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Record #16446
Name :
: Grace FAGAN (1875 - )


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 1875 (approx.)

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
:
Abode (1) : Place of Birth
Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 5 Jun 1886
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Caspian

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Emma Stirling
NotesIn 1886, Grace Fagan, 11, arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in a group of 21 Scottish children accompanied by Miss Stirling, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Despite the best efforts of Emma Stirling to secure good homes for her children, she received distressing news concerning Grace Fagan of Nictaux Falls. She went immediately to the authorities and succeeded in having charges brought against Robert S. Parker, farmer at Middleton and Samuel Nelson Miller, a medical doctor, for ?intent to unlawfully procure the miscarriage of a certain woman, to wit one Grace Fagan?. [From Emma Stirling?s Work for Children, Youth and Young Women, 1894-95, by Julielynne Marie Anderson.]

Arrests were made on the 30th of March 1895.

Halifax Morning Chronicle, April 2, 1895
In Jail at Annapolis
(Special Despatch to Chronicle)

Annapolis, April 1 ? Robert S. Parker, of Aylesford, who was arrested on Saturday, charged with procuring an abortion on Miss Grace Feagan, and Dr. S.N. Miller of Middleton, who is charged with performing the operation, was also arrested on Saturday by Deputy Sheriff Gates, who brought both prisoners here and lodged them in jail. The girl who lies in critical condition, was formerly an inmate of the orphans home at Aylesford, having been brought from Scotland by Miss Stirling, at whose instance the proceedings have been instigated. Mr. Roscoe, of Kentville, was brought here on Saturday evening and made application to have the prisoners liberated on bail, but without success. It is understood that he has been retained to defend the prisoners.

Halifax Evening Mail:

ANNAPOLIS, April 1 ? One of the most serious cases ever in Annapolis County is about to be tried in the courts. A well known M.D. of Middleton and, a young man from Aylesford, have been arrested on the advice of Miss Sterling of Aylesford, who alleges that these two are guilty of one of the worst crimes in the calendar. The girl who was their victim, Miss Sterling brought out from England, is now lying in a very precarious condition, and, though two doctors are attending her, it is not thought possible she can live. The alleged guilty ones, were taken to Annapolis on Saturday and came up before Stipendiary Magistrate Lovitt, who remanded them until next Saturday. No bail is allowed, and they must need wait for one week at least in durance vile. Feeling runs high not only here, but in Annapolis and opinion is much divided. A few days ago the girl, whose name is Miss Grace Fegan, confessed to Miss Sterling the cause of her illness. The services of a justice of the peace were procured and the girl?s deposition was duly taken and executed. Armed with this Miss Sterling went immediately to Halifax and employed a legal firm there to set the machinery of the law in operation, which resulted in Dr. Miller?s arrest. The author of the girl?s trouble is said to be R.S. Parker, of Aylesford, where the girl has been living until within the last few weeks. He had been reported to have disposed of his property and left the country. Drs. Sponagle and Andrews are attending the sick girl and they have considerable hopes of saving her life, although the case is very critical as yet. It is understood that the doctor claims that he merely made an examination of the girl?s condition without performing any operation, and that her illness is caused by drugs which she herself procured elsewhere and took. W. E. Roscoe, of Middleton, and W.G. Parsons, of Middleton, have the defence in hand, and it will be in the direction above indicated. It is felt that Miss Stirling will spare neither trouble nor expense in having the case sifted to the bottom and the law vindicated.

On the night of 3 April 1895, a fire of suspicious origin destroyed the Big House at Hillfoot farm occupied by twenty-six people including Miss Stirling, six servants and nineteen children all of whom barely escaped with their lives. Their clothes, furniture and possessions were lost in the blaze. Two days later, Emma Stirling and party left by train for Halifax and departed from Nova Scotia on the 19th of July never to return.

On April 11, 1895, a report was made of Grace Fagan's death in the Halifax Morning Chronicle:

Grace Fegan, the young woman whose case has aroused much attention in connection with the arrest of G. S. Barker [sic] and Dr. Miller, of Annapolis died on Wednesday last. This will seriously affect the case of the prisoners.

On 13 April 1895, the Halifax Morning Chronicle reported:

Not Dead, as Reported

The girl Grace Fegan in the Nictaux abortion case, is not dead, as reported last week, but is getting better. Dr. Miller and Robert Parker are yet in Annapolis jail and their examination will not take place until the girl is able to attend. Dr. Miller claims he performed no operation, nor in anyway laid himself open to the law, and Parker denies that he is in anyway responsible for the girl?s condition. The defendants are confident of clearing themselves in the matter.

In her 1898 book Emma Stirling wrote:

The preliminary examination lasted three weeks, with the result that [Dr. Miller and Robert Parker] were committed for trial, the evidence of their guilt being most clear and convincing. While the girl had been employed as servant by [Robert Parker], she had been subjected to the most revolting cruelty, the marks of which were still visible when the doctor first sent for me to go and see her. [EDITORS NOTE: Names provided for clarity.]

?DAMAGING TO THE PROSECUTION? 18 May 1895 the Morning Chronicle reported: ?Stanley Vidito, who was paid to go to the United States, was brought here at the insistence of Miss Sterling and gave evidence very damaging to the prosecution.? Other papers have described Stanley Vidito as ?the leading witness for the prosecution.? No other paper surveyed except for the Morning Chronicle?s evening counterpart The Evening Mail calls Stanley Vidito?s testimony ?damaging to the prosecution.? [From Emma Stirling?s Work for Children, Youth and Young Women, 1894-95, by Julielynne Marie Anderson.]

Bridgetown Weekly Monitor

Miss Fagan is nineteen years of age this month, of Scotch extraction, having been brought to this province about ten years ago, and has been knocking around from pillar to post ever since. Her cross-examination by the skillful senior counsel for the defence, Mr. Roscoe, elicited from her own lips a sketch of a most licentious and shameless career. Nature has endowed her with a pretty face, and when at times some more merciless question than the rest drove the red blood to her cheeks she looked the picture of injured innocence and indignation; but as she freely and easily told of her vile degradation and womanly dishonor one could scarcely feel the necessity of importing to our fair Nova Scotia such a class of people, bearing, as did this girl, the pestilential seeds, not of a deadly disease, but of the foulest immorality lurking in their depraved and dissolute natures.

The trial was held in the summer sessions of the Supreme Court at Annapolis Royal and the verdict by a panel of twelve jurors recorded 20 June 1895 was 'Not Guilty'." The ?Not Guilty? verdict only referred to Robert Parker. In fact, in the case of Dr. Miller the grand jury found no bill, meaning that the grand jury did not feel that there was substantial enough evidence to send Miller?s case to trial.

On June 21, 1895 at Bridgeton, Nova Scotia, Canada, a marriage was registered between Grace Fagan, 19, born in Aylesford, India, to Peter and Mary Fagan; and Stanley Vidito, 25, farmer, born in West Somerville, Nova Scotia, Canada, to James and Ruth Vidito.

Newspapers reported that immediately after her marriage, Fagan left for Boston.

Emma Stirling believed Grace Fagan was worthy of her protection and Miss Stirling would continue to believe this as late as 1898.


**NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, but compelling enough to consider it correct--if you have information which is different, please let us know.**

On May 1, 1912, at Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA, a marriage was registered between Grace M. Fagan, 34, domestic, born in Nova Scotia to Peter Fagan (mother's name unknown); and Clarence Kemrick Whitter, 32, "life saving employ", born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, to George E. Whittier and Mary E. Kemrick.

On September 12, 1918, Grace M. Whittier is shown as the next of kin on the World War I Registration Card for Clarence K. Whittier, and residing at 145 Mt. Pleasant Avenue, Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts.

Grace M. Whittier was shown residing at 23 Haskell Street, Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts in 1942.

Grace M. Whittier is shown residing at 23 Haskell Street, Glouceser, Essex, Massachusetts, as the widow of Clarence K. Whittier, who died on February 22, 1950. 
ContributorsCreated : 2012-07-11 13:28:10 / From original database

Last Updated : 2012-07-21 20:03:52 /

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Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  3 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
9354 FAGAN, Charles1891ENG,     Jul 1901 : Numidian CAN Barnardos  
16446 FAGAN, Grace1875 Jun 1886 : Caspian CAN Emma Stirling  
15906 FAGAN, John1874ENG,     Sep 1884 : Sarmatian CAN Liverpool Catholic Childrens Protective Society (now Nugent Care)