|
The
Miller Family
Written
by Sidney Miller
Mrs.
Argue, a widow, and her daughter left Fermanagh County, Ireland, about
1850 and came to Canada to seek a better life, motivated by the spirit
of adventure. The daughter worked out for $5.00 per month and she
married Charles Miller. They lived on a 50-acre farm at Wingham,
Ontario.
In
1882
their son, William Miller, came to Brandon, the end of the rail, and
worked that summer for Charles Kent. Later Charles Kent started a
store and Bertha post office on his farm, thirty miles south of
Brandon. This farm is now owned by Stewart Pringle. That same
year, in 1882, William Miller took up a homestead, walking to Brandon
to file the claim. He then worked for three years at Gregory’s
Grist Mill, making three trips a week to Brandon with flour. He
hired some breaking done on the homestead and lived there in a small
shanty at odd times to fulfill his homestead duties. In 1891 he
married Sarah Smith and settled on the homestead acquiring pre-emption.
To
William and Sarah Miller were born three children, Sidney, George and
Edna. My brother, George, married Eva Cory in 1914, and they
lived on the Kent farm on which my father had worked. Six years
later I married Betsy Fisher and took over my parents’ farm, they and
my sister Edna moving to Brandon. Edna later married James Lyons
and they are now retired in Regina. In 1951 I sold the family
home to Mel Dawson, still residing there, and we moved to
Brandon. Our only daughter, Blanche, lived in Ottawa and is the
Honorable Walter Dinsdale’s secretary.
In
1882
there were many long houses and sod barns when the settlers first came
west, although we always had a frame house but a sod stable. Our
house was built in 1884, the lumber being hauled from Brandon. As
time went on, money became more plentiful, and the settlers were able
to build better barns. Everyone was able to buy the most
necessary furniture. We never lacked for food, raising stock and
poultry, growing good gardens, making butter and doing all our own
baking. In the earlier days in Ontario, the women had to weave
and spin, but we never did that in my times. We did do most of
the sewing and hooked rugs for the floors. The only thing we
lacked was money. We acquired radio first, then T.V. and electric
power. Before phones became common people’s main means of communication
was to visit back and forth and to hold concerts and dances in the
homes or school houses. The horse and buggy or wagon and the
sleigh in winter were the only means of travel in the early days.
If you became cold you got out and ran behind the sleigh. There
were no heated vans in those days.
Bertha
School was built in 1896 for the sum of $700.00 and remained in
operation until 1961. The first trustees were James Wharton,
William Miller and George Fawkes as secretary-treasure. He held
this position until he moved from the district. The first teacher
was William Breach from Alexander Manitoba, receiving a salary of
$35.00 per month. At first we bought our own books, but
later the government supplied the books and a library. Church was
held in the school for many years, until a United Church named Berbank
Memorial Church was built. Many students educated in Bertha
school became teachers, ministers, etc. the
school was closed in December, 1961. The pupils now are taken for
elementary school to Nesbitt and to high school in Wawanesa. When
Norman Crompton’s house burnt on New Year’s Day, the school provided
them with a much needed house. A neighbour, Gordon Fewell, has
since built a stone cairn in memory of the school on the original site.
Like
many other things, clothes and fashions have changed too. In the
early days, practically everyone had a fur coat. Now with our
present means of transportation and travel, the heavy clothing is no
longer necessary. All-weather roads and heated cars have vastly
added to our comfort in traveling.
The
business of our district was mixed farming. At first a few used
oxen, but horsepower soon became the sole means of working the
land. So every year the farmers raised several colts either for
their own use on the land or for sale. The horses in turn, are
now replaced by tractors. Now farmers are depending on straight
grain farming and some of them raise very few or no stock at all.
In the winter we cut wood enough to keep our houses warm for the coming
year. Now the change is to oil or coal as a source of heat, and
water on tap has added to the convenience of farm life.
Gregory’s
Mill was built at section 34-6-18 on the Souris River in 1882-85.
Mr. Gregory sold his grist mill at Wingham, Ontario, and moved west,
thinking that the C.P.R. from Winnipeg to Souris would cross the river
at the point he built his grist mill. He was determined to use
water as a power and built the dams on two different places. As
they were built only of stones and earth, they were both washed out by
the spring thaw. He did have an engine installed also for low
water periods. It was fired by wood cut up the river and floated
down in the spring. Farmers from as far away as the U.S.A. border
came for flour, bringing their wheat to be ground sometimes. It
was one of the busy spots in the district.
Mr.
Gregory spent $100,000.00 there and died at their home by the grist
mill. The mill was a three-storey stone building. The old
mill wheel is still lying on the river’s edge. The other
machinery was shipped to a foundry in Winnipeg. The mill, Kent’s
store and Bertha Post office were the meeting places in early days.
McKellar’s
Bridge, a pile bridge, was built about 1896 and was taken out a few
years later by ice. After a few years another bridge was built on
the same site with a pier in the centre. This stood until 1925
when it was condemned and a steel bridge replaced it. A good
market road extended to Nesbitt on the north and to Margaret on the
south from the bridge and was the main road even when the river had to
be forded and remained so until No. 10 highway was built. East of
McKellalr’s bridge they used to ford the Souris River at Lang’s
Crossing and west of there at Heaslip. At one time there was a
ferry at Heaslip.
|
|
