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Mrs.
& Mrs. Joseph Hicks
Mr.
Joseph Hicks was born in Manotick, Ontario, on January 6th, 1859.
His father, Wellington Hicks, was Dutch and came to Canada from Holland
with his father as a boy. His mother, Cecelia Lane, was
Pennsylvania Dutch.
Joe
Hicks was a younger member of a family of ten, five boys and five
girls. As a young lad, Joe was always fighting, so his father
sent him for boxing lessons. One day while practising, Joe lost
her temper and lashed out at his trainer. The trainer gave him a
real boxing beating, and Joe never fought anyone again.
Thereafter he had wonderful control of his temper.
While
a
young boy, his father strapped a pair of wooden skates to his boots,
carried him out on to the Rideau Canal, set him down on the ice and
told him to skate. So with perseverance and bumps, he skated.
In
1880, he left home and went to Minneapolis and was cook in a bake shop.
In
1882
he went West with the C.P.R. construction crew when they were building
the main line across Canada. He started working with horses, but
the foreman insisted that he change and be the cook. He stayed on
as cook till the crew moved on from Calgary, then he quit and came back
to Manitoba.
He
lived two and one half miles south of Ninga with his brother, Amos, and
sister, Elizabeth, for several years. Later, about 1886, he took
up a homestead S.E. 18-3-18, one mile south of Ninga.
On
January 29th, 1890, he married Eleanor Rigby, daughter of Captain John
Rigby. They lived in a one-room frame house. They had both
oxen and horses. One day a big ox, called Jumbo, came to the
house door and somehow or another got his big wide horns through the
door and was stuck. Mrs. Hicks (Nellie) who always made the best
of everything and met all emergencies with faith and hope, just
took hold of the ox’s big horns and twisted his head till the
horns were almost perpendicular and then shoved Jumbo back out of the
door.
Mr.
Hicks had one of the first threshing outfits in the district and spent
the falls threshing for the farmers.
Three
sons were born on this homestead.
In
1897
he moved to NInga and operated a butcher shop for about five
years. While in town he became a member of the Methodist church
board and worked on the board till the church was built and paid
for. A daughter and a son, Leslie, were born in Ninga. Then
Joe Hicks bought the Charlie Seefield farm just one quarter of a mile
south of NInga and farmed and lived there till he retired and moved
into town again in 1936.
Four
more sons were born on this farm.
In
1914
Wellie and Clarence went to Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, to run a garage
and taxi business. In 1916 Clarence enlisted with the 100th
Battalion and went overseas. He was killed in action at Loos,
France, in 1917.
Once
again Joe was in the butcher business. Harry Guy returned from
overseas and ran the butcher shop for a few years. Also Lawrence
Thompson had a turn on it. Then Mr. Hicks again, and finally he
sold out about 1921 or ’22.
In
1915
Joe Hicks pioneered a herd of five hundred head of cattle in a pasture
at Lake William, and there have been cattle pastured in there ever
since. The first herdsman was son, Garnet.
Mr.
Hicks had little education. He was a councillor for several
years. He was a healthy man, a good father and husband. He
liked music, and visitors were always welcome and were invited to share
what food they had.
Mr.
Hicks often said, “No one should live alone, and children should never
be left alone.”
Mrs.
Hicks as girl had to help her father with the farm work and farm
chores. She had to walk several miles to Oak Ridge School.
As a girl she often had to go and help the neighbouring women.
Church was held in different homes.
One
fall, Eleanor Rigby was standing watching the grain pour down from a
thresher into a bin and whoops, she landed right in the bin of
grain. A Mr. Joseph Hicks had thrown her in and later took her
for his wife.
Mrs.
Hicks was president of the Ninga W.C.T.U. for many years. She was
a good mother and no matter how busy, she always found time to caress a
hurt child or read or tell a story to a sobbing wee one. Many
cooking tricks she learned from her husband. Her home was open to
all who called.
Mr.
Hicks died on April 8th, 1947. The reverend B. W. Allison had the
funeral service and he said, “Mr. Hicks was one man who really lived up
to the poem, “Let me live by the side of the road And be a friend to
man.’”
Mrs.
Hicks died January 9th, 1951. She was buried on a beautiful sunny
morning with a lovely mirage to the north. She always loved the
sunrises and sunsets and mirages.
The
Hicks family, eight boys and one girl, all joined the Methodist
church. Three of the boys have served terms as Sunday School
superintendents, and most of the family have been Sunday School
teachers. Agnes was Sunday School and church organist for five
years and then for several periods later. Leslie, Gerald, and
Albert all attended Manitoba Agricultural College. Eddie took
normal teachers’ training. Garnet also enlisted in the army in
the first war and played in the band. Lorne, the youngest, joined
the Canadian Navy in the last war. All members of this family but
Wellie played in a band or orchestra at some time. Wellie tried
music, too, but a violin, and took a few lessons. All the family
were skaters, as their mother and dad had been. Most of the boys
played hockey and baseball.
All
members of this family are living in south-western Manitoba, but Wellie
lives at Creston, B. C.
By
Mrs.
Fred Orriss (Agnes Hicks, Boissevain, with some corrections by Garnet
Hicks, Killarney
Not
mentioned, remains of an old lime kiln.
Children
of Joseph and Eleanor Hicks: John Wellington; Elias Garnet;
Clarence Wilfred; Frances May Agnes (Mrs. Fred Orriss); Leslie Ernest;
Gilbert Gerald; Henry Albert; Edmond Cuthbert, and Lorne Hector.
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