Ellwyne Ballantyne’s twenty-two years of brief, bright life are summed up on a simple plaque attached to a majestic buttonwood tree in Carruthers Corners. When local author CJ Frederick first saw the memorial tree in the rural area just outside of Glencoe, ON, she experienced a keen reverence. “It’s just a dot on a map. I was not prepared for how beautiful the tree was. It looked like it was wearing a cloak; as my mother says, ‘wrapped in a queen’s robe’. Knowing that this tree was dedicated to the life of someone who had given that life in a faraway, long-ago conflict really made me stop and think about remembrance and the enduring nature of love.” Ballantyne’s story had to be told; Frederick was eager to record it.
Frederick’s father, Butch Frederick, had mentioned the plaque years earlier, and it weighed on her mind until the pandemic in 2020 provided time to investigate. An article about the plaque’s dedication in 2012 led her to James C. Carruthers of Mossley, ON. Frederick accepted an invitation to Carruthers’ farmhouse for what would be the first of many hours of ruminative local history conservation, and dutifully inspired imagination.
For James Carruthers, the tree and its plaque represents his childhood spent listening to his grandmother’s stories about the kind, lonely boy from India she took under her wing and treated as her own. Ellwyne Ballantyne, born in Calcutta, India in 1895 to a steadfast mother, was orphaned by the age of 11. His stepfather steered Ballantyne and his half-sister first to Scotland, then to North America. Soon after he landed, in the dead of winter, at the doorstep of James A. and Betsy Jane Carruthers in 1906 at Carruthers Corners. During his years working the land with the Carruthers family, Ballantyne discovered a buttonwood tree thriving completely out of its element. The striking metaphor between tree and boy ignited a stewardship within Ballantyne that rooted him in his newest land, and family. This cultivated kinship matured with Ballantyne’s voluntary enlistment to serve on behalf of Canada overseas in World War I, where he was summarily sent to France. He was killed in action in September, 1917.
Lost, but not forgotten by James A. and Betsy Jane Carruthers—Ellwyne Ballantyne lived on through their stories, and also the land. Indeed, the buttonwood tree of this historical youth is the towering tree of his present memorial.
Though delighted to share Ballantyne with the rest of the world—Carruthers had waited a long time to share Ballantyne’s story with an audience outside of family—he held back the finer details at first. “My admission ticket to the full Ellwyne story, as far as James Carruthers was concerned, was that I grew up close to where Betsy Jane [James C.’s grandmother] was raised, I knew the area quite well, that I had a strong interest in the past, and that my grandfather had also served in World War I.” Frederick’s great grandfather also enlisted, but was honorably discharged when needed at home. “I feel a connection to what that generation endured.” Carruthers’ expansive archive included not only the cherished memories of his grandparents, but also a photo of Ballantyne and his birth mother in India, handwritten letters, and a wooden carving handcrafted by Ballantyne.
Frederick grew up in a farmhouse on a concession fatefully renamed Buttonwood Drive, near the Sydenham River, home to many flourishing buttonwood trees. “I helped my dad plant more than 5,000 trees as we reforested a corner of our farm property with conifers. I have always been fascinated by the stoicism and beauty of trees.” She had initially set out to write a short story based on the plaque and its buttonwood tree, but as a few phone calls and visits stretched into over fifty hours of remembrance, Frederick knew it was a full-length novel. “When I told James C. that the story was far too complicated and long for a short story, I asked if I could try to construct a [fiction] novel. This thrilled James because he wants the story to be shared with others before it is lost to the memories of those who will pass and take it with them.” With Carruthers’ permission, Frederick used the factual pieces of Ballantyne’s history to fully immerse the reader in the fictionalized, fully-realized details of his life from beginning to end.
“Lots of people go through the motions of saying that they remember or they give thanks for the sacrifice of others,” says Frederick when asked what drew her to tell this deeply personal story of strangers, “but the Carruthers family has set a fine example of what remembrance means and how it looks. It doesn’t have to be big and showy, but it can be meaningful and real. And worth sharing.”
A technical writer by trade, Frederick is a creative fiction author by inspiration. “I spend all day storytelling business concepts, but I’ve always wanted to write a novel. Small towns and family-owned farms are disappearing, and when they’re gone, they’re just gone. I want to tell rural stories and find an audience who will appreciate them. And the memory of Dad talking about this plaque on a tree all but in the middle of a twentieth century farm field pulled at me. The pandemic made me feel like if not now, when? So I took the opportunity to spend my lockdown time researching, connecting, and writing about this incredible tale.”
Rooted and Remembered by CJ Frederick is a fiction novel based on the real life of Ellwyne Ballantyne, a remarkable boy from India who bestowed a legacy of love and compassion to a rural Ontario family before his life was cut short in World War I. To purchase a copy of the book (available in paperback or ebook), visit the Amazon website or order it from any bookstore.
Frederick’s just published book was launched at The Archives in Glencoe on October 23, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. This story was written by CJ Frederick and published in a September edition of the Middlesex Banner.
