Pope Family Tree

William was a beerslinger, a railroad worker, and a farmer.

He moved to Montreal from England in 1906 whie his new bride was pregnant with their first child. He left on errand for Mr. Paterson and was to set up the homestead. Once the home was ready and the child was born, wife Amy came to Canada, leaving their newborn daughter, Amy, in the care of Amy's parents with the understanding that parents and child would be coming to Canada a year later. Unfortunately, Amy became very ill en route to Canada. Once the parents were apprised of this, they rushed to Canada to take of her, leaving the infant in the care of the "spinster aunt". Time went past and little Amy was not able to emigrate to Canada though arrangements were made several times. Finally, when she was nine years old she was booked on the Titanic. When the Titanic sank without her on it, it was taken as a sign and Amy remained in England to be raised. She did fly to Canada for his funeral.

William continued to work for R.M. Patterson as a gardener and farmer. In 1918 he came west to a farm owned by Mr. Patterson four miles north of Ryley, Alberta. A month later, wife Amy and the five Quebec-born children followed. The family lived in a granary until they completed Mr. Patterson's two-storey house.

William's very first crop in Alberta froze in July, 1918.

In 1927, William bought some land from Mr. Patterson.

William retired from farming in 1949 and moved to Burnaby, British Columbia.

William's obituary reads that he was survived by 2 sisters and 1 brother in Devon, Eng.

"In 1906 one of William Pope brother's set out for Canada and was never heard from again. William was to meet his brother at the Montreal train station but he didn't show up, the family never knew whether he made it to Canada or not. One of William's sisters died of appendicitis, at that time they called it bowel trouble and didn't operate in those days. In 1906 Dudley Carter and his brother in law William Pope came to Canada. After one year Dudley went back to England to stay, as he didn't like the life in Canada. William decided to stay and make his home in Canada. The family here in Canada doesn't know much about William's brothers, sisters or their families.

"William came to Canada in the spring of 1906. Amy came in November of 1906.

"Lived: Outside Montreal Quebec and Ryley Alberta

"Retired to: Burnaby British Columbia in the fall of 1945

"In England William was: a farm labourer on local famrs until his mother decided he could make it on his own. He also worked as a bank teller and bar tender. "In Canada William worked cutting ice on the St Lawrence River by Dorker's Island where the family lived. He worked at the Canadian Pacific Railway station in Montreal Quebec. "William went to work as a gardener for Mr R M Patterson a millionaire. "One of William jobs for Mr Patterson was to take him on outings. They would go with carriage and a brown driving horse named Babe. "On the first outing after about a couple of miles Babe was all wet. Mr Patterson said that maybe they should let the horse rest for awhile, knowing horses as he did William said no that the horse would cool down and wouldn't be sweating when they got to where they were going. After William came to Ryley Alberta, Babe would stay in her box stall and wouldn't eat. She missed William, in about four weeks she got over it. Mar Patterson was going to ship her to William at Ryley Alberta, William wished that Mr Patterson would have shipped her to him as she was a good horse. William wished that Mr Patterson would have shpped her to him as she was a good horse. William always wanted to go west, Mr Patterson asked him if he would like to manage some land he had in Alberta. William left Quebec in the spring of 1918 for Ryley Alberta. "Every Sunday morning William would smoke a cigar. The rest of the time he smoked a pipe or cigarettes. "In England William would miss supper to go boxing. The first time he went, he noticed all the boxers dropped their boxing gloves on the floor. The one who picked up that boxer's gloves had to box a round with them. William didn't know this so he picked up all the gloves and had to go a round with all the boxers. After that he was hooked on boxing. "One night William was working at the bar a rowdy guy spit in his face because William could no longer serve him alcohol. "William jumped over the bar and with his right fist, got the guy on his chin. The guy was out cold for quite a while, as William thought that he had killed him, he decided that was the end of his boxing. "William used to play football with the Bathgate team and he also played tennis. "William played the accordion and the piano by ear as he couldn't read music. He liked to play for family and friends as they sang along with him. "When he was a boy William was riding a bicycle when he hit the side of the road and broke the kneecap on his right leg. This leg became stiff and hard to bend. In later years William would use a cane. William had low blood pressure and arthritis in later years. He also had two operations for ruptures and one for appendix. When he came through the last operation, Marguerite stayed for six weeks to take care of him, because during that time Amy was also sick. That fall Marguerite stayed with William for five weeks while Amy went on holiday with Aunt Winnie. Winnie went to stay twice, with Amy while William was in the hospital with heart problems. Winnie and Brian went to stay during the summer holdiays. "William and Amy lived at: When William and Amy first came to Canada they stayed on Dorker's Island (now called Ile-Perrot) the nearest town being St Anne de Bellevue. "Senneville Quebec: The water tower is where William and Amy got their water from before 1918. The water was piped to the house and barn. The water tower was up the hill from William's house, to keep the small children away and safe, they told the children that a "boogie man" lived there. "The family moved to a small farm belonging to Mr Patterson, it had a fruit orchard, vegetable and small fruit gardens, and a lot of flower gardens. There were also one field for grain and a cow and horse pasture. William had work horses, driving horses, milk cows and chickens to care for. There was a wild apple tree in the pasture, the apples were sort of yellow greenish with brown dots all over. Willie, Winnie and Marguerite were told not to eat them, but they would go into the barn and get some cow salt and head for the wild apple tree. They called them freckled apples and thought they were delicious dipped in cow salt. William and Amy always seem to know when the children had been up in the wild apples. "The house William, Amy and the family lived in, was a very large two storey home. Upstairs there were three bedrooms and a bathroom. The main floor had a pantry, two kitchens, a large living room, a bedroom and two rooms kept for Mr and Mrs Patterson, a bedroom and sitting room which were used when they came ini the winter time to go snowshoeing. "Ryley Alberta (farm): The first building to be built on the farm was the barn. In July when Amy and the children arrived William had built a four room granary which was to be their new home until the house was finished. The house was finished in November and the family moved in. The house was a show place in its time with running water and rugs throughout the house. The price of the house was $6,000. [Ed.: The house was purchased as a kit from the Eaton's catalogue. It's not known who exactly participated in its assembly.] "William ordered some new furniture from the Eaton's catalogue and bought some second hand furniture as well. Over the years William would buy some furniture from local farm auctions. There was a cistern built under the basement floot which collected rain water from the roof of the house. This water was used for the house. A phone was put in the house, but in the dirty 30's, it was removed. "Burnaby British Columbia: William and Amy's retirement home was at 2129 Belmoral Street. "A five room house, with half of the garage made into a bed room. William had made many flower beds and a large vegetables garden. He also had apples, raspberries, strawberries and grapes. "Ryley Alberta (town): After William passed away in 1954 Amy moved back to Ryley. A five room house was built for her, next door to her daughter Marguerite. Amy lived there until she passed away in 1968. "Farm location: 27 Section 50 Township 17 Range West of the 4th Meridian (SQ 27 50 17 W4). Four miles north of the village of Ryley Alberta on secondary highway #854. "Farm land history: Mr Patterson bought the land form the Canadian Pacific Railway at $11.00 an acre the farm cost $6000. "William bought the farm from Mr Patterson's wife in 1928 for $6000. When Mr Patterson died his brother asked William if he could make a good living on the farm. William said that he could. The brother wanted to give the farm to William but Mrs Patterson wanter her money. "William gave his son Willie the NE 27 50 17 W4 for staying on the farm. "When Tub came home from the war Willie exchanged his quarter for NW 27 50 17 W4. Tub bought the SE quarter from Amy. After Tub died, his son Gordon bought the north quarter, Helen has the home quarter, Gordon farms both quarters. Willie bought the SW 27 50 17 W4, he had two quarters which he farmed until his death. Willie's son Delbert owns the SW 27 50 17 W4 quarter and son Dale owns the NW 27 50 17 W4 quarter, with Delbert farming both quarters. "Stayed at: When William first came to Ryley Alberta he boarded with the Ingelbees, at the place that is now owned by Glen Knudslien. Billy Prudin the hired man and horses stayed at the Krogh farm, this is now the Brian Johnson place. Every morning both men and horses were on the home place to work at 7:00 am. "Farmer: In 1917 Bob Mitchell broke the first 170 acres on the southeast quarter, across Bible creek. He used a steam engine with a twelve bottom plow. William knew that he must get this feild ready to be seeded. First he must buy horses, harness and equipment. William bought four horses, harnesses and a four house double-tree for $1,000. "From Gene King he bought seed wheat and oats for $2.50 a bushel, now he was ready to put the crop in. On July 25 1918 there was a frost, that killed the wheat and some of the oats. "What was good of the oats was used for green feed for the animals. "William bought an old red cow called "Grannie", to milk this cow they would take a milk pail and stool, find the cow and milk her there. William also bought a few chickens for himself. "In 1919 William bought seed again from Gene King at $2.50 a bushel. "William bought an International Titen tractor, a drill and two discs one for the horses, and one for the tractor. "A neighbour George Lyons drilled a deep well and the water was salty. A windmill was used to pump the water from the well, so no wind no water. This water was used to water the animals. "In early 1920's William bought a train car load of forty-five calves. "The farm animals grew in number to include a dozen turkeys, geese, ducks, and pigs. There were about fourteen horses on the farm, the colts didn't like to come into the yard, Willie's job was to bring them home. One day they made him so mad that he got the tractor to bring them home. As they couldn't out run the tractor they decided to come home. "In 1940's William sold their pailo and bought the first rubber W6 3 Plow International tractor for $1500.00. "Memories of Senneville: "Rat Trap: There were quite a few rats in Quebec, William thought there was one in the basement, so he set a home made trap to catch the rat. Winnie thinks it was made like the traps we have here to catche skunks but maybe a little smaller. Finally the rat was caught, William brought the trap upstairs to the summer kitchen. He let the two Scotch Terriers gods in, they were both exceited because they knew what it was all about. Amy and children got up on chairs, and pulled their skirts up in case the rat would run up the chair and then their legs. Winnie doesn't remember if Willie fot up on the chair also. Everything was all set for the big kill. Cage, dogs and William with a stick in his hand, standing in the middle of the room. And low and behold what do you think happened? 'Our pet Kitty came walking out' and of course she got chased around the room a couple of times, much to her surprise. 'Oh my what an evening that was.' "Dancing bear: In Senneville every summer a man would come with his dancing bear, William or Amy would give him some money and the bear would dance for the children. Willie, Winnie and Marguerite enjoyed this entertainment. "On the trains to Ryley, Alberta: Amy and her family left Senneville Quebec by train for Montreal, there they were met by Mr Patterson who took them home with him for the night. The next day they started their trip to Alberta. "While on the train to Calgary Amy and her family had a three bed sleeper car. One train worker stayed with them and helped the family on the train. Willie thinks that Mr Patterson gave the worker money to look after the family. "William met his wife and family in Calgary. They stayed over night in Calgary, then got another train for Ryley. "To the farm: Mr McNaughton who had a hardware store in Ryley, drove the family out to the farm in his car. The next day the hired man and Willie took the lumber wagon into Ryley, to get the rest of their belongings. Willie remembers this trip being hot, bumpy and long. "Indian wagons: The Indians would pass by the farm, heading south, on their way to the Indian Reserve, to collect their Treaty Money. William told Robert and Tub to be good or the Indians would take them. When Tub was a young boy he would hold on to William's legs as the Indians went by, he sure didn't want them to get him. "Schools Children Attended "Quebec French School: In school one day the children had to go to church, as Marguerite didn't have a hat she borrowed one from another child. "The next day William discovered that the children had head lice. "At this school the children learned to talk and sing songs in French, both Winnie and Willie remember a song about 'A Dirty Old Policeman' a game they played outside with the neighbour's children. "McDonald College Senneville Quebec: Amy took her family out of the French school enrolled them into this college. "Bathgate Alberta: In September of 1918 Marguerite started in grade one, Willie and Winnie grade three, and Mrs Marten was the teacher. "Horses: One day Mr Patterson was watching Willie ride a horse. This old horse stumbled when he ran, Mr Patterson told William to buy another horse for Willie to ride before he kills himself. The first horses were Maggie, Sam, Young Prince, Big Prince. This is the way they stood in the barn east to west. Later came Birdie who took the children to school. Dick and Jess came next. William bought a horse from Don Ireland, for the children to take to school, William named the work horse Hannah as that was Don's wife's name. Willie worked with a gray team called Dick and Jess. One day Willie had to take wheat to the mill in Mundare to have it ground into flour. He left the farm at 5:00 am and got to Mundare about 7:00 am. The flour wouldn't be ready until about 8:00 pm. When Willie finally started for home the horses just wanted to go. Willie couldn't hold them, he just layed on the back of the wagon and held on. The horses were wet with sweat when they got home. "Willie got Fanny for his children to drive to Bathgate school. After the school bus came to pick up his children, he no longer needed her. Willie traded with Albert Johnson three of his horses Mack, Queen and Fanny for a team of sorrels Pete and Bess. Willie worked with Pete and Bess until horses were no longer needed on the farm. Willie's children rode Pete and Bess, around the farm. "Gardener: William and family planted a large vegetable garden, and different kinds of fruit trees. A plum tree is still in the garden north of the farm house. South of the house there are oak trees growing. "William liked flowers so they were grown in all the gardens. William said that he felt closer to his Lord when he was with his flowers. He didn't like flowers in the house, as he said that they didn't want to die. "Willie's story: One day when William was out weeding he brought in some pretty white flowers for Amy as she always wanted flowers in the house. The flowers were stinkweed. "Marguerite's story: May 12 1928 Amy and Marguerite were making rhubarb pies with Marguerite cutting the rhubarb and Amy rolling the pastry. William brought in pink flowers and put them in a jar of water and they were fireweed. "Winnie's story: One Sunday morning while William was out looking over his crop he brought some white flowers in for Amy, they were stinkweed. He put them in the stove after teasing Amy with them. "I wonder if William was closer to his Lord that day. "Fencing: William was fencing a pasture for the horses, when a neighbour Mr Hans Neraasen came over looking for his lost cows. William told him that when he was finished fencing anything that was inside was his. "It didn't matter if it were cows, horses or Hans' wife. "Cooler: When William first came to Ryley, one of his first jobs was to build cooler. In the bush close to the house he dug a hole in the ground, put a tub into the hole and covered it with a screen and lid. This kept the food and drinks cool. In the fall and winter they would put meat into a granary of oats. One July when planting oats William found a roast of beef in the oats, and it was still frozen. "Harvesting "Garden: The potatoes, carrots, beets and pumpkins were put in the cool room in the basement. The parsnip were left in the garden for use in the spring. A hole was made in the garden and the cabbage was placed in the hole with the roots up, straw was used to cover the cabbage. On a nice day in the winter time William would uncover the cabbage and bring some to the house. The cabbage would keep throughout the winter. "Haying: In late June and July hay would be cut with a team of horses and a hay mower, this would be a very hot and slow job. A team of horses would be used to rake the hay into long rows to dry. After the hay was dry it had to be stacked. This was done with four horses and the bucking pole, which looked like a turned over head of a garden rake but much larger. Two horses would go on each side of the row of hay when the front of the bucking pole was full with hay it would be taken to be stacked. At the stack there was a large ramp, two horses would g on each side of the ramp pulling the bucking pole loaded with hay to the top of the ramp and the hay would be dumped, then the horses would be turned slowly to get the bucking pole back on the ground. There would be one person on top of the hay stack moving the hay to form and build the hay stack. The whole family would work together to get the hay up. "One day Willie and Annie were in the hay field, loading a hayrack with hay Annie was on top of the load. Willie would tell her when to hang on as he was going to have the horses move ahead. He forgot to tell her and she fell off the load and landed on her back. The first thing she said was that her back felt good. Annie had back trouble and was surprised that it now felt better. Haying was carried on through four generations on the farm. Debbie Budinski and her friend Peggy Dent remember helping one summer raking and stacking it. "Cutting the grain: The grain was cut with horses and binder. The binder would cut and tie the grain stocks into bundles, the person on the binder would drop the bundles off at the same places for each round. The long straight rows of bundles in the field made stooking easier on the stookers. "Later a tractor was used to pull the binder, druing the war years women drove the tractor. Annie learned to drive the tractor for Willie. When her older children were in school she would take their yougest son Dale, put him on a blanket and tie him to a tree and left the dog to guard him. She would check on him every round. The dog would guard Dale as he had his afternoon nap while Annie drove the tractor. Children also learned to drive the tractor pulling the binder. Madelene was eleven when she was driving tractor for Willie and Tub. "Stooking: The bundles of grain had to dry, so ten bundles were used to make one stook. To make a stook you take two bundles and you stand them heads up together, leaving a space open at the bottom, then take two more and do the same thing, placing them touching the first two, now take two more and do the same thing. Take two bundles and fill in the spaces on the side of stook. Do the same on the other side. "One day William and Amy were in the field stooking, Kate and her grandson Willie took lunch out to them. They used the children's school cart. There was no seat in this cart, they had to sit on the floor. Kate was big around the middle, so when she sat in this cart she just fit. Willie laughs when he tells this story. "Thrashing machine: William bought a threshing machine to bring in all the crops. "One day Marguerite and the hired man were loading bundles in the hayrack to haul to the threshing machine. The large load tipped over. The hired man quickly started moving the bundles away looking for Marguerite. She came around from the other side of the hayrack and said, "What are you doing?" "Looking for you," he said. "During the war years harvest time was hard. William and Annie were loading the bundles in the hay rack and Willie ran the threshing machine. "Field work: Winnie worked in the fields, one day she was using four horses and harrows to work in the field west of Bible Creek, there was a manure pile there, she didn't go around it. She went over the side of it and tipped the harrows over. "Holidays: "Christmas: In Quebec one Christmas Eve the children were in bed, but not sleeping when they heard paper being moved about. They were sure that it was Santa Claus but didn't want to investigate for if it was Santa Claus they didn't want to scare him off. What they heard was mice playing with the paper. "One Christmas Eve Winnie put some cookies out for Santa to eat. She put them on top of the bookcase, instead of the fire place with the other children, in the morning when she checked the cookies were still there. Her Dad told her that they were too high Santa couldn't find them. "In Montreal one Christmas Eve, Grandfather James Innes checked out the stockings, and asked the children, how would Santa know whose stockings were who's. Willie, Winnie and Marguerite put their name on their stocking and put baby on Roberts. "The children would each hang up their stocking up on the fire place, for Santa Claus to fill. They would get candy, nuts, oranges, and apples and a small gift. Winnie remembers that in one Christmas stocking, she and Marguerite both got a gold cross and chain, and that Christmas Amy told them that there was no Santa. Mr and Mrs Patterson would bring gifts for each of the children when they came to visit. One Christmas Willie got a sled. The girls would get small china dolls, that somehow always were broken. The girls would get scarfs, toques, and sweaters, the boys would get scarves and mitts. "Christmas time in Ryley, the Pattersons would send the children Chum Books, at night Amy would read these books to her family. Sometimes she would be laughing so hard that she couldn't continue reading them. Willie still has some of these books. "One Christmas the children all had scarlet fever, the Davick boys brought over a Christmas tree and left it on the back steps. "Christmas dinner was served at 1:00, the table would be set with the good dishes, silverware, and a Christmas pull cracker on each plate. A decorated Christmas cake would be in the center of the table. The menu would be Roast goose or turkey with stuffing and gravy, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and turnip. For dessert a Christmas pudding with lemon sauce, which would be flamed and brought to the table. Mincemeat tarts, Christmas oranges, candies, nuts and Sultan raisins, and a bottle of wine. "One Christmas Don Ireland and Bob Westmancoat were in the kitchen with the children where they were all having a good time, laughing, and carrying on. Paul Lagerquist came from the living room to quiet down the ones in the kitchen. Don Ireland took an orange peel out of the slop pail from under the sink and threw it. It hit Paul in the face, Paul went into the living room and stayed there. Christmas time family and neighbours would get together, and play party games. "Some of the games were Flaying Dutchman, Tipit, Spin the Plate, Charades, Old Fat Hen, and Airplane Ride. "For two weeks around Christmas they would play kissing games. One of the kissing games would be Post Office. "Boxing Day: Clean up day. "New Year's Day: One of the families that were over to the Popes' for Christmas Day would have them over for the New Year Day. "Valentine Day: This day would be celebrated as it was Tub's birthday. "Shrove Tuesday: Amy would make English pancakes, served with butter, lemon juice and sugar. "Good Friday: Was spent cleaning and baking for Easter. "Easter Sunday: Family and friends helped the Popes celebrate this holiday. One Easter Tub made a nest for the Easter Bunny by the straw stack, he knew that the Easter Bunny was there as he saw the droppings that the rabbits had left. "Victoria Day May 24: This was the day that the potatoes were planted. "Dominion / Canada Day: On July first the Popes and other families attended the annual picnic at the farm of Mr and Mrs William Broad. Located on the southeast side of Beaverhill Lake. "Mother's Helper: The following ladies worked for Amy in the spring, summer and fall months as mothers helpers and housekeepers. They got $8.00 a month, with room and board. "Hazel Puff - In 1918 while the family was still living in the granary, Hazel worked for Amy. "Viola Lagerquist - One day when Amy was making bread, Viola and her brother Conrad, Don Ireland, and William had a dough fight. Bread dough and flour were all over the kitchen, the walls, the ceiling and on the people. The young children who were watching thought this was great fun. Amy said to Viola, 'Guess who has to clean this mess up?' "After Winnie and Marguerite left home the ladies also had to milk cows. "Gladys Johnson - She worked for two summers for Amy. The first night that Gladys was to milk cows, Willis got the cows home then went back to the pasture with their tails high up in the air. Willie asked William what was wrong with the cows. William said that Gladys had come out to milk the cows with a dress on. After she put pants on everything was alright. "One night Willie and Tub took a light coloured pillow and painted a face on it, attached it to a long pipe and put it up by her window. "They talked into the pipe, the talking face scared her. "Edna Grey Johnson - Work for two summers for Amy, the first one by herself and the second summer she had her son Keith with her. She was a good worker and did everything that was asked of her. "Margerie and Helen Owens - $25.00 a month "Arlene Hostland - She worked one summer for Amy but Willie can't remember her milking cows. "Erna Penner - In 1941 Erna came to work for Amy. "Hired Men: The following men worked for William. "Bill Pruden - In 1918 he worked for William setting up the farm and buildings. "Arthur Waless - The family called him the Prince of Wales. "Bernard Blake - Came from England. "George Munro - Came from England. "Ernest Frost - Nephew of William and came from England. "Elmer Davick - Local farm man. "Bob Hamilton - In 1927 worked on the farm. "Bert Draum "Two soldiers - Who didn't stay long. "Kenneth Coombs and Dick Blakley - Did some breaking in 1928. "Morning Tea: On week days William would get up at 5:00 and make tea which was served with cake, William would serve Amy her tea in bed, then got the rest of the family up. "On weekends Willie would get up at 6:00 am make tea and take it to William and Amy in bed. Willie would then have his tea and go start milking the cows. When Marguerite and Winnie were still at home they would take morning tea in to their parents. "Fun and Games: "Tennis: William set up two tennis courts in the yard. Sunday every one played tennis. "Horse Shoes: Behind the windmill there was a horse show pit. "Cards: The family played Rummy, 500, Pig, Trump Whist. One night Winnie said to Willie 'Let's go across the road to the new neighbours and see if they play cards.' "The Hostlands did indeed play cards, Winnie and Willie spent many an evening with them. "Politics: The Pope family have always been active in government politics, Social Credit picnics, meetings or afternoon teas were held on this farm. Over the years family members have ran for different parties. "1930 - 1936 The Dry Dusty Years: In these years everything was dry, with dust storms that would cover everything in the house with dust. There was no rain, no crops and no crop insurance in those days. "Water was hauled from Bible Creek for the garden, trees and flowers. "Home Made Beer and Wine: One day Willie, Winnie and Marguerite asked the teacher, at Bathgate school if they could leave school early. The teacher wanted to know why. The children told the teacher that they were going to pick dandelions for dandelion wine. "William made homemade beer, Mr C Kallal would buy two beer kits with hops and bring them to William. One batch for Kallal and one batch for William. "In 1936 at one Social Credit picnic William asked Bill Winsnes if he would bring a table from the house, as he had a truck. Bill said sure for a bottle of beer. William said that he could find one for him. The next day in Ryley, William was told how good his beer was. William wanted to know how they knew about his beer. "A neighbour was acting as the bar tender handing beer out the basement window. "World War I and II: "Bob Westmancoat a family friend - First World War - In 1917 at the age of seventeen Bob enlisted in the army. He saw action in the trenches of France, where he was injured and sent home. Bob was lucky to return home, for in the trench that day the soldier in front and one in back of him were killed. Second World War - September of 1939 Bob enlisted in the Canadian Army with the rank of private. He was stationed in Camrose Alberta, Vernon B.C., Dunval Sask, and Quebec. When Bob was stationed in Camrose as an instructor, the local enlisted men appreciated the rides back home with him to Ryley. In the fall of 1945 he was discharged from the army with the rank of sergeant. "Mailing Address: General Delivery at the Ryley Post Office, then the mail was delivered to the farm by Rural Route 2 (RR 2) Ryley Alberta. "Shopping Places: Ryley was in the main shopping place, sometimes they would go to Edmonton. A lot of things were ordered from the T Eaton catalogue. "Hail: In the early 1930's, it hailed so fast and heavy that the crops were only good for feed. That was the only year that William didn't have crop insurance as money was scarce that year. The next year William got hail insurance for the crops. The neighbours all said that if William got hail insurance that they didn't need it, as there would be no hail that year. "Government Moratorium: In the 1930's the Social Credit government placed a moratorium on farm seizure. This prevented the banks and mortgage companies from foreclosing and seizing farm lands. "Willie said that this government action saved the farm. "Farm Interest and Taxes: The mortgage company paid the interest and taxes on the farm that year. They charged the amount to William which he paid back after the war started. "Family Names: When William wanted to tease Amy he would call her Jane, the family cannot remember why it made her so mad. "Willie's nickname was Wally, and Robert's was Sonny. "Marguerite's nickname was Bar, Winnie's nickname was Bee and Frances' nickname was Tub. After Frances was born a neighbour Mrs Chivers came over to see the new baby, she took one look and said, "What a little tubby you are" the name stayed with him throughout his life. A letter came addressed to Frances Pope and the new postmaster didn't who that was. "Vehicles: William, Amy and family used the following horse driven vehicles to get around buggies, democrats, wagons, cutters and sleighs. "In 1924 William bought a new model T Ford car for $702.00 from the dealer at that time who was Mr Bill Brown. Later William sold this car to Johnnie Fish, who took the back seat out and made a truck out of it. During the war William bought a second hand model A Ford car for $350.00 from Frank Bruha of Shonts Alberta. "Visits to England: Amy went back to England three times. In 1929 she stayed for three months. In 1949 William and Amy both went to England and stayed from June until October. In 1958 at the age of eight years Amy went back to England for the last time. She stayed three months in England and three months with her son Robert and daughter in law Helen in Fergus Ontario. "FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS "Marge and Bob Westmancoat: On February 10 1925 while on their honeymoon Bob and Marge came to Ryley Alberta from London England. They quickly became friends with the Pope family. Bob and family moved to Camrose in 1942 while Bob was in the army and stayed until the summer of 1946 returning to the farm at Ryley. Bob and Marge were active in the community, until their retirement in September of 1962. Marge (Marjorie Gray) was born September 17 1901 and died November 23 1974. Robert was born February 10 1899 and died July 27 1993. "Mr and Mrs Arthur Chivers: One of the first to settle in Beaverhill Lake, their farm was already set up, when William and Amy came to Ryley. The Pope's and Chiver's family enjoyed many holidays together." -- Pope Family Chronicles, 2007

"Mr. and Mrs. Pope came from England in 1906, leaving a daughter, Amy, behind with relatives. After arriving in Montreal, Quebec, Mr. Pope worked at the station for a short time and then went to work for R. M. Patterson as a gardener. "Mr. Patterson owned a section of land four miles north of Ryley, Alberta -- 27-50-17-W4 -- and as Mr. Pope was anxiuos to come west, he came to Ryley in the sprint of 1918 to operate the farm for Mr. Patterson. Mrs. Pope and their five children -- William, Winnifred, Marguerite, Robert and Francis (Tub) came about a month later by train. "Mr McNaughton, who had a hardware store in Ryley, drove them out to the farm in his car. They lived in a granary until the house was built. "Bob Mitchell broke the first land on the farm in 1917. He used a steam engine with a twelve bottom plow. The first crop froze in July 1918. George Lyons drilled a deep well and the water was salty. The water was pumped from the well by a windmill, so no wind, no water! Mr. Pope bought the farm from Mr. Patterson in 1927. "Willie, Winnie and Marguerite had started school in St. Anne de Bellevue in Quebec and then attended Bathgate school when they came to Ryley. Their first teacher was Mrs. Martin. "The big events of the year were the Christmas concert at the school and the July first picnic at the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Broad. There were also house parties before the halls were built. "An Anglican church service was held at Bathgate school once a month. The minister came from Tofield, the first being the Rev. Wilson, Mrs. Mansfield and Mrs. Pope taught Sunday School. "Robert and Francis served in the Air Force druing World War II. "Mr. Pope retired from farming in 1949 and moved to Burnaby, British Columbia. Willie took over the farming. He later bought half of the farm and Francis bought the other half. They are still farming. "Mr. Pope passed away in Burnaby in 1954. Mrs. Pope returned to Ryley, where she had a house built next door to her daughter, Marguerite. She lived there until she passed away in 1968." -- The Beaver Tales History of Ryley and District, 1980ish