At Home Histories
The posts explore “small, homely histories” that focus on the local, on family, on church lore, and other themes. More info is available here.
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Edmonton’s Gold Bar Neighbourhood
My family has had roots in the Gold Bar neighbourhood of Edmonton going back over fifty years. My grandparents lived in the area, and my parents currently live there. I recently made a small booklet and poster for my parents describing the history of their house and the neighbourhood of which it is a part.…
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The Wave Rushes
The story of my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Jane Suddaby (nee McKague), born in 1868 in Guelph, and told from her perspective using real family stories and historical research. It’s fictional in the sense that I’m not sure whether Sarah Jane would have felt things in this way, but the facts reflect at least some of what…
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Mount Carmel Bible School
Mount Carmel Bible School is a one-year Christian training program located in Edmonton. I’ve wanted to write about the history of Mount Carmel (also called Mount Carmel Bible College) for a long time. In 2018, I co-edited a history about the school written by former faculty member, Ted McKellar, called 50 Years of God’s Faithfulness. What I’m interested…
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A “Bad Boy” Grows Up
A car accident occurred 95 years ago in 1929 in Edmonton. The car accident involved a young man named Angus William McCallum, who had been driving recklessly through downtown with a passenger, Alfred Joseph “Dave” Gaucher. The accident led to Gaucher being thrown from the car and seriously injured, William being knocked unconscious and injured himself,…
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One Too Many Wives
This post was originally going to be a tiny little section at the tail-end of the deep dive into William Wem’s experiences in World War 1. What was Frances Wem, his wife, up to during the years she lived in England with her children? In the course of researching this, though, I uncovered some truly…
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Private William Wem, 66th Battalion
On July 1, 1915, mere days after the biggest flood in Edmonton’s history swept over his family’s home, William Wem signed up to join the 66th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. He was 44 years old.
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The Wems Arrive in Edmonton
In honour of the 100-year anniversary of my grandmother Eileen’s birth (on April 26) and the very recent passing of her beloved sister, Kay (at the astonishing age of 103!), I thought I’d do a series of posts on these women and their family. This family experienced its share of adventures as well as tragedies,…
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The Paper-Making Kings
Until recently, the members of my particular Canadian branch of the extended King family did not know very much about the roots of our family in “the old country” that we emigrated from: namely, England. I remember my grandfather saying that he had heard we had roots in the area known as Kent, but there…
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Looking Backwards – Part 2
Having recently discovered (with the help of my brother-in-law) some of the earlier roots of the Brethren in Edmonton, I have been wondering about shifting gears and, rather than pushing still further back in time to understand the sources of Scottish Revivalism, instead to trace forwards the gradual development of assembly life from the first…
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The 1907 Edmonton Conference
My brother-in-law recently gave me a copy of a slightly creased, but in relatively good quality, folded notice for an “Annual Conference of Christians Gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at Edmonton, Alta., December 27th, 28th, 29th 1907.” The notice (which I have scanned below) is very useful for understanding more about…
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