Carpentering for the Carpenter

My Grandmother, as a single parent, traveled from New York to to New Mexico with some of the teen age children, in search of a healthier climate. There she met another single parent, my Grandfather. They were married in Armirillo, Texas in 1910.

The previous year, an adult son of my grandfather had traveled up into Alberta and learned that land in the Peace River district (where I now live) was opening up for homesteading.

Almost immediately after they were married, my grandparents, now 42 and 50, left by covered wagon. Several of their children and another fanily accompanied them. But the son who had been to Canada stayed home and took over the sruggling general store.

This little wagon train took two years to get to Canada. They often had to stop and work along the way in order to pay for their trip. Also, in June 1911, they stopped in Pueblo, Colorado for two weeks. Why? My father was born there, in a tent beside the wagon.

They crossed into Canada the next year, but they never did make it to their desired destination and a possible homestead here in northern Alberta. Instead they rented farms in southern and central alberta.

When oil was first discovered in Alberta, south of Calgary, in 1928, my Dad and my Grandparents were in the area and got in on the excitement.

My Dad lived virtually all his life here in Alberta, but he remained an American citizen throughout. So that means that for a Canadian, I'm about as American as one can get!