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Record #11343
Name :
: Frederick Walter FOWLER (1869 - 1954)
  aka : Fred Fowler


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 5 Feb 1869

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
: 2 Oct 1954
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Bedfordshire, Houghton
Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialCanada
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 5 Oct 1875
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Sardinian

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Canadian Catholic Emigration Committee
NotesFred's parents abandoned him as a toddler in the home of a shoemaker, where he slept under the workman's bench.

In 1875, Frederick Fowler, 6, arrived at Quebec, Canada, in a group of 7 Catholic Emigration Committee children from London, en route to Rev. Mr. Bowman's (probably in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.)

Six-year-old Fred Fowler stepped off a steamship in Quebec City with a small wood trunk containing all of his earthly belongings.

Over the next 75 years, Fred would become a child labourer on a farm, be adopted, marry and have 11 children, 33 grandchildren and more than 100 great-grandchildren. But for the moment, all he felt was fear and loneliness. The memory of arriving in a strange land, where the priest who came to meet him and six other homeless boys at the ship spoke only French, would stay with him forever.

From Quebec, he went to to Ste. Agathe de Lotbini?re, where he was taken in by a childless couple who left him their farm when they died.

On July 10, 1893, at Ste Agathe, Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada, a marriage was registered between Frederick Walter Fowler and Catherine Donovan (daughter of Francis Donovan and Anne Aney Conway).

Frederick Walter and Catherine Donovan Fowler had at least 11 children: Lilly Agathe Fowler, born July l, 1894; Frederick Lawrence Fowler, born August 9, 1896; Joseph Walter Fowler, born October 8, 1897; Leo Fowler, born December, 1898; James Albert Fowler, born May 15, 1900; Alphonse Edward Fowler, born August 2, 1902; Clare Agnes Fowler, born July 28, 1904; Lewis John Fowler, born January 5, 1906; Mary Gertrude Fowler, born May 14, 1908; George John Fowler, born March 3, 1910; and Mabel Irene Fowler, born October 2, 1912 in Quebec, Canada.

On May 10, 1917, Catherine Donovan Fowler died at Ste Agathe, Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada.

He was devastated to learn in his 70s that his parents had been alive when he was shipped off to Canada. "He locked himself in his room for a couple of days", his granddaughter, Cecilia Karwowski, remembered.

Frederick Walter Fowler died on February 5, 1954. 
ContributorsCreated : 2010-02-24 16:08:28 / From original database

Last Updated : 2010-02-24 16:27:15 /

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IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
11343 FOWLER, Frederick Walter1869ENG, BDF, Houghton Oct 1875 : Sardinian CAN Canadian Catholic Emigration Committee