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.

Since it's spring seeding in both Ontario and Saskatchewan during the time of this letter and Noah talks about his equipment, this week's images will be on that theme.

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated:  Apr 24/11
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, Bellhaven, Ont., 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, with a front and back page, but inside, Noah has turned the paper lengthwise and written straight down both pages. 

People/places mentioned in this letter:
*Will - William Rigler, married to Noah's sister, Ethel
*Veda - 16 yr old daughter of Noah's sister, Eva Amelia and Joe Perrault
*Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister in Belhaven
Alf - Noah's hired farm worker
Sam - Noah's horse

Other mentions:
*diptheria
** Deering seed drill
** Kentucky seed drill


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

Noah talks about needing a new drill for seeding his crop. For whatever reason, he's not happy with his Deering model, so he brings it back and buys  one with the Kentucky brand. 

Deering sounds like it belongs to the John Deere company, but it's not. William Deering (1826-1913) was an American businessman who established the Deering Harvester Works in 1880. In 1902, the Deering Harvester Company and three smaller agricultural equipment companies merged with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company to form the International Harvester Company (IHC). 

Here's an illustration from the 1910 Kentucky Grain Drill catalogue.  The big difference that I see is that with the Deering a drill, the farmer stands on either the foot boards provided at the back, or on the top of the seed hopper as in the photo at the top of this post, whereas the farmer sits at the back of the Kentucky Grain Drill.  I wonder if that's why Noah calls the Kentucky make a "dandy"?

Sometimes called a seed drill, and other times called a grain drill, the purpose is to plant all the seed at a uniform depth. Before the seed grain drill was invented  in 1701 by English pioneer agriculturalist Jethro Tull (1674-1741), the seed was broadcast by throwing it - a very inefficient method of sowing.

Although many farmers still use the updated versions of the older type, modern ones use hydraulics to shoot seed and fertilizer through tubes and into the ground.  

I took the following video of an air drill in action from my front yard. It's not the best footage, and the sound is horrid due to the wind, but it will show you how drills have changed over 100 years.

This letter finds Noah still living at the house of Ethel Maud, his sister and her family, as he prepares his own land for building. He's making progress, but I sure would like to know how far his land is from Ethel's. It can't be that far if Noah goes back and forth for tea, etc as detailed in his letter this week. Noah can also see Will coming from Grand Coulee. Furthermore, Ethel has 'called' him down to her place to shoot some Canada Geese. Noah wouldn't have a phone yet since didn't have a building or even a tent up yet, hence, her calling him would have to be the oral kind.

This map shows the distance between Noah's farm (near Adams) to Grand Coulee, a distance of 5.8 km (3.6 miles). And it's 20.5 km (13 miles) from  Adams to Regina's Union Station (near red dot).

The hamlet of Adams was one of many grain elevator stops on the old CNR line which passed through part of Noah's land, however, at the time of these letters in 1911, the nearest Post Office was in Grand Coulee which is why Noah used it as his address.

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated:  Apr 17/11
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, Bellhaven, Ont., Dear Ethel (22 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, with a front and back page, but inside, page 2 is on the right, and page 3 is on the left.

People/places mentioned in this letter:

*Ethel - Ethel Maud Rigler - Noah's older sister
*Will - William Rigler, married to Noah's sister, Ethel
*Joe's -The family of Joe Perrault and Eva Amelia - another of Noah's sisters
*Sedore's - Hugh Sedore's family who are related by marriage to Noah via Joe Perrault whose cousins are Sedores through his mother's side
 
*diptheria
**Sayings "absence makes the heart grow fonder"


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

 Genealogy Notes

This is the second time Noah has made reference to the saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" since he first used it in 1911 Courtship: Mar  14, Dear Ethel so that got me wondering where the phrase came from originally. A google search was in order.

Several sites give reference to Thomas Haynes Bayly who used it at the end of his poem, The Isle of Beauty in 1850:
                  Absence makes the heart grow fonder
                  Isle of Beauty, fare thee well!

Another site says Isle of Beauty appeared in Bayly's two-volume Songs, Ballads, and Other
Poems in 1842.

Those same sites say although Bayly popularized the phrase, it was originally found in an anonymous poem within F. Davison's Poetical Rhapsody ca 1602. 

According to www.phrases.org.uk, "The contemporary version appears in The Pocket Magazine of Classic and Polite Literature, 1832, in a piece by a Miss Stickland: 'Tis absense, however, that makes the heart grow fonder.'"

Yet some of the above go way back and credit the Roman poet Sextus Propertius as giving us the earliest form of this saying in Elegies: "Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows."
 
So there you have it, a phrase so popular it has lasted over the centuries. I wonder how Noah heard of it?

After a week off to promote some historical fiction, we're back to the real-life story of Ethel Nelson and Noah Draper and their courtship letters of 1911. For a record of all the courtship letters, see the Genealogy Posts Index.

In honour of Remembrance Day, I'm showing you a photo of Noah taken while he served in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve during 1916-1919.

I'm not sure when the photo was taken, so he could have been an Ordinary Seaman (OS), or an Able Seaman (AB) at the time, but it was in a batch of photos in Ethel's treasure box that Noah took while in England.

I'll post the letters and photos of those WW1 war years in chronological order after these.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21
Dated:   Apr 2, 1911
Addressed to: My Dear Noah  (This is the first time either of them has used their given name only, without surname or title. And a first for the endearment to start off the letter.)
Mailed  from:  Belhaven, Ontario
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter
Writing  instrument: Fine  point  pen, Black  ink
Written on: Slightly thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches, folded in half. Ethel has written on the pages in order from 1 to 4, so it reads like a book.

People mentioned  in this letter: 
 - Sadie - Sadie Nelson, Ethel's 16 yrs old sister
- Mr. Flint - James Nelson's hired man
- Bruel's - Maud *Bruel 
- Ethel - Ethel Maud Rigler - Noah's older sister
- Hugh Sedore's Family - the Sedore's are related by marriage to Noah via his sister, Ethel Maud Rigler
- Della *Mahoney
- Uncle - whichever one lives en route or in Belhaven

*Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more on posts on this person.

Mentioned in this letter: Diphtheria - see Genealogy notes below

Diphtheria: Since this is an infectious disease and I don't want to give erroneous information, I'm going to quote from the Public Health Agency of Canada website:

Ethel is right to be worried about the disease as it is spread in the same way as the common cold. I can't tell you how many people died - especially children - from diphtheria before a vaccine was discovered. Here are some facts:
- 1924 was the worst year in Canada with 9,000 cases of diphtheria recorded
- diphtheria was one of the most common causes of death in children from 1 to 5 years old
- and again from the Public Health Agency of Canada website: "The number of diphtheria cases is highest during the colder months in temperate zones. In the tropics, seasonal trends are less distinct. In North America, vaccination has greatly reduced the incidence of diphtheria; however, diphtheria was a major problem in countries of the former Soviet Union during the 1990s, with over 150,000 cases and 4500 deaths reported during 1990-1995."

So yes, Ethel should be worried, and yet it's scary how casual she states the fact.