| Notes |
- Stephen Hickling writes in Long Shadows: A History of Shortgrass Country (1974):
Dad went to Southern Alberta shortly after their marriage and Mother went two or three months later. ... As to why Dad decided to go to Alberta, it was probably the spirit of adventure! He was the eldest in a family of six, which may have had something to do with it. They settled near Lucky Strike. I think Dad may have stayed with neighbours while he put up his buildings before Mother came. In December of 1918, Mother and Dad decided to go back to Ontario for Christmas. They had been away for almost nine years and I imagine they wanted to show their offspring to their parents. The fall of 1918 was very bad for flu. Mother was very sick when we arrived at Dad’s old home in Ontario on December 22nd. She went right to bed, pneumonia developed, and she died December 29th and was buried January 1st, 1919. So that left Dad a widower, 32 years old, with three young children on his hands. Dad’s parents took care of us children and we remained in Ontario. During the years 1919 to 1924, Dad was back and forth between Ontario and the homestead several times. He married Agnes McLean of Hanover, Ontario in March of 1925. They went back to Alberta after their wedding and stayed there until the spring of 1928 when they sold out and returned to the Hanover district where they farmed until Dad died in January 1946.
Dad and his new wife had one son in the West but he died soon after birth. They had two more sons, Harry and Elmer, after their return to Ontario. ...
Dad was very fond of horses. I can remember him going to a rodeo at Lucky Strike when he took one of the ohorses he was driving out of harness and put him in a bucking contest. He threw everyone who tried to ride him.
Dad worked in the Simpson mine in the slack season. As kids, we and neighbour boys by the name of Simpson used to dig into the hillsides and find coal.
Water was pulled up out of wells with a rope and pail. The well that I remember was about half a mile away. Dad used to haul water in barrels on a stoneboat.
When we came out to Ontario, Mr. Walks drove us to the station at Warner in his Chevy car. It was 45 miles and we had seven blowouts. They ended up wiring the tires on. Things got so bad that Dad was afraid we were going to miss the train so we hailed a Ford that came along and piled our belongings into it. That was fine til we ran out of gas! Eventually we made it. We stayed at Lethbridge overnight at my aunt’s and Dad took Arnold and me to see a movie. ...
When the Stephen Hicklings were in Alberta in 1968, they went to see the old homestead. There were no signs of the buildings but they found where they had been.
Moved to Groton, Alberta after marriage in 1910. [4, 5]
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1886 - 1946 (59 years)
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