where Cairine had returned for the birth, for in those days a baby invariably entered the world in the family home rather than in a sterilized hospital maternity ward. Less than a year later, on 13 November, Janet Mary was born at the Rockland home13 Then, the following September, an event occurred which was to sadden Mrs Wilson and alter the tenor of life at Rockland. Her gentle mother died at St Andrews, New Brunswick following an “attack of paralysis.” The end came suddenly during an xillness that occurred when Cairine was at Clibrig. News of the death was emblazoned across the front page of the 21 September issue of the Montreal Star, which noted that the late Mrs Mackay had always been interested in “private benefactions” and had been associated with several charitable institutions, including the Mackay Institute for the Protestant Deaf-Mutes and the Women’s National Emigration Society. At the age of sixty-two, Jane Mackay’s not too robust constitution had finally caught up with her. At her death, though, she was still a handsome woman with the golden hair of her youth.
Cairine Wilson with Rebecca and Rowena c 1909-1910.
After her mother’s death, life became more complicated and taxing for the young Mrs Wilson because now that her father was a widower she felt obliged to make frequent trips to Montreal to supervise Kildonan. In fact, her strong sense of duty goaded her into spending the next four winters at the old family home, overseeing the servants and attending to the needs of her aging father and her taciturn brother, Edward. Her daughter, Janet Burns, who was only a toddler when her grandmother died, recalls with affection the sleigh ride across the Ottawa River to catch the train for Montreal, a journey that was not without its diversions because one horse loved to lie down in the snow! For her mother, though, the memories would have been less rosy because she was attempting to juggle two very different lifestyles, run three large households (at Rockland, Montreal and St Andrews, New Brunswick), and raise a growing family, often with inexperienced help. Life at Rockland was further complicated by Senator Edwards’ predilection for looming up, unannounced, for lunch with his business associates. When the small, dapper figure in the dark suit appeared on the front steps about mid-day he was not always a cause for rejoicing, especially after a particularly hectic morning. Fortunately Cairine Wilson was genuinely fond of the endearing senator. “Uncle Willie,” as he was called, also had a warm affection for his young sister-in-law whose energy and vitality made a deep impression on him. Later he would be one of the small coterie of male admirers who encouraged her to become involved with politics.
However, if life was difficult in these years, it was not without its bright spots. One was the birth of an eagerly awaited son, Ralph, on 15 March 1915 at Kildonan. From England, where the Lorings then lived, sister Anna wrote in her large, bold hand:
I was simply delighted at the news contained in the cable which came today, and I hasten to offer you our heartiest congratulations on the arrival of a son. I have not dared mention Norman jr all these months in case it might have a bad effect, but now I rejoice with you in the glad tidings. May your boy grow up to be a great comfort and blessing to you. I do hope everything went well and that you did not have too hard a time. How thankful I am that it is over! I have been thinking of you so much lately, especially after receiving yr. letter of the 2nd for things seemed to be made so difficult for you.14
As married women, Cairine Wilson and Anna Loring became very close, so it was a matter of no small regret that her older sister lived so far away when Cairine desperately needed her understanding and support. For female companionship she had to turn to Rockland’s English-speaking community, where she found her confidantes among the wives of company officials, Julia Binks being one who became a lifelong friend. It was almost as if Cairine Wilson had left one insular society for another, but with this difference: Rockland’s English-speaking elite, unlike the residents of Montreal’s Square Mile, made a practice of learning and speaking French. This increased opportunity to practise her French would pay big dividends when Mrs Wilson entered the political arena.
In Rockland, however, politics had to take second place to other considerations. With the birth of her namesake, Cairine Reay, on 18 October 1913, followed by that of Ralph in 1915, and her long sojourns in Montreal, Cairine Wilson had little opportunity to pursue outside interests. Part of what little time she did have was devoted to working for the small Presbyterian church (now St Andrew’s United Church) erected on Marston Road (now la rue St-Jean) near the corner of Rockland’s principal artery, Laurier. Further opportunities to broaden her horizons arose in World War 1 when she set about recruiting and organizing neighbourhood women for a knitting war. Under her direction, countless socks and sweaters were produced for the local Red Cross Society, which then distributed them to the Armed Forces. Her Red Cross work and the administration of the Rockland, Clibrig and Kildonan households absorbed most of the organizing ability that she had demonstrated as a young girl and that she would later put to such remarkable use in politics.
* * * *
As 1916 drew to a close, Cairine Wilson watched the life ebb away in her father, the quiet, intimidating figure who had played such a formidable role in her early development. On 19 December, following a brief illness, the Senator died at Kildonan. He was seventy-six. In an obituary the next day, the Montreal Star informed its readers:
On June 14 last, Senator Mackay had a narrow escape from death when an electric car crashed into and ditched his motor car. He suffered serious injuries and for a time his life hung in the balance. He recovered, however, and had apparently regained his old-time health and vigor. Less than a week ago he was taken ill and did not again leave the house.
The funeral cortege, as had so many before it, wound its way from Kildonan to Crescent Street Church, where a service was conducted on the afternoon of 21 December. Afterwards, family members and a large number of friends and dignitaries assembled on the frozen slopes of Mount Royal to participate in a graveside ceremony at the Mackay family plot. Here, sixty-one years after leaving his beloved Caithness, the Senator was buried beside his wife, Jane, and his “friendly” uncles, Joseph and Edward.
Robert Mackay left an estate valued at $8,200,180.07, a sum that translates roughly into $80 million in today’s dollars. After legacies had been made to a wide variety of institutions and to old family retainers like the coachman, John Scott, a residue of $7,753,542.84 remained. It was left to the Senator’s six surviving children: Cairine, Anna, lawyer Hugh, Edward, an engineer with the Bell Telephone Company in Montreal, George, a hardware merchant in Lethbridge, Alberta, and the second engineer in the family, Angus, who lived in Wickenburg, Arizona.
According to the will, which became a model of its kind, the residue was divided into two equal parts:
One part which was divided into equal shares among the surviving children;
The second part which, in the words of the will, “shall be held, administered and managed by my Executors who shall hold it in trust for such of my children as may be alive at my death and the issue of any deceased child as representing their parent so that each living child shall have no share and the issue of a deceased child collectively one share.
“My executors shall administer the whole of this half of my Estate or whatever may remain of it in their hands as one mass, dividing the net income therefrom among the beneficiaries entitled thereto according to their respective rights.
My executors shall pay to each child of mine who may survive me, during his or her lifetime, his or her share of the net income corresponding with his or her share of the principal.”15
So that each heir would have a share equal in value to the shares held by each sibling, the will provided that every child, in rotation, would choose the household effects that he or she desired. Those who selected more than they were entitled to were to be charged for the excess value of their shares. It all sounds straightforward
