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This two-storey stone building southwest of Birtle in the Municipality of Prairie View was constructed in 1899 by farmer George Seale (1857-1934). Built on the south edge of a small hill using local fieldstones, a barn was located on the north edge of the same hill. After Seale’s death, the house was occupied by the Bezo family until the late-1950s, after which it stood empty. The surrounding farmland was sold to the Boulton family and later to the Fulton family. The structure’s wooden parts were destroyed by an arson fire in the fall of 2010 but the stout stone walls and two concrete additions remain intact. Situated in the middle of an agricultural field, with no access road, permission to visit the site must be secured from the landowner.
Born at Granby, Quebec on 2 April 1857, George Seale came to Manitoba in 1877 as a member of the North West Mounted Police. While camped near the Birdtail River, he became impressed by the natural beauty of the area and resolved to homestead here. Stationed for three years at the Cypress Hills in the North West Territories (now Saskatchewan), he returned to Manitoba in 1880 and took up farming in the Blenheim district. In 1882, he returned to Quebec to marry Isabella Booth (1864-1946) of Granby. They subsequently had four children: Lillian Sarah Seale (1884-1969), Vera Patience Seale (1886-1931, wife of Kenneth Aubrey Irwin), George Douglas Hubert Seale (1894-1986), and Carl William Edward Seale (1895-1962). On 31 May 1934, he died at the Brandon home of his son Carl. After a funeral service at St. Alban’s Anglican Church, he was buried in the Birtle Cemetery.
Seale House (no date)
Source: Birdtail Country Museum
The former Seale House (circa 1993)
Source: Sheldon Fulton
The former Seale House (March 2016)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former Seale House (March 2016)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Location (lat/long): N50.33962, W101.10255
denoted by symbol on the map above
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Birth, marriage, and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [George Seale], Brandon Sun, 1 June 1934, page 10; 4 June 1934, page 10.
Obituary [George Seale], Birtle Eye-witness, 5 June 1934, page 9.
Death registrations, British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
Obituary [Lillian Sarah Seale], Birtle Eye-witness, 1 October 1969, page 6.
A View of the Birdtail: A History of the Municipality, 1878-1974 by Marion Alba, Birtle, 1974, page 393. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.B57 Vie]
We thank Brenda Samchuk (Birdtail Country Museum) and Sheldon Fulton for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Ron Bell.
Page revised: 3 September 2018
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