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Sep 1912: Letter from George Draper

5/25/2014

 
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

Shannon Taylor Vannatter: The Dipper & Giveaway

2/26/2012

 

This week we welcome Shannon Taylor Vannatter to Author Memories

Picture
Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a stay-at-home mom and pastor’s wife. When not writing, she runs circles in the care and feeding of her husband, their ten-year-old son, and church congregation.
Home is a central Arkansas zoo with two charcoal gray cats, a chocolate lab, and three dachshunds in weenie dog heaven. If given the chance to clean house or write, she’d rather write. Her goal is to hire Alice from the Brady Bunch.


The Dipper
by Shannon Taylor Vannatter

Pieces of my grandparents’ lives cluttered my aunt’s back porch. Grandma had been gone three years, while only twelve months had passed since we lost Grandpa.

On this sweltering July day in rural Arkansas, a somber uneasiness filled the sticky air, as my mother and her siblings gathered to sort through sixty-years-worth of possessions. Mostly kitchen items, I didn’t want anything or feel entitled to the belongings. Yet, I hovered close to offer my mother moral support.

Unwilling to end up never speaking again, because so-and-so got this or didn’t get that, a caring hesitation settled over the siblings.

One of my aunts picked up a pie pan. “Does anyone want this?”

No one jumped on the offer.

“Didn’t you get that for Mom,” Mama said. “You should have it.”

The others agreed in unison.

“What about this?” My uncle pointed to a large platter.

A few moments of silence followed.

“If no one else wants it, I’d like to have it,” my uncle said.

“You can have it,” sibling voices blended.

“How about these old dippers?” My uncle held up two oversized dusty ladles.

I didn’t want anything, but at the sight of the stained, dented aluminum utensils, memories flooded my soul. Unaware I wanted anything, suddenly I wanted that dipper with every fiber of my being. Wanted it so bad, my heart hurt. Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them away, determined to be strong for my mother.

“If no one else wants it, I’d like to have one,” my aunt said.

A hush hung in the air and my chest felt as if it would explode. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for someone else to speak. No one did.

With effort, I cleared the lump from my throat. “If no one else wants the other one, I’d like to have it.”

My uncle handed me the dipper. Tears blurred my vision.

“What are they anyway?” one of my younger cousins asked.

I pulled myself together. “At the old farm house, Grandma and Grandpa had a well. When we’d come for summer visits, Grandpa would fill a big black and white speckled bowl with water and put it in the sink with a dipper in it. Everyone drank from it all day long.”

“Eww.” My cousin made a disgusted face. “From the same dipper?”

 “And we never got sick. It was the purest, coldest water.” At that moment, I could almost taste it trickling down my throat. “We’d go home to Georgia and I’d make Mama put a bowl of tap water and a soup ladle in the sink. It wasn’t cold enough and never was the same.”

“Why was Grandma and Grandpas’ water so cold?” my cousin asked.

Out of my area of expertise, I shrugged.

“Well water comes from deep in the ground, so it stays cold,” my uncle said.

Made perfect sense.

The day continued, with numerous other items offered and claimed, and no one mad or greedy.

That night, I stared at my new treasure and tried to explain to my husband the feelings the sight of the banged up dipper had evoked.

“I don’t know why I wanted it so bad or what I’ll do with it.”

He shrugged. “Clean it up, put some flowers in it, and hang it on the wall.”
Picture
Wash it? Coated in dust from my grandparents’ house, I love it as is. For months, the dipper sat on the counter before finding a sentimental home. It now decorates the top of my refrigerator with a sugar bowl missing a handle, and a chipped creamer dish my parents received as wedding gifts.

I've never washed it. Now my own dust encases that of my grandparents and every time I notice it, warm memories wash over me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY!
Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Mar 4th
to be entered in a draw for a copy of 
Shannon Taylor Vannatter's
Rodeo Dust
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodeo Dust, Barbour Books, Available now

Picture
Ad exec, Rayna Landers meets bull rider, Clay Warren at the State Fair of Texas. While Rayna thinks she’s content solo, Clay longs for marriage and family. Though poised to win his third world championship, his ranch is in a slump. Clay convinces his publicist to hire her advertising firm in a last-ditch effort to keep his employees and lasso her heart. 

Soon the city girl is on the ride of her life, until the rodeo unearths buried memories from her past. Clay sees her through the trauma, but an injury and his stubborn determination to get back in the hypothetical saddle threatens their budding relationship. Can they rely on God to find their common ground or will they draw a line in the rodeo dust that neither will cross?

Read the first chapter

Rodeo Dust is the first in a series of three Texas rodeo books. All are set in Aubrey, Dallas, & Fort Worth Texas. Characters participate in rodeos at the Historic Fort Worth Stockyard’s Cowtown Coliseum.

Rodeo Dust is available in paperback and e-book at http://www.barbourbooks.com Rodeo Hero releases in March 2012
Rodeo Ashes releases in August 2012

Shannon's debut novel, White Roses won the 2011 Inspirational Readers Choice Award in the short contemporary category. The 18th Annual Heartsong Awards named Vannatter 3rd Favorite New Author, and White Roses #1 and White Doves #8 in the contemporary category. The Arkansas Democrat Three Rivers Edition voted Vannatter one of 20 to Watch in 2011.
Shannon's books are available at:
Barbour Books,
Kathy's Book Nook in Heber Springs, AR,
The Bible House in Searcy, AR, Amazon,
and christianbook.com.

Learn more about Shannon and her books at http://shannonvannatter.com 
and check out her real life romance blog at http://shannonvannatter.com/blog/

Connect with her on Facebook: facebook.com/shannontaylorvannatter  
and Twitter: @stvauthor

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