Sunday, July 24, 2022

S S Victorian

May 10, 1906 was the date on this vintage postcard. My grandfather Horace Nevard wrote the note and mailed it off to Alice Hall before heading out on the longest journey of his life to that point. From England to Canada. He would not see her again for another ten years until he returned to England with the 195th infantry division to join in the battles of World War I. They were married after the war ended and headed back to Saskatchewan to the homestead, never to return to England. Recent discussions on the name of the ship he travelled on in 1906 led to me looking up this old postcard and it appears this was the one. The S.S. Victorian of the Allan Line. For some reason I had assumed he travelled on the same ship as his sister in law and nephew, Mary and Bill Nevard, but apparently they came out a month later on the Virginian. When grandfather Nevard arrived in Canada he stopped at Indian Head, Saskatchewan and worked for a while on Copithorne farm. Later moving on to the Headlands district North of Lipton to take up his homestead on the same section as his brothers, Arthur and Ernest who had arrived here in 1903.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Almost 80 Years Ago

A letter written home to his father by Dick Nevard while he was in training at Camp Brandon, Manitoba. Post marked March 9th, 1943. Notice the Knights of Columbus stationary and envelope. All written in pencil in great detail it is an interesting look into the daily life of army training. I've got quite a stack of these letters.