Sedgewick, AB - A Place of Beginnings and Endings

One additional stop on the Canadian Roots tour was to Sedgewick.  Sedgewick is the Flagstaff County seat and about 15 miles south of Kinsella.  All of the documents filed from 1910 through 1915 by Grandpa Candy to obtain the homestead originated in Sedgewick. It was in Sedgewick that Henry and Lylie were married when she arrived from Cornwall in 1914,  It was at the Sedgewick train station that Lylie pregnant with Gladys, and toting young Doris, Eileen and Edwin boarded the train to begin the journey to join Henry in Los Angeles thus bringing to a close the homestead era for the Henry Candy family.

Cousin Janet, armed with photos from 1955, led the charge to locate the church where Henry and Lylie were wed and the train station.  What we discovered was that much of what had been in Sedgewick during the 1955 visit was no longer there.  Train tracks passed by Sedgewick but the station had been removed and many of the locals that we asked were unaware that there had ever been a station building.

We found the location where the church once stood, but we were told by a local that it was moved from the site years before.  At least there is hope that it still exists somewhere, perhaps in one of the many local homestead era museums. Attempting to locate this building and continuing the search for the original homestead house would be a worthy assignment for someone in the family.

The main street buildings, with a few exceptions, seemed to have been inspired by early strip mall architecture leading us to suspect that there was a fire or some other event that led to many of the buildings being replaced since 1955.

Read on to see several photographs taken by Jon and several from 1955 for comparison:

Final Resting Places of Uncle Tom, Uncle Dick and Aunt Florence

As we headed south out of Kinsella we stopped at the Kinsella cemetery to find Uncle Tom's grave.  The cemetery was well kept thanks to the volunteer work of Ross Skori and perhaps others.

After some searching we located Uncle Tom's marker.

Thomas Candy RIP

We had learned from the Kinsella local history accounts that Uncle Dick and Florrie moved from the property we had visited with Ross Skori to Killam, a town located several miles southwest.  In subsequent email exchanges with Cousin Lorene, who was part of the 1955 return to Kinsella tour, she stated that she did not visit the property we had seen with Ross but instead visited Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie in a nearby town.  It would be a good guess that this was their home in Killam where they, according to the Kinsella history account, had some sort of egg farming operation after leaving the homestead.  We can conclude that their move to Killam occurred before 1955.

Ken was able to access county cemetery records on his iPhone and confirmed that both Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie had been buried in Killam.  After a stop in Sedgewick (the subject of another post) we drove to Killam and wandered around until we found the Killam cemetery outside of town. Once we arrived we quickly located Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie's markers.

It is interesting that the writing on Aunt Florrie's marker is bright with little tarnish. Is this due to some original process to the marker, or has someone from Florrie's family recently polished it?

It is apparent that someone in 1980 took care to order a bronze marker for Aunt Florrie that closely matched Uncle Dick's .

Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie RIP

I knew at some point I had come across a photograph of Uncle Dick's gravesite with flowers and two youths in the picture.  I was able to locate it and it is shown below.  According to notes on the back of the photo it was taken on September 15, 1958 and the names are Bobby and Crystal.  They would be 70-ish today.  Perhaps they are Aunt Florrie's grandchildren and therefore second step-cousins to the Lindsay/Stoneham/MacDonald boomers (and yes,Vern too, since I think he is pleased to technically not be in the boomer cadre).

Uncle Dicks gravesite with 'Bobby' and 'Crystal' September 15, 1958

Goodbye Kinsella

It was now well into the afternoon and we had been discovering our roots nonstop since the morning and we were hungry. As we parted Ross mentioned that the cafe in Kinsella had good hamburgers, so we headed there.








As we drove back to town we remembered we wanted to stop by the the location of the school that both Doris and Eileen attended in the Lake Vernon School District.  The building is long gone but there is a sign marking the location. Checking off another heritage tour landmark we continued on to Kinsella.

Doris and Eileen walked a mile or two to attend school at this location

We arrived back at the crossroad that defines Kinsella for a late lunch and to try and process everything we had seen and heard. 

Ross was right, the hamburgers were really good here!

The view of bustling Kinsella from the Cafe

House Built by Grandpa Candy for Laura and Harry Tonkin

From Uncle Dick and Florrie's old place we followed Ross further south down the same road for a mile or two before turning off onto property that was once owned by the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR).  According to a written account by Aunt Dorrie Aunt Laura and her husband Harry Tonkin were the first to arrive in Canada from Cornwall and held the entire Section 32. The three brothers then arrived individually to homesteaded the other quarters over time.  The Tonkins farmed the SE quarter of Section 32.  At some point the Nicholson's occupied the SW quarter. There are reports that after Uncle Dick married Florrie in 1928 that Uncle Tom moved on to the SW quarter and lived in the sod house there, which was probably the home of the Nicholson's in previous years.

One day, according to Aunt Dorrie's account, while Harry was away, a fire swept on to the Tonkin's farm.  Laura was there alone with their baby Muriel.  Laura wrapped Muriel in blankets and placed Muriel in the snow while she ran back to the house to pull as many of their possessions out of the buildings as she could.  The brothers on the surrounding homesteads, seeing the smoke grabbed shovels and gunny sacks and ran to fight the fire.  Some farm equipment and other things were pulled from the barn and some other things were salvaged but the damage was extensive.  This may have been what prompted Harry and Laura to make the decision to move to Sedgewick and eventually Camrose. This event may have also had something to do with the place Ross had led us to. According to the Kinsella local history book Henry Candy built a house for Harry and Laura on property purchased from the CPR perhaps in the aftermath of the fire.  We were now standing outside that house.

House built for Laura and Harry Tonkin by Henry Candy

1955 Photo of First Henry Candy Built House

Read more to see more photos of the Tonkin house:

Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie

We followed Ross Skori and his son a short distance south of their residence and across the road to what was the home of Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie. We are not certain if this was located in the northeast quarter of Section 32 or the southeast quarter.  It seems that at some point Aunt Florence did own the southeast quarter (the Kinsella history indicates the southeast quarter was also at one time owned by the Tonkins) but we did not travel very far down the road from the Skori house which is in the northwest quarter of Section 33 and Ross indicated the Candy's were in the northeast quarter. So until we find information to the contrary we will say Dick and Florrie lived on NE Section 32.  If that is the case, though we did not realize it during our visit, the Morken's are the current owners of the property once occupied by Dick and Florrie Candy in addition to the Henry and Lylie Candy homestead.  They could have shed some light on the current use of the buildings.

Uncle Dick was a blacksmith, who apprenticed under Great-Grandpa James, Lylie's father, before leaving St. Just, Cornwall for Canada. Below is a photo of Dick and Florrie from 1934.  If this was taken in the house shown above the best guess is they were in the corner of the house shown in the back right. Around the corner there is a window which corresponds to the window behind and to the left of Florrie.

Uncle Dick and Aunt Florrie (1934)

In addition to the house Uncle Dick's shop, the barn and other outbuildings, and an outhouse still stand. The vantage point of the barn photo below was taken standing between the house on the left and the shop on the right.

Barn and other outbuildings - Pink dog house is probably not original!

Below is a photo of Uncle Dick from 1929, not too long after Dick and Florrie were married.  The barn in the background seems to be the same building seen in the recent photo above, perhaps taken from inside a corral on the far side.  It would make sense that the corral would be behind the barn to provide a little separation from the house.   How I now wish I had walked to the other side of the barn and taken a picture of the back side!  The knoll seen in the right background of the recent photo above looks to be behind Uncle Dick on the left.  The stupid pink dog house blocks the view of the barn but it does not look like there is a large sliding door on the front side.  A photo of the far side showing the barn door would have clinched it that the buildings in the two photos are one and the same. Rats!

Uncle Dick Candy (1929)

Read more to see more photos.

Skori-ing Big in the Search for Canadian Roots

Reviewing Accounts of the Candy's in the Kinsella History Book with the Skori's

When at the Flagstaff County office Ken, eager to locate the homestead on the county property map displayed on the wall of the lobby, didn't take into account that there are many Section 32's in Flagstaff County. The Section numbers are only unique within a Township. Anyway, the wrong Section 32 (one in the township just east of the actual homestead) led to the mistaken conclusion that members of the Skori family, who have been in the Kinsella area for many years, were the current owners.  Brent suggested we contact Ross Skori since he actively worked land in the area.

Ken called Ross and left a message with Ross' wife, but the conversation left Ken wondering if he had not made a mistake. Comparison of the county section map with a road map revealed the mistake and led to making contact with Ian Morken (see previous posts).  The mistake turned out to be a blessing however.  The next evening Ross returned Ken's call.  Ross owns Sections 31 and 33, the Sections on either side of Section 32 (the correct one) containing the Candy homesteads and his house is on the NW quarter of Section 33.  Ross also volunteers as caretaker of the Kinsella cemetery and the Candy name was familiar to him.  Ross said he would give his Uncle, who is a long time resident of the area, a call and get back.

Shortly Ross called back and said; "I think I have some information you will be happy to hear."  His Uncle did indeed remember the Candy's.  Dick and Florence Candy's house was still standing and was across the road from the Skori's and there was also a house built by Henry Candy in the area.  He invited us to drop by after our planned visit with the Morken's.

Is everyone in Alberta this nice?  The Skori's were as wonderful as the Morken's.  They had spent the evening before our visit looking through the Kinsella local history book and putting Post-Its wherever they found a reference relating to the Candy family.  The information was almost overwhelming as we attempted to rapidly piece things together.  There seemed to be some minor inconsistencies to the various personal accounts regarding the specific properties involved (southeast vs northeast quarters etc.).  Ken was only partially successful at scanning some of the pages of the local history book using his cell phone.  The book contained some material written by either Aunt Dorie or Aunt Gladys and a shorter account clearly written by Eileen (with mention that both she and her sister Doris were born on the homestead) that was appended to the other account.

It became clear that there are connections to the Smith/Eckhert family (Aunt Florence) that could be explored some day. Both Ken and Janet agreed that the lives of Uncle Dick, Aunt Florence and Uncle Tom were pretty much unknown to both.  Cousin Lorene, who was along during the 1955 return to Kinsella trip, may know more.

We later attempted to locate a copy of the Kinsella local history book at libraries and elsewhere in the area as it is now a 'must have' in some form.  There are copies in Calgary and Edmonton libraries that someday will make a good reason to return to the area to get better and more complete scans. Many of the local homestead histories are available online from the University of Calgary, but unfortunately the Kinsella area history does not seem to be among them.  Perhaps a request for the Kinsella history to be digitized would result in it becoming available on the internet.

Read more to see some of the Candy account.

Exploring the Remains of the Homestead

Cousins at the corner of the house foundation at the homestead site

Ian and the kids took us to the area on the property that was suspected to be the site of the Candy homestead.  Ian reported that there was a foundation remaining from a small house and indeed there was.  Based on comparisons with photos from the 1955 visit it is thought to be the foundation of the first house built by Grandpa Candy.  It is not known why he built the first house and then did not occupy it. He built a nearly identical one that was the actual family home. Perhaps something about the location of the first house was not ideal.  Presumably the first house served as a storage building.

Below is a photo of this first house taken during the 1955 visit.  Ian thought the background in the photo matched the terrain behind the old foundation.  Sometime after 1955 the house was either moved or torn down. As will be seen in a future post this house configuration seems to be Grandpa Candy's default design.

Standing on the foundation laid by Grandpa Candy sometime between 1910 and 1914.

Ian helps locate the homestead garden area with a photo from 1955

 Read more to see more photos of the homestead site.

Meet the Morken's at Section 32, Township 45, Range 11, Meridian 4 NW Quarter

Cross Road Signs at the NW Corner of the Homestead

The Northwest Corner of the NW Quarter Looking Southeast

Ken had located a phone number for Ian Morken.  Ian and his wife Crystal are the current owners of the homestead property which is the NW quarter of Section 32/45/11/4. They also own the adjoining NE quarter of Section 32 which makes a total of 320 acres.

Understandably Ian was a little unsure of what this cold call was about from some Californian claiming to be the grandson of the original homesteaders.  Apparently he became convinced that our intentions were good and agreed to have these strangers from California drop by to see their property.

When we arrived Ian was outside to greet us. We piled out of our cars and started talking excitedly, waving photos and a sketch of the homestead layout, taking photos and coming just short of kissing the ground in reverence.  It must have become pretty clear that we were legitimate and soon Crystal came out and joined the conversation followed by their kids.

The Morken's were so gracious and it was a pleasure to meet them.  Ian is a welder and they have really invested in creating a beautiful house, barn and riding arena on the property.  It was so good to see the homestead property being improved by a really nice family.  We spent almost 3 hours with the Morken's touring their property and the site of the original homestead buildings located near the western boundary of the quarter but farther south. They could not have been more accommodating.

Reviewing Aunt Dorie's Sketch of the Old Homestead Layout with Ian and Crystal 

The Morken's have an  aerial photo of the property looking south that we photographed that can be seen below that gives a good idea of the terrain and building locations. The slough at the bottom of the picture is the one seen above in the picture taken from the northwest corner of the property.  The Candy Homestead was located near the top of the aerial picture just to the east (left) of the road and small slough seen along the fence line.  Ian explained that the current north/south and east/west grid of county roads were not there in the early homesteading years. At one time a road that followed the topography meandered near the original homestead buildings so it made sense to build there for access to the road. With the county roads now in place the Morken's have built near the crossroad at the corner of the property.

Recent aerial photo of the homestead property.  The original homestead building were located near the top of the photo

Read more to see what the Morken's have done to develop the property.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

"I Remember Tom Candy, I Have One of His Old Buildings!"

As we were starting to head to our vehicles to make our way to the homestead property, Phillip, a Kinsella local, stopped by.  We explained why we were in Kinsella and were surprised when Phillip exclaimed: I remember Tom Candy, in fact I have an old building from his property".  Well, even if we were late meeting the Morkens this needed to be followed up on since it is a virtual certainty that Grandpa Candy, being the carpenter of the family, would have had a hand in building it!

Phillip explained that it was just being used as a storage shed now and said, "Follow me!".

UPDATE: According to a paragraph in the Kinsella local history book this building was built with the help of friends and neighbors after Uncle Tom lost his house and contents in a fire.  All of this occurred well after the Henry Candy family had left for Los Angeles, so Grandpa Candy didn't have a hand in building it.  It was then moved into Kinsella by Uncle Tom where he lived for a time  before his death.  It was then apparently moved to it present location.

Read more to see what we found.

Welcome to the Hotel Alberta

Hotel in Kinsella, AB

When we arrived in Kinsella we found Janet and Jon receiving a personal tour from the owners of the one and only hotel in Kinsella. Cousin Janet had come armed with prints of photographs from a trip to Kinsella made by Grandma and Grandpa Candy, Dorie, Larry and Cousin Lorene in 1955.  This was the first and I believe only time Grandma and Grandpa returned to Kinsella after leaving for Los Angeles more than thirty years before. I do not think Grandpa had seen his brothers Richard (Dick) and Tom, who had also emigrated to Alberta in 1910 to homestead since going to LA. Uncles Dick and Tom lived the remainder of their lives in or about Kinsella.

The photos from the 1955 trip provided guidance throughout the day.  These included a picture of Grandpa in front of this very hotel in 1955.  Buildings that were to the right of the hotel are now gone.

Janet Holds a Picture of the Kinsella Hotel from 1955 with the Hotel Today in the Background

It was getting close to 11:00a and we needed to get to the homestead property to meet with the current owners, but something unexpected happened just before we headed out, but that is for another post.   

Jon Chats with Current Owner of the Kinsella Hotel

Connecting with Cousins

Cousin Janet, Jon, Ken and Jan in Alberta

What could make the experience of visiting the homestead property of your grandparents and birthplace of your mother more special? Sharing the experience with the cousin you grew up with whose mother was also born on the homestead!

Cousin Janet and her husband Jon had planned a trip to Montana during the time we were to be in Alberta for the RVICS project.  Their purpose was to visit and assist Jon's mother who has been dealing with serious health issues. However, Jon's son lives in Red Deer, AB about 40 Km from our project at Salem Acres Bible Camp so the possibility of a rendezvous in Alberta presented itself, but the circumstances encountered during the visit with Jon's mother would determine if this could happen.  Happily we received an email from J&J from Montana that they planned to cross the border into Canada, spend a day or so in the Banff area, and then head  to Red Deer to visit Jon's son.  We made plans to rendezvous at Salem Acres after the end of our project work week on a Thursday afternoon to plan the pilgrimage to Kinsella.  The stage was set for a joint search for our Canadian Roots.

We had lunch in Stetler and Jon and Janet had hotel reservations for the night in Camrose.  Ken had made contact with Ian Morken, the current owner of the homestead property, who had agreed to meet us on the property around 11:00a the next day.  The plan was to meet in Kinsella at 10:30a the next morning and then together go to the homestead location.  But, as it turned out there were discoveries about family history even before we made it to the homestead.