Two Photographs

of

Annie Louisa [nee Jeune] Johnston

- Taken in Toronto, Canada, between 1895 & 1900 -

Annie Louisa JEUNE was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, on the 2nd day of September 1875. She must have been sickly, or thought not to survive for any length of time, because she was privately baptised by James Carmichael, the Anglican minister of St George's church in Ste Anne de Bellevue (a suburb of Montreal, at the extreme western tip of the Ile de Montreal) on Monday, the 15th of November 1875.¹ Then she was publicly baptised by the same minister at the church on Wednesday, the 26th of January 1876. Annie Louisa was the daughter of Edwin Jeune, a native of the British Channel Island of Jersey, and his wife Martha Jane ALLEN, a native of New Carlisle on the south or Chaleur Bay shore of Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula. Read about Edwin & Martha Jane [nee Allen] Jeune here.

Annie Louisa moved with her parents and one sibling - a brother named Aubrey Edwin Havelock Jeune (born in Montreal in 1877), to Sherbrooke some time in the late 1870s. A sister - Katie Maud, was born in 1880, and baptised in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1881. The family was enumerated during Canada's 1881 Census undertaking in Sherbrooke.²

Although no trace of Annie Louisa, her mother, or her siblings can be found in 1891 Census of Canada schedules, by August of 1891 Annie Louisa had followed her father to Toronto, Ontario. There, on the 12th of August she was married to William Thomas Alexander JOHNSTON, a native of Belfast, Ireland.³ Louisa Jeune was said to be 18 years old. William Johnson (as his surname was recorded) was 23. Curiously, both were said to be 'Salvation Army' in their religious practise.

Daughter Minnie Louise Johnston was born in Toronto on 28 March 1892.⁴

And son William Aubrey Arthur Johnston arrived on 10 September 1895.⁵ The arrival of this child set the scene for the first of two known studio photographs which show a likeness of Annie Louisa [nee Jeune] Johnston. The photograph below, by Barrett of 324 Yonge Street, Toronto, shows Annie Louisa on the viewer's left, with her husband William in the background, and a woman who was probably her husband's younger sister Elizabeth Orr Johnston seated in the foreground. Minnie Louise is standing on the viewer's right, up on a small stand, while infant William Aubrey Arthur appears to be propped up on his father's knee. It seems likely that this photograph from the author's collection was taken in the waning days of 1895. It is certainly faded, there are spots of deterioration, the corners of the mounting card are quite damaged, and there is a fold crack running the full length up and down through the middle of the original.

 A third child was born on 8 June 1899⁶ - Thomas Stewart Johnston, and this birth seems to have been the circumstance that lead to the 2nd of the 2 studio photographs of Annie Louisa that are known. Annie Louisa is seated in this photograph made by A R Ward of 311 Yonge Street, Toronto. Husband William is standing to her left, and daughter Minnie is in front and to his left. Three year old William (popularly known as Bill) was standing to Minnie's right, and the infant Thomas is seated on Annie Louisa's lap. This photograph is also from the author's collection, and quite obviously has seen little exposure to light of any kind.

The fact that studio photographs exist following the births of Annie Louisa's 2nd and 3rd children, suggests that an additional photograph may have been taken after her first daughter - Minne, was born on 28 March 1892. If a photo was taken, no copies are known to exist today. We can only hope that someone reading this article might know about such a photo, and might be willing to share it.

The fact of photographs following the 2nd and 3rd childrens' births, also suggests that a photograph may have been taken soon after Annie Louisa and William were married. If this was so, no copy of such a photo is known today.

The fact that a studio photograph was taken after Annie Louisa's 2nd and 3rd children were born, suggests that another photograph might have been taken when Annie Louisa's fourth known child was born - Martha Gladys Helena Johnston, on 16 October 1901.⁷

A fifth child was born - John James Johnston, on 30 April 1905.⁸ But we can not anticipate finding a photograph that was taken after this birth which shows Annie Louisa, because she died on that date, only a 'few hours' after experiencing a pulmonary embolism.⁹ Annie Louisa was said to be only 29 years old when she died. A photograph was taken which shows John James as an infant, but William T A Johnston the father was absent, and sister Minnie was the one shown holding the baby. 

Read more about the family of William Thomas Alexander & Annie Louisa [nee Jeune] Johnston's family here. This site also presents the photograph of all of the children in the family, taken very shortly after John James 'Jack' Johnston was born, and very shortly after Annie Louisa [nee Jeune] Johnston died.

1.  ^{Register of Baptisms, 1876, St George's Anglican Church, Ste Anne de Bellevue, (Montreal) Quebec, Folio Four [facing page]. Part of the Drouin Collection at <ancestry.com> [but not indexed!]. These are copies of the civil registers forwarded by church officials to a central office in Quebec City, forming the basis for a civil provincial registry of births/baptisms, marriages and deaths/burials. This entry was first examined at the Archives Nationale du Quebec, Hull Office, on 10 June 2015, where the event was indexed in "Quebec, Non-Catholic Parish Registers, 11783-1967", a typescript alphabetical list of baptisms that took place in the Province, Page 152. Of significant interest is the fact that Edwin Jeune as proxy for Louisa BABOT was identified as one of three sponsors for Annie Louisa's life. Edwin Jeune as the Father was another sponsor, as was a woman named Mary HUTCHINSON (who signed the register with her (x) mark, but whose relationship is not presently known). Louise Babot was on of Edwin's older sisters, residing in England at that time.}
2. ^{1881 Census of Canada, Province of Quebec, District 55 - Sherbrooke. Sub-district B - South Ward, Page 12, Household No. 53.} 
3. ^{Ontario Marriage Registrations, York County, Toronto Division, 1891, No. 014620. Witnesses to the ceremony were Frank GEROW and Pollie [MEARGETTS ?], whose relationships to the Groom and Bride are not presently known. The Groom's surname was recorded as 'Johnson'.}
4. ^{Ontario Birth Registrations, York County, Toronto Division, 1892, No. 040452 [Archives of Ontario MS 929 R 113; Indexed on <ancestry.ca> as Johnson, with image accessible as 0760/296 of 346]. Curiously, Edwin Jeune, the child's maternal grandfather, registered the birth on 16 May 1892. At that time he was living at 184 Perth Avenue, and he mis-stated the father's name, giving 'William George Alexander' rather than 'William Thomas Alexander'. He also appears to have registered the child's surname as 'Johnson'.}
5. ^{Ontario Birth Registrations, York County, Toronto Division, 1895, No. 041705 [Archives of Ontario MS 929 R 130; Indexed on <ancestry.ca>, with image accessible as 0286/286 of 371]. Edwin Jeune, the child's maternal grandfather, again registered the birth on 11 October 1895. At that time he was living at 145 Sherbourne Street.}
6. ^{Ontario Birth Registrations, York County, Toronto Division, 1899, No 003086 [Archives of Ontario MS 929 R 145; Indexed on <ancestry.ca>, with image accessible as 0187 & 0188/158 & 159 of 327]. Edwin Jeune was the one who registered the birth again, on 10 July 1899, but his residential address was not noted.}
7. ^{Ontario Birth Registrations, York County, Toronto Division, 1901, No. 004962 [Archives of Ontario MS 929 R 153; Indexed on <ancestry.ca> as Johnson, with images accessible as 0353 & 0354/338 & 339 of 389].}
8. ^{Ontario Birth Registrations, York County, Toronto Division, 1905, No. 011046 [The image accessible through <ancestry.ca> is designated as MS 940 R 27, 0206 of 436. This seems to be a preliminary record, showing only the child's name, sex, date of birth, and parents' names; the second page showing more detail including the provincial registration number has not apparently been imaged. The images accessible through <familysearch.org> show both pages, and all details, but it's not been possible to establish what the Archives of Ontario references are for this item.] Note that John James' sister Minnie is the one who registered the birth, but she did not do so until 25 October. Minnie was the 'adult female' in the family, and the one who held them all together for years.}
9.  ^{Two examples of Ontario Death Registrations exist. 1) The formal provincial death registration record: York County, Toronto Division, 1905, No. 002392 [Archives of Ontario MS 935 R 118; indexed on <ancestry.ca>, with image accessible as 0789/62 of 630; Local No. 1392]. 2) Apparently a Toronto Division record, with no provincial registration number assigned: York County, Toronto Division, 1905, Local Number 1392 [Archives of Ontario MS 940 R 5; Indexed on <ancestry.ca> as 0615 & 0616/434 & 435 of 630].}