(Info Shirley Hutzkal 24.1.96)

(Info from Shirley Hutzkal 24.1.96)

‘Coming from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania by train to Kitscoty and by wagon from there, Mom and Dad and members of the Reichinbauf=gh’s (Mother’s family) arrived at the Ben Murray’s farm in 1908. This was 2.5 miles or so north of where Marwayne is now. Roy George arrived in December of the same year from Indiana Harbor. Eighteen people spent their first year in sunny Alberta under the same roof.
Dad filed for homestead rights on SE32-53-2 and his brother Roy on SW6-54-2-4.
In 1908, a school district was established making Elgin the oldest in the area north and east of Tring P.O. In July 1909 T C Donaldson as secretary, money was borrowed and a school built.
In the very early years there weren’t many fences and I recall my mother saying when Dad had gone to town for supplies she had to leave the children under Evelyne’s care while she had to locate the cows. This was a great worry to her as Evelyne was not very old.
Water was often alkali and water had to be hauled and therefore scarce. Mother had dried unwashed diapers and reused them, something I couldn’t visualize as she was so fussy with her wash as I remembered.
Dad told of one of his experiences with oxen. There was one that every chance it got would lie down and refuse to pull - in desparation he built a fire under it and from then on it pulled its much better.
The oldtimers were very ingenious at using what was on hand. Wheat was burned for coffee, clothes were made from flour and sugar sacks. Knitted articles unravelled and knit over when signs of wear appeared. Orange and appled boxes with a bit of carpentry could make dolls cribs or cupboards. even spools from thread and a piece of elastic made a dandy little tracor to amuse little ones for hours.
Mother and Dad moved to Clover bar in 1912 for several years where Dad worked in the coal mines. They told how overjoyed Byron was to move back to the farm, city life wasn’t for him.
In all, Dad and Mother had 12 children; Evelyne, Byron, Ethel, Johnnie Floyd, Leon, Albert, Gertrude, Norman, Alma, Frankie and Pearl. Alma died at 10 months and Frankie at 5 years, a cross hard for the family to bear.
Neighbours were the homesteaders’ greatest asset. Times like when the home barn burned and Mr Finlay and another neighbour took up a collection and bought lumber, delivered it. Then the neighbours had a barn-raising. Another time Dad and neighbours harvested for another who was sick and unable to do his own.
Alex Finlay was a close friend of Dad and Mother from the first years and was told me many inetresting stories. He told me since he was a bachelor, the first few years, my mother made bread for hime and he brought extra flour for her. That way, ….’
‘Mom and I came to B.C. in June 1938 as her health was poor. Floyd had left his homestead north of the Saskatchewan River and moved to B.C. several years previously and Johnnie and Emma and daughter Bertha, also, Leon were here when Mom and I arrived. Dad followed after harvest.
Leon left for Alberta soon after and Norman replaced him by arriving in B.C.
In 1939 Johnnie was killed in a logging accident at Sechelt up the coast from Vancouver, leaving a void where his sunny presence had been.
Dad worked in a garage and in logging camps and as usual managed to find work. In 1940 Mother passed away and Dad and I moved to Onion Lake where he worked for Alec Finlay in his store. Norman worked on different farms for awhile and later went to Vermilion and worked with oil rigs and then as a mechanic in a garage. After remarrying, Dad and his wife moved to New Westminster. There he worked for Inter City Building Supplies until 1952 when he passed away.
Floyd spent the most of his life in B.C. in the woods which he loved. He had been in a high rigger, faller, boomman and cook in logging camps. He was cook in the Navy and his last yeasr were as custodian in a school at Prince George. He married Dora Butterfield and tehy had three children; Brian, Terrisa and Jeffrey. There were a loving, noisy, happy family and it was a sad time when Floyd passed away in 1972.
Gertrude married Clarence Duckering of Streamstown and they had 10 children. She took after mother with a big family. She had loved children as a young girl and I remember the birthday parties she made for me at home. Later they moved to Red Deer where Gertrude passed away in 1959.’ (Taken from a book, ‘Echoes of Marywayne Area’.