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Maggie Agar Boyd
Maggie Agar, formally christened Margaret Ellen Agar, was the youngest surviving daughter of John and Ann Jane (Irwin) Agar and grew up on the family farm in Belfast, Ontario. She attended school with her siblings and cousins, in the one-room school house on the corner of their farm. Of the girls in the family, she was closest in age to her sister Cassie. The two girls played together, learned to quilt and sew and bake together, and enjoyed giggling about the school events and happenings. Sadly, the family faced a bout of...
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Maggie Agar Boyd
Maggie Agar, formally christened Margaret Ellen Agar, was the youngest surviving daughter of John and Ann Jane (Irwin) Agar and grew up on the family farm in Belfast, Ontario. She attended school with her siblings and cousins, in the one-room school house on the corner of their farm. Of the girls in the family, she was closest in age to her sister Cassie. The two girls played together, learned to quilt and sew and bake together, and enjoyed giggling about the school events and happenings. Sadly, the family faced a bout of diphtheria and were sick for many weeks. Cassie died tragically of diphtheria when she wasn't quite ten years old. Maggie would have been 14 at that time, and was likely devastated by the loss.
When Maggie finished school, she helped her mom around the house and farm, with cooking, cleaning, working in the orchard, and caring for the animals, including gathering the eggs. Maggie's family was the closest to the school, so they also boarded the local school teachers during the school terms. This led to more work, cooking, cleaning and laundry. It likely also led to more conversations in the house, and more books to be read and enjoyed. The family was very musical, and one can imagine nights around the home fire, listening to reading aloud, playing instruments, singing and laughing.
Maggie decided to train as a dressmaker in the nearby town of Lucknow, Ontario. She always liked to look nice and thought that dressmaking would be a valuable talent to have and a good way to make her living. In February, 1889, the 19 year-old was training with "the Misses Woods" according to the local news reports of the time.
The next year, there was an interesting young school teacher boarding at the Agar farm. His name was Samuel James Alexander Boyd. He had traveled earlier that year to the British Isles for ten weeks, and would have had lots of interesting tales and observations to share with the family over the dinner table. He was seven years older than young Maggie, but he caught her eye.
This article was printed in one of the local newspapers on December 23, 1891 MATRIMONY-- S.J.A. Boyd, principal of Belfast school, known as U.S.S. No. 13 Ashfield, having for the holidays dispensed with the rod, has, we are informed, taken a wife from among the fair daughters of Belfast. The happy event took place on Wednesday, the 23 past, at the residence of the bride's father, where Mr. Boyd and Miss Agar, youngest daughter of John Agar, were united in the bonds of matrimony. We wish the young couple a happy and prosperous union.
A different article notes that the marriage took place at the residence of the bride's father, performed by Rev. J. Kenner. It lists Samuel J. A.'s profession as teacher, while Miss Maggie E is simply listed as the youngest daughter of John Agar, Esq., of Belfast, Huron County. It's strange to me that the first article didn't even note the bride's name.
They continued to live in Ashfield Township after they were married, with their first two sons Elgin Tennyson and John Russell being born there. Samuel continued working as a teacher and in 1896 got his first class teaching certificate, valid permanently. Then then moved to Mornington Township, where Lillian Vera was born early in 1899. Following that, they moved to Exeter, Ontario, in southern Huron County, where baby Ada Pearl Boyd was born on 21 February 1900.
At that time, Samuel was working as a teacher and principal in Exeter. One newspaper article mentions that he had left teaching and was working as an encyclopedia salesman when he was asked to come and help with the new high school in town. According to newspaper reports he was active in the teachers' association and was frequently sent to Toronto for conferences. He was instrumental in bringing a high school into Exeter, citing the importance of the chance for further education.
Samuel was a principal who stated his opinion. One particular article in the Exeter Advocate, July 4, 1901 yielded my back to school smile (coincidentally, I live and teach in the Exeter area)...he stated clearly that:
Failures, where they have occured, are due largely to two prime causes. 1. Irregular attendance. 2. Spasmodic effort. Few fail from lack of ability. Experience teaches that pupils who do a fair share of work every day of the term are almost invariably successful. Those who take a feeble interest in the work of the year for the first six to eight months, then make a faithful rush are equally certain to fail. The question of "homework" has been much discussed from platform and press. Much ridicule has been heaped upon it, applauded by youth and in some cases by age. Even in the face of this, I place my humble opinion on record that it is an advantage to boys and girls to have a fair share of homework. By fair share I mean 10 to 30 minutes for 2nd classes and 40 to 60 minutes for 3rd and 4th classes. It leads to habits of industry and thrift. Every teacher knows that the boy who roams the street far in the night is inattentive, listless-sleepy in fact- the next day and therefore unfit for business, while the child who has had a little work, much play and more sleep is keen, active and studious. The former as a student or in business is worthless, the latter progressive. Apart from student-life, the best citizens are those who have some home duties. The best ministers have homework. The best teachers have homework. Farmers, mechanics--all are alike When do they learn these habits, if not in youth? If the object of education is the preparation for citizenship, then parents and teachers should give the subject of homework their closest consideration.
It's interesting to note Samuel's own earlier history wasn't so scholarly. He left school as a youth of 14 to help on a farm. Later, he worked for two years as section hand on the Grand Trunk Railway. It wasn't until 1887, when he was 24 years old, that he decided to resume his education, and had to begin in the fourth grade. He worked hard and was clearly bright because in three years he completed all examinations for high school graduation and took a three month course that allowed him to attain a three-year teaching certification.
While the Boyds were living in Exeter, which is in southern Huron County, they experienced tragedy. Sadly, little Ada Pearl became terribly ill. The local newspapers wrote about the sadness surrounding her death. Her flat, little gravestone was nearly covered over with grass when we found it one recent spring, once I'd discovered that she was buried in my town. Only a couple letters of the stone were still visible, but the OY was enough to indicate that the stone was there and we uncovered it so it can once more be seen and help the little girl to be remembered.
After losing Ada Pearl, it appears that Maggie and her husband decided to leave Exeter, and, indeed, Ontario. Many Huron County residents had already moved to the Dakotas. Maggie and Samuel selected Hannah, North Dakota as their future home. Samuel's cousin was a doctor there, and he encouraged their emigration. Hannah is close to the Manitoba border, and directly across from Snowflake, Manitoba. Some of the Agars were already living north of there, in Brandon, Manitoba so there were lots of family members to support each other.
Samuel bought the Hannah Moon newspaper and he moved to Hannah first, in January 1902, likely to get settled and to find a house. Maggie went to Lucknow to spend some time with her family before moving to the west. Her brother Robbie and his wife Annie (Smythe) were newlyweds and had just taken over the family farm in Belfast, so she may have stayed with them, or may have gone to the house in Lucknow where her parents were then living.
The Exeter paper noted that Samuel would be missed at the school, as well as leaving a gap in the Presbyterian Church and Sabbath school. He was noted as a "general favourite and marked success" in the school and "a willing and able worker" in the church.
According to local newspaper reports, Samuel was a successful "newspaper man" and he also became the high school principal in Hannah, ND, which was a growing town at that time. There was a train that went right through town, which helped with population growth. The town was quite new when the Agar and Boyd families moved there, and Hannah's greatest population was around 350 in the 1950s. When passports became required for travel, border towns like Hannah suffered greatly. No longer could family and friends go back and forth with ease, and families who lived only a couple miles from each other were separated. Today, the town of Hannah boasts about nine residents.
James Franklin Boyd was born in Hannah on January 3, 1903, likely the town's New Years' baby. Four years later, George Leslie was born, and he completed their family. The children attended school in Hannah and also attended Sunday School there. They later attended school in Langdon.
The September 22, 1905 issue of the Hannah Moon mentions that Principal Boyd was the principal, as well as the teacher of the senior classes. "During the summer holiday, the board placed the school building in first class condition, re-modeling the upstairs rooms and treating the wall (unreadable)." When I visited Hannah in 2018, all that remained of the school was a vacant lot, with a large sign indicating the school. Tattered flags still flew and there was rusty playground equipment, including a slide and a tettertotter, showing that kids used to have fun there.
It's clear that the Boyds got involved in their new community, as they had been in Huron County. The January 1, 1909 edition of the paper had the following article:
TEMPERANCE AND LITERARY SOCIETY
Monday evening the first regular meeting for the season of the Hannah
Temperance and Literary Society was held in the Presbyterian church. Rev. E.
Duden the retiring president called the meeting to order and a motion for
reorganization was carried. He appointed a nominating committee, which soon
came forward with the following list of officers, all of whom were duly
elected.
President, S. J. A. Boyd.
Vice President, Wm. Valentine
Secretary, Earle Treleaven
Treasurer, Mrs. A. W. Thompson
Program Committee, Wm. Hay
(rest unreadable)
It's interesting to me to note that all of those surnames can be found in history books about Ashfield and Wawanosh Townships here in Huron County, Ontario. It makes me wonder how many of the townspeople were actually originally from Huron County. Huron County was a "dry community" during that time frame, and, in fact, was one of the last places in Canada to permit the sale of alcohol.
Maggie stayed in regular contact with her parents and siblings back in Ontario. Although they were aging, Maggie's parents were still interested in their children and grandchildren and wanted to see where their offspring had moved and settled. The August 27, 1909 issue of the Hannah Moon noted that Mr. and Mrs. John Agar had been visiting for some weeks at the homes of their son, W. J. Agar and daughter Mrs. S. J. A. Boyd, and had left for Winnipeg, enroute for their home in Lucknow, Ontario. It's likely that they stopped off in Brandon area where two more of their children were living. This was likely the last time John, an octogenarian, saw some of his family, since he died a few short years later.
The 1910 census lists the whole family as living in Linden area, which is where Hannah was located. At that time, Samuel's profession was listed as newspaper publisher. With them were Samuel's father Frank who had moved to the States in 1909, having been widowed. Also with them was Samuel's sister Nancy who was working as a nurse at a hospital, and had moved there in 1903. Maggie would have her hands full preparing meals each day for so many people, and keeping the house clean and laundry done for such a large household. Another Boyd family, headed by Emerson Boyd, was listed right beside them on the census.
In April 1913 the paper notes that Samuel Boyd purchased a new Regal. We are not sure if this was the family's first motor, or if it was a replacement vehicle.
By the 1920 census, Samuel was the Deputy Superintendent of Schools. Two of his older children were following in his footsteps. John Russell Boyd was working as a printer at a newspaper and Lillian Vera was working as a teacher at the school. Samuel's sister Nancy was still living with them, and her career was listed as nurse.
In 1929, Maggie and Samuel made a trip back to Huron County, by motor, via Minneapolis. Her visit to Roxborough to brother Robbie's home was written about in the local newspaper. We're sure Robbie was happy to see her, since most of the family had moved west. It's possible that the trip coincided with Samuel's retirement, since the 1930 census said Samuel's job was now assistant census supervisor, so we can assume he had retired from the education field by that time. He also served two terms in the State Legislature.
The 1930 census has the family living in Langdon, a larger town in the area. Their home was valued at $4500 and they owned a radio. Only one child was still living with them, James Franklin, and he was working as a traveling salesman, selling books. Although the Boyd family had moved into town, the Langdon history book notes that Samuel remained interested in agriculture and was active in the Cavalier County Fair Association, and had kept farm properties which he managed through renters. Although they retired to California, they still visited Hannah and area for a few weeks each year to stay in touch with friends and neighbours.
Maggie remained a fashionable lady all through her life. She was tall and stood erect, even as an elderly woman. She was well-dressed, and her hair was carefully styled in a photo that would have been taken when she was nearly eighty, during a visit to Ontario.
By 1935 Maggie and her husband were living in Los Angeles, California which is where they retired to and stayed. Maggie was living in Santa Ana, California when she died in 1956, a couple of years after brother Robbie in Ontario.
Maggie was a sister to my Great-Grandfather, Robert Wesley Agar. |
