Meeting the Train in Alma - 1940's

     I was quizzing my father, Wilbert Jeffery, about who was responsible for the Alma Train Station in Alma.  In those days at the small, whistle stop stations, like Alma, had no Station Agents like some of the bigger stations like Alberton - so there was a local person who, "met the train", in the morning and in evening.  Wilbert recalls the person in Alma was Tommy Henderson who lived on the Western Road in the hollow below the Anglican Church, next to the Curries, in the house where in the latter part of the 1900's Keith and Blanche Bowness lived.

     Tommy Henderson met the train to get the mail and would take it over to Wallace and Annie Donalds who had the post office in their home (Desmond & Hazel Gallants today) on the Western Road near Alma Corner.

     Above: Carter's photo of the old Alma Train Station -see upper right where

the Alma sign used to be - most recently owned by James *Jim* MacNeill.

     Wilbert said when he was young, in the mid-1940's, he and other local fellows use to go out to the station mostly on Saturday evenings (there wasn't much else to do) to hang out and wait for the train with Tommy and when he got the mail would go with him to the Donalds.  The train came up from central PEI every evening, ending in Tignish, then leave the next morning to the middle of the Island again.

     Wilbert couldn't recall who met the train after Tommy.

Above image, by Massey F. Jones, cf.

http://yourrailwaypictures.com/OldDiesels/indexCN-Diesels.html

George Hilton Barbour

     There was a new website launched today "Prince Edward Island Legislative Documents Online"  www.peildo.ca   There's quite a variety of searchable information on this site.  One such category is Biographies - we had a local Alma born resident, Hon. George Hilton Barbour -  MLA and Minister of the Prince Edward Island Government.  Here's a photo of Mr. Barbour from the new website and a link to his biography 

http://www.peildo.ca/fedora/repository/leg:25510

See previous post on this blog -

http://almalauretta.blogspot.ca/2012/03/hon-george-hilton-barbour-mla-senator.html

Dance Halls in Alma

     My Dad, Wilbert Jeffery, has always told me about the dance halls on the Centerline Road - so the other day I sat down with him and quizzed him about what he remembered about them. There were two built around the same time in the late 1940's.
     The first dance hall that was the "New Look", owned and built by Hilary Kinch of Alma, brother of Edna (Kinch) Dunn.  He had a house, west of Archie/Bobby Barbour's home - there's an empty field there today.  Wilbert thought Hilary built the hall in 1947 or 1948.  The hall was a fairly simple building with a low pitched roof.
     I'm not aware of any photos of the Halls - so I sketched out something to give the impression of they might have been like.
     Hilary hired Russell Warren from St. Louis as his main fiddler - Russell won awards for his fine fiddling skills.  Russell was the son of blacksmith Harold Warren.
     Hillary operated the New Look for a year or two then sold the house and hall - Stanford MacNeill bought the house and used it as a granary and someone else bought the hall and moved it away.  Hillary went on to work with Roy Kennedy in his saw mill.  Hilary was in WWII - Wilbert recalls him telling stories about being in London.

     The second dance hall was built a year or so after Hilary's by his brother-in-law Wilfred Dunn.  Wilfred called his dance hall, "The Bright Spot".  It was built to the south of the driveway into Wilfred & Edna's homestead on Centerline Road.
     Wilbert thought the Bright Spot was a building similar to Hilary's, cedar shingled with a low roof.  Wilbert recalls being out to Rennie's Store at Alma Corner and a bunch of men around talking - Wilfred told them of his plans to build a dance hall too - Fred Rennie said, "if you build it I 'll be there the first night." And sure enough he was - Fred died not long after in 1949.  Wilbert thought Russell Warren played the fiddle at the Bright Spot too.
     After a couple of years Wilfred sold the hall to Frank Barbour (Adams lives there today on the Western Road) who moved it out to his place - the hall was cut it in two to move it.

     I asked Wilbert if he knew of any other dance halls in Alma or Lauretta - he said no.  Most events were held in the school and dance halls were something new after the War - there was also a hall further though on the Centerline Road in St. Lawrence.

Centerline Road (Rte.151) Alma

     The Centerline Road in Alma goes east and west from the Western Raod (Rte. 2) taking the district of Alma to the east to Montrose and to the west to Lauretta and St. Lawrence.  Wilbert Jeffery recalls  in the summer of 1956 the government improved the Centerline Road from the Western Road down to the Klondike Rd. (today the McLellan Rd).  Wilbert Jeffery was asked by road-overseer Stanford Greene (he took over from Roy Burns) if he'd like a job working on the road.  The equipment was fairly basic, shovels and a bulldozer.  Wilbert recalls the dozer operator was Alfred Cormier (d. Sept.2011) of Waterford.  Wilbert's job was to move away the stray rocks and brush that came put on the road from ditching so cars passing wouldn't be damaged by the debris.
     The following year, 1957, the power poles and lines were brought into Alma and Lauretta - from the Western Road in to the Klondike Road.  About half of the residents on the road connected.  Wilbert recalls a neighbour saying, "I couldn't afford to buy the kerosene last year, so I don't think I'll be able to wire the house and connect to the electricity."  At the time Wilbert also recalls Premier Matheson saying, "we're paying 90% of the cost to put the electricity through the countryside."   Wilbert & Verna Jeffery got power to the Stephen/David Jeffery Homestead in 1964.     

 

     The Centerline Line Road was the road cut through the middle of Lot-3 from St. Lawrence to Montrose - it was the "center line of Lot-3".  In the 1863 Lake Map above you can see that it was first known as the "proposed road".  Click on map to enlarge.

Johnny Wallace Homestead, Alma

     The George Wallace Homestead is/was the first farm in the community of Alma on the Western Road - it was on the corner of Barnett (or O'Brien) Road.  George was married to Catherine O'Connor - they had 10 children.  Their son John "Johnny" Wallace took over the homestead following his father's death.
     The driveway must have been half a kilometer long from the Western Road - there was also a driveway over to the Barnett Road.
     I took this photo of the Wallace homestead in the late 1990s - none of the buildings remain today.

    The Meechams 1880 Atlas shows this property as being owned by Alex Matthews with 77 acres.
     The 1928 Cumins Atlas shows George Wallace's son John "Johnny" Wallace, and his wife Eva Gaudette of Waterford, living here with their three children.  They had the following children:
1.  Jean who married Alton O'Brien of Alberton, they lived next to the Maplewood Manor.  Jean was a school teacher.  They had 8 children.
2.  George, a bachelor, farmed the homestead all his life.
3.  Earl, he moved to Ontario and following the death of his wife in a car accident, he moved back to Alma and farmed the homestead with his brother George.
4.  Brendon, married Roberta Adams of Elmsdale.  They had one son Reggie and farmed in Elmsdale on the Western Road, not far from his birthplace.
5.  Catherine, married William "Bill" Profitt of Summerside.  Bill was a potato inspector and Catherine a school teacher when she was younger.

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The following is from the 1901 PEI Census - http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/View.jsp?id=58559&desc=1901+Census+of+Canada+Lot+%28township%2Fcanton%29++3+PRINCE+%28West%2FOuest%29+PRINCE+EDWARD+ISLAND

No. Household        Name                  Sex   Place in House    Date of birth      Age

36		88	Wallace George	M		Head	M	Apr 19	1850	51
37		88	Wallace Catherine	F		Wife	M	Dec 24	1856	44
38		88	Wallace Mary B	F		Daughter	S	Dec 27	1878	22
39		88	Wallace Maurice J	M		Son	S	Jan 20	1881	20
40		88	Wallace Annie F	F		Daughter	S	Oct 11	1883	17
41		88	Wallace Clara E	F		Daughter	S	Jul 21	1888	12
42		88	Wallace John T	M		Son	S	Mar 17	1891	10
43		88	Wallace George L	M		Son	S	Feb 14	1893	8
44		88	Wallace Albert E	M		Son	S	Sep 1	1895	5
45		88	Wallace William B	M		Son	S	Nov 2	1898	2

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The following is from the O'Connor Genealogy - http://www.islandregister.com/keefe1.html

34F    ii. Catherine O'Connor was born on 21 Dec 1856. She was christened on 8 Feb
           1857 in St. Anthony Church. She died in 1930 in Sacred Heart Church.

Catherine married George W. Wallace in 1878 in PEI, Canada.

Information taken from a letter to Henry Keefe written by Mrs. Alton (Jean) O'Brien dated 2.26/1997 in Alberton, PEI. In it she states, "My maiden name was Wallace. I am the daughter of the late John and Eva Wallace of Alma, PEI. My grandmother Wallace was the former Catherine O'Connor and her mother was Mary Keefe sister to Joe Keefe, father of Florence. So Florence and my grandmother were first cousins."
m. George W. Wallace and had son John Wallace. John m. Eva Gaudet and had daughter Jean Wallace (291)
Rev P. McIntyre, sponsored by John Keefe and Mary Rowe.
Wandering Back:
Catherine (1856-1930) married George Wallace (1850-1948) in 1878. They lived in the Alma homestead of Catherine's mother. Their children: Mary Bernice, Maurice Joseph, Anne F., Mary Ester, Clara Effie, John Patrick, George Leo, Albert Edward, William Brendon and Mary.

Maurice Fitzgerald, road builder

     I read this excert on page 32 in the book, "Goin' to the Corner: a history of Elmsdale" Vol.1.
     "In 1923 there were highway improvements made (( to the Western Road )) between Bloomfiel and Elmsdale.  The tender for the project were awarded to Maurice Fitzgerald of Laretta."

Holy Trinity Anglican Church at Christmas

     This photo was taken the Christmas following a summer when many repairs and improvements were carried-out to the church, churchyard and cemetery.  
     In recent years at Christmas a wreath is hung on the door even though the church is only used seasonally in summer.