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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Happy One Hundred and Twenty-third Birthday Charley

I have no letters preserved in the Charley Bailey collection from the 21st of November 1915 to early January 1916.  I wonder how he fared over Christmas this year?  
Christmas mail is delivered to the front.Archive photo, Library and Archives Canada
And Wouldn't Charley be Amazed to know that Facebook has reminded all his followers that today is his birthday!!  Born to Jennie and Charley Bailey 123 years ago in Brandon Manitoba, Canada on January 29th, 1892

Charley's mother, Jennie Howie was born on March 8, 1872, also in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Her father, James, was 34 and her mother, Jane, was 36.  Her mother died four months after Jennie was born.  Coincidentally, Charley's dad died just two months after Charley was born.
My father; Jennie's grandson, remembered her recollecting seeing and hearing the Red River Carts going through town.
Photos taken in Portage la Prairie in the 1880's
Settlers loaded all of their worldly possessions onto ox carts for the long, slow treck to their homesteads.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/rearview/averill/journal/rr-oxcart_photo.html  

This excerpt is from a fascinating history written in 1970 called  
A HISTORY OF PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE AND SURROUNDING DISTRICT By Anne M. Collier

Reading it gave me a real taste of what life would have been like for Charley and his mom in those early years and I am always drop jawed when I read Canadian history; how recent this all was and how far we've come ~ and how fast.  

From Anne Collier's book: On Portage la Prairie

1892 (the year Charley was born) was a time when great wheat fields, separated by threadlike wire fences, were chequered with rows of stooks, where the grain stood ready to be stacked when dried. Noisy binders moved around diminishing squares of standing grain. Men in the fields stooked as the sheaves fell from each binder. That was the year that there were two million bushels of grain grown on the Plains and marketed in Portage la Prairie. Of this, the bulk was wheat, with oats and barley coming second and third respectively. Forty and fifty bushels to the acre for a whole farm was not uncommon. 

South of the town could be seen a line of trees - oak, ash, elm, maple, cottonwood and poplar, outlining the course of the Assiniboine River. Vast quantities of wood from these trees provided excellent cord wood for home consumption, and for export to Winnipeg and Brandon. The outline of a prosperous town rose between the tracks and a bayou of the Assiniboine River. The Lake of the Woods Milling Co. in Portage was rated the largest and best equipped mill west of Toronto. This firm shipped flour by the carload lots to all points west as far as the Pacific Coast. The oatmeal mill, the pioneer of its kind in Manitoba, ran day and night in an attempt to supply the demand for that product. Down by the Assiniboine River was the large Portage Paper Mill, which manufactured all brands of heavy wrapping and building paper. The plant of machinery originally cost $30,000. The capacity of the mill was over five tons per day. Much building was being done and planing mills were kept constantly busy. 

A couple of machine shops were doing a rushing business attending to the repairs of about 75 steam threshing outfits, worth $150,000 which were operating on the Portage Plains. Thirty tractors and portable steam engines were counted around the Watson Bros. Machine Shop one day! Implement dealers could scarcely keep up with the demand for plows, patent stackers, seed drills, mowers and selfbinders. All lines of business were well represented. Four banks did the business of the town and of the farming community. Two large breweries supplied the demands in that line of business, covering a large territory. A brickyard was operating east of the town. 

The semi-weekly Liberal, The Review and The Saturday Night were the eyes of Portage. The registry system had divided Manitoba into four large districts, and with the introduction of the Torrens system a staff of from ten to fifteen registrars and clerks were employed in the Land Titles Office. 

The big brick central school, which cost $35,000 furnished, was found to be inadequate to accommodate over 700 school children and ward schools had to be opened. Six religious denominations had churches. The Roman Catholics were just completing a large new one, and the Methodists had erected a big brick edifice in 1891 at a cost of $13,000. Town streets were lighted by arc lights, and over 1300 incandescent lamps were in use in public and private homes. The telephone boasted an exchange list of 100 subscribers. Smith Curtis and George H. Webster, C. E., prepared plans for the damming of the Assiniboine River, for the purpose of providing water-power for electric and manufacturing purposes. The scheme involved the flooding of what was known at that time as "The Slough," to convert it into a beautiful lake. Across the river, a valuable section of country was opened up by the N.P. & M.R., and settlers were flocking into it. It was adapted to mixed farming especially, and possessed great stores of valuable wood and shelter groves, along with rich native grasses, easily cut and cured into the best of hay. It wasn't only these things that attracted people to the Portage Plains. The whole plain was under laid at a depth of from 8 to 20 ft. with a water-bearing strata of sand that was easily tapped, thus securing a plentiful supply of pure water. In dry seasons the sand strata supplied moisture to the black loam, and in wet seasons it gave under drainage. We will end the 1892 narrative with a touch of humor. A paper of that year contained an advertisement which said, "WANTED - a smart boy to be half outside and half behind the counter." 

HIGH BLUFF  was known as the "Nairn District" in the very early days. (This is where Jennie and Charley Bailey Sr. lived when Charley Bailey was born. It's about 8 miles NE of Portage la Prairie) Because of a high bluff or grove of trees, which rose conspicuously out of the surrounding woods the area was given the name 'High Bluff.' Archdeacon Cochrane can be credited, not only for starting the first white settlement at Portage la Prairie, but also for the confidence he inspired in pioneers to cast their lot in the area which circled his settlement. High Bluff came within this circle.  High Bluff Village was a pretty important little place in those days. The first steam-powered elevator was built by Mr. John Dilworth in the early 1880's (two horse-powered ones having been built and used previously). It was rebuilt after being consumed by fire in 1897 and Andrew Forsythe, who founded the Forsythe Grain Co., built a grain dryer to be used in conjunction with the new one. The head office for the Company at the time was High Bluff. Before the railway went through mail was picked up by a carrier who met the stage coaches conveying it to Old High Bluff. Later, a room in Mr. Coxsmith's home became a post office. Another room in his home became the first telephone office. At that time there was a bank (the Bank of Nova Scotia), three stores, three blacksmith shops, a livery stable, two implement shops, a boarding house, a billiard hall and barber shop, a grist mill, and the services of a doctor. Sports and entertainment added zest to the life of the community. Skating, curling, lacrosse and baseball were the main sports, and concerts, house parties and garden parties the main entertainments. 

Two professional ball players who got their basic practice in High Bluff were Melville Jackson and Clarke Metcalf. The High Bluff baseball team won the provincial title in 1924. High Bluff played an important part in patriotic efforts in both of the World Wars. The many men and boys who made the Supreme Sacrifice is the greatest proof of this. High Bluff gained in stature because of them, but was made poorer by their absence. Due to progress in modes of transportation, speedy communication and advanced education, another little village is living in its glorious memories of the past. The history of any village contains an element of nostalgia.  
The lengthy excerpt above is from:  
A HISTORY OF PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE AND SURROUNDING DISTRICT By Anne M. Collier


Happy 123rd Birthday Charley Bailey
Lots of folks thinking of you today!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Charley's in Canada!! November 21, 1915

November 21st 1915
Montreal Canada

Dear Mother
          Hello to everybody.  Just in Canada long enough to write and say that I got in on the 16th and am leaving Quebec on the 21.  Isn’t that fierce.  I just got out of the hospital in England when they wanted a dispenser for a ship load of wounded that were going to Canada.  So at half past eight in the morning I was told to report to Headquarters Shorncliffe at nine and at half past nine I was on my way to Liverpool to Sail for Canada.
          
On arriving here they wanted me to go straight into a Hospital and work till the boat went back.  I went to the Officer commanding in Quebec and said it was a funny thing if I couldn’t get a pass home for a few days.  Well you should have heard him rave, well I say “if you won’t give me leave to home will you give me permission to go back to Montreal for a day or so?” then the trouble started.  He told me that some of us fellows should be put in the coop for a few days and we would learn that we were soldiers now, I spoke right up to him and said “yes, and if some you fellows were in France as long as I was you would know what a soldier was” well then he questioned me as to what I belonged to and where I was in France etc. and ended up by giving me three days in Montreal and no money. 
Mother this is the first letter I have ever written since I joined that has not been read by others before getting to any of you and I could tell you things about this infernal outfit that would make you wonder.  However I am in it and have to do as I’m told so that ends it.  I have to go back at it again without seeing any of you so I might just as well cheer up and take it as it comes.
          Ruby has a very nice little suite here and her and Ernie are a happy as little pigs in dirt. And I don’t think married life has disagreed with either of them.  Ruby was telling me that V-V was going to Portage to go to school for the winter.  I hope she will like Portage, as I think the teachers there would be a little bit better versed than those of Holland.
          Well Mother how is Dad.  Do you know I have not heard from any of you since Sept. My mail has been sent all over the country to locate me but as yet I have never received any of it.  I hope this winter will not be to hard in Manitoba.  I have been talking to some of the people of Montreal and they say that times here are terrible.  Well believe me Mother, I have had some pretty tough times myself and have lived in conditions where two years ago I would of laughed at.  But it’s a poor man who can’t take his medicine and by gosh I’m getting mine and no prospects of bettering them.  Well Mother I hope this finds V-V, yourself and Dad in the best of health as it leaves me not bad.  So remembrance to Dad and the kid.
Love Chas.





Aunt Rachie, Ina, Ruby, Annie and Harry Richmond come up frequently in Charley's letters. Ruby is Charley's cousin, 2 years younger. They grew up together.  Ruby was the 3rd of 4 children born to Jennie's older sister; Rachel.  Rachel married James Richmond in 1888.   Ruby (Charley's cousin) married (Ernie) Ernest Pearen in 1915.  

PHOTO OF 1915 Montreal : Wm. Notman & Son, Corner St. Catherine and Stanley Streets (detail), looking east, Montreal, Qc, 1915, VIEW-15468 © McCord Museum

Saturday, November 14, 2015

1915, November 14th. WW 1. Charley's 32nd letter home from the Front.

November 14th 1915
CMAC Depot
St Martins Plain
Shorncliff England


Dear Mother
            Here is another.  As for any news of any of you in Canada I know absolutely nothing as I have had no letters since I left France.  My mail has been chasing me all over England from one Hospital to the other.
           Well Mother I am able to get around alright but don’t feel just quite right yet, however I guess I will be okay before long.
At Christmas time Hess sent me a ring with my initials on it and the other day I took it off to wash and lost it.  I still have the little watch you gave me and it is about the only thing that I have that I brought from Canada left. 
How is V.V. getting along as school it must be an awful change for her after going to Brandon. However I hope this will be her last year at a Country School.  Well Mother I will write you in a day or so again and tell Dad to drop me a line or two.
The weather here is very damp and is somewhat like that of France in the winter but I like it here much better as the people can at least talk you own language.
Well Mother how do you and Dad like farming it must be very lonesome after all the people that used to be around when you were in the Hotel.  I met Jim Rutledge here and several of the Dauphin fellows, they were anxious for me to go over to see them but somehow I don’t care for them.  They seem to be such villagers.
So Mother I will come to a close. Remember me to Dad and V-V with love
Chas








Thursday, October 22, 2015

1915, October 22nd. WW1. Charley's 31st letter home from the Front.

October 22nd, 1915
Letterhead from “The Salvation Army Soldiers’ Rest”
Shorncliffe 
Envelope: Disabled Service War Seal 1914-15

Dear Mother
            Have not written you during the time I have been in Hospital because I thought you would think me more serious than I really was.  I was invalided to England about the first of the month suffering from gastritis and have been in a Hospital at Canterbury till yesterday but am now at the Canadian Base in Shorncliffe.  I am able to get around allright but not just quite fit.
          As yet I don’t know what they are going to do with me but I think I will be sent on another draft somewhere.  As yet I can’t say where.
          It is quite a treat to be among English speaking people again after so long among those French.  It really seems too good to last.  Do you like farming as well now or not.  The winter months will be the worst when there is nothing to do in the evenings. 
          I suppose V.V. is still going to school you see I have had no mail from Canada for over a month so you can see I am entirely at a loss for any news of any kind.  Well mother this finishes the paper so will write again this week.  Remembrance to Dad and VV and say I am allright. My address will be as below.
Love
Chas
CMAC Depot
St Martins Plain
Shorncliffe, England




Shorncliffe Military Hospital was where many wounded Canadian soldiers returned from battle to be patched up and convalesce. The hospital was located just outside Folkestone in Kent, in close proximity to both Dover and Folkestone ports, making it ideal to transport wounded troops from ships.  The photograph is postcard being sold on ebay titled "Royal Military Hospital, Shorncliffe Camp"


Wednesday, September 30, 2015

1915, Sept 30th, Charley's 30th letter home from France. WW1

Called the 'Big Push', the Battle of Loos was the largest British battle of 1915 on the Western Front. It was the first time the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units who were not well enough trained. On September 24th the reserve divisions were warned to carry extra rations as it may be some time before their cookers caught up with them. By September 28th the British had lost over 20,000 men, including three major-generals.


from www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com
Wearing their anti-gas masks and looking like hooded familiars of the inquisition, British troops attacking Germans with bomb and bayonet.  From illustratedfirstworldwar.com

September 30th, 1915
France  

Dear Mother
            The last few days we have been very busy as I suppose you have seen by the papers of the big advance the allies have made, and as a result the Hospitals are kept going day and night, wounded coming in very nearly every day and night.  If the Allies continue we all may be home for Xmas yet.
          Say I nearly fell over dead when you told me about Harry Richmond going to the Peace River Country, but as for Mable I think I told you one time that either that or something more serious would happen.  Of course don’t mention anything I say to Aunt Rachie or she would have a fit. 
          I have been on night duty and believe me I sure will be glad when I am back on days again. You are not allowed to sleep during the night and it is mighty hard to get much during the day when most of the fellows are around.
          There are another bunch leaving here for the front, to start a dressing station in a day or so. I sincerely hope they have no accidents but one never can tell what’s going to happen especially under these conditions. 
          Well how is the kid getting along at school it wont be so pleasant during the winter but tell her that she won't have to put up with it only this term as next fall I will be in a condition to help her at Brandon. 
          I guess Dad can grow potatoes alright but it must be awfully funny to see him doing any kind of farm work but he know as much about it as any of them.
          It has started in the rainy season here and believe me I feel this damp air.  Well  Mother you know how scarce news is around here.
          Remember me to VV, Pa, Albert and Lavinia and best of health to you all as I am the very best.

Chas









_________________________
Sources: http://www.1914-1918.net/bat13.htm and www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

1915, Sept 22nd, Charley's 29th letter home from France. WW1

September 22nd, 1915
France Com 

Dear Mother
            Well dear Mother of late I have had but very few letters from you I guess it is on account of the Postal service because there are weeks at a stretch that I never even get the papers that I know have been sent to me.
          Things in general have been very slack here there are not half the wounded coming in that used too early in the spring.  Of course I am not at all sorry as it gives us more time to our selves and believe me we sure can stand it.
          I am very sorry indeed to hear of the circumstances but Mother I have did every thing in my power and it is an utter impossibility.  But it is a long road that has no turning and lets hope that all ends well.  One year from Brandon will not make such a tremendous difference and things will be all together different next year for us all.
          Is the Richmond family all still anxious about Ina.  Well Mother they don’t need to worry at all because it will do them no good and moreover I think she has as much common sense as any of them.
          You were saying that Albert wished he was with us out here.  Tell him that all that glitters is not gold and I would gladly change places if such a thing was possible. 
          Well Mother tell Dad and V-V I will write to them soon.  Remembrance to all and cheer up, cause it won’t be long till we are all dead.
Lovingly
Chas

 
 
An article in the Winnipeg Tribune on this day in 1915 talks about 'the most drastic and far reaching taxes in the history of Great Britain.' Personal income taxes were about to jump by 40% to support the war effort. "McKenna duties"  were coming into effect with what was being called the greatest war budget in the worlds history.

 
The photo below shows the interior of the local Holland Newspaper office (1914) with Editor Noah Hewitt and his helper.  
Photo of interior of Holland Observer, 1914 It's quite likely that Marmaduke would have read about this budget news in the Holland Observer.                                 
Instead of raising taxes, in Canada we were borrowing from the US and from our own citizens.  The French and English divide was deepening. National debt was skyrocketing, a bumper crop of wheat needed farm hands, volunteer soldiers were needed at the front and Canadian's at home were feeling the pinch in every way.  Suffrage and prohibition were topics high on everyone's agendas.  

Canada had no official voice yet in the administration of this war however by 1915 our military spending had surpassed the entire government expenditures of two years earlier.  These were extremely challenging years for Canadians at home and for those in service at the front.  

As Charley says "Cheer up, cause it won’t be long till we are all dead."

Sources: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/first-world-war-wwi/

Thursday, September 10, 2015

1915, Sept 9th, Charley's 28th letter home from France. WW1


September 9th, 1915

France Com



Dear Mother

          I have not written lately as often as I should have on account of trying to get that put through for VV and was just informed today that it is impossible.  However one year won't make a great deal of difference.  I wrote a while ago saying that I would be able to do so and I am more sorry than any of you to find it an impossibility.

          You were saying that Dad and Albert don’t get along extra well.  If you remember in one of my letters before you left Holland I said that I did not think they would.

          Things here are very quiet just at present, there being practically no wounded at all coming but in this branch of the service a person never knows when the hospital may be filled in a moments notice.        

          A few of our boys from here have transferred into regiments in the trenches but as yet I am right here.  In the trench the lead is flying around to freely to suit me but  of course if I was ordered up there I go with a good heart to get as many possible before they got me.

          Say Mother you all seem to be down on Ina and think she is tough well don’t convict her till you get more than the Richmond family evidence.  Of course she may travel in society that I surely would not want VV to be in but never the less she is the best by far of that family and I have saw more of them the last few years than any of us.

          Apparently the kid don’t seem to be in love with her new school and companions Believe me it is the last year she will have to contend with it and that is the truth.

Well dear Mother I have nothing more to say but cheer up it a long road that has no turn.

Remember me to Dad and the Kid also to Lavinia and Albert and hope this finds you in good spirit. I come to a close

With love

Chas



 
 

Monday, September 7, 2015

Marmaduke Thomas Lorenzo Lloyd ~ Charley's Step-Father

This post is a digression from Charley's letters home to shed some light on his family members.  Here then is a short biography of the only father Charley ever knew.  My Great Grandfather,
Marmaduke Thomas Lorenzo Lloyd

Marmaduke's headstone says he was born December 14, 1855 Hogg's Hollow, Ontario, Canada.  Canadian Census records show a range of years for Marmaduke's birth from 1855 to 1859.  Most census records say 1857.  

His mother; Mary Ann French had 9 children. Marmaduke was her 4th child. His older sister Margaret was born in 1853, his younger brother Albert was born in 1859.  


Hogg's Hollow where Marmaduke was born was and still is one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Toronto, located in the Don River Valley and centered on the intersection of Yonge Street and York Mills Road. The Lloyd family were farmers.




Hogg's Hollow was named after James Hogg, a Scotsman from Lanarkshire who settled there in 1824. Hogg operated a whiskey distillery and a grist mill, and was considered the most successful of all the millers in the valley.   

In about 1880 the John Shearer Lloyd family moved to Winnipeg Manitoba and with his sons received several land grants.  Marmaduke worked as a contractor in Winnipeg into his late 20's.  His dad died in 1884 as a result of a fall on a stair. John Shearer Lloyd was buried in Winnipeg. He was 64 years old.


In 1886, 29 year old Marmaduke arrived in Vancouver BC. It was the year the city was incorporated. It's also the year of the massive fire that consumed Vancouver ~ some one thousand wooden buildings, and it's the year Stanley Park was established. 


Marmaduke had business interests in logging, was a thorough horseman and a published writer of poetry. He was a lover of good horses and often stated, "There is just as much difference in horses as in men."


In 1891 Marmaduke purchased the Palace Livery Stables at 1003 Pender Street, at the corner of Burrard and Pender.  There were 13,000 residents in Vancouver in 1891. In the six years since Marmaduke arrived, it had grown from a population of about 400.


On July 13th 1894, this article ran in the 'Vancouver Daily World' newspaper.

   It has been our aim in preparing these sketches for our big supplement edition to The World, to select representative and leading firms in the various lines of manufacture, trade, banking, etc., and it is gratifying to be able to state that in preparing this sketch we are introducing the reader to the most completely equipped and largest livery stable in Vancouver. 

   Mr. M.T.L. Lloyd, the proprietor of the business, is a native of Toronto, and previous to his becoming proprietress of the Palace, was a wall-known and prominent contractor of Vancouver.
   The Palace was one of the first livery stables opened in Vancouver and the building was erected with special reference to its use, and provided with all modern conveniences. It is eligibly located on Pender Street, near Burrard and has a capacity to stable 75 head of horses and of housing the vehicles, harness, etc., for their use.
   Mr. Lloyd is a thorough horseman, and the very best care is given to stock and rigs of boarders, and at reasonable rates.
   The Palace keeps a number of horses and livery purpose, and has among them fine roadsters for gentlemen's driving, gentle horses for ladies' driving and riding, fine carriage horses and gentlemen's riding horses.  They can supply at short notice, camping, hunting and fishing outfits and make a specialty of supplying turnouts for excursion parties, and of furnishing tourists with carriages or three seaters, accompanied with experienced drivers, acquainted with all places in the city, or near it, deemed of special interest by strangers.
   In point of stock, carriages, and the general paraphernalia which goes to make up a first-class livery stable, Mr. Lloyd has spared no expense, and has the best of everything.
   Persons or parties arriving in Vancouver with a view to investment or settlement cannot do better than to call on Mr. Lloyd. His extensive acquaintance will enable him to give much valuable information, while his turnouts and drivers will be at the disposal of patrons as moderate as can be obtained from other stables.
  The measure of patronage accorded to the Palace Livery stables by the public has been amply merited by a course of honourable dealing and fair treatment of patrons which has won for its proprietor the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has had business relations.

On June 2nd, 1896, the 'Vancouver Daily World' Newspaper ran a similar article.




PALACE LIVERY

There is no more thriving and popular establishment of the kind in the Province than the Palace Livery Stable.   Mr. M.T.L. Lloyd, proprietor, located at the corner of Pender and Burrard streets. Eight years ago these stables were opened and in 1891, Mr. Lloyd became proprietor. The main building is a three-story structure 80 x 150 feet in area, thoroughly modern and complete in appointment and equipment. It is lighted by electric light; is provided with the latest sanitary appliances and is up to date in every particular. There is accommodation for upwards of 90 horses.  A general livery and boarding business is conducted. Firs class single and double driving and ladies and gentleman's saddle horses; gladstones, phaetons, buggies and all the latest styles of carriages are kept and promptly sent to any part of the city.  There are no finer equipages in the city than those turned out by the Palace Livery Stable.  A specialty is made of boarding horses. In all instances the rates are very moderate. Mr M.T.L. Lloyd is very well known and is quite popular in the city.  He came here ten years ago from Manitoba where he was in business. After arriving in Vancouver he followed contracting for a time.  He takes an active interest in the city`s welfare and has various interests in a logging business.  His time, however, is chiefly occupied about the stables.  He is a lover of good horses and has often stated, `there is just as much difference in horses as in men.  Besides his many business pursuits he has frequently favoured the press with some choice poems.  As a writer Mr. Lloyd has won considerable distinction.

Palace Livery Stable 1003 Pender Street, Vancouver British Columbia (about 1896)


Palace Livery Stables, Burrard Street, about 1896, detail, Vancouver City Archives, CVA 1376-169, http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/palace-livery-stables-burrard-street.
Close up of rooftops and the Palace Livery Stable ~ note the horse on the weather vane.
Palace Livery Stable, about 1895, detail, View of downtown houses, part of Stanley Park, and the North Shore mountains from the roof of Manor House, Vancouver City Archives, SGN 447; http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/index.php/view-of-downtown-houses-part-of-stanley-park-and-north-shore-mountains-from-roof-of-manor-house [Note horse on top of weather vane.]
This is a map of Vancouver in 1898~ the wee yellow dot is the location of the Palace Livery Stable.


By 1898 Marmaduke was back in Manitoba                     
His first and only marriage was to Jennie Bailey (nee Howie) They married on June 7th, 1898 at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.
Jennie was widowed very young. Charles Bailey; her first husband, was killed in a logging accident weeks after their child (Charles Roy Bailey) was born.

Marmaduke was 42 when he married Jennie, who was then 26. Marmaduke and Jennie had one child of their own: Vida Valerie Lloyd born April 29th, 1899 in Brandon. Marmaduke and Jennie owned and ran hotels and rooming houses in Manitoba before the war years and when times got tough and food production was the #1 priority in Canada, they farmed for the duration of the war years.


Marmaduke's step-son, Charley Bailey served with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in the first world war.  He enlisted in August 1914 and returned home in January of 1919.  This blog tells much of the story of Marmaduke and Jennie's lives during the war years.


Shortly after Charley returned from the war, the family packed up and moved to Kelowna.

V.V. took a teaching position in a Glen Rosa, above Westbank at a one room day school in 1920.

This is a photo of Bernard Avenue in Kelowna in 1920.
This is a photo of Bernard Avenue in Kelowna in 1920.   http://www.kelownabc.com/kelowna/kelowna9.php Marmaduke and Jennie Lloyd's property was on Ethel Street somewhere between Bernard and Harvey? I've not found the actual address of their place as yet. They bought a small ranch with a big hay field and raised chickens.  


My dad; Thomas Kenneth Perrin recalls spending summers in Kelowna with his Grandma and Grandpa who he called Gaga and Aboo.  He recalls that his grandmother; Jennie kept a nickle plated .32 revolver hidden in her bedroom for those chicken thieves who might be 'clumping her gumps'.  Tom recalled trapping pheasants in the hay field using a grain baited muskrat trap and having cookouts with the neighbourhood kids which featured corn stolen from nearby fields and much talk of clumping gumps to complete the feasts. 


Albert and Lavinia (Marmaduke's unmarried brother and sister) lived across the hay field.

My father remembers Marmaduke as gentle soul with a comforting warm lap, who smelled of bay rum and cigars. 
The Lloyds originally came from Wales then moved to northern Ireland (Ulster) then on to Canada. Marmaduke was a staunch Orangeman. He used a Blackthorn Cane which is still in the family and which purportedly came with the Lloyds from Wales.

Marmaduke and Jennie Lloyd ~ My great Grandma and Grandpa.
Marmaduke died January 19, 1935 Kelowna British Columbia Canada

(Lane Hogaboam, Find a Grave Volunteer very kindly tended to and cleaned up Jennie and Maramaduke's headstones (and photographed the stones) at the Pioneer Cemetery in Kelowna. They were showing serious signs of age and covered with lichen before Lane generously cleaned the stones.)
 Find A Grave Memorial for MTL LloydHer headstone at the Pioneer Cemetery in Kelowna BC