Bill Leaves The Farm

Not forever but in September of 1948 Bill got a job working at the Fort Qu'appelle T.B. sanatorium where his brother, Dick, had been working since the spring of that year.
A few entries from his journal from that time...
Sept. 29, 1948:Dick came home after I got to bed tonight and told me that there was a job waiting for me at the San.
Sept. 30:This morning, after doing my necessary chores I went up to Silver Birches and told Roy I was going down to the San so that he would come and do my chores. I packed Dad's valise and started off walking but only had to walk to the gate as August Zielke came along in his truck hauling a load of wheat for Sam Wheale. Sam was with him so I got a ride all the way to Lipton. On arrival I walked down to Jack Goff's and found out that Dad and Uncle Horrie were working at Bailey's so I went there and saw them before starting out for the San. Once again I was in luck for a truck belonging to the San overtook me before I had got very far and gave me a lift right to the San. I went into the stores and saw Mr. Skinner. Then I was taken to Miss Biden , dietitician , who told me what I would have to do and as it was nearly dinner time, took me to the assembly room. After waiting there a little while I went in to dinner. It is quite a large dining room with 18 tables I think, seating 180 people. Bill Binnington was there at dinner. After that I walked pretty well all around the grounds and at 1:30 pm I was taken to the admitting office where they took a test and after a wait I had an x-ray of my chest. Then a longer wait before I was examined by Dr. McPherson and afterwards another x-ray. Then John Bailey, the head orderly, took me to the men's quarters and shew me my room. Dick got back about the same time and we went to supper. After supper we walked around a bit then went to the Grandview Lunch with Walter Underwood who comes from Northants.

New House For The Nevards

After working at the Fort Qu'Appelle tuberculosis sanatorium for a few years, Dick Nevard and his brother , Bill, decided to build a new home nearby at Lilac Grove by Echo Lake. Between his dad, Ernest, and Uncle Horrie, they had it built in the late summer of 1950 using cindercrete blocks for the structure. Here are a few excerpts from Bill Nevard's journal.

November 10, Dick and Stan Kereluk went up to the farm in Steve's truck and got the rest of the wood Dick had cut. After supper Stan took the wood down to our place and I helped him unload it. Later on Bill Miller came with the Booker furnace and we got that unloaded and put down the basement.
November 11. Uncle Horrie went back to Lipton on the bus. Dad and I spent the day putting the furnace together but did not finish.
November 13, Dad doing some more fixing to the new furnace.
November 18: I borrowed Bob Smith's wheelbarrow and got 4 bags of coal from Bill Woitas. Then we got the Booker furnace going. It went ahead fast and smoked a bit at the start but quieted down after a while. Dick and I helped dad move the bed and other necessary things from the shack to the house and Dad spent his first night in the new house.

 
The new Nevard house at Lilac Grove.

70 Years Ago On The Nevard Farm

Nov. 7, 1943

Dear Dick, It is now Sunday evening, more than eight days since you went away so I thought you would be waiting to hear from home and I am consequently writing this letter. Although no letter came from you in this week's mail. Probably it didn't have time.

How do you find it in B.C.? We hae a blanket of snow here now. About 4 or 5 inches so you wouldn't have done much more land work even if you had stayed home longer. After you left on the bus Saturday I went and did what business I had to do. I went to Andy Gray's and got the scoop shovel and he told me that he had room for wheat in the elevator. I did'nt see Mr. Brinkworth about the tiller as he went on the bus with you. We got home about 2:30 pm and after I had my dinner I went in the pasture and cut a load of wood. The books which came from the library were "Poland the Unexplained and Tramp's Sketches".

On the Sunday I let Gleam and Embers out for a while but got them in again at night planning to take wheat to town in the morning but on Monday morning it was snowing when I got up so I did not go. It didn't snow a lot and I went out in the pasture and cut two more loads of wood that day. Dad was making preparations to build a cement cupboard outside our bedroom. On Tuesday Nov. 2 I helped Dad mixing the cement for him and doing chores. Donald was here to supper and listened to Fibber McGee. On the 3rd Uncle H. and I each took a load of wheat to Lipton. I had Gleam with Embers. As I guess you know it was her first trip to town. Dad thought it would be a good idea if someone went down with me in case of having trouble at the elevator. Uncle H. was behind me until we got past the German Church , then he went ahead. He gained on me some but not a great lot. Gleam hesitated a bit going over the bridge at the big coulee but they were trotting and she got on the planks before she could check herself. When we got to the elevator Andy Gray was home to dinner. Uncle H. had his load on the scales when I came along and I drove up right behind him into the elevator. He was there but he didn't have to lead Gleam and she didn't give me any trouble on the scales either. On the way home I met 13 cars, 1 truck and 1 tractor and neither Gleam nor Embers showed any concern about them. There had been a sale at Henry Schmidt's that day which was partly the reason for so much traffic. When I got home it was snowing fast and everything was covered with a white blanket.

The next morning I had the job of driving the chickens into the new hen house. I did it too, all alone. There is just one pullet who is still living in the pigpen. We have 48 hens and chickens altogether and 11 turkeys. I got a load of gravel home and Dad made a new trough for the little pigs as they have outgrown their old one.

In the afternoon I cut another load of wood in the pasture. Uncle A's cow Diamond is the mother of twin calves. On Friday, the 5th it was snowing and blowing most of the day. I went and cut wood for a while but the snow was making my smock wet so I came home and cleaned out the old hen house. We got Pansy, Sunshine and calves in dinnertime. In the afternoon I got a jag of oat straw on sleighs. Quite a bit of the oat straw has been spoilt by the rain.

Yesterday I cut some more wood. I have 9 loads cut now. Roy brought the mail down in the morning. Today was a quiet Sunday at home. Dad went up to Silver Birches for a while after dinner. I think we are all about the same as usual. Don't see anybody much but able to keep busy and find life quite interesting. Weather tolerably mild but dull and snow not going very fast. Lighfoot and Roundhead send their best love and hope you find the mice in B.C. tender and toothsome. Hoping you are in good health I am your loving brother
 E.W. Nevard.

 

Late Harvest

I was a little late finishing the 2013 harvest on Winstanley Grove on October 29 but it was later in 1942 . As seen here in excerpts from Bill Nevard's daily journal.

October 23: We ran into more trouble and the engine went on the blink after we threshed 3 loads. It was a miserable day with one snow storm after another although not much snow fell.

October 24: Uncle Horrie took Dad and Dick in the democrat to Lipton and caught the 9:00 am bus to Regina. Dad took the magneto and radio with him. He got new tubes for the radio and a new magneto for the engine.

October 25: Sunday at home. Dad and Uncle Horrie busy with the engine but couldn't get it timed right yet. Dick walked to Goffs and bought 6 pounds of butter. Bill Smith's outfit is at Goffs . Several people around including Mr. Fisher, Fred Engel, Reinhold Kirsch and Hobetzeder are not threshing yet and don't know when they will be.

October 28: Threshing on 25. Snow on the stooks this morning. We finished my wheat after dinner and moved to 30 starting to thresh Uncle Horrie's oats which was no snap as we picked up the stuff that wasn't stooked. It was scattered all over the place and the snow had to be shaken off.

October 31: We hauled the outfit to Winstanley Grove and had dinner at Silver Birches. We did not thresh in the afternoon as a fresh fall of snow made it too tough.

November 3: Snowing and blowing hard this morning. Dick, Roy and I went up to Winstanley Grove and helped Uncle Arthur shake up some of his oat sheaves, none of which are stooked.

November 5: We threshed some more of Uncle Arthur's oats but it was tough and stopped the machine so we left the rest and moved down to our place for dinner. Threshed some of dad's oats in the afternoon.

November 9: Threshing dad's oats today. In the evening the engine developed a knock and dad found that a crankshaft bearing had broken.

November 10: I took the first load of wheat to Lipton today. Got Cohen to send for a new bearing for the engine.

November 13: Finished threshing the oats this morning and finished the last wheat in the afternoon which winds up threshing for this year. The weather is much improved.

The "Winstanley Stove" as it sits today in 2013.

The Passing of Mary Nevard

While harvesting recently near "The Poplars", the original homestead of Ernest and Mary Nevard, it occurred to me that we were near the 70th anniversary of the passing of Mary Nevard. Here is an account of the sad time from the letters of Bill Nevard.
Sept. 2, 1943
Dear Dick, I think it is just a week since I last wrote to you and now another week has gone by, both eventful and troublesome.
 On Friday the 27th, both Uncles went to town for new ration books and Roy went down with John Fleming so he could get home quicker. Dad cut the little barley fields around the yard and rain stopped him from cutting the Thatcher wheat. On the 28th Dad cut the Thatcher and I finished stooking the Renown. At dinner time Uncle A came down with the mail and Mother read your letter. Aunt Alice had a letter from Aunt May so in the afternoon she walked down to have one of her usual talks with Mother. Dad was cutting and I was stooking when we saw Aunt A go home. About an hour later we quit and when we went in the house found that Mother was feeling bad again. She was sitting in Dad's chair so we put her to bed.
The next morning before breakfast I walked up and got Aunt Alice. She came and sat by the bed but mother was unconscious and I don't think she recognized her. Donald went to Schmidt's on Rusty and phoned for the doctor. Doctor Ford came about 1:00 pm. He had his sister with him. He said that mother had had a stroke and would have to be taken to Balcarres hospital. The doctor took her there in his car. The next morning Donald went to phone again but could get no news. In the afternoon Joy went and heard that mother was no better.

By Tuesday it was raining and made the roads very muddy. I walked to Schmidt's and Mrs. Schmidt phoned for me. They told her that mother was worse. Yesterday morning Uncle Horrie and I went to Schmidt's in the cart and heard that there was no change in mother's condition. In the afternoon Tom North came to Uncle Arthur's after a pup and he offered to drive Aunt A to Schmidt's and phone but things were just the same. This morning Aunt A and Joy went in the cart to phone. Dad was trying to finish cutting and I was stooking when they came back with the sad news that our mother had been taken from us. I know this will hit you hard Dick but it had to be told. We will just have to buck up and be men. Millons of people are having worse troubles and I feel sure that mother will be happy where she is going and she won't feel like a stranger when she is with Grandfather, grandmother and Aunt Emily, Annie, and Daisy.

We would have sent a telegram but at such a time a telegram is a pretty brutal thing and dad thought it might be too much of a shock to you. He didn't think that you would be able to get home in time anyway. He and Uncle H. are going to make the necessary arrangements this afternoon. Uncle H has to go and be a pall bearer at the funeral of Tom Bordass who died suddenly Monday night. Well I guess I haven't time to say more now. I'll tell you the rest when you get home or in the next letter.

Goodbye for now old fellow

From your loving brother, E.W. Nevard

P.S. we think the funeral will be held on Saturday the 4th.

Mary Nevard, lower left.

Arthur Moves To A New Home

The little house at Winstanley Grove may have been a little crowded by the fall of 1945. With his son, Bud, home from the army with his new bride, Arthur had been spending more time at "The Poplars", brother Ernest's home by day. At some point the decision was made that Arthur would begin living in the "shack" at the Poplars full time. It was a small building of log construction, originally intended to be a new chicken house but with a few improvements it became a fine dwelling. Here are excerpts from Bill Nevard's journal chronicling the renovations.

Oct. 29. Dad plastered one of the inside walls of the hen house. Uncle A and I helping.

November 12 We heated water and gravel and put some of the cement floor down in the shack.

November 19. Today being mild Dad, Uncle Arthur and I got to work and put some more of the cement floor down. Uncle Horrie and Uncle A got some lumber from an old bin to make a ceiling for the shack.

Nov. 24. Uncle Arthur was down to breakfast. As it was nice and mild we did some more plastering and so forth.

November 29. Finished plastering the shack today.

Dec. 11. After dinner I went and got a tank of water. Only about 60 pails this time. Brought Uncle Arthur's heater down on the tank.

Dec. 12. Dad and Uncle Arthur have got the heater fixed up in the shack.

Dec. 14, 1945. Decidedly colder today and a nasty Northeast wind. I cut my eleventh load of wood. Dad and Uncle Arthur putting up the ceiling in the shack.

Jan. 14, 1946 I went with Uncle Arthur in the sleigh up to Winstanley Grove and brought his bed and some of his stuff down so that he can start sleeping in his shack now and won't have to take his nightly walk.

Arthur with his dog in front of his new home at "The Poplars" 1946.

New Separator For Nevard Farm

In August of 1939 the Nevards purchased a Huber threshing machine (separator) from a local machinery dealer, L.D. Cohen. Here is the account from Bill Nevard's journal.
August 9, 1939

Louis Cohen was here with an agent from I.J. Haug trying to sell us a separator.

August 30

I finished stooking today. Dick hauling water. Dad, Uncle Horrie and Bud making the rack. In the afternoon a big truck brought the new separator from Regina and we unloaded it near the old sod stable.

August 31

Much activity in preparation for threshing. Dad, Uncle Horrie and Bud fixing up the engine. Dick and I blocked up the red bin and put it on skids. Then we pulled the bin from up the hill down to the 15 acres on 13 using Topsy, Gleam, Firelight and Violet with Glory and Barney in the lead.

After dinner Dick went to Goff's on Glory to phone Cohen and tell him to bring out gas. Bud helped me to move the red bin with his team. Dick got water after coming back. Cohen came along after dark with two drums of gas.