Archives Need Your Stuff

by Anita Mae Draper

This summer while on vacation, I'll be visiting municipal and provincial archives while researching family history and it's bringing up memories of other visits. Back in 1978, my husband and I visited the National Archives of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) where we found census records that showed where his paternal grandmother lived in York County, Ontario.

In 2015, I went to the York County area - basically the area from Toronto north to Lake Simcoe - and spent a delightful day in the Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives (GPV&A) where I finally met the curator, Melissa Matt, who happens to be one of my husband's cousins by marriage. With Melissa's help, I was able to confirm that my husband's 3 x Great-grandfather, Rev Joel Draper Sr, bought land in 1807 in what was then known as Upper Canada.

Melissa brought out several old maps that I scanned in segments with my Flip-Pal scanner and then stitched them back together on my laptop. For example, this 1860 map shows 3 lots owned by Joel Draper. I know that the one on Lot 13, Concession 4, was owned by Joel Draper Jr as that was where my husband's great-grandfather was born, but the other two lots may have belonged to him as well, or to his father, Joel Draper Sr who died in 1856.

North Gwillibury, York County, 1860, South part Lots 1-17. Courtesy of GPV&A

The hand-drawn map is ripped and stained, but it's the only one for 1860 and that makes it a valuable resource. If I remember correctly, the Archives received the map collection while Melissa was going through the files of someone who had passed on after living in the area since birth. The relative who'd invited her to peruse the files to see if there was anything of worth was surprised that Melissa showed interest in the maps. The person donating the collection saw the rips and stains, but Melissa saw the historical value of the printed information.

The definition of an archives in this case is a place or collection of records, documents, or other materials of historical interest, such as:

• land records and deeds
• photographs
• maps
• books & periodicals
• film & video
• diaries & journals
• letters & postcards
• scrapbooks

Municipal, provincial, state, and national archives want the old stuff your grandmother has been storing in the attic. They want the old postcard collection your great uncle spent years gathering. They want the old letters your grandfather wrote to your grandmother when he served overseas in the war. They like old Bibles with family inscriptions of birth, death, and marriage records. 

This postcard is part of the donated collection at the Georgina Archives. The image may be Alberta, but according to the writing on the back it was sent to a local resident and deserves to be preserved.

1910 Alberta postcard found in the GPV&A postcard collection

Melissa said that someone was going to through out an old photograph album because they didn't know any of the people, and gladly handed it over to the archives when Melissa said it didn't matter because they may already have photographs of those people in the archives and can match them up. Any day, someone can walk into the archives and recognize someone and that's another mystery solved. The archives is the place to gather these different pieces of history to tell the story of the area.

This 1911 image of a Scottish immigrant and her children is one of many held at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC). This particular series was taken by photographer, William James Topley (1845-1930) who was commissioned to take photos of immigrants upon arrival in Canada. Although they don't know the woman's name, the LAC considers this image worth preserving. 

Scottish immigrant mother and her children upon arrival. Public Domain. Courtesy of LAC - Series:Topley Photographs of Québec Immigration Centre, 1911

However, an archive won't accept every donation. According to the LAC, "Various factors such as the offered material’s uniqueness, age, rareness, condition, relationship to other material in the collection, and restrictions on access or use are considered in the final decision."

Also, a donation of historical material to an archive is just that - a donation. They don't pay out for whatever you bring them.

As for leaving your old stuff at the back door of the archives and then running away with glee - DON'T. Not without leaving a note with your name and address in case they don't want it. An archive can only accept material that comes from a known source. The curator needs to know who owned it. Not only does it show that it wasn't stolen, but it helps the curator put it in perspective.

I've been using the word collection here, but there's nothing to stop you from donating one journal, or one photograph album, etc. An archives grows one historical piece at a time.

I was amazed to find funeral cards at the GPV&A, especially when I came upon those of family members, such as my husband's great-granduncle. 

Funeral card of Elemuel Draper (1840-1907). Courtesy of GPV&A

And this brings me to the collection of journals, letters, photographs, and other ephemera which my husband received from his grandmother. We posted their 1911 courtship letters and are now posting his grandfather's 100 year old World War 1 letters, including the photographs and postcards that accompany them. Once all the letters are published online for all to see we will donate the collection to either the Saskatchewan archives, the Ontario Archives, or maybe even the Library and Archives Canada. 

Regardless of where the collection ends up, we can be sure that it will be safeguarded from fire, theft, flood, etc and stored in a temperature-controlled room IF we donate it instead of hoarding it in our basement or garage.

What about you... have you visited an archives? What would you donate if you could?

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Her Christian faith is reflected in her stories of forgiveness and redemption as her characters struggle to find their way to that place we call home. Anita loves to correspond with her readers through any of the social media links found at

www.anitamaedraper.com.

Readers can enrich their reading experience by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories at www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper.

Thanksgiving Heritage Tour

by Anita Mae Draper

PRIMARY MISSION:  Drive 4 hrs north, introduce our son to his rich Ukrainian heritage, document family headstones in six cemeteries

SECONDARY MISSIONS: Explore Saskatchewan and fulfill Find-a-Grave photo requests

ITINERARY: Drive to Yorkton on Friday, stay overnight, start exploring early Saturday morning, return home Saturday night, brief the rest of the family Sunday after a big Thanksgiving meal.

TEAM MEMBERS: Anita, her husband Nelson, their son, JJ.

MISSION DEBRIEF:

This year in Canada, Thanksgiving fell on the Oct 11th weekend. With the weather promising to be the waning days of Indian Summer, and with JJ at home and Nelson on days off, we decided it would be the last chance this year to head north on a journey of discovery.

On Oct 9th, we picked JJ up from school and headed northeast. We had driven about an hour when I spotted what would be the first of three bald eagle sightings over the weekend.

Bald Eagle soaring over Saskatchewan, Oct 9, 2015

Shortly after, we began the long drive down and across the scenic Qu'appelle Valley. The addition of huge straw bales created an attractive layer to the usually flat floor of this wide valley.

Saskatchewan's Qu'appelle Valley, Oct 9, 2015

The sun was setting when we arrived at our hotel in Yorkton. Although I visit this city every year, I've never taken the time to explore its historic past and alas, it wasn't part of the mission for this weekend either.

The next morning, we drove through Canora with its 25 foot tall statue of a Lesia, a Ukrainian woman in traditional dress holding the symbols of welcome - bread and salt.

Lesia in Canora, Saskatchewan, Tribute to Ukrainian Pioneers

We really were in the land of the Ukrainian heritage we were seeking on this trip. Soon, we left the main highway and struck out on a gravel road in search of our first stop. I had my camera in hand and so was ready when Nelson spotted a coyote hiding under a grainary. By the time he slowed, the coyote was on the move, but I was able to take some shots and a short video.

Coyote sighting in Saskatchewan, Oct 10, 2015

You can watch the Saskatchewan Coyote video on my YouTube channel if it isn't showing up here on this post.




This area was surveyed and settled in the first decade of the 20th century and you can still find the ruins of  early 1900's homesteads if you look. This following image shows an original log house that has not only fallen, but is being taken over by the surrounding trees. I zoomed in on the clothes still hanging in what appears to be the porch. Of course, that got my imagination soaring with possibilities as to why someone would walk away from their house and leave their clothes behind. I wonder who lived here and the circumstances of their life.

Log homestead ruins, Saskatchewan, Oct 10, 2015

The building in this next image could be a school or homestead. It looks like an old school, yet there are old School District markers throughout the province to show where a school stood. Sometimes they have a bell, and sometimes they include a mini version of the original building.

School or homestead building, Saskatchewan, Oct 10, 2015

Farther down the road we see several windblown evergreens standing like sentinels in a field. As we approach the spot, we notice the school marker for Norway School District #1469 which first opened in 1907 and closed its doors in 1965.

To find our first destination, we are using the Find-a-Grave app on my iPhone. This free app is the best resource tool I have for finding lost cemeteries as well as lost relatives. It works with GPS and shows all the cemeteries around you. For this journey, I set the location for Preeceville, which is the biggest community close to our area of search.

The Find-a-Grave app shows 2 colours of cemeteries... green and orange. The orange ones mean there is a photo request from someone who wants an photo of a loved one - usually to confirm the birth and death dates as well as final resting place - yet for whatever reason they can't physically come to the cemetery and take the photo themselves so they put in a request. A volunteer will take the photo and post it on the Find-a-Grave site for them. Since there are times I have reqested a photo, I give back by being a photo volunteer to others.

Using the app, we head to the green image designating the Chechow Church and Cemetery where many of Nelson's ancestors are buried. As we park in front of the gate, I experience a surreal moment because I've seen it in so many photographs and it's hard to believe we're finally here.

Nelson's 2 x great-grandfather (JJ's 3 x g-grandfather) John Holowachuk helped build this church along with his son Danylo (Daniel) and other family members. As blacksmiths, both men crafted many of the iron crosses which stand in the cemetery, although the hand-wrought iron seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate.

We spent almost 2 hrs in Chechow, with 3 different cameras to ensure nothing is missed, for this place is special in its own right, but this is not the post for that story.

We continued west after a brief picnic and suddenly I yelled to stop the car. Standing near a copse of trees and bush was a house I believe was a Ukrainian homestead. It didn't have the thatch roof that the Ukrainians used when they first arrived, but the wall construction was exactly as I had read about.

In the photo below, you see the original part of the house made with logs. They are not saddle-notched like the Swedes do, but sit atop each other at the corners, and then are chinked with a mixture of clay and straw. Over this is spread another layer much as you would put stucco on the exterior of the house. And finally, the whole thing was whitewashed. I am so excited to have this photo which shows the layers of construction.

Ukrainian homestead construction method, Oct 10, 2015

Following the app, we stop at the green-coloured Hazel Dell Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery. We only need photos of a couple headstones here and we are soon on the way again, driving north through the hamlet of Hazel Dell, which I've read so much about in the local history book. But nowadays, it's one of those place you'll miss if you blink, and we are soon past it and pulling into the 3rd cemetery on our journey.

Here at the orange-coloured Hazel Dell Community Cemetery, there are no Ukrainian relatives, but there are 2 photo requests to fill. The graves here are spread apart in the field so we each take a segment. When we join together again, we realize the graves we're looking for aren't here. However, I thought I saw them back in the Hazel Dell Ukrainian cemetery. Since it's only a few miles back, Nelson says we might as well check, so back we go.

As we get closer, we see a car and know that someone else is now visiting the Ukrainian cemetery. That's good to visit loved ones on this beautiful Thanksgiving weekend. As JJ goes to search for the missing graves, Nelson strikes up a conversation with the other visitors - quite a novelty for him. Soon, he wants me to join him.

When I'm introduced to the woman, I blurt out that I had been reading about her that morning. It's true! I had been looking at the family tree before we left the hotel. Her name is Leona and she is the cousin of Nelson's mother. It truly was a God-thing to stand there and talk to family members we'd never met. And it would never have happened if we hadn't gone back in search of fulfilling photo requests.

Cousins Nelson and Leona, Hazel Dell Ukrainian Cemetery, Oct 9, 2015

Oh, what fun we had telling that story to Nelson's mom and everyone at the big family Thanksgiving meal the next day in Regina, but I'm getting ahead of myself. With our hearts lighter, we took the necessary photographs and headed north once more.

On the main highway, we turned east for a few miles and then stopped at St Mary's Buchach Ukrainian Church and cemetery, The Ukrainian immigrants named this place for the village they'd left behind in the old country. The headstones here ranged from old crumbling cement with illegible Cyrillic writing to modern renditions with engraved images. Several iron crosses stood with blank name plates - the letters weathered away from the elements. We took the dozen or so photos we needed and several we weren't sure about, and continued east.

Our excitement grew because just up the road was the homestead of Nelson's great-grandfather, the blacksmith Daniel Holowachuk. We'd seen photos of the old house in all stages of its existence, and I knew the exact land location from maps and records. And then there it was...

Homestead of Daniel and Anna Holowachuk, Ketchen, Sask

Nelson drove us down the lane on the east side of the quarter, but the trees and bush were so thick we couldn't see through, so the photo above was taken at the north east corner. What's left of the house is on the right, down past the river, and Nelson's mom says it's probably too overgrown with trees to see it from the road now. We didn't see any white from the white-washed walls at all. It may even have fallen by now. But at least we were there to see the land where Nelson's grandmother was born.

After a brief stop to rest and eat in Preeceville, we headed north to the North Prairie Lutheran Cemetery. Two of Daniel Holowachuk's sisters married into the Holmes family and I have made on-line friends with a family member who would like photos. As well, the app shows it's an orange cemetery and I see there are two photo requests from someone else.

It's a well-kept church and cemetery, although one of the family members is under a bush - and it happens to be the spouse of one of the Holowachuk girls, so the guys work together for this one.

Finding James Holmes under a bush, Oct 10, 2015

With the sun in its final hours, we head back to the Preeceville Community Cemetery where the final graving will be done. It doesn't take long to find the ones we need, but we don't fulfill - why do they use fulfill instead of just fill? - any of the 10 open photo requests here, They are all from different families and will take time to locate - time we don't have any longer as we still have the four hour drive back home.

Preeceville Grain Elevator, Oct 10, 2015

And there ends our Ukrainian family heritage tour. The following day we celebrated Thanksgiving with Nelson's family which included his mom, who was very interested in our journey. She surprised us by bringing a photo album which included several pics of her as a youngster - and one of her as a baby! It really was a lovely weekend filled with blessings all around.

Have you gone back to see the land of your ancestors? Would you if you had the chance?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their 4 kids. Anita Mae's short story, Riding on a Christmas Wish is published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 1 Tales of Faith and Family, Guideposts Books, October 2013, and a 2nd short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, is published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer Volume 4 Heartwarming Tales of Christmas Present, Guideposts Books, October 2014.   Anita Mae has recently sold a novella to WhiteFire Publishing to be released January 2016. She is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita at   http://www.anitamaedraper.com/

From King Maker to Coffin Maker

by Anita Mae Draper

In London, Ontario, Canada, Joy Ibsen, a British-born mother raised her children with stories of noble blood running through their veins. An amateur genealogist, she traced her family lineage back to Ann Spooner (1780-1873) before losing the trail.

But one evening in 2004, Joyce received a phone call from English historian John Ashdown-Hill who confirmed her lineage by saying she was a 15th generation descendant of King Richard III's sister, Anne of York, and they want to test her DNA to confirm the possibility that bones found in Belgium belong to another sister, Margaret.

At the time, Joyce thought it was a crank call, but later agreed to have a mouth swab taken for a DNA test. Under the auspicies of The Richard III Society and the genetics lab of the University of Leicester, the test confirmed that the bones found in Belgium do not belong to a sister of Anne of York and Richard III. On the other hand, it could mean that Joyce was not a direct descendant after all.

In 2008 in London, Ontario, the Ibsen family mourns the loss of Joy, their British-born wife and mother.

In 2009, Philippa Langley, a Scottish historian working on a script about the life of King Richard III has the ambitious idea to search for Richard's remains. An argument put forward in 1986 by a University of Leicester tutor David Baldwin and presented in the paper, King Richard’s Grave in Leicester suggested that Richard III was buried in the Grey Friars area. No one had seemed to take notice at the time.

Philippa Langley, Grey Friars
Credit - University of Leicester

But now, thanks to the DNA testing done with Joy Ibsen, a positive match might be made if they could only find the notorious king's remains.

Philippa's gut feeling is that David Baldwin is right and that Richard is buried in the Grey Friars complex. She's determined to prove it, except the location of the friary is beneath an urban parking lot. Better a parking lot than a building, though. She goes to check it out.

According to the Richard III Society website, Philippa says, "...The moment I walked into that car park in Leicester the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and something told me this was where we must look. A year later I revisited the same place, not believing what I had first felt. And this time I saw a roughly painted letter 'R' on the ground (for 'reserved parking space', obviously!)."

But even with funding from the Universtiy of Leicester and the Richard III Society, it takes over three years and several hurdles before enough money is raised and the path is cleared for the project to go ahead.

Finally in Aug 2012, Joyce's son, Michael, is invited to attend a media promotion for the start of excavation of the Grey Friars complex. Michael is the 16th generation nephew and closest living relative of King Richard III, and so part of the media event is a new and very public cheek swab.

Michael Ibsen (genetic descendant of Richard III) and geneticist Dr. Turi King. CREDIT - University of Leicester

The next day excavation on the first of two trenches begins and soon halts when human bones are found. The team is amazed that the discovery is so quick, but what's really astonishing is that not only are they suspected of belonging to Richard III, but they are found in close proximity to where Philippa Langley had stared at the painted R on her first foray to the site.

If you want to see the excavation process that unearthed Richard III's bones, watch it below or check it out on YouTube at Richard III -The Archaeological Dig. 






A month later the team announced that circumstantial evidence of the bones showing curvature of the spine, battle wounds, and carbon dating all pointed to the remains being those of Richard III, but it wasn't until a press conference was held at the University of Leicester on Feb 4, 2013 when it was announced that together with the physical evidence, DNA testing of a living relative was a "perfect match" and proved "beyond reasonable doubt" that the human remains found at the Grey Friars site were indeed those of King Richard III.

Suddenly, Canadian-born Michael Ibsen had more interview invitations than he ever dreamed possible. And in his quiet, humble way, he accepted almost every one of them. He could have passed them off to his Canadian siblings, but according to a recent Maclean's article, "In doing so, he’s taken pressure off the others, who are, like him, very private."

When Michael moved to London in the mid-80's, he set aside his music and took up his second love, woodworking. Since then, he's become an accomplished cabinetmaker who takes pride in the old style of hands' on craftsmanship. Even so, it was a surprise when he received a call from a Leicester Cathedral official with a request to make the coffin that would enclose Richard III's remains in his memorial tomb.

Stunned and honoured, he set to work on designing a casket fit for a king. But after thinking it through, he realized dignified simplicity would have a more profound impact. In the aforementioned Maclean's article, Michael goes on to say,

“I’m not producing some sort of woodworking masterpiece, as much as I might be capable of it. Because I don’t think it’s about me,” the cabinetmaker explains. “It’s about Richard.” He’d decided early on the type of timber: “It really had to be English oak. Traditionally, oak would have been used for a high-status funeral if there was a coffin.” The internal framework is of yew, used for English longbows and often found in rural churchyards. “Those are the sorts of things that people can relate to, as opposed to some cabinetmaking bit of genius,” Ibsen says.

The following video, Richard III's descendant makes a coffin fit for a king, shows Michael speaking his thoughts on this momentous task.






This past March 26th was the televised reburial of King Richard III, this time inside Leicester Cathedral. As part of the tomb team, Michael was there for each private and public event.

You can see Michael's handiwork in the following video, Richard III The King Laid To Rest - Reburial of Richard III Highlights which includes interviews with some of the team members. It's almost an hour long, but then how often do you see the burial of a king?

The following photo shows Michael and his 14th cousin Wendy Duldig, who along with his siblings, make up the only living descendants of King Richard III. They are placing a wreath of white roses on the oak and yew coffin finely crafted by Michael Ibsen.

Michael Ibsen  and Wendy Duldig place a wreath of white roses on Richard III's coffin

There are two side notes I want to end this post with. The first is a profound statement by Michael who has said in interviews, "They caught this particular link just in time," in reference to the fact that neither of his siblings, nor their cousin, Wendy Duldig, has any children. It really is the end of this royal line.

And finally, these words are also from the Macleans article written by Patricia Treble on Mar 22, 2015:
All three siblings and their father, Norm, who is in Leicester as well, keep mentioning the one person who would have most loved to be there: Joy Ibsen, who died four years before the king’s remains were discovered. Leslie recalls that when she heard that Richard III had been genetically identified, “My first thought was, ‘Oh, I wish she could have been here.’ It was bittersweet. It would have meant so much to her.” The coffin made by Michael is, Leslie says, “part of history, and part of our family. It’s kept my mom’s memory going. It’s a tribute to her.”

One more thing... if you have a hankering to learn about medieval life, you might be interested in this final video because in an effort to prove/disprove Richard's fighting skill with his scoliosis while wearing armour, we get to see all manner of medieval life including what they ate and drank. Fascinating stuff here.

Did you happen to see Richard's reburial? Any thoughts on the matter?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Anita's stories are set, but not limited to the western prairies. She is blessed to be included in Guideposts Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer collection. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Murdoch on Location in Georgina

by Anita Mae Draper

As an avid fan of the Canadian TV series, Murdoch Mysteries, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that last week's episode, Shipwreck, was shot in the vicinity of my genealogy research, as well as being on the To Explore list of my June visit to Ontario.

The caption for the Shipwreck episode reads: "A murder investigation at a church reunites Murdoch with the priest who mentored him as an altar boy." We see how Detective Murdoch learned to question everything while working with fatalities of a shipwreck.

Shipwreck opens with the usual murder - filmed in the historic cemetery beside St. George's Anglican Church at Sibbald Park, Georgina.

Sibbald's Church, Jackson's Point, 1910 (now Sibbald Point, Georgina). Photo credit - Baldwin Room, Toronto Reference Library

What makes this cemetery special isn't because the famous Canadian humorist, Stephen Leacock, is buried there, nor because of Mazo de la Roche, the Canadian novelist I featured in Mazo de la Roche Part 1 and Part 2.

Clifford Thompson, WW2, somewhere in England

It's special because it's the final resting place of Clifford Thompson (1920-1983), his wife Hope Sibbald Seale Thompson (1921-2012), and their son, Daniel Thompson (1961-2009).

The Thompson family is special because Cliff is my husband's first cousin 1x removed. (If you've been following my Author Memories genealogy blog, Cliff is the son of Grandma Ethel's sister, Christie, who married Roy Thompson.)

And in case you're wondering about the Sibbald name...yes, Hope is the great-great-granddaughter of early Ontario pioneer Susan Sibbald whose original six hundred acres included the land which the church sits on as well as Eildon Hall and Sibbald Point Provincial Park.

This next image is beside entrance to the church and cemetery. You also see a lane which leads to Eildon Hall, the historic manor of the Sibbald family which is now the Sibbald Point Museum. A similar shot appears in a scene about 10 minutes into Murdoch's Shipwreck episode.

Lane to Eildon Hall from St George's Anglican Church, June 2015

According to the Town of Georgina website, Susan Sibbald donated 66 acres along the Lake Simcoe shore for a church and cemetery. Others donated money, materials, and 5 more acres. In 1938, they began work on a wooden log church, holding services in Eildon Hall while the work progressed. Susan Sibbald suggested the name St. George because she admired him as a warrior. The name stuck.

St George's Anglican Church, June 2015

Highly educated and well-travelled, Susan was a forward thinker and woman of action. From everything I've read, it was due to her strength and determination which resulted in the first fine St George's church which included stained glass windows. One in particular needs to be mentioned here because it was designed and hand-painted by the artistic daughters of the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe and his wife, Elizabeth, who happened to be an old school friend of Susan Sibbald as well as an accomplished artist and painter herself.

When the stained glass panes were done, the daughters shipped them from England to Upper Canada (now Ontario). After Susan's death in 1866, her sons wanted to honor her life by building a church that would withstand centuries. Using rollers, they moved the original log church closer to the shore and began work on a stone one. Upon completion, the huge stained glass window which the Simcoes' daughters had created was taken from the old church and set above the communion table of the stone church.

This next image is a screenshot of the Making Murdoch: Shipwreck episode inside St. George's Church at Sibbald Point. Note the stained glass window made by the Simcoe sisters in the background.

A second church was used in this episode for the interior shots of when Murdoch was a child and those were filmed in Sutton at nearby St. James' church, completed in 1858, also part of the Anglican Parish of Georgina.

St James' Anglican Church, Sutton, Ontario, Canada. Thank you Google Earth

Here is an image of the interior of this church which is another excellent example of period history.

The funny thing is, although the Shipwreck episode was filmed near the shore of Lake Simcoe, all the shots were on dry land. The answer to why, as well as many other answers, are explained in the following seven minute video, Making Murdoch: Shipwreck.




I enjoyed the video not only for its factual and cast information, but also because it shows the series creator, author Maureen Jennings who wrote this episode and wanted to give us Murdoch's back story.

If I've piqued your interest, CBC online carries the full episodes after the show is aired - but you may need to be in Canada to receive them.

I need to give a shout-out to the Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives facebook page for their heads' up notice about the Shipwreck episode. Thank you!


So... did you watch the episode? The video? Learn anything new? 

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Anita's stories are set, but not limited to the western prairies. She is blessed to be included in Guideposts Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer collection. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Going Back on Memories

Last September I shared a post about a summer road trip my sister, Bonnie and I took to a family reunion in Ontario. Since we were driving past our birth town, we decided to drive through the town and see if we could find the houses we lived in decades earlier. As it would be the first time we'd been back at the same time, we wanted to compare our memories and see if what we remembered was the truth or merely our imagination as we'd been told.

We had lived in 5 houses from Geraldton and Jonesville by the time I was seven and no, I won't take you through them all here. Actually we'd passed the Jonesville house and reached the local Dairy Dip before we realized it. I have always called those summer stand-outside-at-the-window-and-order ice cream shops the Dairy Dip because it of the Geraldton one of my childhood. But oh, it was in rough shape. Boarded up and neglected, it was an ominous start to our drive down memory lane.

Dairy Dip Closed for Business, Aug 2013, Geraldton, Ontario

As we found each house, Bonnie and I we spent a long time staring, remembering, and sharing.

Our paternal grandma's house was the last stop on our tour. It was special for several reasons, one being that as children, our step-father would drive the 4 hour trip from Thunder Bay back to Geraldton to visit his mother every Easter. And because Grandma was Ukrainian, we feasted on pedaheh, kielbasa, holubtsi and Paska which Grandma cooked on a woodstove at the back of the house.

Grandma's house had the look and feel of a general store - inside and out. The front room was huge with a oil stove, fridge, and large table in the corner nearest the kitchen. A single cot served as sofa between the table and a TV which drove me crazy due to a huge magnifying screen that made the images fuzzy. Nothing else was in the room other than a scattering of chairs and a couple doors to rooms my unmarried uncles kept.

Bill and Maggie Safroniuk residence until 1970, Geraldton, Ontario

By contrast, where downstairs was utilitarian, Grandma's private quarters upstairs was lace doilies laying across the chesterfield arms and back as if to preserve the fabric from dirty hands and greasy hair. Grandma used doilies on the end tables too, each one with a centered crystal ornament or candy dish. Upstairs was impeccable. My brother and I spent the whole summer of 1968 at Grandma's house and I felt so special because - as the only girl in the house - Grandma allowed me to sleep upstairs with her. She passed away in 1970 and it was my first experience with the death of someone close to me. The last time I saw Grandma's house was when I took the photo above. Last summer when Bonnie and I drove past a modern bungalow in the spot Grandma's house once stood.

Before we left Geraldton however, there was one more thing I needed to see. I've always had this memory of splashing in a pool of slippery rocks. The whole swimming pool - a wading pool really - set among huge boulders where you could sit and dangle your feet in the water, or sit in a private pool between them. I remember my foot wedging between two boulders once during that summer of '68 although a hard tug pulled it out. But it seemed so dangerous, could it have been real, or just my imagination?

Bonnie vaguely remembered it. Her memory was more of getting her dress ripped climbing over the fence to get to the pool than memories of the pool itself. We decided to put our minds at rest and do some exploring.

Since I remembered biking from Grandma's house southward, keeping to the east edge of town, that's where we started. You can follow along, just start at the yellow pin and head south.

North end of Geraldton, Ontario showing search for Rotary Park

In the foreground you can see where we headed east, but then had to turn around when we ended up in a farm yard. We doubled back a block continuing south. That road ended and we turned west for a block before heading south again, sure we'd missed it somehow but deciding to go as far as we could before giving up. We were searching for a pool(s) with a bunch of boulders. Even with the trees, it should have been able to spot. And in case you're wondering, it didn't cross our minds to use my iPhone to check.

South end of Geraldton, Ontario showing Rotary Park

And there it was - at the end of the street, on the southern end of town - in Jonesville. This next photo took my breath away on sight because even if the equipment is modern, the tilting sign isn't. How many times did I walk under it back then? Because unlike Bonnie, I don't remember climbing over the fence so I must have gone through the gate.

Rotary Park Playground,  Geraldton, Ontario, Aug 2013, taken by Anita Mae Draper

We drove past the playground, craning our necks to see our memories materialize. And then in silence, we gazed upon this scene:

Rotary Park, Geraldton, Ontario as photographed Aug 2013 by Anita Mae Draper

In today's world where we protect our children with elbow and knee pads and tell them not to run on cement and play or climb rocks, it seems inconceivable that part our childhood playground was a bunch of slippery boulders. But here was the proof that it had existed. If only we had a picture of it before the town had filled it in.

Bonnie Safroniuk Bremnes reminiscing at Rotary Park, Geraldton, Ontario, Aug 2013

Here's a brief 58 second video of Geraldton Rotary Park I taped while standing on the same spot as Bonnie is in the above photo. I basically say the same as written above too, but try to impart the feeling of being there.




When I returned from our trip, I spent some time searching for a photo of the Geraldton Rotary Park taken in the 60's when it was my favorite recreational outlet. Especially during the summer of '68. I was thrilled when I found a photo on the Geraldton 50th site.

Rotary Park, Geraldton, Ontario, courtesy of Geraldton 50th committee

And that's it. Bonnie and I spent nearly 2 hrs driving around Geraldton and I'm so very glad we did because we now have closure on a difficult part of our lives. Talk about mixed feelings.

Your turn... if you could go back and explore somewhere you once lived or passed through, where would it be? 
Or... what special Easter foods do you remember from your childhood?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their 4 kids. She writes cowboy stories set in the Old West, and Edwardian stories set in the East.  Anita Mae  semi-finaled in the ACFW's 2011 Genesis contest, and finaled in the Daphne du Maurier, Fool for Love, Duel on the Delta and the Linda Howard Award of Excellence contests.  Anita Mae's short story, Riding on a Christmas Wish is published in A Christmas Cup of Cheer, Guideposts Books, October 2013.  Anita Mae is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Agency. You can find Anita at  http://www.anitamaedraper.com/

Using Genealogy For Story Realism

by Anita Mae Draper

Since last summer, I've been posting a series of 1911 Courtship letters on my Author Memories blog. This came about because I needed material for my blog and happened to find a box of 100 yr old letters and postcards my husband, Nelson, inherited upon the death of his father. Ethel's treasure box, as I call it, is from Nelson's grandmother and once opened, filled me with wonder. Included is a letter with an ivy leaf which Noah had taken from Bruce's Castle while on a tour of duty during WW1. The leaf is still soft and supple.

Ivy leaf taken from King Bruce's Castle, England, in March, 1918

I have no idea how the leaf was preserved because a leather address book from WW2 was dotted with mold and a few of the letters were mildewy.

Mildew covered 2"x3" (when closed) leather address book c1940-45

The deterioration disturbed a deep sense of preservation for Ethel's treasures. The box had sat on the top of Ethel's slant top desk for 9 yrs before I pulled it down and discovered the treasure. Once I got over my wonder, the question became what to do with it all. I would do my best to care for it until it was time to pass it to our children, but how to share it with the extended family? And that's when the idea of posting the 1911 Courtship letters to the Author Memory blog began. I've been posting one a week since last July, and I'm only half through, but the benefits are an ongoing delight on a couple different levels.

First is the familial aspect. Since starting this courtship year with Ethel and Noah, we've made 4 contacts through my website. They run the gamut from a 2nd cousin in Ontario, and a 3rd cousin in California, to a 3rd cousin 1x removed, and a family friend in California who wrote that she always thought she was related in some way.

The next benefit is for the richness the genealogy research has brought to my writing. Genealogy isn't only searching through microfiche and dusty old ledgers. Websites like www.ancestry.com, www.familysearch.org, and www.myheritage.com to name a few, are easy to work with and have loads of resources. But they each have different qualities and resources, so don't spend money on a membership until you try the various sites for free and see which appeals to your needs.

How did finding new relatives help my writing? By helping me create 3D characters in a realistic fictional world. Even if you're writing contemporary, you can use the census records to create backgrounds for your main characters and deepen their world.

Census records don't have much information prior to the middle of the 19th century, and they aren't available after 1940 in the US, and 1911 in Canada (1916 on the Cdn prairies), but that leaves 50-60 years where you can gather facts like these for each decade, although all facts aren't on every record:
- Names in use by age
- Occupation/Trades
- Type and size of dwellings
- Religious denominations
- Ethnicity
- Employment of domestics for indoor work
- Employment of laborers for farm/outdoor work


If you like the stats on certain people, put their info in the search box and suggested info for them - or people with similar names - will show up. Suggestions will be census records from other years, marriage, military, birth and death records. If you're using ancestry.com, you may find photograhs, stories, wedding records, wills, and even journals of their life.

Your next step is choosing faces for your characters. Contemporary writers often pick their characters' faces by choosing public figures like actors, sports figures, etc.

As a historical writer, however, I like choosing old black and white photos because they help me seal the character in history. In this sample from The Nelson and Anita Draper Family Tree, the images are in color as well as black and white because that time period is where I have the most photos. I'm hoping to change that as I contact more family members and share photographs with them.

Part of The Nelson and Anita Family Tree c2013

But even in the centre of the sample above, you can see Cecil's newsboy cap from the 30's, and beside him, Sadie is wearing those trendy glasses from the 60's. At the end of that middle row, Christie is wearing the huge glasses from the 80's. The clothing of the three males below Christie is hidden, but if you click on their profile, you'll see Cliff on the left in his WW2 uniform, while the 2 boys have 1930's summer fashions.

If you see an image you'd like to copy for your own use, contact the tree owner and ask permission. Usually, the people who don't want to share their images and information set their family tree settings to private viewing, but that doesn't negate the fact that you need to seek permission before copying.

Another place to look for character faces are the private ancestry sites which feature photographic galleries. Some of these sites have hundreds of unnamed images where someone has bought old photographs and/or albums at estate sales and then posted them into a gallery in the hopes that someone will claim the image for a fee. These ones usually aren't dated, either, but if it's just a certain face you're looking for, you might find one you need.

Once you have your character names and faces, dwelling and location, you want to build their world. By far, the easiest way to do this is to research a newspaper written in your location. For example, my 1911 Courtship letters are centred around 2 locations: York County in Ontario, and Grand Coulee in Saskatchewan. Although there isn't an old Saskatchewan newspaper available, I'm blessed to have access to a digital version of the The Newmarket Era, a weekly newspaper which features homey news from York County in Ontario. The http://ink.ourontario.ca/ site has digitized about 30 historical Ontario weeklies and they're available on-line at no cost. Although some were short-runs, I can read issues of the Era starting in 1863 up to 2010. A Google search for historical newspaper in the location of your setting should let you know if you can access such a treasure.

So what have I found perusing old issues of The Newmarket Era? Well, of course, the news. I read the article where they announced Florence Nightingale's death along with a biography of her life. I've read about the Boer war, the Mexican war, and European wars. I felt the writer's grief while reading of Queen Victoria's death, and their anger at the cost of the upcoming coronation. But mainly, I've clipped snippets of these:
- Market prices (eggs, flour, wheat)
- Shipping containers (sacks or barrels)
- types of fabric and fashions
- gardening/farming practices
- entertainment, fairs and circuses
- catastrophes
- diseases and medical practices
- word usage (kids for children, OK for okay)
- transportation
- common household dangers

That last one is a biggie because I never knew how dangerous it was to live at the turn of the 19th to 20th century until I read the Era:
- daily train and streetcar fatalities
- skirts catching fire
- children scalded/burned/trampled
- too many accidental shootings
- death from animal incidents
- barns struck by lightening

I clip and save the snippets so I can play the What If game with them in some future story. So many disasters are avoided today because of safety regulations that weren't in place 100 yrs ago. Such a waste of human life. Such a harsh, demanding life.

The Newmarket Era. May 26, 1911 - Page: 2

Crafting your story around real people who faced events and disasters of your chosen period in time while help your story shine, and what better place to start than with someone's family tree. Or maybe, like me, your very own.

Have you dabbled in genealogy? Would you like help getting started?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and 2 of their 4 kids. She writes stories set on the prairies of Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. Anita Mae has semi-finaled in the Historical Romance category of the ACFW's 2011 Genesis contest and finaled in the Inspirational category of the 2011 Daphne du Maurier, the 2011 Fool for Love, the 2011 Duel on the Delta and 2009 Linda Howard Award of Excellence contests. Anita Mae is represented by Mary Keeley of Books and Such Literary Agency. You can find Anita at http://www.anitamaedraper.com/