It was love at first sight.
She was standing in the middle of the flower patch, hair in disarray, dirt on her nose, waving a pair of nasty shears and scolding me for cussing out the horse. I saw a fire in her eyes — determination, stubbornness — and I knew immediately she was the one. We married three months later. She stood by my side through thick and thin, through good times and bad.
Forty years later, I sit here, you lying in the hospital bed, I holding your hand, watching that light fade from your eyes. My heart breaks.
#99WordStory #HighamHistory #LoveAtFirstSight #FireInYourEyes #TrueLove #TheLightInYou #MargaretGHanna #FamilyHistory
The backstory:
None of my mother, aunts or uncles knew how my maternal grandparents, Caleb and Mary, met. Both had emigrated to Canada, Mary in 1912 from Cornwall, Caleb in 1913 from Oxfordshire. Caleb was a farm labourer with dreams of owning his own farm. Mary was a domestic servant with dreams of a better life than she had in England. They married in June, 1915.
Their marriage licence states they both lived at Belbeck, a tiny village a few miles north of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I like to think they found themselves working for the same farmer, Will Grigg, if only because they maintained a life-long friendship with Will and his wife Emeline.
Mary passed away in September 1955 from breast cancer, a few weeks shy of her 70th birthday. My grandfather was devastated. He passed away in May, 1979, not quite 90 years old. Both are buried at Congress Baptist Cemetery, from where you can see the farm that Caleb finally bought in 1924. They both had realized their dreams.
A Prairie Perspective 
A lovely story Margaret and an important one for you as an ancestor. I have similar tales I discovered when I was in a big search a couple of years ago. Many of my ancestors were from Cornwall and I would be interested to know Mary’s maiden name. My ancestors were all miners with the surname Waters.
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Thank you. My grandmother’s mother’s family were Ferrises from Feok – shipwrights and fishermen. Her paternal grandfather was Dr. George Appleton, big man about town in Land’s End district. Her father, David George, was a farmer/Carter in Truro and owned a livery business in Penzance. So no tin miners in my family, that I know of.
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What a touching story. It brought tears to my eyes. Love the backstory, too. ❤️
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I enjoyed reading this story at Carrot Ranch and am glad I came here to learn the background of it.
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What a tender story, and a lovely one at that. Thanks for sharing your ancestors’ love story. ~nan
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Glad you enjoyed it.
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