Potter Heritage - St Botolph, Norfolk England

In this photo, taken in about the mid-1880s, members of the Potter family appear (in an obviously posed portrait - who works dressed like that?) on their farm.  The Potters were tenant farmers in St. Botolph, at Morley (the Graver-Browne family estate), Norfolk, England.  In this photo are the siblings Elizabeth (Betsy) Potter (1838-1902), Edgar (1857-1937), Joseph - on the ladder (1839-1918) and John (1856-about 1900).

Sinclair Heritage (1945) the MacGillvarys

Mr and Mrs James MacGillvary in Meskanaw - their home is just visible in the background - up to the eaves in snow that year (hence the memento of the big snow of 1945). The MacGillvarys raised the orphaned Sinclair children in Kirkwall, Orkney and then emigrated to Canada (ahead of the children) to join their relatives (Borwicks) already in Saskatchewan. Jemima MacGillvary was the sister or step-sister of the Sinclair children's mother Jane [Isbister] Sinclair.

Dawson Heritage (c1936)

This is a picture of my father, James Keith Dawson, at the farm at Maple Lake taken in about 1936 (he was born in '31). He looks happy enough for a guy riding a pretend pony - those depression years were tough, what with the splinters and all. He later went on to ride Seafury aircraft for the Canadian Navy - much better than a pony and with bigger guns.

Imitation and Adoration

This is Wit. He was a big man, in many ways, and I miss him - though I'm sure he'd say I was a sissy to say so. "Mary" he'd call me, if I cried or showed emotion to anything other than getting gored by a bull.

Potter-StClair-McGee c1940

This family gathering is in the backyard of the StClair home in Vancouver (I'm guessing that it is 1940 something).

In the back row (left to right) is Allan Potter and Stuart StClair;
in the next row is Allan's wife Nellie and then Helen McGee (Alwyn's wife); in the bottom row are Evelyn McGee, Jessie StClair, Alwyn and Helen's daughter (no name is given on the back of the photo) and Lilian McGee-Smith (Aunt Lil - Lily Potter McGee-Smith).

Now, I know that Allan, Jessie and Lily are siblings (see 'Potter heritage c1912' post). Evelyn and Alwyn are Lilian's children (as is Irene - who is not in this picture). Lilian McGee-Smith was married to a McGee (a Robert McGee appears as a boarder in the 1890 census) and were divorced.

Sinclair heritage WWI - 1917

Robert Sinclair James Sinclair

James and Robert came to Canada from Orkney, Scotland. They worked between then and 1917 as farm labour (just look at their hands) in Meskanaw, Saskatchewan. I imagine the lure of good wages ($1.10 day) in the army and the romance of wartime adventure was irresistible when portrayed by the recruiting officer who came through the area late in the war seeking fresh recruits for the war in Europe. Jim and Robert ended up in the 28th Battalion as signalmen. The brothers were both at Vimy Ridge and survived the war - though Jim was severely wounded sometime after the main attack on Vimy Ridge. He lost an eye, the hearing in one ear and had shrapnel all down his left side - shrapnel that, for the rest of his life, would work its way to the surface and emerge as a reminder of his service to Canada - and his adventure away from the farm. Robert was at Vimy and at Passchendale and left a diary of his experiences as quiet testimony to the grim realities of his adventure.

The Old Meteor Skyliner (1959)

I'm speculating that this photo was taken in 1959 during a visit to Vancouver (this is the front yard of grandma St.Clair's house). Dad was stationed in Calgary to teach flying for a year. The 1954 Meteor Rideau Skyliner in the background was mom's car when she and dad got married. It had a transparent roof (you could snap-in a sun screen when it got really hot) and dad and I traveled from Calgary, Alberta to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia when he was stationed back to Shearwater in 1960. I had the entire back seat as a playpen and bed for the five day trip. I can still see remnants of the old trans-Canada highway in places along the way in Northern Ontario, and I can imagine having to drive that tortuously winding and narrow pathway through that still-sparsely-inhabited territory. Whenever I smell fibreglass resin I am instantly transported back to the garage of the house on Firefly Terrace on the base at Shearwater. Dad once worked on repairing holes in the trunk and the floorboards of this car using fibreglass (probably in about 1962). We had this car until about 1965 or 66 when we purchased our first Volkswagen. I saw one exactly like it on a used car lot in Merritt, B.C. in about 1994. Had I not been a student at the time it would be mine now.

Dawson heritage (1959)

This photo was taken in Banff at the Banff Springs Hotel in about 1959. The Mary Maxim sweater, like my father's, was a common item in the Canadian fashion landscape. You can still see them in some places today, curling rinks for one, but they are a vanishing craft.  

Prince Edward Island (1960)

This is the cookhouse at the fish processing plant in Gasperaux, PEI. We used it as a cottage for a week or two in the summer of 1960. In this photo Edith Bishop follows the infant Kim (about 14 months old here) into the path/road that meandered among the various buildings on the property. All of the roads on the property were "paved" to varying degrees, depending upon their proximity to the plant, with crushed clam shell fragments, giving them a glistening white shimmer that contrasted sharply with the red soil. The cookhouse was some distance from the plant although some shells are visible if you know that they are there. This is probably late July or early August as the Bishops used to spend those prime vacation weeks on the island every year. It is still the best time to vacation on the island as the weather is much more dependable in those months. This is the first family vacation I can remember (I'd have been five that year) and the memories of the landscape, smells and the heat in that building still linger in my memory 46 years later (of course the pictures help).

Potter heritage (c1912)

The Potters settled in Dundurn in about 1890. This photo was probably taken in Saskatoon where they had a winter home (I believe Albert was the CPR station master there).
Seated in the front row (L to R): George, Eliza Mae Potter (nee Brawley), Thomas, Albert Edward Potter, Elizabeth (Lily).
In the rear, standing are: Mary Jessica, Allan, Albert, John, Doreetha, Hiram, Charles

Census information for the Potters is available online from the National Archives if you search under:
The Territories/Assiniboia West/District 204/Dundurn/Sub-District q/Schedule 1/
reference: RG31, Reel T 6553, Aid 33-36, p4.

Dawson heritage (1960)

Here it is 9:30, time for Sunday school, and John (3) still in his pyjamas. Well, I guess he's still tired from ripping out the fence the day before. Again, this is the backyard of Albacore Place. It abutted the harbour back in the days when the rocks along the shore were black from oil discharged into the harbour (from the bilges of ships most likely). For the longest time that's what colour sea stone was supposed to be. Don't worry we couldn't easily get to the shore from the backyard - there was a chain-link fence separating young explorers from the toxic exploration grounds. 

Dawson heritage (1960)

Penny celebrates her fourth birthday in 1960. My what lovely knees she has - and that hat! that must be a carry over from the Calgary days. Pretty as a picture that one (just what does that phrase mean anyway? - this is a picture, she is pretty, much prettier than a square of paper in black and white). This is the living room of 4 Albacore Place on the base at Shearwater.

Dawson heritage (1960)

James Keith is a naval officer, so it is only right that he assume this role while aboard the Grace F. John is doing what he liked to do when dad was around (to look up, mostly) and I am getting as close to the water as is safely possible. I look fairly relaxed for a kid who is uncomfortable in a punt on a pond, but then, this was a real fisherman's boat - one he built himself - it didn't tip when you wanted to look over the side.

Maritime heritage (1960)

I spent most of my summers with Edie and Wit on Prince Edward Island and, of that time, I think this was the most memorable activity I can recall - riding out to (what to my five-year old imagination was the) sea in Lawrence's boat the Grace F. In this rare gathering it appears that everyone came along for the ride. I believe this was the year that the whole Dawson family (minus those not yet born, of course - there were two more to come at this point) stayed in the cookhouse at the little harbour at Gasperaux (I'll post a photo of it later). In this photo are (L to R) Penny (seated) Edith Bishop (Edie) holding Kim, Patrick (seated), Louise McHerron, Cephina McHerron, Peggy McHerron, and John (seated). Dad, Lawrence and Wit would be in the back running the boat (probably hauling traps for a lobster feed - only if lobster was in season of course). In those days beer was about $2.50 for a case of 24. That made for some pretty good parties I imagine when combined with freshly boiled lobster and homemade bread. Here the boat is just exiting the passage from the harbour at Gasperaux and heading out into the Northumberland Strait - you can see the light that would guide the fishermen home on the right - on the left is one of the sheds where the men kept their equipment when it wasn't being used to earn them a living.

Dawson heritage (1960)

Penny begins her new hobby - looking after her brothers and sisters - in this case Kim who, in this photo, is about six months old. This sibling is easier to look after as she doesn't yet walk or, in a rare brief moment in time, talk. 

Maritime hockey heritage (1959)

I remember this hockey sweater (my first - and last I expect). Wit was a Rangers fan - as many maritimers were in those days. The social connections between the maritime provinces and the New England states was a natural extension of the trade routes between the harbours of Halifax, Boston and New York. Since there were only six teams anyway, and a maritimer could get to New York or Boston faster than to Toronto (you couldn't cheer for a Quebec team, despite the Habs winning most of the silverware, in those days) it seemed natural to cheer for the 'hometown' team. 

Dawson heritage 1959-60

This photo was taken sometime after Christmas 1959 in the driveway of Wit and Edie's house in Imperoyal Village. Kim is just a freshie (in Dad's arms - he is struggling to get into or out of Wit's car). John is distracted (on the left) by his new ball, Penny by her new friend, and Patrick by an apparently new hat and a hockey stick with which to adjust it. I can recall the evergreen pattern in dad's Mary Maxim sweater (grey with green trees) - it seemed everyone had one of those sweaters and somewhere I'm sure there is a photo of me in one matching my father's. 

Dawson heritage (1960)

  

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).