Ada Mary Dawson Cranstoun 1895-1968
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She was the daughter of Frederick Whin Dawson 1852–1909 and Anna Elizabeth Huggins 1860–1950. My recollection of my grandmother was that she seemed pretty strict and ran the household. She wasn't someone who showed affection and was difficult to warm up to. My grandfather used to play tennis and my father recalls her yelling at him that the only reason he played was so he can see the girls in their short skirts. There must have been something there as they had six children although they did have a troubled marriage early on, my father, the youngest child recalls never seeing his father until he was four years old. My father recalls overhearing his mother speaking with Mrs. Langstone, their neighbour, one day as a young boy, that he was a "mistake and unwanted", harsh words for a young child to hear from his mother. Ada was abusive to him as a child and he was constantly whipped with a ironing cord (back in those days two wires were twisted together in a cloth-like coating) and locked him in a dark room. He used to hide from her under the dining room hutch, as she couldn’t reach him there. When his father returned from work he would let him out of the locked room and they, my grandparents, would have “terrible fights”. Grandpa Cranstoun would often tell her she’d, “Make a Saint swear”. I have stated in the section on my grandfather Langford Duer Cranstoun, and my father Eric William Cranstoun that my grandmother Ada was pretty aggressive when it came to money. My father remembered his parents arguing over "the plantation" and my grandmother complaning that my grandfather, didn't get his fair share. In 1923, three years after the death of my great grandfather Langford Selly Cranstoun, my grandmother got in touch with J. Pogson Turner the Chief Registrar of Antigua requesting a copy of the Will of Langford Selly Cranstoun, because she thought there was money to be had, below is the correspondance. The Hon. Colonial Secretary I forward herewith for transmission to Mrs. Cranstoun a Certified Copy of the Will of the late Langford Selly Cranstoun under seal of the Supreme Court. The document bears stamps to the value of 14/-. The Money Order for $3.10 enclosed by Mrs. Cranstoun realized only 13/1d. In order to save time I have advanced the sum of 11d, which Mrs. Cranstoun should also be asked to submit at her earliest convenience. My grandmother received a copy of the will and I am in possesion of these documents. (page 1, page 2, page 3) On September 16, 1965, while my grandfather was in the Whitby Hospital my grandmother wrote to the Canadian Pension Commission requesting a review of my grandfather's pension, below is the correspondence. Mrs. Ada Cranstoun Dear Madam, I am directed to inform you that after careful review of your husbands case, the Commission has ruled that loss of left testicle is consequential upon his pensionable condition of left inguinal hernia and should carry the same entitlement, effective February 3, 1965. Medical examination showed that the disability from these conditions is 4% in extent, from flat feet is still 5%in extent and it is considered that he has no assessable degree of disability from right inguinal hernia. Your pension therefore, will be made at the increaded rate of 9%. The Commission has also awarded him an Attendance Allowance of $2,750 per anum effective April 25, 1965 and a letter informing you of this decision was sent you on August 25, 1965. The Commission has further ruled that your husband’s entire pension be issued to you for administration with effect from the last date of last payment on the condition that you report in writing to our Toronto Office, at regular intervals of ninety days, that he is alive and receiving the benefits of the pension awarded. As pensions are paid monthly in arrears, you will receive the cheques on or about the last day of every month.The Chief Treasury Officer will adjust the account and send you a statement in due course. Yours faithfully On September 15, 1966, one year later she received a letter from The Ontario Hospital in Whitby, Ontario where my grandfather was a patient. Dear Mrs. Cranstoun, I am writing to advise that our patient ran a fever last night up to 103 degrees last night and still has a fever this morning with chest congestion. He is on special medication and treatment and it is hoped that he will make a good recovery. Because our patient is frail, aged and confused we must regard his condition as serious. We would be pleased to have you come and visit him anytime at your convenience. Yours very truly,
My father and his mother clashed everytime they were together and she disliked my father so much she had her Will rewritten, with "influential help". Why did my grandmother dislike my father? Well, to start off he was an unwanted child, an accident and she never ever let him forget it. Her eldest son had left home, never to return, due to battles with his father and what she did to his sister. Her eldest daughter found herself pregnant and unmarried and she made arrangements to have the baby adopted away, before birth. My parents were married in July 1949 and Grandma Ada hated my father and mother for marrying before Alan and she did everything she could to delay their marriage. Why, because Jan was with child, a taboo back in the days, and another incident to cause her embarrassment, they were married in October 1949. In 1967, Auntie Fan (Fanny Lucy Dawson-Croker), Ada's sister, found out what had happened with Ada's Will and told my father to go and look after his mother as she was dying. My father had cut off contact with his mother shortly after my grandfather died. Auntie Fan was my father's aunt who raised him, she was like the grandmother everyone wants, but she and her husband William Croker had no children of their own. My grandmother relented a little and called her lawyer in and had my father added back into her Will, with a pittance of $500. As she was dying of stomach cancer, the doctor’s said there was nothing else they could do, so my father arranged for a 24 hour a day nurse to be paid for out of his mother’s estate. A hospital bed was placed in the living room of her home, as he did not want his mother to die all alone, in a home like his father, probably why he had such an aversion to old age homes, plus it was his final up your’s to his sister’s and his mother as he knew he was only going to get $500. I was seventeen years old sitting in the living room, at her bedside, as Grandma Ada was dying, when my Aunt Pearl, walked past her dying mother, with all the family papers. I saw this with my own eyes and it didn’t hit me until years later when I received a package, from my cousin, exactly what she had taken, but now I know, the family history! (see complete story in the section on my father Eric William Cranstoun) I don't have many pictues of my grandparents as my father received nothing from his parents and those that I do have were scanned from material I was allowed to look at from Pearl's daughter after 50 years on no contact.
This is the last Will and Testament of me, Ada Mary Cranstoun, of the City of Toronto, in the County of York, Widow, hereby revoking all former Wills and testamentary dispositions by me at any time heretofore made, and declare this to be and contain my last Will and Testament. 1. I NOMINATE, CONSTITUTE and APPOINT my son, ALAN D. CRANSTOUN, Executor of this, my Will, and direct him to pay all my just debts, funeral and testamentary expenses as soon after my decease as may be convenient. 2. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH unto my son, WILLIAM CRANSTOUN, the sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for his own use and benefit, absolutely. 3. ALL THE REST AND RESIDUE of my estate, both real and personal, of whatsoever nature and kind, and where-so-ever situate, I GIVE AND BEQUEATH unto my son, ALAN D. CRANSTOUN, and my three daughters, VIVIAN E. RITCHIE, PEARL R. THOMSON, and JOAN A. CAMERON, share and share alike for their own use and benefit, absolutely. 4. I GIVE unto my Executor, above named, an express power to sell, call in and convert all or any portion of my Estate, both real and personal, and wheresoever situate. Signed by Ada Cranstoun September 6, 1967 But let’s go back for a moment to 1966 when Langford Duer Cranstoun was in the hospital in Whitby, Ontario, as a kid it was known in my group as the “Whitby Nut House”, he suffered from dimentia. When he died my father and his brother Alan were Executors of his Will and my father, like all the children were left something from him. First let me say, so you will understand, that my grandmother and grandfather both had their Wills drawn up in 1958, so his mother's Will above is her third Will, as she changed the original Will shortly after my grandfather, Langford Duer Cranstoun, died, with help of my father's sister Pearl. Will of Langford Duer Cranstoun This is the last Will and Testament of me Langford Duer Cranstoun of the city of Toronto in the county of York in the province of Ontario made this 15th day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight. I revoke all former Will or Testamentary Dispositions by me at anytime heretoforth and declare this only to be and contain my last Will and Testament. I DIRECT all my just debts, Funeral and Testamentary expenses to be paid and satisfied by my Executors hereinafter named as soon as conveniently may be after my decease. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH all my Real and personal Estate of which I may died possessed in the manner following, that is to say: If my wife, Ada May Cranstoun, survives me for a period of thirty days, I GIVE AND BEQUEATH all my property of every nature and kind and wheresoever situate, including any property over which I may have a general power of appointment, to my said wife for her own use absolutely. IN THE EVENT that my wife shall predecease me, or surviving me shall die within thirty days following my decease, I GIVE AND BEQUEATH all my property of every nature and kind and wheresoever situate, including any property over which I may have a general power of appointment, to my children: Vivian E. Ritchie (nee Cranstoun), Alan D. Cranstoun, Joan A. Cameron (nee Cranstoun), Pearl R. Thomson (nee Cranstoun) and William E. Cranstoun in equal shares per stirpes and not per capita. FOLLOWING MY DECEASE, my wife having predeceased me, I direct that my Executors hereinafter named, sell and convert into cash all my property both real and personal and I so empower them to do. AND I nominate and appoint My wife, Ada Mary Cranstoun, My son Alan D. Cranstoun, My son William E. Cranstoun to be Executors of this my last Will and Testament. Signed by Langford Duer Cranstoun and Witnessed by Marsha Reinsilber and John W. Stark. When my grandfather died Grandma Ada went to her lawyer and had him demand that Alan and my father step down as Executors so she could get his funds deposited in her account faster, which they both did. (This seems ironic now, as 50 years later because of a financial screw up at the Whitby hospital, my father finally reveived something from his family. It's ironic because of all the family fighting over money, no one but me ever bothered to check. Ada was in such a rush to get her hands on the money she never checked what happened to my grandfathers money. It was deposited in his account and later the same day withdrawn and it sat idle for years until the government did a review. If anyone had bothered to read the Wills they would have seen my grandfather left everything to Ada. She cut my father out so he should never have received anything. I explained this to my father before he died and we had a good chuckle out of it. He also knew that his mother had bank accounts all over the city and found dormant accounts which he told his brother about amounting to some $1500 which he collected and never shared...Pearl would have caused a war if she had ever known.) November 28, 1966 a letter addressed to my father from J. C. MacCorkindale, Grandma Ada’s lawyer. Dear Sir, re: Estate of Langford Duer Cranstoun Langford Duer Cranstoun’s Will names Ada Mary Cranstoun, William E. Cranstoun and Alan D. Cranstoun to be The Ontario Government has already released all assets in the Public Trustee’s possession. I need the Probate from the Court order to obtain the assets from the Public Trustee for Ada Mary Cranstoun. Your early attention to this matter will oblige. Earlier I used the words "influential help" in referring to my grandmother's Will, but in fact it was both my grandparent's Wills. Notice the name in both Will's - William E. Cranstoun? My father's name was Eric William Cranstoun, one would think his parents would have known that but he was commonly known as "Billy" and he had a major dispute with his sister Pearl who insisted his name was William Eric. It was only when he showed her his birth certificate and drivers license did she accept him as Eric William cranstoun. She had the same problem with her brother Alan's name when she insisted it was Allan, she knew better than anyone and she was the "influential help" in the preparation of her parent's Wills. Ada Mary Dawson-Cranstoun Ada had six children: (they each have their own interesting section) Duer Selly Cranstoun - 1916-1993 Vivian Eunice Cranstoun - 1919-2010 Pearl Ruth Cranstoun - 1921-1928
Alan Dawson Cranstoun - 1922-2010 Joan Ada Cranstoun - 1927-? Eric William Cranstoun - 1929-2016 Ada Mary Dawson was the youngest daughter of Frederick Whin Dawson 1852–1909 and Anna Elizabeth Huggins 1860–1950. She had two brothers and three sisters. Frederick Vincent Dawson - 1882-1954 - remained in England Nellie Lizzie Jemima Dawson - 1883-1972 - remained in England Grace Penelope Dawson - 1886-1956 - came to Canada Fannie Lucy Dawson - 1888-1979 - came to Canada Charles Percival Dawson - 1890-1955 - came to Canada Ada Mary Dawson - 1895-1968 - came to Canada I was able to make contact with the family of Nora M Oldroyd, daughter of Nellie Lizzie Jemina Dawson in 2016 and found that Nora was still alive, I have been invited over to meet the family and am hoping to be able to do so after my visit to Scotland in 2017.
Vivian Eunice Cranstoun Ritchie
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Ada Mary Dawson was my grandmother and was the wife of 
Three days later my grandfather, Langford Duer Cranstoun, passed away, my grandmother never attended his bedside.
Will of Ada Mary Dawson Cranstoun
