Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday: Bruce, George & Freida

HTAC0500 - Bruce, George A & Freida J
Remembered With Love
George A.
1916 - 2007
Freida J.
1925 - 2000
Bruce


HTAC0500 - Bruce, George A
Detail of moose head on George's side.
HTAC0500 - Bruce, Freida J
Detail of hummingbird on Freida's side.

While George Bruce's initial funeral marker was covered on 14 December 2010 Tombstone Tuesday.  Since then a headstone for himself, and his previously unmarked wife Frieda, has been erected. There is a very nice entry in the community history book Out Harvest of Memories (1983) written by Frieda but here are some basic facts:
George Bruce is the son of Charles Bruce and Christina (LaPlante) Bruce and was born and raised in Sturgeon Valley, Saskatchewan. He attended Brant School but left at a young age to assist on the farm. George joined the army and served in England in World War II but was transferred back to Canada for medical reasons and discharged.

Freida McWhirter is the daughter of Bob McWhirter and Olive (--?--) McWhirter and was born in Redvers, Saskatchewan. Freida's father Bob passed away when she was two weeks old and mother Olive moved to the Foxdale district to be with her parents. She attended Foxdale School, for high school studied via correspondence, and concluded her education by attending Normal School.

George Bruce and Freida McWhirter met when Freida came to teach at Brant School and they were married in Holy Trinity Church on 22 April 22 1946. They had one son.2
Sources:
[1]Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery (Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook no. 493, Saskatchewan, Canada; in NE Section 16, Township 51, Range 2, West of the 3rd Meridian), George & Freida Bruce marker, photographed by Alanna Carswell, April 2011.
[2]Coles, Cathy, ed. "Bruce, George and Freida." Our Harvest of Memories: Foxdale, Sturgeon Valley, Silver Cliff, Three Creeks, Rayside, Rich Valley. Shellbrook: Shell River North Book Committee, 1983. p. 515. Print.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday: PRUDEN, William

In Loving Memory
William Pruden
Born April 16, 1875
Died March 24, 1940
He Is Gone
But Not Forgotten
From the community history book, Our Harvest of Memories (1983):2
The Pruden families originally came from United States, first to Winnipeg and later to Prince Albert. In 1910, both families settled on farms in the Sturgeon Valley district.

Bill, (William) was a married man [Betsy]. They raised two adopted children [Alfred, ?]. He was one of the original lumberjacks. He kept a number of cattle, as grass was plentiful. He was a lover of horses and took much pride in those he owned. Some years later they moved closer to Prince Albert, where he later passed away.
William Pruden died at age 64 years, 11 months, 8 days.

Sources:
[1]Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery (Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook no. 493, Saskatchewan, Canada; in NE Section 16, Township 51, Range 2, West of the 3rd Meridian), John Hannibul[Annable] marker, photographed by Alanna Carswell, September 2009.
[2]Coles, Cathy, ed. "Pruden, Willian and John." Our Harvest of Memories: Foxdale, Sturgeon Valley, Silver Cliff, Three Creeks, Rayside, Rich Valley. Shellbrook: Shell River North Book Committee, 1983. pp. 575. Print.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday: COLES, Francis

Francis Coles' full grave site.
In Loving Memory
Francis S. Coles
1900 - 1935
Rest In Peace
Our Brother
Source: Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery (Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook no. 493, Saskatchewan, Canada; in NE Section 16, Township 51, Range 2, West of the 3rd Meridian), Francis Coles markers, photographed by Alanna Carswell, September 2009.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday: PETERSON, Roy

Roy Peterson's full grave site.1
Roy Albert
Peterson
Died
Sept 20
1932
Age 10 Mon
Darling Son
Roy Albert Peterson was born to Richard Peterson and Edith (Bennett) Peterson.2

Sources:
[1]Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery (Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook no. 493, Saskatchewan, Canada; in NE Section 16, Township 51, Range 2, West of the 3rd Meridian), Roy Peterson markers, photographed by Alanna Carswell, September 2009.
[2]Coles, Cathy, ed. "Peterson, Richard and Edith." Our Harvest of Memories: Foxdale, Sturgeon Valley, Silver Cliff, Three Creeks, Rayside, Rich Valley. Shellbrook: Shell River North Book Committee, 1983. p. 573. Print.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

'Hopping' Through Cemeteries

Easter Saturday, now two weeks past, was an eventful day for me involving visits to three local cemeteries in the company of some likewise graveyard enthusiast friends.

First was a visit to Holy Trinity Anglican churchyard which involved some literal hopping over the washed out entrance road. The church building itself, has been boarded up since fall 2010 due to vandalism (thankfully relatively minor) and I am looking forward to the restoration of the door (it was in poor condition before the vandalism incident).

Holy Trinity Anglican Church & Churchyard, 23 April 2011.
The big hop, 23 April 2011.
View of Holy Trinity Churchyard still covered in snow, 23 April 2011.

We breezed through the churchyard discussing the various residents and their unique histories, like the Featherstone-Robarts-Holmes conundrum, Peterson children, Annibul, Lofthouse, Pruden and various other things of interest. I took pictures of a headstone installed last year and while I looked for evidence of a recent burial, which I understand has occurred, the area in question was still covered by snow. And it is entirely possible that I got the burial mixed up with Wild Rose North Cemetery.

Speaking of Wild Rose North Cemetery, that was our next stop. Oddly, like my first walk through, once again I did not get photographs of the cemetery. Very silly considering I had camera in hand this trip. There were three things that upset me during the visit:
  1. I was sad to see that the glue holding a tabletstone to its base gave way because of the marker tilt, resulting in a toppled headstone. Markers affixed to bases in my opinion should be fitted into sockets or internally pinned.
  2. The inscription face of a monument badly covered with lichen was carelessly scrapped off with a metal object, leaving scratch marks on the stone.
  3. The amount of horse manure. Now, I am unsure if the manure comes for individuals riding horses to visit the cemetery or the T.B. horses which have a habit of getting loose. A week after the visit in fact, I saw nine horses and a foal in close proximity.
What was enjoyable was the discussion regarding some manufactured stones which we have, based on composition, concluded for the time being to be a fine coloured concrete mix. Damage to the head of another marker revealed to me, that unlike I had concluded while viewing spalling in Foxdale Cemetery of a local wolf stone, that the decorative covering may not be concrete but stucco of some sort. [EDIT: stucco is a concrete, silly me] With the examination of two markers revealing the concealed flower vases, a fun discussion was also held about various stories that could be concocted about cemetery exploration and hidden treasure.

From Wild Rose North Cemetery we moved onto St Martin's Anglican Church and Churchyard.  The church was open and nicely heated, leading me to suspect that as it has a gas stove, the church is being warmed in preparation of a Easter Sunday service even though the church no longer has, how shall I put this?--a congregation in residence.

St Martin's Anglican Church & Churchyard, 23 April 2011.

One of the tombstones in St Martin's was carved by one of my companions grandfather who does the traditional sandblasting and while neither the granddaughter or grandfather are fan of wolf stones, she does know that he purchases them and installs them upon request. So, I do hope through the connection I can learn who manufactures the wolf stones style of my area. And what exactly they are constructed of.

From St Martin's we went on a hunt for a forth cemetery, Wild Rose West Cemetery. (Which, for some reason, I was calling South at the time... probably because it is south of the North one although West is its name.) With now map, and working with only my general recall of the cemetery having plotted it out on the R.M. map, we were not successful in anything but touring the area and seeing deer.

Four white-tail deer seen while attempting to locate Wild Rose West Cemetery.

Touring back to home base, we concluded the day with pizza, hot dogs roasted over an open fire, and the culinary debate of how to make the best s'mores.

Tombstone Tuesday: PERNISIE, Mary

Mary Pernisie full grave site.
In Loving Memory
A Tendre Mother &
A Faithful Friend
Mary G. Pernisie
1883 - 1912
At Rest
Source: Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery (Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook no. 493, Saskatchewan, Canada; in NE Section 16, Township 51, Range 2, West of the 3rd Meridian), Mary Pernisie markers, photographed by Alanna Carswell, August 2009.