Photography
Yet another home I found nothing about. This was a long walk in. When we approached the house, it appeared a little too “new” for our liking. Sounds silly but…
Note the newer windows and the chimney stack. We will mark it down to revisit in a few years.
The barn and house are situated on this section of land. I am not sure that they go together. It might just be a coincidence.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed when my search of this old place came up empty handed.
I thought I hit the jackpot when I started looking for history on this one. Yet it turns out that what I found contradicted itself. So, I’m going to consider this one another one that left me empty handed.
But, it was not all for nothing. While trying to make sense of the stories, I found another old abandonded house that I have put on my to do list this coming summer.
Mr. arrived in Manitoba from Ontario in 1881 and was one of the earliest pioneers in this area. He was set to acquire the SW corner of this section but settled on the SE corner instead. He later purchased more land. The home became a halfway house for travelers in the area where they were sure to find rest, a cup of tea, a bite to eat and a place to sleep if need be.
Mr. & Mrs. were devout members of the Protestant Church. They raised 4 boys and one girl on this farmstead until Mr. passed at the age of 68 in 1915. Mrs. passed away in 1925 at the age of 83 years old. After Mr.’s passing, Mrs. went on to live with one of her sons.
After the death of Mr. one of the sons returned to the homestead and took over. The family had always owned a steam threshing outfit which serviced the areas. It was a huge operation and farmers waited weeks for the service. The operation took the help of several employees and so the new housewife was very busy feeding the men who helped her husband run the threshing machines.
This barn was built in 1916. Many dances were held in the loft and in particular, a masquerade dance was had when the barn was new. The new homesteaders were very active in their community, very hospitable and loved company. They had their 25th wedding anniversary in this barn and the wedding dance of their daughter when she married.
We visited this house as the sun was setting. We had to walk in, fast, because we were running out of light and I didn’t have my tripod with me. This property has been on my list for a very long time as there was a car parked near a small barn by the house and it make for some very cool photos.
As luck would have it, the car is gone. I would have taken a photo of the car and the house from right around this location. This is what happens when you procrastinate. Regardless, the sunset on my way out of the property did not disappoint and so it wasn’t a total loss.
The first recorded landowner recorded for this section of land is 1889 but there is no family history. So, I don’t know who built this house. Regardless, she’s a beauty.
In 1906 Mr. quit his job at the chair factory in Orangeville, Ontario to move to the area. He boarded a freight train with the machinery, furniture and household effects of the Anderson Family. Upon his arrival to the area he was hired as a farm hand on another farm. In 1911 he rented this land from the previous landowner.
In January, 1912 he married Helen, the daughter of the family whom he traveled with to the area with their belongings. They bought the land and lived there until 1954.
When they left the land they retired to Melita. During his active years Mr. was on the school board in the area and was a counsellor for 13 years. Their youngest son took over the farm and raised his family here.
Before marrying Mr., Helen was a school teacher at Brown’s School from 1909 to 1911. She began teaching at 16 years of age.
While walking up to this property we discovered that the Souris River runs through it. The water was full of ducks and small birds. In the distance I could hear an owl taunting me but I could not spot it.
There were two houses on this property . This newer house must have been what the family moved into when the original farm house was no longer livable. I love that the house was preserved to some extent.
Mr. & Helen raised 9 children on this farm, 4 boys and 5 girls. Mr. passed away in 1963 and the history that I found for this family was written on May 26, 1982 by Helen who was in her 90th year. I visited this house on May 13, 2023.
At the time that Helen wrote her family’s history, there were 25 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great-grandchildren.
Then the 30’s rolled around and the family faced the depression, the dust bowl and the grasshoppers. At the time the family had a car, a piano and a telephone. Mr. sat down with his family and said something had to go. Helen said that the telephone had to stay, in case of an emergency. The children all wanted to piano for entertainment. So, Mr. put the car up on blocks and parked it. The family relied on a Bennett Buggy for transportation.
I did find this one strange piece of equipment in the yard. I took a photo of it with the hopes that my husband could identify what it might be but he wasn’t sure.
Now I’m wondering if the old car is somewhere on this property. Maybe the owl was trying to lure me further into the yard in the tall grass and treed area so I would see it!
The first recorded landowners of this property do not make mention of this land. Born in England, the family immigrated to this area in 1890.
I did find a photograph of the family taken in 1900.
The second recorded land owners came to Canada in 1921 when they decided that the freedom in Canada appealed to them. They packed up what they could carry and escaped Russia. They walked all night with their 4 children, two of which were under the age of two, and had to be carried for most of the journey. They arrived in Latvia and made the journey to Canada. They settled in Alameda, Saskatchewan and in lived there until 1937. Shortly after that they settled on this property.
I will make the assumption that they second recorded land owners did build this home and the land remains the property of the family.
The family started their farming career with several hundred cows. In 1979 they switched back to grain and mixed farming which was what Mr.’s father did when he farmed the land.
This property was conveniently located right at the edge of the highway and I didn’t even get out of the car to take these photos. I found this farmstead in Manitoba on my way to see Colton back in October, 2020.
This is one of the first houses I photographed and one of the first houses I actually went inside of.
I love this house. So at least once a year I go back to visit it and see what’s changed. I can’t believe how much its grown over since my last visit.
When I started taking photos of the old houses, I didn’t really focus much on the barns and other out buildings so because the skies were amazing that day, I did.
This yard is still used for storage and there is a path leading out to a field. The current landowner frequents this location often.
According to my research, this yard that was known for its stunning flower gardens. On our way out, we spotted a lone pink peony growing in the tall grass. I had put all of my stuff away as we were traveling by side by side down the dirt roads so I didn’t want anything getting dusty.
My daughter was very interested in this van and what happened to it. I’ll have to do some asking around and find out for her. I wonder if she would believe me if I told her that the accident was a result of texting and driving.
And you may recall this little blue truck, from previous posts, although Mother Nature is really taking it over.
I would LOVE to see a photograph of this house when it was in its prime.
W.S.S was born in Tyner, North Dakota on December 22, 1881. He worked on various farms until 1910 when he decided to seek a “non-flooding area to farm” and moved to Canada.
He came to this area and purchased this land. He didn’t live there right away and lived in a rental or “boarded” across the road in a small village.  In 1922 he purchased a house that he purchased from the local blacksmith and moved it onto his property.
I do not know if this is the original house that was hauled onto the property but I do know from the current land owner that the house was small and as the family grew they added more and more on to it. It makes perfect sense to me that this could very well be the original house just from the layout of it.
W.S.S. eventually got married and together they raised 3 children on this farm, not to mention the grandchildren that would also be raised here. The family pasture was the site of many baseball games.
W.S.S. and his wife were community minded people and his efforts were instrumental in forming the local elevator, Co-Op and united church.
The family kept Percheron horses and they jointly owned a Case tractor and separator with another family.
In 1927 this barn was built and the family ran a dairy cow operation. The cows were milked in the morning and the children would deliver the fresh milk in little bottles to village members, by cart, on their way to school.
The boys farmed with their Dad for some years until the oldest left and moved to Oregon. Father and remaining son farmed together until Mr. & Mrs. retired and moved to town. Mr. passed away in 1968 and Mrs. in 1972. The son continued farming on the land and married and raised 4 children of his own on the family farm until he moved to town in 1990. The current landowner purchased the property in approximately 1996/97.
M & M were very active in their community, just like his parents. For many years the basement of their home was used to collect, sort and wrap gifts for the Christmas cheer. Upon moving to town Mr. was very active in establishing the recycling project.
Well, not really but this house would be right smack in the middle of a section of land and of course, I can’t confirm anything with the material that I have here.
I have had permission to photograph this house for some time. I went in the Fall and it was muddy.
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So Cade and the kids stopped with me on the way home from Brandon one day and Cade drove in part of the way and I hiked in the rest. I didn’t go into the house but I did wander around as far as the snow would permit to get this tractor and a couple different angles of the house.
While it was the house that got my attention and led me to this old homestead, once I was there it was this barn that I really liked. Its held its own in our harsh Manitoba weather.
When we were driving out, Cade spotted this little rodent in our tire tracks so I got out of the car to chase him away so that we wouldn’t drive over him. I truly think he was blind because I could literally reach out and grab him if I wanted to and I followed him down our tire tracks for some time.
James, born in 1841 in Mitchell, Ontario migrated to Manitoba on June 8th, 1881. When leaving Ontario, he sold 50 acres of land. He had 9 children with his wife Jane. When they arrived in Portage la Prairie, he purchased a team of oxen and a Red River cart. He left his family in Portage.
Upon his arrival at Palmer’s Landing he was given a list of homesteads. Because he was out of food he went back to the crossing with some other people and they advised him of homesteads of where his land is still farmed to this day. Upon his arrival he needed to walk to Deloraine to make entry for the land.  His hired man stayed behind to break the land.
They homesteaded on this piece of land that I found while wandering. James passed in 1937 and his wife Jane in 1932. Their son Samuel took over the farm until 1945 when him and his wife retired to Brandon.
I thought the red barn and blue skies looked sharp together along this field of corn that seemed to go on forever so I stopped for a couple roadside shots. Digging around for a little more history, I was thrilled to find some information on the barn.
In the winter of 1884 three of his children and his wife had diptheria when they lost one little girl.
Samuel’s nephew took over the farm in 1946 and his son now farms the land.
When Jack & Jane moved to Manitoba, they first lived in a tent and then a soddy. The original home is no longer on the property. What remains is the barn, built in 1898 consisting of a 8 foot high field stone foundation. The logs were dragged to the farm from the Turtle Mountains.
The family hauled their firewood from the Souris River, 8 or 9 miles away.
While the photography is therapeutic for me, I can’t tell you how much I love being able to come home and find a history on something that caught my attention. Imagining his trek to this piece of land and breaking this land by hand to earn a living to feed his family. Love the history.
I have driven by this place over and over and over again. You see, there is something else at this location that likely grabs the attention of many when they drive by. Yesterday as the sun was setting, I was trying to get the perfect sunset shot so I drove down this road and wow, jackpot.
I wanted to caputure what I found and I will definately be going back to shoot all of the glorious buildings on this old farmstead. In the meantime I will be making the proper arrangements to locate and speak to the owner and get back to it.
Goes to show that you never know what is in that clump of trees!
Today I had every intention of getting out again to knock off another 5 or 6 properties off my list but the sky wasn’t to my liking and its given me a chance to update, research and orgainze the finds I found yesterday.
I love clouds. In fact, last summer I would go out on any day to take photos, blaring sun, hot as heck, didn’t matter to me as long as I was taking photos and crossing off old houses before they were gone. I’ve matured. I wouldn’t say that its for the better though cause now I want clouds and I don’t care if there’s a little rain or lightning involved.
Here are a couple photos taken on our ride home last week from Winnipeg as we were heading into a storm.
These were roadside shots and didn’t have permission to enter closer onto the property. While this is a beautiful old barn it was really the clouds I wanted.
I also found this little building as well. At first I thought it might be an old school with all those windows but historically, schools did not look like this. I will assume this would have been a workshop.
On this day of exploring, I was in new territory. I had vistited a home on my to-do list and then attempted to get into another but didn’t want to distrub the crop in the field and decided to come back in the Fall.
On our way home, hubby (aka Eagle eyes) took a turn of the main highway to investigate a roof in the distance. As we carried on we came across this old place.
Driving away from what I think will be a real gem, once I get permission, I got all turned around and lost track of the road numbers. Then we stumbled across this.
I admit, I don’t like when I can’t find some sort of history on the property. It feels like the job is incomplete. Anything I can find doesn’t confirm who the actual land owner is or their life there.
A few weeks back we were out and about as a family driving around when I realized that my husband has a talent for spotting houses, houses that I didn’t even notice. He found two of them that day, this being one of them.
I took a roadside shot and then came home and contacted the landowner for permission for a closer look.
I often rely on my Canon SX60 HS for those long difficult shots that the DSLR and my 300mm lens just can’t get without lens shake or some sort of distortion. The point and shoot captured this home perfectly and honestly, I didn’t get a better shot when I returned.
My son joined me on this adventure but didn’t get out of the car to explore with me.
This is also another home that I couldn’t find a whole lot of history about. Argh!
The first recorded landowner was of Irish Decent and born in 1856 in the Township of Landsdowne, Ontario. He had one daughter from his first marriage. He married for the second time in 1885 and came to Manitoba in 1889 as per the individual recorded family history. The history that I find on this property gives two dates for the purchase of this land.  The RM’s records list a date of 1912.
WHC settled into farming in Manitoba and the first land he broke was 17 acres. Unfortunately it wasn’t until the 3rd year that the family would see a crop. The first was frozen and the second was damaged by hail. When he wasn’t farming, WHC did carpentry work for others.
WHC and his second wife had 3 children. He passed away accidentally in 1911. Mrs. passed in 1928. One of their sons farmed the home land with his wife until 1937 when they retired to Boissevain where he did carpentry work and was an appliance repair man.
You truly could not get a bad photo of this house. The skies were incredible on my second visit and to be completely honest, I shot in auto mode all day and was 100% satisfied with all the shots I took.
While I cannot confirm who built this home and who lived in it when, I do know that WHC’s son sold the property to the second recorded landowner in approximately 1945. When he passed away his nephew bought the property and now farms the land surrounding the home, outbuildings and what is left of the barn.
I would have loved to have seen this barn when it was standing. I would assume with the carpentry background of father and son, it was likely well built and quite amazing.
This couple purchased this land in 1911 when they married. I am going to assume that they bought this land from one of Mr’s relatives as the same last name is listed as the first land owner of this section of land in 1891. This couple retired from the farm to Boissevain in 1949.
Their only son John Robert, who was better known as Jack, farmed the property next door after he married in 1947 and moved away from his parents home farm.  Mr. was a member of the Independent Order of Oddfellows and acted as a trustee and chairman of the Fairburn School Division. His wife was active in the Royal Canadian Legion Auxiliary and the Fairburn District Ladies’ Group.
The property was then sold to KA. I cannot confirm any history of this family living here. I can say that the home has been vacant for some time as there is no longer much of a floor in the home and it is teetering on what is left of the foundation.
After KA owned the land the farm was sold to the Guide Family. Again, I cannot find anything about this family even though it is recorded that they owned this property for approximately 17 years. There is a good possibility that the land was purchased for the sole purpose of farming it and nothing more.
There were a lot of neat little finds around the yard, including this old ringer washer and stove.
I did some googling but I could not confirm anything I found.
There was a lot of old equipment there as well and I have to say that this was probably the neatest thing I found, aside from the piece of stove.
I contemplated going back to this property on this beautifully cloudy day, after I was told about it back in the winter. I sure am happy that I did even though I didn’t get as much history as I would have liked, I sure did find some good photo opprotunities.
A couple weeks ago, in a storm, I spotted an old barn right off the side of the road that I hadn’t seen before. Not sure how I missed it as this is a well traveled route for us.
As you would expect, the building was full of “Keep Out” signs. The condition of this old building and the signs led to a discussion about abandoned farmsteads and trespassing. These photos were taken off the road and no one can stop you from doing that.  But the topic of trespassing is grey, in my opinion. At the end of the day, don’t go on if you don’t have permission. And if you do go on and you do get hurt, that’s on you.
I would imagine that while this property was running, it was a nice spot with a nice little ravine behind the barn, granery and the house. And the wide open spaces. And oh so close to the highway.
CRUMBLING MEMORIES 