Tag Archives: prairies

The Legacy of Mary (Sam) Vance, Knitter

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Linda C Butler

The Legacy of Mary (Sam) Vance, Knitter by Linda C Butler Traditional skills, such as knitting, connect us to past generations.  I never knew my great grandmother Mary Vance, but she was an expert knitter and I feel that when … Continue reading →

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Clearing the Land

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Christine Goodnough

My Uncle Fred (Dad F) sold his farm back about 1958. This was the original home place, the farm he’d inherited from his father, Thomas Forsyth. The impression I gleaned over the years was that Dad’s health was bad after … Continue reading →

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Women and Work on a Prairie Homestead

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Christine Goodnough

In the mid 1800s in the large Eastern American cities, some young women were pushing for the right to higher education – and meeting stiff opposition.  Some educators claimed that a basic Grade 8 education was all girls could handle. … Continue reading →

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Two Things I Won’t Tell You About Canada

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Christine Goodnough

Sam’s father was killed in India so he spent his boyhood with his uncle on a farm in Galloway. (This is an area in southern Scotland where our great-great-great grandfather David Vance was born.) As a young man Sam attended … Continue reading →

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Laundry Day in the Log Cabin

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Christine Goodnough

Monday Was Wash Day According to the Laws of Feminine Paradigms, Monday was Wash day long before the prairies filled up with settlers. Homestead wives brought this tradition from their far-off motherlands and planted it into the cultural soil of … Continue reading →

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The Box Social

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Christine Goodnough

In the latter 1800s and early 1900s many young single men came to the Canadian West to make new lives for themselves and were now proving up homesteads in the prairie provinces. A lot of them endured isolated, frigid prairie … Continue reading →

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Arthur and the Organ

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Christine Goodnough

Nine-year-old Boy Carries 200 lb Organ 17 Miles Across the Prairie Arthur’s dad had been a gentleman back in merry old England. Had his branch of the family fallen on hard times or had he just decided to try making … Continue reading →

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Building a Home

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Christine Goodnough

HOMESTEADING IN THE CANADIAN WEST: ‘Hit or Miss’ Choosing Like our great-grandpa and grandpa Vance, a number of Easterners came to friends or family out West and from there they looked around and chose the quarter section (160 acres) they wanted … Continue reading →

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