Rebecca Bricker

Other Events:

• Name: Rebecca Bruecker
• Name: Rebecca Eby
• Eby ID Number: 00016-1346
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Rebecca Bricker,"the seventh child of Samuel and Rebecca (Eby) Bricker, was born September 22nd, 1819. On November 7th, 1837, she was married to John Eby, a farmer. They resided on the farm, now known as the "Poor House Farm," a little east of Berlin where she died May 11th, 1872. To them was born a family of seven children".


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

Rebecca married John Eby 7 Nov 1837, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. John (son of Deacon Samuel Eby and Elizabeth Break) was born 7 Aug 1814, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 6 Mar 1899, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00031-2761
• Occupation: 1861, Absent; Student
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1864, Sebastopol, South Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario

Notes:

Aaron Eby, "the eldest of the family, was born August 14th, 1838, and is married to Matilda Bowers. He is a doctor and has been very successful in his practice up to the present. He is located in Sebringville, Ontario, and has had a family of seven children, namely: Rose, who died at the age of 21, Elizabeth, Robert, Minnie, Cyrus, Frederick, and Grace."

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

___________________

Queen Street North, East Side.

Huber and Ahrens occupied the corner as a store and had a warehouse at the rear. The first section of the American Block was built in 1862. It contained a hotel with entrance on Queen Street and stores on the King Street front.

A meat shop occupied by one Schaefer and later by Crozier. This building was later occupied by Von Ebenau, a German toy dealer. He also built some sidewalks for the village in 1857.

A long two story frame building originally used by C. Ahrens as a barn and later by John Jacob Woelfle, a plough maker, who had a shop at one end and lived in the rest of the building. He had worked in the foundry on Foundry St. and after this shut down started his own shop. The building was later occupied by Rev. Jacob Wagner, who died there.

In 1858 a two story frame building was erected by Louis Breithaupt as his office and leather store. This was the first building on this site.

A 1 1/2 story dwelling with veranda lengthwise with Queen St. occupied by jailer Walden. Dr. Whiting later lived in this building for a time.

A small house occupied by Mrs. Harbin, (widow of Rev. Harbin who was Swedenborgian minister in Berlin) and her sister, Mrs. Wheeler.

A garden owned by Thomas Sparrow, with balsam trees along the street, adjoining the Sparrow's two story house with gable toward Queen St. and long veranda. Sparrow later moved to Galt.

A two story plaster building painted red with ground floor considerably above the sidewalk level and steps leading up to it, occupied by the Commercial Bank.

St. Peter's Church, formerly a vacant lot belonging to Mrs. Krug. The lot extended to Weber St. and to Mrs. Krug's house on Frederick St. This site was at one time favorably considered for the Central School, but it was decided that the ground would not be large enough. The present parsonage of St. Peter's Church was built by Dr. Eby, a native of Berlin, who had been living in Sebringville. He was the oldest son of John Eby spoken of as on Frederick Street. He married a daughter of Cyrus Bowers.

Weber Street.

County Buildings.

Jail and Jailer's residence with a barn at the rear. The jail was built some time after the Court House, about 1860.

Ahrens Street.

One and a half story frame building painted red, the dwelling of Charles Roos, a cabinet maker in Hoffman's factory.

Frame building, the house of Mr. Stuebing, later occupied by Charles Peterson.

Small dwelling.

Street.

A brick yard operated by Nicholas Zieger who made puddled brick by hand. Later the brick yard belonged to John Dauberger whose house, a red frame building, was on the corner of Ellen and Queen.

REMINISCENCES OF BERLIN (NOW KITCHENER) By JACOB STROH Contributed by Joseph M. Snyder.

Part I. Settlement - Early Villagers and Buildings, Waterloo Historical Society Annual Volume 1930

Aaron married Matilda Croft Bowers 7 Jun 1864, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Matilda (daughter of Reeve Cyrus Bowers, Esq. and Elizabeth C. Croft) was born 1 Apr 1844, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 8 Jul 1923; was buried , First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00031-2762
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Sophia Eby, "was born June 10th, 1840, and died April 11th, 1868. She was not married."


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

Other Events:

• Name: Veronica Fordney
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2763
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Veronica Eby, "was born March 25th, 1842. She is married to Peter Fordney and resides in Petoskey, Michigan. They have a family of seven children whose names are as follows: Abner, Moses, Hannah, Edward, Lydia Ann, Angeline, and Matilda."


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

Veronica — Peter Fordney. Peter was born Abt 1840, Of, Petoskey, Emmet, Michigan, USA; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00031-2764
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-153905
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00031-2765
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Other Events:

• Name: Magdelena "Maggie" Dunham
• Residence: 362 Frederick St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2766
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1880, Clifford, Minto Twp., Wellington Co., Ontario
• Residence: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Residence: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Residence: 1921, 362 Frederick St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist

Notes:

Magdalena Eby, "was born April 19th, 1851. She was married to Martin Dunham, June 10th, 1880. They reside on her father's old place, consisting of a few acres of land with dwelling, which Mr. Eby reserved when he disposed of his farm to the County Council. They have a family of four children, namely: Bertha Mabel, Franklin, Edith, and Herbert (dead)."

Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

________________

Mrs. Martin Dunham

Another link with the early days in Kitchener and Waterloo county was broken in the death at the K.-W. Hospital Tuesday morning of Mrs. Magdalena Eby Dunham. relict of the late Martin Dunham in her 78th year. Mrs. Dunham enjoyed good health until about two months ago when she was removed to the hospital.

A daughter of the late John Eby Mrs. Dunham was born on the Eby homestead, Frederick street farm at one time comprising of the house of refuge property a tending to the Five Points. Her father built the Eby homestead and brought Rebecca Bricker there bride in 1837. Mrs. Dunham was born in 1851 and at five years of age was a pupil in the first class at the opening of the old Central school in 1856. Both grandparents came to Waterloo county from Pennsylvania in the first decade of the last century. Samuel Eby settling near the head of Queen street on the road to Bridgeport Bridgeport and Samuel Bricker, who took a dramatic part in trek from Pennsylvania at Chicopee. Mrs. Dunham was of a family of seven....[rest missing]

Waterloo Chronicle, 14 Feb 1929, p. 7

Magdelena married Martin Dunham 10 Jun 1880. Martin was born 30 Jun 1855, East Gwillimbury, Simcoe Co., Ontario; died 3 Jun 1920, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , First Mennonite Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Interesting: pioneer, story
• Name: Susie Eby
• Residence: 362 Frederick St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2767
• Residence: 1861, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1939, 178 Frederick St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

Notes:

Susannah Eby, "was born September 22nd, 1858. She is unmarried and resides with her father."


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

______________________________

Miss Susannah Eby

One of the County's oldest citizens Susannah Eby, aged 80, descendant of Samuel Eby, passed away on Tuesday afternoon at her home, 178 Frederick St., Kitchener. The late Miss Eby was the youngest and only surviving member of the John and Rebecca Eby family and was born at the Eby homestead, built in 1837, now 362 Frederick Street. In her youth the farm included what is now the House of Refuge property. When stricken with blindness, her father sold his farm to the county for the House of Refuge, reserving the house and five acres of land. This was sold later to his son-in-law, Martin Dunham. Her grandparents were pioneers who came to Waterloo County from Pennsylvania in the early years of the 19th century. Her grandfather, Samuel Eby, was one of the six original settlers of this community. Her mother's father was Samuel Bricker, who played a dramatic role in the mortgage episode of 1802-1805. Deceased was a member of the Trinity United Church and for many years taught a young women's Bible class and for 36 years acted as treasurer of the Sunday School. A private funeral service is being held at the Ratz-Bechtel Funeral Home today (Friday) at 2 p.m., followed by public service at 2.30 in Trinity United Church. Rev. W. E. Pescott of Toronto, a former pastor, will be in charge. Interment in First Mennonite Cemetery.

The Waterloo Chronicle Jul 14 1939 pg 3

Other Events:

• Name: Rosa Eby
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2761.2

Notes:

Rose was studying medical science.

Other Events:

• Name: Elizabeth Eby McFarlane
• Eby ID Number: 00013-1151.3
• Occupation: 1900, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Student and Teacher

Elizabeth married Rev. John Cowan McFarlane 28 Jun 1900, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. John (son of John McFarlane and Christina McCowan) was born 1866, Brucefield, Huron Co., Ontario; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Robert Eby
• Eby ID Number: 00013-1151.4

Other Events:

• Name: Dorothy Eby
• Eby ID Number: 00013-1151.5
• Occupation: 1901, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Teacher

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00013-1151.6

Other Events:

• Occupation: Austin, Travis, Texas, United States; Professor University of Texas
• Eby ID Number: 00013-1151.7

Notes:

Frederick was the son of Aaron Eby and Matilda Bowers Eby. He was born in Berlin, Canada, and the name of this city was later changed to Kitchner. In about 1900, Frederick Eby and Elizabeth Newman were married in York, Ontario, Canada. Frederick was a Professor of History and later Chairman of the Departments of History and Philosphy at the University of Texas. He was the husband of Elizabeth Newman Eby.

Frederick Eby, S., Cemetery, A., America, N., County, T., & Cemetery, A. (1874). Frederick Eby, Sr (1874-1968) - Find A Grave.... Findagrave.com. Retrieved 27 October 2019, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40065632/frederick-eby

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00013-1151.8

Other Events:

• Interesting: education, author, story, honoured, woman
• Name: B. Mabel Dunham
• Name: Mabel Dunham
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2766.2
• Residence: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Occupation: 1901, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Public School Teacher
• Occupation: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Librarian Public Library
• Residence: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Occupation: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Librarian, Library
• Residence: 1921, 362 Frederick St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region: Bef 2012, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

Notes:

One of Canada's most noted authors, B. Mabel Dunham, was always conscious of the value of history and enriched Canadian literature with her books: The Trail of the Conestoga; Toward Sodom; The Trail of the King's Men; Grand River and Kristli's Trees.

Dunham was born on a farm near Harriston. Her family moved to Berlin when she was six. She was educated at Central (Suddaby) School and Berlin High School, taught in Berlin briefly, and then attended Victoria College, Toronto, and McGill University, Montreal, where she completed a course in Library Science. Dunham was librarian of the Kitchener Public Library from 1908 until her retirement in 1944, the first trained librarian to be in charge of a public library in Ontario.

She was a member of the Canadian Club and the University Women's Club, serving as president of both.

Dunham was the only woman in the original membership of the Waterloo Historical Society and later served as president.

Waterloo Region Hall of Fame

_____________________

MISS B. M. DUNHAM RESIGNS FROM KITCHENER LIBRARY

It was with regret that the students of Waterloo College learned of the resignation of Miss B. Mabel Dunham from her position as chief librarian of the Kitchener Public Library. For to them, as to others, Miss Dunham had become a vital part of the library, which through her thirty-six years of devoted and efficient service, she has helped to build up to its present rank of sixth in the province of Ontario. Fortunately, Miss Dunham has seen fit to continue as lecturer in Library Science at Waterloo College. She has served in this capacity since 1930 when her class consisted of nineteen students. At that time the course extended over two semesters and thus included twenty-six lectures instead of the present thirteen. The Library Science course for 1944 has an enrollment of 32. Her enthusiastic and thorough teaching of the use of the library has been and is being of great help to students not only at college but during their later lives. Many of her former pupils have personally expressed their gratitude for the value the Library Science course has been to them.

Miss Dunham was born on a farm near Harriston. She traces her ancestors through her father to the Loyalists who settled in St. John, N.B. in 1783. Through her mother she is descended from the Mennonites who were early settlers of this district. Her education was received at the public school at Fulton Mills, Central School and the Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate in Kitchener and the University of Toronto. She graduated from the latter in 1908.


The College Cord Nov 1944

______________________

DR. B. MABEL DUNHAM

Dr. B. Mabel Dunham was well known in Waterloo County as a school-teacher, librarian, clubwoman, author and historian. Her life-story with its many achievements has been told many times.

Library work was her chosen vocation. But perhaps above all she was a historian. When she told stories to the children usually legends were recounted. Her trips were often directed toward research for a book or for an article. Her reading was generally in the field of history. She purchased an excellent collection of rare books on the history of Kitchener, Waterloo County and early Canada for the Kitchener Public Library. And finally, she rendered great and constant service to the Waterloo Historical Society and was always ready to escort strangers around the Museum in Kitchener.

Although Mabel Dunham was born in Harriston, Ontario, she lived most of her life in her beloved Waterloo County. To tell the story of her mother's people, the Pennsylvania Dutch in Waterloo County, The Trail of the Conestoga was written. Toward Sodom continued the story.

Not to be partial (although I believe she was!) she then told the story of her father's forbears, the United Empire Loyalists, in The Trail of The King's Men..
The officials of her church - Trinity United Church, Kitchener - asked her to write the story of its first hundred years of service. This book, So Great A Heritage, is a wonderful compilation of historical fact, pictures of early church groups and individuals and the whole spirit of a pioneer church movement in Ontario.
Grand River was the culmination of all her thinking, research and love for the valley of the Grand. I remember her interest in searching for the actual source of the Grand River in the period when she was planning and writing the book.

Her work had its rewards. The degree of D.Litt. was conferred on her by the University of Western Ontario in 1947. The Canadian Association of Children's Libraries presented to her "The Book of the Year for Children" award in 1948 for Kristli's Trees. In 1953, the Council of the City of Kitchener set aside her birthday, May 29th, as Mabel Dunham Day.

Dr. B. Mabel Dunham died on June 21, 1957. She will be missed; but her books, articles, her love for this County, her work in the library and in the Historical Society are enduring things.

Waterloo Region Annual Volume 1957 By Dorothy Shoemaker

______________________

FOREWORD TO THE TRAIL OF THE CONESTOGA

"Miss Mabel Dunham, in her book 'The Trail of the Conestoga', has given an exceptional picture of the early immigration of these people. They came to this country to find it a wilderness, and almost within a generation, by their unceasing labours, they changed the landscape so that well-built and substantial homes found themselves surrounded by cleared land covered with abundant harvests. It is such literature that makes us realize the background of our country's story. We know and appreciate too little the initiative, patience and self-sacrifice which characterized the struggles of our forefathers in laying not only the material but also the political foundations of our country. If we go back to early days, we shall find that the problems which perplex us are no greater than those they successfully solved. In their example we should find alike strength and inspiration."

Kingsmere, Que.W. L. Mackenzie King.

Other Events:

• Interesting: newspaper
• Name: Frank Dunham
• Occupation: bond broker
• Occupation: newspaper editor
• Eby ID Number: 00031-2766.3
• Residence: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Occupation: 1901, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; P. S. Teacher
• Occupation: 1911, Camrose, , Alberta, Canada; journalist

Notes:

FORMER KITCHENER MAN IS HURT

A former Kitchener resident, Mr. Frank Dunham, brother of Miss B. Mabel Dunham, librarian, suffered a broken arm recently in a fall near his home in St. Catharines.

Waterloo Chronicle 9 Jun 1932, p. 1

___________________

Edith Lillian Sander a daughter of the merchant Soloman Sander, lived in Berlin, Ontario. In 1906 she traveled to Chicago, USA to study music and painting. She returned to Berlin in 1908 and became a soprano soloist in a local church choir. She met Martin Frank Dunham in 1904 in Berlin, Ontario and courted him until 1911 when they were married on November 15. They returned to Camrose, Alberta where Martin had been living and together they had two children, Hazel Mirriam, born November 14, 1912 and Mary Frances, born March 1914. The family moved back to Ontario at the outbreak of World War I. Edith Lillian Dunham died in 1955, pre-deceased by her husband Frank who died in 1948. Martin Frank Dunham was born on October 9, 1882 in Harriston, Ontario to Martin Squier Dunham and Magdalena Eby. Martin Squier Dunham's family were United Empire Loyalists who came to Canada from the United States in 1783 to settle first in Parr Town, New Brunswick, and later Ontario, first in Newmarket, then Harriston. Magdalena Eby's family was of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction who had settled in Berlin, Ontario, now Kitchener. Frank Dunham studied at Normal School then taught in Berlin during the years 1902-1904. He spent the summer of 1904 in the south of England engaged in Stereotype photography and returned to Ontario in the fall to attended the University of Toronto. He spent the summer of 1905 in England again engaged in Stereoscope photography, this time in northern England and the Lake District, and then returned to the University of Toronto in the fall of 1905. Dunham graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and worked for a year at the "Toronto Daily Star" newspaper. In the spring of 1908 he moved to Edmonton, Alberta to serve as the commercial editor for the "Edmonton Bulletin" and in 1909 he became the news editor for the new Edmonton daily "The Capital". He was also responsible for a weekly farm paper, "The Alberta Homestead", and a weekly city paper, "The Saturday News". By 1910 Dunham was working as editor of the new "Camrose Canadian" and "Camrose Bulletin" for George P. Smith, and in the spring of 1911 he worked with Smith on Smith's campaign in the election called by the Liberals for the fall. Very soon after the election Dunham traveled to Ontario and married Edith Lillian Sander, whom he met in Berlin, Ontario and courted for seven years, and they returned to live in Camrose, Alberta. Together they had two children, Hazel Mirriam and Mary Frances. At the outbreak of World War I the Dunham family moved back to Berlin, Ontario and Frank Dunham obtained a position with the "Stratford Beacon Herald" Dunham died in St. Catherines, Ontario in 1948, survived by his wife Edith, who died in 1955.

"Sander, Edith Lillian - Alberta On Record". Albertaonrecord.Ca, 2022, https://albertaonrecord.ca/sander-edith-lillian. Accessed 29 Oct 2022.

___________

....Martin Frank Dunham was nearly twenty years older than Cavanaugh and an immigrant to the West, yet the two had much in common. Born in Ontario in 1882 into a family of devout farmers, Frank signed the pledge not to drink or smoke at the age of eighteen, and as a young man in Edmonton he occasionally felt hampered by his inability to dance. Nevertheless, his religious upbringing brought him comfort and imbued him with a strong sense of morality. Although he irregularly attended church in Edmonton and later Camrose, he enjoyed himself at Methodist socials which echoed his life in Ontario. In the West, however, he broke his pledge, regularly smoking cigars and occasionally taking a drink.[14]

Frank apparently had no desire to be a farmer. He attended Normal School, for two years taught in Berlin (the town name was changed to Kitchener during World War I), and in 1904 was accepted at the University of Toronto. In order to earn money for school he spent two summers in England selling stereoscopic views. In 1904 he also met Edith Lillian Sander, daughter of Solomon Sander, a successful Berlin merchant. They began corresponding when Frank went to England in the summer of 1904. In 1907 Frank graduated from the university and started work as a reporter for the Toronto Daily Star. A year later he headed west having accepted ajob on the Edmonton Bulletin, founded by Frank Oliver to promote regional agriculture. In route he stopped in Chicago where Edith was studying music and painting and presented her with an engagement ring.

Frank was twenty-six when he arrived in Edmonton, and ready to take advantage of any opportunities the West offered him. Edmonton was a bustling prairie city. Originating as a Hudson's Bay Company fort, Edmonton had boomed as a launching point for the Klondike gold rush in 1897\endash 98. In 1906 Edmonton became the capital of the recently formed province of Alberta. By 1908 the city had over eighteen thousand residents and Strathcona, the community situated on the bluffs across the North Saskatchewan River, another forty-five hundred. It was a market city, with grain elevators, flour mills, lumber- and brickyards, a pork packing plant, and the commercial businesses necessary to support a regional economy of coal mining and agriculture.[15]

Frank Dunham was an unadulterated optimist. On his first day in Edmonton he wrote to Edith that he was "simply delighted with the West. To come out here is the best move I ever made and after being here only one day I can almost say that I never want to live East again." For all the time he remained in the West he never changed that point of view. Time after time, he told Edith that the West was a land of opportunity, a great country, a place where an ambitious and hard-working man could make his fortune: "The longer I live out West the more hope I have in this country and the brighter I see my chances for success. I have some big schemes in my mind at the present time, which I must not mention further, but which will mean great things somewhere in the future if I can carry them out." When a visitor from the East reminded him of the West's lack of music, culture, and art, he momentarily regretted the possibilities of the life he had abandoned in Toronto. Nevertheless, he was ever optimistic that these amenities would soon arrive in Edmonton. He agreed with his visitor that westerners seemed to think of very little but "the race for wealth," but he was content to be one of them, "to remain in the west where a great country is being built up and where I feel that I am sort of getting in on the ground floor.[16]

Frank chronicled with personal satisfaction the completion of a streetcar system in Edmonton, negotiations for a railroad bridge across the North Saskatchewan River, the laying of the cornerstone for the provincial legislature building, the arrival of a new steamer for outings on the river, and the performance of every visiting artist to the city\emdash all of whom received favorable reviews from him in the pages of the Bulletin. Frank was a booster. His job required him to travel throughout Alberta reporting on the state of ag-

- 139 -
riculture and the growth of communities. When he took charge of the Camrose Canadian in 1910, he also readily assumed the job of publicity commissioner for the town and produced an immigration bulletin designed to lure settlers to the area.

Newspaper reporting was hardly the most lucrative of jobs; although Frank made steady improvements in his position, from reporter for the Bulletin to managing editor of the Canadian, he saw his real economic opportunity in real estate. He plowed all of his savings into city lots, first in Strathcona and then in Camrose. He eagerly took on the job of publicity commissioner in Camrose, figuring that when immigrants contacted him about opportunities, he would be able to sell them his land. Frank did turn a profit, but apparently never as much as he hoped. At one point he sold two lots in Strathcona and reported that had he waited a week he could have made considerably more. On the eve of his marriage he informed Edith that he was not doing as well as some, although he had improved his assets, and she need not worry about being provided for.

For Frank, manhood was achieved through comradeship with his male friends ("I never aspired to be popular with the ladies but I always covet the respect and good will of my own sex"), respect earned from his boss and coworkers, and ability to provide for a wife. Frank did not become part of the cult of physicality that Anthony Rotundo describes as part of the "the Masculine Primitive," the ideal of manhood that was coalescing in the last half of the nineteenth century. Quite matter-of-factly, Frank recounted riding and walking miles across the Alberta countryside in the course of his daily work and relaxing on Sunday by skating and playing hockey. Frank loved sports and admired sportsmen, but he was not enamored of competition and drew no particular attention to his physical accomplishments. Most often he would write about skating parties, amateur hockey, and organizing baseball games and contests as part of agricultural fairs designed to boost Alberta. In 1911 Frank told Edith that he had met a man whom he would like to emulate. This was the Methodist minister, Reverend Robert Pearson, whom Frank had known in Toronto and who was now evangelizing in the West. Frank felt Pearson, by example more than by his preaching, set the model for manhood: "In his college days he was a great rugby player and has continued to be a great lover of sport while preaching the gospel. His life exemplifies the manly man, the man who knows the temptations of life and yet who instead of shunning the world mingles with the world and does what he can to make it better."[17] Frank, too, embraced his world and presented himself to Edith as a man always on the go, hard pressed to carve out time on Sunday to write to her.[18] He was always making contacts who, he assured her, would prove useful in the future, and he kept an eye out for his golden opportunity. He seemed to relish just about everything he did. But what did he think about women, about Edith, and about how she would fit into his life? Frank Dunham was a man who believed that a woman's place was in the home, the church choir, and the ladies' club. He disparaged a spinster he met as "single and fair fat and forty." One evening in 1910 he planned to go to a Methodist service where the advertised sermon was "the ideal wife." "No doubt," he wrote, "there will be a large gathering of the fair sex there to attempt to divine the reason why they have not as yet worked their charms on men." Noting an apparently large number of single women in Edmonton, he confessed he did not understand why they had come there: "They occupy positions as stenographers in business places and the government offices and cannot help but lose more and more their power of being home makers." Frank acknowledged women's struggle to meet the expenses of city life, and pitied them, but he seemed to have no understanding that perhaps women also hoped Edmonton would be their place of opportunity. In fact, Frank seemed to think that the women who came west were of dubious character. In a discussion of unsuccessful marriages, he noted, "I have seen several cases lately where young men have picked up with western girls whom they know very little and have been sorry for it, or at least I had better say that I have been heartily sorry for them." In his mind the problem was not with western men, but with western women: "the girls down East are far superior to the majority that can be found out here." Frank may only have been trying to reassure Edith that he was not attracted to any of the women he met in Edmonton, yet his comments betray a deeper uneasiness. What seemed to disturb Frank was not a migration of "unsuitable" women, but the fact that women who came west to find work or husbands, who independently and aggressively pursued their futures\emdash as he was\emdash were not behaving as he thought women should.[19]

For Frank, women who did not choose a life of domesticity were deeply flawed. In one of the many letters to Edith anticipating their future together, he attested, "I know . . . that the instincts of home are strong in you and mean more to you than all the foolish vanities which so many girls are engaging their paltry brains in these days. You have a better conception of a true woman's career, Edith, than any girl I ever met, and I love you for that." He looked forward to the day when they could set up housekeeping for he believed "that the home life is the only life and that no man is truly happy and fortified against temptations until he is a married man." Frank respected Edith's good influence, her kindness, her sense of Christian duty, and her common sense. He treasured these qualities and, since he continued to postpone their wedding, he relied upon them to keep in her good graces.[20]

Frank delayed their marriage because he had not yet met his standards of what he believed necessary to take a wife. Edith was at home surrounded by friends and family, who apparently kept wondering when Frank was going to come and marry her. He did not see the public side of their engagement; he interpreted friends' interest as inappropriate inquisitiveness. Frank offered Edith sympathy, but he was not about to be rushed. In the first letter in which he addressed this issue he wrote, "I have only been out of college a year and a half and in that time I do not think I have as yet a sufficiently firm grip on this old world to launch on the sea of matrimony." He summed up, "I do not feel that as yet I have made good." Frank confessed he needed more time to convince the people of Edmonton that he had "the right stuff." Again in May 1909, after accompanying a newly married friend to look for an apartment, he told Edith that he would not consider a flat a suitable home for her. Since she had been raised in a beautiful house, he would not ask her to begin life "at the bottom of the ladder." In 1909 he canceled a trip to see her in order to take a new job as city editor for a new paper, the Daily Capital, and in 1911 he delayed his scheduled departure for his wedding several times because he wanted to take advantage of situations which he believed would advance his position. Edith was disappointed, and probably angry, but she kept her anger well hidden, perhaps because the one time she expressed it, Frank's response was so unsatisfactory.[21]

Only once in more than three years of correspondence did Edith reveal her ire concerning Frank's behavior. She had not heard from him in several weeks and must have expressed her displeasure strongly. Frank apologized but also patronized: "I do not blame you for feeling the way you do, but are there not other ways of curing a man of a bad habit other than giving expression to your anger? Explosions of this kind do ease one's sense of injustice I know but they really do not look well on paper. Good nature in a girl is everything." Frank postponed their marriage because he believed he had not yet proved his manhood, either to Edith or to his peers. Yet, while caught up in his own efforts to construct his identity, he found time to give Edith advice on how to hone her femininity\emdash mainly by acquiescing to his decisions.[22]

Still, with a few exceptions\emdash when Frank felt Edith was pressing him to come home or write more frequently\emdash he had nothing but praise for her nature and her activities. Frank approved of Edith's participation in women's clubs and in fact hoped that when she arrived in Camrose, she would breathe some spirit into the women's clubs of that town. However, he had a limited vision of appropriate public activity and was confident she agreed: "You would make a fine militant suffragette with all your physical strength and auburn hair," he wrote in 1910, "but I know it would be useless to have anyone solicit your active interest. You know the value of the women at the fireside too well for that."[23]

During the time that Frank was in Alberta, he often escorted young women to recitals, house parties, church socials. Yet he apparently always acted in the most platonic and brotherly fashion. According to his letters, Edith was the only woman whom he ever courted, and in some ways the only woman to whom he ever paid any real attention. On the eve of his departure to marry her he penned, "Believe me Edith there never at any time has been any thought in my mind but that you are the only girl I have ever met that I would want to marry. This has often had the effect of my being very independent towards women an attitude which I believe I have carried too far for my own good." Interestingly, he assumed marriage would change his attitude toward all women: "when we get together around our own fireside I must be taught to respect the wishes of yourself and women in general much more than I have done. It will take me some time to do it Edith but you will find me a willing student for I realize what a man loses by shunning too much the society of women." According to the record he left, Frank had shunned sexual activity as well as the companionship of women. In this same letter, which he used to allay any fears Edith might have about what kind of bargain she was making, he testified, "I know what you expect of me in the way of purity of life and conduct and I am glad to say Edith, that I do not expect to have to make any apology to you in this respect." (Of course, Miles may have said the same thing to Isabelle.)[24]

"Over The Edge "D0e3963" ". Publishing.Cdlib.Org, 2022, https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8g5008gq;chunk.id=d0e3963;doc.view=print. Accessed 29 Oct 2022.

Martin married Edith Lillian Sauder 15 Nov 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Edith (daughter of Solomon Sauder and Mary Ann Klippert) was born 9 Jul 1884, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1955; was buried , Victoria Lawn Cemetery, St. Catharines, Lincoln Co., Ontario. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-172655
• Occupation: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Millner Store
• Residence: 1911, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00031-2766.4
• Residence: 1891, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist
• Occupation: 1901, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Student
• Residence: 1921, 34 Pequegnat Ave., Kitchener
• Residence: 1921, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Evangelical

Charlotte — Norman Riffer. Norman (son of Adam Riffer and Catherine Simmermacher) was born 28 Jun 1886, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1946; was buried , Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00031-2766.5