1911 Courtship: Aug 20 Dear Noah

The James H Nelson family farm, Belhaven, Ontario. Courtesy of the Norma Draper Photo Collection.

In this week's letter Ethel is back in Belhaven and she mentions the new barn. The above photo is one of the ones from Norma Draper's Photo Collection and since Aunt Norma lived most of her life in Saskatchewan, the back of this photo simply says, "Nelson home in East, Belhaven, Ont."  When I asked Nelson's cousin, Patty, who's the family custodian of these photo albums, she confirmed it was the home Ethel grew up in, and the barn in the image is the one Ethel's Pa built in 1911 after fire razed the original one.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson and Sadie Nelson (blue transcript)
Dated:  Aug 20th, 1911
Addressed to: Mr. N.C.Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask - Dearest Noah  
Mailed  from:  Bellhaven, P.O. (Province of Ontario)
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter  
Writing  instrument: Fine point  pen, black ink
Written on: Off-white, beautifully textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 7 inches, folded in half with a red carnation motif. This is standard early 20th century pre-folded notepaper. Ethel has written on the pages in booklet form numbering 1-4.

People/places mentioned in this letter:
- Pa -  *James Henry Nelson
- *Sadie -  Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- Mr. W. *York(e ) - husband of Minnie *Pollack York
- Herb *Nelson's - Ethel's cousin (son of Pa's brother *George Caleb Nelson)
- **Mr. & Mrs. Kellington - John Wesley *Kellington and wife, Charlotte Fairbarn
- Veda - *Veda Perrault, Noah's niece
- Veda's father - *Joe Perrault, married to Noah's sister, *Eva Amelia Draper
- Uncle *Emanuel Nelson - Ethel's Pa's paternal uncle
- *Uncle John Winter - husband of Ethel's maternal aunt *Sarah Elizabeth Glover

**The men who are heading/have headed West:
- George Morton
- Howard Mortons
- Harold Winch
- Percy Willoughby
- Harland Huntley
- Orville King 


Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- Belhaven Choir
- The West - comprised of all those Canadian lands west of and including the province of Manitoba
- North Portal - in the Genealogy Notes, not the letter

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. P.O.
Aug 20th, 1911

                  Mr N. C. Draper
                         Grand Coulee. Sask. 

            Dearest Noah.
                                           Well here I am
home once again, came home
on Wednesday evening, found,
everything fine. Pa was all
done harvesting I guess he
must be ahead of the Western
people, but the crops here are not 
very good this year, on account 

of so much dry weather. Say what
do you think of this  Mr W. Yorke was
just here to the door & he found no-body
at home. Sadie & I are all alone to-day
we both have been sleeping & Sadie is 
yet. I did'nt see much use of going down
to let him in. anyway he had started
out by the time I saw who it was.
There are quite a number going West this
week. George Morton is going to-morrow. I
think his family are going in the spring also
Howard Mortons, Harold Winch, Percy Willoughby, Harland Huntley & Orville King are going 
Tuesday. I think Orville said he intended
to be some where near your place. liklly he
will be to see you, Hello Noah!
have just got home from church

got your card and it certainly was
a busy time for me just then too.
Don't know what Ethel will say
when she sees this. She went
down stairs in such a hurry
that she forget and left her letter
lying right where I could get it.
Here she comes Good-bye S.E.M.
Say what would you do if you had
such a sister as I have got. Herb
Nelson's drove in here so I had to go
down & get tea, we were up to church
seemed rather nice to get back to our
church again. Sadie wants to know
if you remember she went to the front
of church & then had to come back
and sit beside of you.

Mr & Mrs Kellington went home last week.
They made quite a stay, are they anywhere
near you? Say if you like music you just
want to come to hear Belhaven Choir they are
Just starting one up now. Well time is
passing, and nearing the time when
I'll expect to see you again, only wish
it were to-night. Sadie had a letter
from Veda since her father went away.
Hope he is stronger when he comes back.
Uncle is gaining strenth, although we
don't expect him to last long. Uncle John
Winter is talking of goint West to homestead
I think I will some day. 'eh'  I wish I could
get Pa persuaded to go out sometime. Maybe
to go next fall. 'eh' I guess I must close for this
time hoping to hear from you soon. from your
all    x     x     x       x      x      x      x   Sweetheart. 

Genealogy Notes

Miss Ethel Nelson has returned after spending 
a few weeks visiting friends and relatives.

The Newmarket Era. August 25, 1911 - Page: 3

Genealogy Notes #1 - Westward Ho

When The Newmarket Era came out a week following Ethel's return from Huntsville, the Belhaven correspondent reported Ethel's return on Page 3 as well as the men who were heading west:
- Elgin Barker
- Harold Winch
- Orman Willoughby
- Orville King

On page 6, a similar list appears under the heading Local Items:

     The following left for the West this
week :- Messrs E. J. Barker, H.
Winch, O. King of Belhaven, Mr. Wm
Horner and wife also Mr. G. J.
Morton of Zephyr and Reeve ????-
berry of Virginia. They all secured
their tickets from Mr. F. G. Tremayne.

On the same page, we find this tidbit:
     Hr. Howard Morton has returned
from his trip West. 

The Newmarket Era. August 25, 1911 - Page: 3

Local Items

The Newmarket Era. August 25, 1911 - Page: 6

The Newmarket Era. August 25, 1911 - Page 6

Genealogy Notes 2 - The Kellingtons

In this weeks' letter, Ethel asks Noah if the Kellingtons are "anywhere near you?" In fact, they are 260 Km/162 Miles southeast of Grand Coulee. Of course, that distance is on present day highways. The map below shows where North Portal, SK hugs the border with Portal, ND. Today, Kellington descendants live on both sides of the Canada/USA border.

Ethel first mentioned the Kellingtons in Genealogy Notes #2 in the July 2 Courtship Letter. Since then, I have visited North Portal and found the headstones and graves of many Kellingtons who were alive in 1911, as well as some of their descendants. 

North Portal Cemetery showing the combined headstone and graves of John Wesley Kellington and Charlotte Fairbarn, taken July 2013 by Anita Mae Draper

I won't post the photos of the individual or combination headstones and grave sites here as I've posted them all on the Find A Grave website. The link will bring you to John Wesley Kellington's page. If you wish to see other Kellingtons graves, click the link for North Portal Cemetery in the left sidebar of John's page.