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
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 |
| 2. 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" |
| 3. 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 |
| 4 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. |
| 5. 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" |
| 6. 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 |
| 7 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:
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.
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.
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...
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
