John MacCracken Interview

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Held by: Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
Dates: November 30, 2009 (indexed as 2009)
Level: item
Scope & content: Interview with John MacCracken Conducted by Joel Yan & Laurie Dougherty At the Ottawa Jewish Archives Monday November 2009 Joel and John worked together at Statistics Canada. At a recent meeting of retirees, John asked Joel about his kippah. John recalled the following story to Joel and repeated it for the Ottawa Jewish Archives: “In 1940 & 1941, my grandfather [Thomas Charles James] went down to Union Station on occasion, when he knew the train from Halifax was coming in. Sometimes, he would notice that there were families that didn’t have people who came to bring them home and give them a refuge. They’d be standing around, looking rather lonely, in a strange place, in a cold town and he’d go and use sign language to try and encourage them to come home with him”. “It was at least three, possibly more occasions when families came home with him. He had a large house on Monkland Ave. and he and his wife had three daughters who were still at home and they had a maid, so they had a capacity there to look after people. As I said, at least 3 of these families journeyed to his home. Some of them spent a couple of weeks, some 4 or 5 weeks and at least one of them was about 3 months.” “He had a neighbor who wasn’t too fond of the idea that he was having people as guests in his home. He referred to him running a boarding house. But, it really came down to the fact that the next door neighbor was anti-semitic and realized that these people were not just anybody – they were Jewish people coming from war-torn Europe. He had a set-to with my grandfather and was told to leave - the door was slammed in his face. He started a petition as a result, but didn’t get very far, he only got one name going up and down Monkland Ave. The man they got it from probably didn’t know the whole story.” “What I’ve just given you is something I was told, I wasn’t even born in 1940 but when I was a very small boy I used to go to Bank Street with my grandfather on occasion, picking up something from the store or what have you and people would walk along the sidewalk and then suddenly go out a laneway onto the street – not pass him on the sidewalk directly as you’d normally do. I always thought that was strange when I was a kid until I was a teenager when I was told what it was really all about. It was a form of shunning for the fact that he had Jewish people in his home.” “The incident with the kippah was a very funny scene in the kitchen of Monkland Ave. when 3 of my aunt’s and my mother and my grandmother of course and the maid were all in hysterics trying to get this yarmulka to stay on his bald head... quite a challenge. They got it to stay on somehow. My mother had me home for supper so I never did get to see how they achieved it. He’d been invited to a bar mitzvah, he and my grandmother. They had a good time.” Questions and answers about various aspects of his grandfather’s life followed John’s story: - name of family who had the bar mitzvah (not known) - preparing special meals with the Jewish families (not known) - description of where the families stayed (third floor of house) - background of T. C. James (birth, great-grandparent’s immigration to Canada due to religious persecution as a Baptist) - T.C. came to Ottawa, marriage, worked as a tree topper then went to Vancouver, lost one child (identical twin) and returned to Ottawa, where they lived. - Involvement with Zion Congregationalist Church, another son, Emma died from TB. He married Alice and had 6 children including one adopted daughter Mabel. Where they lived in Ottawa before they moved to Monkland. Moved to Stewarton United Church where Alice taught Sunday school and he was an elder. - Grandfather helped other bricklayers to contract with building contractors. He built a lot of churches including South Minster United Church, the Sunnyside Fire Station, the Mayfair theatre and others. - Bought a commercial laundry which his son operated - T.C. was not a member of the Masons and did not join other organizations. John, Joel and Laurie then looked at a copy of a photograph taken at his grandfather’s 80th birthday by his cousin Bob James, a professional photographer. John pointed out 5 individuals that no-one in the family could identify. Wondered if possibly were from Jewish families that he had assisted. Laurie did not recognize anyone from the Jewish Community. Other ideas and discussion followed around what the Jewish families would have done in Ottawa at the time they were living at James’ house on Monkland. John did not know what happened to any of the families. He mentioned that his grandfather knew the Molot family who ran a pharmacy on Bank Street quite well. John recalled falling down a trap door at Molot’s and ending up at the Civic Hospital. Mr. Molot was very concerned. John lived on Strathcona, so knew the Molots too. Joel will introduce John to Henry Molot, son of the oldest Molot boy. John moved out to the west end but his grandparents stayed on Monkland. T.C. James died in 1952 at the age of 85. His grandmother died in 1966. T. C. James bought a family cottage in Norway Bay in 1921 which they traveled to on the train on the weekend. The women moved there for the summer. Presumably, the Jewish families were met at the train station in the fall or winter. John’s parents married in 1939 but they waited to have children till 1944 because they didn’t want to bring children into the world with Hitler still a threat. His aunt and uncle also waited to have children. His grandfather was a “Laurier Liberal” and enthusiastic about the Liberal party. John recalled that his grandfather predicted that television “would never amount to anything”. End of side A. Side B begins with a discussion of his grandfather’s fastidious care of his hands. He worked right up till he was 79. His last job was building a brick wall at Glebe Collegiate. He didn’t think of himself as a wealthy man. He rarely went on vacation but as the 30’s wound down he took more time off. He did go to visit relatives in the United States and went to Atlantic City and Garden City. He had a 1947 Frazer automobile which he never drove. He bought it for his family and Mabel drove it to the cottage. He actually used horses for his contracting business and he had 3 yards where supplies were stored. He converted model T fords into trucks. T.C. James controlled 120 or more men at times. He was good at public relations and would fire men on the spot if they weren’t polite. He would drink sherry on occasion and enjoyed Guinness. He admitted that his grandfather would probably cuff him over the head if he knew he was telling people about his good deeds. Discussion of Kristallnacht to end of audio cassette (halfway through side B)
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Extent: audio cassette; transcript
Genre / form: sound recording
Format: Audio
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