Matches Found
Life and Work
Abigail Alvera Bergen was born to Emma Olstad and Nels Bergen in 1906, the third of ten children. Her mother, Emma Olstad, of Norwegian descent, was born in 1882 to Mr. and Mrs. Ludvig Olstad in Minnesota; her father, Nels grew up in Sundsvall, Sweden and immigrated to Michigan in 1888 at the age of fifteen. Nels was ordain...
Life and Work
Adelaide Vaughn was of English and Welsh descent. She was born in the village of Roscoe, Illinois, August 8th, 1885. Her ancestors came from Andover, England, in 1730, settling first at Richmond, Quebec, then to New Hampshire and later to Illinois. In 1894, her family, moved to the Canadian Northwest. They set up their homes...
Life and Work
On July 14, 1898 Alma Marie was born in Glenham, South Dakota. Her parents were Abraham and Marianne Jerstad. She had four sisters, Sina, Betsy, Ida, Clara and one brother, Oscar. In 1903, at the age of five, Alma, together with the rest of the family, moved from South Dakota for the homestead in Alberta near Donalda.
Th...
Life and Work
From 1932 to 1946, when house calls were the rule rather than the exception, Amy Conroy was the District Nurse at Pendryl, a tiny hamlet 55 miles west of Wetaskiwin. She delivered babies, stitched wounds, and set broken bones at any hour of the day or night, winter or summer, rain, sun, or snow, travelling by buggy, cutter, ...
Life and Work
Anna Knutas was born on December 29th, 1900 in Gammalsvenskby, Ukraine, which was then a part of the Russian Empire. In 1782, a group of Estonian Swedes, many from the island Dagö, were brought to southern Ukraine by Catherine II. After an eight-month journey through Russia the Swedes reached their destination which they t...
Life and Work
Anna was born in Sweden in 1895. She came to the Wetaskiwin area with her parents, Lars and Ida Johnson, in 1901. She had three sisters, Ethel, Edna and Signe as well as six brothers. Her father was a carpenter and worked on the Wetaskiwin court house which was opened in 1908. He was also involved in building some of the fur...
Life and Work
Annie Florence Angus was born on February 21, 1898 at Angus Ridge, when it was still a part of the Northwest Territories. Her parents, Robert MacLachlan (R.M.) Angus and Florence Donaldson, had settled in a log house homestead at Angus Ridge in 1892. Annie’s parents were born and married in Quebec and travelled west, brin...
Life and Work
When Beda (Beatrice) Ronn arrived in Wetaskiwin in 1897 the qualities that were to endear her to this community had already begun to unfold. She would become this remarkable pioneer woman who was an untiring worker, a problem solver, and always there to offer help to anyone in need.
She was born to Per Jonsson and Bricke...
Life and Work
Bertha Ann Munn was a person with great skill as an educator. She taught all subjects to her 30 years of grade 6 classes in Wetaskiwin. However most remember her for her ability to bring numbers alive in her teaching of mathematics.
She was born in 1884 in Clifford, Ontario. Soon after she and her family moved to Alberta....
Life and Work
Betty Taylor was born on May 12, 1920 in Walton Hill, England, fifteen miles from London. Her dad was a bricklayer, and her mother was a busy homemaker with thirteen children: nine girls and four boys. At age fourteen, those who did not continue on to higher education had to find jobs. Betty worked as a cook in a private sch...
Life and Work
Birdie Lucinda Breshears was born on July 4, 1920 to parents Ollie Goldman and Susan Cosby Breshears, just outside the small town of Wheatland, Missouri, U.S.A. Due to deteriorating health in the family caused by the Missourian climate, the Breshears family was forced to relocate. Ollie went to Alberta in 1924 and after seei...
Life and Work
Blanche Brown was born in Bradwardine, Manitoba on May 27, 1905. She was the eldest child of Theresa Maud Green and Robert Alien Brown. From Manitoba the family moved to Ontario and then back out west to Daysland, Alberta. Her father was convinced by his brother, Harry, to make this move and become a farmer. When her mother ...
Life and Work
Caroline Rose Dorchester was born October 27, 1909 in Genesee, Idaho to Wesley Dorchester and Laura Platt Dorchester. Both Caroline’s parents were experienced horseback riders and the infant Caroline rode in her mother’s lap. Laura continued to ride until she was in her sixties.
When Caroline was ten months, the Dorch...
Life and Work
The records from the Old Wetaskiwin Cemetery, state that Cecelia, commonly known to some of the family as ‘Rose’, was born in 1884. It is not known at this time the exact date of Cecelia’s birth, but we do know that she was born in Fremont, Nebraska and was eventually adopted by a family in the state of Illinois with ...
Life and Work
Charlotte Coffey was born in Belfast, Ireland, March 17, 1853 of middle income parents. Her father, James Coffey, was a harness maker and leather goods manufacturer. With Ireland being in financial ruin at the time, James Coffey and family moved to Ontario, near Barrie in 1870. Here he started a leather goods store and repa...
Life and Work
Daisy Nelson was born on February 3, 1906 to Emma and Fred Nelson. Daisy was the first child born in Daysland. The previous year Emma and Fred had left Wetaskiwin and moved to the newly-established village of Daysland. Mr. E.W. Day, who was the mayor, called at the family home soon after her birth. He requested that she be n...
Life and Work
Deb McLean was born on May 5, 1951 in Camrose, Alberta, to Max and Lois McLean. She made Camrose her home until the age of 18 when she left to pursue higher education. Deb and her three brothers, Wynn, Shane and Gordon, were highly encouraged by their parents to continue their studies. The McLeans felt keenly that their chil...
Life and Work
Dora Staack was born May 21, 1892 at Dysart, Iowa. At eight years of age she moved with her parents and two sisters to Lacombe, Alberta. Here she completed her schooling and began her job as a dental assistant. Dora's family was great friends with the Ballhorn family in Iowa and around 1910 the Ballhorn family relocated to W...
Life and Work
Dorothy Kathleen Hare, or "Kay" as her friends knew her, was born in London, England on November 7, 1895. She was the second child of Jessie Camara Heyler and Arthur Hare. Her father was a dental surgeon, born in Ipswich, and worked with Jessie's father, William Heyler of Bristol.
Kathleen first attended school in Wolverh...
Life and Work
Ebba Billsten was born November 23, 1901 in Wetaskiwin. Her parents came from Smalland, Sweden and settled in Wetaskiwin in 1892. Upon arriving in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the family name of Johannsson was changed to Billsten. Immigration officers decided there were too many Johannssons, hence the name change. Ebba was the ...
Life and Work
Jean was the youngest child born to James and Thriza Steele in North Battleford, Saskatchewan on February 23, 1927. Jean had an older sister, Mary, and an older brother, Jimmy. The family grew up in the North Battleford area. Jean attended Grey School and Maymont School where she completed Grade 10.
In 1943, Jean was fort...
Life and Work
Effie Jean George, the third of Frank and Sarah’s four children, was born on September 3, 1917. Jean’s father Franklin Bryden George, originally from Ontario, worked for Canadian Pacific Railway and was a stationmaster in Stavely, AB then Lacombe, AB when he met Sarah Fairservice, a resident of one of the boarding houses...
Life and Work
Elsie Leonhardt and her husband Victor were born of pioneering families. Victor was from the Drumheller area and Elsie from the Champion district. Her grandparents, Henry and Mary Schmeelke, her father, William and two sisters came from Fairbank, Iowa to Nanton, Alberta in 1906. Henry and William were able to buy land for th...
Life and Work
Elsie was born on December 3, 1921 on a farm near Burstall, Saskatchewan. She was the sixth daughter of Henry and Helena Deibert. She attended North American Baptist College in Edmonton where she met Harvey Jesperson in 1942. The couple were married on March 23, 1944. Harvey and Elsie moved to Luseland, Saskatchewan where he...
Life and Work
Elsie was born February 21, 1930 to Herbert and Nellie Jones at Hughenden, Alberta. Elsie’s parents were English-born pioneers who farmed north of Amisk, Alberta. Elsie attended Lowe School, a one-room school that was named after her great uncle, since the school was located on land that he had owned. She began grade one a...
Life and Work
As a young woman, Miss Elsie Redden came to Wetaskiwin for a visit but stayed on to make this her home-town for the rest of her life. She was born in Campbellford, Ontario, July 21st, 1889, to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Redden.
She received her schooling and business education there and came west in 1914 to visit her sister, Mrs....
Life and Work
Emeline was the youngest member of her family and the only sibling to be born in Wetaskiwin. Her parents, Ameen and Halabea, came to Canada in 1899 from Lebanon. They initially settled in Mont-Joli, Quebec but in 1912 moved first to Red Deer and by the time Emeline was born on September 11, 1913, they had settled in Wetaskiw...
Life and Work
Emma was born in Mankato, Minnesota March 8, 1885. She was the only child of Alinda (Westman) and John Swanberg. Her father was a stonemason and placed the cornerstone in the Swedish Lutheran Church where Emma was confirmed and taught Sunday school. While growing up in Mankato, she would go on vacation with her family to vis...
Life and Work
Estor Somers was born in Edmonton on June 17, 1916 and lived in Tofield with her parents until they moved to Wetaskiwin in April 1922, after her father bought out the drug stores owned by Mr. Higgs.
As Estor recalls, there were three lots in all, with the house being on Stanley Street. There was an old barn with two stal...
Life and Work
Evelyn Agnes Johnson was born on July 19, 1917, at Veteran, Alberta. Evelyn was the second daughter of Elling Bertram Johnson and Anna Marie Anderson. Around the age of five, Evelyn, her older sister, Mabel, younger sister, Irma and their parents moved to a farm about four miles east of Millet, where her brother, Earland was...
Life and Work
Florence McWhinnie graced the hospitals of Wetaskiwin for 34 years. She demonstrated tremendous dedication and versatility as director of nursing service, operating-room nurse, x-ray technician and emergency nurse.
Florence graduated from Calgary General Hospital in 1926, and worked for a few months as a private duty nurs...
Life and Work
Florence Wilkinson lived out her childhood in London, England in the area of St. Marlebona from 1922-1939. She recalls the Friday afternoon custom of eating cream puffs at 'Davis,' the street on which the Penny Fartherington bicycle ran over her and caught her hair in the chain, and the family's two-storey house, where her f...
Life and Work
Geraldine Broadribb was born on October 11, 1922 at Innisfail, Alberta. Her mother’s parents were Metis from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Her father was an Alberta Provincial Policeman, Sgt. Frederick Broadribb. He was an inspiration and a major force in her young life. Motivated by his support and encouragement, she woul...
Life and Work
Grace’s parents, Hugh Henderson Stewart and Barbara Clelland (Allison) Stewart were both born in Scotland. Grace’s father was born in Tradeston, near the city centre of Glasgow and adjacent to the River Clyde, which intersects the city. However, his family was a recent arrival to the city from Acharacle, Argyll in the Sc...
Life and Work
Gunhild Kjorlien (nee Pederson) was born to Tollof and Ingeborg Pederson on August 1, 1870 in Iowa, South Dakota. She was born of Norwegian heritage; her father Tollof along with his parents Peder and Gunhild Knutson immigrated to Iowa from the Numedal area in Norway. On her mother’s side, her grandparents, Ole and Sunev ...
Life and Work
Elsa was born in North Wales, England on Dec 8, 1924 near a little village called Cymau. The family was self-sufficient, and during WWII, when food rationing was common, the Maults managed to live comfortably. Planes carrying firebombs would fly over North Wales and set fire to the roofs of buildings. In Elsa's family home t...
Life and Work
Gwendolyn was born July 17, 1900 in Sibley, Iowa, in the same town that her father, Asahel Burdett Everts was born. Her mother was born in Cornwall, Devonshire, England. Her family moved to Alberta and settled on a farm half a mile west of Wetaskiwin on the south side of the highway to Pigeon Lake. She had eight siblings but...
Life and Work
Harriet Ann MacFarlane was the daughter of Barbara Orr and Malcolm MacFarlane of Bedeque, Prince Edward Island. She was born in 1852 and died in 1916. She had ten siblings. She was married to John West in her parents’ home by Rev. S. Patterson in 1879. Harriet and John came west in 1892 and settled in Wetaskiwin in the spr...
Life and Work
Helen was born July 24, 1841 in Pond Mills (present site of London, Ontario), the tenth of thirteen children to John and Janet “Murray” Farris. Although her parents immigrated to New Brunswick in 1818 from the borderlands of Scotland, the family moved west in 1832 to Pond Mills, Upper Canada.
Helen was raised in a str...
Life and Work
Hilda Lonsdale was born on December 16, 1922 in Leeds-Yorkshire, England. Her father, James, was injured in WWI and died when Hilda and her brother, Herbert, were very young. Hilda's mother, Lily, worked in a factory sewing buttons on clothing.
Hilda graduated school hoping to study fashion design at college,...
Life and Work
Hildur's parents, Swan Carlson and Evelina Marie Johanson, moved to Wetaskiwin from Sweden in 1892. Swan first worked in the tie camps in Calgary. Hildur was born near Gwynne on January 30, 1897. She had four siblings, Mary, Adolph, Elmer and Emmanuel. Her sister died at the age of nine.
Hildur married Alfred Sherbeck in ...
Life and Work
In 1885 Jim (James) Franklin arrived in Wetaskiwin and took up a homestead east of the Battle River, He came from Inverness, Quebec and had come west on doctor's orders for relief of asthma.
After he acquired the land he went back to Quebec to sell their home and brought his father, mother and a nephew, Joe George, whose...
Life and Work
Ida Carlson EklundIda Carlson was born in Blekinga, Sweden on June 10, 1872. In 1884, at the age of 12 her family moved to New York. She grew up in the United States and during her younger years she worked as a maid. It was during this time she was introduced to "marsh hare." She always thought this was a delicious dish unt...
Life and Work
Ivy Bottriell was born on February 16, 1923 in Wimbledon, England. There were eight children in the Bottriell family: four girls and four boys. Ivy's father was a pipefitter and a bricklayer. Her mother was a homemaker. Growing up in wartime England meant that everyone had to carry gas masks and tin helmets with them whenev...
Life and Work
"I was not born and raised on a farm. I am the country schoolteacher who married the eligible bachelor farmer. I was scared to death of pigs, cows and even chickens. Thirty-odd years and three children later, I am still afraid of cattle.
I've experienced serious farm fires, the closing of the local hall, the centralizatio...
Life and Work
Jean Dale was born in Huxley, England on January 14, 1924. As a young girl, Jean had crossed the Atlantic Ocean approximately nine times with one or both of her parents. Icebergs brought an element of danger to early crossings. As a young girl, Jean, along with the other women and children on board, was placed in a lifeboat...
Life and Work
Jean Annie Adams Harvey was born on April 24,1923 to James and Winifred Harvey on her parents farm in the Hillside District located about five miles southwest of Millet.
Jean had a younger sister, Phyllis, who, with her, attended the Hillside School, two miles away from their home. They walked to school as did all of the ...
Life and Work
Jessie Farmer was born on July 12, 1921 in the farming community of Watford, England. She was 18 years old when WWII began, and she soon joined the Auxiliary Territorial Forces as a cook. As the war progressed, Jessie's duties expanded to include nursing, policing, and generally helping out where needed at the Sandhurst Mili...
Life and Work
Dorothy's family emigrated from Gloucester to the Wabamun area. One of twelve children of the Smith family, she was born January 20, 1908. Her childhood was spent on the homestead. When she was about 10, the family moved to Edmonton.
Prior to her marriage to dentist W. E. Janzen, she worked as a legal secretary and volun...
Memoir
A War Bride's Story - by Lorill Wingrave
I was the ripe old age of seventeen, reasonably fresh from school, when I met my future husband on the only blind date of my life. I had of course been fully instructed on the perils of such behaviour by my parents, but this night in February 1943, I threw all caution to the winds!
He ...
Life and Work
Louise Turnquist was born Louise Marie Larsen on August 2, 1872 in Fauske, Norway. Louise grew up in Norway and at seventeen married her husband, Carl Martin Anderson (he changed his name to Turnquist after moving to Canada). Carl was born August 21, 1859 in Motala, Sweden and came to Norway at the age of 15 after his mother...
Life and Work
Lydia Lechelt was born February 2, 1884 in Wolynnia, Russia. Her father, Karl Lechelt, was educated in teaching and Lutheran theology. At the age of 17 he started teaching for a congregation in Poland. When many of his congregation moved to Russia he moved with them. However, freedoms in Russia were eroding. The law provided...
Life and Work
Mabel Josephine Hougestol was born in Hayti, South Dakota in 1894, to Anund Hougestol and Bertha Anfinson. Her father Anund was born in Wisconsin and her mother Bertha, in Lillehammer, Norway. Mabel was the ninth in a family of fourteen children, five boys and nine girls. The long periods of drought and frequent cyclones dro...
Life and Work
Marion Mae MacEachern Blundell was born in Wetaskiwin on May 3rd, 1901 to Duncan and Jennie MacEachern. She was the only girl of five children, with one older brother, Norman, and three younger brothers, Stanley, John and Charles. Duncan and Jennie had come to the West from Ontario when Norman was three years old. In 1900 th...
Memoir
Margaret Lorraine Jevne was born at her parents’ home in the Wang district March 30, 1919.
1926-1934 – attended Wang School
1935 – Grade 9 at Sparling School
1936 – Home Economic School of Agriculture at Olds, Alberta.
1939 – married John Mullin and had three sons; Rodney, Wesley, Michael.
1940-2009 – a m...
In 1875, at fifteen years of age, Margaret Morrison came to Canada with her parents, Noble and Jane Morrison. They moved from the small village of Trillick, Ireland. Margaret, born August 29, 1860, was the youngest of her seven siblings. The Morrison's first set up homestead in Aylmer, Quebec.
On December 12, 1883 Margaret married Francis Arnold...
Life and Work
Margaret Evelyn Todd, better known as Peggy, was born to Alfred Angus Edward Todd and Teresa Loretta McGreevy on 23 March 1927. Alfred, a proud Metis man, farmed near the small Manitoba community of Starbuck, located southwest of Winnipeg. The Todd family has a long tradition of farming and fur trading, and Peggy’s great-...
Life and Work
Marguerite Josephine Scott, here after referred to as Jo was born on July 7, 1923 in the Scottsdale Post Office, more commonly known as Pipestone. Jo was born to Charlotte and Harry Scott who lived in the Scottsdale area. She had three brothers, Jerry, Bill and Orville and one sister Marie. Growing up in the Millet area, Jo ...
Life and Work
Marjorie Paine was born on November 27, 1912 in Rowledge, Surrey England. Surrey was home to many large country houses with extensive gardens whose owners employed full-time gardeners. Marjorie's father, Arthur, was an estate gardener, and the Paine family home always boasted a beautiful garden. Her mother stayed home and ra...
Life and Work
Though born in Prince Edward Island, Marjorie was raised in Wetaskiwin from age four. She obtained all her schooling there, finishing in 1934. She won medals in Grades 8 and 11.
She graduated in 1939 from the University of Alberta with degrees in Arts and Law, and practised with an Edmonton law firm. During the War, Marj...
Life and Work
Martha Imrie Wilson was born in Parry Sound, Ontario on April 6, 1889. She was the eldest of eight children. Her mother and father worked hard and accomplished a great deal with the few resources they possessed. Her father built a two-story home with timber cut from their bush. Her mother used every scrap of cloth to make c...
Life and Work
Mary Clair was born in Ontario July 17, 1904, the third of six children. The Clair family lived on a farm a few miles from the nearest town, but when her father heard of the golden opportunities in the west, he bought a homestead at Kerrobert, Saskatchewan in 1913. By that time, her brother was old enough to also lay claim t...
Life and Work
Mary's mother was a widow with six children when her father, John Dymack, met and married her. John was born in Poland and her mother was born in Germany. They immigrated to the United States and eventually after much travel, settled in Iowa.
After their marriage two more children were born - Bertha was born in 1870 and ...
Life and Work
Mary Vina Snyder was born on July 28, 1907 in St. John, New Brunswick. Her family, which included two younger brothers, moved to Edmonton when Mary was young. She completed her high school in Edmonton.
Mary's mother had been raised in a wealthy home and received a privileged education. She believed that it was important ...
Life and Work
On April 20th, 1907 Mary Elizabeth Howes was born on the family homestead southwest of Millet, Alberta. Beth, as she was more commonly known, was born to Micajah and Flora Howes. Beth had five older siblings Horace, Thomas, Mildred, Nathan, and Roger. She enjoyed being out-doors and tending to the farm animals. After attendi...
Life and Work
While many of the names of inductees in the Women of Aspenland exhibit are instantly recognizable to residents of the County of Wetaskiwin, Mary Keogh Christopher may not be as widely known. In large part, this is likely because she passed away in 1925—nearly eighty-three years prior to being honoured by the Wetaskiwin...
Life and Work
Mary knew that she wanted to be a nurse from an early age. Born in rural Alberta in 1914, Mary was raised on a farm outside of Vermilion until she was 15 years old. Her favourite part of life on the farm was the animals.
In 1929, after WWII, her family moved to Ste. Anne de Bellevue, a town outside Montreal, due to her fa...
Life and Work
The Mary Jane Baker story is about a woman, despite her short life, who held a prominent place in the community of Wetaskiwin. She was a member of various organizations, actively participating in community work. Mary Jane's daughter Oriole Wilson reminisces that her "mother would sooner go to a lodge meeting than cook" . Eve...
Life and Work
Maude Lucas Smart spent 37 years of her life nursing, using good humour, lots of common sense and an ability to improvise.
Isabelle Maude Lucas was born and grew up on the Peace Hills Agency Farm just north of Wetaskiwin. Her home was one of five stopping places on the Calgary-Edmonton Trail. Her playmates were the nearby...
Life and Work
Minnie Johnson is a well-known name to the people in Wetaskiwin County as she was the weekly Gwynne correspondent for the Wetaskiwin Times for almost seventy years. Her articles were compelling, informative, and always engaging. As well as being a writer, Minnie was also an avid gardener, care giver, entertainer, and sports...
Life and Work
When Molly Tofte taught in her old classroom at King Edward School, it marked an auspicious return. There she had passed Grade 7, her third time through.
Years earlier, Molly came with her family from Wisconsin to the Duhamel district, in 1913. Coming from south of the border, the regulations required her to repeat the sc...
Life and Work
Nancy Ward was born at Buffalo Lake, Alberta on December 26, 1914 to James and Mary Ward, the oldest of twelve children. The family lived in log houses both on the Samson Reserve in Hobbema and at her paternal grandfather's place near Bashaw.
When Nancy was eight years old, she went on the train to the Indian Residential ...
Life and Work
Ning Fon Yee was born January 21, 1891, near Toisan, in the Canton or Guangdong (廣東) province of China. A history of Chinese emigration tells us that most of the Canadian railways workers in fact came directly from the province of Guangdong. Being that slavery was abolished in the early 19th century across much of the wo...
Life and Work
Nora was born December 27, 1876 in Olmstead County, Minnesota to Norwegian parents Hans and Caroline Ruud. She spent her younger life in Minnesota with her 2 brothers and 4 sisters.
She married Edward Rasmuson on November 18, 1896 at the age of twenty. Her wedding gown was a deep purple, which Nora had sewn herself. Edwar...
Life and Work
Norma was born in Calgary on October 28, 1909. She was the only child of Alma Hanson, a Swedish immigrant, and Frank Chiddy, an English baker by trade, who worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Norma's parents had previously lived in Wetaskiwin and they returned with Norma in 1911 where her father continued his work...
Life and Work
Olivine was a quiet and resourceful woman. She was born in 1863 at La Valtrie, Quebec. She had two sisters (one of whom may have been named Louise) and a brother Joseph. Her brother came west in the late 1800s, believing that buying a hoe and a shovel was all that was needed for homesteading. He returned to the east after a ...
Life and Work
Opal Olga McFarland was born on January 19th, 1904 near Grass Valley, Oregon to Anthony Wayne McFarland and Effie Jane Kingsbury. She was the eldest of four children. In June, 1913, when Opal was nine years old, Wayne and Effie brought their family by train from Washington to Vegreville, Alberta. They arrived in the midst of...
Life and Work
Margaret “Peggy” Louise was born on April 27, 1941 to Maude and Raymond Dubeau. Peggy had an older sister, Rae, and a brother, Don and sister, Linda. Peggy was raised on a 20,000 acres ranch, 20 miles west of Medicine Hat. She took a Junior E education course at the University of Calgary. In 1960 Peggy was crowned Medici...
Life and Work
Ruth was born in St. John, New Brunswick in 1926, the third of four children. She grew up on a farm in West St. John that over looked the Bay of Fundy. While living here, it was her job on Saturdays to churn butter from the cream they got from their cow. Ruth attended grade nine in St. Albert school and grades ten and eleven...
Life and Work
On January 27, 1931, Ruth was born in the old St. Mary’s Hospital in Camrose. Travelling by horse and buggy, her parents, Ernest Benjamin (E.B.) and Dorothy Anderson, brought little undershirts with them to the hospital for their second-born child and only daughter in the family. The Andersons were of Swedish descent and b...
Life and Work
Shirley was born on September 11th, 1935 to Joe Hoyle and Mildred (Davis) Hoyle. Her father’s family had emigrated from England when Joe was 12 years old. Shirley’s dad, along with his family members, rode in a cattle car from Quebec City across Canada to Wetaskiwin. Her mother’s family, the Davises came from Nebraska ...
Life and Work
Theresa, the eldest of three girls, was born on the Ermineskin Reserve on December 9, 1927 to Joe and Emma Minde. She was initially educated at the Ermineskin Residential School and then encouraged by her family to continue her studies at St. Joseph’s Convent in Red Deer. Because English was not her first language and her ...
Life and Work
Born September 26, 1925 in Ferintosh, Alberta to parents Ileza and Jens Olsen, Una was the second youngest among her seven siblings. She finished Grade 11 from Red Deer College before marrying Charles Dowswell in the spring of 1945. She and Charles moved to Angus Ridge with the intention of starting their new family. Charle...
Life and Work
Violet (Carlson) Brandt’s parents were both born in Spannarp, Halland, Sweden: Arthur on May 24, 1890, and Anna on February 2, 1889. Arthur left on his own for Canada in March 1912, the trip taking approximately two weeks. He had made the decision to immigrate because his close friend had earlier immigrated to Canada and h...
Life and Work
Virginia Key was born in Lethbridge, Alberta on May 23rd, 1923. Her father George had come to Alberta from Missouri and her mother Edith came north from Wisconsin with her family. George and Edith both settled in Lethbridge and met at work, soon marrying and starting a family. After the stock market crash of 1929, a family f...
Life and Work
Winifred’s community involvement was closely tied to the Hillside school and the surrounding district. James and Winifred were both active members of the Hillside Social Club, and often participated in debates held around many districts of the Wetaskiwin area. Winifred was the secretary for the Hillside School District for...
Life and Work
Winnifred Brunner was born March 22, 1910, on a farm in the Lewisville district, south east of Wetaskiwin. Her parents, George and Mary Brunner, were of German heritage and moved west from Ontario. Her siblings were Velma Rosina, Georgia Mary, Jacob George, August Edwin and Lucy Jean May (all deceased).
Winnifred grew up ...
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame honours individuals and organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to aviation and aerospace in Canada.
We display portraits, biographies, and artifacts of ov...
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Heritage Trail: Calgary and Edmonton Trail: Before 1883
The highway linking Alberta’s two major cities, Edmonton and Calgary, started out as a footpath between north and south. And as historian Merrily Aubrey explains, we know remnants of the original as ...
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Reynolds-Alberta Museum
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Social and Economic Life
The social and economic life of central Alberta has been shaped by the historical eras common to much of the Canadian West: Aboriginal presence, fur trade and mission activity, treaties and expansion of Canada, mass immigration and ...
Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum
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