Sir SandFord Fleming - The Knight Of Time
The intimate Fleming
Ottawa, 5th March, 1868
My dearest Wife, […]
It is now 19 days since I left home and I have not yet had your first letter. […]
I am very homesick. I wish I could look into the conservatory and see you and little Jeanie amongst the flowers. […]
Your affectionate husband,
Sandford
(52 k)
Sandford Fleming mailed many letters of this kind and regularly exchanged telegrams with his family when he had to leave home to carry out his many projects. Fleming travelled frequently.
(81 k)
As often as he could, he visited the site of works for which he was responsible. He was willing to travel – sometimes repeatedly – to make his point of view known when people questioned his decisions or when he had an idea that he wanted to put forward.
Fleming was a model of perseverance… or stubbornness, as his detractors would have said! His travels also enabled him to cultivate his relations with influential men and to meet experts in areas of interest to him.
(88 k)
However, he was always happy to come back to his wife and children at home in Halifax or Ottawa.