Wabamun to Stony Plains---Tuesday, March 18, 1913

Tuesday, March 18, 1913

"Lest We Forget"
Left Wabamun at
10:30 for Stony Plains.
It snowed all night
and in the morning
I could not run the
spreader so I had to
wait till a train went
through. One went
through about 9:30
arrived at Stony Plains
at 5 oc.

[caption id="attachment_784" align="aligncenter" width="244"] Wabamun to Stony Plain[/caption]

Leaving Entwistle, Monday, March 17, 1913

Monday, March 17, 1913
"Lest We Forget"

Left Entwistle at 9:31
had dinner at Gainsford
and left for Wabamun
arrived at 4:20 20 miles
It snowed all day. I had
to pull the spreader just
a few miles

[caption id="attachment_783" align="alignleft" width="255"] Mentions Gainsford and Wabamun[/caption][caption id="attachment_791" align="alignright" width="300"] Wabamun Park, Alberta[/caption]

"Lest We Forget" Sunday, March16, 1913---Not much going on!

Still snowing I stay
at Birts' all day and
read nearly all day
too much snow to
work. It cleared up at
4 oc. got colder.

[caption id="attachment_785" align="aligncenter" width="252"] "Still snowing"[/caption]

Not much going on because of the storm. We all know that Clem wrote in the diary every day, but I wonder what he was reading? The bible? I know he was a reasonably strong Catholic. The newspapers? Were there any available out in the boondocks where they were building the Grand Trunk Pacific? Did they bring books with them for days like this? We'll never know!

Boston University---Deadline to e-mail EE 2 "Citations"!

OK...the toughest assignment yet from my point of view. I know that just about everybody has read a book or an article on any subject that contained those little notes at the bottom of the pages. I'd say that I would take a look at those notes probably no more than 10 or 15% of the time. Granted, I'm not talking about a research book or a scientific article necessarily, but just in general. But I am talking about the ubiquitous "citation".
The last week or so, our virtual class has been learning how to create those little gems. It has been a humbling experience. When you read one, you never put a thought into it. You see what it says, it generally makes sense to you, it may or may not help you understand the material any better but they're there nonetheless and you move on. I would never have imagined that the rules, regulations and conventions for citations could possibly cause so much angst! I have to get a great mark on this assignment for no other reason than, perhaps, my own pride and self-esteem. How am I supposed to let italicizing a title get to me? Or the difference between a semi-colon, an apostrophe or a paginated or unpaginated source? And don't even THINK of putting a comma in front of a parenthetical statement for fear of isolating the preceding statement that it's supposed to support or define.
That day has come. Realize that I’m only talking about 10 citations in this assignment from simple places like a book, a newspaper article, a web site... What could be easier? It turns out that just about everything else is easier!
I’ve worked on this assignment early in the morning, late at night and all hours in between. Last night I was dreaming about citations. CITATIONS for cryin’ out loud! That was it…I decided to review the work one last time and send it in, for better or for worse. The minute I hit the send button, I felt relieved and then I got very nervous. Did I send the right revision? Did I remember to add that semi-colon? OMG (...see I know what that means!) did I remove the italics from the title of that book? Or did I ADD italics to the title of that book?
This is almost like going to school on a Monday morning and realizing, on the bus, that the essay is due for first period English and I never even started it… In those days, I could fire off a B+ or A- paper on the ride in… Those days, I think, are long gone!
We'll see what comes back next week...

Saturday, March 15, 1913: Big Storm!

[caption id="attachment_777" align="alignleft" width="236"] Big Storm![/caption]


Saturday, March 15, 1913

"Lest We Forget"

Last night a big snow
storm snowed all night
and all day I left Lea. [Leaman, where he went on Friday]
for Jenkins at 8 oc
arrived at Jenkins
at 11:30 I had to pull
the spreader about 8 miles
had dinner at Jenkins
and left for Entwistle
arrived at Ent. at 4:31
had to pull the spreader [-?-]
all the way 10 miles

Well, I hope there are no "big snow storms" in our forecast!

When he says "I had to pull the spreader", I imagine he's pulling it with some kind of motorized rail car. From what I think a spreader does and how big it must be, I can't believe that a man was required to just throw a rope around it and tug it up the line for 8 or 10 miles!

Friday, March 14, 1913---Toughest transcription yet! HELP!!

[caption id="attachment_740" align="aligncenter" width="230"] ?[/caption]

Friday, March 14, 1913

"Lest We Forget"

Left on spreader for Edmonton
painting bench mark [?]
left Edson at 9 oclock
Ran to Leaman 42 miles
stay all night arrived at 5 oc
Fine weather was strong
west wind.

What do you think???

I've gotten a couple of suggestions but I'll wait till the morning to see if anyone else has any ideas.

kismet

I've had my family tree uploaded to the internet for quite a long time. As a matter of fact, on a few different web sites... As a result, I've been contacted by many people asking questions about this relative or that cousin. Many times, it turns out that I'm related to them at some level.

I also have put thousands of records up on www.findagrave.com where people will ask to have pictures of the gravestones attached to the records. Can't do it in the winter! Can't find the stones here in New England under the snow...

Today, I received a request that I can't fulfill simply because I know the stone is either sunk into the ground or so eroded that it can't be read or identified. The stone would be 200 year old limestone... Many of them simply don't hold up.

At any rate, the person I've been in touch with needed some info on Josiah Hitchcock (who happens to be a second cousin 6 times removed)and I was able to pull it out of my data base in a few seconds and create a PDF file which I sent off tonight.

I hope it helps their research!

Warmer Weather, Thursday, March 13, 1913

Weather much warmer sun was out nearly all day. We did a little work
Juno and I went to the paint shop and got some paint and get ready to start for Edmonton on a spreader to paint the benches. Juno was to go but Cullerne changed his mind and sent me first trip

[caption id="attachment_739" align="aligncenter" width="246"] Paint the benches...[/caption]

Big Snow Storm, Wednesday, March 12, 1913

[caption id="attachment_746" align="alignleft" width="219"] "Big Snow Storm!"[/caption]

Weather cold with big snow storm. To much snow to work. Cullerne and I in car all day a lone. Mr. Juno came down from the front to join this outfit.

Dark, cloudie and cold...Tuesday, March 11, 1913

[caption id="attachment_745" align="alignleft" width="238"] Today was dark and cloudie[/caption]

Today was dark cloudie and cold with a little snow fall. Cullerne and I in the car all alone. We did nothing all morning
In the afternoon I copied a few notes. After supper Arthur came over too the car to fix his album
staz till 9:30 then I went to bed.

I don't know about you, but it seems that there are a lot of days when they "stay in the car all day". How did they ever build the Grand Truck Pacific Railway? I imagine that things will pick up as we move into the spring.

Boston University

Let me take a short break from "Lest We Forget" to talk a little about the BU course in Genealogical research. I'll admit the course is a little tougher than I expected. Especially when I submitted an assignment and anxiously awaited the results. Well, the grade cam back at an abysmal number: "You seem to grasp all of the concepts in this module and all of the information is well presented. However [...dontcha just love "however's"...] you missed the central goal. You've written a report that....

And on and on... The grade, as I said, was abysmal and I figured I'd have to ace every single element for the balance of the course to keep my head above the line. I sent a "private message" to the grader in a feeble attempt at reconsideration. HA! Reconsideration.... That was out of the question. I know that because I got a response that didn't even address the points that I made in my plea. Instead, the TA sent a note to all the students to explain that this module has 3 assignments: 1 is graded on a scale based on 30 points, then another 30 and finally 40 for a total of 100. Well, that puts my "junk" score back in the running so I felt much better. Can't wait to submit this week's work!

All in all, this course seems to run from really easy "stuff" that I've been doing for a while to really hard "stuff" that I never even considered... Well, that why we take these courses.

Wish me luck!

Monday, March 10, 1913

[caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="219"] Bob goes to the Marimon outfit[/caption]

Weather fine and warm
Bobie Lee and I went up to the bridge for the handcar and found that it was taken. we looked all over the yards for it but could not find it. After that we went out with Cullerne to run levels on the round house track. worked about 2 hrs Bob left tonight to go to the Marimon outfit to work for him.

[I believe that "Genealogy Lady is correct about "handoor" being "handcar" so I've changed it! Merci beaucoup, mon amie!]

Sunday, March 9, 1913 The day after the fire...

[caption id="attachment_743" align="alignright" width="250"] The day after the fire[/caption]

Sunday, March 9, 1913
"Lest We Forget"

I had breakfast and went uptown to the fire there was very little left everything was burned up
Than I could see the plate glasses on the other side was all broken from the heat and water.
After supper I took a long walk along the town that was left.

Saturday, March 8, 1913...A little excitement!

Sun shining all day nice and warm. Lee and I all alone
Cullerne still in town. Lee read a book all day and I cleaned the flat car and car
About 8 oclock PM block between 384 Ave caught fire and the hole block went up in smoke.
fire lasted about 3 hrs
Cullerne came back on the 1:30 AM train from town.

[caption id="attachment_742" align="alignleft" width="241"] "FIRE!!"[/caption]

Fire! Now that's better than hanging around the camp all day. I just hope no one was hurt.

A little warmer today! Friday, March 7, 1913

Friday, March 7, 1913
"Lest We Forget"

[caption id="attachment_741" align="alignright" width="263"] "Weather a little colder"[/caption]

Weather a little colder
Cullerne Lee and I went out in the afternoon and levels for a ditch west of bridge about 1 1/2 Got through about 4:30 PM
Cullerne took the level to town to get it fixed

"Lest We Forget" Thursday, March 6, 1913

Wow! Am I behind! I'm going to get this up to date tonight...I hope!

[caption id="attachment_712" align="alignleft" width="217"] "Weather fine and warm..."[/caption]

Lest We Forget, Thursday, March 6, 1913:

Weather fine and warm. We three all stayed in the car all day. Cullerne did a little work in the office with Walton in Edmon[ton] After supper we went uptown to play pool. Art [?] Walton went home and I

"Lest We Forget" March 5, 1913

[caption id="attachment_711" align="alignleft" width="225"] "Got up at 6:30..."[/caption]

March 5, 1913
"Lest We Forget"

Got up at 6:30 and got ready to work. Cullerne went to the office and didn't get back till nine and told us that Arthur was coming out with us. We all had dinner out. Arthur was about all in. We got back about 6:31 Weather a little dark and cloudie

Jim's [?] letter [ ] a letter from Agatha and a card from C B L A

Help! If anyone can make out the last 2 lines, I'd appreciate it!

By the way...it's 11:25 AM and we've barely gotten a snowflake! The news is showing video from areas not too far from here with upp to a foot of the white stuff... I hope that's the story for the rest of the day because I'm on my way out to a genealogy workshop to help some "beginners" find their families.

"...and the level was out of order..." March 4, 1913

[caption id="attachment_710" align="alignleft" width="240"] "...and the level was out of order..."[/caption]

We started to work Cullerne Lee and I got out in the field and the level was out of order and we had to come back to the car in the afternoon we had Louis come out with us and we made him help us. at night he was pretty tired of the job we got home about 6 oclock weather fine and warm

Realizing that my grandfather was no big fan of punctuation, this entry has to be read a few times to figure out where the periods and commas should be. One of the sentences ends with a period, which helps. Initially, I was concerned that we wouldn't get a weather report but after "translating" the last few words, it's there!

Monday, March 3, 1913

"Lest We Forget"



Weather very warm thawed all day. In the afternoon we all went to work on a drain. Walton, Cullerne, Arthur, Davis and myself work all afternoon got home at 6:30 feeling very hungry

Sunday, March 2, 1913

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignleft" width="225"] Near Edmonton, Alberta, Lest We Forget Sunday, March 2, 1913[/caption]

Weather dark and cloudy all day but warm. I was all alone in the car all day. I started to wash about 9 oclock and finished about 3 oclock

After that I work on my album till supper time

After that Arthur and I went to church

And here's another shot from "The Album"...by the way, this is the first time he mentions the album, which I assume is the photo album that contains the pictures that I've been putting up here occasionally.

BU

Between all the drama over the past few weeks, I can look back and say that this was bad timing to start an on-line course in genealogical research. It's not as easy as it sounds...not that I thought it would be a walk in the park! Here are some concepts I can't get my head around: A birth certificate is a source, but is it original or derivative? And what about the information it contains? Is it primary or secondary? Then you have evidence. Evidence can be direct or indirect. What about a photocopy of an original birth certificate? Original or derivative? Is the information it contains primary or secondary? Does it constitute evidence? Is so, is it direct or indirect? Are you with me on this?

If you really need to know all that, let me know! In the meantime, the next assignment isn't due unitl next Wednesday, but I'm also supposed to be an active participant in the "Discussion Groups???

To be honest, my grades have been coming back a bit better than I expected them to be. Especially considering that I just blew through some parts of the assignments. I've been doing this a while, but relatively unsctructured...organized, but unstructured...and they insist on certain terminology which, if I'm working in my own little world, isn't critical. They even have a Glossary! So, BU brings the structure....I just have to adjust to the rigidity of it all

I'll keep you posted....

"Lest We Forget" 100 years ago on March 1, 1913

So that I don't forget... I'm blogging "Lest We Forget", pretty ironic!!...I scanned about 8 days worth of diary entries tonight to make it easier to stay on top of things. Hey! I've been busy!

[caption id="attachment_707" align="aligncenter" width="261"] Cullerne and Steve, again![/caption]

Cullerne and Steve were in town all day We were to go to work but Cullerne did not come back

Weather very warm with a little rain
Sun out all afternoon