Category: Muskoka

1911 Courtship: Sept 18 Dear Noah

11/17/2013

Aunt Maggie Barker (Margaret Ellen Glover) in front of her home on Concession 5, Sutton West, York North, Ontario, Canada.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (b 1890)
Dated: 18 Sep 1911
Addressed to: Mr. N.C.Draper, My Dear Noah
Mailed from: Belhaven, Ont.
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, black ink
Written on: Off-white, textured, plain, linen-like paper, 9.5 inches x 6.5 inches, folded in half in booklet form as 1, 3, 2, 4 although I've showed them here in order. The letter is very hard to read - as if the ink was still wet when the letter was closed and folded.

People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Uncle Harry Barkers - family of Harry *Barker and Margaret Ellen *Glover (Aunt Maggie) sister of Ethel's ma
- Ma - *Ida Amelia Glover Nelson
- Pa - *James Henry Nelson
- Ellie Sweet - Elizabeth Lepard - 1st of 3 wives of Alexander Sweet (1864-1929)
- **Willie Sweet & Laura Traviss (both have Draper Tree connections)
- Uncle Stephen Draper - brother of Noah's deceased father, *David Draper (Stephen Draper is the father of *Stewart Truman Draper in Indian Head)- *George Draper -  Stewart's brother (both cousins of Noah)
- Percy's - *Percy Draper (Noah's brother) and wife *Parthena Fisher

- Old Mrs. Pine - local resident
- Belhaven Choir

**The men who headed West:
- Orville *King
- Elgin Barker (unsure if relative of Harry Barker) is at Phillips - ?

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- Ravenshoe - a few miles south of Belhaven
- *Huntsville
- Holt
- Chicken Pie Social
- **Box Social

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. Ont.
18 Sept. 1911

Mr N. C. Draper.
Grand Coulee.
Sask.

Dear Noah, -
Rec'd your letter
last week and was very glad
to hear once again. It certainly
was quite a letter I rather
enjoyed what you wrote from
your own mind. rather than
the dictators. You see I like queer
peoples letters better the ones from
the --------- Say I had my fortune
told yesterday. Even if it was

Sunday. We were down to Uncle
Harry Barkers for dinner. and
Old Mrs. Pine was there. Say you
certainly would nearly die laughing
to hear her talk & tell our fortunes.
They had Harvest Home services
at Ravenshoe yesterday & there
is a chicken Pie social there
to-night. I don't expect to go
to-night.
Our Belhaven Choir is getting
up a box social it is to be held
Friday evening in the Sunday
School Hall. You had better come
along & get a box & enjoy your
tea.
I was weighed yesterday & i have
gained nearly 10 pounds since I went

to huntsville. so I guess that is
proof enough that I am not very
bad. "eh" getting lazier every day
I guess.
I was awfully sorry to know that
your grain was all frozen. It
seems funny one goes to work and works
all that time & then lose nearly
all. The crops down here were
not up to much. Pa says the oats
are light in weight. (not color) ha ha.
The men are cutting corn to-day.
The phone is ringing in great
style to-night. Wish you were
on this line: and I wonder how
many wishes I made this last year
& they never seem to come true
The young people are going to decorate
the hall on Wednesday evening for
this great social of ours.

Say there is a big wedding to-morrow
(Wed) Willie Sweet. Ellie Sweet's son
is to be married to Laura Traviss of
Holt.
Well have you run across any of the
boys yet. Orville is with his cousin &
Elgin Barker is at Phillips so we heard.
Pa was talking with your Uncle Stephen
last night and he said George was
having very good luck hunting.
You never told me what Percy's
call their little boy.
Well I guess I must close for this
time hoping to see you some
time soon. but I hope you
dont have to walk by rail.
you might happen to play out
before you got here and that would
be worse than ever. ha ha.
Bye-Bye
from Ethel Nelson.

Genealogy Notes

There are 3 Genealogy Notes this week:
1. Pie and Box Social
2. 1911 Telephones
3. Willie Sweet and Laura Traviss

Genealogy Note 1 - Pie and Box Social

These events were used in the past and are still used today as fundraisers. For the box social, single ladies would decorate a box and fill it with a meal - a boxed lunch. At the Box Social, an auctioneer would hold up the decorated box and the single men would bid on it without knowing who had contributed it, nor what it contained. Sometimes, a lady would give her beau a hint so he'd buy the right one. Once all the boxes were auctioned, the men would claim their box and dinner partner and they'd enjoy a meal together.

Genealogy Note 2 - 1911 Telephones

In 1911, this is the type of telephone Ethel would use when she writes in this week's letter ... The phone is ringing in great style to-night. Wish you were on the line.

To phone out, the person would grasp the funnel shaped receiver in their left hand and place the wide part to their ear. They would then lean in with their mouth close to the speaker - broken on this old phone - and they would use their right hand to crank the handle on the right side which would making a ringing sound as it turned. It would also make a ringing sound in the headset of an operator at the local switchboard who would ask who you wished to speak to and then she would connect you by physically plugging in your line.

When your conversation was done, you would turn the crank and ring off which would signal the operator that you were finished so she could unplug your line. In reality, however, the operator had a grand old time listening in on everyone's phone call and rarely needed to hear the ringing to confirm the fact.

Genealogy Note 3 - Willie Sweet and Laura Traviss

In this week's letter, Ethel says, "Say there is a big wedding to-morrow (Wed) Willie Sweet. Ellie Sweet's son is to be married to Laura Traviss of Holt."

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Draper Family Tree has descendants named both Sweet and Traviss, but because they were distant cousins, I hadn't filled in all their historic details. I've taken several days to do that and finally have this Sweet - Traviss connection figured out...

William Sweet (1775-?) of Pitney, Somserset, England married Keziah Rogers (1781-1828) of England
William and Keziah had 7 children between 1796 and 1818 including a William, but it's the Andrew Sweet line we're interested in. Half of the children were born in New York State, and the rest in Upper Canada (now Ontario).

Andrew Sweet (1810-1893) b in New York, moved as a child to Ontario, married:
- 1834 - Laurilla ? (1813-1840) offspring: Eunice b1834, Orrin b1836, William b1838
- 1840 - Matilda Lydia Ryner (1820-1854) offspring: 7 children
- 1854 - Elizabeth Willoughby (1801-1881) 2 x widow, offspring: 1 daughter

In 1851, Andrew Sweet lived next door to Joel Draper Jr, grandfather of Noah Clement Draper, the groom of these Courtship letters.

1851 Canada census for North Gwillimbury Twp, York County, Ontario showing the Joel Draper Jr and the Andrew Sweet families

William Sweet (1838-1907) lived in North Gwillimbury, Ontario, married:
- 1859 - Jane Coomer (1841-1864) offspring: Andrew 1860, Hannah 1862, Alex 1864
- 1868 - Mary Matilda Sedore (1850-1915) offspring: 8 children incl'g 1 set twins

Alexander Sweet (1864-1929) lived in North Gwillimbury, Ontario, married:
- 1888 - Elizabeth Lepard (1859-1894) offspring: Ellen 1888, William 1891, John 1893
- 1895 - Edith Ellen Sedore (1870-1911) of illegitimate birth, offspring: none
- 1911 - Mary Ann Sedore (1867-1951), offspring: 6 from previous marriage only

William Sweet 1891 is the one Ethel mentions in her letter of Sep 15. While researching William's family, I found the 1911 census which had been taken June 1st - just three months earlier ...

1911 Canada census showing Robert Davidson family

In the above census, the red block is the Robert Davidson family whom Ethel and Noah have spoken of often since they were relatives as well as neighbors. But look below the blue line and you find 2 employees in the Davidson household:
- William Sweet, 20 yrs old, Laborer
- Laura Traviss, 19 yrs old, Domestic

So while William worked in the fields for Robert Davidson, Laura worked in the house as a Domestic for Lily Kellington Davidson and helped care for the children. Since both William and Laura are recorded on the census, they lived there as well. I wonder if they applied for work there because they wanted to spend time together, or if they met and fell in love while working there? In any case, William and Laura are about to be married.

Undated Courtship Letters & Huntsville Postcards

11/13/2013

1944 postcard souvenir folder of Bigwin Island, Lake of Bays, Huntsville, Muskoka District, Ontario, Canada

I have run into a problem with the 1911 Courtship letters. Last week's letter didn't have a date, but I guessed it was written on Sep 10, based on certain events. The letter which was to follow didn't have a date, either, so I was going to use Sep 15 because Ethel had a Sep 18 and it seemed to follow. Except Ethel always wrote one a week, not within a few days of each other.

But when I read the 2 letters again, I realized the 18 talked about an upcoming Box Social and the remaining undated one talked about the result of the box social. It also talks about the Federal election results which didn't happen until Sep 21st. With that in hand, I concentrated on Sep 15 - and ran into another problem - a BIG one.

This week's letter - the Sep 15 one - mentions Willie Sweet and Laura Traviss being engaged. Since both surnames are in the family tree I didn't think anything was wrong until I looked at the tree and discovered that we did indeed have several Sweets - but their branches of the tree weren't filled out and thus, I didn't have a Willie who would eventually marry a Laura Traviss. After 3 days of sorting through the records, deleting duplicate people, and searching out facts, I've realized that the Sweet men remarried often, as did the women, but not quite as much. I worked the tree back to a common ancestor and started forward again and finally found my man. But it will take another day to write the post now that I have all the facts.

However, in the same letter, Ethel mentions Huntsville and so while I'm working on the Sweet family, I thought I'd show you the souvenir postcard collection I mentioned briefly weeks ago when Ethel was in Huntsville and talking about the steamboat, the Wa Wa. This collection was sent to Ethel from her oldest child, Midge, in 1944 when she vacationed in the Huntsville area of Muskoka District, just like her mother did 33 yrs earlier.

Forgive the overlap in the photos below, but I wanted you to see how the postcards are all joined together.

And now for the flip side...

1911 Courtship: Aug 13 Dear Noah

9/23/2013

The Portage Railway running the 1 1/8 mile track between North Portage on Peninsula Lake and South Portage on Lake of Bays, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. Published by Stedman Bros, Brantford, Ontario.

Since Ethel mentions "the portage" in this week's letter, I'm taking the opportunity to talk about the Portage Railway in this week's Genealogy Notes. So if you're a train buff, or know someone who is, you might want to let them know about the video, photos and links at the bottom of this post.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (b 1890)
Dated: Aug 13, 1911
Addressed to: Mr. N.C.Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask - My Dear Noah
Mailed from: Huntsville, Ont.
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 pansy 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:
- Aunt Sarah - *Sarah Elizabeth Glover, sister of Ethel's mother
- *Uncle John - John Thomas Winter, Sarah's husband
- *Ernie (Ernest) Winter - 9 yr old son of Uncle John and Aunt Sarah
- Aunt Mary Rigler - Uncle John's aunt *Mary Breckon Rigler Sibley
- Uncle *Emanuel Nelson - Ethel's Pa's paternal uncle
- Mother - Ida Amelia Glover Nelson
- Pa - James Henry Nelson
- Ella Smith of Huntsville area
- Mary Smith of Belhaven

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- the portage - see Genealogy Notes
- *Toronto - 146 miles south of Huntsville
- Play: Modern Courtship

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

Huntsville Aug. 13, 1911

Mr N.C. Draper,
Grand Coulee,
My Dear Noah,
Oh, I hardly know
how to wrie to-day. I am
feeling so lonesome. Idont know
what is the matter with me but
I just feel as though I couldn't
stand it any longer, but this is
me right over, get the blue's I guess.
Well Noah I am not particuarly
run down with hard work.
Although I was feeling rather down
mostly all last week, but am

feeling better now. I guess you dont
need to worry about me. I think
I am too lazy to ever hurt myself.
Uncle John has just come in he has
been down to the station to try & get my
ticket extended, but the agent said we
had left it to - long. you see it runs
out to-morrow & my ticket would have
to go to Toronto, so I guess I will be
going home to-morrow afternoon.
Uncle John is going back to work to
night on the midnight. He didn't know
what to say when we told him his
Aunt Mary Rigler was married
We were to the show last night, one
play was "modern courtship". Say
it was certainly fine. The poor young
man was bald headed.

Had a letter from home saying they
were all quite well. although Uncle
isnt any better. I guess his time is short
& I am rather anxious to go home to see him
I guess you must be busy with all
your extra work this summer. Say!
dont you wish you had never saw the
East last winter. You think of me
perhaps overworking myself but what
about yourself. remember your just as
important in this world as I am. and
life is to short at is best. and we
must try & not do or use anything to
shorten our days. Aunt Sarah & I were
talking of who we thought we would
miss most. she thought she would rather
die than Uncle John or her children.

I have often thought I would rather die
than you. or any of my sisters or brothers
or mother & pa. I have often wondered if any
thing happened to you. if your folks would send
me word. I am sure I would want to know. I guess
you would know by my writing that I
was kind of out of my mind. (haha)
Ernie is trying his best to coax me
to stay until Wed. he wants me to
go to their S. School pincic on Tuesday
at the portage. I was to the portage on
Wednesday. & enjoyed my boat ride fine.
I expect a Miss Ella Smith to call
this afternoon. she is a 1st cousin of
Mary Smiths & Belhaven. Well I guess
the next mail I get from you will
be at Belhaven. I close for this time
With lots of love & xxxx from one whose
love is all for thee your Sweetheart.

Genealogy Notes

In this week's letter, Ethel writes that Ernie is going to a Sunday School picnic at the portage, and that she was there on Wednesday and enjoyed the boat ride.

All my research into what and where they were talking about pointed to one place: the portage between Peninsula Lake and Lake of Bays which was a short boat ride from Huntsville. The portage was only 1 1/8 mile long, but because there was a 100 foot height difference between the two lakes, the only way in 1911 to get from one lake to the other was on the Portage Railway - the shortest commercial railway in the world.

Also known as the Portage Flyer, the railway's main purpose was to transport cottagers and tourists from one steamboat to another. During my research, I happened upon Charlie Cooper's Railway Pages where a wealth of information can be found not only on the Portage Flyer, but on railroad history, railroad modelling, and toy trains.

The following map from Charlie Cooper's Railway Pages has the best diagram for showing you the location of the Portage Railway, while his website shows more detailed drawings of the actual route.

Black and white line drawing of the Portage Railway map courtesy of Niall MacKay at www.railwaypages.com

In the above map, I took the liberty of adding a red box to draw your attention to Huntsville, and a red line for the Portage Railway, the north end of which was called, North Portage, and the south end was known as South Portage.

ca 1925 The original Porter locomotives and the steamship Algonquin at North Portage. Photo by Leonard Davis. Courtesy of Huntsville & Lake of Bays Railway Society www.portageflyer.org

North Portal, Peninsula(r) Lake viewed from the water. Courtesy of Wiki Commons.

1948 - The Portage Flyer at South Portage, Lake of Bays, Muskoka, Ont. Photo by Annabelle Studio. Courtesy of Huntsville Public Library http://images.ourontario.ca/muskoka

In the following video on The Portage Flyer, John Allen gives a brief history of the this short narrow gauge railway using family photos, archival footage, and memories. This video really is a treat:

The rolling stock of the Portage Flyer was moved to the present location of the Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville where a group of dedicated volunteers from the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Society have worked to put the Portage Flyer back in operation.

On July 1st, 2000, the Portage Flyer made it's inaugural run from the Muskoka Heritage Place to the round table at Fairy Lake and back again. Once billed as the World's Smallest Railway, the Portage Railroad now opens it's doors for tourists and historians every summer.

The Portage Flyer, Muskoka Heritage Place, Huntsville, Ontario. Photo courtesty of www.muskokaheritageplace.org

1911 Courtship Letter: Aug 6 Dear Noah

9/3/2013

Regatta Scene at the Town dock, Huntsville, Ontario, c1908. Courtesy of Muskoka Images - a project of the Huntsville Public Library and the Muskoka Parry Sound Genealogy Group

I found the address where Ethel is visiting her Uncle John and Aunt Sarah while in Huntsville and my, oh my, the above photo is what Ethel can see from the back yard, although about twice the distance away. Check the Genealogy Notes for more info.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (b 1890)
Dated: Aug 6 . 11
Addressed to: Mr. N.C.Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask - My Dearest Noah
Mailed from: Huntsville, Ont.
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 notepaper, pre-folded in booklet form. Ethel has written on the pages in booklet form numbering 1-4.

People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Aunt Sarah - *Sarah Elizabeth Glover, sister of Ethel's mother
- *Uncle John - John Thomas Winter, Sarah's husband
- Uncle *Emanuel Nelson - Ethel's Pa's paternal uncle
- *Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- *Veda Perrault - Noah's 16 yr old niece in Grand Coulee
- Glover cousins

**Mr Bradley - Huntsville next door neighbor
**drunken men

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
Huntsville Fire Tournament
*Burk's Falls Fire Brigade (another post shows location on map)
H. Landing - Holland Landing, southwest of Belhaven

Cliches/Phrases:
- Try. & Try again, you'll succeed at last.
- put in lockup (jail)

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

To get you started, here's a photo I found in Aunt Norma's Treasure Box (see last post) of Uncle John and Aunt Sarah. Since the photo is taken at the wedding of their son Ernest, they look about 20 years older than they would in 1911. Read the names, too, because most of the front row have been mentioned in these courtship letters.

Wedding of Ernest R Winter and Lillian Dodd. Possibly early 1930's, location unknown. Courtesy of the Norma Draper Family Collection.

Huntsville, Aug 6. 11

Mr N. C. Draper.
Grand Coulee, Sask.
My Dearest Noah, -
Rec'd your letter
last week and was glad to hear
from you once again. It still found me
here at Uncle Johns having a very good
time. but am going home on Tuesday.
Aug 15th. I guess we will be busy
this next week running around &
working too. We are going on a boat
excursion on Wednesday. Had a big time

on Thursday last at the Fire Tournament.
Burk's Falls Brigade won the banner, but
Huntsville was the quickest. but they couldn't
take the banner on account of thier running
on thier own grounds. Now I wonder if I too
would'nt like for you to be here and
give me a little advice. Never mind
when we get the chance, I wonder if we
will have forgotten how to give advice. Eh
Well we have been rather lazy to-day
hav'nt been to church to-day. it has
been so dredfully hot. I wish your
busy time was over now, and that
you were on your way down here
Remember you are to come as
soon as you finish up nicely and
can get away. I don't want you

to stay away any longer than possible
It certainly is long enough as it is.
Sorry to hear you were defeated in
your base ball game. Try. & Try
again, you'll succeed at last. Aunt
Sarah is reading some comic jokes
Uncle John is coming home next Sat
to spend over Sunday. Well here I am
again, we have been out on the lawn
talking with Mr Bradley, the next door
neighbor. Mr Bradley was telling of
seeing so many young girls, (school girls
he called them) running around with
boys. It certainly is true here in town.
And say! the drunken men you see.
Some nights after we have gone to
bed you will here them going by. swearing

and yelling to the top of thier voice, and
the day of the Tournament, it was simply
awfull to see so many young men drunk.
& put in the lockup. Have saw more
drunkenmen since I came up, than I ever
seen before I believe. I hav'nt had a letter
from home this last week. but I guess they
must be all alive or I would have heard
Uncle Emmanuel was very low the last I
heard from them. I don't know whether
Sadie has passed her exams or not.
How is Veda? is she as lively as ever.
Say I have never answered her card. but
will some of thse days. Am going to stop
a couple of days on my way home at
H. Landing to see my cousins Glovers I am
to getting rather lonesome to see home once
again. I now must close for this time with
love from Ethel (xxxxxxxxxx lots of them & love)

Genealogy Notes

The Genealogy Notes this week involve the search for Uncle John and Aunt Sarah's house in Huntsville. Ethel has left clues in different letters without giving the address:

1911 Courtship: July 16 Dear Noah - Uncle John was. at the station to meet me. he had a row boat there. and so I had a good boat ride first of all...The river is just about 20 rods from their door. The boats are running all the time Sundays too.

1911 Courtship: July 23 Dear Noah - The big boats are running here everyday. The Ramona went out this afternoon. I have been down to the Wa Wa, and have been up on the Mountain.

This week Ethel mentions seeing and hearing all the drunken men walking by, which indicates she was living near the downtown core since that's usually where the dregs of society congregate due to it's normally central location.

But the clincher came when she mentioned Mr. Bradley as their next door neighbor. She's mentioned him before, but not who he was. Armed with that knowledge, I went back to the 1911 census record and searched for Mr. Bradley near John Winter's entry. And there it was - boxed in blue - right above the red box of John, Sarah, Ernest, and baby Mabel.

1911 Canada Census record for John Winter and family. Courtesy of Ancestry.ca

So now what? The profile of this page showed John Winter living on 11 Elne Street which I hadn't been able to find on a Huntsville map. But the page index also showed a Mr. Beadley vs Bradley. And then I noticed something I hadn't before... farther up the page - circled in red - is the word Elm. Not Elne, but Elm. And a few lines above that, the number 11. But that would mean all those families were living at 11 Elm St. Could that be right? Especially if they were visiting their neighbor on the lawn instead of a hallway like an apartment?

I opened Google Earth and searched for 11 Elm St, Huntsville, Ontario. The program zeroed in to a spot near downtown and near the river - across the river in fact, where I guessed Ethel was staying.

Huntsville, Ontario, Canada courtesy of Google Earth

As you can see in the above pic, it was a short boat ride from the train station on the left of the screen to the Winter house indicated with a yellow pin. Using Google Earth's red pin marker, you can see there is room for several houses in the trees at 11 Elm St. There was back then, and when I zoomed closer, there still are although the trees obscure them at ground level.

Ethel said they lived 20 rods from the river and could see all the boat traffic going by. The photo at the top of this post shows that she could see the town dock where the big boats berthed, as well as the swing bridge. It must have been exciting for her!

Huntsville Street View, courtesy of Google Earth.

Using Google Earth's Street View, we can stand on the street where the Swing Bridge begins and look toward the black arrow pointing to the location of Uncle John and Aunt Sarah. Puts it all in perspective, doesn't it.

Now about those drunken men mentioned in this letter... Huntsville had only been settled in the last quarter of the 19th century. Due to the rocky terrain however, farms were few and far between. Most people made their money by with the fledgling tourist trade or the logging industry. Huntsville was a gateway to the northern places like North Bay where the logging industry was the main industry. During the forest fire season, crews of fire fighters would be brought in to combat the blazes.

That put a lot of young, strong men in an area where they outnumbered the young single women by about 10 to 1 or more. And without a home life, the single men were spending their leisure time looking for a girl or trying to keep the one they had. Along with drinking away their loneliness - and maybe even homesickness, I'm sure a lot of fisti-cuffs erupted.

I think it's ironic that in a recent letter Ethel was worried about Noah hiring a girl to help feed his men in case he found the new girl was 'the one', when he's back on the prairies and probably spending too much time thinking about her and all those available men.

1911 Courtship: July 23 Dear Noah

7/16/2013

Ethel is still in Huntsville, and Uncle John is working up in North Bay.

1910 On the Mountain looking across Huntsville to Lake Vernon by Nerlich & Co., Toronto. Courtesy of The Baldwin Room at www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

In this week's letter, Ethel mentions watching the steamboats (see Genealogy Notes for pics), as well as going up "up on the Mountain". The postcard above shows what Ethel would have seen when she looked westward. On the postcard below Ethel would have stood above the steep rocky wall to see the view in the above image because that's where the 'Huntsville Lookout' is located, up on the hill they called 'the Mountain'.

1910 Huntsville from the Public School looking east toward the Mountain with Fairy Lake in the distance by H. Booth, Huntsville. Courtesy of The Baldwin Room at www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (born 31 May 1890)
Dated:  July 23rd, 1911
Addressed to: My Dearest Noah (Noah Clement Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask.)
Mailed from: Huntsville, Ont.
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 blue forget-me-not motif. This is standard early 20th century notepaper, pre-folded in booklet form. Ethel has written on the pages in booklet form however, she's written the inside straight across the widest part so there are only 3 unnumbered pages.

People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Aunt Sarah - *Sarah Elizabeth Glover, sister of Ethel's ma
- Uncle John - *John Winter, husband of Aunt Sarah
- **Mrs. Rigler - Genealogy Note #2
- *Elva Mitchell
- Mrs. Winter - a relative of Uncle John ?
- Miss Gall
- May/Mae Anderson & Stanley *Mahoney
- *Lennox

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- *Huntsville
- *North Bay - north of Huntsville
- **Steamboats: S.S. Ramona and S.S. Wa Wa

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

Huntsville, July 23, 11.

My Dearest Noah, -
Well I missed your
letter this week. but thot perhaps you
sent it to Belhaven. there will be an
anxious girl until she gets one, I
havent got a letter from home either
since I came up here. Aunt Sarah is
writing to Uncle John he is away up to
North Bay working in a mill. I hope you never have to go away off from home to
work. for I can imagine just how it would
be, I think I ought to know a little, "eh"

when my best friend living is miles and miles away. But for the
meeting some day. Well Thrusday was Lennoxs picnic. and I see
by the paper that they had a big time. They presented Lennox with
a life size oil painting of himself. Be an awful thing for him to look
at, "eh", Are you Conservative or Reformer? I am for the right party.
The fire Tournament is to be here in huntsville on Aug 3rd.
I guess we will be to that all right. I was telling uncle Johns
that Mrs Rigler was married, and they wanted me to ask you
her name and address. So that they can write to her &
congratulate her. We are expecting company sometime this afternoon
a Mrs Winter & a Miss Gall is coming in,
Suppose you will be having a great old time when the Worlds
Fair starts at Regina. I guess the fair would be all the people could
talk about now? "eh" The day of our raising some girls were at me,
wanting to know when I was to be married. I told them in Sept (ha) May
Anderson was one of the girls so I ask her the same old question and
she said in August. Stanley & May are to be married in the spring (haha)

Well it is just 1 week yesterday since I
came up here. and I got a return ticket
so I guess I will stay until that runs out.
Oh, Noah you want to write often.
I guess you think I am a impatient
kid, it is rather lonesome sometimes.
Was down town last night, & think I will
go to-morrow night also. Will go untill
I get some mail. What has become
of Elva I wrote to her some time ago &
she has never answered. The big boats are running here everyday. The Ramona
went out this afternoon. I have been
down to the Wa Wa, and have been up on
the Mountain, - will send you a picture
postcard of them soemday. Will close
With all love from Your Friend & Lonesome
& Loving Sweetheart. Write, - x x x x x x x x x x

Genealogy Notes

Two Genealogy Notes this week:
#1 - Muskoka Steamers Ramona & Wa Wa
#2 - Finding Mrs. Rigler

Genealogy Note 1: Muskoka Steamers Ramona & Wa Wa

In this week's letter, Ethel mentions the big boats - the steamers Ramona and Wa Wa. It took some doing, but I finally found an image of the SS Ramona of Huntsville...and yes, although it's not as big as Ethel made it sound, it is bigger than an Uncle John's rowboat...

S.S. Ramona, Courtesy of the Orillia Public Library

I also found two textual references to the Ramona, the first of which says, "...ships such as the flagship Algonquin (1906-1927) and the Ramona transported goods and people from Portage to Huntsville, and all points between." (Courtesy of www.muskokariverx.com)

And on Wikipedia I found a steamboat chart for the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company (HLBTC) which has this notation:
S.S. Dortha, 1894, HLBTC, Lake of Bays, Renamed the Ramona in 1908

Unfortunately a search for an image of the SS Dortha didn't bring up any results.

That left the S.S. Wa Wa, as Ethel mentioned, although this steamer proved even harder to locate than the Ramona. One clue was a reference in passing that the Wa Wa berthed at the dock of the Wa Wa Hotel in Lake of Bays, not far from Huntsville. My research was hampered by the fact that the Wa Wa Hotel burned down in 1923, so what happened to the steamer?

And then I found this photo at the Virtual Museum of Canada.

1922 - Steamer Wa Wa at Royal Muskoka Wharf on Lake Rosseau, Ontario. Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of Canada: Up in Flames: The History of Fire in Muskoka Region

So although I can't find it written - yet - it appears that after the hotel burned down, the S.S. Wa Wa was bought by someone in Lake Rouseau and used to ferry passengers back and forth to the Royal Muskoka alone, or to other points on the lake as well.

There is a final note to this story... this research triggered a memory about a souvenir folder of postcards I found in Ethel's treasure box. The postcards are all together accordian-style and feature the Bigwin Inn which sprang up beside the Wa Wa Hotel in Lake of Bays. I won't display the postcards here because we don't have room to discuss the Bigwin Inn here, however, the souvenir folder is from Noah and Ethel's daughter, Midge, and was posted in 1944 when she went up to the District of Muskoka. And it's Midges's note that relates to this week's post...

Hello Everyone. -
We were over to Bigwin this
afternoon, so I got this folder to send to
you. - it certainly is a grand place, - the
Bigwin Dock is where the Wa Wa used to
be, - the Wa Wa burnt down abut 1919
or around there somewhere, - about 15 lost
their life, - Bigwin is on an island.
We went up to the tower today, - you
certainly get a grand view from up there, -
you can see miles.
So long. - love. Midge.

Genealogy Note #2 - Finding Mrs. Rigler

In this week's letter, Ethel asks Noah for the newly married Mrs. Rigler's name and address so that Uncle John can write and congratulate her.

It made sense that Noah would know because his sister, Ethel Maud married William Albert Rigler, and it's at their house where Noah stayed before the weather was warm enough for him to move down the road and camp on his own land - which he's doing now that his house is being built.

What didn't make sense, however, was that Uncle John would ask for Mrs. Rigler's new name and address because his own mother, Nancy Maria, was a Rigler before she married his father, Reuben Winter. However, if the marriage was recent and in the North Gwillimbury area, then perhaps the news hadn't reached Huntsville yet.

Although I could have peeked at the upcoming letters for Noah's answer, I decided to research on my own in case I discovered more history about John's family which is very sparse. Here's my research path:

I have 8 Mrs Rigler's posted on our family tree and there are probably more because we only list the branch relating to Ethel Maud Draper's marriage to William Albert Rigler on 25 Dec 1901. I started by bringing up the Rigler Family View on my laptop screen so that at a glance I could see who had died prior to 1911. Sadly, Uncle John's own mother died 3 yrs after his birth. Of the ones that were left, I looked at their profiles to see if anyone had married in 1911 - and drew a blank.

In another tab on my browser, I pulled up the index for the Ontario newspapers online website and searched for Rigler and then 1911. Lots of news, but no marriage.

I reread what Ethel had written and it dawned on me that if Mrs. Rigler married and had a new name, then Rigler hadn't been her maiden name, but that of her husband. Yes, it makes sense, but it really hadn't clicked before. Knowing that, I began to search the Family View for a Mrs. Rigler whose husband had died prior to 1911.

And there it was... As I just mentioned, Uncle John's mother was Nancy Maria Rigler and her brother was Albert William Rigler. If the name sounds familiar, it's because he was the father of Ethel Maud's husband, William Albert Rigler.

Albert Wm died in 1904 leaving his widow - 49 yr old Mary Elizabeth Breckon aka Mrs. Rigler, 15 yr old Joseph, and 8 yr old Ernest at home since the other children, including our Will, had left home already.

My search on Mary E. Breckon found another marriage record for her...
Bride: Mary Rigler of Newmarket, 63, widow, daughter of Joseph Breckon
Groom: Robert Sibley of Newmarket, 67, widower, son of John Sibley
Marriage: 22 May 1911 in St. Catharines, Lincoln County, Ontario

So, Ethel is asking Noah about Mrs. Rigler because Mary E Breckon is the mother-in-law of Noah's sister. I think part of that was also because the marriage occurred way down in Southern Ontario and The Newmarket Era didn't have any details, which is strange for a community newspaper.

I hope the above research encourages you to try your own paths of discovery.

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1911 Courtship: Sept 18 Dear Noah

Genealogy Notes

Undated Courtship Letters & Huntsville Postcards

1911 Courtship: Aug 13 Dear Noah

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1911 Courtship Letter: Aug 6 Dear Noah

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1911 Courtship: July 23 Dear Noah

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