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.

Kelsale Saxmundham

This post card sent from Kelsale, Saxmundham, Suffolk, U.K. to Canada in January of 1908 was sent by Alice Hall who would later marry Horace Nevard to become my grandmother. I don't know how they met as the Nevards were from Lexden, Essex. That is not so many miles today but in 1908 travel  was on foot, bicycle, or if you could afford it, train. Possibly Ernest Nevard, in his chosen profession of brick layer had a work project in Saxmundham, who knows? In any event, he met up with Mary Hall at Kelsale who later became his wife. From that point on it would not be too surprising if his younger brother, Horace (my grandfather) tagged along and met up with Mary's younger sister, Alice Hall in the early 1900s. Although they did not marry until 1918 after WW I ended.
It can be a complicated family tree to follow. Even more so when you consider that one  of  the  Hall girl's brothers, William, married the Nevard boy's sister, Louisa. Confusing  enough to follow? It is a good thing I have it all down on paper to refresh my memory sometimes.

Letter From Grove Farm to Indian Head

                                                                                     
                                                                                      Grove Farm
                                                                                       Saxmundham, Suffolk
                                                                                       October 23, 1906

I hope this will meet you all quite well as it leaves us. I received your letter this morning which I was very pleased to get.
I had ever such a long letter from Louie also. I expect she will be home again in a fortnight's time and your mother is coming back with her. I expect she will miss you all now more than ever after Louie and the baby come away.
Louie has had a lot of people come to see her and the baby. I expect it will seem rather dull down here to her after seeing such a lot of people but she will have the boy to cheer her up.
I was sorry to hear that Mary had not been very well. I expect little Ernie was pleased to see his Uncle Arthur wasn't he?
Is he helping to thresh? Is Ernie still away at work? He has had to go away quite a lot of times hasn't he?
I expect you are glad that you haven't had to go away much as it cost such a lot to live when you are away don't it?
I hope you won't upset the ink bottle anymore after you have wrote my letter as it must be very provoking to have to write your letter twice.
Willie and Dick have just had their dinner at 3 o'clock today as they have been working in the town. Willie has had the  toothache very bad so now he has been to the doctor's and had it drawn so it is better now.
Father is going to Rushmere on Saturday to see his brother and stay for the Sunday.
I had a nice letter from Annie last Sunday week and we heard from Mary last Saturday week.
I'm wondering if you will be at Indian Head when this letter comes but if not I daresay you will get it some time or other.
I was pleased to hear about your harvest festival and I would like to have been there but I can't come as its such a long long way and the wide sea in between. I do so long to see you some times and then I feel so pleased when your letters come.
I went to Saxmundham Church twice last Sunday but the Sunday before I did not go out only once.
Mr. Aldous who took the farm where we used to live came here last Sunday week and he say that his people don't like living there at all.
I expect that little rose which I sent in my last letter was quite dead by the time you got it wasn't it?
Dick is now just come in with the milk so I must not stop to write much more as I must look after the separator.
Do you have to walk a long way to work now or are you near the house? I suppose that little Ernie won't be able to play in the garden now that it is cold. It will be a year ago tomorrow since you and Louie went back to Lexden after your first stay at the Grove Farm.
And now dear Horrie I must bring my letter to a close and I hope I shan't upset the ink over it.
With love to all and my truest love to you I remain your ever loving Alice
P.S. Dick want me to tell you that he has got some great beets where you saw him digging in the garden.

1906 Letter from Alice Hall to Horace Nevard

                                                        Grove Farm Saxmundham
Suffolk, England
July 6, 1906
My Dear Horrie
I expect you are beginning to look for a letter from me but I did not receive your letter till this morning so I could not write before. It was an extra long while coming this time and I began to wonder if it was lost. I don't know what sort of flowers they are which you sent me which you got on the prairie but some sort of Canadian flower I should think. I am sending you two little pansys out of our garden just for a remembrance and two daisies off the meadow. The summer has really come now and we have had some hot weather since I wrote to you last.  I expect you find it very hot at work. I hope the mosquitoes don't worry you so much now. I expect you have seen Mary and Ernie by this time. I expect Ernie thought it took a rare long time to get  to Canada. I hope they got there alright. We shall not be able to hear yet for a few days I don't suppose. Mary sent a post card to Emily from Londonderry and Emily  forwarded it on to us. It was very good of Emily to go to Liverpool with them. Louie is home again now. She came back on Monday. I expect Cecil will be coming to stay with Louie for his holiday at the end of this month. Annie is coming home tomorrow just for the weekend and going back on the Monday and then she is coming home again on August the seventh for a fortnight's holiday. She told me when she wrote to me last that she wished to be remembered to you and to tell you that she would welcome you for a brother one of these days. I had been looking for the postman to bring me a letter for over a week before it came and Willie said he expected you had got another girl out there in Canada just to tease me. But Dick said I must not pay any regard to that  because they used to tease him just the same when Maud went to Derbyshire and he expected you were too busy to write. I was so pleased when Mother brought me the letter this morning. It came while I was turning the separator. I am writing this in a great hurry but I hope you will be able to understand it. I am going to the town this afternoon and I want to post it when I go. I have just had my dinner and I expect you have just had your breakfast but I don't know what time you have it though. We got 41 pounds of butter this week and we took 36 pounds of it to the town and my arm did just ache when I got there. Father was going to carry it for us and then they were so busy so I thought I could carry it. They are very busy with the hay now and we are having beautiful weather for it and hope it will continue to till the hay is done. Willie bought a clipper or grass mower at the show so that will help them on a bit. We have got such a lot of gooseberries in the garden but we didn't have many cherries. Although the tree was so full in bloom as I daresay you will remember and what few there was the birds were soon after them. I went to the Girl's Friendly Society Festival last Wednesday afternoon at Kelsale Rectory and I enjoyed myself very much. I saw my cousin Mary from Leiston. She is Daisy's sister you know who is at Colchester and we had quite a nice time together. I expect they are all coming here from Leiston on August Bank Holiday so we shall be quite a party. I had a nice big card given me at the festival for 5 years of faithful discharge of duties in the employment of my parents. I was quite surprised as I did not expect to get anything as I had always been at home.
Last Saturday week we had a lot of company. Father's brother from Ipswich and his wife and their son and his wife and three children came here and stayed to dinner and tea. My cousin Walter has not got any work and there is ever so many in Ipswich out of work. He is thinking of going out to Canada but I don't know whether he will. He is a bricklayer by trade, You can read some of this letter to Mary if you like or else tell her as I have no doubt she will like to hear all the news. Give our love to her and I hope she is better now and kiss dear little Ernie (Bill Nevard) for us all. I expect he will help to cheer you up and keep you lively. He didn't seem to mind leaving us at all but I don't suppose his little mind could realize that he would not be coming back again yet awhile. It is a good thing that he is so happy. I don't think he will ever really forget us. I am sure they must miss him very much at Lexden.
I don't think I must stop to write much more. I will keep the piece of Canadian money and the flowers for a keepsake . you pressed them out very nicely. I do so wish I could see you sometimes but I ought to not to write so I suppose. I hope you are not downhearted because although we cannot see each other we can write although its not quite like talking. I think of ever so much I want to tell sometimes and then I go and forget it. Annie said Herbert was quite well and was coming home in October I went to Saxmundham Church last Sunday morning and to Rendham Church in the evening. Is the Church you go to anything like Lexden Church?

Hoping this will meet you quite well. With love and kisses I remain your ever loving Alice.

Letter From Grove Farm

A letter written by my grandmother, Alice Hall, at Saxmudham, Suffolk, to my grandfather, Horace Nevard in Canada.
                                                                                                                      Feb. 5, 1916
My Dear Horace
I was so pleased to receive your letter today as it did seem such a terrible long while since I heard from you. I was afraid you were ill again with shingles or something so I was very pleased to hear you were quite well. I expect the mails get delayed as it was more than three weeks from the time you posted it before it got to Saxmundham.
There have been three more Zeppelin raids over England lately. Last Monday night there were six Zeppelins over and there were 54 people killed and 63 injured. I don't think they were very near here but I heard the explosions of a bomb once only it was a long way off. I expect it was over Norwich as they went there. I wonder when this dreadful war will be over?
I think I told you we had a letter from Herbert before Christmas and we have had a postcard from him since Christmas and he was quite well and still in France.
I expect you have heard from Emily about your grandmother's death. She died on Jan. 8th. I have not seen Louie since then as I have not been to Sternfield but Dick told us about it.
I hope you are all quite well and also little Dick. He will soon be a year old won't he?Does he look anything like Ernie, his brother , did at that age? I think Mary said he has blue eyes and fair hair.
So now my dearest Horrie I don't think I have anymore news this time so I will close my letter as it is bedtime past nine o'clock. With love to all and my best , truest and fondest love to you my dearest Horrie.
I remain your ever-loving Alice . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Narratives 9 Home From The War

In 1917 Mr. Moffat left the parish of Fort Qu'appelle and the Reverend Cox came in his place and stayed until 1924. He was the first rector I can remember. He stayed at our home Saturday nights. I think Mr. Moffat did the same. I think I was about two or three when I told Mr. Moffat that I was going to harrow the summer fallow next year. I guess I had seen my big brother doing the job and wished to do likewise.
I am not sure when Bill began driving horses by himself but it happened in the following manner. Dad had gone over to Goff's so Bill told mother he was going for a load of straw. Mother was pretty worried. Bill was just pulling into the yard from one direction just as Dad came in from the opposite direction. mother said dad just looked. he could not believe his eyes. After that Bill was allowed to drive alone.
In the early days Mr. Lochead had the Headlands post office. When Bill was old enough he used to go for the mail. The Leslie homestead was on the northeast quarter of section 26. Bill used to call in at Leslie's on his way for the mail and he and Andrew Leslie used to go for the mail together. Bill would stop and have dinner at Leslie's and he and Andrew would play together. Bob Drever homesteaded a little north of Leslie's in 1910. Bill used to fetch mail for him. I think it was in the summer of 1911 that Mother baked bread for Bob Drever. Bob used to come for his bread on Sunday evenings. one Sunday Mother and Bill were visiting Mrs. McNeil. Bob was sitting on the doorstep waiting for them. His remark was , "They say Mrs. Nevard never goes visiting but I never find her home".
In April of 1918 Dad bought another quarter section of land. It was the northwest quarter of 13. I think he broke 22 acres that year. In the fall of that year the War ended. In the early spring of that year our dog Nell died from a kick from a horse. It happened at night. Next morning Mother saw Nell laying in front of our house. She looked as if she was asleep. I can still se her in my mind's eye. Mother went out and looked at the dog. Dad remarked, "Its no good". I guess had already been out and seen here.
Worse was to befall  us when two fine steers died of hemorrhagic septicemia. They either had to be buried deeply in the ground or burnt. The ground was frozen so Dad and Bill burnt them down on section 13. They made a large pile of straw and wood. Nell, some chickens and a pig were burnt at the same time.
Now to turn to a happier incident. When Uncle Arthur came back from overseas in the summer of 1919, I don't remember it but I do recall Uncle Horrie and Aunt Alice arriving at The Poplars on a bright and sunny September day. They had been married in England on January first of that year. At the time Dad and Bill were harvesting. Aunt Alice thought I looked rather puny. That evening after supper Mother had been down in the cellar emptying the cream. Aunt Alice was clearing the table and not noticing the open cellar door she tumbled down into it. She was bruised and shook up but nothing broken. The following Sunday we went to Church at Balrobie. I remember being disappointed that Aunt Alice did not come but she was feeling stiff and sore from the fall.
I was fond of Aunt Alice and used to tease her with an old alarm clock. When she was resting in her room I used to stand at the door and say "Aunt Ack can you hear me"? while setting off the alarm clock. There was an old Harry Lauder song called "Theres A Wee Drop In The Bottle For The Morning" and I used to sing it for her benefit because I knew she didn't like it.
Aunt Alice was very kind to me. I remember the next summer finding a wasp's nest and poking it with a stick when mischief got the better of me. When I came home crying from the stings Aunt Alice took me on her lap and got the bluing back and dabbed the sore spots with it. I never let on it was my fault.

Horace and Alice Nevard wedding photo

Letter from London 1916

My grandfather, Horace Nevard wrote this letter to Alice Hall in 1916.

November 22, 1916
My Dear Alice
As you will see by this letter I have arrived back to camp alright. It was very foggy just before we reached London. We reached Liverpool Street at 12:00, went to Lyons and had our dinner. Steak pudding, and started to walk to Charing Cross but found it too far to walk so took the motor bus. By the time we reached there it was nearly time to go. We reached camp just before 4 and we had to sleep in tents last night but have a hut today.
Had a real good sleep last night, went to bed at 8:00 and did not get up until 7:00 in the morning. I hope that you arrived home safe and also had a good sleep. You must tell me all about it when you write. I received two letters from you this morning. One was from Camp Hughes so the address that you put on the last one was alright.
We have had another medical inspection today and I hear that we may be going to France this week but not sure. If that is so I shall not be able to get home for Xmas but we shall be there quite a time training I suppose. Am hoping the photos will turn out well and hope you will send me one as soon as you can.
It was raining when we reached camp last night but is nice and fine today. Don't forget to tell me all the news when you write will you. Hope that this will satisfy you as I cannot think of anything more to say. Love to all and my best, truest and fondest love to you my dearest Alice. Hope this will find you quite well as it leaves me. Your ever loving Horace

Horace Nevard, back row, far right.

Christmas From Far Away

Another old christmas card , from 1908 this time. Alice Hall sent this christmas post card to her nephew, young Bill Nevard in December of 1908. It would have been five years since she had seen him leave  for Canada.

Interesting to see all the areas in red on this card which I am assuming are British colonies.

Postcards From Belgium

As we approach Remembrance Day 2012 its interesting to look back on postcards from November 1918. My grandfather, Horace Nevard sent these to Alice Hall back in Suffolk. The war was over and he was headed home.

1906 Letter From Alice

Grove Farm
Saxmundham, Suffolk
England
August 8, 1906
My Dear Horrie
I was very pleased to receive your nice letter this morning. I ought to have received it yesterday but the postman made a mistake and took it to Rendham.
I often think about you and what you are doing. You have to go away to work a good bit don't you? I am glad you are living with Mary as I should think it is much nicer for you. I expect little Ernie is pleased to see you. He used to say, "there will be five of us in Canada". I don't suppose he has seen his Uncle Arthur yet.
You will have heard from Mary that your Mother and Cecil have been down with Louie. I think Cecil enjoyed his holiday very well. He kept himself busy most of the time clipping the hedges, chopping sticks, etc. He went back yesterday by the 9:23 train as he had to get to his office by 11 o'clock and your mother went by the five o'clock train. We had a post card from Cecil this morning telling us that they had all arrived home safely. I expect Emily was very pleased to see them home again.
We are rather quiet today but Annie is coming home tonight by the six train and then I reckon we shall be quiet no longer.
Father is gone to the sale at Saxmundham and Willie is just going to town also. I expect they are going to begin harvest tomorrow as the corn is quite fit to cut.
My Aunt and Uncle and cousins from Leiston came here on Monday. Maude and little Elsie came also. There were 14 of us. Elsie is such a good little girl and she was so pleased to go out and see the cats, chickens and so forth.
Nurse Winstanley came here to stay with Louie a fortnight ago. She stayed from the Tuesday til Thursday. She knows we write to each other because she asked Willie and Louie if I had got a young man and if it was anyone whom she knew. They said it was and then she guessed Cecil first and then you.. She quite surprised me because she said "you can give my love to Horrie when you write Alice" and I didn't know that she knew anything about it. I don't think I'll tell you what she said about you for fear that you might become conceited.
I should like to see some of the nice places where you go . I should think it is nice by the lake but I shouldn't care for the adventure which you had on coming back from your row on the lake. I should think you began to wonder where you would spend the night. It was very fortunate that you went to the right house.
It is very dull and turning to rain. Dick and Mother are just going to milk the cows and I mustn't stop to write very much more as I have got to get ready and go to town and then to the station.
Mother and I went to town with butter this morning and it was hot too. Father came and helped us part of the way. We don't get quite so much butter now but we shall have more next week as we had a calf go to the sale this week.
We don't get many eggs now. They are 14 for a shilling.
I haven't forgotten sitting in the armchair before you went away. I felt very much like crying then but I know it is best to be happy if we can and I hope to see you again some day so we will sing "we'll meet tomorrow as we did that night".
Now dear Horrie I must bring my letter to a close and please write soon. I know you don't have much time to write but I do so like getting letters, especially yours.
Hoping this will meet you quite well, with love to all and yourself I remain your ever-loving Alice.

Nurse Winstanley

All Aboard The SS Victorian

May 10, 1906

To Miss Alice Hall
Grove Farm
Saxmundham, Suffolk

Dear Alice
Arrived safely at Liverpool and am writing this on the wall of the platform. Have got a chum and am now looking around for breakfast. Cheer up. Will write as soon as possible...........Horace
(This is the vessel I am going on)

This was likely the last postcard that my grandfather sent before he boarded the S.S. Victorian for the long voyage to Canada. His nephew, Bill and sister in law, Mary Nevard travelled to Canada at the same time but on the SS Virginian. According to this Ships passenger list  Mary and Bill Nevard arrived on June 29. I can find no mention of Horace's arrival but obviously he made the same trip on the Victorian and they met up at the port of Quebec City to continue their journey by train to Saskatchewan where brothers Arthur and Ernest would be waiting.