Picture Series - Forbes/Mason

These pictures are A-Mazing!  Thank you so much to Don Forbes on Ancestry for sharing them.

This picture is of Donald Forbes and Ellen Kilfoil/Kilfoyle

Their son Kenneth Forbes married into our clan by marrying Charlotte 'Lottie' Mason - the daughter of John Mason & Charlotte Arbuckle.  

Look at this stunning picture of Lottie!

  

Charlotte & Kenneth had 2 children - Charlotte Forbes & Kenneth A Forbes

Mason Court

Crawford Mason & Helga Severson - courtesy of McLennanG - Ancestry

Crawford Mason was the son of James McGregor Mason & Catherine Anne MacDonald and he married Helga 'Hilda' Severson.

Crawford's dad left the Maritimes and somehow landed in Colorado where he married another Maritimer named Catherine MacDonald in 1880.  They remained in the States to have a few children, then head back to Nova Scotia for a number of years where they had a handful more children.  

By 1916, James the farmer had relocated his family to the prairies of Alberta yet it wasn't until I discovered this article written by Martin Wissmath in the Hinton Parklander, 2 Oct 2012 that I came to appreciate the true intrepid nature of this particular group of Masons.

New ‘Mason Court’ named for Hinton pioneer family

Martin Wissmath

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 10:31:17 MDT AM

Crawford Mason at his hunting post.  The Masons moved to the Hinton area in the 1920s and homesteaded in the neigbourhood of Eaton Drive.  There are no Msaons listed as residents of Hinton currently.

The local pioneering Mason family will be getting a street named after them.

Hinton Town Council voted to approve the name of Mason Court for the new street, which will be located just south of Muldoon Crescent off Eaton Drive. The Mason family no longer lives in Hinton but were early settlers here in the 1920s. The street is one of a pair that will be named after pioneers; the other is Berry Place named for Preston Berry.

Town Council voted unanimously Sept. 18 to approve the naming of the new streets in the new subdivision currently under construction. Mason Court will be an east-west cul-de-sac and connect to Eaton Drive near Thompson Lake. Berry Place will be a north-south cul-de-sac adjoining the centre of Mason Court.

Crawford Mason and his brother Cyrus filed for land in Hinton in 1928 as the coal industry began booming. They lived in the Eaton Drive area, named for the family that bought the homestead from the Mason’s before the pulp mill was built in the 1950s.

Not much has been set down in the history books about Crawford and Cyrus, except for a short excerpt from Peter Krytor, another early Hintonite. He recalled how Crawford would play the fiddle and mouth organ at Thompson Lake while locals skated in the evenings and square danced.

The new development is being constructed by Tredwin Developments Inc. The town received an application from Neil Tredwin to have one of the new streets named after his family, which has been in Hinton since 1956. His application was passed over in favour of the earlier settlers Mason and Berry.

The town’s Naming Policy — set in 2009 — allows for streets in town to be named after early settlers and pioneers in the area. By using historical names the administration’s intent is to foster a sense of local heritage and encourage greater community pride.

The Naming Policy also outlines criteria for choosing a street designation such as “Court,” “Place,” “Bay,” or “Cove,” for neighbourhood developments.

Crawford and Hilda retired to British Columbia and are buried at the Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby.

Was It All For Naught?

Nothing in genealogy is ever easy, nothing…..and I don’t know whether to be angry or sad ~~ ug.

So a bit back I posted about the work Ellie & I had done finding the family of Thomas Vincent & Matilda Taylor; and Thomas’s father John I Vincent & Mary Clements. Well….

It turns the John I who was named in Captain Jeremiah’s will could not be this John I!  At least it doesn’t appear to be so.

Ellie wrote to the NARA for a copy of his military packet and lo-and-behold, it declared his death date of 1814 in Plattsburgh and named his wife, Mary Clements – so we know we have the right connection(s) as far as he and his descendants go.  The problem is trying to connect him to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah’s will was written in 1821 and not probated until 1833 – he named a John I and a Stephen Vincent as executors.  He would not have named John if he had died ~~ need I say more – ug, ug, ug.

So I have disconnected the two until we can figure out who is who in the zoo. 


Does it mean Ellie is not related to me? Only time will tell but I am soooooo sad!!!

Gone in 8 Seconds

The Hotel Dixie Grande was built near the end of the roaring 20s and taken over by a John W Fieldhouse.  One of the first hotels to be open year-round and where many a ball team spent their time!

1930-1945

His daughter Annette learned the business and eventually ran it with her husband, Vernon Lawrence Arbuckle.

courtesy of George Schumacher

Vernon was born in Massachusetts to Robert Lee Arbuckle & Rosie McAloon.  A musician who left home around 1925 or so and landed in Orlando, Fl where he married a girl named Lillian Irene Cobb but the marriage didn’t last as they divorced in 1953.  

courtesy of George Schumacher

By 1955, Vernon had remarried to a woman 20 years his senior!  Vernon was born in 1899 and the hotelier's daughter was born in 1877 - Vernon was her 3rd husband.  As a musician, perhaps he started out playing in a band at the hotel but given the times, how absolutely progressive of the pair!

As this article points out, Annette died before her husband in Jun 1970 and during probate, Vernon died in Apr of 1971 leaving the courts to settle the estates with his only living relatives - a brother, sister, two nieces & a nephew.  That is, his brother Robert Lee Arbuckle Jr & his sister Evelyn Ruth Arbuckle; nieces Kathleen & Virginia; and nephew Gilbert - the children of his late brother George W.

Sadly, the Dixie Grande Hotel did not survive much longer after the deaths of Annette and Vernon - it was demolished in 1974 in 8 seconds!!