The Poems: Into the Blue

Title: Into the Blue: 2020 Pamphlet 153. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Aberdeen. Printed by: Repro Overflow 5 Novar Place Aberdeen. Cover: ‘Into the Blue’ by the artist Rosy Long. This a Limited Edition of 50 books. 2020 © Copyright Sheena Blackhall June 2020 Of the 10 children of George Philip & his wife Helen Craib of Coull, Tarland, (my great grandparents), half immigrated to the New World. Their first child George, homesteaded in Tilston Manitoba in Canada in 1898, and one of their grandsons later moved to Medicine Hat. Three of my great grandparent’s children immigrated to Illinois, two to Canada. Their 7th child, Patricia, married Arthur Simpson of New Deer, and they immigrated to America, passing through Ellis Island, as did their 8th child William, who married Arthur Simpson’s sister. Ellis Island is a historical site that opened in 1892 as an immigration station, a purpose it served for more than 60 years until it closed in 1954. Located at the mouth of Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, Ellis Island saw millions of newly arrived immigrants pass through its doors. The first nations in the area of Canada where the Philips’ children settled were the Blackfoot and the Cree. The first nations where the Philips’ children settled in Illinois were, amongst others the Dakota Sioux. One descendent of the Craibs is settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On my father’s side, my brother Ian Middleton settled in Rua Engenheiro Monlevade, São Paulo, swopping his mother tongue for Portuguese. The indigenous Guarani people live on the lands surrounding the Pico do Jaraguá Mountain in São Paulo. Three families have lived on this 72-hectare plot of land since July 2014 when FUNAI (Brazilian federal agency of Indian affairs) recognised it as traditional Guarani territory. My half-brother Charles Middleton Ritchie settled in Oshawa Ontario. Canada seems to have been a popular choice for Deeside men to emigrate to. Amongst the First Nation people there, are the Mohawk, the Cree, the Chippewa and the Delaware Indians. Most of the diaspora from both my parents’ families, (Craibs & Middletons) went not to emigrate, but to work in Ceylon and Kuala Lumpur, tending to retire, for the most part, back to Aberdeenshire. But that is another story