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My father George Parrett sent for Mable Purchase of Moreton, Dorset, in 1912. They married in Winnipeg
and took the train for George's Pilot Mound farm, to be met at the station by a neighbor in an April blizzard,
driving a buckboard. "I had expected at least a coach-and- four," mother said. They set off in the snow- no roads then- mother
expecting to see a manor house beyond each rise.
"Finally I saw it- a SHACK on the prairie- three miles from the nearest neighbor!", mother said.
| Aunt Elsie, and mother Mabel Parrett (R) in 1913. |
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| The water was hard, and the rain barrell blew away one day. |
The water was hard, and the rain barrell blew away "for miles and miles," when empty. Soap was made from lye
and ashes, and washing done outside, to escape the flies, until an ill-fitting screen door was installed.
"At home, we had a girl come in to do the washing," mother complained. Dad's bother, Will Parrett, sent for Elsie
Brooks, seen left, from Salisbury in 1913 and they moved to their own farm at Khedive, Sask. Will died in the great
'flu epidemic of 1917.
January 2007 - Added new photos to Vacation Album page.Please CLICK www.royparrett.com
(This fine washing photo appeared on THE BEAVER Magazine in the August/September 2001 issue.)
Pioneering on the Canadian prairie wasn't easy, they were eaten by grasshoppers, rusted out and hailed
out. They moved to Winnipeg in 1917, and George joined the army. First born George Jr. died in the 'flu epidemic of 1917,
and your editor, Roy, arrived in November of that year.
| George and Mable Parrett in 1916, with baby George |
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| Baby George was lost in the 'flu epidemic a year later. |
Take a look at the World War 1 blimp that my Winnipeg uncle Alg Purchase flew on patrols. CLICK HERE
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