Sailor, farmer, veterinarian, municipal official.
Born at Enniskillen, Ireland on 16 June 1863, he joined the British merchant marine at the age of 16 years and spent two years aboard the Cutty Sark clipper ship.
In 1882, while visiting relatives in Ontario, he decided to stay and went to his brother’s farm at Boissevain. He took up his own homestead in the area and, two years later, moved west to the new town of Waskada where he worked as a veterinarian. He became a vigorous booster of his community, serving for 25 years on the Waskada School Board, 37 years as Secretary of the Rural Municipality of Brenda, and 35 years as a councillor of the Village of Waskada. He was appointed Paymaster and Enforcer of By-Laws in 1905. During his term in office, he did much to beautify Waskada, including planting trees and helping to establish a park with a race track and ball park.
His first wife was Anna Josephine Ponton (?-1905). After her death, he married Anna Grace McConkey McGill (1876-1963) on 1 November 1910. He had five children: stepdaughter Mabel McGill Sankey (1909-?, wife of Thomas J. Pounder), Arthur William Sankey (1911-1970), Ethel Anna Sankey, Nora Edith Sankey, and Charles A. Sankey.
He died at Deloraine on 3 April 1962 and was buried in the Waskada Cemetery. His family established the Sankey Scholarship Fund to provide an annual award for local high school students.
Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1921 Canada census, Ancestry.
“He sailed on the Cutty Sark,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 October 1960.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 4 April 1962, page 26.
Obituary [Anna Grace Sankey], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 June 1963, page 24.
Death registration [Arthur William Sankey], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
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Every Stone a Story: Manitoba’s Buried History by Charles Brawn and Dale Brawn |
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 July 2022
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