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Feb 1912: Noah's Cousin, Edith Draper

4/13/2014

4 Comments

 
Picture
1911 Togo, Saskatchewan, Canada. Courtesty of UofA Prairie Postcards Collection
Noah and Ethel are about to head West, but there was one event they would have attended before they left, and that was the wedding of Noah's cousin, Edith Draper, to Frank Kavanagh.

While blogging about Noah and Ethel's Courtship letters I couldn't help but notice how concerned Noah was about Edith and her siblings, his 1st cousins, the children of Stephen Draper and Martha Barnhart. If you recall, Stephen was the brother of Noah's father, David, and their 2 farms pretty much backed up to each other when Noah's family lived in North Gwillimbury.

In other posts I've detailed the lives of Stewart and George. Edith meanwhile was mentioned in these 1911 Courtship Letters:
  • Mar 5, Dear Noah - explains the spelling of Edith/Edythe
  • May 7 Dear Ethel - 1906 image of combined Draper family incl'g Frank
  • Aug 28 Dear Ethel - George Draper and his history
  • Sep 10 Dear Noah - Edith asks if she can go west with Ethel
  • Oct 15 Dear Noah - mentions that Edith will be married

As for the events leading up to Edith Draper marrying Frank Kavanagh, I found this humorous newspaper snippet: 
PictureThe Newmarket Era. December 13, 1907
   Miss Edyth Draper returned from 
the West a few weeks ago. She says 
it is too cold there for her. 

I laughed when I saw that, knowing she would eventually marry and move to the West. I figured she must love Frank very much and heartened at the thought of her deep love. But then I read the next snippet and realized Frank didn't head west until 1908. 

PictureThe Newmarket Era. May 15, 1908
The image at the top of this post shows what Togo, Sask looked liked in 1911. 

So if Frank wasn't out West in 1907, who did 22 yr old Edith go to visit? Noah has mentioned Edith's brother, Stewart Draper, many times in the Courtship letters, and Stewart and Bertha's daughter, Norma, submitted a very detailed write-up on her family in the local history book, From Basket to Bridge - White Bear, Kyle, Matador in which she wrote that her father, Stewart Truman Draper, rented land from Eli Williamson, east of Indian Head, in 1907 prior to homesteading in the White Bear area. 

Since Noah's family was already in Grand Coulee by that time, I'm guessing Edith visited her brother, Stewart, and Noah's family - her Uncle David and Aunt Sarah. 

So we know that Edith was a spinster, a farmer's daughter, and that she doesn't like the West because it's too cold. And although we don't know for sure that Frank and Edith are courting, there must have been a good reason for him to be included in this 1906 family photo. 
Picture
While Edith stayed in her Keswick, North Gwillimbury Township home, we can read a series of news snippets showing Frank's trips back to his family in Queensville, East Gwillimbury Township. It seems he still calls Queensville home and from the looks of these snippets, he made more trips than I could find in the Newmarket Era:
Picture
The Newmarket Era. December 24, 1909
Picture
The Newmarket Era. June 17, 1910
Picture
The Newmarket Era. September 30, 1910
Mr. W. H. Kavanagh mentioned in the middle snippet is Frank's father, William Harvey Kavanagh, b 1857, living in Queensville with an occupation as a butcher and auctioneer. 

That got me wondering what Frank's occupation was way out there in Togo, Sask, so I started researching the records. 

  • 1887 Birth Record for James Franklin Kavanagh, East Gwillimbury Twp
  • 1912 Marriage Record doesn't state an occupation
  • 1921 Canada census states Frank is a butcher

But where was he in the 1911 census? Not only that, but Noah and Ethel refer to Frank as living in Winnipeg. Even his marriage record states he's from Winnipeg. But Winnipeg was a big city even back then and I didn't have time to browse dozens? hundreds? of pages of census records. And where did Togo fit in all this? 

I spent hours searching for anything I could find about Togo and located it on a map north of the Transcontinental Railway line, just kissing the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border:

Picture
Google Map showing approximate route from Keswick, Ontario, to Winnipeg, Manitoba on the Transcontinental Railroad. From there, a person would have to take a secondary train to get to Togo, Saskatchewan.
As you can see from the map, Togo is a very long way from Keswick. I stopped researching and started cropping the snippets. But as I cropped the snippet for Frank's first trip west in 1908, I had an idea. It says Frank and Walter Kaiser went to Togo together. Could I find Walter Kaiser in the 1911 census, and if I did, would Frank still be with him? After all, 3 years had passed.  I pulled up the search box and typed in Frank Kaiser. The only other info I had for him was the locations of Ontario and Togo. 

Bingo! The first name that came up was a Walter Kaiser living in Togo, Sask. I pulled up the census and guess what... he was single, a lodger, and a butcher. And yep, right above him was the messy scribbled name of Frank Kavanagh. Why hadn't Frank come up in all the searches? Look for yourself:
Picture
Part of the 1911 Canada census for Togo, Saskatchewan (click to enlarge)
The top blue arrow is pointing to the messy scribbled name of Frank Kavanagh, Male, lodger, single, born Apr 1887, 26 yrs old, born in Ontario.  The blue arrow in the bottom Index points to Frenk Kewenigh which is what the transcriber saw when he/she looked at Frank's name, scribbled by the census taker.

We know the wedding is coming soon because of this following snippet:
PictureThe Newmarket Era. January 5, 1912
Lila is Frank's 17-yr-old sister and my belief is that the week she spent with Edith was a planning session for Edith's wedding. Although the post-wedding news article doesn't come right out and say that Lila is Edith's bridesmaid, it does state:

"...Miss Lila Kavanaugh sister of the groom, looked charming in shell pink satin with lace and gold fringe, and carried pink roses. The groom was assisted by Mr. J. C Purdy of Keswick..."

Here's the article about the Edith Draper & Frank Kavanagh wedding. Note that the article starts by misspelling Kavanagh with an 'u' and ends without it, as it should be spelled.  

Kavanagh-DraperWedding
Picture
The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912
Since the wedding took place at Edith's home in Keswick, the reception took place about 8.5 miles away at the home of Frank's family in Queensville, East Gwillimbury Township.
Picture
Listed under KESWICK in The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912
So Edith has married Frank Kavanagh who was living in Togo until the census was taken a few months prior to their marriage. The snippet says they're heading back to Frank's home in Winnipeg, yet I couldn't find them in Henderson's Winnipeg City Directory for 1911, 1912, or 1915.
PictureThe Newmarket Era. November 27, 1914
However, I found this snippet which places them in Manitoba in 1914. Winnipeg is in Manitoba, but not Togo which is just a spit away inside the Saskatchewan border. 
But where in Manitoba?

Again, we end a post with more questions. Feel free to jump in if you know the answers.

And now that Edith is married to Frank, there isn't anything to report on that would hold Noah and Ethel in Ontario. The next post then will be Noah guiding Ethel on her first trip to the West, and to her new home on the prairies at Adams, Saskatchewan.


4 Comments

1911 Courtship: Aug 28 Dear Ethel

10/21/2013

0 Comments

 
1911 Canada's Golden Harvest
Postcard c1911 Young man harvesting with horse drawn binder and a man carrying grain stooks. Published by The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Courtesy of Peel Library, University of Alberta Postcard Collection.
Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: Aug 28/11
Addressed to: Miss E.Nelson, Belhaven, Ont., My Dearest Ethel 
Mailed from: Grand Coulee, Sask.
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, but looks grey in places and pencil-like in others.
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, written in booklet form, but Noah has written the pages in this order: 1, 3, 2, 4. 


People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Mother - *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper, Noah's widowed mother 
- Steward - Noah's cousin, **Stewart Trueman Draper of Indian Head, Sask
- **George Draper - Stewart's brother from North Gwillimbury, Ontario
- Uncle - *Uncle Emanuel Nelson is an uncle of Ethel's Pa
- 3 men for stooking (stooks are shown in postcard above)
- well-diggers
- plasterers
- carpenters
- Regina - nearest city to Grand Coulee

Cliche/Phrasing:
"Will ring off..." - reference to new telephone system where the caller must turn the handle to sound a bell that makes a ringing sound so the Operator knows the caller is finished his call


* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this 
  person/place/thing or use the search box in the header
** see Genealogy Notes below 
Picture
Grand Coulee, Sask.
August. 28/11
Miss E. Nelson,
        Belhaven, Ont.
My Dearest Ethel; -
     Received your letter Friday
and was glad to hear you
were still able to be around.
     Hope this may find you as
well as this leaves me at 
present.
     Well Ethel I have not started
harvest yet I got out to the
field Sat. morning when 
it started to rain so had 
to quit and will start again
Tuesday if nothing hapens.
     George Draper is up at
Stewards now got a card from

Picture
him Sat. he is comeing up as
soon as Steward gets thro
harvest (I wish it were you)
for a hunt.
     Say do you know where 
all the fellows went to from
down there? I havent saw
any of them yet!
     Well the well diggers are
away at last but they didnt
get water that hole turned 
out to be no good but it
cost me $375. to find it out.
     The plasters were here
and put on the first coat
and will be back on Wed.
to finish up. the carpenters
are here now or are supposed
to be. it will take about

Picture
2 weeks yet to finish it up.
     Well Ethel I guess Mother
is going down East with me
this winter but I dont think
she will come back as soon
eh.
     I am expecting the machine
agent out this afternoon to
start my binder have not
git it going yet.
     Was in Regina Sat for
a piece for the binder and
stayed all night & came
back yesteraday. say I will
be glad when the harvest
is over I have 3 men for
stooking and they cant do
anything while it is wet &
I dont like them laying around.

Picture
Well I hope your Uncle is better
by this time, sickness is an
awful thing. There is quite
a few sick around here now.
     Say there is over 500 men
in Regina waiting for harvest
some of them have been
here 3 weeks I guess they must
be tired of it by this time.
for I know how it goes only
I am waiting for something
else. eh. & it cant come to
soon for it seems lonesome
out here now. far more so
than before last winter.
     Well dear I guess this is
about all for this time
so I will ring off. so Bye Bye.
Write long letters to your lazy
lover.    N.C.D xxxxxxxxxx



Genealogy Notes

In this week's letter Noah mentions that George Draper is at Steward's place. Noah is talking about his 1st cousin, Stewart Truman Draper who farms in the Indian Head area east of Regina, and Stewart's brother, George, who lives in North Gwillimbury Township - the same township where Ethel lives. 

Stewart brought his immediate family west, leaving the rest of them in North Gwillimbury.  When Noah says that George is now out west with Stewart, I wanted to know if George had also brought his family out west. 

George Milburn Draper was born on 28 August 1880, 4 yrs after Stewart's birth, which makes George 31 yrs old at the time Noah wrote this letter.

In 1908, George married Eliza Alberta Hamilton whom I suspected was a sister of Stewart's wife, Bertha Hamilton. When I couldn't find evidence of that relationship, I went back a generation to see if the wives were cousins. I couldn't find a relationship there, either. However, I noticed that Bertha's father, Robert Hamilton, and Eliza Alberta's father, David Hamilton, were born 5 years apart in Nova Scotia. That was too much of a coincidence not to investigate.

I found an 1861 Canada West census with a Hamilton family that looked similar to the one I was seeking. At that time, Canada West was Ontario as the real west was under exploration and still run by the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Picture
1861 Canada census showing George Hamilton and Jane Patchell and their 5 children, 4 of whom were born in Nova Scotia with the youngest, John (from Image 1214) being born in Canada West/Ontario.
I realized I'd found the right family when the census jived with the following information I'd already collected:
Eliza's Father:  David
David's Birth Place: 
David's Father: George
David's Mother: Jane

Bertha's Father: Robert
Robert's Birth Place: 
Robert's Father: Unknown

My records
David b 1845
Nova Scotia
George b 1801
Jane b 1807

Robert b 1840
Nova Scotia

1861 CW census
David b 1845
Nova Scotia
George b 1800
Jane b 1802

Robert: b 1840
Nova Scotia

The above chart has enough compelling evidence to show me that David and Robert are brothers, that their father is George Hamilton b 1800 in Ireland, and their mother was Jane (Patchell) also born in Ireland. I'd like to add that I clicked over to the next census image/page to see if there were any other family members and there was - the youngest in the family - John Hamilton, whom I added to the above screenshot, was born in 1847, 2 yrs after David. 

I now knew that Bertha and Eliza were Hamilton cousins who married two brothers, Stewart and George Draper. It also meant that I now had a whole lot more people to add to the family tree when you include all the brothers and sisters as well as 200 yrs of descendants. Plus, I can research the Irish records with the names George Hamilton and Jane Patchell. 

Getting back to George and Eliza, although I couldn't find a newspaper snippet, their marriage record shows they were married 23 Sep 1908 in North Gwillimbury. 

The 1911 Canada census finds the couple living next door to his parents, Stephen Draper and Martha Barnhart, and his sister Edith, all whom we've met before in the Genealogy notes of 1911 Courtship May 7.  

Picture
1911 Canada Census showing Stephen Draper and his wife, Martha Barnhart, and daughter, Edith, followed by son George, and his wife, Eliza Hamilton. (The transcription only shows four names at a time)
According to this 1911 census, George and Eliza don't have any children. Although one other Ancestry.com family tree shows George and Eliza with a girl born in 1911, my search of the newspapers and records, including the 1916 census record, didn't produce any mention of live or still births until 1921 when a little one-year-old boy appears with them. 

So to answer my question if George went west alone, I found these snippets. The first one mentions that George, or Geo. as they call him in short form, is leaving for the west, and the 2nd one states that Geo. Draper has left Keswick for the west.
Picture
The Newmarket Era. August 11, 1911
Picture
The Newmarket Era. August 18, 1911
Since Aug 1911 had a huge demand for harvest workers, I can only assume that the above mentioned men have gone west to find work and perhaps have a look-see around while they're there. And where else would George go but to help out his brother, Stewart.

I'm looking forward to Noah's letter where he next mentions cousin George so we can perhaps learn what he thinks of the new Canada West.


0 Comments

1911 Courtship: July 19 Dear Ethel

7/1/2013

2 Comments

 
Picture
Reaping, Indian Head, Assiniboia, on Canadian Pacific Railway. c1886. Prairie Postcards PC002464. Courtesty of http://peel.library.ualberta

See the Genealogy Note at the bottom of this post for more info on the above photo and the Experimental farm, mentioned by Noah in this letter. 

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: July 19th/1911
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, My 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:
- *Joe & Eva - Joe Perrault and Eva Amelia - Noah's sister
- *Parthena - wife of Noah's brother, *Percy Draper
- Parthena's baby - Royden Wallace Draper b Jul 1911 but what date?
 - *Stewart Draper, Noah's cousin, in Indian Head, Saskatchewan
- *Louie:  Noah's sister, Sarah Louisa Nelson, married to Fred Coventry
- Fred's sister in Alberta - Probably Margaret Jane *Coventry

* Regina, Saskatchewan
** Experimental Farm, Indian Head, Saskatchewan
Local - Twice daily passenger train that runs from Regina to Indian Head. Used for excursions such as field trips to see the world famous Bell Farm, etc. 

* 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 19th/11
Miss. E. Nelson,
        huntsville. Ont.
My Dear Ethel;-
     Received your letter last
week and was glad to hear
you were going to get a few
holidays & hope you have
a good time,
     Well we are good and buisy
here just now. just got
the cellar cemented and am
now digging a drain. expect 
the well diggers and carpenters
tomorrow. so will have 7 men
here for a while and a girl
if I can get one but they are

Picture
like hens teeth few and far between. 
    Joe. Eva. & I were down to the
experimental farm at Indian Head
yesterday. I went into Regina on 
the morning Local with out any
intentions of going down but I got
through with my business by
the time the excurtion train
came along so I jumped on and
went down. it rained nearly all
afternoon. but we hired a livery
rig and got out to Stewarts before
it started so we didnt mind
it. but there was a good many.
dissapointed people on the train
coming home.
     Osay Ethel Parthena has a baby 
boy. about a week old have not seen
it yet but i hear it looks like
the Drapers. Ha. Ha.
     Louie & Fred went up to his
sisters in Alberta last Saturaday.
to pick raspberries. they said but
I guess they wont get many.
     Say you must be getting old to
be able to say the heat is the worst
for a 100 years back. Eh.

Picture
I hear it has been very dry
down there this summer how
do the crops seem. they are
very good here only a little late
but we have had such a
cold summer we will likely
have a hot fall. hope so
any way.
     Well it is getting nearly
time to get out to work again
am writing this at noon
and expect to post this to 
night. Well i guess this is
all for this time so Bye Bye
write soon and a long letter
to your Western Lover. N.C.D.
X X X X X X X 


Genealogy Notes

Genealogy Note 1: Margaret Jane Coventry

Fred Coventry had 2 sisters. Mary Catherine stayed in Ontario, married, and died there. 

But Margaret Jane is shown on the 1901 census where she and her parents are living in Kenlis, Assiniboia - about 10 miles northeast of Indian Head. She is not with them on the 1916 census, though, where they have moved close to Fred and Louie near Grand Coulee. Did Margaret Jane marry and move to Alberta? Or did she just move there because of a job opportunity?

Update! 
- Mary Catherine did NOT marry and die in Ontario - her Aunt Catharine did. In 1911, Mary Catherine and her husband lived in Strathcona, Alberta. 
- Margaret Jane moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada  sometime between 1916 and 1920. She didn't show up on the 1916 census because it was a special one for the prairie provinces only so that the government could keep track of immigrants on the newly opened prairie land.


Genealogy Note 2: The Experimental Farm

The Experimental Farm had it's beginnings as part of the 
53,000 acre Bell Farm which started operations in 1882 by the Qu'Appelle Valley Farming Company - before the railroad tracks had been laid on the bald prairie - before there was the town of IndianHead - and before Saskatchewan became a province, which is why the postcard at the top refers to it as Indian Head, Assiniboia. Once the railroad went through, the Bell Farm built a hotel, grain elevator and flour mill and Indian Head came into being. 

Using the most modern farming practices and equipment of the time, the Bell Farm drew  interested people from several countries to see for themselves how farming had/could progress. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) carried tourists and farmers on daily excursions from Regina out to Indian Head to explore the farm for the day. 

The unique round shape of the Bell Farm Round Barn was one of the main attractions of the Bell Farm. Due to having its silo in the centre of the building, the layout provided ample space to stable 36 horses surrounding the silo - a time-saver when it came to supplying feed for the hard-working heavy horses. 

Picture
Stable, Major William R. Bell's farm, Indian Head, SK, 1884, by William McFarlane Notman. VIEW-1388 © McCord Museum
In 1887, part of the Bell Farm was sold to create a Dominion Experimental Farm - one of Canada's first agricultural stations. 


Picture
Experimental farm, Indian Head, SK, about 1920, MP-0000.25.431, © McCord Museum
A lasting legacy of the Indian Head area is the tree nursery located one mile south of the town which had been established in 1897 to supply trees for shelterbelt purposes to cut down on wind erosion. Called the Prairie Shelterbelt Program, the nursery of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration  (PFRA) supplied seedlings free of charge to all legitimate homesteaders and farmers. 

Although The Shelterbelt Program ended in the Spring of 2013, the PFRA tree nursery is a showcase of tree varieties which is open to the public and a favorite spot for summer picnics as well as information gathering.

Picture
Image of a man holding a cloth sack and picking something off of a tree - possibly at PFRA tree nursery. Courtesy of http://saskhistoryonline.ca/fedora/repository/indianhead%3A31270
According to the Indian Head History Page by 1902, the Town of Indian Head was incorporated and had become "...one of the world's largest initial shipping points for wheat." 
Picture
1900-1909 Image of ten grain elevators at Indian head that read "Jos Glen No. 1", "Jos Glen No. 2", "Dominion Elevator Co. Ltd. No. 72", "Ogilvie's No. 67" - various structures in between elevators, Canadian Pacific railroad cars next to elevators - man and several cows in foreground on other side of fence. Photographer: Denison Indian Head. Courtesy http://saskhistoryonline.ca/fedora/repository/indianhead%3A31195
And that's the history of Indian Head, Saskatchewan, which Noah mentions in this week's letter and which has been mentioned several other times when talking about Elva Nelson and Will Mitchell, and Stewart Draper and Bertha Hamilton. 
2 Comments

Courtship Letter Special: July 15 From Elva Mitchell

6/18/2013

3 Comments

 


Picture
Indian Head, Saskatchewan, Canada, looking North, ca 1909. Courtesy of the SCAA Virtual Exhibits Mainstreet Images. http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/mainstreet/main.html
Sorry about last week's missing letter. I've decided to put Eliza Crouch Nelson's letter aside for now and I've posted an explanation as **Genealogy Notes #4 below as to why. 

This week's letter is another special one - this time by Elva Jane Mitchell, cousin to Ethel since their mothers are sisters.

Author of Letter: Elva Mitchell, age 24 (Ethel's cousin)
Dated:  July 15, 1911
Addressed to: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21
Mailed  from:  Indian Head, Saskatchewan
Relationship:  1st cousins (mothers are sisters)
Profession:  Farm worker's wife  
Writing  instrument: Fine point  pen, Blue ink
Written on: Cream-colored, slightly thick, unlined writing paper, 5 inches x 8 inches. This letter seems straightforward with page 1, 2 and 3, however it's not quite that cut-and-dry. At the top of page 3, Elva has written, "3. the first one" although I don't know what that's about.


People/Places mentioned in on Page 1, 2 and 3 of this letter:

- *Elva -  Elva Jane Nelson and husband, Will Mitchell 
- Mrs Draper (pg 1) - *Bertha Hamilton, wife of *Stewart Draper, of Indian Head
- Norma - **Norma Draper, 7 yr old daughter of Bertha and Stewart
- *Lennox's Picnic - see the Genealogy note on  July 2 Dear Noah
- Roy Cowieson and wife (Roy's wife, Lavina, is the daughter of William Rye and Hartie Draper - 2nd cousin to Noah)
- Ernie Glover - Ethel's 1st cousin (Ethel's mom, Ida, is sister to Ernie's dad, William)
- Jim Philps/Phillips (Ernie eventually married a Phillips)
- Ethel's Aunt Mary - Mary Ann *Glover, sister of Ida, and wife of William *Linstead of Sintaluta, Sask (about 10 miles from Indian Head)
- Mrs Draper (pg 2) - Noah's mom, *Sarah Sophia Deverell, in Grand Coulee, Sask
- Uncle Jim - *James Nelson, Ethel's dad
- Fathers - **George Caleb Nelson (Elva's father who was on his 3rd wife in 1911) 
- Uncle - possible Emanuel since he was very sick in an earlier letter
 - Miss Hunt - still haven't discovered the identity of this gentle spinster

- *Indian Head, Saskatchewan - 1 town (about 10 miles) west of Sintaluta on Hwy #1 
-  Sintaluta, Saskatchewan - 34 miles north of our farm

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


Picture
                 Indian Head July the 15.1911
Miss Ethel Nelson.
           Belhaven.
                   My. Dear. Cousin.
                          Received your welcome
letter a short time ago we are well
hope this to find you folks all the
same. Ethel this is Saturday
afternoon well Ethel this is Saturday
but a week later. it is Just a lovely
day. Mr's Draper is getting supper.
she came home on Wednesday.
morning she has been away for
6 weeks up to the home stead
Norma and I are going to town
to night Mrs Draper Just has
2 children the same two
that she had down East.
But they are big youngester's now

Picture
                                            2.
Well have you folks got the Barn
raised yet. I suppose you will be
going to Lennox's Picnic I was there
last year but I guess I will
not be there this year. Roy
Cowieson and wife just live about
3 or 4 mile from here. I was to see
them a few sundays ago.
Ernie Glover is working for Jim
Philps. I think perhaps that 
Will and I will go over to Philps
tomorrow. Ethel I have not
been over to see your Aunt Mary
yet but will go. some of these
days. we only live about 4 mile
from the head. go in quiet
often. I have not been up to
see Mr's Draper. is she down
East yet. Well Ethel when you
come west don't for get to come

Picture
        3. the first one
and see me.
tell Uncle Jim he had better
come up West there is lots of
money up here. people I think
can do a lot better up here.
Well Ethel I can not think of much
to write this time  do you ever see
any thing of Fathers. and is Uncle better
now. is Miss Hunt married yet. and
does  Benie still go to see her.
Well Bye Bye with Love to all.
hope to here from you soon
                               Elva Mitchell
                                       Indian Head.
                                Box 142, Sask.

P.S. Please Ethel do not forgot to
put the number of the Box
142, as you other one ws in the
office for nearly 3 weeks.


Genealogy Notes

There are 4 Genealogy Notes this week.

Genealogy Note #1 - Elva Nelson and William Mitchell 

Elva Jane Nelson married William Mitchell in 1907 and sometime after they headed west. In Noah's letter of May 1 Dear Ethel, he writes, "So you did not know Elva & Will were in the West. yes they are working for Steward this summer."

Since 1911 was a census year in Canada, I thought it would be easy to confirm the above fact. Nope. I couldn't find them anywhere. Not in the East. And not in the West.  Elva is the sister of Leslie Nelson, the missing cousin, also spoken of in the May 1st letter. 

And then I couldn't find several of the names Elva mentioned  in the 1911 census - people who were all living around the Indian Head area. (see the map)  But a quick look at the census revealed an inky mess and it's a wonder anyone was able to transcribe it at all. What I had to do was find the record in Qu'Appelle's subdistrict #20 and go along page by page. That's what I did and I was on pg 13 of 28 when I found this gem:

Picture
1911 Canadian Census for William and Elva Mitchell
Whoever took down this census had the worst pen and very rough handwriting. I've highlighted 4 names in the top half of this image:
 - Rigler, Joseph (Joseph Walker Rigler)
 - Mitchell, William (Elva's husband)
 -       "        , Alva (should be Elva)
 - Linstead, Norman (Aunt Mary's boy from Sintaluta)

The problem is that whoever transcribed the image couldn't read the handwriting and so the 4 names were typed as follows (lower red box):
 - Royles, Joseph 
 - Midahild, William
 - Midahild,  Alva
 - Lumhead, Normon

No wonder the search engine didn't pick them up. One or two letters off would have been okay,  but with these errors, the names would have been at the end of thousands of records if I went by search alone. So in this case, knowing the small area to be covered and the small population of it, bypassing the search engine and checking each page was the most efficient way to get a result. Actually, I'm just thrilled I found them!

This presented another problem since, as I said above, Elva and Mitchell are working for Stewart for the summer. If so, why are they listed under Joseph Rigler  who happens to be the brother of Will Rigler, husband of Noah's sister? It seems that the 4th person mentioned in this record is 5 yr old Norman Linstead - son of William Linstead and Mary Ann Glover of Sintaluta - yes, the same as in the letter. (And yes, that makes 3 Williams in the same paragraph.)

Since Will Mitchell is listed as a laborer and not a lodger of Walker's, does that mean he's working for both Walker and Stewart? Perhaps they're next door? 

I'm not sure how little Norman fits into this if the census was recorded on June 1st and Elva's letter is July 15th, yet Elva hasn't been over to visit her Aunt Mary in Sintaluta yet. But perhaps Norman was only visiting Walker during the census taking period. 

When Elva says on Page 1, "Norma and I are going to town to night Mrs Draper Just has 2 children the same two that she had down East" I assumed she meant Norman but left off the N. But no, Bertha and Stewart have 2 children: Norma (b1904) and Lennox (b1906) - both born back in Belhaven before the family moved west. So Norma is with Elva yet I don't know if she's only visiting or if Elva's job is babysitting/child care for Bertha during the day so Bertha can take care of the men. 

Genealogy Note 2 - Elva's father, George Caleb Nelson

One more thing about Elva... she's the daughter of George Caleb Nelson which means her grandmother is Eliza Crouch Nelson of last week's missing letter. In this week's letter, she asks Ethel, "do you ever see any thing of Fathers"?

I'm not sure why she added the s at the end of fathers, but here's the story of George Caleb Nelson: 
#1 - Hannah Victoria Lantham died in Jun 1894 - mother of 5 kids including Elva
#2 - married Emma Lantham April 1895 - (Hannah's sister) Emma died Aug 1896
#3 - married Mary Tryphena Smith Jan 1897 - she died Aug 1913 
#4 - maried Mary Ellen Traviss Aug 1914 - she died May 1922
George Caleb Nelson died in 1936 having outlived his 4th and last wife. His 5 children were all from Hannah.

Perhaps with his record, she was ready for bad news at any moment.

Genealogy Note 3 - Ernie Glover

As for Ernie Glover, I found him on 2 different 1911 Canadian census records. At first I thought perhaps the censuses were recorded with a few months between them which would give Ernie time to move west, but they're both dated June 1st, 1911. Take a look  at this first one:
Picture
1911 Canada Census for Ernie/Ernest Glover living in Saskatchewan

As mentioned earlier, Ernie is found at the farm of Jim Phillips. In the upper image, he's the last one in the red box, and in the bottom image, he's the red box. 

Everything looks good. According to this letter, he's where he's been confirmed as being. So how can he be on another census? Let's take a look...
      
Picture
1911 Canada Census for Ernie/Ernest Glover living in Ontario
Okay, now it's starting to make sense because Ernie Glover on this census has been scratched out - as show in the thick red box which means he was written in then as an afterthought, they realized he was probably going to be counted out west so they scratched him out. Same goes for his sister, Georgie, in the blue box. I'm not sure where she was at the time this census was taken, but she was a 25 yr old of marrying age and I haven't found her anywhere else in the records for 1911 yet. 

One more thing about this census - the search engines will continue to find this census for Ernie because he is indexed in the transcription (the red box in the bottom image).  As long as he's there, he'll be found. Because of that, I left a note in the update option beside his name in order to save others the same grief I had while searching for him.

Genealogy Note #4 - Last week's missing letter by Eliza Crouch Nelson

As can often happen in the field of genealogy, I ran into a couple problems just prior to posting the July 14th letter from Eliza Crouch Nelson in Atkins, Ohio. The main problem was that some of the information couldn't be confirmed - or sourced. I had originally planned to post it anyway in the hopes that another 'hidden' relative would find the post and come forward with new information. However, with suspected problems on both the Nelson and Crouch side of the tree, I used last week to research - not intentionally, but one day lead to another and suddenly the week was gone. Although I've made strides, much of it is still speculation. 


So until I can confirm more details, I've put Eliza's letter aside.


And that's it for this week. Wow, what a week!
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