Trees

AMIDST TALL ANCESTRAL TREES

   Here in the Temperate Rainforest where I live, we are surrounded by ancient trees reaching for the skies.  They are Douglas Firs, Cedars, Balsam Firs, Hemlocks and Spruces. Deciduous trees shade us in the summer - mostly Alders and Maples.

   But that's all outside, in the garden.  Inside, trees provide cover too.  They are on the walls, sometimes even turning the corners and exiting rooms! They are elongated, or circular or crumbled into brown pieces inside envelopes.  Sometimes they droop a bit, like their outside counterparts.

   Cameraman Brennen Cross was here under the trees last week, and he said:

 "I'll film THAT!"

Family Trees that hang on walls are a marvellous resource, but only if the information is correct!

   When it came time to write Dr. Dillon's book I consulted the trees my grandfather had drawn, I checked those my mother had sketched and I examined those penned by uncles and aunts.  I read a book an Archbishop had written about our family.  Each of these had different trees of the same family.  

   There was some agreement - 4 children in total.  Dr. Dillon was one. He had a brother John, a Minister, and two sisters, Jane (whom we met in another post) and Anna Maria.

   One Family Tree said Dr. Dillon had been the eldest of 4, another declared him to be the youngest and the baptismal records said, "all children were baptised in the same year."  Now - I'm quite sure all those 4 kids were not born in the same year! 

What to do?  Where to turn?

In a file labelled "Anna Maria" I found a diary, 1856 - 1858:

Anna Maria's Diary, closed and open

    I decided I could transcribe it.  Not an easy task, it was tough going, for two reasons: 

              1. as you can see the writing needs careful study to decipher, and 

              2. mostly the diary tells of religious matters, close to Anna Maria's heart.  She married a Minister, but she had a bad case of what was called religious melancholy.

   However,  Anna Maria was my great-grandmother, and she herself had 8 kids.  Her husband had died of TB.  She was a sad figure:

 

   Here is Anna Maria (front, left) older than when she wrote the diary, sitting on the steps of the family home with her 8 children. I took pity, and got going, one hour per day for three months.  I left out her religious agonies, and these gems began to glow:

Top:  Friday, 25th May 1857,  and   Bottom:  August 23rd, 1857

Top entry says: Friday, 25th May, 1857 - entered this day, my twenty-fourth year. 

Anna is 23 in 1857, born 1834

Bottom entry says: Aug. 23rd  Jane's birthday - she enters her 23rd year. 

Jane is 22 in 1857, born 1835

Anna is older than Jane.  First piece of puzzle.

I checked Dr. Dillon's Navy Records - born in 1837

I checked plaque on church wall for John - it reads 1839 - 1912

Family order was: Anna Maria, Jane Catherine, Dr. W. E. Dillon, Rev. John Dillon

This Family Tree is in Dillon's book.  Accurate now.  A sturdy tree.

Next post: Let's Go Exploring!

Mapmaker

MAPMAKER, MAPMAKER, LEND ME YOUR SKILLS

  Why NOT use original maps?      Why NOT use photos from the Internet or from books?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind . . . .

  

NOT ALLOWED - unless one is willing to pay for lawsuits and copyright violations 

= BIG BUCKS!

What is an author to do, when writing the life-story of someone who lived 170 years ago, who travelled far and wide, across oceans and seas, and over and around mountains, and through swamps and wild terrains?  An author needs maps!

A witty poet (E.C.Bentley) wrote a verse for us!   

                                                                       The art of Biography

                                                                        Is different from Geography.

                                                                        Geography is about maps,

                                                                        But Biography is about chaps.

He wrote that a long time ago, but it's still true.  What does a biographical author know about maps? Goose-egg?

I could LOOK at maps - but NO  NO  NO  - not allowed to use them in Dr. Dillon's book.

In despair, I sat down.  I felt down.  I looked down.  My writing world was truly DOWN.

Then, I thought about maps, and how at school we had traced maps, coloured maps, labelled maps, memorized our own maps. 

I told myself: "You can do this."

And I did it - I traced maps, I coloured maps using felt pens still beside me from when my kids were in Elementary School and my publisher said, "Good job, good maps."  

This video, by Cameraman Brennen Cross, shows what I did to get an outline map of Ireland: 

I used a glass-topped table with a bedside lamp underneath

Kipling wrote:   

                 Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick on the mud;

                 And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart.

                 Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?"

Not Art, but these maps are drawn with love and care, and they ARE good enough! They illustrate what's what.

As for the photos, I have pirated from the collections of all who followed Dillon's Trail through Tanzania in 2004.  These good companions charged no copyright fees, seek no gain, and offered their art unconditionally.  They are Troopers in my eyes.

Our Adventure through Tanzania is described in Dr. Dillon's book, in a full chapter, loaded with photos and written by Dillon's great-great-great-niece Jean, who lives in New Zealand and who was part of the Dillon Trail Expedition in 2004.

Next post - Family Trees Anyone?

My friend, Diana the Artist

DIANA  LYTWYN

I have a friend called  Diana. We met a number of years ago on the Golf Course here, in Port Alberni, but as the years passed, each of us has given up golfing and moved on to different activities. However, we continue to have lunch together almost every week.  

One fine day I discovered she is a Graphic Designer and an Artist.  

I said to myself, said I, "Don't let this opportunity slip away."  So - I begged, I cajoled, I bribed, I pressured. 

Finally she said, "Yes, I will."

And she did.  She started, out of the goodness of her heart, to sketch scenes evoked by passages from family history material that I put in her hands.  She sketched statues, boats and lions.  She sketched David Livingstone and the eastern Irish coastline and the Irish Sea.  All beautifully done.  All now contained in Dr. Dillon's book.

Please meet Diana:

Diana  Lytwyn

 

Before her career as an artist, Diana wore many hats: 

- she showed horses in Kentucky at equestrian events

- she played tournament-level tennis out of the Jericho Tennis Club in Vancouver

 - a seasoned sailor, she sailed in the mid-ʼ70s on a 26-foot sailboat from Vancouver to Tahiti, via Hawaii, navigating by the stars 

- a professional level golf player, she travelled around B.C. competing at the Tournament level 

 
Diana Lytwyn may be contacted at: dianapaints@telus.net

I thank you Diana

for all your efforts

on behalf of the

Dillon Trail.

You might wonder: "Why use sketches in a book?  Why not use photos, original maps, etc?  Why have paintings?"

The answers to such wonderings will be contained in the next blog.

Dinosaurs on Dillon's Trail?

Dinosaurs on Dillon's Trail?

Have you had trouble on this site, making a comment? navigating the posts?

This post is for you.

Someone asked: "You mean that there are those who don't know how to write a comment on a blog? Do they still hand-write letters, and then make up the envelope, and then try to lick stamps that are peeled off the sheet?"

I do that all the time!

"Oh, yes," I said.

 "I guess they are dinosaurs," Someone said.

Is this you?

 

If yes, here are instructions as to how to post a comment. 

#1: Go down to the bottom bar, and click on "No Comments," "1 Comment," etc.

#2: Go down to "Post a Comment," and click in box and write as you like.

 

#3: Include your name if you wish to be identified.

 

#4: Open "Select Profile" arrow, and select "Anonymous."

 

#5: Select "Preview' if you would like to view your comment.

#6: Click "Publish."

 

#7: BINGO!

Dillon's diary

DILLON'S  DIARY

   When Dr. William Edward Dillon sailed on a Tallship from England across the Atlantic Ocean to South America, through the Magellan Straits and up the west coast of the Americas to Victoria, B.C., he wrote a diary.

   But he wrote it on scraps of paper.  He returned home to Dublin in 1867, and his sister said, "Oh, Bill.  You MUST write this up properly.  Promise me!  You will do it, won't you?"

"Why, yes, Jane.  I promise."

   Jane handed her brother a hard-covered exercise book, and all through his travels on board ship for the next few years, he copied his diary into the book.

   Perhaps the diary writings would never have made it down to us in 2014, if he hadn't done so.  But I have often thought, how better it would have been had W.E.D. continued writing a diary as he journeyed around Cape of Good Hope, instead of beautifying the writings from the previous trip.

  The following video was created on January 19th, 2014 by Brennen Cross.  The video is full of shots of the hard-covered diary, hand written by Dr. Dillon.  Notice the date 4 August, 1860, the name of the ship on which he was an officer HMS STAR, his writing of his own signature, W. E. Dillon:

   The features described above are all on the white front pages.  Maybe you observed the torn pages?

   They were ripped out by his Evangelical Niece, Jane Wallace, and we know she didn't like comments in the diary about women and ladies!  Use your own imagination as to what a good Doctor would be writing in his diary, which he knew would be read out to family members!  Nothing too dreadful, but Niece Jane tore them out, anyway!  Our imaginations run wild!

The Sisters

THE  SISTERS

   Dillon and Cameron were fortunate to each have a sister who would enhance their sketches made in the African bush, or, in Cameron’s case, would compose sketches from descriptions given by the brother.

JANE  CATHERINE  DILLON  –  SISTER  OF  DR. DILLON (W.E.D.)

   Jane was a couple of years older than her brother, William Edward Dillon, the doctor, the Royal Navy Officer and the explorer.  She was the best artist in the family, and some of her original paintings are held by descendants today.

Jane  Catherine  Dillon, sister of the Doctor

Several times, W.E.D. sent sketches home to his sister Jane.  He would include the pencilled drawings in letters home.  One time he wrote that he had to hurry up with writing the letter – a caravan of camels was waiting outside his tent to carry his mail 300 miles to the sea, where it would be entrusted to a sea-going Captain to take to a port in England.

  

 Dillon asked Jane “to touch them up.”  She did a superb job, and a number were published in The London Illustrated News, a weekly newspaper published and sold in London and beyond, with about 300,000 subscribers at the time.  The original sketches from W.E.D. would have been smaller than those published, and likely Jane reproduced her brother’s compositions.

  W.E.D. promised Jane a quarter of “the take,” and as he had arranged to be paid £4 per sketch, Jane would have received £1 per sketch for her efforts.  Other sketches by W.E.D. sent home, were used by his friend Cameron in his book Across Africa published in 1877.

  Most of the illustrations described above can be found in Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone’s Africa, available in February, 2014.

HELENA  ALICE  LOVETT  CAMERON  -  SISTER  OF  LT.  CAMERON

   Helena Cameron was Verney Cameron’s youngest sister.  All Victorian ladies were taught to draw and paint as part of their education.  It is likely Cameron prevailed on his sister to draw sketches from his descriptions and sketches made on site.  Cameron’s book Across Africa is full of Helena’s sketches, many of which have been reproduced in Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone’s Africa.

  

 The only known portrait of Helena is as one of the ladies wearing hats and seated in front of Cameron, all a part of the large Cope painting described in an earlier post.  Helena was creative in arts and crafts and decorated many items with marquetry wood staining.

  

 Helena died in 1931 at the age of 80.  Her memorial plaque may be found under the Waley Cohen window of St George and the Dragon on the south side of the Church in Shoreham, Kent, England.

Painting in the book

PAINTING IN THE BOOK

Charles  West  Cope

   The large painting depicting “Lt. Cameron’s welcome home from his explorations in Africa” was painted in 1877 by Charles West Cope RA.

   

 This fine painting was exhibited around the country and then sold to the Mildmay family in Shoreham.  When this family left the village in 1950, the painting was gifted to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shoreham, Kent, England, where it may be viewed hanging on the wall.

 On 5^th April, 1876, Lt. Verney Lovett Cameron, leader of the expedition to find Livingstone, arrived back home to the village of Shoreham in Kent.  He was given a hero’s welcome.  In the painting he can be seen standing in a chaise beside his mother, while the train which had brought him to Shoreham steams away along the valley.  The horses had been uncoupled from the chaise, and village men  are pulling it to the church.  Cameron’s father, the local Vicar, waits by the church door.

  

 Charles West Cope was born in Leeds on 28 July, 1811 and died in Bournemouth on 21 August, 1890.  He was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.

   

 This exciting Shoreham painting was one of his last. 

 

Charles Cope

 

Dr. Dillon's Great Friend

DR.  DILLON’S  GREAT  FRIEND

Who was he?  Where did he come from?  How did they meet?  Why were they friends?

Verney Lovett Cameron was his name.   

He and Dillon were Officers in the Royal Navy at the same time, and in the same area, along east of the coast of Africa, although they were serving on different ships.

 Verney  Lovett  Cameron,  1878

   It was usual for officers to spend the evening together when docked at a port.  Dr. Dillon was Surgeon on HMS Daphne and Cameron was Senior Lieutenant on board HMS Star.  The two ships anchored at the same time at Zanzibar to take on supplies and fresh water.  This is the first documented meeting of these two officers.  Their tall ships were employed in chasing down slave transport vessels carrying captured natives from Zanzibar and other ports, up to Arabia.
 

  Life on board ship was confined.  Imagine the pleasure of being off-duty and sharing dinner and wine, followed by brandy with your peers.  Dillon came from a religious family; Cameron’s father was a minister.  Both were well-educated and loved books.  Both had sisters who were close to them.  It appears Dillon was an extrovert, Cameron being more introspective.  They hit it off. 

  As soon as possible, Dillon arranged to be transferred from HMS Daphne to HMS Star.  He switched ships on January 20^th, 1870.  Now Cameron and Dillon became fast friends, and the stage was being set for their cross-Africa trek.

 

Cameron the Explorer

Don't you LOVE the cover of the book

Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone's Africa:

And where did this picture come from?

I met SOPHIE WALBEOFFE at a major exhibition in London, UK, where I had gone to see the display of sculptures, bronze figures and pottery by a cousin.

While there, I noticed a display by the Osborne Studio Gallery, where they had cards which declared:

'PAINTING OF THE MONTH' - SEPTEMBER 2006

Painting Details: 'Red Hot', Oil on canvas, 48 X48 ins., Sophie Walbeoffe

Sophie and I had a chat, and then more admirers came into the booth, and I moved along.  But Sophie had given me a card.

I took the card home to Canada and stashed it away in a file marked 'Africa - Special Pics.'  About 5 years later I pulled out the card, searched for Sophie on the internet, and emailed her.  Very generously, she gave permission for her 'Red Hot' to be the cover painting for the book.  Thanks, Sophie!!

 

British painter Sophie Walbeoffe was born in 1961. She studied at the Wimbledon School of Art 1980 – 1983. 

After much travelling and painting she settled down to live in Kenya for twenty years with Piers Simpkin, a scientist, aid worker and camel farmer. They have two children Lara and Jasper, and a herd of sixty camels.

Walbeoffe paintings have evolved by having the opportunity to paint out in the wild, or in the landscapes of Africa and the Middle East. She is currently painting in Jerusalem and working in the Jerusalem print studio, which she finds to be a great experience.

Sophie has a website, where you can view more of her paintings:

 www.sophiewalbeoffe.com

There are 4 further artists involved with the development of this book.  I'll tell more about each one in later blogs.

SOMEONE ASKED  "Who are you?"

I was part of the "Following Dillon's Trail Expedition" of 2004, a group of 6 cousins and 3 courageous companions who trekked across Tanzania, searching for "The way that they went."    But by then I was fired up, wanting to write the Doctor's story, wanting to describe the Doctor's adventures.

 The greatest challenge ahead would be the desire to describe Dillon's ambitious undertakings, knowing all the while he had experienced a different Africa, he had grown up in a different age with what you and I would call 'flawed values.'  I had never met anyone who had ever known him  My grandfather had been 3 when Dillon died. I never knew my grandfather!

 

 This photo was taken when 

I was being given a lesson in Swahili.

Everyone we met on our journey

through Tanzania in 2004

was interested and keen to help

in any way possible.

The book is:

 Dr. William Edward Dillon

Navy Surgeon

in Livingstone's Africa

and a full chapter is devoted to our quest of Following Dillon's Trail.

         And what is this pic about?

It's a photo taken south of Dublin, Ireland, of me with my Mum, about 15 years ago.

On December 9, 2013 a book I wrote on my Mum, Daphne Wormell, was launched in Christ Church Cathedral in
Dublin, Ireland.  It was a very grand affair, attended by hundreds of people, some having flown in from Australia, South Africa, New York, Canada, Germany and England.  Lots of Irish there too.

The name of that book is "With Dignity and Grace" and it's about a brilliant scholarly housewife whose aims included women priests in the Anglican Church of Ireland and the introduction of Playgroups for children in Ireland.

You can read all about it on the publisher's website      www.hinds.ie

If you are interested in linking to websites carrying details of activities around the book launch, type the following into your google search bar: 

"With Dignity and Grace"  Daphne Wormell

 

There you will find more than enough, including a radio interview done in the Cathedral, when lots of people I knew were strolling by, waving and calling out "Hello Julia!  Haven't seen you for ages!"

Enough for one day!

The story. The Trail.

DR. WILLIAM  EDWARD  DILLON:  NAVY SURGEON  IN  LIVINGSTONE’S  AFRICA

This book will be available in February, 2014.  It tells the extraordinary life-story of an Officer-Surgeon who travelled in the 1860s on Tall Ships to South America, North America, South Africa, Zanzibar, Arabia, India and Ceylon.

 

Front cover of book on Dr. Dillon

 

            Having completed this adventuring on the high seas, the story continues as Dillon joins his great buddy, Lieutenant Verney Cameron on an expedition sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society in London to find Dr. David Livingstone, who had not been heard of in Africa for over two years.

            Was Livingstone sick?  He had a history of suffering serious maladies in Africa. 

    OR   Had Livingstone “gone native”?  Good men had been known to disappear before, in this fashion.

    OR  Was Livingstone even alive?  His proposed explorations had included travelling through territory where cannibalism, boiling victims alive, had previously been recorded.

            The two Naval Officers set out, were soon joined by two further companions and over 300 porters, many soldiers with arms, and donkeys and dogs.  They tramped through marshes, across swift-flowing rovers and through hostile territories, only to find Livingstone had recently died.  His body’s journey to Westminster Abbey is described in the book, as well as the death of some expedition members.

            Research for this book took ten years.  6 cousins followed the explorers’ trail through Tanzania, and their original photographs fill the pages, as do original sketches by Dillon, maps, mini-biographies, and reproduction of diary passages written by Dillon on the oceans of the world.  Cameron wrote a book in 1877 about the expedition and his Across Africa is fully quoted in this new book, as are a number of original letters held by the author, all used skilfully to describe events accurately.  

CHECK IN AGAIN.   JOIN US IN FOLLOWING DILLON'S TRAIL