All things are connected, that's for sure.
I am editing Milk and Water my e-play about Montreal in 1927, the Roaring Twenties, the era of American Prohibition, Al Capone, and Elliot Ness (was he real?) and I've found yet another connection between this Milk and Water Story and my Threshold Girl story about 1910 Montreal.
In a bit of dialogue where Fuddy is telling Jules Crepeau, (Director of City Departments and my grandfather) about the death of his youngest son in South America, I decided to get specific.
So I consulted my FONG biography of McConnell to remind myself what South American concerns the Toronto Industrialists were involved in...
Brazil!
So I have Morris Wells die in Brazil. My father in law can't recall exactly where. (Why else would he have been down there? He was an engineer who died on a water power project.)
And I have Thomas opine (is that the word?) that he got his son the job. This likely happened. He was Director of the Rotary for Eastern Canada!
Odd, I'm also working on "The Diary of A Confirmed Spinster" that is the follow up to Threshold Girl. It tells the story of Edith Nicholson and how she lost her great love in a hotel fire.
In this story, I am fiddling around a bit. In real life, her boyfriend disappeared to Mexico in late 1909. I figured out why. They'd had a typhoon in Monterrey and that's where a Mr. William Mackenzie, Toronto tycoon, had a Power Company.
I'm taking guesses here, but I think they are educated guesses. Good guesses.
In Diary of a Confirmed Spinster, I'm fiddling a bit with the story, turning it into a murder mystery involving the opium trade.
Anyway, I noticed that the Fong bio of McConnell mentions Edward Beck, Journalist! He says that Beck is McConnell's biggest enemy journalist. Oh my. So Beck hated McConnell and my grandfather! And McConnell was involved with the Forget's, my grandfather's relations. HMMM. This is much more complicated that even I can figure out. Alas!
I guess I must thoroughly read Fong's Chapter on the Water and Power situation in 1910....
Oh, I did and it's still complicated. In a footnote to the chapter, No. 42. Fong says that Beck probably wasn't a reliable journalist as he lost a defamation suit in 1915. I think he is referring to my grandfather's suit. He 'sort of' lost... he only had to pay 100 dollars.
Hmm.
