I inadvertently played a tiny but instrumental role in a very fun story.
My friend has loaned me his big book on family genealogy and I have been entering some of it on to Wikitree. I am trying to find a connection between his family and my family - so far no direct connection, unfortunately.
In doing so, I entered in the birth information for a Curtis Banford Hebb - his mother was a Newcomb. The book was published in 1902 or something, so Curtis was a boy at the time of publishing; he had no children or spouse.
Well, I didn't think much about it. I love the mission of Wikitree - to make one human tree, that's why I would enter in information about people not related to me.
My inquirer sent me an email many weeks ago but his email got caught up in my endless in-box. I finally saw it the other day and finally wrote back. I am the 'manager' of Mr. Hebb's family's profiles, so the logical person for anyone to contact. I had to tell him that I was not a direct descendant, but I told him where I got the information. I fortunately included Mr. Hebb's birth location in the Wikitree profile, as according to the tome.
Here is the email I received back from my inquirer:
Pretty fun, huh?! I didn't promote it to the press, a friend of mom's did...the one mentioned in the article as having asked if we'd ever tried to track down any relatives. She was pretty excited.
I was able to print the family tree available from wikitree and share it with Pauline Hebb, also made me sound less clueless on the phone. I hope the whole episode inspires her to follow through on plans to share the family history with children and grandkids...something she said had long been in the back of her mind. I think it will.
I found them in part through a google search, which turned up a Curtis Hebb Rd a short distance from the town(Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) where he enlisted. That gave me hope he'd returned from the war. Then, narrowing down the Hebbs in the phone book(there are a lot)based on that town where the road was located, I picked up the phone book. I hit Pauline on the first try, as alphabetically she's still under her husband Arnold...of the Hebbs listed in Newcombville. VOILA...not too hard at all.
She was completely stunned and very sweet and appreciative. I think the reporters were probably an additional shock later. Anyway, it felt great to return it to her.
The two resulting Canadian News articles can be found here and here, though I have cut and pasted the texts from each below.
One Article:
A beautifully matted and framed First World War enlistment photo is now back at home with the Hebb family in Newcombville.
Decades ago, the 15" x 28" enlistment piece somehow found its way home in Kingsburg alongside photos of royals. It hung in the home of Judith Varney Burch for 20 to 30 years until her son, Palmer Burch, decided to try and locate the person's family. All he knew was the enlistment photograph was of Pte. Curtis Bamford Hebb, who enlisted in Bridgewater in 1918 for the war in Europe. The matte surrounding the photo has the script "on active service ... for King and Empire."
The Burch family isn't sure when it was acquired, but after being prompted by a friend, Mr. Burch decided to try to find relatives of the young man in the photo.
It wasn't a difficult task. He found Curtis Hebb Road in Newcombville and decided to call the first Hebb listed. Who he found was the widow of Curtis Hebb's nephew, Pauline. Her husband, Albert, died nine years ago.
"He didn't know anything about that, I'm sure," said Ms Hebb pointing to the photo. "I don't have a clue where it came from. We never knew that existed."
According to research, Pte. Hebb, a 21 year-old Newcombville farmer, was drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917. His service record is dated May 25, 1918. He returned uninjured after the war.
Pte. Hebb never married and lived with his brother, Clarence. Years later, after suffering a stoke, he moved in with his brother. At the same time, Mr. and Ms Hebb lived in the house. It was during this time that Ms Hebb helped him rehabilitate.
"I got him back walking and got him back in the car and driving again," said Ms Hebb.
After a few years, Pte. Hebb moved to Waterloo, where he lived with his sister, Suzie Weagle. She died, but Pte. Hebb stayed with her daughter, Jeannie, until he went into a seniors' home in Chester. Pte. Hebb died there 30 years ago at 87 years old.
And the other:
In a small room in a 200-year-old Kingsburg farmhouse overlooking the ocean hung a black and white picture of a young man in uniform, a bare hint of a smile on his young face, about to head off to war.
The matte surrounding the picture bears the coloured flags of Britain, Scotland, Ireland and Canada.
The young man in the photo is Pte. Curtis Bamford Hebb. It is his First World War enlistment picture, dated in Bridgewater in 1918.
Pauline Hebb will never know how her husband’s uncle’s picture ended up on the wall of Inuit art expert Judith Varney Burch’s home, but she’s grateful to have the ornately framed picture back in the family.
She said she’s looking forward to cleaning it up a bit and showing it to Hebb’s descendants.
For 25 years, the photograph hung in Varney Burch’s home among pictures of royalty — Queen Victoria, King George VI, King Edward VII, The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II and her wedding photo to Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh.
“That piece ended up hanging with them due to its Canadian and British flags and mention of service ‘For King and Country,’” Varney Burch’s son, Palmer, said in an email.
A visiting friend asked recently if they’d ever attempted to track down the young man’s family. Palmer decided to do just that.
It didn’t prove too difficult.
He found a Curtis Hebb Road in Newcombville, just outside Bridgewater, and some of the family’s genealogy online. It looked like Curtis had survived the war, so “from there I simply picked up the phone book and called.”
Arnold Hebb was the first person on the list.
His widow, Pauline, picked up the phone and was taken aback to learn Burch had the framed enlistment picture.
“I can’t see how that ever got out of the house,” she said, and Varney Burch cannot remember which antique store or auction she got it from those many years ago.
It turns out Curtis did make it home uninjured to Lunenburg County, where he took up farming.
He never married, lived with his brother Clarence for a time then lived with Pauline and Arnold during his later years. Pauline taught him how to drive again after he suffered a stroke.
Today, a red granite headstone set just beyond the shade offered by the branches of a maple tree marks Curtis’s final resting spot. It’s in the community cemetery down the road from where he was born and lived his life.
He died in a seniors home in Chester two weeks before Christmas 30 years ago, at the age of 87.
As he was in life, he is surrounded by family.
His nephew Arnold, Pauline’s husband, is buried two rows over. He died nine years ago this week.
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