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1911 Courtship: Aug 28 Dear Ethel

10/21/2013

 
1911 Canada's Golden Harvest
Postcard c1911 Young man harvesting with horse drawn binder and a man carrying grain stooks. Published by The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Courtesy of Peel Library, University of Alberta Postcard Collection.
Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: Aug 28/11
Addressed to: Miss E.Nelson, Belhaven, Ont., My Dearest Ethel 
Mailed from: Grand Coulee, Sask.
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, but looks grey in places and pencil-like in others.
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, written in booklet form, but Noah has written the pages in this order: 1, 3, 2, 4. 


People/places mentioned in this letter:

- Mother - *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper, Noah's widowed mother 
- Steward - Noah's cousin, **Stewart Trueman Draper of Indian Head, Sask
- **George Draper - Stewart's brother from North Gwillimbury, Ontario
- Uncle - *Uncle Emanuel Nelson is an uncle of Ethel's Pa
- 3 men for stooking (stooks are shown in postcard above)
- well-diggers
- plasterers
- carpenters
- Regina - nearest city to Grand Coulee

Cliche/Phrasing:
"Will ring off..." - reference to new telephone system where the caller must turn the handle to sound a bell that makes a ringing sound so the Operator knows the caller is finished his call


* 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
Grand Coulee, Sask.
August. 28/11
Miss E. Nelson,
        Belhaven, Ont.
My Dearest Ethel; -
     Received your letter Friday
and was glad to hear you
were still able to be around.
     Hope this may find you as
well as this leaves me at 
present.
     Well Ethel I have not started
harvest yet I got out to the
field Sat. morning when 
it started to rain so had 
to quit and will start again
Tuesday if nothing hapens.
     George Draper is up at
Stewards now got a card from

Picture
him Sat. he is comeing up as
soon as Steward gets thro
harvest (I wish it were you)
for a hunt.
     Say do you know where 
all the fellows went to from
down there? I havent saw
any of them yet!
     Well the well diggers are
away at last but they didnt
get water that hole turned 
out to be no good but it
cost me $375. to find it out.
     The plasters were here
and put on the first coat
and will be back on Wed.
to finish up. the carpenters
are here now or are supposed
to be. it will take about

Picture
2 weeks yet to finish it up.
     Well Ethel I guess Mother
is going down East with me
this winter but I dont think
she will come back as soon
eh.
     I am expecting the machine
agent out this afternoon to
start my binder have not
git it going yet.
     Was in Regina Sat for
a piece for the binder and
stayed all night & came
back yesteraday. say I will
be glad when the harvest
is over I have 3 men for
stooking and they cant do
anything while it is wet &
I dont like them laying around.

Picture
Well I hope your Uncle is better
by this time, sickness is an
awful thing. There is quite
a few sick around here now.
     Say there is over 500 men
in Regina waiting for harvest
some of them have been
here 3 weeks I guess they must
be tired of it by this time.
for I know how it goes only
I am waiting for something
else. eh. & it cant come to
soon for it seems lonesome
out here now. far more so
than before last winter.
     Well dear I guess this is
about all for this time
so I will ring off. so Bye Bye.
Write long letters to your lazy
lover.    N.C.D xxxxxxxxxx



Genealogy Notes

In this week's letter Noah mentions that George Draper is at Steward's place. Noah is talking about his 1st cousin, Stewart Truman Draper who farms in the Indian Head area east of Regina, and Stewart's brother, George, who lives in North Gwillimbury Township - the same township where Ethel lives. 

Stewart brought his immediate family west, leaving the rest of them in North Gwillimbury.  When Noah says that George is now out west with Stewart, I wanted to know if George had also brought his family out west. 

George Milburn Draper was born on 28 August 1880, 4 yrs after Stewart's birth, which makes George 31 yrs old at the time Noah wrote this letter.

In 1908, George married Eliza Alberta Hamilton whom I suspected was a sister of Stewart's wife, Bertha Hamilton. When I couldn't find evidence of that relationship, I went back a generation to see if the wives were cousins. I couldn't find a relationship there, either. However, I noticed that Bertha's father, Robert Hamilton, and Eliza Alberta's father, David Hamilton, were born 5 years apart in Nova Scotia. That was too much of a coincidence not to investigate.

I found an 1861 Canada West census with a Hamilton family that looked similar to the one I was seeking. At that time, Canada West was Ontario as the real west was under exploration and still run by the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Picture
1861 Canada census showing George Hamilton and Jane Patchell and their 5 children, 4 of whom were born in Nova Scotia with the youngest, John (from Image 1214) being born in Canada West/Ontario.
I realized I'd found the right family when the census jived with the following information I'd already collected:
Eliza's Father:  David
David's Birth Place: 
David's Father: George
David's Mother: Jane

Bertha's Father: Robert
Robert's Birth Place: 
Robert's Father: Unknown

My records
David b 1845
Nova Scotia
George b 1801
Jane b 1807

Robert b 1840
Nova Scotia

1861 CW census
David b 1845
Nova Scotia
George b 1800
Jane b 1802

Robert: b 1840
Nova Scotia

The above chart has enough compelling evidence to show me that David and Robert are brothers, that their father is George Hamilton b 1800 in Ireland, and their mother was Jane (Patchell) also born in Ireland. I'd like to add that I clicked over to the next census image/page to see if there were any other family members and there was - the youngest in the family - John Hamilton, whom I added to the above screenshot, was born in 1847, 2 yrs after David. 

I now knew that Bertha and Eliza were Hamilton cousins who married two brothers, Stewart and George Draper. It also meant that I now had a whole lot more people to add to the family tree when you include all the brothers and sisters as well as 200 yrs of descendants. Plus, I can research the Irish records with the names George Hamilton and Jane Patchell. 

Getting back to George and Eliza, although I couldn't find a newspaper snippet, their marriage record shows they were married 23 Sep 1908 in North Gwillimbury. 

The 1911 Canada census finds the couple living next door to his parents, Stephen Draper and Martha Barnhart, and his sister Edith, all whom we've met before in the Genealogy notes of 1911 Courtship May 7.  

Picture
1911 Canada Census showing Stephen Draper and his wife, Martha Barnhart, and daughter, Edith, followed by son George, and his wife, Eliza Hamilton. (The transcription only shows four names at a time)
According to this 1911 census, George and Eliza don't have any children. Although one other Ancestry.com family tree shows George and Eliza with a girl born in 1911, my search of the newspapers and records, including the 1916 census record, didn't produce any mention of live or still births until 1921 when a little one-year-old boy appears with them. 

So to answer my question if George went west alone, I found these snippets. The first one mentions that George, or Geo. as they call him in short form, is leaving for the west, and the 2nd one states that Geo. Draper has left Keswick for the west.
Picture
The Newmarket Era. August 11, 1911
Picture
The Newmarket Era. August 18, 1911
Since Aug 1911 had a huge demand for harvest workers, I can only assume that the above mentioned men have gone west to find work and perhaps have a look-see around while they're there. And where else would George go but to help out his brother, Stewart.

I'm looking forward to Noah's letter where he next mentions cousin George so we can perhaps learn what he thinks of the new Canada West.


1911 Courtship: July 23 Dear Ethel

7/21/2013

 
Picture
1910 Regina Exhibition Livestock Grounds, Valentine and Sons' Publishing Co. Ltd. Courtesy of the University of Saskatchewan Library, Special Collections.
The above photo from http://saskhistoryonline.ca  shows the numerous barns housing the livestock exhibits on the Exhibition grounds. As a former exhibitor of our goats, I've been in the livestock barns too many times to count, and even camped in them while we exhibited. Unfortunately, the barns in the image were devasted by fire and the ones I'm used to seeing are huge window-less metal structures which do the job of keeping the animals sheltered, but lack the beauty and charm of the original ones. 
Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: July 23 (1911)
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, Dear Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed to: Huntsville, Ont
Mailed from:  Grand Coulee (Sask)
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink which lightens as the letter lengthens. 
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, written on front and back like a book, but inside, paper is turned sideways and written across short length and straight down both pages. 

People/Places mentioned in this letter:

Ma - Noah's mother, *Sarah Sophia Deverell
*Elva Jane Nelson - Ethel's cousin, currently living in Indian Head, Sask
*Sadie - Ethel's 16 yr old sister back home in Belhaven
Manuel - *Emanuel, Ethel's 6 yr old brother back home in Belhaven

**Dominion Exhibition
*Regina, Sask
the head - *Indian Head, Sask, located east of Regina on Hwy #1


Phrases/Cliches in use at the time:
- "going to get hooked up"


* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more on posts on the above people.
**More info under Genealogical Notes




Picture
Grand Coulee July 23
Miss. E. Nelson,
        Huntsville. Ont.
Dear Ethel, -
         Received your welcome 
letter last week and was glad
to hear you were having 
a good time. Hope it may last.
   Say you want to have lots
of boat riding this summer
for you are apt to be a
long time up here with
out seeing much water here.
     Well we have four
carpenters and two well
diggers here so you see
Mother has plenty to do.
have sent down to Manitoba

Picture
for a girl & I certainly hope she
comes for it is to much for mother.
     Am going into Regina to-morrow
to get a furnace and see about the
plasterers. so you see we will
be buisy right along untill
after harvest or rather threshing.
     Well I suppose you know
wheather Sadie has passed
her examinations by this time.
dont think there is much danger
of her failing.
     Dominion exhibition starts
in Regina Monday next and 
lasts untill the 13th of August 
dont think I will be able to spend
muchtime at it tho for it is
harder work to keep the other
men going than it is to work
My self.
     Suppose that new barn is
about finished by this time
or at least the rough work. 
     Oh say I dont know wheather
I told you I saw Elva at the
head on the 18th or not. she was
telling me she heard I was going
to get hooked up. Ha. Ha.

Picture
Well. who in the world was
telling that Manuel was
trying to set a hen's tail
on fire. (poor hen) I guess
she would go some. Eh.
     Say do you know any 
one who is coming up to
the exhibition or do they
all think it is out of their
reach and to God forsaken
a country to travel in. Ha. Ha.
     Well I guess I will have to
close for this time wish I
were there to take you
out for a row. when you
get this but you will not
be far away in my thoughts.
    Well bye. Bye. Write a long
letter to your little Lover.
                         xxxxxxxx N.C.D.


Genealogy Notes

Picture
Picture
In this week's letter, Noah mentions that the Dominion Exhibition will start on Monday.  The above images are taken from the 1911 Dominion Exposition Regina Prize List which I found as a free download PDF at University of Alberta Libraries.

However, it notes the Regina Fair as the Dominion Exposition instead of an exhibition.  In all my years, I've always known it as an exhibition or fair, although fair is usually reserved for smaller locations and exhibition for provincial capitals - like Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, etc.  I checked dictionary.com and it states:
        expositon - a large-scale exhibition or show

Calling the 1911 Exhibition an Exposition fits then, because it was the year Regina hosted the Dominion Fair - a privilege awarded annually from 1879 to 1913 to Canada's biggest fairs. This meant that exhibitors from all over Canada vied for the chance to win not just a ribbon that said Provincial Exhibition, but a medal confirming the exhibitor won it at the Dominion Exhibition.  As you can see from the lettering below, even the organizers weren't sure if is was an exhibition or exposition. 

Picture
Obverse: 1911 bronze Dominion Exhibition Regina Medal. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1979-13-232M
Picture
Reverse: 1911 bronze medal donated by the Ontario Sheep Breeders' Ass'n for THE BEST ___ WON BY ____ Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1979-13-232M
Although cash prizes were handed out, the top breeder for each breed would receive a medal like the one above which were sponsored by commercial associations, like the Ontario Sheep Breeders, who used the Dominion Exhibition for promotion.  The above medal isn't engraved with a breed of sheep nor a winner. The medals would have been struck ahead of time, but sometimes there aren't enough exhibitors in category so a medal isn't awarded. 
 
Much like the Olympic medals are different for each game's location, so are the Dominion Exhibition medals.

On the right is the style of medal handed out at the 1904 Dominion of Canada Exhibition. Unlike the 1911 Regina medal, this one comes with a ribbon and badge for hanging on your chest. 

I like the Winnipeg one, except for the hole they've drilled into the medal to enable it to hang. Truthfully, it's hard to find medals without a hole, but as a coin and medal collector, I tend to steer clear of the holed ones unless they were manufactured in that fashion, such as this one. 

(Click the image for a larger version.)


Picture
“DOMINION OF CANADA EXHIBITION 1904 WINNIPEG” brass medal with ribbon and badge.
Exhibitions are made up of Livestock and Homecraft Exhibits, a Midway with rides, games, etc, and a commercial Trade Show where you can buy anything from homemade jams to farm equipment. 

The on-line McCord Museum has a brief write-up about the trade shows on their site, which states in part,  "Agricultural fairs and industrial exhibitions were an excellent opportunity to reach huge numbers of people." I always find interesting images at the McCord Museum, but I never imagined I'd find an engraving of a late 19th/early 20th century trade show booth for a corset manufacturer...

Picture
1850-1885 engraving by John Henry Walker showing The Crompton Corset Company trade booth. Courtesy of © McCord Museum
The Crompton Corset Company which was located in Toronto, Ontario displayed its line of corsets at trade fairs and exhibitions across Canada. 


I wonder if Noah passed a booth like this at Regina's Dominion Exhibition?
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