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.