Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (born 31 May 1890)
Dated:  July 9th, 1911 
Addressed to: My Dearest Noah (Mr. N. C. Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask.)
Mailed  from:  Belhaven, Ont. 
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter  
Writing  instrument: Fine point  pen, blue ink
Written on: Ivory, slightly thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 7 inches, folded in half. Ethel has folded the paper in half and written in booklet form where the front and back are pages 1 and 4, but inside, she wrote the right side first and then the left, so the order of pages are 1, 3, 2, and 4. Of course, I've rearranged them here for clarity.


People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Pa -  *James Henry Nelson
- Ma - *Ida Amelia Glover
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yrs old sister
- *Christie Nelson - Ethel's 10 yr old sister
- *Veda Perrault - Noah's 16 yr old niece (Joe & Eva Amelia's daughter)
- *John Winter - husband of *Sarah Elizabeth Glover, sister of Ethel's ma 
- **Mr John Warriner (Ethel spells it Warner)
- G.C. - It appears we're missing one of Noah's letters.
- **Edith Draper
- Orville *King - close neighbor

- Update **Kellington

- croquet - a game played with mallets, balls, and wickets, shown above
- Ethel mentions the heat wave which will be in next week's Genealogy Notes
- *Hunstville
- *Keswick
- ** Pink Pills

Word/Phrase Use - 'go for' for 'gopher'


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

There are 3 Genealogy Notes this week:


Genealogy Note #1 - Kellington Update  re 1911 Courtship: July 2 Dear Noah where Ethel writes, "Mr & Mrs John Kellington are here visiting & Mr R. Davidson's are they living anywhere near you."

When I posted the above letter, I didn't quite understand what Ethel was saying. My genealogy notes for that post shows my research for the James Kellington family, but nothing on R Davidson's because I couldn't find any appropriate R Davidson's in the North West. However, Ethel kept mentioning Robert or Rob't Davidson who lived on the 5th Concession near Belhaven. She mentions him in the following letters:
- 1911 Courtship: July 2 Dear Noah 
- 1911 Courtship: May 7 Dear Noah
- 1911 Courtship: May 21 Dear Noah

After more research into last week's letter for James Kellington however, I've found the following obituary of 1958:

Genealogy Note #2 - Edith Draper In this week's letter, Ethel writes, "Saw Edith Draper this forenoon. She is the same old girl."

This is not the same Edith/Edyth Draper mentioned in 1911 Courtship: Mar 5, Dear Noah who was Noah's 1st cousin since his dad, David, and her dad, Stephen, were brothers. 

Although this week's Edith Draper was also born in Belhaven, she was born in 1868, so in 1911 as a 42 yr old spinster, she really is "the old girl" as Ethel writes. She was Noah's 2nd cousin once removed as they share the same g-g-grandfather. 

Edith Alicia Sarah Jane Draper was the 14th out of 15 children born to Luther Draper (1819 - 1904) and Hannah Bennett (1823 - 1917). Twelve years separated Edith from her next older sisters, twins Martha and Margaret, born in 1856, so Edith may have stayed home and single to care for her aging parents because she was the youngest female and felt obligated. However, another reason may be that she was ill much of the time. 
 

In fact, if it hadn't been for the above snippets and others, I wouldn't have believed the following ad which not only appeared in The Newmarket Era, but also in the February 17, 1898 edition on Page 7 of the Qu'Appelle Progress  in The North West Territories (now Saskatchewan).   

Whether Luther and Hannah Draper approved of the ads, or perhaps even was paid a stipend for them I can't tell you. Neither do I know if Edith suffered from the ailments 
mentioned in the ads. At the time, ads for Dr. Williams' Pink Pills abounded in the local papers and I have nothing to prove or disprove their value. However, for a girl who suffered heart failure, etc in 1894 as a 26 yr old and stayed sick for several years, she went on to live a fulfilling life.

Luther's death record states he died at 85 yrs of age from old age. In 1911 during Ethel's letter, Edith was still living at home and caring for her 88 year old mother, Hannah, as shown in the following 1911 Canada Census:

As the above census shows, Hannah is a widow and is the head of the house, and her daughter, Edith, is living with her. The last column shows neither have an occupation, so Luther must have left them enough money to live in comfort without having to work. 

Since I don't think Ethel mentions Edith again, I'll tell you the rest of her story because it's quite inspiring and I may even use her for a character model some day...

Hannah died in June of 1917 at 93 years old with the official cause of death being old age after 2 yrs of senile weakness. Edith is listed as the informant...
... and was for the first time in her 49 yrs, Edith was alone.  

There is much more to the story of Miss Edith Draper, but it will have to wait for another day.  


Genealogy Note 3 - John Warriner - he's not in the family tree according to my research to date, but I found a very ineresting Era snippet about him when you look at it in context with Edith's snippet above...

Of course, now I want to know about these little pink pills that Miss Edith Draper took and thrived, and Mr. Warriner didn't take and died. The snippet seems to imply that many considered them more of a 'snake oil' remedy than a proven medical alternative. If anyone out there knows, please share your knowledge. Otherwise, I guess I have more research waiting.

For a color view of the Lake Simcoe shore with people and boats at Jackson's Point check out my post at 1911 Courtship: May 28 Dear Noah. 

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (born 31 May 1890)
Dated:  June 2, 1911 suspect July 2nd, 1911
Addressed to: Dear Noah (Mr. N. C. Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask.)
Mailed  from:  Belhaven, Ont. 
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter  
Writing  instrument: Fine point  pen, blue ink
Written on: Light bluey/gray, slightly thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6 inches, folded in half. The paper is folded in half with the first page on the front and last on the back, but inside, she's turned the paper and written across the short width and turned both pages into one long page. Hence this letter has only 3 pages.


People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Pa -  *James Henry Nelson
- Ma - *Ida Amelia Glover
 - **Grandpa - Albert Rogers
- Wm Henry Rose (died July 1st,  1911)
- Orville *King - close neighbor
- Mr and Mrs John **Kellington visiting
- Mr R Davidson's - unable to find them (only know Robert Davidson, neighbor)
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yrs old sister
- Aunt Maggie - Margaret *Barker - sister of Ethel's ma
- Lennox and his picnic at **Jackson's Point


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

There are 3 Genealogy Notes in this post:

Genealogy Note #1 - Grandpa:

I had a major problem with this one because Ethel has a maternal and paternal grandfather and yet both were dead at the time of this letter, as were here great-grandfathers. So who did she call Grandpa? After many days of mulling, I was looking for the death date of Ethel's maternal grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Greenwood when I remembered that Sarah had remarried in 1896. 

Sarah Elizabeth Greenwood's first marriage was to James Glover who died in 1887. He had already passed when Ethel was  born in 1890, and she was 6 yrs old when her grandma Sarah married Albert Rogers. As such, Ethel would have called him Grandpa since that's who she knew him to be. 


Genealogy Note #2 - John Kellington:

Until this courtship letter, I only listed one Kellington in the Draper Family Tree and that was James Wesley Kellington who married Hattie (Ida Elizabeth) Draper in 1904.  According to the ancestry.com figuring, that makes Noah and Hattie 3rd cousins as their great-grandfathers were brothers.

A search then followed to find out where John Kellington fit in the family - especially since Ethel mentions R Davidson from the west in the same sentence. My research revealed that John was the father of James Wesley and according to the 1901 census they were all in the Belhaven area. Normally the next census would be in 1911, but the Canadian government took a special census in 1906 for the prairie provinces only so they could keep track of the rate of settlement in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

The special 1906 census shows John Kellington living in the Estevan area of Saskatchewan along with his wife, Charlotte Fairbarn and 3 of their children, one of which is James and his wife, Hattie who now have 2 small boys of their own. 

So when Ethel says the John Kellington's are visiting, it makes me wonder if it's just John and Charlotte who came back to Ontario for a visit, or did James and Hattie as well?


Genealogy Notes #3 - The Lennox Picnic at Jackson's Point:

This was an easy one to figure out because the event is covered efficiently in The Newmarket Era in the weeks leading up to the annual North York M.P.P. picnic, whereby the M.P.P stands for Members of Provincial Parliament (Ontario). 

I'll post more about the picnic in weeks to come because Ethel writes one letter on the day of the picnic and it's quite - amusing - to read about the effect it has on Sadie. :)

In this week's letter Noah mentions that Joe Perrault's barn cost $3000 to build while Noah built one for $150. I'm assuming McKellar's Barn in the above photo is along the lines of the $3000 variety. I sure wish I had a photo of Noah's barn. 

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: June 26th, 1911
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, My Dearest Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed from:  Grand  Coulee, Sask
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 and down both pages. 


People/Places mentioned in this letter:
- *Joe Perrault: married to Noah's sister, Eva Amelia
- Reuben and Irwin: 11 & 9 yr old  sons of Eva Amelia and Joe Perrault
- *Will Rigler: married to Noah's sister, Ethel Maude
- George Metcalf: local carpenter

Phrase: Better late than never**

Noah signing as Little Willie**

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

Genealogy Notes #1 - Phrase Better Late Than Never

Noah says: Better late than never, but better never late. I don't know where he got the last part of the phrase from, but the www.phrases.org.uk site attributes it to Geoffery Chaucer who wrote the Canterbury Tales back in 1386. 

However, I found an earlier reference to the Roman author & historian Titus Livius who  quoted Better Late Than Never when he lived back in 59 BC - 17 AD.


Genealogy Notes #2 - Little Willie

Several times now Noah has ended the letter by saying your Little Willie so I figured it was time I found out who/what he meant. 

It seems there are 2 references to draw on depending what you're looking at:

1. 1899 - Little Willie in Mischief Again - a short comedy film 
This is one of at several where Little Willie gets into mischief. In one, he draws a face on his sleeping father's bald head, in another he ends up with a face covered in soot, and in a third, he sets up a bucket of water so someone else gets drenched.

2. 1910 era newspapers contained Little Willie jokes as fillers. These were the same jokes we've heard referred to as Little Johnny jokes in recent years, and apparently there were Little Audrey jokes in the 30's. I've seen these jokes in The Newmarket Era and from touring the net, as well as references for many other newspapers of the time. 

The last Little Willie joke I read in the Era went like this... Little Willie's aunt (or grandma) is about to slice up the pie and Little Willie asks if her spectacles magnify things. She answers, yes, they do. She's pleased that he's so smart. Little Willie responds that perhaps she'd like to take off her spectacles then before she cuts him a slice of pie.

I wonder if Noah calls himself Little Willie because he gets into trouble whether he likes it or not, or is it because he's a smarty plants like Little Willie the schoolboy? Can you tell from his letters?

As a Commonwealth country, Canadians embraced the new King George V and Queen Mary with celebrations all over the country including Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the above photo. It's one of the Prairie postcards from the Peel Library at the University of Alberta. The caption reads, Union Jack flag formed by school children at fair, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Children on horse - drawn float are visible on the left side.

In present day terms, Moose Jaw is a 45 minute drive west of the Grand Coulee/Regina area - the next big whistle stop if you were Noah heading west.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (born 31 May 1890)
Dated:  June 25th, 1911 
Addressed to: Dearest Noah (Mr. N. C. Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask.) (This is the first letter Ethel has left off Noah's postal info on the first page.)
Mailed  from:  Belhaven, Ont. 
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter  
Writing  instrument: Fine point  pen, blue ink
Written on: Light bluey/gray, slightly thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6 inches, folded in half. The paper is folded in half with the first page on the front and last on the back, but inside, she's turned the paper and written across the short width and turned both pages into one long page. Hence this letter has only 3 pages.


People/places mentioned in this letter:


Percy - *Percy Roy Draper, Noah's older brother 
Veda - *Veda Perrault - Noah's 16 yr old niece (Joe & Eva Amelia's daughter)
Sadie - *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yrs old sister
Pa -  *James Henry Nelson
Alice Sprague**
Mrs. Walter Yorke** (Martha Ann "Minnie" Linstead)


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

This week's Genealogy Notes highlight 2 people Ethel mentioned in her letter:
#1 - Mrs. Walter Yorke
#2 - Alice Sprague


Genealogy Note #1 - Mrs. Walter Yorke

Ethel conveys such feeling when she writes bluntly, Mrs. Walter Yorke is dead. 
From this we can deduce that Noah knows Mrs. Walter Yorke, and either he knows why she died or it doesn't matter why, but that she's dead.

Who was Mrs. Walter Yorke, and did she fit in the family tree - if in fact she did?
Our tree listed 12 Yorkes, but no Walters. So I began by checking The Newmarket Era in the couple weeks prior to Ethel's letter. Do you know how many Yorks are listed in a newspaper that:
- covers the County of York
- includes the town of North York
- is the original name of Toronto and still used unofficially
- contains stories of New York city and the state of New York

Let's just say there are oodles of them. And from all those, I found 3 snippets about Mrs. Walter York:

So the key to figure out Mrs. Walter York lay in finding Benjamin Linstead. I started with Ethel's Aunt Mary Ann Glover. Using ancestry.com's search engine I put in the names I knew from the snippets: Benjamin Linstead and his son, Walter. From that, I found census records which gave Benjamin's wife's name, Sarah Jane, and their children. They had 3 daughters Alice "Addie" b 1872, Martha Ann b 1875, and Verna b 1896. With the help of Ancestry's Family Tree Hints I found a marriage record for Minnie Linstead to Walter York in 1895, and it stated that Minnie's parents were Benjamin Linstead and Sarah Jane Anderson. 

But Benjamin and Sarah Jane didn't have a girl named Minnie. Further searching found the following:
1875 Feb 12 - Benjamin and Sarah Jane gave birth to Martha Ann
1881 Census -  2nd daughter, age 6, recorded as Martha
1891 Census - 2nd daughter, age 16, recorded as Martha
1895 Marriage to Walter York, widower w/one son - 20 yr old daughter - Minnie
1901 Census - 26 yr old wife with 3 children - recorded as Minnie
1911 Census - 35 yr old wife dies of Tuberculosis (TB) - recorded as Mary Jane!

So it looks like this Walter York gave Martha Ann the nickname Minnie when they hooked up together. But why did he give Mary Jane to the medical examiner for the death record?

In my searches, I found the marriage record of Walter York and his first wife - and guess what? ... Her name was Minnie Pollack. Can you guess what her birth name was? 
Yup - Mary.

So it seems Mr. Walter York was a bit mixed up when Minnie #2 died. Was it grief? Actually, I think it was. No matter how many times I searched, I couldn't find a write-up for Martha Ann/Minnie's funeral service. No obituary. Nothing except that the people on Union Street are sympathizing with the Linstead family, and that the Belhaven neighborhood is doing the same for Mr. Walter York. 

That got me thinking... How many kids did Martha Ann/Minnie leave behind for Walter to care for? Not only that, but he had one son from Minnie #1 - how and when did she die? Searching through the Era for the facts brought so many discoveries I was in tears by the end. But to get to the end, I have to start at the beginning of Walter York's journey:

1862 - Walter Frederick York is born near in North Gwillimbury Township 
1884 - Walter marries Mary "Minnie #1" Pollack (only sister to 8 brothers)
1888 - Son Raymond is born
1891 - Walter and Minnie#1 move to nearby Keswick 
1895 - Mar 15 - death of Minnie #1's brother, John Pollock
1895 - Mar 27 - death of Minnie #1 - after 3 dys sickness & 12 dys after her brother

3 months after Minnie #1 dies, Walter marries Minnie #2:
1895 - Jul 9 - Walter marries Martha "Minnie #2" Linstead
1897 - Birth of son, Squire R York (Mother = Minnie Linstead)
1899 - Birth of daughter, Pearl Maria (Mother = Mary Jane Linstead)
1901  Mar 14 - Birth of son, JB York (Mother = Mary Jane Linstead)
1901 Nov 13 - Death of 8 month old JB York from diphtheria***
1901 Nov 15 - Death of 2 yr old Pearl Maria from diphtheria***
1902 - Birth of daughter, Gertrude Viola (Mother = Minnie Linstead)
1904 - Birth of son, Elmer/Aylmer (Mother = Minnie Linstead)
1907 - Birth of daughter, Thelma (Mother = Minnie Linstead)
1909 - Birth of daughter, Dora May (Mother = Mary Jane Linstead)
1911 May - Death of Mrs. Walter York aka Minnie #2 
( she left 1 adult step-son and 5 young kids aged 2 to 14 yrs old)
***See Genealogy Notes Apr 2, Dear Noah 


During the time Walter and Minnie #2 were married, his in-laws suffered:
1896 Oct - Minnie #1's 45 yr old brother, James, dies at railway crossing near home
1897 Jan - Minnie #1's father, James, dies at son Robert's home in Belhaven
1897 Feb - Robert Pollock has an auction to sell everything and move to the West
1897 Jun - milking cow kicks Richard Pollock's little girl, Winnie, and breaks her leg 30 minutes after cow is sold, but not picked up/delivered
1909 Feb - Minnie #1's mother dies after suffering 2 yrs from cancer
 
And then to hear ... Mrs. Walter Yorke is dead. You must wonder what poor Walter thought as he buried yet another family member.


Genealogy Note #2 - Alice Sprague

Alice Sprague did not die. But this post is too long already so I'll save her story for another day.