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WW1 Letters Home - Dec 29, 1916

12/29/2016

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Picture
Sinking of the Linda Blanche out of Liverpool, 1915, Painting by Willy Stower (1864-1931). Courtesy of wikipedia
My previous post showed a map with Noah Draper's presumed route to Chatham, England, according to his letter of Dec 19, 1916 where he wrote that he was headed overseas. Since I read his letters beforehand, I knew he wasn't going straight there, but I didn't want to give out information before Noah himself told us. This letter, dated Dec 29, explains how he arrived in Chatham. Read the History Notes under his letter below for an explanation of how the above image relates to his journey.
​
​Author of Letter: Noah C Draper, 29 yrs old
Dated:  Dec. 29, 1916
Mailed from:  Chatham, England
Attached to: HMS Pembroke (21 Dec 1916 to 31 Dec 1916)
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
mother - Noah's mother, Sarah Sophia Deverell* Draper, widow of David Draper

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

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- Keswick - where Noah's family lives (the ones who didn't move west)
- Liverpool** - a huge busy port on the River Mersey (**see map below)
- London** - on the River Thames, the capital of England, and the U.K.
- Royal Naval Barracks Chatham - aka HMS Pembroke
- the N.P. - Naval Police (see Naval Police and Shore Patrol)
​- whiffletree and tandem hitches (**see Historical Note #2 below)
- hut - barrack building

Word or Phrase Use: 
car - short for street car
navel barracks - Noah's spelling should read naval barracks
​
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 History Notes below
​
Picture

Chatham, England
Dec.29. 1916
​
     Mrs. N. C. Draper,
               Keswick, Ont.
My Dear Wife & all; -
     Well I have arrived here
all safe & sound and right
side up & am fealing fine
got here last night after
midnight .left Liverpool about
2 P.M. but could not see much
of the country as it gets dark
about 4 P.M. here now. had
a fine trip over no rough
weather at all they said
although I was sick 1 day

​
Picture

but enjoyed the trip very much.
     Say I wrote a long letter 
on board (3 pages) but the
N. P. told me it was held up 
as I was giving information
which I had no right to
give, but I dont know what
it was so will have to be
careful I guess the letters are
censured from Canada to
so private news is not
private.
     Al that came over here
with me are quartered in
one hut. about 50. and we are
quite comfortable. there is
two long tables & three is told
​off for cooks for each day I 


Picture

am cook to day.
     Well I have not been out
in the city yet so can not
tell you much about the
place but you never see
a team hitched up as we
hitch them they are all
driven tandem or else
the tugs are hitched right
onto the frame of the tongue
no whiffletrees. but they
draw big loads, of course the
roads here are all good nearly
as good as our paved streets.
     Had supper in London last
night was there about 45 min.
but just took the street car
​
Picture
  
from one station to the other
so did not see much (only Lady 
guards) they take the railway
tickets before you get on the car
here & it saves a lot of trouble.
     Well I want to write to
Percy & Mother so will have have
to close soon in order to
get my address on this page
it is N.C Draper.
     Hut 16 East Camp
     Royal Navel Barracks, Chatham, 
                                              England.
Will try & send some little presents
next week if the stores are open
when I am out on leave, get out
every other night I guess. Well.
this is all for now. Write soon, love to
​you and the kiddies. N.C. Draper
​

​

History Notes
​

There are 2 History notes for this letter...

History Note 1 - Port of Liverpool
In this letter, Noah mentions that he disembarked at Liverpool and left there shortly after 2 pm, crossed the country, stopped in London for supper, and arrived in Chatham after midnight. Historical references mention Troop trains crossing England. I've also found reference to boat trains carrying troops. Boat trains are dedicated trains carrying passengers from a particular place to/from a port.
Picture
However, there was one major hurdle before arriving in Liverpool: In February 1914, Germany had announced that the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland, including the English Channel, and the western portion of the North Sea, was a war zone and any ships, be it British, neutral, or merchant, would be fired on and destroyed without warning. 

Germany wasn't fooling. In the seven-month period between March and September of 1916, 480 vessels were sunk by German U-boats in that area alone. In case you're wondering, a U-boat stands for undersea boat aka submarine. And that's where the image at the top of this post comes in... you never knew where the U-boats were hiding or if the ship you were traveling on would get fired on by torpedoes. We must never forget the brave captains, sailors, troops, and even passengers who risked everything by running the U-boat gauntlet, and to the ones who lost their lives along the way. 

Whatever ship Noah sailed on to get to Liverpool, he would have had to go through U-boat territory, yet he doesn't give Ethel any inkling of the danger.

Upon disembarkation in Liverpool, it seems most troop ships used the Riverside Railway Station to send the troops on their way, and although I couldn't confirm this is the dock where Noah disembarked, considering that I don't know what ship he sailed on, the following shows the station as it appeared around 1914.
Picture
ca 1914, Riverside Station and Princes Landing Stage, Liverpool, England
The Port of Liverpool's 7.5 mile/12.1 kilometre dock system is mostly on the eastern shore of the River Mersey, but also contains docks on the west side of the river. See wikipedia for detailed 1909 maps of the dock system.
​

History Note 2 - Whiffletrees

In this letter, Noah mentions that the British don't use wiffletrees, so here's the definition of a whiffletree and it's other name variants.
Picture
Wiffletree, whippletree, swingletree
Picture
Four-hitch with a set of whiffletrees. Courtesy of wikipedia
He goes on to say that instead of using a single or set of whiffletrees as pictured above, the British hitch their horses in tandem or right onto the frame of the tongue. Tugs and traces are also regional name variants as you can see by the following diagram.
​
Picture
Harness Diagram. Courtesy of wikipedia

To end this post, here's an image of two ponies being driven in tandem, much as you would see two riders on a tandem bicycle. ​I wonder if this is what Noah meant.
PicturePonies Driving in Tandem. Courtesy of Wikipedia



​


​
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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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1913: Spring Letter from Sadie Nelson

8/4/2014

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Picture
Veda Josie Perrault, ca 1910-1915. Courtesy of Doreen Proctor Burnett.
Finally, a photograph of Veda Josie Perrault, the niece Noah is always teasing. We've posted a couple letters from her so far but I only had the one photo of her as an older woman from the 1960's. So when I was drafting this week's letter where Sadie talks about Veda's upcoming wedding, I was especially blessed when cousin Doreen stepped forward with pictures of Veda and some other Perraults. If you want to read more about Doreen's fantastic timing, check the Genealogy Notes at the bottom of this post.

This week's letter is missing page 1 & 2 which means I've had to do some research to decipher the date, but I think I'm pretty close due to Sadie discussing several people and their events including Veda's wedding in June 1913.

Author of Letter:  Sadie Nelson
Dated:  Spring of 1913 
Addressed to:  Dear Ethel and Noah (presumably)
Mailed from:  Belhaven, Ontario
Relationship: Sister
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter 
Writing instrument:  Pen with Black Ink
Writing Paper: Thin weight, textured, linen-like paper, each written page 5" x 6". Paper is folded in half and written in booklet form but with the inside page written across the short width so it looks like foolscap. Only the first page is numbered with a 3, but we are missing pages 1 and 2.  

People/places mentioned in this letter:


**Veda - Noah's niece, daughter of his sister Eva Amelia & Joe Perrault
*Leslie Peter Thomson - Veda's intended
*Uncle Will - could be Ethel's mom's brother, or their uncle - both *Glover's
Pa - Ethel's dad,  *James Nelson
Uncle *Emmanuel Nelson - uncle of  *James H Nelson
Grandma Nelson - Eliza *Croutch - mother of *James H Nelson
*Leslie Nelson - Ethel's maternal cousin who is somewhere out West
Harry *Barker - husband of the sister of Ethel's mother, *Ida Glover

Edna *Crowder, *Ella, and Mary - friends and neighbors
Gordon *Crowder & Rosie Andrews - Gordon is a neighbor and friend
Carl *Morton & Clara Pringle - friends and neighbors
Dr. Pringle - Sutton physician
*Miss Hunt - check post on her and her Bible. This is 1st mention of her intended. Perhaps died from sickness?

Places/things mentioned in this letter:

- **quincy or quinsy (Sadie spells it quinzy)
- *Sutton - a nearby town


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




Picture
                            3.
and as to Sadie Nelson, well,
I guess, she is out of it 
altogether. Edna still has
a long list of suitors and
Gordon is to be married to
Rosie Andrews so I have
heard several times. He makes
frequent calls down there
anyway. He and I are, as 
usual, a little on the outs, also
Edna and I. Ella and Mary
have been my chief standbys.
Carl Morton is soon to be
married to Clara Pringle, 
Dr. Pringle's daughter at
Sutton. Next time you
write to Leslie tell him I


Picture
want him to write to me right
away soon. I sent him a couple
of cards soon after he went away
and he never answered them.
   Well Ethel I was weighed yesterday
and the scales went 151 easy. You
can't beat that. Uncle Harry
Barker has been sick with
quinzy but he is getting better
now. Miss Hunt is over to see
her intended this afternoon. He has
a severe cold. Uncle is getting a
little better, he slept fairly well
last night. Pa has sold dan to
some man out near Mt. Albert.
The man bot him & took him
yesterday. I was just real angry
when they told me but he was
getting awful ugly. He Pa has bought
one colt that he is going to break
in soon and he is going to buy
another horse. We are having
quite nice weather now but it
is very cold. Suppose Veda will
be having a swell wedding.


Picture
you had better be getting
your gown ready, and
after you get that one
finished you can start
another for my wedding
I am to be married the 31st 
of June to a flourishing
old bachelor so be ready.
Well I will, speaking in
telephony phraseology, ring
off. 
           Au Revoir.
                  Love sis Sadelia
Answer immediately and
excuse writing. I have just
used 3 diff. pens & none are any good.

          


Genealogy Notes

Genealogy Note 1: Perrault Photographs

I was pleasantly surprised (interpret that as thrilled to pieces) when Doreen Joan Proctor Burnett left a comment on the post, 1909: To Noah, A Letter From Home. Here's her initial comment:
Sarah Sophia Deverall Draper was my great grandmother
Eva Amelia Draper Perrauault my grandmother
Dora Evelyn Perrault Proctor my mother..I was amazed when I found your web..So very interesting..I just loved Aunt Veda .the letter she wrote to Noah sounded so much like her..Thanks so much

What caught my eye first on her comment was the name of Sarah Sophia Deverell - Noah's mother - because the maiden name of Sarah's mother is still a mystery so I grasp any mention of the Deverell name. And then my gaze latched onto the Aunt Veda part and my day brightened considerably.

A quick check on Ancestry confirmed that Doreen is Nelson's 2nd cousin and although I knew her name on the family tree, I didn't know anything about her branch, other than the fact that her mother was one of Eva Amelia's kids. To put this into perspective, Joe and Eva had 8 children. Born in 1895, Veda was the oldest, and the youngest wouldn't be born until 1914. Doreen's mom, Dora, was born in 1907. So she would have been 4 yrs old during Noah and Ethel's Courtship year, but most of the time, Noah only spoke of Veda - probably because she was teenager and so easy to tease. 

Last night Doreen shared 4 photos with us, including the striking pose of Veda at the top of this post. My, oh, my. Being born in 1895, Veda was 18 in 1913 when this week's letter was written - the year she married 25 yr old Leslie Peter Thomson, a Canadian Pacific Railway station agent. 

Veda mentioned Les once before and that's the post of 1912: Jan 12 Letter fm Veda Perrault when she wrote, "Leslie did not get down.  I was sorry although I expect him down here some time before long. He is working up at Tugaske, Sask, on the Outlook branch from Moose Jaw."

So I'm sending out a bouquet to Doreen Joan Proctor Burnett for leaving a comment on my post and then sharing her photo treasures with us.  

This reminds me of something I read on the Ancestry blog recently where a member said he hesitated switching his family tree from private to public for years in case he and his mom had wrong facts. But finally, they reached a dead end and thus, took the plunge to see if they could rouse out some family members with their cousin bait. The post went on to show a photo of the man and a relative who saw their public ancestry tree and contacted them. 

Cousin bait. That's the affectionate term in the genealogy world. 

And although we didn't intend on using this blog as cousin bait, or making our Ancestry tree public for the same reason, we've been blessed with cousins finding us. In all, 5 more cousins contacted us in the past 2 weeks by either leaving comments on this blog, emailing us through my contact page, or connecting through our Ancestry inbox. 

Cousin bait. It sounds crass, but the results are ... wonderful. 



Genealogy Note 2:  Quinsy and Quincy 

This is an old disease which is still around. A fellow in our area had it a couple years ago, and thousands of cases are seen every year around the globe. Check the links below for more information.

Old Diseases & Their Modern Definitions: 
QUINSY or QUINCY: Severe attack of Tonsillitis resulting in abscess near the tonsils.

NHS Choices:  
Quinsy, also known as a peritonsillar abscess, is a complication of tonsillitis that is left untreated.

Remedy's Health Communities in conjunction with Johns Hopkins and Cornell University: 
Quinsy is usually a complication of tonsillitis, a bacterial infection of the tonsils. 
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Sep 1912: Letter from George Draper

5/25/2014

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Picture
The Adams, SK house that Noah Draper built for Ethel Nelson in 1911 prior to their 1912 marriage. Photos courtesy of the Norma Draper Family Photograph Collection.
Picture
The Draper's house at Adam's, SK after enclosing the veranda in screens. Noah and Ethel's album says the front windows were blown out in the 1912 Regina cyclone.
In this week's letter, Noah's cousin George Draper comments that Noah probably witnessed the Storm from his place at Adams, SK.  Although Ethel didn't mention it in her post card in last week's post about the June 1912: Regina's F4 Cyclone, they may have spotted something because the distance along the track from the C.N.R. station in Regina to the siding in Adams is an official distance of 13 miles (20 km).


Author of Letter:  George Draper
Dated:  Sept 15th, 1912
Addressed to: Mr Noah Draper, Grand Coulee
Mailed  from:  Keswick (North Gwillimbury Twp, York County, Ontario)
Relationship: Paternal 1st cousin of Noah Draper
Profession:  Farmer
Writing  instrument: Blue-Black ink 
Written on: Textured ivory-colored notepaper 5" x 8", 2 pages written on the front only.


People/places mentioned in this letter:

- *Noah Draper, age 23 (Newlywed, moved west in 1905)
- *Ethel Nelson, age 21 (Newlywed, moved west Feb 1912 upon her marriage)
- *Stewart Draper - George's brother near Indian Head, SK
- *Joe Perrault - married to Noah's sister, *Eva Amelia, and
living near Grand Coulee
- *Will Rigler - married to Noah's sister, *Ethel Maud and living near Grand Coulee
- Aunty - Noah's mom, *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper
- *Edith & *Frank - George's sister, Edith who married Frank *Kavanagh


Places/things mentioned in this letter or in the Genealogy Notes:
- the storm - the 1912 Regina F4 cyclone I blogged about last week
- a man engaged - the hired man



Cliches/Phrases
- cuz - George signs the letter "your Cuz, Geo Draper"


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
Keswick  Sept 15th 1912

Mr. Noah Draper
                                Grand Coulee
Dear Noah.
                     Pretty near time I answered
your Card July 12th. was glad to
hear from you  My was'nt that
Cyclone desperate  Suppose you could
see the Storm from your place.  It
would certainly look fierce  Stewart said
He went & saw the ruins and is
going to send me some pictures of it
I got a letter from him on the 9th Sept
has all his wheat cut & oats
without Frost or Hail  pretty Lucky  I hope
you escaped the same  was your
crops pretty Good this year. It dont
seem long ago. since Iwas up 
there with you. driveing around
through the wheat.  How is Aunty

Picture
2
I hope She is well.  is She liveing
with you or Ethel Rigler
we are not through Harvest yet Barley
to Draw yet & some Peas to cut. & Draw
Pretty slow In Ont, Eh. But In order to have
a crack shot He has to come from
North Gwillimbury and show Noah how to
tumble the Ducks.  no doubt you have 
said to your self many times | if I
could only shoot like | George Draper |
I would give a good deal | But you
may learn after a long time.  of
course I showed you quite a Bit.
I am going up at the Head of the Baye
Tomorrow to shoot a few Doz Ducks
Come along Noah and I will give you
another Lesson  It is raining to
Beat the Devil to Day we have had a
Desperate lot of Rain this Summer.
Come East this Winter and we will do
nothing but Fish I have a Man Engaged
for the Winter & I am going to Fish
everyDay  Come along  I know Ethel
would like to come Home  guess Edith
& Frank are comeing for the Winter
write me Noah soon  With kind Regards
   to all In your Home   your Cuz GeoDraper


Genealogy Notes

George Milburn Draper has been mentioned several times in Noah & Ethel's 1911 Courtship letters - most recently Feb 1912: Letter from Noah's Cousin, Edith Draper. 

On Sep 23rd, 1908 George, 28 yrs old, bachelor farmer, married Eliza Alberta Hamilton, 23 yrs old, Spinster, daughter of David Hamilton & Priscilla Stevenson. George and Eliza both reside in North Gwillimbury, and both attend the Christian church. 

The 1911 census finds George and Eliza living on the Draper Homestead near Keswick in the house where he'd been born, where his father Stephen Draper had been born, and where his grandfather Joel Draper Jr had worked the crown-deeded virgin uncleared land when York County was first being settled. 

(Joel Draper Sr is my husband Nelson Clement Draper's 3rd great grandfather born 1789 in Boston, Mass)

Picture
1911 Canada census showing George and Eliza living on the Draper homestead along with his parents, Stephen Draper and Martha Barnhart, and his unmarried sister, Edith.
I'm not sure where George's oldest brother, Charles J, is in 1911, but he'll eventually take over the family farm while the rest of the siblings headed west, returning to Ontario to spend the winters with family and friends. 

In this letter, George mentions driving through the wheat fields with Noah and although he doesn't give a date, we can surmise he's talking about the trip he took west during the summer of 1911, partly because of this clipping:

Picture
The Newmarket Era. August 18, 1911 - pg. 6
George also mentions the 1912 Regina cyclone in his letter, and how he's waiting for pictures from his brother Stewart, who's renting a farm at Indian Head, east of Regina. I don't have Stewart's photos, but if you haven't looked yet, check out last week's post for images of the ruins.

1913 finds George heading west on a business trip. Perhaps the trip was to buy land?
Picture
The Newmarket Era. October 3, 1913 - pg. 6
I only make that assumption because a mere 4 months later, George and Eliza are preparing to move to Wolfe, Saskatchewan.

Picture
The Newmarket Era. February 13, 1914
By the time the special 1916 Western Canada census rolled around, George's sister, Almeda and her husband, James Edward Baker  and their 2 children, Milburn and Ruby, had joined George and Eliza on their quarter section of land at Wolfe, RM of Reford, Saskatchewan.

It isn't until 1919 where we find the first mention of a child born to George and Eliza and that's thanks again to the newspaper back in York County:

Picture
The Newmarket Era. December 12, 1919 - pg. 2
George and Eliza named their son, Ernest David and there is no record of any siblings for him. I spent hours searching for Ernest.  Thanks to the Sask Genealogical Society, I found obits for an Ernest and Lillian Draper who retired from farming in the same area and moved to North Battleford. Every matched ... until I realized it couldn't be George's son because this Ernest was born in the late 1800's in Wisconsin and not 1919 in Saskatchewan. What a letdown.

George, Eliza, and Ernest show up on the 1921 Canada census and I have newspapaper clippings of them for a few years after that, but then they fall off the radar. A very brief - too brief and sketchy - description is given in the Landis Record history Book, where it shows them renting the land and moving back to Ontario until 1950, and then spending the summers at Wolfe, and the winters in York County. 

There's hope though because I still have Noah's WW1 letters to post and although we know where George and Eliza are during the war, I still have several years of Ethel's diaries from the 1940-50's left to go as well as a batch of letters which I glanced at but not made notes for. Hopefully somewhere in there is a clue to their whereabouts. 

Of course, if you have any information about this family - pictures would be lovely - please help us fill in the blanks:
  • George Milburn Draper
  • Eliza (Elizabeth) Alberta Hamilton
  • Ernest David Draper
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C.N.R. at Adams, Saskatchewan

5/5/2014

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Adams, SK, 2013
August 2013, Adams, Sask. The depot is gone, but the original Canadian Northern Railway tracks remain.
When posting about Noah and Ethel's homecoming, I said they might get off at the Grand Coulee station - 3.5 miles from their home in Adams. I knew that the Canadian Northern Railway (C.N.R.) was laying track near Adams, but I had forgotten that Noah said it would be ready in time for Ethel's arrival as when he mentioned it in the 1911 Courtship Letter dated June 5:
Well I guess when you come up
we wont have to come very far from
the station as they are gradeing
next farm to mine now & will be
on mine by the end of the week & the
station is to be on my place. isnt
that handy.

The farmhouse and yard in the top photo isn't the Draper homestead as it's been gone for a long time, but it stands in the same yard as the house Noah built for Ethel 100 yrs ago.  

This next image is a land map using Google Earth to show a bird's-eye-view of Noah's land to show exactly how close the house was to the Adams station.

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Bird's-eye-view of Adams, Saskatchewan c2013. Map courtesy of Google Earth.
Below is one of the photos I took last summer while exploring the roads around Adams. The farmyard and house are to the left of the power pole. The railway siding is still intact and being used as a parking spot for reserve rail cars. The track itself looked good in both directions as I'm sure it's still being used although not like it was 100 yrs ago when elevators lined the route.

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Adams, SasK, Aug 2013 - Yardsite with farmhouse on the left, reserve rail cars on the siding, CNR track intact
These next 2 photos were taken by Noah Draper and show the C.N.R. crew laying track near Adams. The 1st photo was found in Ethel's Treasure Box whereas the 2nd one came from Noah and Ethel Draper's 1912-1924 photo album courtesy of the Norma Draper Family Photo Collection.

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1912 Laying the C.N.R. track near Adams, SK. Found in Ethel Draper's Treasure Box
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c1912 C.N.R crew laying track near Adams, SK. Courtesy of the Norma Draper Family Photo Collection
 The Canadian Pacific website page on Building the Railway explains the tracklaying machine this way... In fact the apparatus moved rails and ties forward to the end of the leading car where they were carried to the work site by the men on the construction gang. This machine lessened the distance over which the ties and rail had to be handled manually.

If you're interested in steam locomotives, google the archives of any railway company. Model train societies are also an excellent way to find information because members usually base their models on actual rolling stock. 
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