A deed of gift

By Mary Ducharme  (December 2014)

Among the hundreds of original documents at the Hemmingford Archives are deeds and wills that reveal details of 19th century life. An example is the June 22, 1882 Deed of Gift by farmer George Fiddes to his son James Fiddes of Havelock.

In 1882, government sponsored systems such as Old Age Pension were yet in the future. An early national proposal to aid seniors was the Government Annuities Act of 1908, but many parliamentarians continued to view relief for seniors as a private matter and what little staff and resources that existed were not made available for this purpose. Canada’s first public pension plan was introduced in 1927 with the passing of the Old Age Pensions Act.

The philosophy of the time was that individuals should be self-reliant and if one was poor, it was the result of unworthiness, lack of foresight or self-discipline. The economic conditions of the late 19th century were such, however, that few were able to put money aside for retirement. The aged on family farms fared better than many urban seniors because it was common for the burden of work to gradually shift to the younger generation with the natural assumption that elder care came with the farm. But many farms in rural Quebec in the era were barely subsisting, and parents who had worked hard all their lives could find themselves suffering for lack of necessities in their declining years.

Allen brook
Allen Brook was named for James Allen, who is said to have erected a grist mill at the Covey Hill Customs Port in 1815. This man’s son, James H. Allen, to the right in this photo, lived to be 68. His son William Joseph Allen lived to be 80, and his son James “Jimmie Gompie” Allan lived to be 97. This is an example of the general population general trend to longevity.

George Fiddes is obviously negotiating a sort of insurance policy as shown in his Deed of Gift with “mortgage” provisions fashioned to protect him. This 1882 document is rare in that George’s wishes are written down explicitly describing his own care in old age. The deed includes 125 acres of land as well as sheep, pigs, horses, fowl, barns, a house and all furnishings. The property is “donated” without payment, but there is a “special mortgage” with clear stipulations: James is to pay all the debts of his father, and that George will not be “troubled on account” of such liabilities. George will have until his death, “the enjoyment of his bedroom, and of all the movables and furniture which are in it, and also the enjoyment in common [with his son]of all the other rooms of the said house, with the privilege of going anywhere on the said portions of land and the outbuildings.”

His son “will be bound from this day to furnish his said father until his Death with good victuals, to cause his bedroom to be washed and his clothes to be cleaned and in good order, and to have a good care of him, to provide him with all things necessary to an old person and all the Comforts of Life needed by his Station and his old age, to pay the attendance of a medical man in his Sickness, to furnish him with a good horse and buggy or sleigh according to the Season, to go wherever he wants to go, and to his keep his room conveniently warm, and to pay him one Dollar a month, payable on the first day of each month.

Another provision is that James would “Cause the said Donor to be decently interred after his decease and will pay for the funeral expense and will cause a Head Stone to be Erected in the Burying Ground. . . .”

The Deed of Gift could be revoked in case of non-fulfillment of these obligations. George Fiddes did not know how to sign his name but Samuel John Lewis, the subscribing Notary signed for him. How these provisions worked out in practice for George, we do not know.