Folks at the City of North Battleford Historic Archives got a reminder this week that the world is a small place.
A visitor from England dropped by the city archives, and she had with her a gift — a number of photos from North Battleford from early last century.
The visitor has a family connection to North Battleford.
She is Margaret Usher, from the village of Rastrick, near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. Originally, she lived in Shipley. Her father’s family came from Bradford, which is where the Illingworths came from.
“Our common great-grandfather was Joseph Illingworth,” Usher said. He was a stiff-presser, someone who treats the cloth after it has been dyed in the dye works.
At some point, she explained, he went to Belgium where his eldest sons, John and Henry, were born, but returned to Bradford where he lived for the rest of his life.
It was around 1904 that son John and his wife Sarah Elizabeth came to Canada from England, first to Toronto and then to North Battleford.
John had worked as a shoemaker and boot maker in Bradford, but in Canada he obtained a contract with the North West Mounted Police to supply boots for the members and harnesses for their horses. Illingworth also took a quarter section of land near the city.
Those early years in the area were documented in photographs, which stayed in the family and ended up in the possession of Margaret’s sister.
A couple of years ago her sister went into residential care. The family was in the process of clearing the house when they came across a big box of items.
“I found in amongst my sister’s things some photographs in an album that had been sent by his (John Illingworth’s) wife to my aunt, which show the farm, the land being cleared from 1906. I only found this a few months ago now.”
She had known John Illingworth had gone out to Canada, but hadn’t really known where. But she was able to identify the photos as being from North Battleford and that piqued her interest even more.
Usher was interested in genealogy and thought it was a great opportunity to find out more about her family tree.
“I made inquiries because it seemed to me that it would be very interesting to find out more about this section of the family.”
She decided to come to Canada, “using the benefit of Air Miles,” and was in North Battleford for several days this past week.
Among her visits was to Saskatchewan Hospital on the weekend where she met other Illingworth family members and was able to get some vital information.
“I’ve met a huge number of the Illingworth family who are still here,” she said.
She also dropped by the city archives where, on Monday, she shared the photos with archivist Tammy Donahue Buziak and a number of City of North Battleford Historic Archives volunteers. Mayor Ian Hamilton was among those on hand to see the photos.
All were in disbelief that these rare photos documenting the early history of the Illingworths in the Battlefords had come from, of all places, England.
In total, about 140 images were provided to the city archives that document the history of the Illingworth family in the area. It included pictures of the original homestead of the Illingworth seed farm from as far back as 1906, and also included were pictures from Cochin and from Whitewood Lake.
Now the photos have been scanned into the archives located at Don Ross Centre, and are now part of the city’s historical record.
Moreover, Usher was able to learn a great deal about the Illingworth family.
Usher had brought along a huge sheet — a working document — with names of family members listed on it as part of a huge family tree, and was able to fill in even more of the gaps with new information.
A family friend of the Illingworths, Leola Macdonald, brought in some photos as well including many with the Illingworths. Usher learned a wealth of information about the family.
“Now I’ve collected a lot more information, which I’ll take home,” Usher said.
One of the relatives she met was Alice (Illingworth) Grove from North Battleford, a distant cousin who shares the same great-grandparent.
Grove was keenly interested in the family tree information that Usher had put together and marveled at the thought of having a relative from England that she could possibly go to see.
“I never knew I had relatives over in England that I can really put a name to now, it’s just mindboggling,” said Grove, who added “it’s such a big world, but we’re so close together.”
Usher’s project is still a work in progress, but now she has even more knowledge of the stories behind each of the names.
“Family trees are fun but it’s no good limiting them to births, marriages and deaths,” said Usher.
“You have to round out the stories about what they did, how they dealt with the tribulations that come with life as well as the exciting parts. And this, meeting people and hearing their stories achieves that purpose. It’s been a fantastic experience.”
