The Haggart brothers, Robert and John, are over 3800 miles apart, one in Canada and the other in Scotland. Both fell victim to the Spanish influenza within just over three months of each other. The widespread impact of the Spanish flu led to numerous losses within families, demonstrating that distance and geography were largely immaterial.
Robert passed away the day before the Armistice in Dundurn, Saskatchewan Province, Canada, at the age of thirty-one. He is laid to rest in the Dundurn Hillside Garden Cemetery. He is commemorated on the family headstone in Vicarsford Cemetery, Forgan, where his brother John and their parents are also laid to rest. Unfortunately, Robert’s name is faded on the family headstone. The headstone begins with the phrase “In Loving Memory of Our Two Boys,” serving as a poignant reminder of their simultaneous passing and the grief that would have engulfed the family.
Robert was born on August 22nd, 1887, in Newport, Fife, to tailor and clothier Thomas and Janet (née Wood). He was their first son and third child; the couple already had two daughters. Robert spent his childhood at Agra House in Newport. His brother John was born the following year. Given the small age gap, I imagine that the brothers were close.
Whilst John remained in Fife, Robert emigrated to Canada in 1907. The 1911 Canadian Census recorded him residing at Lanoy Bay, sharing his home with a lodger. He was a carpenter to trade.
Robert served in the Canadian Armed Forces during the First World War, enlisting in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force in September 1914. He served in the Fifth Batallion.
To the best of my belief, like his brother, Robert was unmarried and had no known children.
Sources: Ancestry, Find a Grave, Newspapers.com, ScotlandsPeople
Broken Columns 