Narratives of The Nevards 6

In 1910 Goffs and Nevards went in partnership and bought a threshing outfit between them. It was an Aultman-Taylor thresher with 27 inch cylinder, 42 inch body, powered by an International Famous 20 horsepower engine. It was a six team outfit and fed both sides. Tom Goff ran the threshing machine. They would thresh Goffs first one year and Nevards first the next. They also did some custom threshing for other farmers. Some of which were Jake Martin, Jimmy Gray and Cecil Lewis.

They had some bad luck the first year. During a spell of damp weather when they could not thresh, the separator was burnt beyond repair by a prairie fire. My family was sitting at dinner when they noticed the smoke to the West. Uncle Horrie jokingly commented, "Oh that is probably the separator burning down". The next day Tom and Alf Goff came over with the bad news. They had to buy another separator.
That fall, at the age of 8 years, my brother Bill dug all the potatoes. All the men were away threshing.
One year Dad and Uncle Horrie rented Friedgut's quarter which was the northwest quarter of 18. They grew oats and grew such a heavy stand that Dad got fed up with cutting it and said "lets quit". They left the rest and Friedgut got a man by the name of Witzey from the Garnock district to finish the job.
The winter of 1910 Uncle Arthur and Aunt Daisy spent at Redpath's who farmed in the Parklands school district west of Lipton.
I think it was 1911 when Uncle Arthur and Aunt Daisy held a Church service in their home. The clergyman came from Cupar to conduct the service. He played the coronet and provided the music for the hymns.

Church service at the Arthur and Daisy Nevard home in 1911.

Narratives 5 Winstanley Grove

In 1909 Dad bought a  binder from Cassidy, the Massey Harris agent in Lipton. Also in 1909 Aunt Daisy (Margaret Montagu Winstanley) came out to Canada. She and Uncle Arthur were married in St. John's Anglican Church in Fort Qu'appelle July 15th of that year. They came to the farm and lived in Uncle Arthur's shack. Uncle Arthur was busy building his house but was not ready in time for the wedding. They named their home, "Winstanley Grove".

                                                     Daisy Winstanley

One day Aunt Daisy was out for a walk and landed up at Captain Boyle's homestead, about 3 miles north of her home. Captain Boyle directed her home. Aunt Daisy often went for walks and met many settler's wives. Grace Hobetzeder told me this amusing little story told by her mother. Her uncles Tom and Alf Goff saw a lady walking into their yard with long flowing skirts. This chickens, cats, and dogs all fled in fright heading for the nearest bush. They had never seen anyone dressed in this English fashion before. This was how Aunt Daisy and Miss Kate Goff met. Kate later became Mrs. Karl Hobetzeder.
In July of 1910 Dad took out a mortgage on the farm. He was able to pay this up in 1920.
Dad had a collie dog named Nell. She had been given to him as a pup at one of the places he was working. He fed her bread and butter. One day mother asked Dad what to feed the dog and he told her. After that Nell was glad to get just plain bread minus the butter.
Nell was kicked by a horse and suffered a broken leg. Dad put her on the front room table and Aunt Daisy set the leg. Some years later a heifer named Lorna broke her leg and Dad set it. Her first calf, Oliver , broke his leg and again Dad set it. The leg had a little twist in it but he got along. Nell was very knowing and intelligent. One evening one of the hens was missing and mother could not find it. Nell knew where the hen was and led Mother to where the hen was stuck between two logs in the old stable.
I believe it was also 1910 that the Nevards all went to a Church service at Spondon. About ten miles east and a little south of our homesteads. The clergyman from Fort Qu'appelle took the service. The Church was built on the homestead of Mr. Jobson. After the service they were invited in to dinner.
The family attended a picnic at Eskdale. Mrs. Dragushen saw Mother's hat and took a fancy to it. Shortly after this Mr. Dragushen came along and wanted to borrow Mother's hat. He presented his case as follows. My frau is going to a marriage. Dad was owing Dragushen a little money at the time , otherwise I don't think Mother would have allowed it. He brought the hat back but Mother never wore it again.

Threshing Syndicate

In 1910 the Nevard brothers, Arthur, Ernest and Horace, went into partnership to buy threshing equipment with the Goffs. Tom, Alf and Jack. It was a major expense and was not paid for in cash but over several years of installments.
The engine was a 20 horsepower International Harvester "Famous" portable. The thresher was an Aultman-Taylor 27 inch cylinder with 42 inch wide body which was a good sized machine in those days.
Disaster struck shortly. Prairie fire swept across Alf Goff's farm where the outfit was set up . Nobody was around in time to fight the fire and the separator was a complete loss. They had to buy a second one to finish the harvest putting them even further into debt. They did a little custom threshing for neighbours Jake Martin, Jimmy Gray and Cecil Lewis to help pay the bills. The partnership lasted into the early 1920s when they decided to go their separate ways and purchased their own outfit for each farm.
In the photo you can see my grandfathers Horace Nevard and Tom Goff.

January 1942

Alf Goff died January 12, 1942. He would have been around 70 years old and been on his homestead for almost 39 years.  The event was noted in the daily journal of Bill Nevard as follows.....
Jan. 14. Dick came home from North's this morning and Sandy Goff came along at the same time to tell us that Alf Goff had died on Monday and Tom wanted Dad and both Uncles as pall bearers at the funeral tomorrow.

Jan. 15. Dad and both Uncles went to the funeral today and stayed at Goff's for supper on the way back. The weather continues very mild for this time of year.

One of the last photos of Alf Goff in front of his log cabin.