Category: Sheppard

1911 Courtship: Sep 10 Dear Noah

11/4/2013

G. E. Goddard on "Reciprocity", sired by "Juryman", Bow River Horse Ranch, Cochrane area, Alberta. ca1890's. Courtesy Glenbow Museum.

When I searched my historical photo archives for something to show the 1911 political debate of Reciprosity (Genealogical Note #3), this cowboy and his horse, named "Reciprocity" came up. And honestly, I'd rather show this image than a political one any day.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (b 1890)
Dated: Sep- 1911 (Possibly Sep 10th due to facts in letter)
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. Ethel is very talkative this week and has written 7 pages using 2 pieces of writing paper.

People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Mother - *Ida Amelia Glover Nelson
- Pa - *James Henry Nelson
- *Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- *Veda -16 yr old daughter of Noah's sister, *Eva Amelia and *Joe Perrault
- Mr. Perrault's - *Joe Perrault's trip to *Banff for his arthritis
*Manuel - Ethel's 6 yr old brother, *Emanuel Nelson
- Uncle *Emanuel Nelson - Ethel's Pa's paternal uncle
- Ursula *Cole - Ethel's 16 yr old 2nd cousin on the maternal *Greenwood side
- **Mr. & Mrs. Frank Terry and daughter Edna May - Noah's cousin
- **Cousin George of Udora (Drury and Alf Westgarth) (*Ida Amelia's cousins)
- *Edith Draper - Noah's 25 yr old cousin whose finace lives in the West
- Noah's mother - *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper
- Uncle - *Emmanuel Nelson - Uncle of Ethel's Pa - *James Henry Nelson

- Mrs Harry Glancey of Newmarket and son Roy, school teacher - local friends
- 'the boys' - the local men who went west to find work during harvest
- Orville and the rest of the boys - Neighbor Orville *King
- Mr. Merritt - Sadie's school teacher
- Ethel and Noah's friends and neighbors who went to Toronto for the Exhibition:
- Stanley and May (use search box)
- Della, Dora, and Hattie M.
- Gordon *Crowder
- Morin Yorke
- *Mary Smith of Belhaven - friend who visited Ethel in *Huntsville
- Lulu Sheppard - neighbor
- Mr. Prosser's - could be any of the *Prosser families
- Irene and Maud *Bruels - Ethel's old girlfriend
- John Morris - ? (still researching)
- Professor *Dales - frequent visiting minister

Local Polititians: Mr. Armstrong, *Lennox, and Robinette
Mr. Heise - Previous residents, Mr. Heise and family, were in the newspaper travelling through. Not sure if it's the same one Ethel's talking about.

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- *Toronto, Ontario
- Sutton, Ontario
- Udora, Ontario
- Mount Albert, Ontario
- *Newmarket, Ontario
- Brandon, Manitoba
- *Banff, Alberta

- **reciprocity - trade agreement between Canada and the U.S.

Cliches/Phrases/Word Use
- kid
- phone

Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing. If you don't see a label, use the search box at the top of page.
** see Genealogy Notes below

Belhaven. P.O.
Sept - 1911

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

My Dear Noah,
Now for a good long letter
I guess you would miss my letter this
last week. but you will have to forgive
me of that. Im sending a good long one
this week to make up for it. Blue Sunday
"eh" I tell you I was feeling a little blue
last week. I did'nt get you letter until Wed,
I guess I do like, to get letters from a
queer person as you said in your last
letter & (to-day) I saw Mr & Mrs Frank
Terry to-day. I think their daughter is
home from the West. came rathe
unexpectedly. but I guess Welcome "eh"
Mrs Harry Glancey of Newmarket was here
this afternoon. Roy is teaching school at

Mt Albert. He intends studying for a doctor
after next summer holidays. I don't know
where the boys could of have landed that
you hav'nt saw any of them yet. I met a
girl in Newmarket & I said good-day
& her first salute was. I hear you are
going to be hooked up this winter. I says
come on with me if your coming &
on I went, I didnt wish for any particular
chat just then.
Sadie failed hr exams by 2 marks but
Mr Merritt said he thot she could go
on in the fourth form. She is starting
on Monday. Am glad to hear of Veda
going to College. is she going down to
Brandon? also how is Mr Perrault now
hope his trip to Banff was a help to him.
Quite a few from around here were
down to the Ex - Stanley & May. Della
Dora & Hattie M.) Gordon Crowder.
Morin Yorke & some others. don't include
me though. "ha ha"

Say Manuel was up to the office one
day. & he came home & said Noah was
there. & of course he knew it was you. ha
Wish it had of been. We are certainly
having a lively time over reciprocity
Suppose you are up there. I have
been to Hear Mr Armstrong & Lennox
also Robinette. Mr. Heise says "whats
the use of the women coming they
can't vote. Mother was dreaming
of you. thot she had you crying
I told her I would like to see you
cry. ha. ha.
Ursula Cole has been here for a few
days and she and Sadie certainly
made things lively.
Say George Westgarth from Udora came
in here just before tea. & to-night I
have certainly heard of nothing but the
West. I suppose all day to-morrow will

be just the same. Wish you were here
to help me out a little. Edith Draper
called me up over the phone, said she
heard I was going West. & wanted to
know if she could go to. Its just
awful. I hear of it a dozen times
a day. I guess those that don't know
it now are behind the times. eh.
Never mind I will be glad when the
time comes when I can be with
you. then I want be looking so
lonesome. I hope as they are all the
time telling me now. It doesn't
seem so long now. but long enough
"eh" I am glad your Mother is
coming down with you. It will
be her first trip down since she
went West. Wont it. My how nice
it would be if you were just on the
old farm now. A Good time 'eh' we'd have
now.

Uncle is still gaining strength, if he only
keeps on. But he is an old man &
we can't expect him to last long.
Mary Smith is down to Toronto now.
I started this letter on Saturday but
this is Sunday now. It is a very
nice day. we have had some
quite cool weather. Some one
was saying you had a frost
up there. If so did it do
much damage. I hope. not
any way. Pa was to Sutton
yesterday & he heard that
Orivelle & the rest of the boys
had'nt got any work yet
was paying for their board.
I guess they wont think much
of that. "eh"

Lulu Sheppard is going to
H. School. do you remember
the time she came up for
a electric shock. She is a
lively kid, "eh"
People are going home from church
I think I must be a bad a you
for I am not going to S. School
either. Ma & Pa are going up to
Mr Prossers this after noon.
Irene Bruels is home now.
Maud was home for over Sunday
She is working at the lake for
John Morris, Well I was up
to Church to-night. Prof Dales
preached.
George has gone home. he is

a cousin of ours, from
Udora. A scaffold he was
on broke & he fell. & broke his
nose & cut his face all up.
Also wrenched his arm badly
So he is off work. & making
short visits since he began getting
better.
Say I am making quite a lengthy
letter. "eh" There is nothing I would
like better than to see you.
I guess I must close for this
time. with love & x x x
Your Sweetheart Ethel.
I think this must be a queer
letter from queer person, too. "eh".

Genealogy Notes

Genealogy Note 1: Cousin George from Udora

Ethel mentions Cousin George in 2 places in this letter and at first I wasn't sure if she was talking about the same one...
- pg 3 - George ??? from Udora came in here just before tea
- pg 6 - George has gone home. He is a cousin of ours from Udora. A scaffold he was on broke & he fell...

Since I didn't recall any of Ethel's relatives living in Udora, I tried to do an Ancestry.ca search. The problem is that it only lets me search for people, not places. Very inconvenient as I've run into this before.

However, this week's Newmarket Era mentions a scaffolding accident - one of many back then - and although the names weren't familiar, I clipped it out:

The Newmarket Era. September 1, 1911 - Page: 2 of 8

At Aurora on Monday of last week,
two Udora boys, Alf and Drury West-garthe, while putting cornice on a
house they were building, fell with
the scaffold to the ground and took
the consequences of a very quick stop.
Alf jumped up without a scratch but
Drury's face looked like the aftermath
of a scrap with Jim Jeffries, but
we are pleased to say nothing more
serious than scratches and bruises
were experienced. -- Journal.

Of course, the problem with the above snippet is that it mentions Alf and Drury Westgarthe and not cousin George ???, whose last name I couldn't make out from Ethel's writing. But with the light bulb flashing above my head, I looked at Ethel's writing again and sure enough, she had written George Westgarth from Udora, although another check on the family tree still didn't match the name.

So, I did a wide search for a George Westgarth from Udora and a George D Westgarth came up with Ellen Greenwood as his mother. Since Ethel's maternal grandmother is a Greenwood, I checked for Ellen on the family tree and there she was... sister of Sarah Elizabeth Greenwood, Ethel's grandma. Which meant Ethel's mom, Ida Amelia, and George D were cousins. Good to know, but it still didn't match Alf and Drury Westgarthe in the newspaper scaffolding accident. However, a search for George D's birth record confirmed his name was George Drury Westgarth.

Ethel doesn't mention George's brother Alf, but she does say that George's face looked like he'd had lost a round with the reigning boxing champ. It also adds more cousins to the family tree.

Genealogy Note 2: The Franklin Terry's

Ethel writes that she saw Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Terry and that she thinks, "their daughter is home from the West. came rather unexpectedly. but I guess Welcome "eh".

Obviously Ethel and Noah share something that they're not telling us, but I'll tell you all I found out... We first encountered the Franklin Terry's when Noah made a brief mention of their son, Manford Terry, who is Noah's cousin on the Draper side. Manford was married to Etta May Prosser and they lived near Belhaven, North Gwillimbury Township.

In 1911, Manford is 30 yrs old and he has 2 sisters, Edna May is 28 yrs old, and Olive Gertrude is 12 yrs old. Their sibling, William Burr, died at the age of 12 from erysipelas
which is a skin infection caused by acute streptococcus bacteria.

Edna May is the daughter mentioned in this week's letter. In January, 1908, she married George Robert Fogg, a saddle merchant from Togo, Saskatchewan, who was visiting relatives in the North Gwillimbury area. George took Edna May back West where he lived in the same community as his parents and a couple siblings. Since his father was a harness maker, and George was a saddle merchant buyer, I suspect he worked for his father although that's not written on the Census records.

I found a birth record for George and Edna's 1st child - a son born December 1908. But then I can't find anything else until the 1916 Saskatchewan census which shows them living in Saskatoon, SK, with a 2nd child, a daughter born in 1913. George is a wholesale saddle buyer and the rest of his family seem to be out in Alberta.

I have searched dozens of census records and cannot find George and Edna on the 1911 Canada census anywhere. So either they didn't register, their records are missing, or their records are so badly misspelled that the ancestry computers aren't picking them up. I even did a 30 page line-by-line search for them in the Togo, Sk area without results. So I suppose we'll have to wait and see if Noah knows where they are.

Genealogy Note 3: Reciprocity

Ethel tells Noah that "...we are having a lively time over reciprocity. Suppose you are up there."

It's federal election time and the newspapers are filled with the debate over the trade agreement called Reciprocity. Here are a couple samples...

The Newmarket Era. September 1, 1911 - Page: 7 of 8

The Newmarket Era. September 1, 1911 - Page: 2 of 8

The Newmarket Era. Sept 1, 1911 - Pg: 2

The Newmarket Era. September 1, 1911 - Page: 5 of 8

1911 Courtship: June 15 Dear Noah

4/14/2013

Lightning Bolt captured at Draper's Acres, Montmartre, Saskatchewan, Canada, August 2010 by Anita Mae Draper

Although this photo was taken 99 yrs after Ethel writes about it in her letter, electrical storms still have a whop of power behind them. In this week's genealogy notes, I'm posting some of the newspaper articles that talk about that week of June 1911 because what Ethel didn't know is that a tornado whipped through the area to the north and west of her... within an hour's drive by today's standards.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21 (born 31 May 1890)
Dated:  June, 1911 (from the content, I've deduced it was written on June 15th)
Addressed to: Mr. N. C. Draper, Grand Coulee, Sask. (To my Dear Noah)
Mailed from:  Belhaven, Ont.
Relationship:  Courting
Profession:  Farmer's Daughter
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, blue 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 turned the paper and written across the short width and turned both pages into one long page. Hence this letter has only 3 pages.

People/places mentioned in this letter:
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- Pa -  *James Henry Nelson
- our man - *hired man
- *Sheppard's - neighbors
- *Crowder's - neighbors
- Morell's - neighbors
- John Warner
- Dora *Mahoney - Ethel's neighbor and school friend
- Hattie and Stella - more school friends

Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing.
** see Genealogy Notes below

Belhaven June, 11

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

To my Dear Noah,-
Rec'd your
letter last night. Sadie and
I were up to the office, and
had to run nearly all the way
home, to get out off the rain,
Pa and our man were up
to Keswick. They saw 4 fires
coming home. Say do you have
such thunder storms up there
They seam to do so much

damage. The thunder last night was just
a continuous roar.
The masons have been here working all
last week. We are having a bee to-morrow
getting the timber home. It was shipped to Keswick.
You ask if we thot the barns were set
on fire. We heard Morells said they thot
Sheppards set them on fire. Of course it
looked rather suspicious because we decided
that we wouldn't sell to them. And
the day of Morell's fire, Shepard & Morelle
had a lawsuit and sheppard had to pay
Morell $600.00. But we never have had
any idea how ours was started.
I started this letter this forenoon so here
I am again to finish up. We were up to
S. School and since we came home there
has been a very heavy wind & thunder
storm we couldn't see over half way
to Crowders. It blowed one of apple trees
all the way across the field, blowed
the fence nearly quite a bit all down. The big tree
between our place and the corner is partly down.
Our harvest tree was blowed down too.

Edna Crowder & Sadie are going to sing
at Belhaven to-night.
Pa is just going to hire men to
work at the barn, and John Warrner
is going to oversee. Say! will you
have to board the men. I guess
some body will have some work.
We cooked for 16 nearly all last
week. Well they tell me now it was
an elm that blew across the field.
It is just lovely out now. every thing
seems so fresh.
Saw Dora & Hattie to-day.
Stella has been up this last week.
left her old hubby by to keep batch.
Hope you were successful
in your base ball game. I guess
I must ring off for this time. Just
wait until I see you. and I guess I'll
have enough to say. "eh" Love from your Sweetheart
xxxxxxxxxx

Genealogy Notes

The weather in Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States was horrid in 1911. Perhaps not the worst on record, but bad enough to have everyone talking about it... including an Aussie newspaper I've posted below. It seemed every time I turned a page in the June 16th edition The Newmarket Era reports of the tornado, electrical storms, damage and destruction were waiting. I've transcribed some of the more illegible ones.

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 - Page: 6

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 - Page: 6 (Under Belhaven)

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. Australia) Monday 12 June 1911 Page 7

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 - Page: 5

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 - Page: 7

BELHAVEN.

Mr. James Nelson has started at
his wall and intends framing as soon
as possible.
The thunder-storm and the wind on
Sunday night did a great deal of
damage. The lightning struck Mr.
Ezra King's barn, tearing off a few
boards. The wind took some of Mr.
John Brook's hen house coop off and
broke the telephone wires.
...
The Bethel people had a bee on
Wednesday and fixed up the church.
Since the storm, they need another.

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 Pg 3

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 Pg 6

Great Electric Storm,
About ten o'clock last Saturday
morning thick clouds stretched across
the heavens like a pall and the dark-
ness of night settled down upon us,
followed by a thunderstorm and a
downpour of rain. Again on Satur-
day night lightning was almost contin-
uous and the most spectacular for
many a day. Vivid forks descended,
followed by crashing peals of thun-
der and accompanied by more heavy
rains.
Farmers in Whitechurch tells us that
they could see four fires burning at
once and information since received,
continues the report, Fred Ham-
shaw's barn in Pickering Township,
was burned to the ground, with prac-
tically all the contents; Mr. Wagg,
near Stouffville, lost his barn and
other outbuildings; another barn was
destroyed in Vaughan Township and
one in King Tp. Jas. Stewart, a
Scarboro farmer, had a mare and colt
struck and instantly killed.
During another storm on Sunday
afternoon Wellington Curtis of Ket-
tleby had a similar experience, los-
ing a mare and colt, and another
farmer in the same neighborhood had
a cow killed by lightning. But the
storm Sunday afternoon appears to
have been more severe at Roache's
Point and Orchard Beach. Capt. El-
din says the storm on Lake Simcoe
was the worst he ever knew. Five
large boats were blown down on Dr.
Westley's lot at the Point, nearly half
of the pine trees in Mr. Edgar's
grove were levelled, part of a veran-
dah was torn off a cottage at the
Point, about a hundred trees were
blown down in the old Dodge deer
park as well as a long stretch of the
Idzh? cedar fence; a windmill was down
and a barn nearby and a number of
good trees were blown across the road
way along the Orchard Beach shore.
Mr. Porter's boat was at anchor in
the bay and had some of the rigging
torn off. Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Wat-
kin was out in the storm and had an
exciting experience, as well as Mr.
G. A. Bills?, who went to the rescue.

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 - Page: 6

Rev. Hugh Ross and Ross Milne es-
caped serious injury Sunday by the
falling of a wind mill at Richard
Young's, caused by the wind storm.

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 Pg 1

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 Pg 6

The Newmarket Era. June 16, 1911 - Page: 8

1911 Courtship: Apr 23 Dear Noah

12/31/2012

After stopping for a week of Christmas, we're continuing with the 1911 Courtship Letters of Noah Draper and Ethel Nelson. You can find an index to all the letters at Genealogy Posts Index.

Ethel seems out of sorts this week. She says she's writing the letter before church and Sunday School instead of after, which may account for some of the rush, but she either skips or repeats words. It isn't like her to have this many mistakes in a missive. Check my Genealogy Notes below for more thoughts on this.

Author of Letter: Ethel Isabell Nelson, age 21
Dated:  Apr 23, 1911
Addressed to: Mr. N. C. Draper... 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 6.5 inches, folded in half. Ethel has written with a front and back page, but inside, the letter is written across the long width and down the 6.5 inches so that the paper must be turned to read the inside.

People/Places mentioned in this letter:
- Uncle John - too many Uncle John's to figure out which one she means
- *Veda Perrault - Noah's 16 yr old niece in Regina
- *Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- **John Sheppard (not the William Sheppard who tried to buy their farm)
- **Ross

*Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more posts on this person.
** See Genealogical Notes below

Belhaven. Apr. 23. 11

Mr. N C Draper,
Grand Coulee,

Dear Noah, --
Well another Sunday
is here, and it is just a lovely
day. the dust is even flying.
Now I don't believe you could
say that (in truth) about your
roads.
Am writing this letter
in forenoon. for I find when I
wait until later. there is S. School
& church that I am for ever being
stopped by something. also we are
looking for Uncle John's up to-day.
Say: here is this Sadie now. I just wish

you were here to help me alittle with her. I think her and
Veda should be to-gether. How is Veda getting along at college
I was over to John Sheppard's Friday night to a party given
by them for Ross. We certainly had a fine time. They drove
over for us. (so kind eh) Ross is going to South America for three
years. He gets his B.A. in June.
Prof H. C. Kent was here on Friday night. he is a character
reader. he read Sadie's head. he is coming back some day
and we are all going to have our heads read. What do you
say to it?
I am just going to tell you a little trick Crowder's did -
there sheep were on the road, also ours we missed one so we
phoned over there to see if he had got with theres. They said no.
So pa went to look for it, and he was told by a man that
Gordon drove our sheep in with his. Gordon told that one of there
sheep were with ours. and that he was going to have one our ours.
So we are one sheep less, for we never had one of theres. He said that man errorred.

Pa saw the sheep and ask him what
about it and he said it had never been
on the road.
Well Noah the time is passing but it
seems to be very slow indeed. I think
I would like to push the calender
around a little if I could. if it
would start you down here.
Hope you are having a good time
as I am. but I think I would have
better if you were here! I all I
can do is wait until you come eh.
Monday morning.
Here I am this morning before breakfast
Sadie is going to take this with her. and I
have to take her to Uncles. We were up
to S.S. & church. Sadie sang at church.
Well Noah I think I could write you a
good many more words. but you would
think I had gone crazy. just wait until
you come. I close with all a sweethearts love.
X X X Bye - Bye from Ethel. XXX

Genealogy Notes

Having read the letter, what do you think? Do you think Ethel is agitated by her neighbours, the Crowders? She calls it a trick and now her family is one sheep less because of the encounter. Yet in the preceding letters, the Crowders appeared to be very good friends with Ethel's family. Which makes me wonder of their future relationship.

It took me awhile to find out who John Shepperd and Ross was. At first, I thought it was the Mr. Shepperd who tried to buy the Nelson farm, and I didn't understand why Ethel would go to a party there when the men didn't part on good terms. However, in checking back to 1911 Courtship: Mar 5 I saw that was a Mr. William Sheppard from Michigan.

So I searched the digital library of Ethel's local newspaper and found tidbit:

The Newmarket Era. April 28, 1911 - Page: 6 of 8

Our good friend John Sheppard,
Esq., Belhaven, was gloriously full
of fatherly pride the other day. His
son, Ross, 22 years of age, has pass-
ed through his university career with
flying colors. After winning prizes
and scholarships year by year, he has
passed his final, winning a scholar-
ship entitling him to three years spe-
cial study in astronomical science at
Lick University, California, and up
among the Andes at Santiago, South
America. He also gets a large fi-
nancial consideration. Ross must be
a brainy chap.

So that explains the party Ethel went to for Ross.

Because the newspaper article is so hard to read, I wasn't sure of the name of the university Ross was attending, but it looked like 'Lick' so that's what I googled, and here's what I found...

Lick Observatory, Mt Hamilton, California ca.1910

The Link Observatory has been part of the University of California since 1888. For more information about this distinguished research observatory, check this website:http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/about_LO/

1911 Courtship: Sep 10 Dear Noah

Genealogy Notes

1911 Courtship: June 15 Dear Noah

Genealogy Notes

1911 Courtship: Apr 23 Dear Noah

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