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1911 Courtship: July 30 Dear Ethel

8/25/2013

4 Comments

 
Picture
Barn built by Noah Draper, 1911, Adams, Sask. From the Collection of the Norma Draper Family.
Take a look at the above photo because you are all in for a treat! Have you seen the TV commercial where the woman checks her receipt as she's leaving IKEA and shouts to her husband, "Start the car! Start the car!" 

Well, that's how I felt last weekend in Grand Coulee... and if you check the Genealogy Notes after this week's letter, you'll find out why.  

And the treat... a photograph of Noah with a small portion of the house he's building for Ethel behind him. (Note - Like most pioneers, Noah had to hunt for their food, so if you're squeamish, or an animal activist, you may not want to look.)

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: July 30/11 
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, My Dearest Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed to: Huntsville, Ont
Mailed from:  Grand Coulee. Sask.
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Black ink pen which lightens as he writes, until he dips it in the ink pot.
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 the wide width of both pages. 

People/Places mentioned in this letter:

- *Percy Draper - Noah's 28 yr old brother
- my man - *hired man
- carpenters
- well diggers
- plasters
- furnace men
- plumbers

*baseball
*Belle Plaine 

Phrases/Cliches in use at the time:
- O.K.
- eh
- loading a car of oats: filling a railroad grain car
- lathing: nailing thin lath strips to the inner walls prior to plastering
- drawing sand: ?
- greenhorns
- plod along

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




Picture
Grand Coulee. Sask.
July 30/11.
Miss. E. Nelson,
       Huntsville. Ont.
My Dearest Ethel; -
     Received your letter all
O.K. and was glad you were
having a good time hope
it may last as long as time
and then some. Eh.
      Well Ethel I guess you will
be wondering what I am
doing, but I wish you
were here to see and give
me a little advice once
in a while but I wish you
were here to see and give 
me a little advice once
in a while but it could
not be that way. buthope
it will be soon eh.
      Well. the carpenters are

Picture
here yet. they have the frame up. and two ply of board's
on also shingled and they will be here about a week yet
before it is ready for the plasters. expect to have the men
out to put in the furnace and also the plumbers
this week.
      Have been loading a car of oats for Percy and
we will finish it tomorrow. I guess. then I will be
lathing and my man drawing sand. I can tell 
you I will be glad when the house is finished.
      The well diggers are still here. they have went
down 75' in two holes and struck stones in both
so they could not go any farther. they are down about 30'
in another. but the other holes will not cost me any
thing.
      Say Ethel after our good start in base ball we
did not get the cup. Bell Plain beat us the last
game. 5 to 3. boo hoo. but out of 11 games we played we
won 8 and lost 3. not bad for greenhorns. Eh. 

Picture
Well Kid in less than 5 months
you will I hope change your
name. Gee I wish it were
days. but I have a lot to
do before that time or rather
in the next 16 weeks for by
that time the rush will be
over thank goodness. say I
dont think I am much good
in a rush. or any other
time but still I manage to 
plod along and intend to 
keep on aploding as long 
as possible. Ha. Ha. Well I
guess I will have to close 
for this time so Bye Bye.
wish Icould deliver these
xxxxxx personally. write long letters
to your lover. N.C.D.


Genealogy Notes

I had to go to Moose Jaw last week, so I had phoned Sharon, grand daughter of Noah, several days ahead and asked if I could stop in Grand Coulee for a visit on my way. I told her I'd be bringing my portable scanner and asked if I could scan some photos. She said sure, and that she'd phone her sister, Patty, and see if she could join us since Patty was the family historian.

When I arrived, I was greeted by both Sharon and Patty - and a wide assortment of  memorabilia and photo albums. Oh my Goodness there was lots. As Patty showed me image after image of a young Noah and Ethel and their growing family, tears sprang to my eyes. A photo of the first building Noah built on his land at Adams, near Grand Coulee was the barn pictured above. After turning the page, my gaze set on an image of the finished house. Oh, what a blessing to see the house he built for Ethel during those long months of separation filled only by the Courtship letters. 

Here's a sneak preview of Noah and their house:
Picture
Noah Clement Draper after a hunting trip, standing in front of the house he built in 1911, Adams, Sask.
But as I pulled out my scanner, Patty said that I could take everything with me and scan/photocopy it all at home. Oh my Goodness! 

And that's why I felt like the woman in the IKEA commercial as I drove away from Grand Coulee - I couldn't believe they'd let me borrow the hundreds of photos the albums contained. Oh my Goodness!

I think I've said 'Oh my Goodness' more times this past week than I have during my entire lifetime. And I'm not the only one who's amazed at what we're calling Norma's Treasure Box because I've seen Nelson pour over the albums with an expression of wonder on his face - sometimes because he recognizes a person or place, and others because it's the first time he's seen an image of someone - like Ethel's grandma. 

It's an amazing time of discovery here at the Draper house, and I sure hope you join us on this adventure as we post photos of people mentioned in the Courtship letters.

4 Comments

1911 Courtship: June 21 Dear Ethel

4/29/2013

4 Comments

 
Picture
His Majesty King George V, Real Photograph on a Tuck Postcard #1459, first used 1906, sold in Great Britain and Canada.
Picture
Her Majesty Queen Mary, Real Photograph on a Tuck Postcard #1460, first used 1906, sold in Great Britain and Canada.
Although Noah and Ethel haven't mentioned it, the newspapers are full of images and snippets of the June 22nd Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary. The above images are the same ones published on the first page of the June 23, 1911 edition of The Newmarket Era except those images are so dark, you can barely make anything out. From what I did see however, I was able to find the matching images on a huge database website called TuckDB Postcards which states: TuckDB is a free on-line database listing antique postcards published by Raphael Tuck & Sons. Thank you to creators and maintainers of this wonderful look at history portrayed in postcards.

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: June 21st, 1911
Addressed to: Dear 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:
- *Louie:  Noah's sister, Sarah Louisa Nelson, married to Fred Coventry
- Mother: *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper
- *Sadie Nelson: Ethel's 16 yr old sister

- a Scotch man:  *hired man to work on the farm
- your Englishman: *hired man to work on the farm

League Games: Base ball played between the following 3 close towns:
- Grand Coulee (Noah's town)
- Bell Plain (Belle Plain)
- Pense 

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

**More info under Genealogical Notes
Picture
Grand Coulee, Sask.
June. 21st/11.
Dear Ethel;-
     Received your letter Sat.
& was glad to hear from you
 Hope you are well as this 
leaves meat present.
     Well Ethel I am buisy as
a hen drawing rails drawing 
lumber & cement & ect for the 
house have the lumber
nearly all home & the carpenter
is coming up in the morning
to put up the form for
the cement cellar.
     I wish I could walk in
and see you to-night but
I guess I wont. eh.

Picture
Say I would certainly like to see
you for a while.
     Louie came up with mother today &
is going back tomorrow she just
told me to send you her best love.
     Well Ethel we have had another
game of base ball with Bell Plain
and beat them 9 to 7. so we have
won the first 3 league games wheather
we win any more or not. We have
to go up to play B.P. onthe first so
I will have a holiday. was to play
Pense tomorrow but it was postponed
& I dont know when we will play 
them.
     Suppos Sadie will soon be trying
her examinations & wish her all
kinds of success.
     Say wont you be glad to getout
of a place where they have such
thunder storms as you have there
     We have not had any thunder
to speak of for two years but cant
tell when it will start.
     Say I have a Scotch man
working for me now and he is a
dandy. and can be depended on 
to take care of things. hope you 
have got rid of your Englishmen. Haha

Picture
          Well it is just 10 minutes
after twelve by your time
& 22.10 by ours or 10 after 10.
     Oh say did I tell you I am
in the tent & it is fine &
cool at night. Ha.Ha.
          How are the men getting
along at the barn?
          Well Ethel I guess I will
have to close for this time
& dont you be as slow about
writing as I am but I am 
to lazy to write much at
this time so good Bye
with lots of Love & a great big
hug and half a million
kisses.  N. C. D. x x x x x x x
 

Genealogy Notes

Since this week in 1911 is the Royal Coronation, I'm posting an image and snippets to give you a sense of the grandeur of this period. 

Picture
The Coronation Ceremony of His Most Gracious Majesty King George V in Westminster Abbey. 22nd June 1911, by John Henry Frederick Bacon, Courtesy of Wikipedia
Picture
The Newmarket Era. June 9, 1911 - Pg 4
Picture
The Newmarket Era. June 9, 1911 - Pg 4

Picture
The Newmarket Era. June 23, 1911 - Pg 2
A brilliant function held last
Friday night, was the Coronation 
ball of the Royal Club at the Bota-
nic Gardens, in London, England.
The grounds were illuminated - the
trees being studded with 50,000 elec-
tric lights in various colours--form-
ing a veritable picture of fairyland.
The ball-room was large enough to
hold a thousand couples in comfort.
It was temporary erected for the 
occasion.
4 Comments
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