Finding Home follows the lives of two young people in early Canada. Sarah Phillips, a servant orphaned by cholera in 1869 London crosses the ocean desperately seeking her family. Richard Breeze, the disgraced son of an Ontario sawmill owner, must redeem himself in his father’s eyes and chart his own course. Their two journeys are brought together by a group of Home Children. Finding Home pulls back the curtain on many issues of the time: class differences, Protestant/ Catholic friction, homophobia, racism and the treatment of child immigrants.
In the novel, the names of real people have been used; however, the children’s stories in Finding Home are fictitious. Should anyone have personal information about any of the following immigrants brought to Canada by Annie Macpherson, I would be eager to learn their true history.
Names of Immigrants
From Passenger list, SS Prussian
Departed Liverpool August 25 – Arrived Quebec City Sept 4, 1870
Buckingham, Clara 6 F Lancaster, Mrs. 31 F
Buckingham, S. J. 9 F McCloud, Anna 7 F
Filley, Frank 7 M McDermott, Hugh 13 M
Gordon, Harriet 5 F Murray, Dennis 10 M
Harris, Lewis 12 M Oxley, Amelia 6 F
Hill, Grace 14 F Oxley, Mary A. 7 F
Hodges, Carolyn 7 F Parker, Annie 8 F
Hollington 5 M Parker, Margaret 12 F
Hollington, Ann 36 F Phillips, Jane 16 F
Kusia, Francis 7 M Redburn, Thomas 8 M
Lancaster, Girl 5 F Swain, ? 12 M