William James Whitehead Jr

              William James Whitehead

          April 20, 1912- March 22, 1961

         (as told by Hazel Whitehead Bowie his daughter)

William, better known as Bill, came to Canada about 1906 with his wife Sara, and one child Ross, very young and full of adventure.  This was  at the same time that his father William James Sr. and his family came to Claresolm district.  They all settled on a homestead four miles south and two miles west.  

Bill and Sara weren’t there long at the time, and after a short stay returned to Idaho.  They returned to the Claresholm district in 1916 and settled one and a half miles south of town.  This time, they had two more children, a son Connel and a daughter Hazel.

As the family settled in the new land there was hard work and many hardships to overcome, very little money but they had a great will to make a new home.  Everyone was having the same experience and it was a great promising adventure.

The day’s work started early.  All chores had to be done before going to work in the fields.  In the winter the hour to rise was still early to get the family off to school as they had to drive some distance in a buggy or sleigh.

In those days, people had to make their own entertainment on the farm.  On winter evenings we would sit around the kitchen table, where the lamp was and Mother would read a book aloud to the family, perhaps tow or three chapters at a time.  It was one of our few pleasures and we could hardly wait for the plot of the story to unfold. 

It was really something when the radio was invented.  Dad bought one (Day Fan).  At first it just had ear phones and we took turns in listening.  It was wonderful!  After we got a loud speaker, neighbours would come over to listen to our favourite program, W.W. Grant from Calgary broadcasting Old Time music.

DeLyle was born here on this farm in 1919 and Boyd was born in a little house in town just east of the old Presbyterian Church (Masonic Lodge now) in 1921.  We had moved into town for the winter making it easier to go to school.

My grandfather owned a threshing machine and would go around doing threshing throughout the country.  There weren’t too many outfits at the time and they used a big steam engine.  It was a thrilling sight to watch we though.  Bill ran the stook loader which was operated with the horses.  It was fun to visit the cook car with lots of good food and always as apple or a piece of apple pie to be had.  The men that lived near always went home on Saturday night for Sunday.  Threshing time was very exciting and important.  Often it would rain in the Fall and it prolonged the event.

Even though it took longer to put crops in, summer fallow and harvest neighbours seemed to have more time to visit and become acquainted.  In the winter there were house parties, school dances and sleigh rides.  Everyone attended the dances, kids and all.  Dad would hitch up the team to the democrat or sleigh and away we would go to a neighbours and stay all day.  If a storm blew in we would have to stay all night.  The poor cows would just have to wait to be milked until morning.

In the summer there were picnics and sports days.  We made our own fun.

Saturday night was THE night to go to town!  The stores stayed open until eleven o’clock and shopping for the week was done.  Perhaps we would go to the Saturday night show if we could get the money.  We would try to get in early to get a parking place (we had a car now) on main street.  We could sit in it and watch the people go by, and visit with neighbours and friends, it was exciting!

I can remember our first car.  Dad bought it in 1918 in November.  We went to town to celebrate Armistice Day of World War One.  It was a Ford Touring car.  The top would come down and there were curtains that could be drawn on the sides.

In 1929 Dad sold the farm to Ben Andrews and took Ben’s house in town for a down payment.  Dad took a barbering course and set up business in a little shop just west of the old Wilton Hotel.  However, after a few years farming lured him back to the fields.  He went to the Raymond district where he lived until the time of his death on March 22, 1961.

Mother died in Lethbridge on November 6, 1964.

There were five children, sixteen grandchildren, and twenty-six great children in 1974.

Ross the oldest married Valeria Anderson from Barnwell, Alberta and went down there to farm.  They had three boys: Bernard, Ray and Preston.  Ross passed away in May of 1951.

Connel married Vivian Lucas of Stavely, Alberta.  They had five children: Bryan, Sharan, LeRoy, Larry, and Roseanne.  They lived most of their lives in Stavely and Calgary.  Connel passed away in February 1957.

Hazel went to school at Hoosier, Northern Lights and Claresholm.  She later went to hairdressing school in Lethbridge and spent time working with her father in his shop.  She married Mike Bowie from Claresholm, Alberta.  They had two boys: Gerald (Gary) and Douglas Boyd.  They lived in Claresholm until 1957.  Mike passed away in Lethbridge in 2001 and Hazel in 2007.

DeLyle received most of his schooling in Claresholm and then went to school in Logan, Utah to finish.  He married Shirley Butler from Fort Macleod.  They had four girls: Louise, Kathleen, Diane and Marie.  They made their home in Macleod during the war where he worked at the airport.  Then to Lethbridge to work for the city as paymaster.  DeLyle died in 1966.

Boyd, the youngest, went to school at Hoosier, Claresholm and Logan, Utah.  He was very good in athletics and track and field events.  He married Marguerite Miller and they had two children Lynda and Donald.  They lived in Claresholm most of the time.  He sold Chrysler cars in town.  Boyd passed away in 198 .