HARTLEPOOL, ENGLAND

George was born in Hartlepool, England in 1837. On December 9th, 1859, he married Isabella and together they raised seven children.

In 1880 they arrived in Barrie, Ontario with the Hunt family. They stayed there for 6 years where they worked at a saw mill.

On April 1, 1886 the entire family moved to Manitoba. They considered stopping in the Red River Valley but worried about clearing all the trees and stopped for a short time in the Hernfield District before settling on this property.

This photograph! Its a total fluke. It was close to dark when we arrived, as you will see from the other photos I post. I had been struggling with camera settings all evening but got this. Cade would like me to blow up and frame this for the living room. Not really my thing, to have my own art on display but I do really like this photo. Cade tells me that its one of his favourites that I have done. I am pleased that this turned out because I actually got a good idea of what this beautiful house looked like. This is by no means close to where I live but I do plan on going back.

Anyways, back to the history. Upon arrival to this area, the family needed to set up a homestead. There were few trees in the area but lots of uncultivated prairie grass. The family set up tents and got to work building a sod house, sod barn and even a sod grainary. I do not know when this house was built. But when they built it, they built it well. There is no shelter belt around the home and stands out in the wide open prairie.

Farmers in this area were said to make a week long round-trip trek to Brandon to sell their grain. They welcomed the arrival of the train to nearby districts which shortened their trip to sell their crops.

The entire family homesteaded in this area. George passed away from cancer in 1894 and Isabella died on February, 1909.

My companion on this trip was adamant that we get to this house and another to capture the sunset. We stood here for awhile as the sun quickly faded below the horizon. The sky changed quickly from the time we left Prohibition Church, made a pit stop at another house and then made our way into this one. Even for the 10 or so minutes that we stood in front of this house, it changed a lot.

I have to admit, I did not enjoy my walk into this property. Lots of badger holes, grass up to my waist in some areas. My exploring buddy led the way, which I am grateful for.

This is near the start of our walk in. I thought I’d like to stay along with field but that didn’t work for us getting back out. God I hate tall grass. I hate when I cannot see where my feet are landing.

I do believe that this is one of the oldest histories that I have found. When I was able to connect a family to this property I was really excited. From the map I am convinced that the other side of this house is just a amazing as this side and I have every intention of making the trek back to see it.