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Note: iage certificate from Franklin, Manitoba, Canada for her marriage to Peter Norman Stewart. This certificate lists her place of birth and parents names. A witness to the marriage was John Black of Arnaud, Manitoba (her brother). She met P.N. when he was working on a "spur line" from Winnipeg to the U.S. border. which ran next to the Black family farm.
Greenridge, Manitoba is a part of the Rural Municipality of Franklin. This includes: Arnaud, Dominion City and Greenridge. It is located some 50-70 miles south of Winnipeg, near the Canada/United States border. According to the 1891 and 1901 Census, her middle name was Martha, not Mildred. In a legal statement dated 21 Aug 1942, she indicated that she had been known as "Mildred" since 1902. , According to the records of the Province of Manitoba, she was born 23 July 1889, not 1890, as other records indicate.
Her husband made enough money that he could afford to send his wife and daughters to Vancouver for the worst of the winter months. The winters in Medicine Hat, AB and in Winnipeg MB are very harsh, and Vancouver has much milder winters. Ethel met another man in Vancouver, and decided to throw away her marriage and live with him.
She legally separated from Peter Norman Stewart in 1924. This was approved by the Supreme Court of Alberta, in Medicine Hat.
Her boyfriend refused to marry her, and disappeared. Her husband continued to support her, until she finally agreed to a divorce in 1945, when she wanted to marry again. Following the death of her 2nd husband, she was reduced from a comfortable middle class life to being a maid at the Y.M.C.A. in Seattle.
She was listed on her 2nd marriage certificate as being a resident of Portland, Oregon.
She was listed in her fathers obituary as Mrs. E. Stewart of Seattle, Washington. Her son Lynton Norman was NOT with her in Seattle at that time, as he was employed by a bank in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
In later years, she called her children all kinds of horrible names. I spent hours sitting with her in her trailer in Beaverton, Oregon in the early 1970's. She described her son Lynton as a "That useless son of a bitch.". Her daughter Valierie Norma she described as "She has the airs of a countess and the morals of a whore". Lorraine was dismissed as "The lying bitch". I was amazed at the hatred she expressed toward everyone that was in her family.
She was Metis, at least 1/4 Indian in ancestry. Her maternal grandfather was very well known as a Metis explorer. She either denied this history, or was not aware of it (I suspect she knew it all too well). In Manitoba, when she was growing up, the Metis were horribly discriminated against, denied education or entry into any profession.
She claimed to have been born in 1890, and she is listed in every other document as Ethel Mildred Black. According to an affidavit she swore to in 1942, she was born Ethel Martha Black, but was called Ethel Mildred as early as 1900.
Note: Have death certificate and family letters giving background. Have marr
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