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Dedicated to our pioneers and as written by Esther Ramsay in 1984 from historical records and family memories and folklore.
David McNaughton was born on August 23, 1855 in Puslinch Township, Wellington County, Ontario. His parents were Hugh McNaughton and Elizabeth Stirton. Dave was the youngest son and the third youngest in the family. In later years, Dave is supposed to have told Teddy Simpson of Brookdale, Manitoba that he had worked for a time at a sawmill or logging camp in Southern Ontario. This could have been at the Aberfoyle Lumber Mill north of...
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Dedicated to our pioneers and as written by Esther Ramsay in 1984 from historical records and family memories and folklore.
David McNaughton was born on August 23, 1855 in Puslinch Township, Wellington County, Ontario. His parents were Hugh McNaughton and Elizabeth Stirton. Dave was the youngest son and the third youngest in the family. In later years, Dave is supposed to have told Teddy Simpson of Brookdale, Manitoba that he had worked for a time at a sawmill or logging camp in Southern Ontario. This could have been at the Aberfoyle Lumber Mill north of Morriston.
Sometime during the late 1870's, while he was still in his early twenty's, Dave left Puslinch for Bruce Township in Bruce County where most of his older brothers and sisters had settled. He spent most of the next ten years in the Bruce-Underwood area. It has been said that Dave and his brother, Daniel, leased the Duncan McKenzie (their sister, Janet's husband) farm and that when the lease was up they each bought their own farm and the McKenzie's returned to theirs. The 1880 Directory for Bruce County lists Dave and Daniel McNaughton with an Underwood address, living on Concession 11, Lot 6 of Bruce Township, each leasing 100 acres. The 1881 census shows their sister, Henrietta (Ettie) living with them. The Registry Office at Walkerton, records that on October 6, 1881, a Land Co. sold Concession 6, Lot 10 to David and Daniel McNaughton, and that on February 25, 1885, David sold his share to Daniel.
So Dave seems to have begun dealing in land while fairly young. We do not have the location of his home place but there Hugh Cameron is supposed to have built buildings for Dave that were larger than the ones he later had at Brookdale. It is very probable that after the death of his father, Hugh McNaughton, in July of 1885, that his mother and his sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie), came to live with him and Henrietta. Dave had cattle and sheep, and it appears that there was a lot of wool carding, spinning and knitting going on. Sometime during the later years of the 1880's, Henrietta and Hugh Cameron were married.
So it was that at this time, in the late 1880's, maybe early winter of 1888-89 that Adam McKenzie appeared on the scene. Adam originally came from Guelph but had gone West and settled in Manitoba. But now he was back and one of the things he did was look up Dave McNaughton. Adam's first wife, Catherine McEachran had died in 1887, leaving him with two small boys. If he was now looking for a second wife at this time, he soon found one in Dave's sister, Elizabeth. But he also talked Dave himself into coming out West and looking at land in Manitoba.
It must have been very early in 1889 that Dave headed West. Leaving Hugh and Ettie Cameron in charge of his farm, he accompanied Elizabeth to Manitoba. Adam and Elizabeth were married in Winnipeg, but there seems to be some question as to whether they were married in 1889 or the following year with the Cameron's and Elizabeth's mother present.
True to his word, Adam took Dave around the country, showing him land that was available. And Dave was interested. On February 11, he acquired the E1/2 35-12-16, north of the present site of Brookdale from the Manitoba and Northwest Loan Company, through their agent Thompson Kirby. (It was Kirby who got him involved in most of his land deals.) The NE quarter had a house on it built of tamarack logs and with a thatched roof. On June 19 he bought the SE 1/4 18-13-15 from the same loan company. He also bought the SW 1/4 on the same section. There were buildings on both quarters but Dave never lived on this land. This farm was later called "Freeland", after the Freeland school. (In 1896, Dave donated land for a school site on the west side of SW 1/4 18, between the two rows of trees. Hence the name "Freeland".)
Dave returned to Ontario with definite intentions of moving to Manitoba. He sold his Underwood farm for $5,000. His mother and the Cameron's also decided to join him and plans were made to leave early in 1890. Dave loaded a freight car with farm equipment and eight horses. On the floor of the car he had lumber and shingles to replace the thatched roof on the house. They unloaded at Sewell (Camp Hughes, about 11 miles south of the present site of Brookdale as the crow flies.) Shortly after this, on April 16, 1890, Dave bought the NW 1/4 of 35.
Henrietta had a very poor opinion of the house they moved into. There was no comparison between it and the house they had left behind in Ontario. Dave did replace the roof and he and his family lived here until 1912. Hugh and Henrietta lived with him until he married and then went to live on their own farm.
John Lang's residence, located on the NW 1/4 26-13-15, SE of Hallboro, was the social center for the community. The story is that while a baby was being born upstairs there would be the greatest shindig going on downstairs so that no one would be aware of what was going on. It was here that Dave McNaughton met Elizabeth Robb.
Elizabeth Taylor Robb was born on January 27, 1864 at Moorefield, Maryboro Township, Wellington County, Ontario. She was the third daughter of Peter Brown Robb and Ann Taylor. Elizabeth had her second class teaching certificate and had come out to teach at Oak Lake, Manitoba. Her sister, Isabella, who had married Donald McBeth, was already living there. Another sister, Margaret, was teaching at the Union School, each of Neepawa. She married James Drysdale.
Dave and Elizabeth were married on March 25, 1891, by Reverend S.C. Murray of the Neepawa Presbyterian Church, at the home of Elizabeth's father, Peter Brown Robb, SW 1/4 7-14-14, south-east of Neepawa. The witnesses were John McKenzie and Marion Robb (Elizabeth's half-sister). Dave and Elizabeth set up housekeeping on Dave's farm. There would be no Brookdale town yet for a period of at least ten years but there was a Brookdale School two miles south on SW 1/4 24-12-16, presently the farm of Charlie Simpson.
Living was very primitive. It was not uncommon to see bears prowling around the place. Indoors blankets were used for doors. The house was heated with just the cookstove. Wringer washers were just coming in but her daughter, could not remember if her mother ever had one. Elizabeth did have an organ. (In 1912, this organ was given to the SDA church on Bannerman Ave., in Winnipeg. At present (1984) it is owned by Donald McIvor, President of the MB-SK Conference of SDA.) It was here that on June 5, 1893, their first daughter, Elizabeth Robb (Vinna) was born. Four years later, on April 28, 1897 another daughter, Minnie Taylor, joined them. But six days later, Elizabeth became violently ill. Dave was out working in the field. Someone ran out to get him and he hitched up the horses and raced across country to get the doctor from Carberry. Some of the neighborhood women came over to help but they could do nothing. By the time Dave and the doctor arrived it was too late. Vinna was sleeping upstairs while this was happening and all was over when she awoke. It was May 4, 1897. The funeral was held in the house, and the body was taken with a democrat to Carberry for burial. Dave's mother, who had been living with the Cameron's came and took care of Vinna and Minnie for the next two years.
The Kenneth McKenzie's, Adam McKenzie's parents, lived at Burnside (the junction of #1 and #16). Kenneth was an early farmer in the district and the first to prove that wheat could be grown in Manitoba. His wife died in early January of 1898, and his sister's granddaughter, Catherine Anne Stewart, came to keep house for him. Originally the McNaughton's, McKenzie's and Stewart's had come from the same district in Ontario and were well acquainted. It seems that the McKenzie family might have been a bit fearful that Kenneth would take it into his head to marry Anne, so they made certain that David McNaughton had plenty of opportunity to see her.
Dave and Anne were married at the Burnside Church on August 23, 1899, and Dave's mother returned to the Cameron's. Their first child, Mary S., was born in June of 1900, but died three months later on September 15 of whooping cough. And Dave had bought, and was buying more land. He now owned the NW 1/4 26-12-16, originally Hudson's Bay land, and most of 33-12-16, presently George Lepp's. Dave was Counsellor for Ward 6 of North Cyprus from 1894-1901. His main reason for seeking this office was to build roads which must have been practically non existant at the time. Adam McKenzie offered to sponsor him if he would run for MLA for the Beautiful Plains area, but Dave declined. When he got the word that the railway was coming he bought the SW 1/4 35-12-16 from T.W. Humeson.
The CPR came through as far as the present site of Brookdale in 1902. A Y was built so that the train could turn around. The towns were being spaced about eight miles apart along the track, so the present site of Brookdale was the logical place for a town. However, Adam McKenzie, Frank McBain, Tom Gowan and Dave McNaughton apparently decided that a spot half way between the present site of Brookdale and Oberon (where Harold McLeod's farm is) would be a more convenient site for a town. This decision was fine as far as the railway company was concerned.
It appears that Adam McKenzie and Frank McBain had second thoughts and were not really satisfied with this decision. So they went to the CPR in Winnipeg and asked to have the track terminate at McKenzieville (presently Oberon), thus assuring that it would be the largest town. When Dave and Tom Gowan heard of this, they went directly to the premier, Rodmund Roblin, in Winnipeg, who assured them that he would see to it that the CPR would build the track right to Brookdale. The result - Adam never spoke to Dave again. Anyways, the war was on. The rivalry between Brookdale and McKenzieville was bitter, not only between the two men involved, but throughout the whole community as well. It was a tragedy that this should have happened to two men whose lives had been so closely intertwined. On January 14, 1905, Adam's wife, Elizabeth (Dave's sister) died after having a stroke. A year or two later, Adam sold his ranch and left the district.
By the middle of September, 1902, the town site of Brookdale was a bee hive of activity. Cleggs were building a butcher shop, the blacksmith shop was nearly finished, Cameron's general store (later Murray's) was near completion and a boarding house was ready to open. By October 1, the rails had been laid and Brookdale was receiving freight. Plans were being made by the Bell Telephone to connect Brookdale and Wellwood to the long distance system. Contractors erected Dave McNaughton's grain warehouse (now Bill Jones warehouse near the UGG elevator) where he bought bagged grain. (2021-This grain warehouse is thought to be the last remaining grain warehouse in Manitoba.) The Lake of the Woods elevator was finished and Dave built a store (former cafe and post office) across from his warehouse. (Brookdale was built on McNaughton land, NW 1/4 26-12-16.) Lumber arrived for the station.
The building boom continued in 1903 - the Carberry Elevator Co., (Probably Murphy's, dealer in grain, was the owner. He owned most of Carberry.) with J.P. Lawrie as agent, another carriage house and stable, hardware store, hotel, doctor's office, drug store, dress shop, bakery, machinery shops, as well as houses. The church went up in 1903-04. A two story school was built in 1904, also a brick factory capable of producing 20,000 bricks per day. All Dave's efforts seemed well rewarded.
During the winter of 1902-03, Dave took his daughter Vinna to Ontario to visit his relatives. It was the following spring, May 2, 1903 that Annie was born. The next year, in November of 1904, David H. was born but he lived only eighteen months. He had begun to walk. On April 27, 1906, his mother took him for a nap and realized that something was wrong. He died almost immediately.
In the meantime, in 1901, Elder's Buhalls and Nelson of Winnipeg had held meetings in the district, first in the Whiteman's home (now Horace Bee's) and then in the Freeland School. A number of ladies joined the Seventh-Day Adventist church, among them Anne McNaughton. Sabbath School services were held at Derinzy's (now Elmer Hockins) by these ladies and their children. (Winnie Derinzy and Minnie McNaughton were chums. Winnie later married Martin Luther Long who pastored churches in Saskatchewan and Alberta.) Some camp meetings were also held in the district, at Carberry and at Neepawa, around 1906 or 1907.
It was not often that the McNaughton family was at home in the wintertime. Early in 1908, they were on the West Coast at Portland, Vancouver, Victoria, Etc. The beginning of 1909 found them visiting the McNaughton's and Stewart's around Galt and Morriston, Ontario. In March of that year, Robert S. was born but he lived for only four months and died July 17, 1909. He was a very delicate baby.
Dave continued to farm until about the fall of 1912. By this time he was 57 years of age and maybe thinking of retiring. But then he may also have thought it was time to move on and find new horizons. There was a steady migration of people towards Oregon and California at this time, including friends and relatives on both sides of the family. So why not join them? Dave rented the Freeland farm to Bert and Frank Bachelor. (1912-1917). The house burned down while the Bachelor brothers were living there so Dave had Alf Goddard and Dave Earnest build a new house of Brookdale brick.) The home place at Brookdale he rented to Ernie (Marie MacDonald's father) and Eddie Evans. That taken care of, he took his family and moved to San Fernando, California, where he bought a house. The place certainly was not overcrowded, no box number of street address was needed for their mail to reach them. Homes were heated with small wood stoves, though gas came in the following year.
Minnie and Annie attended the San Fernando Academy and Vinna took some classes. But Dave and Anne still were not satisfied to stay home. May of 1913 found them at Tacoma Park, Washington, D.C., attending meetings at the General Conference. But there was excitement of a different kind the following winter. On December 6, 1913, another son, James, was born. Then, somewhat over a year later, on March 4, 1915, Vinna was married to William Ramsay and returned to Manitoba to make her home at Bradwardine.
Now that he had a son, Dave began to have thoughts of returning to the farm. He is supposed to have remarked to someone that he would rather bring up a family under a wagon than in California. But he really could not go back to the old log house on the farm. So he made arrangements for the building of a two and a half story house on the North-east corner of the SW quarter of the Brookdale farm. This would be a modern house with running water and sewer system and a Delco electric light plant set up in the basement. Dave most likely made a trip up to Brookdale to get things started for, in a postcard dated June 11, 1916, sent from Nebraska to Minnie and Annie at San Fernando, Anne asked them to send their mail to Brookdale. (Dave seems to have done considerable travelling. At one time he was at Battleford, Saskatchewan for a time.) The next spring, on the 18th of April, Dave and family arrived back in Brookdale, ready to begin farming again.
That same year, a barn large enough to hold 98 head of cattle was built. Dave planned to move the old barn from the NE quarter to the new place for his horses. He bought enough cattle to fill the new barn and hired two men to look after them during the winter. Then he decided that he had enough barn space without the old barn so they tied the horses in the cow stalls. (Later on when Simpson's lived on the place, they rearranged the barn and put in new stalls on the south side for horses.)
In the spring of 1918, Dave offered to give Willie and Vinna Ramsay the Freeland half section if they would leave Bradwardine and move to Brookdale. (Update - Freeland stayed in the Ramsay family until 2017 when it was sold to Kelly Evans.) Whenever Dave had trouble with his machinery or equipment he would call on Willie to come and help, so it would be very handy to have him close by.
Somewhere around the winter of 1920-21, Dave and Anne were on the West Coast and became interested in "Rest Haven", near Victoria. It was a Federal Government operated Convalesent Hospital for WW I veterans. As the SDA Union Conference was also interested in the place, Dave offered to pay $20,000 toward the $40,000 purchasing price (money he did not have). But it would be a fine thing to have an interest in a place where they could spend their winters. So, in the fall of 1921, Dave had a sale and sold all his farm equipment, etc. He sold seven quarters of land to Hector and Teddy Simpson for a down payment of $20,000. His he used to pay his part in Rest Haven.
There was a shortage of money during the next few years so not much travelling was done. The winter of 1921-22, Dave, Anne and Jim lived with Willie and Vinna Ramsay on the Freeland farm and Jim attended the Freeland school. Minnie was teaching school in Alberta and Annie was probably attending college. From 1922-25, the McNaughton's lived in the Drug Store in Brookdale. Then in January of 1926, Dave and Anne were back at Rest Haven. Dave had had an operation and Anne had her tonsils out.
The Simpsons lived on the farm until the spring of 1925. Because they had failed to make any payments since the initial one, Dave took the land back. In fact Teddy had left a year earlier. He and his wife packed up their belongings and moved out at night, going to Shoal Lake where they had property. They had been afraid that Dave would confiscate what they owned as payment for what they owed. But Dave had no notion of doing anything of the sort. He made arrangements for Hector Simpson to work the land another year.
Dave needed an alternate source of income so he hired a number of men to build fox pens on the farm. Bob Stewart (Anne's brother) built the fox boxes. 1925 was a busy year. The McNaughton's moved back onto the farm and all the equipment they had sold a few years ago had to be replaced. The foxes arrived and had to be taken care of. The whole house needed a cleaning and painting to prepare for the wedding of Annie to Oscar Reinmuth on the 3rd of June. But there was plenty of help about. Anne as a rule had a couple of 'hired girls' in the house. And Dave had a lot of help outside. He never worked himself but always directed others. He had four outfits going spring and fall. There were chores to do in winter and the foxes needed attention the year around. In summer the foxes were fed offal from the slaughter house and in winter Dave bought old horses for feed. But from the winter of 1926-27 until the time of his death, his winters were spent at Rest Haven.
In 1930, just when the depression hit, Dave bought a new 'Caterpillar' combine. It was a $2400 machine with $1800 still to be paid. He had given a stook loader as down payment. On August 19, he got into his car and followed the combine all day to see how it worked. That evening he had a good supper but complained of a pain in his head. When he went to bed that evening he turned at the door, gave a wave of his hand and said 'good-night'. He died that night. The funeral was held from the house and Elder Reiner was one of the ministers taking part. Burial was in the Carberry Cemetery. A male duet sang, "In the Sweet By and By" at the graveside.
After the funeral that family scattered. The Reinmuth's headed back to Lincoln, Nebraska. Minnie left for Montreal to continue her nurses' training. In the fall Jim left for Canadian Junior College and his last year of pre-med. Anne's sister, Lizzie, stayed on with her. In November, Anne wrote to Minnie that the dust was flying. Wheat had gone flat and barley was 6 cents a bushel. The dry weather and depression had begun. It was hard to get money to probate the will.
From the spring of 1931 until the spring of 1935, Anne and Jim kept the farm running. Then Jim left for Loma Linda, California and medical school. In late October of 1934, Anne had sold all machinery, horses, harness, in fact all outdoor stuff, at a sale and about $3,000 was realized. Willie Ramsay and family left the Freeland farm and moved to the Brookdale farm. Ane had finished with the farm and from now on the Ramsay's would operate it. A Canadian Pacific Express Company receipt issued at Brookdale on January 16, 1935, shows that Mrs. C.A. McNaughton shipped three bags containing 19 fox hides to C.M. Lampson & Co., of London, England. But the Ramsay's were not interested in foxes so the rest were sold that fall. Bill Jamieson had been with Anne most of the time since Dave died and had looked after the foxes. He left in the spring of 1936.
In August of 1936, Anne was found to have cancer of the stomach and she was very sick for about a week. Her sister, Lizzie Stewart, who had just returned from California with the body of 'Aunt Maggie' McLean and had gone on to Winnipeg, was called to Brookdale to help take care of Anne. Anne's funeral was held in the house but Lizzie insisted that she be buried in Ontario. Lizzie, Jim and Annie accompanied her body on the train. Minnie arrived from Montreal to attend the funeral in Ontario. Lizzie had been ill when they left Brookdale. She died of pneumonia exactly one week after her sister Anne's funeral in Brookdale. |
