Long before my great grandmother Arabella Mitchell married my great grandfather Thomas Edward Mills from Liverpool, England, she was married to a man named Isaac Gaetz Greenough from Petpeswick, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. Sadly, Isaac Gaetz died in 1896; he was only 24 years old.
Together, Arabella and Isaac had two children: a daughter named Helen and a son named Colin. Colin was only six months old when his father died.
In 1901, Arabella and her son Colin were living in the Meagher’s Grant area, where Arabella was a teacher. Arabella’s mother Nancy Hurley was from this area, so she would’ve been amongst familiar people. And it was here where she met Thomas Mills.
In the 1911 Canada Census, the Thomas Mills household was composed of him, wife Arabella, son Harland, daughters Alice, Florence, and Arabella, and stepson Colin. The family lived on a farm in Gays River, Colchester County, NS. Colin was 15 at this time. Curiously, this census lists Colin as being born in the United States instead of Nova Scotia.
During the First World War, Colin joined the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in October 1915. He was assigned to the Composite Battalion and sailed to England in February 1916. See below for a link to Colin’s military records.
From March 1916 to May 1917, Colin served as a Pioneer with the 2nd Canadian Pioneers in France. The pioneers were an engineering unit who would tunnel under the battlefield and place explosives in enemy territory. Unfortunately, he became ill and was transferred back to England.
In May 1917, Colin had an appendectomy in England and required several weeks of bedrest. He later developed a hernia that pretty much ended any return to the front lines. He spent the next year in various support roles in England before embarking at Liverpool in January 1919 to return to Canada.
In February 1919, Colin was discharged from the CEF, deemed medically unfit. His contribution to the war effort was complete.
Shortly after returning to Canada, Colin married Sadie Power (daughter of Leason Power and Idella Day). The couple had several children: Helen, Lillian, Douglas, Ida, Buddy, Colin, Florence, and Melita. Colin later worked as a naval watchman in Halifax.
Colin Mitchell Greenough died in 1952. He would have been one of the last people who had any memory of my great grandfather Thomas Mills. I know my Grandad Alan Mills really looked up to his half brother Colin. He referred to him as “Uncle Col” when talking about him to my Mom. Colin was likely more of a father figure than a half sibling to my Grandad given the age gap (20 years) between the two. Sadly, they both shared the common misfortune of neither one of them knowing their father.
