Author, CJ Frederick attended Tartan Days
CJ Frederick, her Mom and Dad from Mosa Hills, and the author’s husband attended Tartan Days in Glencoe July 20th to promote this new book about their community which is hot off the press. From the pastoral countryside of Southwestern Ontario in the early twentieth century to the muddy trenches of WWI in France, Rooted and Remembered weaves together the will to honour and remember with a glimpse into rural settler life and hardship, as told in one family’s story about an orphaned boy and his beloved buttonwood tree.
In 2012, the author first learned of Ellwyne Ballantyne and the astonishing relationship he forged with two strangers after reading a short newspaper article about the dedication of an unusual tree to a long-dead soldier from World War One. With obligations to work and family filling her time, she wasn’t yet ready to hear his story. It took a global pandemic, with the prospect of lockdowns and unexpected forced time at home, to open her ears, mind, and heart and be ready to explore the roots of Ellwyne’s story that took place more than a century before.
CJ Frederick grew up in the 1980s in a wood-framed farmhouse built by Scottish settlers, situated on a dead-end road that terminates near the winding Sydenham River. In 2000, this road was renamed from a numbered concession to Buttonwood Drive. The name reflects the stand of buttonwood trees gathered at the river’s edge, where they most comfortably grow.
In 2020, she began reflecting on the fallen soldier and his extraordinary buttonwood tree that grows near her childhood home. Her curiosity eventually led her to the doors of Carruthers clan descendants, where she begged to have a conversation about Ellwyne and his connection to the tree. Thinking it might have the makings of a short story, she began putting together the pieces of Ellwyne Ballantyne’s brief life. But, with each photograph, letter, and artifact shared, she became more engrossed in the tale of an orphan who had stepped foot on three continents and was taken in by strangers who came to love him as their own. At the outset, CJ did not anticipate that it would bloom into a novel, but as she learned more details about the characters and events, she believed that each nugget was fascinating and intriguing.
CJ hopes that Ellwyne’s story and his connection with the Carruthers clan touches people with its message of love, faith, and remembrance. It’s only through storytelling that those who carry memories, and decide to share them, make history come to life.
Rooted and Remembered is now available on Amazon and can be purchased at The Archives in Glencoe. Soft launch is underway. The historical society will be hosting a launch at The Archives October 23rd.