L to R - Ida Amelia Glover Nelson, Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper, Ethel Nelson Draper, James H Nelson, and a very young JD Nelson. ca 1916
The above image is part of a bigger photo that we found last summer in Ethel's Treasure Box but I didn't post it here because I couldn't place everyone. Now, thanks to the photos in the Norma Draper Family Albums, I've been able to confirm that the photo is 1916 and includes Ethel with her parents and her mother-in-law. I'm posting it here because this week's letter is from Ethel's ma and I thought you might like to see who's doing the writing.
Author of Letter: Ida Amelia Glover Nelson
Dated: Aug 8th (1911)
Addressed to: Dear Ethel (Ethel is up in Huntsville, Ontario visiting Ida Amelia's sister, Sarah Elizabeth Glover Winter)
Mailed from: Belhaven, Ont.
Relationship: Ethel's ma
Profession: Farmer's Wife
Writing instrument: Blue pen
Written on: Off-white, textured, and heavily stained, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 7 inches, folded in half with a flowery bough and hanging basket motif. Ida has written the pages in this order: 1, 3, 2, 4, although I've rearranged them for legibility.
People/places mentioned in this letter:
- *Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- *Christie - Ethel's 11 yr old sister
- Uncle - *Emanuel Nelson - paternal uncle of Ethel's pa
- Sarah - *Sarah Elizabeth Glover - Ida Amelia's sister
- Gorden Crouder - Gordon *Crowder - a neighbor
- Loal Dales - Minister Lowel *Dales (not sure if related to Prof. Dales)
- Misses/Mrs Perry *Morton - a neighbor
Topics:
- **Doing the Wash
Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing. If you don't see a label, use the search box at the top of page.
** see Genealogy Notes below
Dated: Aug 8th (1911)
Addressed to: Dear Ethel (Ethel is up in Huntsville, Ontario visiting Ida Amelia's sister, Sarah Elizabeth Glover Winter)
Mailed from: Belhaven, Ont.
Relationship: Ethel's ma
Profession: Farmer's Wife
Writing instrument: Blue pen
Written on: Off-white, textured, and heavily stained, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 7 inches, folded in half with a flowery bough and hanging basket motif. Ida has written the pages in this order: 1, 3, 2, 4, although I've rearranged them for legibility.
People/places mentioned in this letter:
- *Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- *Christie - Ethel's 11 yr old sister
- Uncle - *Emanuel Nelson - paternal uncle of Ethel's pa
- Sarah - *Sarah Elizabeth Glover - Ida Amelia's sister
- Gorden Crouder - Gordon *Crowder - a neighbor
- Loal Dales - Minister Lowel *Dales (not sure if related to Prof. Dales)
- Misses/Mrs Perry *Morton - a neighbor
Topics:
- **Doing the Wash
Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing. If you don't see a label, use the search box at the top of page.
** see Genealogy Notes below
| Belhaven Aug 8th Dear Ethel got your letter friday but have been slow about Writing you had better come home when your month is in I am getting tired I washed yester had a big washing. want to iron to day Sadie is talking to Crouders Gorden is acting like goose went |
| 2 with sadie friday night we went to quartley metting sunday and he had to come and kept then from sunday school then Sadie come home from church with him and left Christie co come with anyone she could then he was here last till 10 oclock. I am out with them all to gether. Uncle is some better is up but doctor says he will not live long you tell us what day you can come and get of at Uncles |
| 3 then we can get you there get some of that thread if it is nice for me. enough for a pair of shams sadie can be working some Sadie failed so you see there will be lots of sewing to do if she goes to school again. and the pickles and fruit soyou had better come home I had the headache again Sunday after noon but done a big days work yesterday. |
| (Written upside down across the top and down the left side) How is Sarah would like to have her come down good by good bye | 4 washed 2 blankets and to quilts besids the other clothes cleaned the cellar made a cake and had 9 men have no men to day have got the barn nearly all done and all the cutting done men are coming this after noon to start cemmenting the stable floor Loal Dales was here for tea on friday and then he shingled another half day misses perry Morton said she was coming down some day but I wont have her till (written up the right side) you come home |
Genealogy Notes
Wash day in the Ponoka, Alberta area, April 1913. Courtesy of the Glenbow Archives.
In this week's letter, Ethel's ma is feeling the strain of the extra workload while Ethel has a much needed vacation up in Huntsville. Electric washing machines didn't come along until 1916 so until then, the washing had to be done with the crank wheel like in the above photo. Let's take a walk through the early history of washing machines in this weeks' Genealogy Notes.
ca 1989, Visitors washing clothes, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
The photo shows clothes lying on the ground to dry for the lack of a clothesline. I can imagine this is what the majority of the pioneers had to do as they traveled across the United States and Canada in conestoga wagons and red river carts.
ca 1913, Dave Blacklock doing his laundry, Black Diamond, Alberta
If you were lucky enough, you had a washboard and tub to scrub your clothes with before hanging them on the line. Whether they were out on the range or living on the ranch, cowboys have always been responsible for their own laundry.
ca 1897, Bachelor washing clothes, Beynon, Alberta
An early washing machine had a handle to push and pull to agitate the clothes thereby relieving you the job of scrubbing them on a washboard. It also contain a roller mechanism which squeezed the water from the clothes instead of having to physically wring them all out.
ca 1901 Inscription: "Improved Imperial Washer. T. Eaton Co. Ltd. Canada." Courtesy of http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M999.38.1/
According to the McCord Virtual Museum, the 1901 T. Eaton Co. catalogue showed this washing machine which contained a hand crank to agitate the clothes instead of the push/pull lever. Again, a roller system for squeezing out the water was included. From the height, it looks like this model saved a lot of back pain compared to the model in the previous photo.
The McCord Museum states, "It would take many years to discover the ideal material for the tubs of washing machines. After wood in the 1890s, came metal in the 1910s, which was replaced in the 1930s with enamelled steel, a material that had proved that it could stand up to a wide range of temperatures."
The McCord Museum states, "It would take many years to discover the ideal material for the tubs of washing machines. After wood in the 1890s, came metal in the 1910s, which was replaced in the 1930s with enamelled steel, a material that had proved that it could stand up to a wide range of temperatures."
ca 1910's Thomas Iredale family doing laundry on verandah, Groton area, Alberta.
As I mentioned at the top of this post, electricity wasn't available for washing machines until about 1916, but some mechanically-minded folks were using belts to hook their washing machines to gasoline engines and other motors to save their arms from the dreary task of cranking the wheel.
This style of washing machine was so successful at washing clothes and wringing them out, that other than changing the composition to enamel on steel, it would be decades before improvements were made to the actual design of the machine.
It may have done a decent job of washing clothes, but raise your hand if you ever wore a shirt that was missing part, or a complete button because it'd been snapped off by the powerful wringer. Or have you ever been pulled into the wringer because it nabbed part of the clothing you were wearing when you weren't paying attention?
This style of washing machine was so successful at washing clothes and wringing them out, that other than changing the composition to enamel on steel, it would be decades before improvements were made to the actual design of the machine.
It may have done a decent job of washing clothes, but raise your hand if you ever wore a shirt that was missing part, or a complete button because it'd been snapped off by the powerful wringer. Or have you ever been pulled into the wringer because it nabbed part of the clothing you were wearing when you weren't paying attention?
