Eric William Cranstoun 1949-2016

Eric William Cranstoun was born on April 9, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the third son of Langford Duer Cranstoun and Ada Mary Dawson.

Eric William Cranstoun was married to Gladys Ellen Perrin on July 23, 1949 at Riverdale Presbyterian Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Although this site is about the Cranstoun side of the family, I would come to learn what my mother never knew about her family and found quite an interesting family history on her side. When I found her history I wished I had started this project while she was alive, as she would have been pleased to know she wasn't as alone in this world as she thought.)

Eric and Gladys had 6 children, 3 sons and 3 daughters, we are able to fill in the family tree further from this point on however as all children are living we will stop this branch here...BUT.

The Story of "Battlin' Billy"

I have been told many stories about my father and the problems he caused family members by taking everyone to court and allowing the lawyers to take all the money from Auntie Fan’s estate. Money their parents could have used in their old age and I kept quiet as I needed to hear the other side of the story before I wrote the family history. I have been criticized for reporting history as I found it, “family secrets” which were all found in public records accessible by anyone who wanted to look and I’ve held my tongue as I wanted to hear from family I hadn’t spoken to or heard from in over 50 years.

It took me two years of emailing, sometimes waiting three months for a reply before my cousin finally agreed to talk to mee. Our first conversation in over 50 years and she laid out a forty minute rant on her dislike of my father after all that time as she believed it and I listened and remained silent. I did not want get into an argument over something that happened over 50 years ago. Something we as children had nothing to do with or could control. But also there was something I knew she didn't know and I did not want to say anything becaause there were things I wanted to see.

In all my research and conversations about the family, no one ever expressed any concern towards my father’s well being, or had any qualms about voicing their opinions of him to my face. After all, the belief is that “Battlin’ Billy” was the cause of all the problems in the Cranstoun family.

After all this time, bitterness towards him is still the order of the day and what she was voicing her opinion about had nothing to do with her and I’ve had enough, of the criticism of my father. It took a lot for me to quietly listen, for I have a shorter fuse than he. So let me set the record straight. I lived it and I have more knowledge about the facts behind the Cranstoun family than anyone. I spoke to my father, before he died in April 2016, about letting the truth out and he said, “No, you’ve done a great job in finding everyone and those that know are dead, just leave it alone”. Now that my father has passed I will present his case, for I am the son of “Battlin’ Billy”.

We should all face it. The Cranstoun family actually lived by the family motto, “Thou Salt Want Ere I Want”. The case for my father is based on personal experience, documented proof, backed by actual Wills, affidavits, letters, court documents, historical documents, invoices and more. You will see “Battlin’ Billy” is undeserving of the family stories about him but I will leave it to the reader to decide.

We shall begin with childhood. My father overheard 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. Grandma 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”. As a Methodist he never swore, the worst thing he’d ever say was, “Dang”, he never drank or smoked. Grandma Ada had a flask of brandy under the kitchen sink for “medicinal purposes”.

My parents were married in July 1949 and Grandma Ada hated my father and mother for marrying before his brother Alan. Why, because Jan was with child, another taboo back in the days, and another incident to cause her embarassment. Her eldest daughter had a child out of wedlock, her eldest son left home never to return. My father had been engaged to my mother for two years before they were married, as one had to have their parents approval if they were not twenty-one to get married. Pearl had permission when she married at twenty years of age. My grandmother produced a bill for his life which contained hospital and doctor bills for a broken leg, and his stays in hospital for hives, which were caused by her and accumulated rent which he had to payoff before she would give her consent. He was the only child who had to do this, at fourteen dollars per week earnings he was forced to pay ten dollars per week to pay off his debt.

Alan and Jan were married October 1949. So before my father is judged, perhaps the word’s on my great grandfather’s headstone should be considered, “In My Fathers House Are Many Mansions”. It means there are many stories in a family.

When I was little my father was a printer and injured his back lifting paper rolls onto the press and could not work. He had an operation which laid him up for about two years. We had no money, and our family struggled, his loving siblings did not call or come around to see how he was doing or come to his aid, only Auntie Fan, who took the mortgage on our house and held it so we had a place to live, came to his aid.

In the early 1960’s, my father could not go back to the printing trade and ran a gas station, which, has been pointed out to me many, many times, went into bankruptcy, like it was the only business ever to go bankrupt. The first time Grandma Ada, ever came to our house instead of giving him money to help with the bills and not let her grandchildren starve, she went through the cupboards to see what food we had then to went to the coal yard at Danforth and Dawes and bought us coal to put into the fireplace to heat the house and boil water for cooking, what a princess she was.

The cost to go into bankruptcy was $2,000 which my grandfather secretly gave to my father. After my grandfather died, Grandma Ada found out with the help of one of my father’s sisters, my cousins mother, who proceeded to convince Grandma Ada that my father had already received his share and she re-wrote her 1958 Will and removed my father completely from it.

During this period we would visit Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill at least twice a week and I would cut the grass, in the summer and shovel their sidewalk in the winter and we, as children, would receive some money from Auntie Fan, as she loved to see the kids, which we pooled, so we could eat. We lived on Workman's Compensation and Welfare cheques, it wasn’t a particularly great time in my life and I swore it would never happen to me or mine.

My father, was the youngest child and never knew his father until he was four years old as our grandparent's had separated. One day a moving truck pulled up in front of the house on Alton Ave in Toronto as my father was looking out the window and he saw a strange man walking up the walk to the house. He went running to his brother Alan to tell him and Alan told him the man was his father, while his mother and sisters ran out the back door, through the backyards down to Queen St. to get to Auntie Fan's, who lived on the next block on Hiltz Ave.

In April 2014, I was finally able to meet my cousin at her home where she allowed me to see what her mother had taken from my grandparents' house, I was astounded at what I saw and heard. While I was scanning letters and pictures there was talk between Pearl's daughter and one of Joan's daughter's about remembering Auntie Fan. While listening to the discussion while I was feverishly scanning documents and pictures, before my luck ran out, I came to the conclusion that everyone has their own memories and that is their truth and who was I to burst the bubble however, somewhere in the middle lies the real truth and when one backs up their knowledge with a paper trail the real truth will often out itself. I wanted to shout out, "This is total bullshit, your parents were major league bitches who were only interested in one thing, what could they get for themselves and you really have no clue about what you are talking about!"

As the day and conversation went on I picked my moments to ask pointed questions, just to find out what they actually knew. It began with one cousin asking the other who the old lady in the picture was and being told to ask me who she was. It was a picture of Auntie Fan in her garden.

I asked if they knew what happened to the Franz Johnson paintings that were in Auntie Fan's living room, I was asked who was Franz Johnson. I told them the Eddie Hannah had them and was asked who he was and when I said he was the nephew of Ida May Croker, I was asked who was she. So I know for sure that they don’t really know what transpired and they are relating the memories of their parents and not their own.

I asked if they knew about Frenchman’s Bay and that Uncle Bill’s father owned nearly all of the land around the bay, they had no idea. Did they know that Auntie Fan’s diningroom table was the pool table from the hotel in Frenchman’s Bay that Uncle Bill’s father owned, no. Did they know Uncle Bill’s father was the first Reeve of Scarborough, no. Did they know that Uncle Bill’s father was a builder and built the subdivision the Cranstoun’s and Auntie Fan lived in, no. Did they know Hiltz Ave was named after Uncle Bill’s father’s neighbour in Frenchman’s Bay, no. Did they know that the street joining Greenwood Ave and Hiltz Ave and has no houses and was built as an easy access to Hiltz Ave for Uncle Bill by his father, no.

My father inherited his mothers temper and the two clashed like titans, so much so that my father would break out in hives after being with her. As time progressed my father eventually found a sales position with Pitney Bowes and finally began to earn a good income.

In 1966 Grandpa 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 dementia. When he died my father and his brother Alan were Executors of his Will and my father, like all the children were mentioned in his Will.

First let me say, so you can understand, that my grandmother and grandfather had their Wills drawn up in 1958 and they were identical.

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 Wills or Testamentary Dispositions by me at anytime here-to-forth 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 R. Ritchie (nee Cranstoun), Allan 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 Allan 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.

Langford Duer Cranstoun passed away September 18, 1966.

When he died Grandma Ada went to her lawyer and had him demand that Alan and my father to step down as Executors so she could get his funds deposited in her account faster, which they did. (This request seems rather funny now, as 50 years later because of an accounting screw up at the Whitby hospital, my father finally received something from his family.)

On November 28, 1966 a letter addressed to my father from J. C. MacCorkindale, Grandma Ada’s lawyer was received.

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 Executors of his Estate, and Ada Mary Cranstoun sole beneficiary. It will be much better to have Ada Mary Cranstoun apply, as sole Executrix.

I therefore enclose a Renunciation Form for your signature at the lower right hand corner, opposite the red seal. If you have the time to call at my office I would have the document witnessed, and swear the affidavit; or, if it is more convenient you could have the same completed by some other lawyer.

In any event, kindly attend to this matter as soon as possible.

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.

Now, let’s be really clear here, I’m not saying my father was an angel, but like all of you, you only have one father and I loved him, and I know his temperment rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, believe me I know. I also know that in each one of our families, there are secrets, which we need not go into, nevertheless, there is not one of us who does not have a “dick” in our family. I learned it happened before in our family history and it will happen again.

Personally, I find it quite amusing that one can have an opinion about someone they do not even know, and their opinion is basically based on heresay and yet they have no qualms about voicing their uninformed opinions.

My father and Grandma Ada clashed every time they were together and she disliked him so much she rewrote her Will in 1967 after my grandfather died, with the help of my father’s sister, Pearl, and only left my father $500.00.

Here's the rub... in 1968, when she was dying of stomach cancer, the doctor’s said there was nothing else they could do, Auntie Fan told my father to go and look after his mother, so my father arranged for a 24 hour a day nurse, to be paid for out of Grandma Ada’s estate. A hospital bed was placed in the living room at 623 Pape Avenue, as he did not want his mother to die 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 had been written out of her Will.

I was sitting by her bedside, in the living room, as Grandma Ada lay dying. I was 17 years old and I clearly remember my Aunt Pearl coming in and going upstairs and clearing the house of all the family papers and not saying a word to anyone...I was there, I saw this with my own eyes and now I know exactly what she took and hid from us all...OUR HISTORY!

3rd Will of Ada Mary Cranstoun

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, ALLAN 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 wheresoever situate, I GIVE AND BEQUEATH unto my son, ALLAN 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

Witnessed by: John C MacCorkindale, Gertrude Grummitt

It is important to notice that my grandparents Wills demonstrate just how loved my father was by his parents as both named him William E Cranstoun in their Wills. Now, I know he was known as “Billy” but his name was Eric William Cranstoun, one would think his parents might have known that.

This proves that there was a specific family member present at the time of making up the Wills, who helped them with the names of their children. The reason I say this is that my father had a very nasty argument with Pearl about his name. She insisted his name was William Eric Cranstoun, in reality she just didn’t know, she thought because he was called “Billy” that his first name was William...his name was Eric William Cranstoun. The same is true for Allan, he was named Alan.

First Document

In 1925, five years after the death of Langford Selly Cranstoun the Cranstoun family on Antigua fell upon hard times and were forced to give up the plantations of Cochranes and Thomas' as they couldn't meet the mortgage payments. Below is the last page of the document, found in the papers of my aunt Pearl, asking the family to sign off on the properties. What is interesting is the hand written notes by my aunt showing she knew some of the family names.

So as you read on I leave to you to decide your own truth.

My father was basically raised by his Auntie Fan (Grandma Ada's sister) and Uncle Bill as they lived around the block from where the Cranstoun family lived on Alton Avenue, he had his own bedroom and his own key to their house. At one point Uncle Bill approached my father about adopting him, he knew what the story was, as they had no children.

So just where did Grandma Ada and Auntie Fan get their money? My cousin’s didn’t know, until I told them. They got it from Auntie Grace’s, son Eric Carter Needham, “a bookie” by night, and a “paper box salesman” by day. Eric never married and lived his entire life with his mother, he is buried with his mother at Pine Hills Cemetary in Scarborough next plot to Auntie Fan, Uncle Bill, my mother and father and my brother.

In 1965 my mother gave birth to a still born son. I remember the day I was told like it was yesterday. My mother’s family came around to console her, even Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill made a special visit but not one of my father’s family came around or even called.

The plots were Eric’s idea and in fact my father is named after Eric (Eric William Cranstoun). Eric’s estate in 1963 was $147,000, a pretty good sum for the time, after all debts were paid, Fan and Ada got $45,000 each. (I have the papers.)

Money, Money, Money Causes Nothing But Problems!

Let's go back to 1968. Ida May Croker, Uncle Bill's sister was a devote member of the Plymouth Brethern and they needed money and Ida knew Auntie Fan had money. Ida kept planting the idea in Uncle Bill's head that if he didn't get religion and join the Plymouth Brethern he'd never see his mother in heaven. At 85 years old this scared the crap out of him. A domestic argument arose between Uncle Bill and Auntie Fan which became very ugly, very quickly, to the point when one day my father walked in an Auntie Fan was crying because Uncle Bill was going to divorce her because she refused to give Ida money for her church. My father went to the basement to find Uncle Bill quivering in the corner, afraid to tell my father what Ida had made him do. At that point my father put his arm around him and said, "Perhaps, I should adopt you." That calmed the situation down between Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill.

What Ida had forced Uncle Bill to do was to go down to their lawyers office and change Auntie Fan's Will. She didn't have Uncle Bill change his will because he had nothing, he had signed over the house to Auntie Fan in 1956. This is what started all the family fighting. Auntie Fan hated the "Holy Rollers" as she called them, Ida's group, and when she was approached to sign the new Will she refused. Somehow Ida got a copy and the games began. Remember this is 1968 Auntie Fan had ten more years of living to do.

Now does anyone who can read English see the name of Pearl Ruth Thomson anywhere in this Will? Does anyone see the signature of Fannie Lucy Croker on this Will?

No other family member was mentioned in this Will, so where was the great sibling protest then, there wasn’t one, because they all knew my father was to get everything from Auntie Fan.

The first Will is identical accept that my father was the Executor of the Will and there was no mention of Nellie (Fan’s sister in England) and certainly not Ida May Croker, as I said, Auntie Fan hated her with a passion because she kept sending the “Holy Rollers” around. She also didn't care for Uncle Bill's older brother Edward who she wouldn't let into her house when he came around. Uncle Bill would have to visit with him in the backyard.

Here's something only my father knew, in August 1956, Uncle Bill signed over his interest in the house at 23 Hiltz Ave to his wife Fannie Lucy Croker. This means she owned the house outright and Uncle Bill only had a few dollars in the bank when he died and he owned some property down the street where he grew his wonderful garden.

My father had been given Power of Attorney, to look after their interests, earlier from Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill so he was not to worried about this, perhaps he should have been.

Let’s move ahead to the 1970’s and all this time my father never ever missed visiting Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill at least twice a week and only once, in all that time and I believe it was the last time I saw my cousins, until my mother’s death, did I ever see Alan at Auntie Fan’s, we never ran into anyone else, but I did meet “The Religious Devil” Ida May Croker, Uncle Bill’s sister there, once. I never ever saw Pearl there or heard her name mentioned or Joan or Vivian either. I do know that when Joan returned from Quebec, divorced with two kids, a large sum of money ($5,000) was given her from Auntie Fan to help her out. Pearl would have shit a brick if she had known that little tid-bit of information.

During the 1970’s my father had become a successful salesman and was at a sales convention in Disney World with my mother, brother and sister's when I got the phone call from Uncle Bill that Auntie Fan had fallen down the stairs, he was crying and asking for “Billy”. I told him my father was away but I’d come right down he told me, “No, he needed Billy”. I desparately tried to get a hold of him in Disney World to no avail.

Enter, “Ida May Croker and The Hannah’s”, her sister Lucy's children and also members of the Plymouth Brethern. These are the culprits that truly deserve the families rath!

With my father not available, Ida had her opening and walked right in and planted the idea in Uncle Bill’s head that my father was stealing from them and going to put them in a home and reinforced to him that if he didn’t join the Plymouth Brethern he’d never see his mother in heaven. Now being close to his 90’s it scared the crap out of him and he became easy prey for this religious nutcase.

When Auntie Fan got sick in 1975, Ida made her move and began to drain Auntie Fan's bank accounts, I'm sure Pearl never knew that. She was not only stealing from Auntie Fan but also her own brother because he was still alive until 1977. My father had earlier obtained power of attorney through Auntie Fan’s and Uncle Bill’s lawyer, at their request, he never used it and it remained in the possession of their lawyer, until the court case when Ida’s lawyer produced it.

The first cheque passed and as you can see Auntie Fan signed it with a mark, witnessed by two technicians to protect Ida, it was made out to Uncle Bill so he could give it to Ida for her church.

My father received a call from the bank in April 1975 asking him who’s signature was on the check for $5,000.00 payable to Uncle Bill, this cheque wasn't even signed!

Here is the first cheque Ida May Croker tried to pass in February 1975 while Auntie Fan was in Riverdale Hospital.
Note Auntie Fan’s signature is an X witnessed by two “technicians” nurses.


Here is the second cheque Ida May Croker tried to pass in April 1975 which alerted the bank to fraud and the cheque was stopped.
By-the-way Auntie Fan had been declared incompetetant in 1974 and my father was made Commitee of her estate and placed in charge
of her financial affairs in 1974, after a lengthy legal battle with Ida. I wonder where the loving siblings were then?


You have to give it to old Ida May Croker she was a persitant bitch, after having being caught in April she waits a few
months and writes another cheque in August 1975, note the change in the signature from February
and also note the amont of the cheque is only $1,000. I would say it was a medical miracle
for one who is incompetant and signs with an X to come so far in a few month’s.



I guess Ida May Croker’s church needed money as she tries again in September,
again another different signature, amazing, and my father’s sibling’s accused him of stealing.

If you notice all cheques were made out to W. H. Croker and the last two makes one wonder how someone in April signs with a mark and in August and September manages two completely different signatures, especially when she's been deemed mentally incompetant by the courts in 1974. The writing on the cheques as to who it is payable to and for how much are identical though.

When Auntie Fan in died 1979, Freddy and Eddy Hannah, Ida’s nephew's, went to her house and removed property. Most of the family just think of the money Auntie Fan had, however, Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill had other assets in that house, like Franz Johnson paintings, he was a member of the Group Of Seven and their worth was in the tens of thousands of dollars, which Eddy Hannah removed from the house. They stripped the house of everything they wanted and took Auntie Fan’s dining room suite to the basement and smashed it into firewood and left it there. It was the first time I ever saw my father cry. They changed the locks on the door, my father had had a key to the house since he was a child, we broke in to find all this, and they had rented the house to a whack-job who painted the walls with all sorts of weird things, throughout the house, we didn’t recognize the place.

Freddy Hannah showed up while we were there and told my father he had no more rights on the property, a fight broke out and my father physically kicked his ass off the verandah and again off the front walkway down to the sidewalk, of course Freddy Hannah called the police. Art Graham, the neighbour identified my father as living there as a child and never having seen Freddy Hannah until that day. The house at 23 Hiltz Avenue was sold by Ida and the Hannah’s for $46,000. All this was done before it ever went to court. They had been ordered by the court not to sell the house!

Did the caring, protesting siblings come forth then? NO, they all knew my father was to get everything! All these events, still no contact with my father from any one of his siblings on any of this, but he, “took their parents to court and cost their parents money they could have used in their old age”, no concern was ever expressed about my father only receiving $500 from his parents, no loving family decision to split their mother’s estate evenly. The Cranstoun’s lived by the family moto, “Thou shalt want ere I want” which means, “I’m okay, go fuck yourself”

When the decison came down in 1984, five years after Auntie Fan died, on the 1968 Will all the 1982 correspondence from Pearl made sense. In 1982 Pearl had sworn out an affidavit on her brother Duer Selly Cranstoun, saying that he simply cannot be found and she tells Ida the names of Nellies children, too late the 1974 Will has already been drawn up...dumbasses, be careful of the web you weave!

Pearl’s Affidavit 1982

On June 18, 1982 Pearl enters the fray with an affidavit swearing she is the neice of FANNY LUCY CROKER and a beneficiary of her Will dated February 20, 1974. She says, “I have read the affidavit of IDA MAY CROKER, sworn May 18, 1982. The contents therein are true with the exception that mention is made of a brother of mine, namely DUER SALLY CRANSTOUN.

DUER SALLY CRANSTOUN was born on February 20, 1916. He was the eldest child in our family. To the best of my knowledge, information and belief, my brother DUER SALLY CRANSTOUN was last seen by a member of our family (Pearl) in 1945 in Toronto. My family, friends and acquanitances have had no knowledge of his whereabouts since 1945. My brother was employed by the Federal Government.

In 1972, all my brothers and sisters and myself became entitled to a small share in an estate. I was asked to conduct a search for the whereabouts of my brother last seen in 1945. I inquired to the Federal Government in Ottawa. I was told they had no knowledge of his whereabouts, although he was employed in the government during the war. I was advised to check to see if he had changed his name. The Government in Ottawa revealed that on June 27, 1941 he had changed his name to DIXON STEWART CARTER. The search of death records did not reveal anything. There was a rumour that my brother was involved in espionage work and this work would be one of the reasons he would have to change his name.“

Pearl’s affidavit continued. “Attached to the affidavit and marked as exhibits “A” and “B” are letters from Barclay’s Bank dated March 26 1973 and March 27, 1974. the letters indicate that they were unable to find my brother DUER SALLY CRANSTOUN as well.

I verily believe that if my brother if still alive that he does not wish his identity to be revealed and would not come forth to claim any interest in the estate of the late, FANNY LUCY CROKER.

At the time of death of FANNY LUCY CROKER she had no surviving spouse, issue, parent or brother or sister..... All the nieces and nephews as set out in the affidavit of IDA MAY CROKER are alive.

This affidavit is a supplementary affidavit to the affidavit of IDA MAY CROKER, sworn May 18, 1982.”

WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT!

It was believed Stu could not be found because he was a spy during the war...would you like to know how that rumour started? In 1950 Barr (my father's grandmother) was dying and Auntie Grace asked my father if he knew where his brother was and to find him. Now, I’m betting most in the family didn’t know how Annie Elizabeth Huggins got the name “Barr”.

She got it from Stu as when he tried to say grandma, it came out as baa, henceforce the name “Barr”. My father contacted a childhood friend of Stu’s and was told the last time he saw him he was leaving for Argentina, on government business. This was told to the family, by my father and they assumed he was involved in espionage...“a spy”, because they hadn’t heard from him since he left and they didn’t want to face the truth.

Okay, this was in the 1950’s, the war was long over, Stu was a real estate agent in the 1950’s and part of the 1960’s, Stu enlisted in 1939 and eight months later in May 1940 was discharged from the army as being “unfit for duty”, as he had an ulcer, he was in the 1st Corps Troops Supply Column, RCASC. In fact he wasn’t even in Toronto in the 1950’s. He was listed as Dick Stewart Selly Cranston, I find this amusing as his name was not offically changed to Dixon Stewart Curtis until June 27, 1941, a year later, and he was a Corporal and his army pension was $7.50/month which he collected begining June 1940. He lived in Toronto at 289 Vaughan Road in May 1946. Grandma Ada kept a jar of chicken in the refrigerator, because they knew he had an ulcer, which no one could touch as it was for Stu when he came home, but he never did. He was definitley not a spy! Does anyone really believe I could find all this information on him if he was “a spy”?

In late 1939 Stu came home to hear Vivian crying and found her bound up to hide her pregnency, they did that back then to avoid the family humiliation of having an unmarried daughter with child. He asked why she was crying and bound up and was told she was pregnant and they were going to have the baby adopted away. He told his mother if she did that she would never see him again. (This was the final straw for him and his troubled family life, having earlier had a knock down drag em out physical confrontation with his father which he lost badly. My father remembers standing up to his father one day, when Alan reminded him what he did to Stu, he backed down.)

Stu had joined the Canadian army in September 1939. My father recalls the family moving from Alton Ave in early 1940 but the time frame suggests it was late 1939. The family moved to avoid the embarrasment of Vivian being unmarried and with child. In 1940, at 21 years old, she was sent away with “loose kidney problems”, in order to have her baby.

The family never heard from Stu again. However, in 1946 at Christmas time my father said their was a knock at the door at Auntie Fan’s house, when he answered the door there were two packages on the porch, one for Barr, my father's grandmother and one for Auntie Fan...they were books left by Stu.

My father idolized his big brother Stu, who was 13 years older than himself, much like the difference between my brother and myself. He recounted stories of his childhood and being too young to hang out with his big brother Alan’s gang, as Alan was 7 years his senior, and he recounted a story of a football game where Alan’s team was being clobbered and being asked to go home and get Stu, he was somewhat of an athlete and once he got the ball no one could catch him. He remembers going home to get him, Stu was sitting on the porch and in no particular hurry to go and help and wanted to know how much they were going to pay him.

My father recalled another story was about collecting old newspapers for return to get money for so many pounds of paper. As my father had a paper route it was rather easy to collect the papers he had previously delivered. One day Alan’s gang needed money for gas, they found my father’s collection and took it, he said from then on all papers were stored at Auntie Fan’s.

My father’s last recollection of his brother Stu, before he left was a conversation they had about my father’s paper route. Before he left, Stu told him to work hard and he would pay him $0.05 for every new customer he got when he returned, unfortunately he never did and my father never saw him again.

Where Were The Caring Siblings?

Well, here is the bill to re-paint the house and repair the damage, $2,650 my father paid out of his own pocket.

Here's the bill for Auntie Fan's monument, after she died.

Here's just one of the lawyers bills, my father paid.

In 1982 Pearl sends my father a letter, below. My father is still in court fighting the Second Will (and will for another four years) and she's telling him about an affidavit that she's swearing out on Nellie's children, who are not even mentioned in the Second Will, plus Nellie died in 1972. I have to wonder, what business was it of Pearl's anyway, just what did she have to gain?

She says "someone told him", the lawyer, I wonder who that was? No one other than Pearl and my father even knew of Nellie. This is preparing the ground work for the preparation of the Third Will, duh, remember Fan died in 1979!

The letter basically says my father was a shit and Auntie Fan and Uncle Bill did not care for him and we should get everything from her estate and you should get nothing.

Pearl knew Auntie Fan paid off the mortgage of my father’s house, she knew he could not work, what she did not know was Auntie Fan supported our family from 1967 to 1969, as I mentioned earlier it was not the most pleasant time of my life. I found envelops for every week from 1967 to the end of 1969 with folded cardboard which had contained money or a cheque and signed, “Bill, from Auntie Fan”. If Pearl had known that and had told the Hannah’s, I am now positive they would have requested he pay that back to the estate as well.

In November 1986 while my father was challenging the Second Will in court, Ida has died and Fan has been dead for seven years, so Ida's nephews are now wanting the estate to be settled and in walks my father's sister's Pearl and Joan who want their share and Pearl swears out an affidavit and is basically told in the court ruling you're testimony is irrlevant.

A judgement came down in November 1986, allowing the Hannah's to apply to be Administrators of Auntie Fan's Will, they failed in their attempt and before the judge left the courtroom they miraculously produced a Third Will, which now included all my father’s siblings and some of the Olderoyd’s, Fan’s sisters children (because Pearl knew Nellie had children, remember her 1972 affidavit?), again, Ida was to get the lions share (which would go to the Hannah’s, Ida’s nephews, as she was now dead).

The Third Will was introduced and Pearl, Alan, Vivian, Joan and Nellie Oldroyd’s (Fan’s sister) children are mentioned, surprisingly enough my father is not even mentioned in this Will.

So I wonder, who the family shit disturber really was, my father or Pearl? Before you pass judgement let me provide further evidence on my father’s behalf.

After years of family bickering, the siblings enter into the picture who say my father is causing all this, only two show up in court, Pearl swears out an avidavit on her brother Duer Selly Cranstoun, saying that he simply cannot be found and Joan because she’s divorced and needs money.

My father called his sister Vivian during the court case over Auntie Fan's Will, at one time they were very close, her being ten years his senior and with both parents working, Vivian looked after him when he wasn't at Auntie Fan's. He chuckled as he told a story of being in the hospital with Vivian as he required some stitches, when the doctor came with the needle he jumped off the table and ran from the hospital with Vivian in hot pursuit. A few blocks later she caught him and he got his stitches. Vivian complained during their conversation that when she was here when Auntie Fan was dying “Billy” hadn’t taken her to see Jimmy’s Aunt, he only took her to see Auntie Fan. She asked, “Why should Billy get everything?” My father asked her if she knew who she was talking to and she said, “Alan”. When my father told her she was speaking to “Billy” he asked her how she could make up lies like that, she hung up on him. The last conversation they ever had was when he called Vivian about her son, that conversation ended the same way.

So let’s not kid ourselves, they all knew what the status was, and not one of them stepped forth to help my father in his fight against Ida, infact they eventually joined forces with Ida's nephews and opposed him, lead by one sibling in particular, Pearl.

Pearl had her brother’s new name incorrect in her affidavit, but she knew his name in 1972, again I have the papers. She had joined forces with the Hannah’s in 1986 after Ida’s death against my father and gave testimony in court which was ruled as irrelevant and dismissed, which meant in layman's terms "fuck off, your irrelevant". Then, as her reward, she is surprislingly named in a Third Will, with all her siblings but my father. That’s an awful lot of Will changing from someone who was declared mentally incompetant in 1974, and is dead, don’t you think? Because of all the crap that was going on while Auntie Fan was in the hospital my father went to court and had a big legal battle with Ida and my father was made Committee of the Estate of Fannie Lucy Croker in 1974 and it's now 1986, so who's the real thief?

In the end, as always the case, the lawyers got most of the estates funds, but let’s be clear here it was not until the Hannah's produced the Third Will did anyone else in the family get involved, and when they did they did not pay out of their own pockets for the lawyer, as my father had to, it came out of the estate as did the Hannah’s lawyers fees, and in the end the biggest controversy was the forgiveness of the mortgage Auntie Fan had on my father’s house. The Hannah’s were so greedy they wanted the money for the mortgage to be put back into the estate. It is interesting that not one of his loving and caring siblings protested this either.

My father never received any momentos from his parents or his Auntie Fan, Pearl had everything. Yes, I have all the papers and documents on how everything was to be divvied up. Just how did Pearl happen to have Auntie Fan's and Uncle Bill's passports in her papers? It seems pretty obvious the Hannah's allowed Pearl and Joan into the house to take what they wanted from what was left.

Due to the so called, “emotional problems” , more like greed, of my Aunt Pearl, the entire Cranstoun family were all robbed of knowing who we are and from where we came and that is most unforgiveable. The early 1970’s were a very busy time for Pearl but in 1972 in order to have my grandmother’s Will probated faster, Pearl, who was not the executrix, forced the matter with the affidavit on the next page because Alan wasn’t proceeding fast enough for her.

The description of my grandfather’s name on the above document angers me as it is totally untrue and the document she refers to SHE has misread! It is also further proof she knew everything about the family I had to discover back in 1972. My grandfather left Antigua for Canada in 1912 and in 1914 he applied for life insurance and had to write home, to have his age verified. There wasn’t a person in North America other than my grandfather who had ever heard the name Langford Selly Cranstoun, yet my grandfather was “sometimes known as Langford Selly Cranstoun”, another crock of shit! If Pearl had read the document correctly she would have seen that Langford Selly Cranstoun is signing the document verifying the age of his son, my grandfather, Langford Duer Cranstoun. What she never knew was the person who verified the information was none other than my grandfather’s uncle, James Dudgeon Harper!

Elizabeth Sophia "Bessie" Harper

Now let’s move on to Elizabeth Sophia “Bessie” Harper. When "Bessie" died in March 1970, a man from Barclay’s Bank in London called my father to find out about his family. This was in the early 1970’s and being so adoured by his siblings my father told the man everyone was dead and hung up the phone. The man called a few days later and was told the same thing. He was able to contact Alan. He told Pearl and she provided all the information to the man and unexpected funds were dispersed. The Will of "Bessie" Harper is presented later in her section, and you will see most of her fortune was given to the children of her mother's brother's children in New Zealand, a fortune which could have saved her brother’s life and kept her father’s sister, her aunt, from living in poverty during her final days.

I can honestly say that the name "Bessie" Harper was mentioned with the same story of her visit only a few times in my childhood and I do not ever remember anyone putting two and two together and trying to figure out who she actually was to the family...it seems very strange after all I have uncovered.

So there you have it, anyone who wants to discuss the facts is welcome, just bring your documentation, not family heresay. I have documents, wills, court transcripts and cancelled cheques to back up what I’ve presented. It may not change your opinion of my father, personally, I don’t really care anymore.

Although there is much, much more to this story, this part of the Cranstoun family history begins to become very, very ugly due to internal family turmoil, so we shall stop this part of the story here, but I do have all the documentation.

What!!!

In late 2014 my father became quite ill and spent month's in hospital. As we were cleaning out the house I discovered more old family pictures, the one I found most impressive was that of my young great grandfather Thomas Perrin in his army uniform along with my young great grandmother and my mother’s father as a boy of about ten. As to this point in my life I had only seen one picture of my mother’s father this was an exciting find for me.

Because my father was to be in hospital for a long time I removed his coin collection from his house. This gave me the perfect opportunity to catalogue the collection. When I had finished the first box I discoverd an envelop of old family papers which verified all the stories my father had told me over the years...amazing. They justified my defence of my father.

I read through the papers with much interest and excitement and then I discovered an envelop which contained the will of "Bessie" Harper, my father had always maintained that he had a copy of her will and had blamed my mother for throwing it away, but he was such a hoarder he had forgotten where he had put it.

When I opened the envelop there were more old letters and then two. Two specific letters which angered me and also excited me, something I could not speak to my father about due to his condition, recovering from surgery. There were more letters verifying everything he had told me, but let’s start with the two letters.

I found them by accident by looking at the return address, St. John’s, Antigua! I almost fell off the chair as I opened the first letter and read it. Had my father lied to me, had I wasted the last three years of my life doing all this work finding the family and he had known all along? The letter was from Mary Olive “Maisie” McIntosh. I was dumbfounded, how could he have done this, why did he do this? The letter showed my father knew all his father’s family names, he had contacted “Maisie” and she was replying to his letter. Why?

The second letter suggested that William McIntosh might also have known as it referred to William’s wife, at the time, Barbara. So I contacted William and asked him if he ever met my father before I had contacted him he said, “No.” Now I’m in a conumdrum because William doesn’t remember and my father was in “lala” land recovering from surgery.

I was eventually able to speak to my father about the letters and asked him why he had never mentioned anything. His blank expression and confused reaction convinced me that he truly did not remember writing to his aunt. Never-the less he did and I am now totally convinced the entire family knew about my grandfather’s family in Antigua and for some reason they never pursued a relationship. I also met with William and showed him the letters and he identified the writing immediately of that of his mother, “Maisie”. He also looked the same as my father and could not remember ever meeting him.

Letters From Mary Olive "Maisie" McIntosh

The First Letter - April 6, 1971

Dear Bill,

We heard from Barbara a few days ago and she mentioned that you have not heard anything of Bessie Harper’s Estate. I sent your address to them and hope you have heard something by this. They have not settled with us as yet, all we got from them was a letter saying that they received your address which will help them and we will hear from them again. We were sorry to hear of your dad and mom’s passing on. From a picture you had sent to my mother. I think you are the youngest, this was a picture taken a long time ago. My mother died in 1947 so you see it is quite a while. Have you a family? I have four, two girls and two boys. My husband is retired and we now look forward to a visit from our children when they are able to visit us. Will and Barb are very nice to us. Well I must close.

With best wishes.
Sincerely,
M. McIntosh Wills Mother

This letter tells me my father knew of his Antigua family as "Maisie" says my father sent his grandmother a picture of the family. My father's grandmother Evelina died in 1947, so if he sent her a picture he had to be in his early to middle teens when he did so. It also suggests that he knew William as she says we heard from Barbara, and she signs the letter Will’s Mother. My grandparents died in the late 1960’s so I must wonder when and how the correspondence began.

The Second Letter - March 20, 1972

My Dear Bill,

Very many thanks for your wonderful letter and the beautiful pictures of you and your family. They all look well and you and Gladys are fine. You’re youngest son resembles (Will and Barb’s son) my grandson, even my sisters think the same, your youngest daughter also seems to resemble the family I think. In fact all of your daughters are pretty. Perhaps your brother Stu changed his name. Our grandfather did not leave us money, it is Bessie’s father who left a house and she sold it so that’s the money that’s the money that we are now getting. I hope that you will soon get your money, if you are able to give the lawyer in England your sister’s and brother’s address I am sure they will soon fix with you all. At least I hope so and don’t see why not. This is a very hard letter to write, because we have not met, any way I hope some day we will meet. Will and his family visited us about two years ago. We stayed with Will and Barb when they lived at Scarborough, and another time in Richmond Hill and loved it. I like Canada and enjoy the lovely drives. Our daughter lives in Collingwood, her husband is a teacher and they have three daughters. Our other daughter lives here and has one boy and two girls. I enclose a picture of my sisters and my husband, so sorry I forgot to take off my shades. What is your son, me, studying in university? That’s very nice he is in university. We were seven, Irene, Duer (your dad), Artie, Edith, Alice, Maisie and Florrie. I must thank you again for your very nice letter and hope you are all well. We give you and Vivian a welcome to come and visit us, we will be very happy to meet and know you all, perhaps oneday I may visit Canada and be able to see you and your lovely family. My mother was a dear person, I’ll send you a picture of her sometime. My father died long before her. With our love, in which my husband and sisters join.

Aunt Maise

Okay, it is now clear, my father positively knew the names of his aunts and uncles, in Antigua and if he knew the whole family knew. So why did no one ever speak of the family in Antigua? I am pleased to know "Maisie" knew I was in university, as after doing all the research I feel that I know the whole family. From what "Maisie" believed where “Bessie” Harper’s money was coming from tells me the family never really understood how much she had and where it all came from. When I told my father that "Maisie" had mentioned Vivian in the letter my father told me there was a time when Vivian was like his second mother and they got along quite well, her being ten years his senior.

It is my belief that it was the death of Elizabeth Sophia “Bessie” Harper which spurred contact between the family in Canada and the family in Antigua. “Bessie” died on February 23, 1970, the earliest communication from Barclays Bank I can document is dated April 6, 1971, the same day “Maisie” had written the first letter to my father. My father had recounted a story of the man from Barclays calling him and I have previously presented this story. My father also remembered meeting “Bessie” Harper at his home in the 1930’s, he remembers because in order to impress her they got a new cover for the sofa.

Can you understand what this means? My father would have been no more than ten years old, it means that everyone in the family knew about “Bessie” Harper, even my father’s eldest brother Duer Selly (Stu) as the children were all still living at home! The entire family had to have known about my grandfather’s family! All the previous bullshit about Pearl feeling insecure about colour was nothing more than a line of CRAP, the whole godamn family knew and never mentioned a word to any of us.

My father had met “Bessie” Harper with the entire family, he had obviously communicated with someone in the family in Antigua (his grandmother?) prior to receiving the letter from "Maisie" thus he knew of my grandfather’s family from Antigua, in fact the whole family had to have known, so why did no one ever say anything about knowing each other? Is there some deep dark secret I have not yet uncovered, perhaps we’ll never know.

I was to find other documents and letters in the pile I found which would shed further light on the Cranstoun family and further back up the stories my father had recounted. The first letter I uncovered was from Pearl to my father previously discussed. Unfortunately for Pearl my father kept everything and what I uncovered would turn the tables on the whole family story about my father.

Whether family will ever read or believe this will be up to them but I now know the truth about everything and I am convinced my father got the short end of the stick because he was the youngest and unwanted Cranstoun child.

Let’s go back to the envelop Pearl had sent to my father, I don't think she meant to include everything she did and all I can say is, “What a self centred, miserable excuse for a human being she was.”

I have acquired about fifteen letters of correspondence from Barclays Bank to my father and Pearl. The first letter of correspondence is dated November 1, 1971. It shows she’s been asked to provide information on herself and they are awaiting to hear from three of my fathers siblings. The second letter of correspondence, dated March 23, 1972, begins to show the real Pearl coming through, we can tell she’s off to prove that her brother Duer Selly can’t be found, and we also see she demands a copy of “Bessie” Harper’s Will to make sure she’s getting her fair share.

Correspondence goes on back and forth and in April 1972, Pearl becomes frustrated she is not getting her money so, she hired the law firm, Clifford-Turner & Co, in London, England as her attornies and demands a copy of "Bessie" Harper's Will so she can sue Barclays for even more. The letter suggests she is including the whole family as possible litigants, I wonder if that included my father, as well, chuckle. Remember, during this time period, she is also in a legal battle over money with my father over Auntie Fan’s estate.

Cranstoun family folklore in Canada being what it was, thinking “Bessie” Harper was spending Langford Duer’s money and the only way Pearl could possibly have known that, because she left the house in 1942, was by discussing “Bessie” Harper with her mother, before she died, causing Pearl to believe “Bessie” Harper had left and estate of between 3.5 and 4 million pounds...the greed grabbed her and she had forsaken her family and ran to the dollar signs.

Pearl would later learn on August 18, 1972, that she could not sue the “Bessie” Harper’s estate and she was to receive her share of 240 pounds, ironically it cost her 50 pounds to find out this information.

I really dislike being the one to burst someone’s memory of their parents, especially a family member but I can’t stand by quietly and let my father’s legacy be that of the family "shit disturber" when in fact it was his older sister.

Also, in the envelop was a letter to my father from his grandmother Anna Elizabeth "Barr" Dawson. It was like discovering the letters of Langford Selly Cranstoun.

The Secret Of “Battlin’ Billy”

When all the family infighting was done the lawyers got most of the money.

My father was known by his siblings and their children as "Battlin' Billy" and now that everyone is dead let me let you in on the secret of “Battlin’ Billy”. When Ida started the court action, my father being Committee of Auntie Fan’s estate had control of her bank accounts and held Power of Attorney. The strangest thing of all was that no one, not the lawyers, the judge, the Hannah’s or Pearl ever inquired about the state of the bank accounts. So in 1984 my father removed a large sum $25,000 from Auntie Fan’s bank account “for investment purposes” which no one questioned as he was Committee and even more for “expenses and administration”, as he was legally entitled to as Committee. When Ida sold the house the $46,000 she received went to pay the lawyers fees for this entire fiasco. Ida received the rent for one year on the house, given to her church. The Hannah’ brothers, Pearl and the rest of the siblings got nothing!

So when all was said and done my father, by observing and maneuvering within the legalities of his positon as Committee, received about $35,000 from Auntie Fan’s estate. Old “Battlin’ Billy” had outsmarted and beat them all in the end.

There you have it, anyone who wants to discuss the facts is welcome, just bring your documentation, not heresay. I have documents, Wills, court transcripts, affidavits, cancelled cheques, invoices, income returns, letters, notes and more to back up what I’ve presented. It may not change your opinion of my father, personally, I couldn’t care less, but those who have been so very critical of him should perhaps look to their own personal family histories before casting stones at my father and because I know all the family secrets.

When my father died I went through more of the family papers in my possession and I was able to uncover even more family documents, he kept everything, which verified all the stories and information I have presented.

Thou Salt Want Ere I Want

In an ironic ending Pearl made her sister Joan, Executrix of her estate and when she passed Pearl's son had to go through the same bullshit as my father and had to sue Joan in order to get her to release his inheritance.

David Cranstoun