Percy Periam Winter (1883 - 1934)

Born 27 Oct 1883 in Beulah, Miniota, Manitoba, Canada Cannington Farm

Ancestors

Husband of Janet Ada Dunbar White — married 3 Feb 1913 in Alsask, SK, Canada

Died 2 Oct 1934 at age 50 in Alsask, Saskatchewan, Canada

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Biography

Percy's second name appears four generations back on his mother's side. He was baptized on 9 Dec 1883 in a friend's house, in Birtle, Manitoba, by Rev. John Morton. His godparents were Rev. Morton, his sister Gertrude and his brother Malcolm. He was the first of the Winter children born in Canada.

Percy grew up on his father's homestead farm and attended the Blenheim School. Vic Presgrave tells a story about Presgrave and Percy on a construction crew in the early days in Manitoba. Percy was a fairly new driver. He inadvertantly used the command "Gee". When the team began to turn in the wrong direction, he yelled, "I beg your pardon, I meant 'Haw'".

In 1891 the family was living in Miniota, with 13 of the 15 children living at home, ranging in age from Maud, age 27 to Gordon, age 5. Kenneth and Cyril had died as infants^[1].

In the 1901 Canada census, he is living with her parents, Ralph, Beatrix, Gordon, Maud and Malcolm in Miniota^[2].

In 1901, at age 18, he joined the army and sailed to Durban, South Africa, to serve in the Boer War. The war ended on 32 May 1902 while he was still on the ship. Percy's older brother Ralph had joined up earlier and had been in action in South Africa.

In 1906 Percy, age 22, and his brother Gordon, age 21 are living together, separate from the rest of the family in Beulah, MB. They had three horses^[3].

Percy and his brother Gordon rented a farm near Tantallon, SK. He cut cordwood during the winter. On one occasion he killed a bear with his axe. In 1908 he travelled to the end of the steel near Scott, SK, scouted for land on horseback, then in 1908 used Boer War script to procure and homestead Sec 10-28-28-W3, 5 mi east of Alsask. The railroad reached present day Alsask in September 1910 and the town developed shortly thereafter.

Percy's first buildings were a sod shanty and barn. He ploughed his land with horses and oxen. After buying up more Boer War script, Percy used it in 1911 to purchase S1/2 27-27-28-W3, 4 miles to the south. He called his ranch "Wintermuir". Crops were excellent in 1915 but 6 dry years followed. In 1920 he sold Sec. 10, had a sale, and moved into Alsask where he ran the Pool elevator for a year. In the spring of 1922 he moved to Sec. 27-27-28-W3, leased pasture, and ran cattle and horses. He then bought NW 34-27-28-W3. From 1925 till the early 30's he hauled sodium sulphate from the nearby plant beside the alkali lake NW of his ranch to Hardene Station with horse-drawn wagons and sleighs.

Roger Winter remembers visiting at Percy's at Alsask, Saskatchewan, in 1918 (when he was age 5). Ralph Bird visited, and took photos of the ranch, in 1929. Percy died after a bucking horse threw him onto the saddle horn, breaking his pelvis and perforating his bladder. Percy was an Anglican.

This record is specifically based on notes in Caroline Letitia (Taylor) Winter's Bible, in the possession of Shelagh (Quelch) Stevenson, as quoted by Bird and death data from Death Certificate^[4].

Sources

1. ↑ Census of Canada, 1891. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2009. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1891/Pages/about-census.aspx. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6290 to T-6427
2. ↑ 1901 Census, Manitoba, District Marquette, Subdistrict Miniota
3. ↑ 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Census Place: 7, Marquette, Manitoba; Page: 1; Family No: 3
4. ↑ Bird, Dr. Charles Durham, The Winter Family Story 1720-1992