1911 Courtship: July 23 Dear Ethel

1910 Regina Exhibition Livestock Grounds, Valentine and Sons' Publishing Co. Ltd. Courtesy of the University of Saskatchewan Library, Special Collections.

The above photo from http://saskhistoryonline.ca  shows the numerous barns housing the livestock exhibits on the Exhibition grounds. As a former exhibitor of our goats, I've been in the livestock barns too many times to count, and even camped in them while we exhibited. Unfortunately, the barns in the image were devasted by fire and the ones I'm used to seeing are huge window-less metal structures which do the job of keeping the animals sheltered, but lack the beauty and charm of the original ones. 

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: July 23 (1911)
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, Dear Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed to: Huntsville, Ont
Mailed from:  Grand Coulee (Sask)
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink which lightens as the letter lengthens. 
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, written on front and back like a book, but inside, paper is turned sideways and written across short length and straight down both pages. 

People/Places mentioned in this letter:

Ma - Noah's mother, *Sarah Sophia Deverell
*Elva Jane Nelson - Ethel's cousin, currently living in Indian Head, Sask
*Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister back home in Belhaven
Manuel - *Emanuel, Ethel's 6 yr old brother back home in Belhaven

**Dominion Exhibition
*Regina, Sask
the head - *Indian Head, Sask, located east of Regina on Hwy #1


Phrases/Cliches in use at the time:
- "going to get hooked up"


* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more on posts on the above people.
**More info under Genealogical Notes

Grand Coulee July 23

Miss. E. Nelson,
        Huntsville. Ont.
Dear Ethel, -
         Received your welcome 
letter last week and was glad
to hear you were having 
a good time. Hope it may last.
   Say you want to have lots
of boat riding this summer
for you are apt to be a
long time up here with
out seeing much water here.
     Well we have four
carpenters and two well
diggers here so you see
Mother has plenty to do.
have sent down to Manitoba

for a girl & I certainly hope she
comes for it is to much for mother.
     Am going into Regina to-morrow
to get a furnace and see about the
plasterers. so you see we will
be buisy right along untill
after harvest or rather threshing.
     Well I suppose you know
wheather Sadie has passed
her examinations by this time.
dont think there is much danger
of her failing.
     Dominion exhibition starts
in Regina Monday next and 
lasts untill the 13th of August 
dont think I will be able to spend
muchtime at it tho for it is
harder work to keep the other
men going than it is to work
My self.
     Suppose that new barn is
about finished by this time
or at least the rough work. 
     Oh say I dont know wheather
I told you I saw Elva at the
head on the 18th or not. she was
telling me she heard I was going
to get hooked up. Ha. Ha.

Well. who in the world was
telling that Manuel was
trying to set a hen's tail
on fire. (poor hen) I guess
she would go some. Eh.
     Say do you know any 
one who is coming up to
the exhibition or do they
all think it is out of their
reach and to God forsaken
a country to travel in. Ha. Ha.
     Well I guess I will have to
close for this time wish I
were there to take you
out for a row. when you
get this but you will not
be far away in my thoughts.
    Well bye. Bye. Write a long
letter to your little Lover.
                         xxxxxxxx N.C.D.

Genealogy Notes

In this week's letter, Noah mentions that the Dominion Exhibition will start on Monday.  The above images are taken from the 1911 Dominion Exposition Regina Prize List which I found as a free download PDF at University of Alberta Libraries.

However, it notes the Regina Fair as the Dominion Exposition instead of an exhibition.  In all my years, I've always known it as an exhibition or fair, although fair is usually reserved for smaller locations and exhibition for provincial capitals - like Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, etc.  I checked dictionary.com and it states:
        expositon - a large-scale exhibition or show

Calling the 1911 Exhibition an Exposition fits then, because it was the year Regina hosted the Dominion Fair - a privilege awarded annually from 1879 to 1913 to Canada's biggest fairs. This meant that exhibitors from all over Canada vied for the chance to win not just a ribbon that said Provincial Exhibition, but a medal confirming the exhibitor won it at the Dominion Exhibition.  As you can see from the lettering below, even the organizers weren't sure if is was an exhibition or exposition. 

Obverse: 1911 bronze Dominion Exhibition Regina Medal. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1979-13-232M

Reverse: 1911 bronze medal donated by the Ontario Sheep Breeders' Ass'n for THE BEST ___ WON BY ____ Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1979-13-232M

Although cash prizes were handed out, the top breeder for each breed would receive a medal like the one above which were sponsored by commercial associations, like the Ontario Sheep Breeders, who used the Dominion Exhibition for promotion.  The above medal isn't engraved with a breed of sheep nor a winner. The medals would have been struck ahead of time, but sometimes there aren't enough exhibitors in category so a medal isn't awarded. 
 

Much like the Olympic medals are different for each game's location, so are the Dominion Exhibition medals.

On the right is the style of medal handed out at the 1904 Dominion of Canada Exhibition. Unlike the 1911 Regina medal, this one comes with a ribbon and badge for hanging on your chest. 

I like the Winnipeg one, except for the hole they've drilled into the medal to enable it to hang. Truthfully, it's hard to find medals without a hole, but as a coin and medal collector, I tend to steer clear of the holed ones unless they were manufactured in that fashion, such as this one. 

(Click the image for a larger version.)

“DOMINION OF CANADA EXHIBITION 1904 WINNIPEG” brass medal with ribbon and badge.

Exhibitions are made up of Livestock and Homecraft Exhibits, a Midway with rides, games, etc, and a commercial Trade Show where you can buy anything from homemade jams to farm equipment. 

The on-line McCord Museum has a brief write-up about the trade shows on their site, which states in part,  "Agricultural fairs and industrial exhibitions were an excellent opportunity to reach huge numbers of people." I always find interesting images at the McCord Museum, but I never imagined I'd find an engraving of a late 19th/early 20th century trade show booth for a corset manufacturer...

1850-1885 engraving by John Henry Walker showing The Crompton Corset Company trade booth. Courtesy of © McCord Museum

The Crompton Corset Company which was located in Toronto, Ontario displayed its line of corsets at trade fairs and exhibitions across Canada. 


I wonder if Noah passed a booth like this at Regina's Dominion Exhibition?