L E T T E R S
from
C A N A D A
Backstairs
Gossip
from
Saskatchewan
1 8 9 2 / 1
8 9 3
Letters from Canada 1892 to 1893
The following letters were written to my grandmother Martha Palmer
(nee Morgan) by her friend and namesake Martha Pritchard.?? They had obviously been in domestic service
together just prior to the start of the correspondence, in the area of
Hay-on-Wye, which is on the borders of Herefordshire, in England,
with Wales, in an area we call ?The Golden Valley?.? At the time they would have been in their
late teens or early twenties.
Martha Pritchard then obtained a post with the Humphreys family at ?Cannington Manor, Assiniboia-North West Territories - Canada,
(now in Saskatchewan).? It was some 40 miles from
Moosomin, in what is now the Moose Mountain Provincial Park area.? This is not the
town named Assiniboia today, which exists further to the south west, but the
province which was later merged into Saskatchewan.
At almost the same time grandmother obtained a post with a Dr.
Palmer (no relation) in Mortlake, London.
The correspondence began in May 1892 upon Martha Pritchard's arrival
at Cannington Manor.? The photostats,
which we have, are of letters written between May 1892 and October 1893.? The last letter shows that Martha had completed
her year of service and had moved to the home of her uncle - Thomas Greenow
(her mother's brother) - in New
York State.?? She was then looking for another position in
that area, and we have no idea what became of her after that.
The originals of the letters were presented to the Dominion Archivist
by my uncle, who was lecturing in Canada, and
entered into the Public Archives of Canada in 1974.? Canadian National Archive - Reference MIKAN 102097.
JOHN PALMER
Cannington
Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
May 22nd
1892
My
Dear Namesake,
???????? I fully promised you a letter by Mayfair,
but I did not arrive here till the 13th of May and we cannot post but every
Monday, so I did not understand that in time for the first post.? So I sent this in time for 2nd.? I send it to Mrs Watkins the butcher in case
you have left Cusup, because a letter is about 16 days.? I hope you are getting on all right.? I am quite well.? We had a very long passage - 12 days on sea,
I was very sick for 3 days and then I enjoyed it most splendid after I got
better. We were 27 girls in our party and 6 young men under our chaplain. The
matron was very kind to us she gave us plenty of apples, oranges, and lemons
and candies.
???????? I cannot tell you much about the
country yet. Moosomin is a horrid place but I am 40 miles from there. I am not
far from Mr. Moore I think I shall like alright by & by. There is no chapel
for miles but there is a beautiful church 2 miles off and we drive a whole gang
in the wagon every Sunday service at 7pm.
The prairie is beautiful now. You can go for miles and gather flowers of
colours.? Mrs. Humphreys has been in England for
3 months and is not coming home till August. There are 10 children, only 3 in
school 5 sons and 6 daughters. The eldest daughter is going to be married the
first day of June, so I am just in time for that.?? I shall be thinking about you the 6th day of
June. I was thinking about you all the May Fair days. You are 8 hours before
us. It is much warmer here by day and cooler by night than in England.
One thing I hope to save a little shoe leather here - no roads only paths out
and all boards in the house. The Humphreys have only come from England 4
years. This house is built since then. It is very large. There is 12 rooms on
the first floor and 13 on the second - I mean bedrooms. It is built like a
ship. There is a square opening up the middle and the landing leading all round
to the rooms. It is very pretty to look down. The boss was a ship builder.
People are not particular about anything here. Knives can go for a week
uncleaned. Everyone cleans their own boots & everyone makes their own bed.
All the hobby here is to get varieties to eat. They live far better here than
in the old country. There is some Red Indians about here. They call their wives
skwas & the children papoose I intend coming home in 2 years time if I am
spared but it is a very long journey. It is 2660 miles of water. If there is
anything done wrong they say it is botched, and I guess they say for nearly
everything. Have you heard anything about Johnny. There is a lot of English
lads out here. I will tell you how I shall like it next letter. They are all
very homely here with me. There is no gentry here - all of one class. Please
remember me to the gardener and Mrs. Watkins. Trusting you and William are all
right. I conclude with kindest love and every good wish.
Yours lovingly
Martha
Sunday
July 17th??? ????????? ???????? ?????????????Cannington Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
My
Dear Namesake
I cannot tell
you how pleased I was to get your letter. I saw Mortlake postmark. I could not
think where that was. I had quite forgot your writing. I had your letter July
15 th. I have only had one letter from home since I have been here. Well I must
tell you I don't like this country much for it is so dreadful quiet. There is
nothing going on. It is a nice country as far as that goes but there is not
many people about. No chapel - no sunday school.? I have to go to church. We go every Sunday
about 6 or a dozen of us in the wagon. It is too hot to walk. The church is two
& half mile.? First time I was
driving I thought I was going to break my neck. There is no roads here like England -
only like roadways across a field. They are called trails. Every driving affair
is different here. All the seats seem to work on springs till the jogging is
less felt. I quite enjoy it now every Sunday. We have been very busy spring
cleaning as they call, but I told them it was past spring cleaning - it was
summer cleaning. I never saw any house in such a filthy state - never one thing
- they are not very particular. The knives had not been cleaned for 6 weeks.
This family are from London.
They have only been out here 4 years this October. The boss was a shipbuilder
in England. He
was going back in the world. That's why he came out here because he has so
large a family, and they can stand a better chance to provide for themselves.
The girls don't like this so well as the old country. The eldest son is 24 and
the daughter that is married is 21. There is another girl near 20 and a boy 18,
and the others vary down to 5. I think I told you they were 10 in all. Mrs
Humphreys I have not seen yet. She went to England in
February and one girl 15. She is gone to school for 2 years.? Mrs. Humphreys is leaving England the
2nd week in August. I like the boss very much, but of course I cannot tell you
about the missus yet.? What a funny thing
that you and I should be in church at a wedding the same day. Miss Humphreys
was married the first day of June. There was about 50 here to breakfast, the
bride was dressed in white silk. Her 3 sisters were bridesmaids. She was
married at 12 o'clock.
They came back here to breakfast. She put on a grey travelling dress &
drove 40 miles to meet the train. She had plenty of old boots tied under the
carriage. She had all her wedding things sent out from England.
This bridegroom is very tall & thin. She gave him the name of Allys Sloper
- that was before she thought anything of him.?
So now they go by the name of the Sloper family. He lives in at
Cannington.? He is postmaster. We can
only post letters every Monday, & we only get letters once a week - that is
every Friday. I was going to write to Watkins but now I don't know where he is.?? I really did not think you would leave. I
thought the old woman would coax you to stop when the time came. Is it that
little girl out of Hay is come housemaid and who is come cook ?? I am rather glad Annie led her a dance.
Surely Mrs. Murphy will attend to the hens now and give them warm parings,
pepper & mustard. Did you teach the little maid to wash out all the spice
pots for the hens ?? Did Ann render the
fat alright ? ?How did she manage the
marketing ?? We were not allowed to speak
to any young men on the voyage. The matron was so strict over us. We used to
watch her down to her cabin. She would come back sometimes and catch us. Then
she would get as mad as a tup. We did lead her a dance - 27 of us. My work is
chiefly cooking for they live far better here than in the old country. Blanch
work is called chaws here.? If anything
is done wrong then the boys say it is 'botched. I am sorry for William. I do
think it was too bad of you to go so far but I pity him when you do meet him.
Those boot hole nights were jolly. I wish I could see them and that, for try
over again. I feel very miserably sometimes - then I think of boot hole to
console myself. Please send my kindest regards to William & ask him if he
remembers the night he was scared to drink tea about 9. The letters are going
to post. I will tell you more news next time. Thank you for telling me so much
about the rank old pig.
With
best wishes????????????? From your loving
friend
Sunday
21 st '92??? ?????????????????????????????????Cannington Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
My
Dear Martha
I was very
pleased to receive your letter - Friday August 19 th. Also I got a letter from
Miss Thomas and one from Mother and one from Mrs. Jones the Dufferin. The times
are mending. We get letters twice a week now. I am very sorry you are miserable
for I know the feeling. It is a peculiar feeling really It is something past
describingly dull here, for sometimes I feel as if I could not stop here - not
a single person I know. But worst than all there is so few people round here.
Sunday is a perfectly miserable day.? I
could go where I like but there is nowhere to go or anything to be seen - so I
don't see it any use to go out. All the boys go up to a lake to bathe every
Sunday.? The eldest boy makes the only
amusement. He is playing the piano or banjo every night and singing very funny
songs. There is only dancing - that's about the most that goes on here. The
eldest daughter & son goes lots of nights till about 3 o'clock in the
morning. There's nothing for servants.????
Mrs. Humphreys leaves England for
here August 26th so I shall soon see what she is like - but I have made up my
mind not to stay here longer than my year, which is not 9 months now thank
goodness - but I can tell you I have a good place - a splendid place for grub.
We get plenty of sweets and pastry every day - never go without pudding for
dinner. We have only 3 real meals a day -?
no supper - breakfast 7 dinner 12.30 and the evening meal at 6 or half
past. Every person cut their own luncheon - sometimes we have afternoon tea at
4. It does seem such a relief to have no supper to get, because I can do what I
like after tea.? If I was near a town I
might see something.? The flowers grow
wild all over the prairie.? Really they
are as good as any garden flowers could be. We have plenty of vegetables of all
sorts but no fruit.? We get dried apples
in barrels - also pears, prunes & apricots.?
The raspberries grow wild up in the bush.? We go up in the rig and stay there and pick
and make tea & have a jolly spree.?
They are equal to any garden fruit.?
We have made over a 100 lbs. of jam.?
The mosquitoes are nearly gone now.?
I am glad for their biting was awful.?
The night I went to the Dufferin - when you came to send me - Mrs. Jones
showed me a letter from Johnnie, which she had the day before.? He asked her about the Swinburnes - was I
still there & did I talk about America
now. She said she had another letter from him just before she wrote to me &
he is getting on quite well. He is about a thousand miles or more from
here.??? I dare say I shall never see him
again.? Just fancy - the boot hole was
the last place I saw him. If ever I live to go back to Hay, I shall try to see
the dear old boot hole.? For it is ever
in my mind- and the old armchair - and Ma - and the poor old horses wants their
tea - especially when 2 came tumbling down stairs in the dark.
With
fondest love and good wishes to you and William. Hoping William is better.
From
your old friend????????????????? Martha
(Lizzie
Lane was with her brother in Quebec
please write soon - I must go to church - there is no red door watching here)
Cannington
Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
Dear
Martha,
You
told me about your wages - that's better than with Mrs. S. is it not? Now I get 10 dollars a month & the
boss is going to rise me to 12 dollars a month when I have been here 6 months.
1 dollars is 4 shillings and 2 pence, so you can see that's ?2 : 15 : 8d a
month,
12 dollars a
month will be ?2: 10s per month. So that's better than Mother S. and time to do
my own sewing & a machine whenever I want it.? Harry Moore is rather nice looking but not so
good as his photo.? I do see him every
Sunday in church.? There's 2 other young
men living with him - no woman. The people about here likes Harry much better
than Arthur.? Harry is very sweet on a
feeble young girl 17 - her name is Kate Phipps.?
She wears her hair in a pigtail down her back.? Please burn all my scribbling for fear Mrs S.
should see any of it.? Have you another
girl with you? Did you go to Jordan
sometimes after I left?? I hope you set
my old boots sailing in the cradle to the deep.?
I will write about dress next time, as my space is too short this
time.? I am sorry your Mother keeps so
weak & I am very sorry to hear about Amy Davies.? I hope she will soon get better.? Somebody sent me the Hereford Times for the
first week in June.? I don't know who did
unless it was the butcher?s boy.? I saw a
list of all the charming couple's presents.?
I saw you gave her a flower basket.?
Some of the presents are put wrong in the paper.? I thought it was Mr. Hincks gave her the
dinner gong.? It was put so as Mrs.
Wootton gave it her.? Mrs. Jones -
Dufferin told me poor old Sammy and the cook from Griffiths was
married in June. What a match.? So Sam
can sing his evening song to her - sleep on beloved sofa? She also said the servants were leaving Mrs.
S. Sadly I have had neuralgia in my head very bad but I am alright now.? It is just boiling hot or freezing all the
time here.? I do dread the thoughts of
winter.? How is your brother Jim getting
on? My brother Jim is all right. Mother is living by herself now. She doesn't
like that very well. When I leave here Mother's brother wants me to go to him
in Ontario, so
I think I will go. That is nearer New
York & I hope more lively. There was one
boy 15 and one girl 14 confirmed - I mean of this family today at our grand
church. I am pleased you are going to send me a photo. I will send you one when
I go to Moosomin to have it taken - if I do go this summer, as 40 miles is a
long way and no train.
From
your loving friend,???????????????????????????????????????
Martha
Cannington
Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
Sunday
2 nd
My
Dear Namesake
I received your
kind letter a fortnight tomorrow - also I had your photo the following week
after the other letter. It is indeed a splendid one - real life-like.. I should
think you feel glad you did not go to .Botching' Moxon in Hay. I am sure that
William was pleased with it. I have sent you just a skip of the wedding that
was here. It is taken by the eldest son. He cannot take photographs well.? If you will send it back, he is going to
mount it for me. Standing in the doorway is the bride & bridegroom -
so-called Slopers - next our boss & the best man.? The 3 sisters - bridesmaids. the eldest you
can see is nearly 20 and then the next is 17 in school in London,
and the other 2 you see is 14 & 10 - but there is boys between them - the
youngest is 5. Mrs. Humphreys is a very quiet sort of person.? You can never tell what those sort of people
mean but she is really very kind to me.?
She makes a lot more cooking and washing. We wash once a fortnight. The
daughter always helps and she does the ironing but I have to iron all the
starch things.? I have had a lot of
collars & white shirts all the summer. The boys call them boiled rags, but
it is for my good. I have learned more here than I have ever learned before.
Girls can get, in laundries in Montreal
from ?3 to ?4 per month. I have had 2 letters from Johnnie - he is getting on
very well & he told me that girls are getting 5 to 6 dollars a week about Walla
Walla - that's where he is. He asked me to
remember him to you & I was to tell you that he was everything that was
expected of an old man. Oh I do wish you were here at nights. It is most awful
dull & quiet. I won't go where there is only one girl never again. Church
is now at 3 o'clock in
the afternoon & every Sunday night in the house .moping - nowhere to
go.? I really cannot stand it no longer
than next May but Christmas will soon be here & then the time goes
wonderful fast after.? I have been
thinking about going to British
Columbia - that is just like English
climate.? I don't feel the least that I
want to go home. I cannot forget the sea voyage. I will never cross it again
without someone I know. I am very sorry that you have to work so hard - more
especially that your health is so bad. Mrs. P. ought to come out to the
northwest. She would not make so much work here or else do it herself. My
health is fare but I do suffer very much with headache. I have got to take
medicine very often.? You bet I have not
forgotten the night I had my bed warmed. I hope you won't have to go out in the
dark mornings in the snow to chop firewood this winter. The boys are down first
in the morning and they light the fire. The stoves are much better than in England.? They have a fall top and just a pipe to carry
the smoke. They are so easy to clean. I can blacklead it easy in 10 minutes. No
one listens to hear me clean the flues. Poor Dame Burden must have had some
trouble this summer.? I expect a letter
from the Dufferin this week so I may hear some Cusop news. I paid for a brown
box the same size as the white I had with you at Stephens. They promised to
send it.? Did you ever get it? Oh what do
you think about our little house now. I think out here would be a fine place. I
will try and get a half-breed shack. There is lots of bachelors living by
themselves, so it would be nothing out of the common. I did not make a mistake
about the presents.? I told you that it
was put wrong in the paper.? If you can
get me a copy of the song .Tar Ra Ra Boom De Ray, I should be very pleased. I
heard it sung on board.? People wear
moccasins instead of boots because they are warm.? They are yellow buckskin. I won't wear them
if I can help it.? They do look awful
thing.? So i will tell you about the Red
Indians next time if I have not told you. I do make an awful muddle over my
letters sometimes - write the same thing over & over. Have you forgotten
our supper some nights. Upstairs and the ting ting in the morning. I can't
write more now.
I have other
letters to write & to Johnnie, so I must close.
With
best love
From
your old friend
???????????????????????????????????????????? Martha
Cannington
Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
December 10th '92
My
Dear Namesake
I received your
kind letter & the lovely Xmas card on the 12th. Thank you very much for it.
I am sure it is the nicest one I ever had. The words are so nice, I intended to
get a nice one for you, but it is impossible in this outlandish place.? You are right, it seems a long time to wait
for a letter, but I am quite accustomed to it by now. I have not had a letter
from home or from my brother never since September so that's longer still. I
suppose I am out of sight - out of mind. I expect some letters this coming
week. Yes, this time last year, little did we think that nearly 5 thousand
miles should separate us. Such a happy family as we used to be when we all met
now and then about 9 p.m. You
bet we would spend a very happy Xmas now If we had the chance we would not be
scared at the robber's whistle, or Watkins's false alarm. Do you ever hear
anything about Mrs. Balfour?s servants? I hope that Dame Durden has got some
very nice modest young women now. I often wonder if ever she heard anything
about the time of her absence. We often used to call that place over but really
we used to have a lot of fun there. I feel so dull now on Sundays till I can
hardly contain myself, although everyone is very nice. Mrs. Humphreys tries to
keep up as much style as she can.? The
boys do not believe in it. The girls are getting pride into them a great deal
more than when I came here. Mrs. Humphreys is a real fiddler - she never says
anything to me, but she just goes round and moves everything for no earthly
use. The girls laugh at her very often. They told me before she came home that
she was an awful fiddler, but I have no fuss if the meals are not ready. One of
the family always sets the dining room table. The 4 boys and the chaw boy and
myself have our grub in the kitchen but all has breakfast in the kitchen. We
don't do more than we can help on Sunday. I always clean the kitchen on Friday
and there's pastry & cakes etc. made on Saturday to last the week. I live a
great deal better now than before. 12 is our regular number on Sunday -
generally 14 or 15. There is an english doctor living near here & his
brother & also a parson's son called Ned Fleming from London. He
does the doctor's work. They have no female in the house. They do their own
washing. The doctor gets up his white shirts his self. Those three are here
nearly every Sunday. The doctor is really very nice. He comes in the kitchen to
help to dry up the dishes & make some very funny jokes for us. He has to
torture one or the other's teeth nearly every week. I have had one aching bad,
it is the furthest tooth on the lower side. He has taken 3 pieces of it out
& still there is some left in. I thought he was going to pull my head off.
I have to bake every Tuesday & Friday to keep such a large family in bread,
and churn once a week to keep butter going - also I make our own barm. I think
you must feel more contented now, especially your wages risen - also if you are
kept in boots - that is a fine help. I only wish I had something to go and see
like you have in London. It
must be very nice to see so much, but thank goodness I have been here over 7
months. Next summer I am going many hundred miles nearer you. My uncle -
mother's brother - he is in New York State. I
don't intend coming back here. All his children are married. Well about
Johnnie. He thought he would not write to Dulas because he talked so much about
leaving. He wrote to Alex Lindsay so I suppose he got my address from him or
the Dufferin by his letters. I think he must feel very energetic. He has not
forgotten our little house & he says that the washing & mending of his
clothes is the very dickens of it when he is out of town. When in town he has
it done in a Chinese laundry. I get now 12 dollars a month and one dollar is 4
shillings and 2 pence, so that is 2 pounds 10 shillings a month in English
money. The first 6 months I had only 10 dollars a month. I am quite an old
servant here now. There is no girl stays in a place long out here. There is a
drill for to learn dancing at the village once a week, but I don't mean to join
that. We are going to have a xmas tree on the 28th. Well you never could
believe how cold it is here. There is more snow here than has been for 10
years. Since the beginning of November it generally stays on the ground until
April - no rain all through the winter. Your time is 6 hours before ours. It is
9 o'clock
with us now so it is 3 o'clock
with you and you are sleeping in bed. Well, I hope you have a happy Xmas &
lots of presents. Everyone here is going to give me presents. I will tell you
next letter what they are. Do you remember our Xmas dinner last year?? The poor rabbit. Never mind, it will be
better this time. We have a pudding - 14 lb., and a cake - 10 lb. Feeding is
all people think about in this country. Every birthday we have a 10 lb. cake. I
have made 17 pork pies this winter and going to make a lot more yet. I have
bought a sealskin cap to come down over my ears, which cost me 18 shillings
& 6 pence. I am going to get a warm cloak or ulster soon. Thank goodness I
have not got to go out & chop wood in the snow or I should be frozen. There
is only 2 fires here - that is the kitchen stove and the furnace warms the
house. This house is very large - 11 rooms on the first floor and 13 rooms
upstairs - and there 15 another storey above that. Every bit is wood - there is
no stones in it. H.C. Mogrens girl & family is gone about 40 miles to a
place called Estavan. She has helped me to wash up. She was staying here before
they went. He is thinking to spend Christmas with her. Please excuse mistakes,
With
fondest love
From
your old friend
Martha
Cannington
Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
Easter
Sunday
My
Dear Martha
?You apologised for not writing last time.
Really I am ashamed of myself for it?s a month today since I got your letter
which I was so pleased to receive. I got a letter from my brother the same
time. I got a letter this week from a place I lived at near Builth - also one
from Polly Evans, dressmaker - naughty girl - the first time she has written to
me.? First, I must tell you what frowsy
weather we have had. Really I did not think there ever was such intense cold.
Just think, it's considered very cold in England if
there is 30 degrees of frost, whereas it has been 87 degrees here and also a
howling wind blowing 30 to 40 miles an hour. It does not matter what you got on
- unless it?s a real skin coat you cannot keep the cold out. I have only been
to church a very few times this winter. I have had my ears frozen. Its pretty
sharp when they thaw out and the skin comes off, but its not as bad as you may
think. There has been snow on the ground ever since last October, just think -
never a spot of rain since the snow fell. This last week it has begun to thaw.
We have had several days? snow now and then all winter - a blizzard it's called
here - that's driving snow only a great deal worse than I ever saw at home.
There has been several people frozen to death this winter. Now the weather is
got warm enough to wear a hat. I expect we shall have some rain now soon. I
have not been very well this winter through being in the house so much more
than ever I have been accustomed to. Now I shall go out more. We have some of
the family services on very bad Sundays but not the long sermon as I daresay
you have not forgot. We also had a midnight
service on New Year's Eve. I did not enjoy Xmas Day much. We were 17 here
altogether. There was such a lot of cooking to be done. I went to church in the
morning and dinner was at 4
p.m., and tea at 10
o'clock at night. I was fearfully tired at night and
quite glad to go to bed. Well the presents I got from all were a night-dress
case & a handkerchief case, a pair of woollen night slippers, a small work
box & a fox skin muff, 2 books, a small basket and a photo frame, and from
the post master Sloper 10 dozen envelopes and paper. There is generally a crowd
here to tea on Sunday. Mrs. Humphreys gets all the bachelors she can of course.
The doctor bunch- they are 3. The doctor bunch are going to do a great wash
when the rain comes. He has invited me to go to his house to see the lambs. He
has a lot to come in May.? It does seem
funny never to go out at night. It makes me feel so steady. One good thing, I
am never hustled off to bed at night. They never say anything to me and I often
sit up till 12 p.m., instead of 9.30
p.m.? The
Graphic comes out here every week, also the London Weekly Times, and 'The Lady'
- called a journal for gentlewomen - with the fashions in every week. People
get all their fashions from England.
How is your cloak wearing? I have lined mine with thick coat cloth. I have
never worn it much yet. There is 2 girls come out here last summer with a
family. They are 2 sisters - its very nice for them. They have both started
spousers. They are cutting a great swell. They wear the abominables and that?s
caps in the evening. Also they attend the dance every week. They don't go to
church because it's too cold but it's not too cold to go to the dance. Polly
Evans told me there was going to be a grand new house built in Cusop. I wish I
had what you got - a machine. I have (unreadable 2 words)? only sewing is so dear here. Cannot get a
dress under 4 to 6 dollars. Well now, what do you think about our little house?
I often wonder if that little girl is with Miss Morgan - Malster now. I am
thinking of going to the Worlds Fair but I have not quite made up my mind. It's
such a long way. I see in the paper there is to be a World's Fair in England in
'95. Possibly I may come home then. I do so hope that we shall meet some day
again. I am going to write to another friend of mine who is in London
since she was married. Nearly forgetting to thank you for the papers. There was
some quite interesting things in it. I get an English paper sometimes. I see
Tom Frances Pardoe is going to Castleton. I hope your little brother is better
- poor little fellow. I know what going to sleep is as he calls it.
With
fond love
From
your old friend
Martha
(Remember
the cat - Please write when you have time)
Sunday
August 27th???????? ????????????? ????????Cannington
Manor
Assiniboia
N.W.T.
Canada
My
Dear Namesake
I received your
kind letter July 27th. Very pleased to hear from you. I wondered what ever had
become of you. I thought surely you had gone home & was married & had a
home of your own to fix up which occupied all your time.? Well, I am very pleased to hear you have been
home for William's sake & to see the dear old spot - Dulas Docks. How I
should like to see it once more in its peaceful hours we once enjoyed. I just
think of it - for I do every day. Certainly I would not have expected you to
write whilst you were at home. You had far more important duties to attend to -
but I think it was very naughty of you to go off with another young man to the
sports. Just think of William's feelings. Well, Martha I am sorry you have to
work so hard. I have to work a great deal harder this summer than last. Of
course Mrs. Humphreys was not here last summer and that makes a great
difference. She is never happy unless surrounded by visitors.? There is very often people to luncheon, tea
or dinner - not forgetting the dances. There were about 70 people here to a
dance in July. They look like a lot of fools coming to be fed. I quite agree
with you on the service question. I am tired of it myself and will quit it
before long. I never was quite done up until this summer. The eldest daughter
& myself is spring cleaning. Colour washed all the house, upstairs &
down and painted all the woodwork. It had never been done before. There's 13
rooms upstairs and 11 rooms down beside a very large landing and hall. I really
worked myself out till I was quite weak. Of course I had the heavy part of it.
Mrs Humphreys bought a bottle of Scott Emulsion and gave me. I am thankful to
say I am alright again now - only much thinner than I used to be but none the
worse for that.? Dear Martha, I have not
been to the World's Fair, nor am I going. It's more than a thousand miles from
here. There's no one I know going there. I have not seen Johnnie yet. He is
nearer here now than he was. He is near his cousin Will, who I told you married
Mrs. Kinsey in Hay's sister & they live a long way from here. I do hope to
see Johnnie before very long.? Just think
- I have never seen any one I know since leaving Hay. Everything and everybody
round here is got so stale. I never go out with anyone, I feel such a modest
young woman. I have a Singer sewing machine. Such a nice one which is very
useful. Must close with kind love to you. Kind regards from Johnnie. Please
remember me to William.
Goodbye
? write soon??????????????????????????????????????? Martha
Gorham
Ontario County
New
York State
My
Dear Namesake
Surely you will
think I have forgotten all about you. Well, I got your letter the week before
leaving Cannington so I had no time to write, then I had a very long journey.
It took me one day to come from Cannington to Moosomin & I stayed one day
in town there - the first time seeing a town for a year & a half - and it
took me 3 days and 3 nights in the train. That was a rather jolly time - music
& dancing - but not very easy sleeping when rough riding. The trains here
are quite different to England.
They are long cars - one car will hold as many as 60 people and 2 seats facing
each other. These seats open out and 2 people can lie there. Then there is a
thing overhead that lets down & 2 more can sleep up over the seat.? We had a lot of fun with a Chinaman coming
along.? They wear their hair in long
plait down their back. This one had hair about a yard long.? Well, I can tell you I am in quite a
different country to Cannington. There was nothing but bare open prairie - no
fruit nor trees - only as I have told you before raspberries strawberries
currants and gooseberries that grow wild. I have now been here with Uncle a
week. Round here it is just like Cusop - there are grapes pears, apples, plums.
Peaches, cucumbers & tomatoes grow all out on the garden without any
hothouse. It is really a beautiful country. It's colder, here in winter than in
England but
nothing like where I was living. I don't intend to go back there again. Mrs.
Humphreys wants me to go in the spring, but this child don't intend to. Well I
am now a long way from Johnnie. I feel as if I shall never see him again now. I
had a letter from him before I left, he was in very good spirits then. I am now
only 325 miles from the city of New York.
Well I can assure you I was surprised to hear of William going with Hannah, for
I thought he was such a straightforward fellow. But such being the case, I
think you have done quite right. By the way, how about those socks? Were they
ever finished or has Billie lost them? I think the young man you have now must
be quite a dandy. I should be ever so pleased to see him if it was possible.
Well I assure you I have never been with any fellow since leaving the old
country. I heard about the r. old pig. What a botch they made of it in so short
a time. Why surely Dame Durden must be very sad about it, having her back
again. Are you not sorry for the poor slavvys? Perhaps she is not quite so
fussy now.? What has become of all the
household furniture and is the r. old p. still in the same place? Have you
heard where Watkins - that impertinent young man - is gone to? Please write
& tell me what you gave for that book & postage and I will send you the
money. I am going to get into a situation this next week. I guess I shall have
to live with Yankees, this time. I don't much like that but they are very nice
people, all as I have seen yet. I guess I will not write any more. I will tell
you more next time. Please write soon as you have time.
Address to: -
M.
Pritchard, c/o Thomas Greenow
Gorham
Bethel, Ontario
County
New
York State, America
From
your old friend
Martha
Hoping
you are feeling good. Will send you a photo as soon as I can get some taken. I
have quite forgotten whether I wrote you just before I left or not.
P u b l i c? A r c h i v e s of C a n a d a
A r c h i v e s? P u b l i q u e s? d u? C
a n a d a
Office of the Dominion
Archivist ??????????????????????????????????? Ottawa
Cabinet de L'Archiviste
Federal????????????????????????? K1A ON3
April
18th 1974
Mr. A.H. Higgs
28 Laurie Crescent
Bristol.
BS9 4TA
England.
Dear Mr. Higgs,
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for presenting to the Public Archives of Canada the
most interesting letters relating to Cannington Manor. They reveal the problems
of immigrants to Canada in the early days of
settlement on the prairies and contain first -hand accounts of an unusual
attempt to re-create in the west an 'english' manor.
I enclose a rather poor copy
of a report on Cannington Manor which was prepared for the Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada of which I am a member.? My copy was equally poor but I hope that you
will be able to read it and that you will find it of interest.
Yours Sincerely
W. I. Smith
Dominion Archivist
Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada
Title: 'Didsbury'? Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan
Source: Staff Report - Historical???????????????????????????????????????????????
1970
Historical Summary
-------------------------
This stone house, one of two remaining in the settlement of
Cannington Manor was built in 1889 by the Beckton brothers, who had come out
from England with settlers encouraged by Captain E.M. Pierce the original
land-holder.
'Didsbury' was the centre of village social life patterned on that
in the english .counties.? The Beckton
brothers were horse-breeders and horse-racers. They closed out their activities
in 1897 and returned to England a few years later.
History
---------
Cannington Manor, in the Moose Mountain area
of Saskatchewan was established in 1882, largely under the impetus of an english
gentleman, Captain E.M. Pierce.? Several
families and single young men emigrated to Pierce's holdings. including in the
latter group some who had been sent out by parents in England
to learn farming.
By 1887 a village had grown up including an Anglican Church, built
in 1884 and still standing. The original small village homes have long ago
disappeared.
Today, in addition to the church and a few out-buildings, all that
remains of Cannington Manor is a pair of mansions - one of frame was built for
James Humphreys in 1888 - the other of stone was erected by the Becktons,
Ernest, William, and Bertie. in 1889.?
These two large homes were symbolic of alternative ways of life
advocated by their owners.
The Humphreys' house was a centre of industry and disciplined
living, following the ideals of the original settler, Captain Pierce. The
Beckton ranch house 'Didsbury' was headquarters of life patterned upon 'county'
ways in provincial England, with horse-racing a chief interest. The Becktons were well-known
builders, and cricket, tennis and garden parties - as well as formal teas and
dinners - were features of daily living at Didsbury. Many of the young
unattached gentlemen from England
(apparently among the earliest 'remittance-men' later so much in evidence in
the foothills and the Rocky Mountain areas of Alberta) flocked to the Beckton ranch, and the social life affected there
contrasted sharply with day-to-day activities in the rest of the
community.? It seems to have been a
source of some ill feeling among the residents.
However, after only a few years, Cannington Manor died. It had been
set down in its Moose Mountain location largely on account of the anticipated
coming of the transcontinental railway, and when the new line passed ten miles
to the south, the effort to survive was simply too great for the village.? Whole families moved away and school, town
hall, stores, cheese factory, and pork-processing plant closed their doors. By
the mid-1890's or shortly thereafter, Cannington Manor had ceased to exist as a
community.
Extant Buildings of the Manor
--------------------------------------
'Didsbury', the Beckton ranch house, is situated in the Saskatchewan
parkland just east of the lakes of Moose Mountain -
Cannington and Carlyle.? It is described
as having been an imposing stone mansion with a profusion of verandas, gables
and dormers. Such photographs as are available reveal a victorian
'cottage-type' structure of field-stone in considerable disrepair. All
information obtained suggests that major rehabilitation work would be necessary
even to assure that the fabric would remain intact.
It
was apparently a sumptuous mansion for the time and place with ballroom,
billiard room, formal dining hall and many bedrooms. There were stables, a
pork-processing plant, barns and other outbuildings.
Today only 'Didsbury', the former Humphreys house and All Saints
United Church remain at Cannington Manor. The former village is several miles
from the nearest settlement, and there is no regularly maintained access road.
There are no public utilities including fire-protection available.
Sources
----------
1. Excerpt from letter from Mrs. A.E.M. Hewlett, October 20 1962
{ The actual building was a triumph of both design and workmanship
built in 1889 of local stone by craftsmen.
2. Excerpt from letter from Mrs. A.E.M. Hewlett, August 21 1962
{ The house is utterly beyond repair. The inadequate foundations have
long ago caused collapse of one corner and great cracks keep coming in other
walls
{ Would need a road in. a resident caretaker electricity watery sewage
disposal fire insurance heating etc
{ The ranch is not close to any road linking towns, but is about half
a dozen miles from the small hamlet of Parkman, with the trail in quite a mile
over plow and round sloughs. The nearest house must be quite a mile away
{ The most recent owners the Hancocks were away a few days. The
windows were broken, the tiling round the billiard room fireplace removed, and
all other removable objects taken long ago.
A picture each of the church and ranch house will be available for
viewing.
Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada
Title: ?Didsbury? Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan
Source: Staff Report - Supplementary Historical???????????????? 1970
The
two surviving large houses at Cannington Manor, though certainly contrasting in
style - the elaborate gothic revival of 'Didsbury' in its original condition
with .a profusion of verandas gables and dormers, and the plainer Humphreys
house built on colonial lines, do not really also typify such strongly
contrasting ways of life in the settlement as is suggested in the main agenda
paper.
Captain Pierce's aim for his colony, as he himself expressed it to
Sir John A. Macdonald, was not only to promote industry and disciplined living.
He wanted to.bring out more people of his standing, to 'live like kings on the
little money they had', and he played a full part in providing for them in
Canada the recreation they were accustomed to in England. This included evening
dress Christmas parties (the first one was held two or three years before the
advent of the Becktons) foxhunting, a rifle club, tobogganing, driving, boating
on the lakes, summer cottages, a surpliced church choir, drama groups and
sketching circles.
A chief supporter of the tennis club was Ernest Maltby one of the
partners in the main business operation of the colony, the Moose Mountain
trading company, and also owner of the stores, post office, hotel and
blacksmith's shop - obviously a hard-working businessman.
On the other hand, the Becktons too were systematic in their horsebreeding
operations and, in fact, must have been to have enjoyed the success they did on
western tracks.
Both 'Didsbury' and the Humphreys house indeed represent only the
largest type of house in the community and in fact these were scarce, only
Captain Pierce's 'great white house' with its 24 ft x 22 ft living room
rivalling them in size.
Most of the houses were very modest, and the business premises -
roller
process flour mill, stores, hotel, cheese factories, blacksmiths,
carpenter's and shoemaker's shop were a third main type of
structure.
In fact the english-born owners of the large houses were not even
typical of some very large elements of the population. For example,
two of the very first of the settlers John Turton and James
Hindmarch, were Canadians and there were a number of others.
