My Grandparents EstablishOur Family on the Prairie

I now write, some years into this new millennium,the stories I've saved throughout my life. I choose tobegin when my grandparents came to Alberta morethan a hundred years ago. Both of my parents and mystepmother were born and lived all their lives in thisrural area, which was officially established when therailroad first brought its trains through in 1910 and 1911.

The towns were established as the railroad track movedeast from the larger centres. When I was growing up, allof these prairie towns featured grain elevators, whereinthe grain was stored until it was transported either eastor west by train. Then at that point, the grain would beput on a boat, shipped and eventually sold around theworld. My hometown boasted three such elevators.

Coronation has been described as a place where theparkland meets the prairie. To the north of the town,there are groves of aspen trees and some spruce along theriver valley. The south is more open. Antelope appreciatethe prairie, and deer like to hide in the trees. Both canbe seen enjoying our landscape.

The groves of poplars are dying because their lifespanisn't as long as mine. Survey crews easily mapped outthis land into 160-acre quarter sections and 640-acresections. (A section is one square mile.) Road allowancesrun north and south every mile, and east and west everytwo miles. Sometimes a road was built, but if it hadn'tbeen, then the farmer fenced the land and used it untila road was needed.

A feature of my homeland is the Nose Hills to theeast. When we children stepped up the stairs in ourgrandfather's house, we could look out the east-facingwindow and see the hills' variegated blue line on thehorizon. The Nose Hills create an incline that rises tothe south and drops off suddenly in a nose. Our Nativepeople named these hills. As a tool for navigating theyvisualized a man lying on his back and stretching acrossAlberta. The Hand Hills were farther south and west,and then came the Knee Hills and Foothills.

The Nose Hills are part of the Neutral Hills. Native legendsays that the Great Spirit caused these hills to rise upduring a longstanding war wherein many braves died.The Cree and Blackfoot eventually buried their hatchetsand made peace.

A local history book compiled in 1967, Shadows of theNeutrals, discusses the significance of Native people tothis area. It includes the legend of the Great Spirit creatingthe Neutral Hills. It also includes the contribution of themissionaries, who worked extensively with First Nationsinhabitants of the area to help them accommodate theoncoming rush of settlers.

Reverend John McDougall retired in the year that Grampacame to Fleet. My father was born on the day FatherLacombe died. The Catholic priest and the Methodistmissionary spent their last days within 10 miles of eachother. Both passed away within a month of each other.

My grandfather Sam Annett from Northern Irelandclaimed his homestead in 1905. He established ourfamily farm almost a mile south of the location wherethe town of Fleet would later be created.

Fleet hasn't grown very much over the years. When I wasstill going to school, we counted all the people living in thehamlet. There were 104. I used to say that the town wascalled Fleet because people seemed to be fleeting away.The community hall is still available for social functions.Homes remain, but none of the stores or schools operateanymore. The church where my sister and I married ourhusbands stands proud and empty. I wouldn't be able tofind our skating rink. Trees now fill that area.

When the land is flat and empty, the naming oftowns is difficult. Two towns in Alberta were namedfor their physical features: Two Hills and Three Hills.Saskatchewan was similarly void of unique features, sotowns were given names like Superb, Success or Major,indicating hopefulness for a bright future.

Canadian Pacific Railroad honoured our line of townsby relating them and their people to English royalty.Driving east from Fleet, one finds the towns of Federal,Coronation, Throne, Veteran, Loyalist, Consort andMonitor.

In Coronation, I can stop my 2006 Toyota Yaris atthe corner of Victoria and Albert and contemplate myfamily's beginnings on this prairie before Fleet wasgiven a name.

My mother's father, Joseph Wideman, and his brother,Wilmot, arrived in this prairie area in 1906. My mother'sMennonite family was quick to build their MarkhamCommunity Church three or four miles north of our farmafter they had settled.

A large group of Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites hadleft Markham, Ontario, to set up farming communitiesin Alberta. Many settled amidst the rich farming land ofDidsbury and Carstairs. When they had run out of roomin that part of Alberta, the two Wideman brothers wereamong the settlers who came to Fleet where the soil isless productive.

Henry and Elizebeth Wideman left Pennsylvania andcleared the homestead in Ontario. They built the cutstonehouse that I saw and photographed in 1973. Bythat time, it was at the edge of Metropolitan Toronto.

Henry and Elizebeth had four sons and five daughters.Their seventh child, Martin, was the one who inheritedthe family home. Joseph and Wilmot were his twooldest children. There were five younger children, aswell. The youngest son, Wesley, would come to live inthe stone house. When we were children, Wesley andhis wife, Agnes, were our visitors. He would have beenin his fifties at the time—and he was handsome androbust.

When Ira and Roxie Weeks and their family came totheir homestead in 1906, at a place called Lindsville, thetrain brought them as far as...