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The
Church Family
When
we
recall the history of the Church family, we find here again the same
indominable spirit of persistence and resourcefulness that dominated
the lives of the early pioneers.
George
Church, who resides on Rosemore Ave., Killarney, is the last member of
the large family of Robert and Mary Church, who left England in 1858 to
seek a new home in America. They sailed on a sailing vessel
taking three weeks to cross the Atlantic, landing in New Jersey, USA,
where they made their home for eight years. During this time
Robert Church found employment in the brickyards, thus making good use
of the brick-making trade he had learned in England. After the
death of two of their children, the doctor advised them to move further
inland, where the climate was not so damp. They moved to Toronto,
and remained there for twelve years. During these years, we learn
of the terrible epidemics of diphtheria that took the lives of so many
children, in a day when antitoxins were unknown. In the Church
family three young children died in one week.
In
1880
this family set off for Western Canada to eke out a new life on the
prairies. Emerson, Manitoba, was the end of the railway, so that
was their first stop. Here they spent one year. During
three months of that winter, Robert Church was forced to spend in
quarantine. He went to assist a sick neighbor and when the doctor
came and pronounced the illness smallpox, they were both placed in
quarantine.
When
Robert Church arrived in Manitoba, he staked a claim to a homestead at
Ft. Garry, which is now part of the land of the University of
Manitoba. However that spring, the Red River overflowed its
banks, putting all territory under water, including the Church
homestead. After surveying the area by boat, he was convinced a
living could not be made here in the present condition of the
soil. No doubt he felt he was fortunate when a stranger appeared
and offered to trade the flooded homestead for one 170 miles further
west, ten miles south of the present site of Killarney, thus he lost an
opportunity to capitalize on real estate, but who could have foreseen
that area of flooded wilderness, one day being busy Pembina Highway of
Winnipeg.
The
Church family set off for their new home in a covered wagon drawn by
oxen, leading a cow tied behind. They took enough food to last a
few months. The trip took them seven days.
On
arrival their first task was to build a sod house in which the family
lived the first winter of 1882. In the spring he broke three
acres of land and seeded it to oats by hand, and harvested it with a
scythe and flail. The next spring he built a house of logs.
Robert Church, being a brick-maker of many years experience, soon
recognized the texture of the clay on the homestead to be ideal for
brickmaking, and accordingly set up plans for a brickyard. Here
his ingenuity came into play, for all the equipment required had to be
made by hand. The wood for burning the bricks was hauled from
Turtle Mountain, with a home-made sleigh. The next year he made
20,000 bricks. By 1884 there were houses being built, all
requiring brick chimneys, but there was no lime to make mortar, so he
burned a kiln of limestone to get the lime. From that time until
1903, Church’s brickyard produced the bricks which were used in nearly
all the brick buildings in Killarney and surrounding district.
Education
for the Church family was in the hands of a Mrs. Rowsome before 1889 in
her own home. She held classes for a few months in the
summer. The Plum Hollow school district was formed in 1889.
The first board members were John Barber, Robert Church and Fred
Burrows. The first teacher was George B. Monteith. The
school house was built by Joseph Lawrence, brother of the late George
Lawrence, MP.
Religion
was an integral part of the Church home. They were staunch
Methodists. Family worship was held every morning and evening.
Mrs.
Church was known throughout the district as a mid-wife and travelled
many miles to minister to the sick, many times without the aid of the
doctor.
During
those troublesome times on the prairies, the relation with Indians was
of prime importance. Robert Church and his family did not fear
the Indians, but preferred to make friends of them. In 1885 when
every settler was given a rifle and a hundred rounds of ammunition,
with which to protect his home, Robert Church refused to accept the
rifle. The fact that he trusted the Indian seemed to have a
sobering effect on them. The Indian said “No gun” meant a friend;
“A gun” meant an enemy. The Church home was often a halfway house
for many an Indian who soon learned that food and rest could be
obtained there. At no time did any Indian ever betray that trust.
In
1894
the Church family moved to the present location of the Church farm SE
22-1-17. In 1910 Mr. & Mrs. Robert Church retired to live in
Victoria BC. They both died in 1915 within three weeks of each
other, while on a visit to Killarney, a few weeks before their fiftieth
wedding anniversary, they had come back to celebrate the event with
their family.
George
Church has lived in this district all his life, since the age of three,
when he arrived at the homestead, in 1882, with his parents and several
brothers and sisters. In 1910 he married Miss Margaret McCaul,
daughter of the late Rev. and Mrs. McCaul, who were very early pioneers
of Emerson, Man. in 1874. She taught the Plum Hollow School in
1902 & 1903.
George
Church continued to farm until 1952, when he retired to live in
Killarney. Since that time his son Gordon has carried on farming
operations on the same site. Their daughter, Mrs. Cecil Foster,
resides in Winnipeg.
George Church has always taken an active interest in church, school and
the life of the community. From the early days he has been
interested in and had taken an active part in farm organizations and
the Co-operative movement.
Other
members of this pioneer family were Adam, James, John, Lizzie (Mrs.
Porter), Emily (Mrs. Logan), Annie (Mrs. Barber) and Louise.
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