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<\/a>To say our grandfather lived an interesting life would be an understatement.\u00a0 Thanks to a large number of grand-children, all of whom were directly touched by this complicated yet gentle man, and their manifold recollections of him at various points of his \u201cjourney\u201d, we know a great deal about him.\u00a0 His travels from England, to South Africa, twice to North America and around the horn of South America are legend in our family.<\/p>\n
Yet there are some mysteries about Grampa.\u00a0 <\/span>To begin with, why does his birth date alternate between 1881 and 1883 on various official documents? (Of course we know that it was 1881 because Grampa used to delight in telling us that it was the same right side up as upside down.) \u00a0 What kind of demons must have stayed with him throughout his life as a result of the shooting<\/a><\/em>\u00a0at Venn Mill in 1891, or the horrors of war in South Africa and\u00a0 <\/span>poison gas in France? \u00a0He was clearly a man of his time, a patriot and an adventurer, who saw his duty to his country and was dramatically lured to the Canadian gold fields.\u00a0 <\/span>In his later life, we saw him as\u00a0 <\/span>a loving family man who took us in his self-built clinker boat around Howe Sound, gathered little groups of us, his grandchildren,\u00a0around him and took us to the PNE \u2013 giving us each the treasured 1 dollar bill (which went a long way at that\u00a0fair\u00a0in the mid-1950s).\u00a0 <\/span>We also knew him as a fun-loving man who, if you were brave enough to walk up the stairs to his room on 27th Ave., \u00a0had humbug candies for us sugar-crazed grandchildren, and if you were lucky enough to sit next to him at a family dinner, would give you the icing off his piece of cake, claiming he didn\u2019t like icing. \u00a0We remember him also as a religious man. \u00a0Whether it was the fundamentalism of the Strict Baptist church of his father, the oft-mentioned Church of England on his various military documents or the Presbyterian \u00a0Church in Edmonton, he always spent Sundays at rest, frequently alone in his room, reading his bible. He also had a secular streak<\/a>.<\/i><\/span>\u00a0 For our parents, a visit from Grampa meant putting in a garden<\/a>, the construction of a new paddleboard or raft at Boundary Bay, a bridge<\/a> over a creek in the back yard at Aldergrove or a pruned tree in Gibsons, using the pen-knife which he always carried with him. \u00a0And of course, he would never say goodbye without a game of \u201ctouched you last\u201d.<\/p>\n Early Years in England<\/b><\/p>\n Born in Venn Mill house, he was the 6th of 10 children in a family which modeled the size of his own later in life. It is never a surprise to see such large families in these times, but interestingly, his was the only one of size amongst his siblings.\u00a0 Heber had two children, Percy and Frederick had one each, the rest had no children, and three of the four sisters never married.\u00a0 As a result, we have very few second cousins\u00a0in our\u00a0large family.\u00a0Grampa\u2019s brother Heber came to Canada also, but in spite of a\u00a0divorce, his daughter Ruth (later referred to as Arlet) in latter years attended several family picnics.\u00a0Frederick also came to Canada, abandoning\u00a0his wife Minnie and son Dennis behind in England.\u00a0 Of greatest interest to us all, however, was Percy\u2019s daughter Mary Irish, whose interest in and devotion to her Vancouver cousins was the \u201cglue\u201d to reunite and sustain the history and relationships in our English\u00a0and Canadian families. We can only speculate how much this incident contributed to Grampa\u2019s decision to sign up for military service (age 15) in 1896.\u00a0 <\/span>Father William Westell West (WWW) apparently \u201cbought him out\u201d shortly thereafter.\u00a0 <\/span>3 years later, not needing permission, 18 year old John joined up with the newly formed 58th Company, 15th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, to fight in the\u00a0Boer War<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>It is clear from the documentation that he fought in the\u00a0Relief of Mafeking, but no records exist showing how much longer he remained in action, other than the fact that the term of his contract was one year.\u00a0Cousin John West has Grampa\u2019s gold watch, \u00a0which was presented to him personally by Edward the VII for heroism in the Boer war.\u00a0 <\/span>The report tells us\u00a0that\u00a0 <\/span>as a scout he was wounded with a bullet in his ankle while returning to his regiment to report a Boer position, thereby enabling\u00a0another British victory.\u00a0 (See also “Steve’s Story<\/a>”\u00a0about\u00a0Grampa\u00a0as told to him by Uncle Phil. )\u00a0<\/span>We also know that he left for Canada to go to the Klondike Gold Rush, but he was stopped short of his goal by being shanghaiied<\/a>\u00a0out of Tacoma and being returned to Dublin some time later that year. \u00a0Some years ago, cousin Helen had an article in the Victoria Times Colonist on the same subject<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Percy told me a story about his\u00a0planning to accompany Grampa to the Klondike, but he was\u00a0deterred from doing so by WWW, who when passing by him\u00a0in a hallway at\u00a0Venn Mill said, \u201cGet a return ticket boy!\u201d<\/p>\n They were married in 1904<\/a>, Jack was born in 1905 and Elsie in 1907.\u00a0 <\/span>In 2012, I visited John (our eldest cousin), in Red Deer.\u00a0 <\/span>At one point he made reference to a comment from Grampa saying that he came to Canada with \u201cLloyd<\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>At that point, I had no idea who Lloyd was, but it opened up a whole new area of interest for me.<\/p>\n Click image below for\u00a0\u00a0early photos of John & Emma’s family<\/em><\/p>\n Emigration to Canada<\/b><\/p>\n The history of the trip to Canada and settlement on the prairies is blurry at times, but we know the following from birth certificates,\u00a0passenger lists and census documents.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n With infants Jack and\u00a0Elsie the family\u00a0departed on the S.S. “Corsican<\/a>”\u00a0from Liverpool on March 19,\u00a01908 , arriving in Halifax<\/a>\u00a0on March 29.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their mode of transportation to Alberta undoubtedly included\u00a0rail at least as far as Saskatoon. The northern line, Grand Trunk Pacific GTPR,\u00a0was completed to Saskatoon in 1907 and Edmonton in 1909. \u00a0It\u2019s more likely they took\u00a0the Canadian Northern (CNor) via Winnipeg.\u00a0 <\/span>They lived for a several months in Namao, Alberta, a rural township north of Edmonton, where Phil was born on July 4.\u00a0 <\/span>It is unclear why they spent this time there except possibly due to the presence of a pioneer family in the area who also bore Gramma\u2019s family name: “Long”.\u00a0 <\/span>Annie Long was a legendary \u201cangel\u201d in the area, who was instrumental in a number of benevolent activies including founding the area\u2019s first Presbyterian Church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>She seems a likely candidate to have had something to do with the family\u2019s sojourn in Namao.\u00a0 <\/span>Grampa\u2019s family at Venn Mill also had had regular connections with an another\u00a0“Long” family (William Long) across the field in Garford, who may have provided the Alberta contact. \u00a0The name Namao was also listed as Grampa\u2019s residence in a curious document: \u201cCanadian South African Service \u2013 Application for Volunteer Bounty<\/span><\/a>\u201d. I say \u201ccurious\u201d since he only enters his name and town of residence and the rest of the application is crossed out.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps at some point he discovered that this programme required that he be a Canadian citizen at the time of his Boer War service, and he then abandoned the application, but this doesn\u2019t explain why the application was filed.\u00a0 <\/span>In any case, he filed a regular Canadian homestead application in May of 1909.<\/p>\n Homesteading in Alberta<\/b><\/p>\n The Alberta Archives office in Edmonton yielded\u00a0microfilm documents<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for 2 quarter sections, one registered in Grampa\u2019s name, coordinates: NE24-48-3W4 and another application by Grampa for his brother Frederick (SW24-48-3W4). They\u00a0show residence from May 5, 1909 until sometime after receiving notification of patent (title) on June 27, 1912, confirming the period of farming.\u00a0 <\/span>Other family events match this time frame.\u00a0Edna was born <\/a>\u00a0in nearby Lloydminster on July 28, 1910.<\/p>\n <\/i>Harold was born in 1912 at \u201cEarlie\u201d, the district where the farm was. \u00a0This area is also known as Paradise Valley. \u00a0The nearest town and railway station is Kitscoty, 25 km to the north. \u00a0In February, 2015, we visited the land which has a modern house and farm in the southwest quarter section (Fred\u2019s land), but there was no visible residence on the northeast. (Grampa\u2019s).\u00a0 I have spoken with the current owners and determined that there is a yard site and a well site in the on the northeast section (s.e. corner \u2013 see map<\/a>) and a large (probably 100 year old) maple tree (not indigenous to the area – see photo on homepage).\u00a0This immediately turned my memory to the story of Grampa bringing a maple sapling to England\u00a0which he planted in the front yard of Laurel House, Broad Oak, Heathfield, Sussex, the home of his\u00a0parents (W.W.W. and Sarah). This was possibly during his 1937 visit to attend the Coronation, but\u00a0as we read the details of his war service, it\u2019s even more possible that he brought it while visiting hisfamily from his army camp at Folkestone in 1915. \u00a0For the three months while he was stationed\u00a0there, he was only 50 miles away. \u00a0After being gassed at Passendale, he was hospitalized at\u00a0Purfleet, near London, and his England family undoubtedly visited him during this time. It\u00a0was called\u00a0the First\u00a0World War, but the center of action was\u00a0staggeringly near<\/a><\/i>\u00a0our family. \u00a0Auntie Ruth once\u00a0told me that she could hear the sounds of the artillery in Belgium during those years. \u00a0They must have been terrifying years. \u00a0Even Rudyard Kipling in his jingoistic justification of “Empire” and thereby war reveals, in his short stories, the isolation, the desolation and the harsh reality of service experienced by those who came to realize that that they had come out to serve “thankless” years” in alien “lands”.<\/p>\n <\/i>Grampa and family lived on the farm from May 1909 (with 3 kids) \u2013 until at least 1913 (with 5 kids).\u00a0 Fred lived and worked the farm from May to November each year to fulfill his requirements for homestead completion. It is hard to imagine<\/a>\u00a0tilling the soil \u00a0for the first time with a team of oxen not to mention\u00a0the harsh winters in this part of the world. The documents also reveal the buildings and crop yield for each year, another requirement (in addition to clearing the land) for a successful homestead application. Curiously the family (with 4 kids) appear in the 1911 census as living in Edmonton.\u00a0 The most logical theory is that they bought their house in Edmonton (9724 100th St.) prior to that, living in the city during the winter months of 1911 and 1912, moving back to the farm in the summers (where Harold\u00a0was born on April 29, 1912).\u00a0 Also strangely, the 1911 census form\u00a0 (although census forms are notorious for inaccuracies), has Elsie born in Alberta (not Venn Mill), and Edna & Phil as born in Saskatchewan.\u00a0 This is not a surprise for Edna since Lloydminster is half in Saskatchewan, but we know Phil was born in Alberta (Namao). Grampa wrote an \u00a0undated account<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0taking a load of wheat to sell in Lloydminster, 25 miles away.\u00a0 The fact that the homestead\u00a0is a similar distance from Lloydminster probably confirms the location and time frame of the family in \u201cEarlie\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0Click for article “Sad ending to a homestead”<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Back in Edmonton, apparently more permanently, Fred was born on March 7, 1914. \u00a0My mom\u2019s (Elsie\u2019s) first scrap-book entry is a certificate from 1914 for Sunday School attendance at Ross Flats Presbyterian probably near their house in the present day area of Rossdale. The next entry is a concert programme<\/a>\u00a0from 1917 with a delightful listing of mom and Jack as ushers.<\/p>\n Gramma Emma (Long)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n By contrast with\u00a0 <\/span>Grampa\u2019s exciting life in documents and stories, emma’s family<\/a>\u00a0exists in shadow. The fact that she died less than a year before I was born contributes largely to my own\u00a0perception.\u00a0 <\/span>But there is much more to it than that.<\/p>\n These circumstances speak\u00a0to the reality of the war years in which Gramma single-handedly looked after 6 children (and gave birth to a 7th) while having no news from Grampa for months at a time.\u00a0They also speak\u00a0to the conditions of war-wives and women who gave birth to large families in\u00a0pioneer areas such as Alberta in those years. \u00a0Auntie Marjorie once spoke to me about these issues and told a story of Gramma Emma during the time of the great Edmonton flood of July, 1915. \u00a0With Grampa off to the First War she was full of despair. With 6 children to take care of and being flooded<\/a> out of their home, she walked to the river\u2019s edge, took off her wedding ring, and threw it into the river. \u00a0Edna once told cousin Ann that her first memory was of being carried out of the flooded house by a fireman.\u00a0 Cousin Diane remembers the aunts talking about Gramma living in a sod hut and changing a baby’s diaper (probably Phil since he was born in 1908 and they would have lived in a temporary sod hut before the farmhouse was built in 1910). \u00a0By the time she had finished changing\u00a0the baby and reached for the soiled diaper, it was frozen solid). \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I am left with the sadness that I never knew this wonderful woman and with the words of my own mother in a letter following Gramma\u2019s death from stomach cancer: \u201cthe dearest and most unselfish mother in the world\u201d. \u00a0The growth of this wonderful family<\/a>\u00a0during the difficult\u00a0years of\u00a0homesteading and Gramma’s single-handed nurturing during the war years show a woman of giant stature!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Several documents have been of great assistance in determining Grampa’s war record. Barry had several, including discharge papers from 1915, 1916 and 1918. \u00a0Grampa\u2019s \u201cAttestation form\u201d from his first sign-up with the Canadian forces (May 16th, 1915\u00a0) confirms his regiment: 49th battalion, (Loyal Edmonton) and his regimental number:\u00a0433177\u00a0and the dates of his first wartime service.\u00a0It also shows the family\u2019s\u00a0address as 9724 100th St,\u00a0a location which is clearly on the Edmonton River (Ross) Flats, the\u00a0house which was flooded (shortly after\u00a0Grampa signed up) in June of 1915.<\/p>\n (<\/i><\/b>click for attestations<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a>).<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n His regiment left for England in August, training at St. Martin\u2019s Plain, near Folkestone \u00a0in England until Oct. 8, when the bulk of the regiment was\u00a0\u00a0sent to France. \u00a0According to Grampa\u2019s regimental record, \u201cother ranks (were) transferred to the 9th Battalion\u201d (C.E.F. Canadian Expeditionary Forces) and the rest were \u201cstruck off the strength of this battalion\u201d. (see regimental repor<\/i><\/b><\/span>t<\/span><\/a>) This was explained to me as being \u201cheld in reserve\u201d.\u00a0 According to his war record, he obtained a medical discharge in November and returned home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Second Period of Service (January 1 \u2013 March 1, 1916)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n After his discharge in France, Grampa, \u201cPrivate John West\u201d, signed up again, this time with the Canadian Active Militia. \u00a0This seems surprisingly quick given his injury, but during the war this was probably the best way he could support his\u00a0growing family. \u00a0The\u00a0 \u201cAttestation form\u201d from this second sign-up with the Canadian forces is dated December 8, 1915<\/b>,\u00a0and the address as 1971 79th St., \u00a0a location south of the centre\u00a0of the city in an area called Strathcona, probably temporary housing for victims of the flood earlier in the year. John Aldworth West \u2013 regimental # 279533 had\u00a0signed up for the third time in the war in\u00a0April of 1916\u00a0<\/b>and was honorably discharged on July 14th, 1918. He served with the 8th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops, a regiment with a unique mission. \u00a0(see details above).<\/p>\n The war years and Grampa’s family in England<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n –<\/b><\/p>\n The move to Vancouver<\/b><\/p>\n A soldier land settlement railway certificate (#25459), dated June 26, 1919<\/b>, enables J.A. West (age 37) return travel from Edmonton to Calgary (pte #279533 Battalion 218, a subdivision of the 8th battalion, age 37, discharge certificate #39). \u00a0We know that the family left Edmonton for Calgary in\u00a0 1919<\/b> and this ticket was probably provided by the war department for vets, possibly related to medical treatment for Grampa\u2019s lung problems.<\/p>\n The family stayed in Calgary (where Ruth was born on May 29, 1919<\/b>) for only a few months before moving to Vancouver, on the recommendation of physicians.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In 1920<\/b> they moved to the to Stone House near Elliot St. & 56th Ave., and in 1922<\/b> to 161 62nd Ave E., where they lived for six years.\u00a0 <\/span>During that time, in 1924<\/b>, Gramma returned for a few months to England to visit her\u00a0family.\u00a0 <\/span>The West home was\u00a0 <\/span>frequented on Sundays by a number of close friends and relatives, notably Charlie and Vera Baker (whom they had met in Edmonton), and of course Heber, Frederick and on occasion Asher and wife Mary.\u00a0 <\/span>On those occasions, the house was filled with song, the voices of Phil and Fred being particularly remembered. \u00a0 <\/span>In 1928<\/b> they lived for short periods of time on 71st Ave. in Marpole and later on #18 Rd. on Lulu Island.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>From 1929<\/b> until 1937<\/b>, they lived at 2415 Dunbar St. This was the depression, but both Grampa and Uncle Jack were fortunate enough to work on the \u201cnew\u201d Vancouver City Hall and Burrard Bridge during those years.\u00a0 <\/span>In 1937<\/b>, both Gramma and Grampa travelled to England for the coronation<\/a>\u00a0and in that same year, they moved to 3040 7th Ave, near Balaclava & Bayswater St.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n When the family was<\/span>\u00a0grown, Gramma and Grampa\u00a0moved to live with Jack and Margaret on Brighouse Rd., Lulu Island in 1940. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Ann\u00a0remembers when Gramma got sick, that the\u00a0kids were not allowed inside. Instead, Grandpa put up an old heavy canvas tent on a wooden base just outside that John, Bill & Ann\u00a0played in while their mom and dad visited.<\/p>\n <\/b>\u00a0<\/span>In 1941<\/b>, after a lengthy illness, Grandma died and was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.\u00a0 <\/span>Grampa lived on with various members of the family, and during those years travelled frequently including several trips to\u00a0Hawaii and the Caribbean. \u00a0We were all blessed by the\u00a030 years more we spent with him. \u00a0He died in 1973<\/b> and was buried alongside his beloved Emma.<\/p>\n And so the \u201codyssey\u201d of the West family continues\u00a0with all us “Kuzzins” and our families.\u00a0 The success of the West brothers and sisters has been legendary and there are (John) Wests all over Western Canada to prove it and the family just grows & grows & grows…..<\/p>\n (Click below to enlarge family pictures from 1910 to 2014)<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nThe\u00a0\u00a0Gun accident story\u00a0was told to me in 1994 by Jack Ireson, \u00a0but it was unknown to any of the Vancouver aunts or uncles.\u00a0 <\/span>The accident\u00a0was reluctantly confirmed by Mary Irish a few years later, who said \u201cI can’t tell you which brother it was but it wasn\u2019t my dad\u201d (Percy).\u00a0 <\/span>From then until 2012, I wondered if it was Grampa.\u00a0 <\/span>Then during the \u201ckuzzins\u201d visit in 2012, Becky Harris (a \u201cLong\u201d cousin) presented me with a digital copy of an actual Thames Valley Times newspaper article from 1891\u00a0which gave the tragic details.\u00a0 <\/span>Another family story suggested a related ongoing rift between the Venn Mill family and the Lower Hanney Mill family (upstream from Venn).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Sometime in the 1890s, the upstream miller (probably Daniel West Jr., Fanny Simmons\u2019 brother) cut\u00a0off the water to Venn Mill, rendering it inoperable. However, cousin Colin Smith sheds doubt on this\u00a0story\u00a0by suggesting that water must go somewhere, and such an action would probably have flooded\u00a0the adjacent lands in short order.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Enter Emma Long.\u00a0 <\/span>Gramma\u2019s birth dates also vary between 1877 and 1880.\u00a0 <\/span>She was also\u00a0born to a large family, the third of six but, unlike Grampa\u2019s family,\u00a0 <\/span>five of her siblings had full families ranging from 4 to 6 children. Her parents Philip and Harriet Long ran a\u00a0bakery<\/a>\u00a0in<\/span> East Hanney. \u00a0She had\u00a0long hair as a girl.\u00a0 Percy and Grampa John both tried to sit by Emma at school.\u00a0 Grampa \u201cwon\u201d her! \u00a0She married Grampa in 1904 and they lived at Venn Mill. \u00a0There are Stories<\/a> of Grampa delivering flour from the Venn Mill to her father Philip Long.\u00a0 It would seem that this is how he met Emmma.\u00a0 Late in 1902 Grampa\u00a0took over the operation of Venn Mill, and it\u2019s a pretty good guess that his serious courtship of Emma began.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>Grampa’s War Diary – a comprehensive report by Bruce More<\/a><\/b><\/h5>\n
First World War<\/b>\u00a0– First period of service (May 16, 1915 \u2013 November 10,\u00a01915)<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
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\n<\/span><\/a>\u00a0He served as an Internment Camp guard in Jasper,\u00a0 Alberta from January 1 to March 14th, 1916<\/b>, when he was discharged. (A handwritten note in the upper left corner of the certificate says, \u201cCharacter Very Good\u201d.) \u00a0Ken was born in Edmonton on Sept. 25, 1917,\u00a0<\/b>and sadly Grampa was not present for the birth.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Third Period of Service (April 17, 1916 \u2013 1918)<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>\n
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