Helen Dunbar, Alma passed Junior Exams 1895

The following cf. http://www.islandregister.com/1895teachersmatric.html

From the Daily Examiner, July 17, 1895
Prince of Wales College and Normal School, July, 1895.


The following candidates passed the Junior.

Sidney C. Hayden, Vernon River, 311	Elsie LePage, Charlottetown, 294
Regina M. Flood, Maplewood, 287	George Hyndman, Charlottetown, 266
Mary LePage, Charlottetown, 262	Helen Dunbar, Alma, Lot 3, 261.

Dorothy (Gordon) Rayner Obituary 1907-2010

Dorothy (Gordon) Rayner
1908-2010

     The death occurred peacefully at the Wedgewood Manor, Summerside on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010 of Dorothy (nee Gordon) Rayner in her 103rd year. 
     Dorothy was born on Jan. 6, 1908 in Alma , P.E.I. to her late parents , John and Grace (nee Riley) Gordon. Beloved wife of the late Marshall Rayner and loving mother of Jean (Eldon) MacArthur of Tyne Valley, Jessie Rayner of Summerside, Grace (Thomas) Palmer of Oshawa, Ont., Joyce Baglole and Elizabeth Rayner of Summerside, Eva (Harold) MacDonald of Font Hill, Ont., John (Barbara) of Alma, and daughter-in-law Faye Rayner of Summerside.   
     Also lovingly remembered by her 19 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, 16 great-great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Besides her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her son Eldon, son-in-law Desmond Baglole, grandson Donald Palmer and a great-grandson in infancy. 
     As Dorothy was the last surviving member of her and her husband's immediate families, she was also predeceased by the following sisters: Mary (William) Horne, Lilla (Wilfred) Matthews, Hazel (Bertram) Ramsay, Jean (Harrison) Thompson and Ethel; brothers David (Minerva) , John (Elizabeth) and James (Empress); and brothers and sisters-in-law: Amanda (William) Getson, Ruth (Wilmot) Read, Jennie (Benjamin) Thomas , Wallace (Linnie) , Russell (Vera) , Edith (Austin) MacDonald, Helen (Wallace) Graham , Eva and Irene. 
     Resting at the East Prince Funeral Home, 245 Pope Rd., Summerside until Friday, Aug. 20, for funeral service in the funeral home chapel at 11 a.m. Interment to take place in Greenmount Church of Christ Cemetery, P.E.I. Visiting hours on Friday morning only, 9:30 a.m. until time of funeral service. Memorial donations in Dorothy's memory to the Greenmount Church of Christ Cemetery, Wedgewood Manor Equipment Fund or a charity of your choice would be greatly appreciated. 
     Online condolences can be sent to epfuneral@eastlink.ca. Arrangements entrusted to the East Prince Funeral Home, Summerside, P.E.I.
www.prifuneralcoops.com

     Dorothy was a school teacher and fondly recalled her days of teaching and had a great memory to recall her students.

1888 Alma Train (Flag) Station

     On April 24, 2001 my father, Wilbert and brother, Kerras and I went to measure and photograph the old Alma Flag Station located at H.I. Construction on the Western Road in Alma.  The purpose of our visit was to see the old station as it was to be torn down as a result of damage to one corner of the building following a major fire at the construction site on March 6, 2001.  Kerras was able to salvage some boards and a few things which he used to make a few benches for souvenirs.  The station was demolished on May 1, 2001.

     Below are drawings I prepared from our visit - Dad helped us to identify the two areas and what was found in them.

     Alma Station, was originally called Montrose Station which was built around 1875.  In 1884 the schedule notes the departures time to be 7:42am.  The original building would have been very small, more like a shed building.  The Train "Flag" Station was probably built in 1888 when 51 new stations were built on Prince Edward Island to better serve the public.

     Summerside Journal 27-Dec-1877.  Mr. George Hardy, driver of the No. 1 train was much scalded at Montrose in his engine by the displacement of a plug allowing the steam to escape.  His fireman Thomas Trainor was also badly scalded.  Both are at Alberton in good hands though suffering much".  quote from the Patriot.

      Below are three photos I took that day.  The first photo shows the two original doors.

 Below:  the north side of the station.

      Below:  Inside, note the sliding door on the back wall, this was the in the freight shed facing west.

     The old station was used by the railroad up till the mid 1960's.  Dad often took the train to O'Leary to visit his in-laws in Knutsford, mostly in winter, as late as the winter of 1963-64.  The station was sold to Archie Dunbar who then sold it to Hayes Paying where it was used for a storage building until it was partially burned on March 6th, 2001 - see 

http://almalauretta.blogspot.ca/2012/03/hi-construction-in-alma-leveled-in.html

     For more information regarding this station and the A Photo History of Prince Edward Island Railway by Allan Graham.

Justin Smith, champion powerlifter ties to Lauretta

     There’s a connection to Lauretta in this story about Justin Smith – Justin’s grandfather was Weldon Smith of Lauretta.  Weldon was the son of Birt & Violet Smith – they lived across the road from Lauretta School on the Centerline Road.
     This story appeared in this weeks West Prince Graphic - http://peicanada.com/west_prince_graphic/publication/mount_pleasant_powerlifter_captures_three_medals_poland

Mount Pleasant powerlifter captures three medals in Poland

Wed, 09/05/2012 - 05:15 /By Cindy Chant / cindy@peicanada.com

             At just 18-year-old, Justin Smith has some more medals to put under his weight lifting belt after his recent trip to Szczyrk, Poland. The Mount Pleasant powerlifter not only won a gold, silver and bronze medals at the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Powerlifting Championships, he set a new world record for his deadlift.

            “When I won the medals it was a moment of awe, and felt that my past three years in the sport finally paid off,” said Mr Smith. He explained, “After I pulled my first deadlift (which was already good for a gold medal) I felt awesome because I knew that it was going to be good for either gold or silver since it was so far ahead of the second place starter.”

            For the competition Mr Smith was in the men’s subjunior 59 kilogram weight class, down from the 66 kilogram class he is used to competing against in the deadlift of 235.5 kilograms.

            “After I pulled the world record rather easily on my second I felt like I was on top of the world,” said Mr Smith.

            Powerlifting involves three components - the squat, the bench press and the dead lifts. The weight successfully hoisted in all three events is then combined for the competitor’s total score. That’s based on total weight lifted, divided by body weight. Evangeline Recreation Centre in Abrams Village has been called home for Mr Smith in preparation to the upcoming event.

            According to Mr Smith the silver overall medal felt more like a gold given the circumstances of how close the competition was.

            “It really came down to the last lift which unfortunately slipped from my grip,” he said.

            “I checked the final results/statistics and I actually have the best deadlift in the world, not only for my specific division, but for the entire sub-junior age division.”

            The grounded teen encourages anyone who is interested in getting into the competitive sport to take a few words of advice.

            “Firstly that they will not get big and bulky like the professional bodybuilders we constantly see on the cover of the magazines, regardless of gender. Expect to get in the shape of your life and gain a lot of strength and energy doing so. Also when starting out, what you lift is not important at that time. Proper form and technique to do the exercises is the most important thing,” said Mr Smith. He went on to say, “Lastly, if they take the time and dedicate themselves to the sport, they will get somewhere.”

            The three medals will hang over Mr Smiths’ team Canada T-shirt, which has yet to arrive after ordering it before leaving Poland. He will be keeping with tradition as all Mr Smith’s medals hang over his competition shirts.

            The world championships wrapped up Sept 2.

Alma Baptist Church - Our Family

     I came across this booklet of the Baptist Region: O'Leary-Springfield-Alma.  The booklet has a brief history then pages of family and member portraits for each church.  It was published in 1985.
     Here's the page, Our Church Family: Alma

Abigail Jeffery

     Abigail Jeffery was born on August 6, 1898, baptized on September 11, 1898.  She died on October 3, 1911 probably of pneumonia or meningitis - she was buried the following day at Holy Trinity Alma cemetery.
     Abilgail was the daughter of Spurgeon Jeffery and Dorcas Collicutt.  There is little known about Abigail, other than she was a child living with her parents, a brother and two sisters - they lived at the corner of Centerline Road and Klondike Road (today known as MacLellan Road) in Lauretta.  Amoung the papers found in her family's home, following the death of her sister Eva in 1982, was the hand-written short story below, likely a class assignment at Lauretta School.  The story was possibly told to her about her grandfather Stephen E. Jeffery who was a blacksmith down the Centerline Road less than a mile away in Alma - Stephen died two months after Abigail.  Abigail's uncle Albert was a blacksmith at Alma Corner and her uncle Robert was blacksmith in Elmsdale.

     Abigail was likely named after her grand aunt Abigail (Jeffery) Burns, sister of her grandfather Stephen E. Jeffery of Alma.  Aunt Abigail (1826-1913) lived in Sherbrooke, PEI.

     Spurgeon and Dorcas lost three children at a young age – Elizabeth died at 7 days old on June 9 1887 (first to be buried at Holy Trinity Alma Cemetery); and a daughter Hannah died at the age of 7 years old on May 1898.

The Kinch and Dunn Family

     Thanks to Stephen Dunn for sending me along more photos from their family collection!  These are amazing and value photos!

     Above: Honora, John Kinch and second wife Elizabeth on their 60th Wedding Anniversary taken on April 6, 1935 in either Saskatchewan or Alberta. (photo originally came from the Willie Dunbar Collection). The others in the photo are not known.

     The following information about John and Elizabeth comes from the PEI Register (http://www.islandregister.com/kinch.html) and posted by Lawrence Kinch, Tom O'Connor and Leonard Praught.

     JOHN³ KINCH  was born August 27, 1853 in Cascumpec, Lot #5, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and died March 07, 1943 in Coderre, Saskatchewan, Canada. He married (1) CATHERINE AHEARN Bef. 1875 in Alberton, Prince Edward Island, Canada, daughter of PETER AHEARN and SARAH MCINTYRE. She was born August 13, 1851 in Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and died Aft. July 29, 1875 in Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada. He married (2) ELIZABETH O'BRIEN April 06, 1875 in St Simon & St Jude Church Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada. She was born Abt. 1853 in Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and died June 20, 1942 in Coderre, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Child of JOHN KINCH and CATHERINE AHEARN is:

i.MARTIN⁴ KINCH, b. July 27, 1875, Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Children of JOHN KINCH and ELIZABETH O'BRIEN are:

ii. MARTIN⁴ KINCH, b. July 24, 1876, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. September 21, 1931; m. (2) THERESA WALSH, 1915; d. 1947.

iii. MARY ANN KINCH, b. December 04, 1876, Kildare, Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. June 02, 1880, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

iv. LAWRENCE KINCH, b. February 23, 1879, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. June 09, 1880, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

v. MARY ANN KINCH, b. February 14, 1881, Kildare, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. January 1958, Alberton, Prince Edward Island, Canada; m. AMBROSE M. CORCORAN, November 27, 1900, Sacred Heart Church, Alberton, Prince Edward Island, Canada; b. February 21, 1876, Portland, Maine, U.S.A.; d. December 26, 1951, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

vi. GEORGE KINCH, b. March 03, 1883, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. January 23, 1958, Cochrane, Alberta, Canada; m. UNKNOWN DURHAM; d. Abt. 1954, Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.

vii. JOHN HERMAN KINCH, b. June 26, 1885, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. April 10, 1972, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; m. EULALIA B. CORCORAN, June 21, 1910, Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island, Canada; b. July 12, 1892, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. March 09, 1914, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

viii. WILLIAM BENNETT KINCH, b. August 23, 1887, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. July 02, 1971, Cochrane, Alberta, Canada; m. JOSEPHINE M. SCULLY, January 14, 1913, Prince Edward Island; b. 1888; d. 1949, Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.

ix. JAMES LEO KINCH, b. October 12, 1889, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. November 28, 1973, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.; m. JENNIFER CLARK; b. May 20, 1893, Strathroy, Ontario, Canada.

x. MARY HANORA KINCH, b. August 23, 1892, Alma Lot #3, Prince Edward Island, Canada; d. September 14, 1982, St Joseph's Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; m. (1) HERBERT WILLIAM WALTER, January 14, 1913, Alberton, Prince Edward Island., Canada; b. May 14, 1889, Walter Falls, Ontario, Canada; d. June 13, 1952, At Home, Sundre, Alberta, Canada; m. (2) WALTER MELVIN SMALLEY, December 1974.

Above: Wilfred Dunn and Edna Kinch on their wedding day October 28th,1942.

Above: Edna ( Kinch ) Dunn.

Above: In the backyard of the Kinch-Dunn Farmstead in Alma.  Edna with her children Cecil and Velda.

Above: Stephen Kinch in WWII in Germany in 1944 or 1945.

Above: Stephen Kinch.

     Wilbert Jeffery tells the story of when they use to walk out to Alma Corner, from Lauretta, they would cut back across the fields by Frank Kinchs and come out by Wilfred and Edna's place.  They'd often go in to visit.  He recalls two large oval photographs in the house - he said Edna's mother, Tessy (wife of Martin), would always tell them, "that is brother Amos and that is brother Camilas".