#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 49 Prompt: 'Winter'

Week 49 Prompt: 'Winter'

Snow covered train in Saskatchewan 1947.  Photo by Krista Wilson, posted on Pinterest, 'Saskatchewan my home', https://www.pinterest.com.au/wilsonkl33/saskatchewan-my-home/

"In Saskatchewan, a train was halted in a blizzard that raged from, Jan 31 - Feb 09, 1947.  The train was then buried completely by a snowdrift, 1 km long and 36.7ft deep.  It was called the worst recorded winter conditions in the railroads recorded history.  All roads into Regina were also blocked in with snow as was all of Saskatchewan, and the rest of the prairies didn't fare much better either.  Many people were trapped in their homes for over a week."

Winter always reminds me of my second cousin - Melvin Pearce who had described the freezing snow of Canada, to me.  My Aunt Tibbie had organized for me to be his pen friend when I was at secondary school.  We wrote for a couple of years and then I heard no more from him.  I later found out that he had died in a home accident.

Melvin had told me that he had a hen house and run, and was proud of his hens and having eggs to collect for the family.  He sent me photos of the henhouse - possibly lost now :(        I will keep a watch out and post if I find them.  
Addition: Well I haven't found the henhouse photo, but I did find a passport one he had sent me. See below.

Winter had been freezing and now the weather was warmer, the hens were laying well again.  But apparently the eggs were going missing and one night he went out with his gun to shoot the suspect fox.  However, something went wrong, and he was accidentally shot dead by himself. 

This was a great shock to me.  Melvin was two years older than I was and was sixteen years old when he died. Death of a friend was not a common thing for me at that age, and it left a lasting impression. I wanted to leave a remembrance to Melvin on my blog.

RIP Melvin Pearce: 02 May 1944 - 19 Jun 1960. 

Melvin’s family background: 

His grandfather was James Arthur Pearce (Jim) a younger brother of my grandfather George Francis Pearce who was 18 years older.

Jim was born 04 Sep 1881 in Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland.

He married Margaret Helen MANN, daughter of  Allan Mann and Sarah HEARST in Canada. Sarah was born 05 May 1890 in St. Joe Township, Nth Dakota, USA.

Jim died seven years after his grandson on 04 Jun 1967, age 86 years and Margaret died 21 May 1978 age 88 years.

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Jim had left Scotland as a 22-year-old young man and arrived in 1904, settling in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. He became a farmer there.  The family corresponded with their niece Aunty Tibbie in Australia, who was a  prolific letter writer all her life. 

At wintertime, they wrote that they were completely snowed in.  I couldn't imagine what that was like from here in the area I lived in, in Victoria as it was never cold enough for us to have snowfalls.

Jim and Margaret had a son Ronald Stuart Pearce born about 1916 in Saskatchewan. (He died sometime after 1974).

Ronald was the father of Melvin Pearce.  (I have not yet researched the rest of the family yet, so have not discovered who Ronald's wife was or if they had any other children.  I don't think Melvin had mentioned any.)

History of Tisdale:

English explorer Henry Kelsey passed through this area in 1690 during his exploration of the Carrot River.

The post office of Tisdale, provisional District of Saskatchewan, North West Territories was created on February 1, 1904. The community was originally known as "Doghide" after the Doghide River that flows through the town, but with the arrival of the railway, the community was renamed "Tisdale" in honour of F.W. Tisdale, an employee of the Canadian Northern Railway.^[3]

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisdale,_Saskatchewan

So it would seem that Jim may have been an early settler there.