[Magdalen] Our "sh*thole" president.

[ME Michaud]

LOL. But remember, these were huge families.
My father was one of nine.
His father was one of twenty-two (all born of one mother).
I thought that should be some sort of record,
but not even close.

So that meant an entire population of younger brothers with no prospects,
as the Victorians would say. Why freeze in Canada when there are mill owners
south of the border willing to hand you a train ticket and a job?
-M


On Sat, Jan 13, 2018 at 2:33 PM, Michael Bishop <rev at michaelbishop.name>
wrote:

> In one of my former parishes, Radbourne, precisely this happened in the
> 19th century:
>
> The elder son of the Squire inherited the estate which meant he owned all
> property in the parish and lived in the Hall. The younger son became
> Rector. In later life, the brothers fell out, and when the Rector asked his
> brother if the Hall could be used for the 21st birthday party of his
> daughter, big brother said "No" - so the Rector built a ballroom onto the
> Rectory specially for the occasion! The ballroom is still part of the old
> rectory (although the rectory has been divided into about 6 separate flats)
> .  To m y mid that frector had more money than sense - but then I was not a
> son of the squire!
>
> God bless
>
> .....
> .....
> Michael Bishop
> rev at michaelbishop.name
>
> On 13/01/2018 11:46am, Roger Stokes wrote
>
> On 13/01/2018 15:51, ME Michaud wrote:
>>>
>>>> And under Quebec law, younger children generally didn’t inherit.
>>>> The eldest son got the whole kit&kaboodle, while many others
>>>> went into the church. There were families where younger sons
>>>> ended up as badly-paid employees of the eldest brother.
>>>>
>>>
>>> The traditional procedure in England was the first son got the estate,
>>> the second went into the Army and the third into the Church where his
>>> connections would have ensured a pleasant parish with minimal duties but a
>>> generous endowment to pay him well.
>>>
>>> Roger
>>>
>>>
>