Ralph planned their first visit to Shetland in 2000. Ralph recalls:(2)

We were going to fly into Shetland from Aberdeen. We had reservations at the Sumburgh Hotel for the first night [an old Bruce estate converted to a hotel, in Sumburgh, near the airport]. We had a car hired. We were late because we had missed several flights so I called the hotel and I said, “We’re late, please keep our room.” She said, “No problem. The room is available. And what shall I tell these ladies who are waiting for you?” I asked Grandma, who’s waiting for us? We had no clue, because the only contact we she had was N up on Yell, and we were going to drive up there the next day.

We arrived, and we met R, E, and Ruby’s daughter S, who was pregnant at the time. [R and E are sisters, also great granddaughters of Mary Jane, second cousins to N, second cousins once removed to Ella.] It was late at night, perhaps about midnight, sitting at a table in the restaurant. The restaurant was open because the flight crew overnighted there. So there we were sitting, with these three wonderful ladies, with this big sheet of paper and they were showing, “Ok, here’s your great, great grandpappy, and here’s your great, great grandmother, and here’s our great, great grandmother.” And they were showing us all the genealogy that they did. It was very fascinating and interesting!

Ella remembers, “It surprised me that anyone knew we were going to be there!” “The drums must beat when something like this happens,” Ralph likes to say. Because N wasn’t able to greet Ella and Ralph when they initially arrived (it’s a little bit of a journey, traveling by ferry from Yell, down to Sumburgh), R, E, and S were excited to be the family emissaries. While on that trip, Ella and Ralph also met N's mother, Hughina, and B, another sister to R and E.

The next day, Ella and Ralph traveled to Yell to meet N and her mother Hughina, in Burravoe. They were caught up in conversation, when at about 4:30 in the afternoon they thought to call the B&B they’d be staying at that night to let them know they’d still be coming. Again, the drums beat. “Don’t worry. I know you’re here. you came over on the 2:20 ferry,” said the woman at the B&B.“You’ve got to watch your step coming up here,” said R…everybody knows everybody!

What did R think where she learned about these American cousins that had found them and were coming to visit? “It wasn’t a big surprise,” she said, because she had had New Zealand cousins who had “suddenly appeared,” and G had American cousins who had come as well, back to their roots. “It’s absolutely lovely,” she said, that everyone feels that they can come back, and “lovely” that we’re all part of a big extended family.

Notes:

1. Written down and shared with family members in 2006.
2. Recollections from Ralph, Ella, and R recorded on 29 September 2014 at R's home.

Want to add: The family trees that show how we all trace back to the same Robert Bruce of Burravoe. (Ella - Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie - Ursilla Katherine Bruce - Robert Bruce; R/B/E - Robert John Robertson - Anderina Johnston - Mary Jane Bruce - Robert Bruce; N - Hughina Sutherland - Hellon Johnston - Anderina Johnston - Mary Jane Bruce - Robert Bruce)

On the Banks of the River Dee, Aberdeen

There was no warm-water baptismal font for those converting to the church in Aberdeen, Scotland, in the early to mid 1900’s. Instead, these soon-to-be Latter-day Saints were immersed in the waters of the River Dee, while supportive family and friends witnessed from the rocky banks.

The River Dee, with the Brig O' Dee in the background - Oct 2014 

This is where George Findlay and his wife Ursula were baptized in June 1932. (1) Grandma Ella was also baptized here in 1942 (age 8),(2) just south of the bridge Brig O’ Dee. Although her birthday is in January, she was baptized in September, a relatively much warmer time to be baptized in the river, but still chilly by most standards!

George Findlay's baptism in the
River Dee - June 1932

You could say that here, on the banks of the River Dee, is where their journey to America began. Now baptized, what was most important to them was their faith, as Mormonism was a relatively unknown Christian religion in Scotland at the time, and they wanted to be close to others who believed similarly. Also, there were not yet any temples in Europe; if they wanted the blessings of the temple, their only option at the time was to travel to America.

Wearing the daisy-chain crown that AG made her.
Grandma said she used to make daisy chains as a girl - Oct 2014

And this is where on our recent trip, I delivered a tribute speech to Grandma and her family, while Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and AG listened from a bench overlooking the river and bridge.

Although I have grown up as and am an actively practicing Mormon, I am in awe and humbled by the sacrifices our ancestors made to more fully live what they believe. 

Selling virtually all that they owned and traveling essentially with the clothes on their backs, they waved goodbye to family as they boarded the train that took them to the ship harbor. Grandma was now 15 years old. The journey was so expensive and they had saved for so many years, they didn’t know if they’d ever return to their homeland. These were one-way tickets.

KF and AG at the River Dee - Sept 2006

America didn’t necessarily offer them greener pastures, either literally (they settled in Arizona, after all) or figuratively: It’s no small task to start a new life from scratch. And they were sometimes ridiculed for their accents, and they were often treated as second-class citizens. 

Why did they do all this? I think about this often. The conclusion that I have come to is that I believe they had a vision of the future, of how their sacrifices would benefit generations to come. We are now standing on their shoulders.

We have that same blood coursing through our veins. And we can tap into that same strength and determination. We too can trust in God, and that he has a plan for our lives and that he will direct us as we seek to know that plan. We can have courage in the face of hardships, as we ourselves face oceans and continents that separate us from our final destinations, and as we may sometimes find ourselves as strangers in a strange land. 

We too can do great things, GREAT THINGS, that will influence, for good, generations to come.

Notes:

1. It’s unconfirmed who baptized George and Ursula. Was it John Freestone, a missionary who was prominent in their conversion and fellowship and who sponsored their emigration to America? Or was it another missionary or member of the mission presidency? Also, familysearch.org has Ursula’s baptismal and confirmation dates as 11 and 12 June 1932, repsectively while George’s are both as 13 June 1932 - would she have been baptized and confirmed the day or two before George? Or is this a recording error?
2. Ella was baptized by the Scottish District President Andrew B. McGowan on Saturday, 26 September 1942, confirmed the next day (27 September 1942) at the Aberdeen Branch Conference. (Source: The Latter-Day Saint Millennial Star issue from Thursday, October 22, 1942; scanned copy here. See the right hand page, 2nd full paragraph in the right column. A couple paragraphs later, George Findlay is mentioned also. :)

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

In front of R and G's home - 29 Sept 2014

At the end of three most wonderful days in Shetland, cousin R and her husband G drove us to the airport and then sat with us in the waiting area while we waited to board the plane. As we walked out onto the runway, they stood at the glass window...watching, waving. Our trip to Shetland ended just as it began, with this dear family watching and waving at that window, making sure we were safely off on the next leg of our journey.

With Cousin N at the Old Haa in Burravoe, Yell
27 Sept 2014

With Cousin E and husband J -
28 Sept 2014

Boarding the plane - 29 Sept 2014

While we were visiting and reminiscing before we said our final goodbye, I told them that the song running through my head right then was a song we sing at church, dear to our hearts: God Be With You Till We Meet Again. It’s such a lovely sentiment, and one that makes me choke up every time I sing it. In fact, we all got a little wet in the eyes when I mentioned it.

Truly, God be with you till we meet again!

1. God be with you till we meet again,

By His counsels guide, uphold you,

With His sheep securely fold you,*

God be with you till we meet again.

Refrain:

Till we meet, till we meet,

Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;

Till we meet, till we meet,

God be with you till we meet again.

2. God be with you till we meet again,

When life’s perils thick confound you,

Put His arms unfailing round you,

God be with you till we meet again.

3. God be with you till we meet again,

Keep love’s banner floating o’er you,

Smite death’s threat’ning wave before you,

God be with you till we meet again.

* I think that this reference to sheep will now always make me smile, thinking of the sheep on the Shetland hills.