Emma Wilkes was born at Stretton on Fosse, Warwickshire, on 19th March 1877, the daughter of William, a railway labourer, and his wife, Elizabeth. She married Joseph Foster Agg at Badsey on 19th July 1898. They had five children all born at Badsey: Dorothy Mary (1899-1989), Norman Joseph (1901-1901), Gwendolen May (1902-1970), Lawrence Decimus (1904-1956) and Ronald William (1906-1985).
In 1913, the Agg family set off for a new life in Canada, with Joseph travelling ahead in the March to look for work. Emma and the four children sailed from Liverpool on 27th August 1913, arriving in Quebec on 3rd September. On the form completed when she entered Canada, it said that she was joining her husband who had been in the country for six months, and she was bound for Toronto. They lived firstly at 640½ Euclid Avenue, Toronto, then, by March 1916 had moved to Palace Road, Whitby, Ontario. Whitby is a town in Durham region, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, about 35 miles from Toronto.
In 1920, when Emma took a voyage to England to visit her mother in Stretton on Fosse, the Aggs lived at 301 Dundas Street, Whitby. Emma arrived at Liverpool on 27th July 1920 with her youngest son, 13-year-old Ronald, having sailed from Montreal. She departed from Liverpool on 19th November 1920, taking with her, not only her son, but also her nephew, Harold, who was going to join his brother, William, in Canada. The address for all three was given as Sands Lane, Badsey, which was where Harold lived with his widowed father.
At the time of the 1921 census, Emma and Joseph and family lived at 115 Dundas Street, Whitby.
On 20th July 1935, Emma travelled again to England, arriving 3rd-class at Liverpool, having sailed from Montreal. Wickhamford was the address given that she was heading for. It is probable that she was going to stay with her brother-in-law, George, and his wife, Catherine, who lived on Manor Road, Wickhamford. She left again on 7th September 1935.
According to Voters’ lists, Emma and Joseph lived at Centre Street North, Whitby, in 1945 and 1949.
Joseph died at Whitby, Ontario, in 1953. After Joseph’s death, Emma was living at 706 Byron Street South, Whitby, in 1957 and 1962. Emma died at Whitby, Ontario, on 16th December 1962, aged 85.