1911 Courtship: May 21 Dear Ethel

1910 Rosetown Ball Team; Virtual exhibits: Part of Wish You Were Here: Saskatchewan Postcard Collections

Noah mentions in his letters that he's playing baseball against teams from Pense and Belle Plain. I tried digging up an old photo of the area around Grand Coulee, but this was the closest I could find. Rosetown is about a 4-5 hr drive in today's terms from Grand Coulee. Noah's team would've been like the above photo as they were just a bunch of farmers out for some competitive sport with neighbouring towns. No uniforms, although they made have sewed their name or town on their shirts. This 1910 Rosetown Ball Team photo is representative of the baseball clothing and equipment at the time. 

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated:  May 21/11
Addressed to: Miss E.Nelson, Bellhaven, Ont., My Dear Ethel 
Mailed from: Grand Coulee, Sask.
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, which he runs out of, so continues the next day with fresh ink
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, and written in a 4-page booklet form, except Noah has turned the paper inside and written down the full length. 


People/places mentioned in this letter:

**Miss Hunt from last week - See Genealogy Notes for photos Ethel's family including Miss Hunt

* The Belhaven fires

* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this 
  person/place/thing.
** see Genealogy Notes below 

Grand Coulee Sask
May 21./11.

Miss. E. Nelson,
      Belhaven, Ont.
My Dear Ethel; - 
     Received your letter last
night and was glad to hear
you were still in the land 
of the living. & you will
see by this that I am not
very bad in fact nothing
worse than lazyness. HaHa.
     Well I guess by the time
you get this you will
know all about the big 
time at Newmarket. & I 
will know all about the

big time at Pense. We gothere the
24th to play ball. expect we will
get it in the neck for we have had
only one pratice but there is nothing
like being game so we are going to
try them any way.
     Say Ethel you know your self where
your duty lies this summer and as
much as I would like to have you
here with me I would not like to
influence you to leave there this
summer. for like you I think the
burning of the barn makes a big
difference.
     Well the clock is just striking
ten that would be 12 P.M. by your
time and I suppoe you woulbe
in bed asleep.
     Say my pen is dry & I guess I will
finish with
Monday. night. well I was going to say
with a pencil but I could not find
one so I am at it again with Ink. Ha.Ha.
     Am going in to Regina in the 
morning & am going to try to get you
a little birthday present. & hope
you will like it when you get 
it.
     The carpenter was here to night
to see about building (my) house but
I know as much about it now as I

did before so am going to see
about it tomorrow & get some
other contractors prices.
     Well it is preety cold and
windy to night hope it does
not last long.
     Say do you think the barns
were set on fire by some one. It
certainly looks suspicious.
     Oh say you should see
my bugg. Gee it is swell
nit .):) wish you were here
to ride in it any way. but I
guess it will keep. what
do you think. Well I guess I
will ring off for this time
so Good Bye. May Your shadow
never grow less. I remain forever.
Your faithful lover. N.C.D. xxxxx

Genealogy Notes

Last week, Ethel wrote to Noah, "Miss Hunt speaks of you each time I see her."

Well, I still haven't figured out where Miss Hunt fits in the Family Tree although I found a photo of her in Ethel's treasure box. The back of this photo reads: 

Alice and Miss Hunt
Great Great Cousin

And although Alice is mentioned in another Courtship letter, I don't know where she fits in the tree either.  

Look at this photo of Ethel's family taken the same day:

James H Nelson Family c 1931, (L to R back) unknown, unknown, James A Nelson, Emanuel Nelson and wife Vera Horner, Cousin Alice, Miss Hunt, Ida Amelia Glover (Ethel's mother), and James Henry Nelson (Ethel's father); (L to R front row: Frank Thompson, Leland (?) Nelson, Glenna Nelson, Clifford Thompson, Benny Thompson.

This family photo could very well show Ethel's complete family if I guess at the women on the left. We know the 2 on the right are Ethel's parents from other photographs. And we've identifed Miss Hunt and Counsin Alice at the top of this post. 

We know that the 2 young men are Ethel's brothers, James A and Emanuel, while the woman in the cloche hat is Emanuel's wife, Vera. You've met this young man, Emanuel in Ethel's letters because back in 1911, he's 5 yrs old and gets bitten by the family dog after teasing him. The little girl, Glenna, is Emmanuel's oldest child, and the toddler could be her brother, Leland.

So that only leaves the 2 women on the left. Ethel had 2 sisters, Sadie, who was 5 yrs younger than her, and Christie, 10 yrs younger. So far in the letters we haven't heard about Christie, but we've heard plenty about Sadie and her schooling and teasing.

In the photo, 3 of the children are the Thompson boys and since Christie grew up to marry Roy Thompson,  I suspect one of the women is Christie - my guess is the one on the end because she looks like a mother ready to chase after a wayward child.

So that leaves the lady second on the left with the white hat and carrying a Bible or camera. Could that be Sadie? I really wish I knew. 

I believe the photo was sent to Ethel and Noah in Grand Coulee, SK from Belhaven, Ontario, which explains why Ethel and her children aren't in the photo.


If someone can help identify the people in this photo, we'd really appreciate if you let us know, either here, through my contact page, or on ancestry.ca/com.