Medicine Dose Cup

The glass in the photo above was recently found in a cupboard in the Boulton home south of Reston.  At first glance it appeared to be a shot glass but upon closer inspection, it has writing on it.  The front says "Kincaid's Drugstore Brockville Ont".  The back has imprinted three lines with the words "TABLE", "DESSERT" and "TEA" beside them.

Online research found that this is a medicine dose cup and presumably it was brought with Ann and Benjamin Boulton and their 5 children when they came west from Brockville in 1892. Kincaid's Drug Store It was likely at King Street West at Broad Street in the Jones-Harding Building.  There is quite an interesting website about historic Brockville here. 

The above photo is of Thomas, son of Ann and Benjamin and below is the back of the cup.  There are lots of these dose glasses  on EBay but none with the family history this one has!

The Daly Tea Company

Image from Lennox & Addington County Museum and Archives website

Recently going through old bills and receipts from the Boulton farm, I came across the ones below from the Daly Tea Company. A little research on the Internet found that this company operated in Napanee, Ontario in the mid to late 1800's up to the 1930's. Napanee is located about 120 kilometers down (up?) the St Lawrence River from Brockville.  Their teas were imported from Ceylon and India and then repackaged and sold locally and to Western Canada.  Salesmen travelled the area with horse and buggy or sleigh and the Boultons must have been one of the stops on his route.  In December, this would be quite a feat! 

The neatly handwritten receipt and wonderful green colouring of this document that is over 104 years old is remarkable.

Twenty pounds of tea sold for $9.00 and the invoice from 1909 says "Any of this tea may be returned".  The second one seems to show a balance due on account from May of 1911 of $22.50.  

I wonder how long 20 pounds of tea would last and if it was a special treat that reminded Ann and Thomas of home. I am glad theis receipt survived the years! 

Susan Boulton Bigney (1882 - 1957)

Susan Henrietta was the youngest member of the Benjamin and Ann Boulton family, born on February 22, 1882.  When she was 10 years old, the family left the Brockville, Ontario area for Reston, Manitoba.  Her brothers Herb, Thomas and Anthony have been previously featured on this blog. Thanks to Lee Beck for the picture of the siblings below. 

Aunt Susie, as Uncle Frank called her, married Hazen Ethelbert Bigney on January 22, 1913.  I wonder if the badly water-damaged portrait below was taken at their wedding. It was found in the rafters of an old shed at the Boulton farm in the 1990's. 

Hazen was born in Nova Scotia in 1886 and had come west to work in 1907.  He worked as farm labourer for the Boultons for a time and would have met Susan there and their fate was set. They had one daughter, Ida Mae born June 20, 1914.  One of Ida's daughters and Susan's namesake sent me the photos below of the Bigneys.  Thank you Susan.  

Uncle Frank told me that Hazen didn't know much about carpentry work to start with, but his sister-in-law Elsie's Boulton's brother Arthur Bushby, needed help with the carpentry business and Hazen learned from him.  

The back of the photo above says it was a snowmobile made by Hazen for Sherman Dayton in 1936.  

In 1946, Hazen was tasked with putting up the frame building the Reston Creamery for "Paddy" Paddock, south of the tracks.  The history book Trails Along the Pipestone written in 1981, says it was a 40 by 50 foot building. It also says that Mr. Bigney suffered a serious and lasting injury when he fell from J. Reid's barn loft onto a pile of stones and badly crushed his leg.  Hazen helped build the Hillview Church, north of Reston.

On the 1921 Canadian census, Hazen and Susan lived on Second Avenue, next door to Arthur and Lou Bushby. Lee (Boulton) Beck recalls that her dad Leslie Boulton (son of Herb) and the Bigneys were close cousins and they visited there often. She remembers staying with them while her parents went to the Brandon Fair.  She couldn't accompany them because a bee had stung her foot and she wasn't able to walk very far.  It is said that our memories are made from deep emotion and I imagine she must have been very sad to not have been able to go!   Hazen always found a quarter to give to Lee and she still has a wooden box that he made for her mom Ruth (Howden) Boulton.

from Winnipeg Tribune Dec. 6, 1939
Ida married Lorne Maxwell White of Rivers, MB in 1939.  The clipping above details this event.  They went on to have 4 children who grew up in Reston.  They were named Alexander, Maxine, Raymond and Susan.  Ida and Max are pictured below at God's Lake in Northern Manitoba in 1941.

Susan died in 1957 and Hazen in 1964.  They are buried in the Reston Cemetery.

George Cleveland Boulton (1887- 1977)

George Cleveland was born on May 23, 1887 at New Dublin, Ontario.  He is the son of William Benjamin "Ben" Boulton and Margaret "Maggie" Chapman.  Cleve, as he is known,  was at Brockville with his family in the 1891 census but by 1901, they were found in Manitoba.  Thirteen year old Cleve was enumerated with his parents 2 sisters and 2 brothers that year.    By the 1906 census, Cleve was living with his brother Nels and his wife Annie at 20-6-27.  They own 18 horses according to this document.

In 1907 a marriage is registered in Pipestone, MB between Cleve and Nellie Parker Archibald.  His brother Nels' wife's maiden name was Archibald and their sister Elizabeth married William Archibald later in life but I'm not sure if this was a coincidence or if any of the in-laws were related.  Nellie was born in 1879 in Nova Scotia.

The following clipping from the Manitoba Morning Free Press tells that Cleve suffered the greatest loss in the Reston area of 1300 acres of uninsured crop due to a vicious hailstorm the same year he was married.  Not a very rosy start to married life.

Found on Newspapers.com

The 1911 census has Cleve his wife and daughter Helen May were living on 28-6-27 along with his younger brother Travers and two hired labourers. 

Very early in the war, on October 24, 1914, 28 year old George Cleveland signed Attestation papers in Regina for the First World War.  He is given registration number 73756 and declares he was a member of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons for one year previously.
His digital service file online at Library and Archives Canada tells he served with the 28th Northwest Battalion in France from September 17, 1915 to January 1, 1916.  He then moved to the Third Canadian Tunnelling Company from January until June of 1916.  He served at Ypres as well as other battlefields in France and Belguim.  Cleve was wounded  with a gun shot blast to his left chest wall on June 10, 1916.  He was in hospital about 2 weeks and was eventually discharged in March of 1918.  Cleve returned home on February 7, 1918 to a farm at Reston where his wife Nellie age 40 and his 9 year old daughter Helen May were waiting for him.  At times while he was overseas according to the file, she was living at Moose Jaw and Condie, SK. 

George and Nellie were recorded on the 1921 census living near Reston, MB on 21-6-27.  Family information says there was a second daughter named Margaret Evelyn as well.  I believe he continued to farm the east half of 21-6-27 until the mid thirties.  After this, I am not sure how his story continues.  Any further details would be welcome in the comments below or via email at ssimms@escape.ca.

George Cleveland Boulton died in Vancouver on November 30,1977.  Nellie had predeceased him in 1965.  They are buried in the Hatzic Cemetery in the Fraser Valley region of B.C..