Anita Mae Draper
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WW1 Letters Home - Dec 19, 1916

12/19/2016

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Picture
WW1 Troop Movements of RCNVR from Canada to England, December 1916. Map outline courtesy of macmillanlearning.com

Today's letter was written on the verge of Noah Draper's journey to Chatham, England after being attached to HMCS Niobe for 3 weeks while awaiting orders to go overseas. The route I've drawn is direct from Halifax to Chatham as per Noah's letter here.
Author of Letter: Noah C Draper, 29 yrs old
Dated:  Dec. 19, 1916
Mailed from:  Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Attached to: HMCS Niobe
Profession:  Farmer, Temporary Sailor
Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Addressed to:  Mrs. N.C. Draper, Keswick, Ont.
Relationship: Wife
Writing instrument:  Fountain Pen with Black Ink
Writing Paper: 10" x 6.5" medium weight, semi-rough, folded into booklet form. Noah hasn't numbered the pages, but he's using the same technique he used for most of his previously posted courtship letters to Ethel, where his first page is the outside, then he's opened it and written on the right side, then moved over to the left side and written there, and finally, he's closed it and written on the back. For clarity, I'm posting the pages in the order they were meant to be read. 


People mentioned in this letter:
Ethel* - Noah's wife of 5 yrs, Ethel Isabel Nelson Draper
Percy* - Noah's older brother, lives near Adams, Saskatchewan
Sadie* - Ethel's sister, Sadie Nelson Prosser, 21, Grandview Farm, Belhaven, Ont
​Cecil* - Sadie's husband, Cecil Prosser, 24, farmer, Grandview Farm, Belhaven
mother - Noah's mother, Sarah Sophia Deverell* Draper, widow of David Draper
Louie* Coventry - Noah's sister, Sarah Louisa Draper Coventry, 37, lives in Kelowna 

​The babies:
- Mildred* aka Midge, 3 yrs old
- James David* aka Jay, 6 months (later called JD)

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- Keswick - where Noah's family lives (the ones who didn't move west)
- Halifax - historic, protected harbor on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia
- Regina - in Saskatchewan, closest city to Noah's farm at Adams
- Kelowna - city in British Columbia where Noah's sister, "Louie" Coventry, lives
- England - a country in the United Kingdom 
- Chatam/Chatham - Royal Naval Barracks in Chatham, England
- London - London, England
- the Thames - the Thames River runs west from coast, past London
- The Olimpic - HMT Olympic* - Dec 13, 1916 post

- quarenteen - under quarantine**
​- proofs - photographs

Word or Phrase Use: 

Legend: 
* 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 at the top of this page
** see Genealogy Notes below
​
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Halifax, Dec. 19/16.
Mrs. N. C. Draper,
      Keswick, Ont.

Dear Ethel;-
      Well I am told off in
a draft for Chatam and we 
expect to leave to night or
tomorrow morning but
do not know for shure our
leave is stoped & we have
been ordered to be ready
to leave at a moments notice
so am writing to night
for we have no time
after we are told to get


Picture

ready I wrote a card to one
fellows sister in Regina
for him after he left telling
her he had gone but he
is still in Harbour on the
​Olimpic I heard she is in
quarenteen but do not
​know for shure. 
      Well there is to much
excitement on board to
write much so you will
have to excuse me if I
write down something
they are saying and it would
shock a deaf man. HaHa.
      Well Ethel I dont know

​
Picture

what money you mean for
Percy to send down but if
it was for that life insurance
I dont think I would pay it.
​      Say tell Sadie I started
to write her that letter she
spokeabout Sunday, but my
pen went dry so I did'nt
finish it but will try &
do so in old England if
​Cecil does'nt object. Ha Ha.
      Chatham is about 24 miles
​from London on the Thames
I guess so will see part of the
​old historic river any way.


Picture

 Well I guess I will have
to close as we have to fall
in on deck in a minute
so you write to mother
at Kelowna and tell her I
did not have a chance after
I found out. I sent her a card
yesteraday. Say Ethel if
them proofs are better than
the ones you sent they must
be good.
      Well I guess this will be
the last letter for a couple
of weeks but will write whenever
possible. so good bye Oceans of love
​to you and the kiddies. N. C. Draper


​

Genealogy Notes

In Noah's last letter dated Dec 13th, he mentioned that the RMS Olympic had left Halifax. Apparently one of the men didn't have time to write his wife that he was heading overseas, so Noah did it for him...and then Noah discovered that she, the ship, was still in the bay under quarantine. Why?

I did some digging and although this isn't definitive, I found a possible reason in the book,  RMS Olympic: Titanic's Sister, by Mark Chirnside.

The Olympic's surgeon hadn't been aware that one of the crewmates was found suffering from venereal disease. When it was discovered, the man left the ship. The director of transports then advised stricter inspections to avoid putting the onboard troops at risk. 

According to the book, one young soldier said the Olympic pulled away from the dock on the day after 15 December 1916, and anchored in the bay. There, they took on more troops and provisions. Then came 2 days of laying about, sleeping in hammocks, and eating in what used to be the Olympic's sun parlor, except it was now closed off to outside light. 


I suspect the medical examinations were being carried out at this time.

Noah's letter was written on Dec 19th, where he confirms the Olympic was still in the bay.

The book continues with, "Olympic left Halifax...at 4.41 pm on 20 December 1916, drawing 34ft 9in, and she arrived in Liverpool six days later..."


And speaking of the RMS Olympic, here's a diagram that explains the reasoning behind the dazzle paint camouflage shown in my Dec 13 post. I found it on the article Whatever Happened to Olympic, Titanic's Sister? written by Jason Ponic, at Owlcation.
​
Picture
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1913: Postcard with RPO stamp

11/16/2014

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Picture
Nov 1913, C.N.R. Bridge, Prince Albert, Sask, post card
The RPPC above is the front of a postcard Noah sent back to Ethel in November 1913.  See the Genealogy Notes below for information on Noah's embossing imprint, as well as the special RPO marked stamp.

Author of Postcard: Noah Clement Draper (26 yrs old)
Dated: Nov 14, 1913
Addressed to: Mrs. N. C. Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask.
Mailed from: Prince Albert (Sask)
Relationship: spouse
Profession:  Farmer 
Writing  instrument: Black ink
Stamp: 1 cent Canada postmarked Regina & Prince Albert RPO


People/places/things mentioned in this letter:

- Mrs. N. C. Draper - Ethel Nelson Draper
- baby - Mildred Audrey (Midge) Draper born Sep 17, 1913
- Jack - unknown at this time

- Prince Albert, Sask - 405 km/252 miles north of Grand Coulee

*Cliche/Phrasing:
O.K. 


* 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
Prince Albert
Nov. 14
Well we have got this
far all O.K. Met Jack
on the street this
morning he said
there is lots of game
up there so guess we
wont have to go home
with out any. there
is not much snow
here yet. Well Bye Bye.
Love to baby & you. N.C.D.


Picture
Mrs. N. C. Draper,
Grand Coulee,
Sask.    
 

Genealogy Notes

Railway Post Office

We don't know how long Noah was gone on this particular hunting trip, but since it's November in Saskatchewan and he's talking about game, he would probably be after moose or White-tailed deer. The following map shows the most-travelled route a person of today would drive the 405 km/252 miles to get from Grand Coulee to Prince Albert. 

This is an interactive map when clicked on the bottom to enlarge.


 Noah's postcard has a 1 cent King George postage stamp and a cancellation stamp from the Regina & Prince Albert RPO, except I can't make out all the markings. 
Picture
RPO stands for Railway Post Office - mobile post offices based on trains which enabled speedy delivery of mail until the 1960's. The trains didn't stop at each community on the line to pick up mail as it would have slowed them down. Instead, they left the mail bag hanging on a special post. As the train approached the hanging mail bag, the postal clerk would kick the sorted mail bag out the open door, while a long pole with a crook at the end snagged the new mail bag as the train zoomed past. This is shown in the video below...
Click to set custom HTML
Inside the mail car, the railway postal office looked like the sorting room in any urban centre. The following photograph shows three clerks in a Canadian Pacific Railway post office. 

Picture
ca 1885-1900, Interior view of three railway of clerks aboard a Canadian railway post office. Courtesy of Collections Canada.
The following photo shows the restored railway post office of a Great Northern Railway  mail car. The top boxes are open and the railway clerk would toss letters into them and then when they got to the location, they'd slide the door up like the ones on the left side and slide the letters into a mail bag. 

Picture
An interior view of Great Northern Railway #42, a restored RPO on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Following  is an article from the July 1919 issue of Popular Science. 
Picture
Popular Science, July 1919
If you have any information about the Regina & Prince Albert RPO or the markings on this cancellation stamp, please leave a comment below or contact me. 
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Westward the Newlyweds!

4/22/2014

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Ethel is finally going west instead of only writing about other people doing it. As I mentioned last week, we don't know exactly when Noah and Ethel leave Ontario for Saskatchewan, but we're sure they attended the wedding of his cousin, Edith Draper, to Frank Kavanagh at the end of January. 

According to the newspaper, other things of interest were happening in North Gwillimbury Township while Noah was there with Ethel - such as how the cold temperatures of the Winter of 1911/12 affected the local ice harvest in a good news/bad news scenario...
Picture
The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912 - Page: 6
Picture
The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912 - Page: 7
Picture
The Newmarket Era. February 9, 1912 - Page: 8
Picture
The Newmarket Era. February 16, 1912 - Page: 6
Although these photographs aren't from 1912, they show how the lake ice was harvested.
Picture
1900, Jackson's Point, North Gwillimbury, Ontario. "Before the ice could be cut the snow was scraped off, exposing the clear ice below." Note the boxcars waiting to be loaded with blocks of ice. Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the Georgina Pioneer Museum, Keswick, Ontario. (Click image for site.)
Picture
1930's by Mary Beley. Ice Harvesting off Beley (Ferncliffe) Point. " A black and white photograph of a horse pulling what looks to be some sort of sleigh that cuts ice, with a man on it. There are men behind the horse and sleigh that appear to be pulling the ice up out of the water." Courtesy of Courtesy of http://images.ourontario.ca/
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1930's by Mary Beley. Ice Harvesting off Beley (Ferncliffe) Point. " Courtesy of Courtesy of http://images.ourontario.ca/
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1930's by Mary Beley. Ice Harvesting off Beley (Ferncliffe) Point. "A black and white photograph of a group of men doing various tasks while harvesting ice. Some of the men are pulling blocks of ice out of the lake, some are loading the ice onto a sleigh, and some are cutting the ice." Courtesy of http://images.ourontario.ca/
Picture
"Ice workers and ladies pose on Lake Simcoe." 1895, Jackson's Point, North Gwillimbury. Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the Georgina Pioneer Museum, Keswick, Ontario. (Click image for site.)
Picture
1900, Jackson's Point, North Gwillimbury. "Ice workers in front of elevator and warehouse on Lake Simcoe." Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the Georgina Pioneer Museum, Keswick, Ontario. (Click image for site.)

Noah and Ethel will leave North Gwillimbury and the ice harvest behind and take the local Grand Trunk Railway Train from North Gwillimbury, down to Toronto where they'll switch to a westbound Canadian Pacific Railway train to Grand Coulee, Saskatchewan. 

In the map below, the blue line shows the route both couples will travel until they reach Winnipeg. At that point, Edith Draper and Frank Kavanagh would have switched to a train heading up a branch line to get to Togo, Saskatchewan (blue line), while Noah and Ethel would have stayed on the main line until they reached Grand Coulee, a few miles west of Regina. 

Picture
The red box in the map above shows the North Shore of Lake Superior, shown in detail in the map below. 
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The yellow pins in the map mark locations shown in the slideshow below. I found these souvenir photos in Ethel's Treasure Box and although I don't know when they were bought, I know Noah and Ethel would have experienced these scenes while on their westward journey, so enjoy the slideshow and check the map for the locations. 

This next photograph shows where Noah and Ethel will get off the train at the Grand Coulee Station in Saskatchewan. From there, it's a 3.5 mile wagon or car ride up to Adams where they'll begin their married life together.  

Grand Coulee Station
Grand Coulee Station, undated, from the album of Noah Draper and Ethel Nelson, 1912-1924. Courtesy of the Norma Draper Photograph Collection.
Join me as we continue the story of Noah Draper and Ethel Nelson with a letter from Ontario next week, followed by Ethel's first experience with a prairie cyclone. 


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Feb 1912: Noah's Cousin, Edith Draper

4/13/2014

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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
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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.


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1911 Courtship: Nov 26 Dear Noah

3/2/2014

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Picture
Brandon College, Brandon, Man, 1910. Courtesty of http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards.html
Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (b 1890)
Dated:  Nov 26 inst. 1911  (inst. = Latin meaning this month)
Addressed to: Dear Noah
Mailed  from:  Belhaven, P.O. 
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter  
Writing  instrument: Fine point pen, blue ink 
Written on:  Beige lined foolscap, newsprint quality, 9.5 inches x 6.5 inches, folded in half in booklet form with only page 2 numbered. It seems that Ethel has run out of quality notepaper - a common gift of the Edwardian period. A good thing Christmas is only 4 weeks away.  


People mentioned in this letter or Genealogy Notes


Pa - *James H Nelson
Ma - *Ida Amelia Glover
*Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister*Christie - Ethel's 11 yr old sister
Uncle Will *Glover's - Ida's older brother living in East Gwillimbury
Veda - 16 yr old daughter of Noah's sister, Eva Amelia and Joseph Perrault
Mr. *Dafoe - resident of Belhaven until widowed in Mar 1911
Herbie Hainer - a member of the Hainer preaching dynasty from Newmarket


Places/things mentioned in this letter:
*West
the office - Belhaven post office
*Newmarket
*Brandon
Christmas

Cliches mentioned in this letter:
- "Hot time in the old town"
- "they say no news is good news"
- "better late than never"

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

Picture
Belhaven. P.O.
Nov 26 inst. 1911.
Dear Noah, -
                         Well here I am again. the
same old story 'eh' but thank goodness
I'll only be found or have the same
privelege of writing to you two or
three more times. Something better
to take its place, 'eh' better than a 
dozen letters. Four weeks from to-day
is Christmas Sunday. I look forward
to see you by that time anyway. and
I don't in the least expect to be
dissapointed. But if I am. Oh say!
I don't know what will happen: have you 
any ideas? Hot-time in the old town, eh.

Picture
2.
Well Noah. I wrote the first page of this
letter this forenoon, and now am going to
try and finish it up. Pa and I were
down to Uncle Will Glovers this afternoon
and Sadie and myself were up to
church to-night. Herbie Hainer preached.
     You din'dat say how Veda was. but 
they say no news is good news. hope
so in this case anyway.
     Christie says to tell you she is sitting
here beside me seeing that I write
properly. "ha ha"
     Well Noah as to your last letter, I
hardly know how to answer it. But 
if you come Christmas and stay
until sometime in February (about the
six weeks..) I supose we had better be
made one about the middle of January.

Picture
For you intend to come home here again
after we are married before going
West don't you, Oh Noah if you were
only here we would know exactly
each others ideas. and so could arrange
things much nicer. I don't feel like
setting the day this time anyway. perhaps
when you come everything will be
made right. I feel though now as
though anytime will suit me. Ma
says we can't go away until the
very last minute. not until you think
you really have to go back. All I seem
to be looking forward to now is 
seeing you. and I hope I soon 
can close my eyes to that and see
the rest.
     Guess you will wonder why you

Picture
did'nt get a letter sooner last
week. But really it just seemed
as no one was going to the office
after I did get it wrote. But I
hope it is better late than never.
     Well there does'nt seem to be
much that I can write to-day, for
I can't seem to settle my mind on
any one thing. But I know or hope
there's a great Day coming by and
by, "eh".
     Mr Dafoe was here Saturday
he has been out west all summer
he was saying if he knew then that
I was going he would have stayed. and
so on it goes. ha ha. I guess you
know about what it tis. "eh". I must
close for this time. so Bye-Bye Love from
your Sweetheart, Ethel          x x x x 




Genealogy Notes

In this week's letter, Ethel mentions Veda once again. In the post entitled 1911 Courtship: Oct 30 Dear Noah, I showed a photo of Veda as an older adult - the only image I have of her, but this time - with only a couple courtship letters left, I wanted to know exactly where Veda was attending school back in 1911. In a recent letter, Ethel had asked Noah if Veda was taking music in Brandon, but we don't know Noah's answer because we're missing his letters - the ones that cover these last few week before he returns to Belhaven to claim his bride.

However, once again I've been going through Ethel's Treasure Box in preparation for the next stage in Noah and Ethel's life. While sorting Noah's WW1 letters from those received from friends and family I found a letter from Veda with Brandon College letterhead and her mention of Clark Hall. 

With the confirmation of where Veda was attending post-secondary school, I did some digging. For those who missed the first time I posted this map, here it is again with Brandon located in the southwestern corner of the Canadian province of Manitoba. 

Picture
Map showing places mentioned in the 1911 Courtship letters.
The image on the right is a sketch of what Brandon College looked like when it began as Prairie College in 1880. Located in Rapid City, Manitoba it was an academic school for the general public as well as a training ground for Baptist ministers. In 1890 the school had moved to the growing city of Brandon, 20 miles south of Rapid City. 

1900 saw the laying of the cornerstone of the renamed Brandon College,  a new 3 1/2 story brick and Manitoba limestone building. (see postcard above) It offered a liberal arts program with theology courses and included high school and commercial departments. 
Picture
Sketch of Prairie College. Source: Archives of Manitoba, Schools 5, Prairie Baptist College, c1884
In 1906, a school of music was added, and in 1910 Brandon College officially affiliated with McMaster University in Ontario. At first I thought Clark Hall was the actual music department of Brandon College, but the Historical Sketch page for Brandon University records that Clark Hall was first used as the women's residence of the college. 

By the time Veda started her instruction in 1911, Brandon College music graduates in voice and piano were gaining national reputation, but I haven't found a source yet for any of those graduates. Hopefully I'll discover more by the time I post her actual letter which will be in a couple week's time. Meanwhile, here's a list of courses Veda could have been taking during 1911...

Picture
Henderson's Brandon City Directory for 1911, page 22 - Brandon College. Source: Peel's Prairie Provinces from the University of Alberta
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