Henry Nelson (1835-1900) and Eliza Croutch (1840-1919), ca 1890-1900?
The photo above is my husband Nelson's Great-Great-Grandfather - referred to as his 2nd Great Grandfather, and his 2nd Great Grandmother. We received this picture and others via email from a wonderful new relative in Iowa which is where Henry and Eliza Croutch emigrated to from Canada, although half the family stayed in Ontario. I'll be posting a letter that Eliza Croutch sent to her son, James Henry Nelson (Ethel's Pa) in July 1911 - according to the 1911 Courtship calendar.
Meanwhile, by that same calendar, we're still in May, so here we go...
Meanwhile, by that same calendar, we're still in May, so here we go...
Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21
Dated: May 7, 1911
Addressed to: Mr. N. C. Draper... My Dear Noah
Mailed from: Belhaven, Ontario
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer's Daughter
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, black 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 written straight across the whole width so technically, there are only 3 pages.
People/places mentioned in this letter:
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- Ma - *Ida Amelia Glover- Pa - *James Henry Nelson
- Uncle *Will Glover - Ida Amelia's older brother born 1872
- Uncle *Leslie Glover - Ida Amelia's younger brother born 1886
- *Della - Della Mahoney
- Mary Smith and Della Heartley - school friends
- Little Ethel - *Ethel Marie Rogers - 3 mo old daughter of Ida Amelia's sister, Victoria Maud
- Mrs. Manfred Terry - Noah's cousin on the Draper side, *Manford Terry
- Mr. Davidson - Robert Davidson - a Belhaven neighbour (building his barn)
- **Mr. John A.B. Cole's only daughter - Melvina Cole
- 24th of May - *Victoria Day
- buckwheat - a grain which gives honey a dark colour, strong flavour & heavy odour
- **ploughing down the fall wheat - image and information under genealogy notes
Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing.
** see Genealogy Notes below
Dated: May 7, 1911
Addressed to: Mr. N. C. Draper... My Dear Noah
Mailed from: Belhaven, Ontario
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer's Daughter
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, black 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 written straight across the whole width so technically, there are only 3 pages.
People/places mentioned in this letter:
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- Ma - *Ida Amelia Glover- Pa - *James Henry Nelson
- Uncle *Will Glover - Ida Amelia's older brother born 1872
- Uncle *Leslie Glover - Ida Amelia's younger brother born 1886
- *Della - Della Mahoney
- Mary Smith and Della Heartley - school friends
- Little Ethel - *Ethel Marie Rogers - 3 mo old daughter of Ida Amelia's sister, Victoria Maud
- Mrs. Manfred Terry - Noah's cousin on the Draper side, *Manford Terry
- Mr. Davidson - Robert Davidson - a Belhaven neighbour (building his barn)
- **Mr. John A.B. Cole's only daughter - Melvina Cole
- 24th of May - *Victoria Day
- buckwheat - a grain which gives honey a dark colour, strong flavour & heavy odour
- **ploughing down the fall wheat - image and information under genealogy notes
Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing.
** see Genealogy Notes below
| Belhaven. May 7. 1911. Mr N C Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask. My Dear Noah;-- Rec'd your letter last night all O.K. I am thinking perhaps you got two, one which should have gone to you the week before. Sadie took it to post and forgot to post it. so she says. I guess we will have to get her something to improve her memory. Well Ma & I have just got home. Sadie went with us but we brought her around to Uncle's and she staid there. |
| Sadie and I were up to Uncle Will Glovers and Ma was to Uncles Leslie's. We certainly have spent a great day of it. Although I enjoyed the ride most of all. Pa finished seeding about the middle of last week. except sowing some buckwheat. Several of the farmers are ploughing there fall wheat up. Della has came home from the city. I guess she likes to get back to see an old Keswick friend. Mary Smith has been visiting in Orillia with Della Heartley I think. Sadie was successful in her examinations she coming fifth in a class of about thirty There is going to be quite a time in Newmarket on the 24th of May. I don't know yet whether we will be going down or not. Say! when you get that bugy finished painting just drive in some evening and we will go for a drive. How nice it would be. |
| Well I can guess at the rest of those five words. And it wouldn't take long for me to say them sometimes, Little Ethel was here last week and say she is just as nice as her name sake. (ha ha.) Suppose you pity her if she is no better, eh! I do. I saw Mrs Manfred Terry at Mr Davidson's raising, I understood her to say they were going to keep a boarding house this summer, a cousin of mine Mr John A.B. Cole's daughter is to be married in June, to Ambrose Traviss of Brown- hill. Mr. Robt Davidson thinks there is no girl on the fifth like his. Well I guess I must say Good Bye for this time with all love from your Ethel Nelson. Sweetheart. xxxxxxxxxx Say don't laugh at my letter ? on the envelope. |
Genealogy Notes
There are 2 topics discussed here:
Topic #1:
Mr. John A.B. Cole's daughter - Melvina Cole:
Ethel says,
Topic #1:
Mr. John A.B. Cole's daughter - Melvina Cole:
Ethel says,
| a cousin of mine Mr John A.B. Cole's daughter is to be married in June, to Ambrose Traviss of Brown- hill. |
This was new to me, since our tree doesn't have anyone named Cole yet. So, I did a start-from-scratch search looking for any event for John A Cole of Gwillimbury. One of the first records that came up on the ancestry.ca site was a marriage record for John Abram Cole and Eliza Ann Croutch. I knew we have plenty of relatives named Croutch (or some spelled it Crouch) on Ethel's father's side, so this was exciting. I checked our tree and found an Eliza Ann Croutch who was a cousin of Ethel's father, James Henry Nelson. Further checking revealed that John A Cole only had 2 children, a boy named Alonze, and a girl, Melvina. Next, I searched for Melvina and confirmed that she does indeed marry Ambrose Traviss of Brownhill in June, 1911.
Ethel's notation is a big help to us. Because of the spelling of Croutch/Crouch, and the large families of the time, it's very confusing to decipher who belongs to whom. On top of that, part of the Croutch family left Ontario and moved down to Iowa sometime during the last quarter of the 19th century. So we're dealing with census records from 2 countries as well.
However, we're blessed that one of the Croutch descendants who emigrated to the U.S. has found us on ancestry and we've established a rapport to the extent that records and photos have been exchanged. Because of this person, I now have a photo of Ethel's grandparents and others of Ethel's family. (See photo at top of post)
Ethel's notation is a big help to us. Because of the spelling of Croutch/Crouch, and the large families of the time, it's very confusing to decipher who belongs to whom. On top of that, part of the Croutch family left Ontario and moved down to Iowa sometime during the last quarter of the 19th century. So we're dealing with census records from 2 countries as well.
However, we're blessed that one of the Croutch descendants who emigrated to the U.S. has found us on ancestry and we've established a rapport to the extent that records and photos have been exchanged. Because of this person, I now have a photo of Ethel's grandparents and others of Ethel's family. (See photo at top of post)
Topic #2
Ploughing down the fall wheat crop - in the spring.
Ploughing down the fall wheat crop - in the spring.
'Sulky plough on the C.P.R'., MB, 1889, William McFarlane Notman © McCord Museum.
What Ethel calls 'fall wheat' is commonly referred to as winter wheat today. Winter wheat is different from other types of grain because it's planted in the fall. It starts to grow, then winter comes and it freezes and lays dormant - usually beneath a layer of snow - all winter. Come spring, it starts growing again. If all goes well, the winter wheat is ready to harvest in July. It's the first crop harvested after the hay is taken off.
I don't know what crop the farmer above is ploughing. It may even be stubble after the harvest, although it doesn't look spiky or devastated enough. But that's about the height - maybe a bit more - that a farmer will plough down his fall/winter wheat if it's not growing good. Ploughing it down is like feeding the soil since the nutrients in the green grass-like shoots are full of vitamins and minerals that the soil requires. That's why most crops that are used for this purpose are the leafy ones like clover.
If the farmers in the Belhaven area are ploughing down their fall wheat, the spring is not a good one - not enough heat or moisture, etc.
I don't know what crop the farmer above is ploughing. It may even be stubble after the harvest, although it doesn't look spiky or devastated enough. But that's about the height - maybe a bit more - that a farmer will plough down his fall/winter wheat if it's not growing good. Ploughing it down is like feeding the soil since the nutrients in the green grass-like shoots are full of vitamins and minerals that the soil requires. That's why most crops that are used for this purpose are the leafy ones like clover.
If the farmers in the Belhaven area are ploughing down their fall wheat, the spring is not a good one - not enough heat or moisture, etc.
