The Descendants of Thomas York and Mary Dickens
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In the spring of 1879 Mary and John and their children moved to Manitoba to join Mary's father, Henry2 York. They settled in what was then the village of Nelson MB. Mary won several prizes at Dufferin Fairs, including a home made straw hat in 1883 and woollen socks and a home made straw hat in 1884, a rag mat, woollen socks and mitts in 1894, woollen stockings, woollen socks and woollen mitts in 1901. At the Morden fair in 1896, she won prizes from her woolen stockings and mitts, a straw hat, fancy knitting in cotton and hand made cotton stockings. Miami (MB) Herald 17 Jan 1907: The annual Christmas gathering was held at the old homestead of Mr. John Laycock near Rosebank on Xmas Day, where a number of immediate relatives to the number of about forty spent a very enjoyable day. Return to Hall Descendant Chart.
Manitoba Mountaineer 6 Sep 1884: While out shooting the other day we were shown a splendid field of oats on the farm of Mr. John Laycock, 5-5. In the spring of 1885, a movement was started to provide schooling for the children of the area. It was decided that all the neighbors would work together to build a school on the John Laycock farm. John was elected chairman of the Rosebank Ratepayers (school board) in 1881 and 1882. Dufferin (MB) Leader 23 Apr 1903: Miami - John Laycock, of Rosebank, has bought the Weiner property on the corner of Kirby Ave. and Broadway street from A. Begg, and will move into town in a few weeks as he is retiring from farming. See the York Letters for more details of the Laycock family early experiences in Manitoba.
Manitoba Mountaineer 26 Apr 1881: Mr. Geo. Long advertises his farming outfit for sale. He intends removing to Edmonton on the Saskatchewan. The advertisement ran in that issue and three May 1881 issues: For sale In June 1881, George, Annie, their baby daughter, Mary, and Annie's sister Maria, left Manitoba for the Sturgeon River Valley in Namao District AB in a creaky Red River cart, covered with a canvas and pulled by a team of oxen. They took with them two cows, twenty chickens, two pigs and a spare ox. The drygoods, consisting of bedding, clothing, etc., they sent by boat from Winnipeg to Fort Ellis. However, it was never heard of again. As there were many floods and the rivers had been swollen by spring thaws it was supposed that everything had been destroyed in the floods. In the main they followed old Indian and buffalo trails which wound over the plain through the tall "prairie-wool". From Winnipeg, they headed in a north-westerly direction. Along the way, they spent a week at Brandon MB as this was the last settlement they were to see before reaching Fort Edmonton. When the family left Winnipeg, they had a hundred pounds of flour. Annie baked bread on the trip in a reflector oven which was made of highly polished tin. Besides this they had all the milk, eggs and butter they could use, and wild game and berries were also very plentiful. Annie later told how they milked the cows and fed the milk to the pigs which grew so large that their crate had to be increased in size three times. Often it was impossible to travel during the heat of the day as the oxen fatigued so easily. Whenever they encamped it was necessary to build smudges to ward off the swarms of mosquitoes. In the mornings the cows would frequently hang around the smudge long after the cart and its occupants had journeyed on, but always managed to catch up with them sometime during the day. The trails they had to follow were so rough that Annie walked much of the time, preferring that to jolting along in the cart. It was necessary to ford many of the rivers because bridges and ferries were lacking. After leaving Brandon, the next place they reached, which later grew into a town, was North Battleford SK, near where two of Annie's brothers later homesteaded. However, at this time it consisted only of a government Indian agency building. The Battle River flows into the North Saskatchewan at this point and two fords were necessary. Theirs was a journey of 1,000 miles and they reached their destination on September 1st. See Journey for their daughter Mabel's account of the journey. That same fall Annie gave birth to her second child, Tracy Long, the first white child to be born in the Namao District. George was disappointed in the country and wished to return at once, but the memory of the long and tedious journey was still fresh in Annie's mind, so putting her trust in God she was willing to try and hew a home out of the wilderness. Therefore they decided to stay, and soon George filed on a homestead. Miami (MB) Herald 20 Jul 1905: Mrs. Long, of Edmonton, who left here over twenty years ago, is paying a visit to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Laycock. A striking evidence of the progress of the west is that the railroad had not then penetrated the prairie country and the journey was made with oxen. When they arrived at Namao, the area was then called colonization land and was still unsurveyed. Their land was located between that of Harry Long and William Nicholson, just one mile west and one mile south of Namao. Their nearest neighbor was seven miles away. Once surveyed, the homestead location was SE 1/4 Sec. 31, T54, R24, west of the 4th meridian. George's brother, Harry Long, had preceded them and had built a home of logs with a mud fireplace. It was in this house that George and Annie made their home when they arrived. The following spring the shack in which they were all living burnt down. They lived in a granary until shacks could be erected. This time, George built one of his own, a log house in which all of the children after that were born. For her new home, Annie diligently knit curtains and made rugs. George Long and David Craig were the first residents in Namao district to operate a threshing outfit, a partnership which lasted over 40 years. The first machine was run by horse power and was very slow. Several neighbors owned teams and when threshing time came they brought their horses to run the machine. At that time the grain was cut with reapers and dropped off in sheaves, with the bands made of grain and tied by hand. While the horses powered the threshing machine, the men cut the bands on the bundles before they went into the machine. A few years later, the horse power was replaced by a portable steam engine. In 1893 George was elected a director of the newly formed Fort Saskatchewan Agricultural Society. As a representative of the society he was selected, along with a representative of the Edmonton Agricultural Society, to accompany an exhibit of grains from the Edmonton area to visit fairs in Ontario. While he was gone, Annie attended the Edmonton Exhibition and won first prizes for 4 different flavors of jam, bread and butter. A sadder event, the death of their son Leslie, also occurred while George was on the exhibition trip. On his return he brought Annie her first set of dishes. In 1895, George and Annie both did well at the Edmonton Exhibition, with George winning $1.50 for his sheep; and Annie winning 75 cents for her black currant jam; a $5.00 butter churn for her packed butter; a $3.50 ladies brush, comb and mirror set for her crock butter; 75 cents for a dozen buns made with native flour; and $1 for home spun yarn. In 1909 she won a prize for her collection of native preserves. George once sold a horse to a prospector who was going on the gold rush to the Klondike in 1898. A year later the horse returned with galled saddle marks. But nothing concerning the fate of the rider ever drifted back over that trail of '98. In 1912, George purchased a Ford, his first automobile, and one of the first in the district. George served in several public offices: one of the first Board of Directors of the U.F.A. (United Farmers Association?), member of the Edmonton Exhibition Board and the Namao School board. He was honored in November 1995 by the Edmonton Exhibition Association (now Edmonton Northlands) by hanging his picture on the Wall of Fame in recognition of being one of the directors on the first council. Return to Annie on Descendant Chart.
Mabel and other Long family descendants presented a brass bell to the Namao (AB) United Church, to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the arrival of the Longs to the Namao district. The bell has a history of its own. It had been fixed on a logging train operating on Vancouver Island, hauling lumber to the mills. When the trains were replaced by trucks, the brass fittings were dismantled and sold. Eventually the bell ended up at at shop in Halifax NS called the Brass Monkey, where it caught Mabel's eye. Seeing it as a fitting monument to her parents and other Namao pioneers, she purchased the bell, had it cleaned, inscribed with the names of the pioneers, and made ready for installation at the church. An arch was built by church members to house the bell. Gordon died suddenly of a heart attack while he was curling. He was drafted in 1917 into the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served as a private in World War I.
Manitoba Mountaineer 29 Sep 1880: North Dufferin Council ... names added to the assessment roll ... Robt. Laycock and Henry Laycock. 5 Jul 1881: Mr. H. Laycock the other day noticed a jumping deer passing his place, six miles out on the prairie. 2 Aug 1881: We are indebted to Mr. Henry Laycock for a basket of choice green peas, accompanied by a magnificent head of cauliflower, the latter being the first of the season in ye editor's experience. Many thanks, Henry. On 7 Mar 1889 the Morden (MB) Monitor reported his return with a carload of prime horses and other stock. Morden (MB) Monitor 23 May 1889: Rosebank - Henry Laycock has imported from Meaford, Ont., a fine span of Percheron horses, the best we have seen in the country. Cost about three hundred dollars. He won prizes at the annual Dufferin Fair and Exhibition for his Durham cattle: bull calf (1886/1888), heifer calf (1887), 3 yr. old cow (1886/1887/1888), 3 yr. old bull (1887), 1 yr. old heifer (1888), 2 yr. old bull (1888/1894), herd's bull and 3 females (1888); for his Shorthorn Cattle: bull calf (1894), 2 yr. old heifer (1894), herd (1894). He also won other prizes: sow of 1895, two bushels white fyfe (field grain) (1894), and woolen mitts (1894). He also won a prize in 1883 for a watermelon and two heads of early York cabbage. He also won prizes at the Morden (MB) Spring show: in 1891 his heavy draught percheron horse, Gen. Marshene, won 2nd prize. In 1895 and 1896 he won prizes for his cattle, and in addition, for Poland China and Yorkshire pigs, and beans. In 1896 he also won prizes for a pair of Plymouth Rock poultry and long red marigolds. Mrs. Laycock, perhaps his wife, won prizes for crochet work (1895) and a straw hat (1895). J. Laycock, perhaps his son John, won a prize for table butter (1895). Life as a farmer was not always pleasant. Carman (MB) Weekly Standard 10 Sep 1897: Ab. McLennan brought suit against Henry Laycock for wages on Wednesday last. The cheque for payment arrived on the day of the trial and McLennen had to pay costs of court and travelling expenses, amounting to $9. It appears that Laycock had summoned McLennen before Justice Read at Rosebank for leaving employment, which case was dismissed with costs on Laycock. Hence the charge laid by McLennen. His municipal service included serving as poundkeeper for the Municipality of Stanley in 1892. In 1907, he moved with his family to homestead near Battleford SK. They left Winnipeg by train on 1 April, arriving in Battleford on 13 April. The train got stuck in snow drifts ten feet deep and frozen like ice. The train was stranded at Humboldt for several days. The railroad had to get men off the train to help dig snow with pick and shovel. When they arrived in North Battleford, they got a taxi of a team of horses and a democrat to go to Battleford. Henry's son George met them in Battleford and took them to his shack. The snow was three feet deep and the temperature was minus 41 degrees fahrenheit. Their pet cat froze to death. On May 10th, Clara, Fred and Laurie took a team and sleigh to Henry's place.
In addition to nursing she has, over the years, been involved in many volunteer activities. Recently she was a board member for the Atira Transition House for battered women. She has been president of the White Rock (BC) and District Council of Women twice over the past 30 years. She and Sam resided in Crescent Beach where in 1960 she and several other parents set up the area's first kindergarten. She was chairperson of health and welfare for the Council of Women from 1966 to 1968, with whom she started a drop in centre for mental patients. In 1983 she and her husband were flown to Ottawa where she was awarded a Lifestyle Award by the Canadian minister of health and welfare. In 1985 she was named White Rock Citizen of the Year.
A sample of the many tributes:
Her work there brought her into contact with many celebrities.
Her husband, a member of the NorthWest Mounted Police, went away to the Riel Rebellion and failed to return. After that, Maria went west to live with the Longs but she had a nervous breakdown and returned to her family in Manitoba.
As a young man, he went to Missouri where he was an overseer on a southern Missouri estate or plantation for a few years. He returned to Woodstock and then moved to Manitoba in 1876 where he settled at Old High Bluff. He was a farmer at Burnside MB (1881 Census). He moved to Portage Creek in 1886 and was recorded at West Portage la Prairie in the 1891 Census, which may be the same place. He remained at Portage Creek after Catherine moved to Miami. Charles served on the Rural Municipal Council under John Wilton for one term in 1882. He also petitioned for the forming of the Portage Creek School and the first meeting was held in their home on 15 Apr 1886. Portage la Prairie (MB) Weekly Tribune 29 Aug 1884: High Bluff - Mr. C. Cuthbert says he's through harvesting. Who can beat that? Charles was married, first, on 1 Jan 1871 in Bates Co. MO, to Margaret Ann Mitchell, by whom he had five children, Nellie Mae, Emma Catherine, Sterling Roy, John Allen and Margaret Charlotte, who were all still living at home in 1891. Margaret Ann died of appendicitis on 2 Aug 1882.
Miami (MB) Herald 8 Jul 1909: The foreman of the composing room of this paper, Norman Cuthbert, has gone to stay with relatives in Carman for a couple of weeks, after which he will make a two-weeks visit to Ninette. During his absence, the editress will assist in the printing department. He was employed at the bank at the time of his death.
He was a farmer at Miami MB, homesteading there in 1883. Like his brother Henry, the newspapers followed his activities: (Morden) Manitoba News 12 Dec 1884: Messrs. J.& C. Laycock, who have been threshing all fall, finished up for the season on Saturday last, having threshed in all a little over eleven hundred acres of grain, yielding 23,000 bushels, which is a pretty good season's work for a 10-horse thresher. Despite the new house, he decided they needed more land. He went to Battleford SK in search of a new homestead. R.G. Speers offered to drive him, with his horse and buggy, out to see the country which was mostly trees and bush. They followed the trail through the hills and across a coulee and chose a homestead about 12 miles south of town. He also bought another quarter of land from the C.P.R., then returned to Miami to get his family. Dufferin (MB) Leader 20 Nov 1902: Miami - Charles Laycock, who lives a couple of miles west of town, has sold out and has taken up land near Battleford, N.W.T. 5 Mar 1903: Miami - Mr. Charles Laycock, who has resided for a number of years about two miles west of town, shipped a car load of his household effects and stock on Sunday evening. He has taken up a homestead near Battleford and is moving out there with his family. The family trip from Manitoba was made as far as Saskatoon SK by train and then the family split up to go the remaining 90 miles. Charles and his son Roy travelled with a cart of their effects and stock which had to be freighted by wagon. Emma, Pearl and Jay went by stage, taking three days for the trip. They had many robes covering them, but it was still a very cold journey. The stage they travelled on also carried the mail. There were nine passengers; men seeking work or coming west to obtain a homestead. At one stop along the way, the only beds were made of chicken wire attached to the walls; the men slept on the floor. When they arrived in Battleford there was little more there than Indians and log houses. After they arrived a wave of settlement began, slowly at first, and then rapidly. The family stayed in town until spring. When the snow started to melt, they left town for their homestead. They had two tents and lumber enough for a small kitchen. Soon a snowstorm came, and often it was hard to keep the tents from caving in over them. It was a lonely land. There was no one in sight anywhere. Weekly a red-coated policeman, a Northwest Mounted Policeman, would ride down the trail. Sometimes he would attend church services, which were held at the school. Soon Charles had logs ready for a house, and two metis there, hewing out logs and putting them up. The family took that opportunity to learn some of the Cree language. When the land was surveyed again, they found that the house was on the road allowance. Charles was the secretary for the first school meeting in connection with organizing the Eagle Hills School District. The school building was finished in 1905. The children had missed two years of schooling. They drove two broncos on a light wagon to get to school. Neighbor children rode with them. There was no formal government, but an overseer who looked after things. People paid their taxes by plowing a two-mile section of the fireguard around the town. It was a rod wide and usually kept the prairie fires back. In December 1907 they sold their stock and moved to Armstrong BC. Just before they left, a bobcat got into their henhouse and killed all of the chickens that they had planned to take with them. They spent a year in British Columbia but it was very hard to make a living. They were unable to make enough money from the fruit they grew to pay the packers and make payments so they returned to their farm near Battleford. They lived on their farm there in the Eagle Hills district until 1944 when they were both taken to the hospital. In his later years Charles was greatly interested in fruit trees and produced from 20 to 30 varieties of plum and apple trees. He served on the Eagle Hills school board, was active in the old Grain Grower's Association as an official delegate to the annual meetings, and served the church as a Sunday School Superintendent, elder and member of the board.
Roy farmed with his father until 1920 when he made entry on a homestead east of Cando SK. He later purchased land near his father (35-42-16) and farmed there until his retirement. He established an orchard in the early twenties and over the years, many folks for miles around came to pick crab apples, apples and plums. He won many ribbons for his fruit at the North Battleford Fair. Roy was also interested in bees, keeping several hives each year. He was one of the first to have electric lights in his home, generating power from a windmill that he had built. He would charge up batteries for himself and for his neighbors. Roy and Doris retired in 1970, selling the home place to Gary Southgate. They moved into Battleford and built a home there.
Morden (MB) Monitor 18 Jul 1889: Rosebank - Will Durant and Thos. Laycock have each treated themselves by getting dandy new rigs, and the girls are having good times all round. We expect there will be a boom in the marriage line after harvest. He is remembered for his keen interest in raising and showing Purebred Shorthorn cattle. One of his proudest possessions was a large quilt made of the many prize ribbons he won with his cattle at summer fairs in the area. He took an active interest in the local Agricultural Societies and also served many years on the local school boards. He and his wife won prizes at the local fairs: 1907: stallion under 3, knitting cotton. In the early years worship services of the church of Christ were conducted in the Laycock home, but later the family journeyed to Carman. Vivid are the tales of trips in winter, come storm or shine, often across country in an open cutter, bundled in a variety of warm robes. Jacob Prentice5 York recalled a visit that Tom Laycock paid in 1928 to their farm in Iowa. He and his son-in-law had driven down in a model A Ford. It was 20 degrees below zero when they left Canada, and along the way they pulled a car out of the ditch for some men on their way to a hockey game.
He was very active in the work of the church of Christ, serving as an elder for 33 years. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Western Christian College and a member of the Rosebank school board.
After their marriage, the couple moved to Toronto where Alice continued to work with the Department of National Defence at Downsview until her retirement in 1974. She was a longtime member of the Bayview church of Christ in Toronto. Alice was a reader of Scripture. Her Bible was full of check marks which indicated the number of times she had read a particular passage.
Miami (MB) Herald 24 Sep 1908: Mr. George N. Grier on Saturday, September 12, had the misfortune to lose two stacks of barley by fire. The sparks from an engine caused the conflagration and the loss is estimated at $150.
Mary Florence5 Grier She moved to Carman in 1956. She was a resident in the Carman Hospital in 1967. William Henry5 Grier He was a student at the Rosebank school in 1909. After 1956 he moved to Carman. Anne May5 Grier She was a student at the Rosebank school in 1909. She took teacher training between 1910-20. After 1956 she moved to Carman. Kathleen Harriet5 Grier She was a teacher. She joined her brother and sisters as a student at the Rosebank school in 1910. Norman Leslie5 Grier He worked as a butter maker in the Co-op Creamery at Chatfield MB and later was a stationary engineer with the Simmons Bedding Company until he retired in 1970.
Dufferin (MB) Leader 19 Jul 1900: There is a very large and excellent display of dairy produce, in fact, every exhibit of butter is worthy of a prize. Among the exhibitors who excel in this very important branch of household industry may be mentioned Mrs. Malcolm McGregor, who received first prize in each class, namely, firkin, crock and table butter. [Webster's dictionary: firkin - An old measure of capacity equal to 7 1/2 gallons; a small wooden vessel or cask.] In 1901 she not only won the above three categories but also a new fourth category - butter in print. She also won prizes that year for woollen stockings, a child's dress, a gent's shirt and a lady's print dress. In 1902 and 1903 she again won prizes for her woollen stockings, socks and mitts, in addition to jellies, mushroom catsup, a child's dress, worked slippers, a baby's crochet bonnet and a rough shirt. In 1911 she again won prizes for butter, woollen stockings and mitts in addition to tea biscuits. The Dufferin (MB) Leader waxed rather poetic about her marriage: The God, Cupid, still hovers near our village and once more has evidenced his supernatural power on the heart on man. ... Evidently Mr. McGregor believes in Proverbs 18:22, "Whoso getteth a wife getteth a good thing.
Carman (MB) Weekly Standard 12 Feb 1891: Mr. Malcolm McGregor is now living in his 8x10 mansion. It is understood that Mr. McG. is hunting all over the country for a life partner to share his destiny with him. |
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