1911 Courtship: June 12 Dear Ethel

Saskatchewan c1911, Courtesy of the Prairie Postcard Collection, http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC002983.html

In this week's letter, Noah writes that he's now living in a grannary, (or grainery) next to the tent on his land. A grainery is a small building, traditionally wooden, but more recently metal, which is used for storing grain. In the above postcard, the grainery is the small building in the centre of the image, on this side of the fence.  The smaller building beside the grainery could very well be an outhouse or an equipment building of some sort. The above image is a typical layout for a Saskatchewan farm and the house could even be an Eaton's kit house as shown in 1911 Courthship May 21 Dear Noah.

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: June 12th, 1911
Addressed to: Miss E.  Nelson, My Dear Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed from:  Grand  Coulee (Saskatchewan)
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, but looks blue-grey in places 
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. 


People/Places mentioned in this letter:
- Fred's - Noah's sister, *Louie, is married to Fred Coventry, and they live nearby
- Mother - *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper 
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yrs old sister- *Veda - 16 yr old daughter of Noah's sister, Eva Amelia and Joe Perrault
- *Fanny - niece of Joe Perrault, husband of Noah's sister, Eva Amelia
- your Aunt's - Ethel's Aunt *Sarah Elizabeth Glover, sister of Ethel's mom, Ida Amelia Glover 
- Dora *Mahoney - a neighbor and school friend of Sadie's

- "get a man" - a *hired man to work on the farm
- Bell Plain - a town (Belle Plain) to the west who play baseball with Grand Coulee

- a rod** = approx 165 feet

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

**More info under Genealogical Notes

Grand Coulee, June. 12./11

Miss. E. Nelson,
         Belhaven Ont;-
My Dear Ethel;-
       Received your letter Saturaday
Morning and was glad to hear
you were well as this leaves me
at present.
        Am going into Regina today
to order the lumber. also a circus
in town but dont know as I will
go. As I want to get a man and
get back home to work.
        Well Pense did not get down
to play ball last Wed. on 
account of the rain but will
be down this Wed. We were
up to Bell Plain on Sat.
and beat them 10 to 7. not
Bad for the coulee.

      Say I guess Dora would be mad all
right when the teachers told her
she could not pass her exams. I'll bet
she told the teachers a few things.
       No I dont think mother will go down
in the winter for it is not near as nice
as it would be in the summer time
for her as she does not like the cold.
       Say I hope you can go up for a few
weeks to your Aunt's it would do you
a lot of good I am shure.
       Guess I will not get down to the
raising but I would like to I guess
I would be a dandy at it as I have
only been at two that I helped
at.
       Oh. say Ethel! Veda seems to know 
me better than you do but still I guess
I would not have to die an old bachelor
if I had tried very hard. HaHa.
       She sure is a great kid I showed
her that part of the letter and she said
it was Fanny sent it. Fanny asked her
what but she wouldnt tell so Fanny
said some more of your lies eh.
       I was down to Fred's last night
after church for a couple of settings
of eggs. sothegirls went along and I
laughed untill I thot. I would
hurt my self. Veda kept bothering
Fanny untill she got about half mad.
so she said if we would stop the

horse she would get out & walk
back home. so of course we
stopped & she got out and started
back she went about 10 rod & we
sat in the buggy laughing at
her and she turned around & run
back. Oh gee but it was funny.
        Am living in a grannary beside
the tent and having a bigtime.
batching mother will be coming
down this week I guess. so it will
soon be over for this time.
        Well I guess this is all for this
time only be a good little girl
untill I get down & after that
I will make you. Ha Ha.
        Well good bye untill next time
I am yours as B. 4. N. C. Draper.
xxxxxxxxx and a thousand
and one more.

Genealogy Notes

Note #1: A Rod

In this week's letter, Noah writes, "...she went about 10 rod & we sat in the buggy laughing at her..."

Do you know what a rod is? In its simplest term, a rod = 16.5 ft, so if Fanny walked 10 rods ahead, she was about 165 feet away. I tried writing a good explanation, but after struggling, I decided to give you the wikipedia version:

The rod is a unit of length equal to 5½ yards or 16½ feet. Under an agreement in 1959 between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, the yard (known as the "international yard" in the United States) was legally defined to be exactly 0.9144 metres. Prior to that date, the legal definition of the yard when expressed in terms of metric units varied slightly from country to country.

In surveying, fields were measured in acres, which were one chain (four rods) by one furlong (in the United Kingdom, ten chains). Bars of metal one rod long were used as standards of length when surveying land. The rod was still in use as a common unit of measurement in the mid-19th century, when Henry David Thoreau used it frequently when describing distances in his work Walden.

Note #2 - An update on Melvina Cole

In the Genealogy Notes of 1911 Courtship letter of May 7, Ethel mentions that her cousin, Melvina Cole, will have a  June 1911 Wedding. Although Ethel doesn't mention it further in her June letters, I found the following snippet in this week's 1911 Newmarket Era: