Maple Creek, Saskatchewan and a Photo

About six months ago, my maternal Grandmother, Grace, phoned me to say that she had received a number of photographs from her cousin, Kay Jones. Kay had moved to a retirement home and wanted to give these family mementos to someone who would appreciate them. Among them was the photograph pictured to the left.

At first glance, it looks like a school photo, taken in the early part of the 20th century. I didn't really recognize anyone. So, after scanning the rest of the photographs in the collection, I returned all of them to Grandma. About six weeks ago, on Easter weekend, we were poring over the photos, and I picked up the large, cardboard mounted photograph again. Right away, I see my great great aunts Ada Ellen (1894-1959) and Mabel Ruth (1896-?) Mudford. By way of oral history, both had attended Normal School (aka teachers' college) in Saskatchewan. They show up in the 1911 Census of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan with their brother's family, headed by Austin W. Mudford (1890-1959).

So, is this a school photograph or something else. I see a young woman who may be Orpha Pearl Mudford (1899-?) and a man and woman who closely resemble my great great grandfather's second wife, Jane Ellen Robertson (1872-1944). It may be a Sunday School photo or possibly a grouping of attendees at a family reunion. Hopefully, there is someone out there that knows first, why there are so many people in the photo, second, who some of the attendees are, and third, where it was taken. Is anybody out there ...

The Al Feere Comment

Back in January, the 25th and 26th to be exact, I wrote about one of the mysteries that I love to investigate as part of my family tree. It concerns two boys, Walter and Francis Feere, who were taken in by my 2x great grandfather, James Edward Mudford and his second wife, Ellen Jane (Robertson). They showed up in the 1911 Census of South Walsingham Township, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, with Edward and Jane, then again with my 3x great Uncle, Austin W. Mudford in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. I had sort of solved it on the documentation front, and had begun to try to contact descendants of either of the two boys.
My first avenue was to mail a letter to Reverand Alan Feere of Stoney Creek. A couple of weeks ago, the letter was returned. I thought that my chances of making a connection had failed and I was doomed to not know the Feere side of the story. Last night, I checked on my Blogger dashboard, and lo' and behold, there was a comment from Al Feere from 22 March 2010! I quickly fired-off a heart-felt rebut with the hope that Al Feere would contact me. As of yet, not return, but I am ever-hopeful!
As for other avenues, there seems to be some Feere's that live around my home county of Norfolk. Maybe they would be an avenue I could follow. If any of you out there have any ideas, let me know!

News on Two Fronts

I received a letter today from my cousin, Doris, who's mother was my maternal grandmother's older sister. She published a family history book on the Mudford's in 2004. I wrote her a few weeks ago and was anxiously awaiting her reply. I had asked her a number of questions, many of which she answered.

My Mudford line stems from Charles Mudford, born about 1814 in the Somerset area of England, as far as I can figure. He came to New York in the summer of 1837, bound for Lower Canada. He married Elizabeth King in 1843 in Montreal, and then doesn't show up until 1850 in Toronto, where he marries my ultimate grandmother, Hannah "Annie" Jackson. He had one child from the previous marriage, Charles, who last shows up in 1861. He also had a number of sons and daughters with Annie, one of whom was James Edward Mudford (1852-1931).

The questions were regarding two brothers, Walter Feere (b. 1901) and Frank Feere (b. 1905) who show up in the 1911 Census of Canada with my great great grandfather, James Edward Mudford, and his second wife, Jane Ellen Roberston (1872-1944). Walter also shows up with my ggg uncle, Austin William, and family in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, in 1916. Both boys also appear in my great grandparents'. Robert Henry and Stella (Harris) Mudford, wedding photo, taken 1910.

Doris writes, "Walter and Frank Feere: My Mom always said she thought they were home children, but I see in your research Jane Ellen [Robertson] was born in Port Dover as were the Feere boys - possibly a connection there." Hmmm ... I really need to check in on the Feere (pronounce Fairy) surname, more.

I had made couple of mistakes in confusing Harold Henry, my last surviving Mudford great-uncle, and Howard Henry, my second cousin. I fixed that.

She also writes about a few other questions, but offers little in explanation. Unfortunately, it looks like I have more research than Doris -- a problem I find all too frequent.

The second front is concerning the Thompson line. Pat Thompson emailed me some information I need to disseminate before I post anything on it. It looks like, by the end of the month, I will have more research on this family!