While my mother was still young, her father went out to the Cape of Good Hope, in charge of a colony of settlers. Dr. William Osler has kindly loaned me a diary of my grandfather's, containing lists of provisions and supplies purchased for the party, as well as other items. The entries extend from January 3, 1815, to January 25, 1821. There seem to have been in the party fourteen men, sixteen women, one boy, and three girls. All payments were to be made in a proportion of the products of the land. My grandfather settled in Simons Town, with most of his family, and was probably a magistrate of the new colony. Two of the daughters, Julia and Philippa, being in business in England, had remained behind. My mother was left in the care of her mother's sister, Mrs. John Harris. They were people of some culture, and having no children of their own, were very fond of my mother and gave careful attention to the cultivation of her mind and manners. Her uncle took special delight in training her in reading and elocution. I have often heard her recite with much spirit:
"My name is Norval. On the Grampian hills
My father feeds his flock";
also many selections from the Iliad and Odyssey, taught her by her uncle. Her home with these dear friends was most pleasant, and she cherished the loving memory of their kindness all her life. It found expression in the name she gave to me, her first-born, of Mary Harris. She learned her business while she remained with them, and became the head woman in a large millinery establishment in Falmouth, and afterwards set up in business for herself in Camborne. My mother became a member of the Church of England, to which all her family belonged, at the age of seventeen, and so continued till near her marriage, when she united with the Wesleyan church in Camborne.
My grandfather Osler died at Simons Town, after some years' residence there. My grandmother returned to her English home, but most of the children, being married and settled in business at the Cape, made their homes permanently there, and their descendants are now living mostly in Simons Town and in Cape Town. After my grandmother's return to England, she taught for a time a school for girls; but later came to Camborne and made her home with her daughters who were in business there. Her home was with my mother till her departure for America.
While my mother remained in Falmouth, her Aunt Osler, the last of the old family, lived near her with her two daughters, and they were a great comfort to her. This Aunt Osler died in April, 1864. She was Mary Paddy Osler, the wife of my grandfather's eldest brother, Edward. Their eldest son, Edward, has descendants in Canada, with whom we have had very pleasant relations, and a daughter, Mary, was the mother of Mrs. Truran of Truro. Another son, Rev. Featherstone Osler, came out to Canada as a missionary, and became the founder of a large and influential family there. Our own relationship to them has been only lately discovered, and has been the source of much pleasure to us. Mrs. Featherstone Osler died at the age of one hundred, in 1907, a woman very remarkable and greatly beloved; and her large family of sons, including Dr. William Osler of Oxford, Hon. Justice Osler of Toronto, Britton Bath Osler, the eminent lawyer, and Mr. Edmund Osler, the financier are all distinguished in public life.
Of my mother's sisters, Susan married a Mr. Fineran of Cape Town, and had an interesting family of children. She was early left a widow. Her daughter, Mrs. Kate Divine, has written me several times, and given me interesting details of the family. One daughter went to New Zealand to live after her marriage; one son, Charles, died early. Mrs. Divine's son, Edmund, went to sea quite young, in a British ship, and coming to New York, visited us all, which was a great pleasure. Mrs. Divine is now quite an invalid, and with her unmarried daughter, Maude, lives in Plumstead, a suburb of Cape Town, very near two of her sons and their families.
Mary Ann married Mr. Sayers of Simons Town, and her children are still there. She was a very lovely character, and died about 1855, after a long and severe illness borne with great fortitude and patience. The inscription chosen for her tombstone was the same as that on my mother's: Rev. xiv: 13. Her daughter, Mrs. Eliza Storrier, has written me under date March 13, 1882, from the address: Mrs. J. E. Storrier, Patent Slip, Simons Town.
Eliza Osler married Mr. Jordan, and lived at Wynberg, Cape of Good Hope. Her husband was in good business, and they had a family of seven daughters and one son. She was also left a widow.
Philippa married Mr. William Cogill, a merchant of Simons Town, who had several children. She had three of her own—two sons and a daughter, Julia, who married a Captain Bray and went to England to live. She was left a widow with two children, in rather unpleasant circumstances. I corresponded for some time with my Aunt Philippa, and her son Arthur, who was at sea, came into the port of Boston at one time and we went to see him while in port. Aunt Philippa died February 14, 1879. She had a stroke of apoplexy and lingered for twenty-four hours, but never regained consciousness. She was a woman of lovely character, and an earnest Christian.
Julia Osler, who, with Aunt Philippa, went out to the Cape after we left England, was married there and had one child, but died early. I have not the name of her husband.