Dawson / Bishop heritage (c1959)

I spent many summers with Wit Bishop on Prince Edward Island. This photo is taken at Lawrence and Cephina McHerron's house (Graham's Pond is in the background - McHerron's General Store would be across the pond, up the hill to the left of the photo). I loved this little boat (the punt - used for duck hunting by the owner) and would pester Wit to take me out in it - then freak out because I couldn't see the bottom of the pond. In this photo the fear won out. The water was black (like dark tea) because of the peat in it I guess, and covered in tiny milfoil leaves that the boat would part as it passed, leaving a trail on the surface of the water. To this day I am less comfortable on dark water though I am an avid sailor, rower and canoeist. Lawrence was a fisherman and a boatbuilder and I can still recall the smell of his shop when he'd had a boat on the go. His boat was the Grace F (his mother's name I suspect - the security of a boat with a name like that, for the son/owner, is not to be underestimated).
I added the colour - this was 1959 and most photography was in the much more imaginative black and white of the times.

Dawson heritage (1957)

Penny's first birthday (so this would be April 21, 1957). Vivian and Patrick watch from the safety of the porch. The photo is taken at Edie and Wit Bishop's house in Imperoyal Village, Dartmouth N.S. Imperoyal Village was a housing development constructed by Imperial Oil (Esso) for its employees. The houses were removed from the site in the 1970's or late 60's and placed on foundations farther out toward Cole Harbour if I recall correctly. The houses were fine examples of 1940's Craftsman architecture that was popular at the time. It wouldn't be too difficult to find them if they're still standing nearly seventy years later. Oh yes, did I mention that this is my sister Penny, her birthday, how cute she is? Ok, well, the wooden sidewalks are cool don't you think?

Dawson heritage (1917)

This family portrait was taken in about 1917 on the family farm at Maple Lake, Ontario.

The Dawson's represented here are the first generation of the family at Maple Lake at the time.

In the back row (left to right):
Joseph Lorne, Garnet Beatty, Irvin Ray, Milton Leslie, Dora Jane, Holly Wilmot, Wallace Henry

In the front row (left to right):
Wesley Vernon, Richard Henry, Stuart William, Mary (nee: Beatty)

Their children's grandparents (Richard's father and mother) Peter and Jane (nee Benson) settled in the area in the well before the 1871 census - he was 71 at that time and surely couldn't have cleared land by then. His parents were Peter and Sarah (nee Sisson). 

Mitchell heritage (1956)

This picture was taken at Shearwater in about 1956. Yvonne Mitchell was one of the first stewardesses for Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA). They first flew twin-engined Beechcraft Expeditors out of Shearwater and then moved on into Viscount airliners (I have a home movie of one of these classics leaving with my grandparents aboard) - but I digress. Vonnie was a friend of my mother and lived with us when I was very young (as you can see). She became one of the "aunts" in my life. 

St.Clair/Dawson heritage (1964)

The Dawson's and Mike St.Clair at grandma and grandpa St.Clair's house (3826 W36th St.) in Vancouver about 1964.

From left to right Kim Elizabeth behind Peter Keith, then Penny Suzanne, John Allan, Patrick Shamus (all Dawsons) and Michael St.Clair.

I can recall getting into some trouble for the time Mike and I decided to take an unplanned, and unannounced, early morning hike down Dunbar St. to the water's edge near the Planetarium. Mike and I had been sleeping out on the porch in the patio furniture - so we were already outside when we began. When we finally called home to get a ride back (probably about 10am) Uncle Stuart (Mike's dad) came to get us. I was blamed for being generally irresponsible (because I was a year older). Imagine dragging poor Mike off without notifying an adult - jeeze! I think it was his idea. In those days we thought nothing of wandering the streets of Vancouver alone - well, I still don't worry about it today although I have to admit I wouldn't want my ten year old to do that.

Dawson heritage (1968)

The Dawson's at grandma and grandpa Dawson's house in Minden about 1968.
James Keith and Vivian, Penny and Patrick in the back row, John (holding on to his father), David (cringing under his mother's grip on his neck muscles), Kim (in her sister's chokehold) and Peter (calmly awaiting the hand over of a pair of shoes so he could go to school in the fall).

Dawson heritage (1968)

In this photo Joseph Lorne and Annie Katherine Dawson (nee Smith) weather another Minden winter in style. The photo is taken in the road in front of their house - the neighbour's garage is in the background, they lived in a much nicer house that stood under a hill at the end of the road just up from the arena. Photo about 1968. 

Minden Ontario's Hockey Heritage (1948-49)

The Minden Monarchs of 1948-49 when they won the ORHA Intermediate B Provincial Championships.

In the back row:
Morris McKelvey, Junior Windover, Glen Vasey, Ken Lewis, Jim Dawson, Roy Windover, Don Sedgwick, Max Jackson, Johnny Lewis

In the front row:
Bud Kernohan, Fred Moore, Claude Brown, Mark Vasey, Lance Easton, Harry Cowan, Gary Vasey, Alan Rogers

And in the very front:
Bob Dawson

Dawson heritage (1961)

James Keith (Shamus) Dawson upon promotion to Lieutenant Commander (Flying) in the Royal Canadian Navy in about 1961. He was born January 7th, in Minden, Ontario in 1931. As a young man he played hockey for the Minden Monarchs in 1948-49 when they won the ORHA Intermediate B Championships. He continued to play hockey for the Shearwater Flyers. His flying career centered around Shearwater, flying off of HMCS Magnificent and, later, HMCS Bonaventure.

St.Clair heritage (1936)

This photo is of my mother Vivian Isabel Irene St.Clair at about age 16; certainly before she trained as a nurse at Vancouver General Hospital. The name Sinclair was gazetted to St.Clair at about this time by her mother Mary Jessica St.Clair (nee Potter).

Potter heritage (1901)

This photo, taken in about 1901 in Saskatoon most likely, as the family lived in Dundurn, is of the Potter sisters Mary Jessica (9), Elizabeth Lane (Lillian, 18) and Doreetha Grace (Gracie, 5). I have added the colour and accept the blame - although I prefer the added life it lends this rather formal portrait.

Sinclair heritage (1905) Scotland

The photo shows a baker, his two apprentices and their two apprentices below them. In the front row (the youngest males) second from the left is my grandfather James William Sinclair (born 18 SE, 1893 in Kirkwall, Orkney). The man to the right and behind James (the one in the middle) is Mr. Mac (James McGillvary) who emigrated to Canada and took the Sinclair children (Jemima, Robert, Jim ) with him to Meskinaw, Saskatchewan in 1911. Robert is the younger man in the back row on the right. There is a photo of James and his brother Robert in uniform (they had recently enlisted in the Army during WWI) posted later on this blog (see June 2007 post). Thanks to Joy Poncelet (nee Sinclair) of Meskinaw, Robert's daughter, for the positive identification of Robert and Mac.