What was Happening in 1949?

1949

This is the year that my mother, Glenna, met my father, Allan.

What else was happening that year?

• Minimum wage is set at $.75 an hour
• South Pacific , a musical by Rogers and Hammerstein
• Records cut- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; Ghost Riders in the Sky; Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend; Mona Lisa
• New radio show - Dragnet
• T.V. shows - The Life of Riley; the Lone Ranger
• The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers to take the World Series
• Silly Putty is introduced
• Tokyo Rose goes on trial

It helps you put things in perspective to see what was going on around family members as important personal milestones where happening.

William John Davies . . . continued

William and Sarah moved onto a farm in the Starline district with their five children and in 1910 Victor was added to the family and in 1916 Mary was born. Mary died in young childhood at the age of eleven and a half.

William Davies bought and farmed several parcels of land in the Starline district and was a very successful farmer from 1908 until his death in 1935.  Sarah and sons Glenn and Charlie farmed a few years, then Sarah moved to Claresholm, then on Christmas day in 1945 she passed away after several years of failing health

Janie married Harry Taitinger, a son of Nick Taitinger. George married Carrie McMurray of Cardston. Ivan married Rachel Lepard of Claresholm.  glen remained unmarried.  Charlie was married to Zelpha Newby of Lethbridge and victor married Mabel Johnson of Claresholm. There were nineteen grandchildren.

William John Davies

On November 25, 1896 William John Davies and Sarah Amanda Nowlin were united in marriage. They farmed in the Shelton district in Idaho, their nearest town being Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Mr. Davies was born in Wyoming in 1872 and Mrs. Davies was born in Utah in 1878.  Their were five children born to them in Idaho, Janie, George, Ivan, Glenn and Charlie.

In March 1908, Will decided to sell his farm and come along to Canada along with several other families, brother and sisters of Will and Sarah.  In early March all their belongings, such as machinery, household effects, livestock and, yes, the family, were loaded onto a train and headed out for Canada.

However, upon arriving in Great Falls, Montana, they found all their livestock had to go through inspection and had to be put through disinfection, so there was a delay of several days.

All the women, with the children, went to a hotel.  There were five or six women and somewhere around eighteen children in one hotel, so the children had a hilarious time, lots of noise and excitement with lots of mad patrons in the hotel.

One man was so mad because George Davies and Leland Nowlin knocked on this door; he opened the door and said he would kill them if they didn’t stop, so they went out on the street looking for a policeman.  While they were looking they ran into Charles Nowlin’s family, who had left a few days later and were looking for the group. They returned to the hotel with the boys.

In a few days however, it was discovered that Charlie Davies, seven months and Harold Nowlin, four months, had chicken pox. The babies were wrapped in their shawls, and all the women and children left for Claresholm by train with Jabus Nowlin, as leader and protector.

Upon arriving in Claresholm, the group was met by a brother of Sarah and Ernest Nowlin, from Carmangay, so the two men with the women and eighteen children marched from the station to the Wilton Hotel, with all who were able, carrying bags, suitcases, etc. As we went along the street, we heard people say, “There goes a bishop and his family”

To be continued . . ..

George Davies --- by Caroline Davies

This was page 405 of an unidentified book.  I only have a copy of this page.  But since my grandma wrote it, I have to include it, even without the source.

The George Davies family came to Carmangay district in April, 1928.  We had two daughters, Shirley Maxine, two years old, and Glenna Elaine, three months. We bought the Stanley Robinson farm of three quarters, seven and one-half miles west and south of Carmangay. It was a real struggle the first few years -- so much wind and the soil was so light, so had lots of soil drifting and I guess that's why they called it the dirty 30's.

1930's tractor

We farmed with horses for a number of years, later we were able to buy another quarter section joining our south quarter from Jack Gillespie. We were able to sell our horses (although many tears were shed) for a second-hand tractor and later a Johnson blade and that was the answer to soil drifting.

Russian thistle

Grasshoppers were terrible for a number of years and took so much of our time spreading bait. Russian thistles were also a menace and we used to burn them in the spring.

grasshopper

We had to haul out drinking water in a stone-boat in barrels, baling it by hand for our own use and the livestock, later getting a pump.

gopher

Gophers were plentiful too -- the municipality offered one cent a tail so we bought traps and I trapped for days.  Earl Blaine was teaching school at Prairieville and boarded at our place -- he used to shoot the gophers and let me have their tails.  I made $7.50  -- so that was quiet something!

We took in the Christmas concerts at all schools for miles around and also went over to the Starline every two weeks to dance to Mackie Russell's orchestra.  We didn't have a babysitter those days so we took the girls tucked in the bottom of the buggy.

Glenna went to Burwash School when she was five years old to help keep the school open as they needed six pupils.  Miss Hazel McAllister was the teacher.  Pupils at that time were Pearl Russel, Eileen and Phyllis  Simmons, Helen Anderson, Shirley and Glenna. After the school closed the girls went to Ryckman.  Josie Hubka was teacher. They went to Rykeman for a number of years and then were vanned to Carmangay.

During the country school days dances were held in one school or the other every week, and those were the best times ever.  Everyone was welcome. Ladies brought lunch and everyone enjoyed themselves.  We had the best stampedes at Carmangay for years and people came from many miles away. Agricultural Fairs were an annual event, also Bobbie Burns concerts.

coal bucket

On January 31, 1939 our only son, Murray George came to our house and our family was complete.  We hauled coal from east of Carmangay and Champion as we had only coal stoves and furnaces.  What a treat when we could finally afford a wind-charger, 32 volt electric plant.  We got plenty of wind and could really enjoy some of the comforts of living.  Had my first power washer when I was 46 years old. Later we got Calgary Power. First telephone June 4, 1945.

Caroline McMurray Davies

I found this short bio on my grandmother- I don't know what it was written for, but it is just a short, concise piece:

Caroline McMurray was the 9th child of James S. McMurray and Sarah Orr. She was born on march 11, 1902 in Orton, Alberta, Canada. Her parents and seven siblings moved from Idaho in march.  It was cold and windy, they had no house, and lived in a tent for a few weeks.  Being very windy in March many times her parents and older brothers would stand outside and hold down the tent poles.

Carrie, as she was called, also had a younger sister named Lila. They were the only ones born in Canada.

When Carrie was nine her mother died of a rare disease. Lila was only four months old. Carrie was very sad and lonesome. Her older sisters helped take care of her and little Lila. Before her mother died, Carrie would stand at her side with a fan to help keep the flies from bothering her.

She attended school to sixth grade. She lived with some of her older siblings to help take care of their children. Late she worked for several different families helping with housework.  While she was doing that kind of work she met George Davies and they were married.

About 18 months after George died in 1957 she attendend Nursing School in Calgary and became a successful Nursing aid and worked at three different hospitals until she retired.

She died June 1, 1981 after being ill with Parkinson's disease.

Friday Family Story...Embroidery

Beginner stitches

Some intermediate stitches

Grandma Caroline McMurray Davies -

My grandma taught me embroidery stitches.  She gave me some fabric, and embroidery hoop, some needles and some embroidery floss. With the exception of the hoop, it all fit into a Whitman chocolate box. She taught me some basic stitches, and then got me started on my first project, a pink toaster cover with a picture to embroider on the side. I did pretty good - I thought, but when I needed to take out a stitch I ended cutting into the fabric, so the little bear on the side had to have a patch job in the middle of his nose.  The rest of the embroidery was quite good for a beginner. Later I learned more stitches, and did embroidery work on some pillow cases, several table clothes, and even some pictures for the wall.
It was really special to learn from my grandma as my mother didn't do much handi-work. She did her creating with her sewing machine.(I am glad my mom taught me to sew with a machine)

.

Grandma Davies Sugar Cookies

Recipe for Grandma Davies Sugar Cookies

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup sour cream

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Work in the butter like pie crust (use a pastry cutter or two knives).  Make a well in the center and drop in 1 egg, add 1 cup sour cream. ( may need a little more, but just enough to make a soft dough.  Roll 1/8 inch thick, cut, sprinkle with sugar.
                 
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in 375 degree oven until light straw color. Cool on counter.

I Had a Grandma Who Baked

It totally goes without saying that if I am going to research and report about my Grandma Davies I have to tell about her fabulous, famous, Sugar Cookies.  Maybe they were only famous with her grandchildren, but to us they were (and still are) the only true sugar cookie.

She rolled them out on the counter and cut the big round cookies with her cookie cutter...but one time when she was visiting us and she didn't have her cookie cutter with her, she took a can of fruit (we ate the fruit), took the top and bottom off the can and made sure there were no sharp edges and then she used it for her cookie cutter.  She told me that before she got a cookie cutter she had always used a can for cutting out the cookies.

Sickness and other Health Conditions

Thinking about my grandfather having diphtheria as a child caused me to think about other health conditions that my parents or grandparents had to deal with during their lives.

My grandpa Fowler (Douglas Bradshaw Fowler) died of leukemia in 1965. He suspected and diagnosed it in himself.
My grandma Fowler (Louise King Fowler) died in 1987- I don't know why.

I remember my grandma Davies (Caroline McMurray Davies) had Parkinson's  Disease, that eventually landed her in a care home where she lived until she died in 1981.
My grandpa Davies (William George Davies) died in 1957 when I was 4 years old. I think he died of a heart attack- I better check my facts.

Illnesses of my Mother - I remember hearing about some bad rash she had on both hands and she had to be taken to the doctor in Lethbridge for treatment, and had both hands bandaged and it was a really problem when she needed to use the washroom.

Illnesses of my Father- (Allan King Fowler)               

Diphtheria in 1930's

In the early 20th century diphtheria outbreaks evoked fear around the world. Until the 1930s it was one of the most common killers of children in Canada and the United States.

I found this quote on the site from the Canadian Medical Association and talked to my mom to see if she knew anyone who had diphtheria. It jogged her memory and she told me that she remembered hearing that her father, William George Davies had had diphtheria when he was a child and even missed a year of school to recover. Her dad was very close lipped about many things so she had not heard this from him, but it was shared from her Aunt Sis (her dad's sister). She wished now that she had asked more questions.

Canadian Medical Association

"When the folks went to town..."

This was a story about  my mom, Glenna Elaine Davies.   This story takes place when she was a young girl, but old enough to stay home alone when her folks had to go to town.

Occasionally, George and Carrie Davies would go to town and leave the girls home. One time Glenna was trying to keep herself entertained and was doing a little snooping around.  Her house didn't really have any closets or built in cupboards either upstairs or on the main floor. 

However, in the living room, there was a window with a window seat. Many parts of the year the family didn't even use the living room as it was too cool or cold.

A "store set" similar to this.

She went in the living room and decided to lift up the window seat lid to see what was there. Inside the window seat she found an amazing site. An entire little store set, very authentic and, just like you would find at the store. There was even a little cash register to ring up sales.

This was an absolute treasure!

For the next few months, every time her folks went to town, Glenna would go into the living room and play with the little store set. There was never any thought in her mind about why they were there or whose they were, it was just a huge bonus to have them there to enjoy.


A few months passed, and then it was Christmas morning.  

Her folks were so excited as they had saved and scrimped to be able to purchase a store bought gift of a little store set. Glenna  was not very excited at all, by now these were well-played with and there was no novelty about this gift. 

Friday Family Story . . . What is a "Beef Ring"?

My Grandpa Davies (William George Davies), had several brothers. I only knew one of them, Uncle Glen. When I was a little girl growing up in Edmonton I remember Uncle Glen coming to visit us. .
But this story takes place way before my times. 

I asked my mom how they had meat in the olden days when they didn't have a fridge. She told me that  when she was a kid she saw her mom can meat, just like when she canned vegetables- except that it took at least three hours to get it processed correctly. 

Her mom also had a 20 gallon crock with salt preserving the pork or ham. If she needed a bit of meat she just lifted the lid and pulled out the leg and sliced off a hunk.

Another way they got meat was through a "beef ring".   A "beef ring"  consisted of several farmers who raised beef . Uncle Glen would butcher a cow that belonged to one of the members of the ring. He would cut it up and all those in the ring came by his place to get a share of the beef.  Sometimes if my mom's family were visiting  he would give them a roast or some stew meat.

Killiing Turkeys for Market - Carrie and George Davies

"Every year we had some turkeys, and usually about ten survived the skunks and coyotes. We would usually keep one for Christmas and then decide when we could take the others to Lethbridge to sell.  Two days before we would go to sell them, George would slit their tongues to kill them.  They were then hung by their feet so all the blood drained out.  Then they were laid out on the kitchen table to get all the feathers out.then we laid them on some newspaper on the living room floor. There was no heat in the living room, so it was pretty cold in there. Over night they would freeze.  The next day we took the frozen turkeys to market to sell them."

Roses for Glenna

According to a book about flowers-

ROSES: The person who loves roses is sentimental and good-hearted. They will hold onto cherished memories and share stories of the past with children who always seem to look up to them.  Because of this, elders respect that person and the characteristics of what you have become, and what you stand for.  That person will  have an active imagination and will love the natural beauty of the things around them .

My mother, Glenna, loved roses, and she is my inspiration for holding onto the cherished memories, and for wanting to share the stories of the past.

When I was born, my dad, Allan King Fowler brought a water globe with some fresh roses in it to the hospital for my  mom - I guess that was instrumental in the subconscious passing of  the love of cherished memories and family stories to me.

Saturday's Story . . . more about Carrie & George

When George and Carrie Davies moved to their own farm it was their great adventure. They bought two sections of land - there is 240 acres to a section.  He was going to be a dry-land farmer and grow wheat. (as a dry-land farmer you count on rain to water your crops)

The house was two miles south and five miles west of Carmangay. They said the house faced east, but actually east was the direction they came out of the house because they came out the kitchen door. The house was small, but there was a barn with a fenced corral, and a shed and a chicken coop.

Carrie was very excited about the chicken coop.  George told her that she could sell any eggs over what they needed  and use the money any way she wanted. She would also be able to sell the extra cream and butter.
Another opportunity for Carrie to earn some cash money was to trap and kill gophers, the government paid a penny for each gopher tail.

Looking off her back porch Carrie could see the chicken coop about half a block away - she called the chickens "her girls".

She made plans for a garden down the west side of the house, along the edge of the road.  She was going to plant beans, peas, cucumbers, beets, carrots, corn, dill weed and lots of potatoes. George would dig a potato pit which would to store the potatoes. A potato pit is dug down deep and the pit is then lined with boards and a there is a ladder for climbing down into the pit.  The pit is covered by boards and will store many bags of potatoes to keep them fed through the long, Canadian  winter.

Carrie really enjoyed working in the garden early on the summer days, before it got too hot. After working in the garden for a few hours she would come into the house and make breakfast for George.  His favorite breakfast was a steak, bread and milk gravy; but most times his breakfast was hot cereal, usually oatmeal and hot chocolate.

Caroline - the Garden and the Chickens

Carrie loved helping Mrs. Davies with the garden and with the chickens. She enjoyed weeding the garden early in the morning before it go too hot.  She could be alone outside, and could daydream about George, and how wonderful it was when he kissed her. She daydreamed about the possibility of George and her having a place of their own someday.

She took good care of the chickens and also learned how to chop off the head and pluck the feathers and get that chicken in the pot quickly.

The Davies seemed to all be waiting and watching to see how quickly she learned everything and before you could "shake a stick"   they were getting married; George was 27 and Carrie was 23. They lived in a two room house north east  of Claresholm for a few years until they could buy a farm.

Friday Family Story . . . Carrie McMurray - Working

After staying at her different brother's homes and having the opportunity to see different ways of doing things she was feeling rather grown-up and felt she was ready to be out on her own.

Growing up in southern Alberta there were not  many jobs available for a young girl who wanted to earn some money. Many girls hired themselves out as a helper to a farmer's wife. A hired girl could be the one taking care of the children, or doing the laundry, helping with cooking or even taking care of the animals.  They could usually count on making about one dollar a week.  During this time a dollar of cash money was worth a lot.  It meant they could use the money for the necessities of life instead of going without or using credit. No one ever really wanted to go into debt because there was too much chance that they would not have the money to pay when it came due.

Carrie got a job on the cook wagon for a threshing crew.  She had to provide three meals a day for a bunch of hungry men.  This was really hard work, but she learned a great deal and then was ready for another new adventure.

The next opportunity/adventure came in the chance to work on the Davies farm located east of Claresholm in the Starlight District in southern Alberta. The work on that farm was just as hard as at my own home, but the Davies boys were all so handsome: George, Ivan, Glen, Charlie, and Victor. the older sister, Janie had moved away and little Mary was too young to help.  Mrs. Davies really needed help.  the boys were all big enough to hlep, but they were always our helping with the farm, so she really needed my help.  i certainly never dreamed that one day she would be my mother-in-law.  Maybe she knew, and that was why she was so nice to me. She was kind and patient and made sure I knew how to fix all the family favorites. She taught me many different ways to serve potatoes, and how to make a nice flaky pie crust so I could make a chicken pot pie or a fruit pie.

... to be continued

Thursday Thoughts . . . . Caroline McMurray

Happiness does not just happen; you have to work really hard for it, and still it comes in its own time.

In 1909, when Caroline McMurray was a young girl of seven, she saw her mother die from errasipitus. She remembered fanning her mother to keep the flies off her up in her bedroom in the days before she died.  Her little sister, Lila was 4 months old, so she really missed having a mom, as did the four older brothers and four older sisters.

After a while(1914) her dad married a young girl from England just two years, who was to be the new stepmother. There was lots of work to do marrying into a family with so many children, and she made them all work hard.

She didn't teach, instead just yelled at the kids to get the work done. Carrie would have loved to be taught how to make bread, grow a garden, keep a tidy English home and take care of the chickens, but instead she resented Elizabeth trying to take her mother's place and wanted to get away.

She wasn't very nice to the kids, so Carrie quit school early and went to stay and help out at some of her older brother's homes.  Eventually she felt like she had worn out her welcome and that she needed a new place to go.


...to be continued.

William George Davies - Monday Memories

Earliest Recollections

I have been trying to remember my earliest memory.

How old was I when I have a conscience memory and  what was the situation surrounding it.  I have to be careful not to make the "memory" something that I saw in a photograph.  I was borne in Lethbridge, but lived the first years of my life in Edmonton.  My dad was in school and latter had graduated from University of Alberta in Edmonton, but in the summers my folks would move home to Lethbridge and live in a little house on the farm.  My older sister and I were June babies.

Some random memories were about the day my parents had been gone for an hour or so, when they came home they called us all in from the back yard, and  I remember my dad had a stern voice.  When we came in the house I remember thinking it was strange that my mom still had her coat on.  We were all told to sit on the couch.  Then my dad said, "I know you girls have been wanting us to have a new baby- so here is an addition to our family" and my mom opened her coat and pulled out a little white puppy. We named her "Lady Pup", she was a terrier/Pomeranian mix.

I can remember going to the farm where my other grandparents lived, Grandma and Grandpa Davies.  I remember they had a horse and I went outside with Grandma and had to step over a big puddle of water to get inside the barn or chicken coop.  I remember sitting on Grandpa's lap and he had a Chinese bamboo back-scratcher hanging on the wall by the table. He would take that and scratch my back, I remember liking that a lot. Also, while sitting on his lap I got to see him roll his own cigarettes, and other thing I remember was that he would tear two small pieces of something like a brown paper bag and lick his two pointer fingers so the paper would stick on them and then he put his hands below the table edges so that I could only see the pointer fingers with the paper pieces on them, and he did the little rhyme about "two little Dickie birds" sitting on the tree, and when he had the "fly away" the paper would come off the finger and then they birds fly away and return. This grandpa (William George Davies) died when I was about 4 years old, so that may be my first memories.

Other memories of things that happened while we lived in Edmonton: (we moved to Richmond, British Columbia and I started 1st grade there)- so all these memories happened before I was five years old

• white cat with blue and green eyes
• birthday cake made to look like a doll with a dress
• having my tonsils out

• 

  Howdy Doody

• the day my mom discovered my neck/head was crooked
• surgery to correct my crooked head
• cousins coming for Christmas
• getting a nurse doll for Christmas
• going to "Play School"- the Canadian equivalent of kindergarten
• field trip to the television station
• having to sit at the table, long after the others - to finish my dinner
• I didn't like onions- they squeaked on my teeth
• our "Lady Pup" having 6 puppies
• watching my favorites on television - "The Friendly Giant" and "Howdy Doody Time"

I am amazed at the memories as they come rushing in....when I sat down this morning to start the post I really wasn't sure how many I would even have.

What are your earliest memories?  Take time to think and to write them down.

Caroline McMurray Davies - Hauling Water

Water - Easy to Take for Granted

It's Saturday morning, and my firm commitment for family history sleuthing will help me press forward today as I clean my house so latter I can sit unencumbered to work on family information gathering.

I will be thankful for the modern appliances I have that help make my life easier. I just put the linens in the washing machine and turn a few dials. They will be washed (through no effort of my own)and then I can move them to the dryer and in a short time they will be dry and I can  take them upstairs and remake my California King size bed..

My mother told me that while she was growing up, her mother, my Grandmother Davies had to haul all the water she needed everyday into the house,  then she had to haul it all out. They kept a reservoir (steel or tin tub of some kind) on one side of the stove so that they always had some warm/hot water. Imagine for a day that everything you needed water for you had to walk to the well, carrying a bucket, then pump the water or pull it up from the well and carry it inside, then heat for cooking and bathing, and laundry, and for any other needs. Then once the water had been used it all had to be carried outside again.

I have no excuses about getting my laundry done today.  I won't even go into other details of my easy life- that can come later.