My
maternal grandfather, Edwin Miller, was born in Grant Township, Riley County, Manhattan,
Kansas, on February 17, 1870. He spent his formative years in that state but
moved around quite a bit over his lifetime. In 1894, together with his father,
Isaac, he acquired the title for a quarter section homestead near Yukon,
Canadian County, Oklahoma (Southeast of Section 11, Township 12 North, Range 5 West).
On May 30, 1895 he married Martha Alwilda Jane McDaniel who had come to the
area from Virginia with other family members the preceding year. I mentioned in
the last post that she had been born in Lee County, Virginia.
Ed
and Mattie had three children between 1896 and 1902 while living at the Yukon
County farm. There was apparently some disagreement between Ed and his father
as to who would ultimately own the property and, around 1903, Ed moved his
family back to Kansas. They had one child while living near Grenola, Elk
County, Kansas and another when they were back in Oklahoma near Verden, Grady
County. The Yukon farm eventually ended up being owned by Ed’s sister, Mable
Ivy Pontius.
I
was fortunate to be able to visit the farm in 2005. Today it has a modern
farmhouse and outbuildings on it. None of the original buildings remain. There
is one concrete silo that may have been built by Ed’s father and sister.
Panoramic view
of the Southeast quarter of Section 11, Township 12, Range 5 West, near Yukon,
Oklahoma
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Ed
and Mattie learned of lands opening up in the Pacific Northwest and left by
train for a new adventure there in March 1914. My mother was born in 1917 while
they were in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon. Ed was shown as a farmer there.
By 1920 they were farming on another property in Deschutes County, Oregon. The
census of that year says they were on homestead lands but I have not yet found
documentation to confirm that.
In
1928 Ed and Mattie apparently heard from her sister in Alberta, Canada that
farm lands were opening up through the Canadian Pacific Railway. Ed purchased a
quarter section of land from the railway (Southeast of Section 5, Township 28,
Range 26, West of the 4th Meridian) near Irricana, Alberta, and
leased another quarter just to the east. He later built a small home on the
property.
Ed
farmed the Irricana property until his death on November 2, 1953. Mattie died
just over two years later, on February 4, 1956. The farm is still fondly
remembered as a place where we grandchildren spent parts of many summer
vacations.
Ed,
Mattie and daughter Norma at the Irricana home in 1933. Exterior was not yet
finished and had just a tar paper cover.
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Ed
and Mattie, on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary,
celebrated at their Irricana home, shown with the family of Norma, Bill, Lynn
and Sharon Shepheard. The author was born just six months later. Ed had added a
window to the front of the home by then and the exterior was finished with
clapboard siding.
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