Group Photos

We have recently rediscovered some old group photos of the Boultons and below are our best guesses for who they are with links to their blog posts (when the text is brown).  Please let me know if you have any further knowledge or even guesses.  I'd be glad to send you copies of the pictures without the numbers on them, if you like!

 On front veranda of Boulton home about 1920

1- Herb Boulton                                  11- Les Boulton
2- Anthony Boulton ?                         12- Edna Boulton
3- Russell Roe ?                                  13- Ida Bigney
4- Fred Roe ?                                      14- Susan Bigney
5-  Hazen Bigney ?                             15- ?
6-  Ann Boulton                                  16- Anne Boulton
7- Thomas Boulton                             17- Violet Boulton
8- Louisa Roe ?                                   18- Elsie Boulton
9- Margaret Boulton?                          19- Tommy Roe
10- Edwin Boulton                               20- Bevis Boulton

 Same place as above, later perhaps1927?

1-  Hazen Bigney                          11- Anthony Boulton 
2- Bevis Boulton                                   12- Herb Boulton  
3- Susan Bigney                            13- Violet Boulton
4- Russell Roe                                 14- Margaret Boulton
5-  Louisa Roe ?                              15- ?
6-  Thomas Boulton                       16- Ida Bigney
7-   Frank Boulton                                   17- Edwin Boulton 
8-  ?                                                        18- Edna Boulton
9- Ann Boulton                                19- Annie Boulton
10- ?                                                        20- Elsie Boulton

Front lawn of Boulton home about 1935
1.  Elsie Boulton                              9.  Susan Bigney
2. ?                                                 10.  Bevis Boulton
3. Thomas Boulton                         11.  Cora Boulton
4. Edna Boulton                             12.  Herb Boulton
5. ?                                                 13.  Mary Boulton  
6.  Louisa Roe ?                              14.  Frank Boulton  
7.  Annie Boulton                            15.  Jean Boulton  
8.  ?

About 1945 - Left to right - Jean Boulton (later Elliott), Merle Cassell Boulton, Edwin Boulton, Bev Milliken, Frank Boulton, Tom Roe, in front Faye Boulton (later Forsyth)

About 1949 - Adults in back left to right - Ewen Pearn, Edna (Boulton) Pearn, Joe Sowtis, Vi (Boulton) Sowtis, Bev Milliken, Mary (Boulton) Milliken, Eddie Boulton, Thomas Boulton, Elsie (Bushby) Boulton, Frank Boulton, Jean Boulton (later Elliott), Cora ( McIntosh) Boulton, Bevis Boulton
Kids in front - left to right - Sharon Sowtis, Rick Boulton, Linda Pearn, Faye Boulton, Carole Pearn, Margaret Boulton, Keith Boulton

Hart Parr Tractor

 Anthony Boulton on left, unknown on right

An 88 horsepower Hart Parr Steam Tractor was bought in 1912 by Anthony and his brothers Thomas and Herb to work the farm south of Reston.  Over $2500 would have been an incredible amount of money in 1912 but perhaps no more expensive relatively to the farm machinery of today.  The original letter as shown below has survived the years. 

 Text of above letter:

June 27, 1912

Messrs. Boulton Bros.,

Reston, Man.

Gentlemen:

We have received on our Mr. Smith drafts of New York amounting to $2360 less exchange, which is short $160.50.

The engine costs $2850 f o b Portage La Prairie and $2960 with extension rims.  Where the purchaser or agent cashes the entire amount, $150 is deducted from this price making it $2700 f o b Portage La Prairie.  In addition to this, an agent's commission is allowed of $230 with $50 added since commission contracts were printed making a total of $280 commission.  There is also a commission of $9.50 on rims making a total commission of $439.50 from $2960 making the net price to you $2520.50.  You have sent us $2360 of this amount leaving a balance of $160.50 due us.

Kindly remit this amount by return mail to complete settlement and oblige. 

                                                                                 Yours very truly,

                                                                                  Hart Parr Co.

                                                                                  per ?

 Above - Thomas (or Herb?) Boulton behind the 10 furrow plough 

Payments continued for many years on the tractor, the above note dated 1928.

By the age of Mary, the photo above would have been taken in the early thirties. I am guessing Frank is sitting on the front wheel since he was 3 three years older than she.   Family say the tractor ended up going for scrap during WW2 when everything not used needed to be gathered and melted down for the war effort.  

Prisoner of War Labour in Manitoba

Going through old bills and receipts from the Boulton farm, I came across the one below for the Prisoner of War Labour Project in the forties. Rick recalls hearing that they had stayed at the fair grounds north of Reston and they were German POW's.  This made me curious about this program and a little internet research turned up some interesting history.

It was called the Dominion Provincial Farm Labour program.  It including using men who were conscientious objectors or unfit for combat to work on farms to provide labour for farmers to increase their production to help the war effort.  Prisoners of War were also a big part of this program. 

The above photos capture those summer days.  Hard work and lunch in the field.  I wonder if those men carried good memories with them of their days on the Manitoba Prairies?

Kinloss School (1899-1964)

Photo from Reston Museum

Kinloss School stood one mile straight east of the Boulton farm and educated two generations of the family.  It was also the reason Randy's parents met so is an important part of the family history.

The RM of Albert History book, written in 1984, says that the Kinloss School District No 934 was formed in 1899.  The name came from a school district in Ontario where many of the settlers had originated. The trustees inlcuded A.W. Harper, Ben Boulton and Edward and Thomas Pierce.  May 1, 1899 was the first day of school in a sod shack on the NW quarter of 30-6-27.  Mr. James Stallwood of Reston was paid $622 for building the school on the northeast quarter of 19-6-27 W1.  

Forty-seven teachers over the years are listed in the History Book, among them were Merle Cassell, Randy's mom, and his Aunt Mary Boulton (later Milliken).  Merle is in the photo below beside the school. She grew up at Elkhorn and was hired to teach at Kinloss where she would have met Edwin.  They were married on October 6, 1945.

Cousin Lee (Boulton) Beck recall both Merle and Mary were her teachers in Grade 3.  She also remembers when Bev and Mary Milliken's house (that was across the road from the school) caught fire.  Frank and Edwin prevented her from running into her house.  

In 1934-35 there were less than 5 children to attend the school was closed.   Uncle Frank was one of those children who had to attend school in Reston.  He stayed in town during the week with his Aunt Susie and Uncle Hazen to save making the trip to town every day.

The school building and later a tent were also used for church services, box socials, dances and concerts. It was the social center of the community for many years.   In 1964, Kinloss School District #934 officially dissolved and students were bused to Reston.

In 1987, the community erected a cairn and bell as a memorial to the school and the pioneers. The bell was purchased by the teacher Miss Harlowe with proceeds from a concert.  A story is told in the RM of Albert History Book written in 1984 that there was a terrible blizzard in March of 1909 where the children and teacher were storm stayed in the school for three days.  The teacher rang the big bell continuously in case someone was attempting to reach the school and would know where it was.  On the third day, some nearby neighbours finally did get to the school with food.   

Follow the link for information and pictures on Kinloss School on the Manitoba Historical Society website.

Uncle Anthony (1880 - 1950)

Anthony Samuel Boulton

Anthony standing and Frank, the little head over the radiator in 1930.

Anthony Samuel Boulton was born October 8, 1880 in Brockville, Leeds County, Ontario.  He was the son of Benjamin and Ann Boulton.  Anthony is a family name on Ann's mother Ann Higginson Boulton's side, going back generations in County Antrim in Ireland.  He was 12 years old when the family left Ontario for the west and began farming near Reston, MB.  Farms there were small and there wasn't land readily available for the young sons to be able to farm there.  Anthony originally had the farm at 6-6-27 but when his brother Herbert married in the teens, they switched farms.

Uncle Frank told me he was a quiet, tall thin man who did not say much.  Besides farming he "worked out" for others.  Frank recalled him helping pasture and round up cattle and horses north of Reston, along the Pipestone Creek one year.  He remembered that Anthony  (Uncle Frank said it without the h- "Ant-tony") came home so thin that you could see right through the skin on his earlobes!  Ann was distraught to see her son so thin and gaunt that she said he would never work there again!

Cousin Lee (Boulton) Beck recalled that Anthony was a very strong man and a hard worker.  Another family member told me in the late forties it was Anthony that handled the financial matters of the farm and prevented his brother Tom from "giving it all away" after he became very religious and would have given away their last dime.  

Anthony never married but Frank said with a twinkle in his eye, "He almost did!".  He was sweet on Elsie Boulton's sister "Gertie" as Frank calls her.  Her name was Gertrude Bushby and she had come to Canada with Elsie and their father James in 1913.  British Columbia marriage records have Gertrude marrying Charles McIntyre in Vancouver on September 21, 1926.  A Gertrude McIntyre's death record is in the San Diego, California records for February 8, 1929, making her only 32 years old at the time.  Uncle Frank did remember that she died young.

The photo above is believed to have been taken about 1912.  The men in coveralls left to right are Thomas, Herbert and Anthony.  The man in the white shirt is unknown.  The two boys are nephews, sons of Abigail "Louisa", Russell and Tom Roe.  The tractor is a Hart Parr bought in 1912.  It is pulling an eight furrow plow. 

The above photo is Uncle Frank on the left, Edwin at the reins, and Anthony on the right with a pitchfork.  The Albert History book from 1984 says he enjoyed sports and listened to the hockey games on the radio.  He also enjoyed keeping up with the affairs and politics of the country.

Uncle Frank remembered the two of them going to Brandon Fair together - for a whole week! They stayed with a cousin in Brandon, Long Tom Boulton. (So called to disquish him from Frank's dad Tom who was short!)

Anthony died May 14, 1950 at the age of 69 and is buried in Reston Cemetery in a family plot.

Further memories and stories about Uncle Anthony are welcome in the Comments below!

Reston Cemetery

The Boulton pioneers have a large memorial stone at the east side of the Reston Cemetery, right inside the gate.  The receipt below shows they paid $5 for a "Lot in Plot" on October 30, 1897.

The Trails Along the Pipestone history book written in 1981 is available online at Manitobia  and says cemetery leases were drawn September 14, 1897 on a plot of land at NE 16-7-27.  It does say early burial records were lost in a fire to the butcher shop, perhaps the one where much of the east side of Main Street burned in Reston in 1916.

Benjamin died suddenly at age 59 from a ruptured appendix on January 13, 1895.  I wonder if he would have been buried at the farm and then reburied when the cemetery was established and the receipt above was issued to his son Thomas.

Benjamin's wife Ann and his sons Anthony and Herb as well as Herb's wife Margaret are named on the stone.  The side is engraved with the name of one of Thomas and Elsie's twins, Emily Patience, who died at 2 years old in 1918.

My Brother-in-law Richard remembers hearing his Dad and Uncle Frank talking about the even larger top this stone used to have with arches and angels but when repairs had to be made, it was simplified.

Thomas and Elsie have a plot and stone further west.
  

The history books says the cemetery had times when it was left wild and not kept up but it is now a beautiful spot.  The spruce trees that surround it were brought from Riding Mountain in 1932-33 and planted by volunteers.