Sheward Family of Hartlebury, Worcester
The following is a story about the Sheward Family Tree from Hartlebury, Worcester, England. The Sheward or Shuard brothers and one sister, five in all that came to the Maple Creek, Saskatchewan from 1893 to 1913. In the Sheward Family there were eleven siblings in all, three died young in England, five came to Canada and the rest remained in England. The names of all the siblings in order, oldest to youngest, John Henry, William, Samuel, Albert, George, Mary Louisa, a set of Stillborn Twins, Herbert, James Alfred and Fred. Their parents were: Herbert, born on December 22, 1843 in Hartlebury. Worcester, England and he died on June 10. 1906 at age sixty three in Stourport England. The mother Susannah Speake. born on September 30 1847 in Gospel End, Staffordshire, England and died on July 13. 1927 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Descendants of these men can be found from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and number in the 100’s.
The Children
Jack (John Henry) was born January 12th 1868 at Hartlebury, England and died on October 30, 1918 at age fifty. He came to Canada and Maple Creek in 1907. Homestead entry was on July 20, 1907, NE 1/4 of Section 22 in Township 9. Range 23. West of the 3rd Meridian. He was killed after being kicked in the head by a horse and is buried in the Maple Creek Cemetery. He left his homestead to his brother, George.
William was born November 13th 1870 at Hartlebury, England and died August 19th 1939 at London, England. In the census records his last name is spelled Shuard. One story is that the reason why the spelling change was because William did not want to be confused with the infamous William Sheward of Norwich fame, who in the 1851 murdered his wife and dismembered her body, which he later confessed to the crime and on April 20th 1869 was hanged at Norwich City Gaol. Anyway this William Sheward or Shuard went on to marry a Matilda Stokes in 1898 in Stourport, Worcestershire, England. They moved to London, England where they went on and had five children, Geoffrey Gordon, Albert, Edith Winnifred, Eleanor Lucy and George William. Geoffrey Gordon eventually moved to Australia where his descendants are now living.
Samuel was born December 8th 1872 in Hartlebury, England and died September 10th 1873 in Hartlebury England.
Albert was born on July 22. 1874 in Worcester, England. He died on September 21, 1959 in Piapot. Saskatchewan at age 85 years and two months. He married Ellen (Nellie) Elizabeth Syred on November 17. 1900 She was born in February 1867 and died on October 12. 1923 at age 56 years and eight months. They came to the Cypress Hills area in 1893. Their children were: Albert Godfrey, born on October 29. 1901 at Maple Creek and died June I8, 1971 at Prince George. B.C’ He was an R.C.M.P officer from 1919 to 1926. Katherine (Kate) Ellen was born on July 16, 1903 and died on May 2. 1993. Susan Louise was born on February 3. 1905 in Skibbereen Sask. and died on October 4, 1995 at Enderby. B.C. She marred Sheldon Angus May on August 29, 1929. . Esther Ruth was born on May 9. 1907. never married and died March 25th 2005. Leonard Henry was born on August 4, 1911 and died on April I. 1944 at Weyburn, Saskatchewan. From Kate Shuards journal as told by Robert and Betty Mann,
Sheward Family “lived for a short time near Mann’s and then in 1901 squatted on SW26-9-23 W3rd owned by the Hudson Hay Co, They bought the land and took up a homestead in 1905, Kate grew up experiencing the pioneer life of the early settlers, First an early 2 room shack, a better log home and then a frame home of her own. She went to school at Skibbereen located on Bear Creek. While her brother Godfrey and sisters Susan and Ruth left home Kate stayed and worked with her father and cared for her mother who died in 1923 and Leonard, an invalid from age 7, who died in 1944. She gradually took over from her father who passed away in 1959.
Supplies in the early days, were brought from Maple Creek, a two day journey by team and wagon. Litter when the country opened up they were brought from Piapot. At the beginning there was open range and good hay and grass arid they raised Durum cattle and some horses, Dry cows brought $30.00 per head and 3 year old steer $50.00. By 1915 the country was settled and the open range ended. They tried farming the land but this was unsuccessful due to late spring and early fall frosts. Later she raised sheep, sometimes spinning the wool into yarn to knit underwear for her father. She also milked cows and shipped cream. Later she raised Angus cattle and had a tine herd.
In 1966 she sold the ranch to Douglas East, who had worked for her for a number of years, and retired to Maple Creek while still keeping a keen interest in the place.”
George was born on August 22. 1877 and died on April 13, 1958 at age eighty one years at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He married Esther Ann (Hethe) Deeley on December 23, 1900 in England. She was born on March 5, 1874 in Lye. Worcester. England and died October 16, 1932 at Moose law at age fifty eight. George tried homesteading on SE 1/4. Section 22, Township 11. Range 23. W of 3rd Meridian. Then moved to Moose Jaw where he operated a bicycle shop. His mother Susannah lived with him. George cane to Canada on April 20, 1912 from Liverpool, England with his wife and five children. The children were; Agnes Muriel, was born on July 9, 1901 in Kidderminster Worcester, England and died on December 18, 1947 at age 46 in Moose Jaw. She married Herbert Thorncloe Onions on October 27, 1926 in Moose Jaw. Their children are Esther Ann Mary and William George. Esther Ann Mary was born on November 24. 1928 in Moose Jaw and married Hamish Bower Rankin on August 12. 1961. They have two sons. William George was born on January 13. 1935 in Moose Jaw and married Hilda Litrzenberger on August 25, 1957. Jack (John Roland) was born in 1903 in England and died on February 21. 1989 in Moose Jaw. He married Thelma Anna Day on December 26. 1939 in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan.
She was born on November 26, 1910 in Moose Jaw. They have one son. Arthur Francis was born on November 21, 1904 in Chettenham, England and died on February 23, 1976 at Newport, Nova Scotia. He married Elizabeth Bessie Booth. They have two sons and one daughter. Allan George was born on July 30. 1906 in Chettenham, England and died on September 7, 1986. He married Constance Cato on July 15. 1936, in Saskatoon. Saskatchewan. Then have two sons. Mabel Louise was born on May 27. 1911, in Chettenham, England. She married John Wilfred Carter on September 21. 1932 in Moose Jaw. They have one son and two daughters. Dorothy May was born on May 1 1916 in Maple Creek and died on December 25. 1996 in Moose Jaw. She married Robert Pearson on April 6. 1940 and they have one son.
Mary Louisa, was born 1880 in Doverdale, Worcestershire, England and died 1940 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. She married a Harry Bunn in 1903 Kidderminster, England. She never left England.
“Twins” Sheward boy were still born in 1883, Hartlebury, England.
Herbert was born July 1884 in Hartlebury, England and died Jan 23, 1961 in Stourport, Worcestershire, England and married a Lizzie Tunnicliffe. he also never left England.
James Alfred was born on May 7, 1886 at Stourport on the Severn. Worcester. England and died on February 13, 1963 at Medicine Hat. He married Edith Hannah Andrew, on June 4, 1910 at Stourport England. He was a policeman in Redcliff and Medicine Hat. Alberta. He came to Canada and Maple Creek with his wife and oldest son in 1913. He tried homesteading on NW 1/4 Section I in Township 12. Range 25. W 3rd Meridian but abandoned it in March of 1914. Their children were: Frederick James. born on August 23. 1912 in Birmingham. England and died on July 24. 1979 in Medicine Hat. He married Doris Louise (Turner) about 1934 and they have one son and one daughter. Cyril George was born on August 2. 1914 in Medicine Hat and died in 1979. He married Emma Faas in October 1943 They have one son and one daughter. Arthur (Art) Herbert was born on August 14, 1920 in Medicine Hat and married Bertha Honig and they had one daughter. He married Anna Bette Anderson on October 25. 1952 and they have two sons. He then married Jewel Chalmers on July 21, 1990 and she died in 1997, Hilda Edith was born on June 21. 1916 in Medicine Hat and died on September 24, 1973. She married Joseph Eric Earl and they have one son and two daughters. Phyllis Mary was born on October II. 1923 in Medicine Hat. She married Gerald Everet Ashbury on July 7. 1951. They have one daughter and two sons.
The Sheward Family Tree -Fred Sheward
Fred was the youngest in a family of six boys and one girl born in England. In 1911 he and his brother James, came to Canada and went out to the ranch of his older brother Albert in the Kealey Springs district. They stayed there only a few weeks however and then James went on to Medicine Hat while Fred stopped in Maple Creek, where he found work as a clerk at the Cooil Store. He later took a homestead three and a half miles north of town. From there he rode horseback each day to his job in town. Florence Mae Davis was born into a large family April 26 1892 in Bridgewater, Somerset, England. Florence decided to come to Canada in 1912, her destination was the west coast and Vancouver, but she didn’t make it due to an attack of laryngitis and scarlet fever, she had to leave the train at Maple Creek and was hospitalized there for a few weeks. Her voice never fully recovered and her singing voice was never the same and she was forced to take a job as a ladies companion. In receiving the groceries one day delivered by the clerk from the Cooil Store, she met Fred.
They were married in 1912. They lived for two years on the homestead, the first winter in the soddy beside the Big Stick Trail (now Highway 21), the second winter in a shiplap shack. Where the first two children, Gladys and Robert were born by 1916 in the newly built little bungalow, which still sits on the original homestead at 3-12-26.
Due to a crooked arm due to a bad fall in his youth, Fred was kept out of active service during the war years. He was a devout man and spent much time studying the scriptures. A convincing speaker, he soon gathered a following about him. By 1929 eight children had been born to Fred and Florence. They were Gladys, Robert, Raymond, Lloyd, Marjorie, Myrtle, Dorothy and Joyce. All but Joyce were delivered by a midwife named Mrs. Bowyer who lived at Cardell just east of Maple Creek.
In the summer of 1924 Florence two sisters, Dorothy and Nance arrived from England and the “little cottage” was becoming crowded. Aunt Nance soon went on to Calgary where she married a man by the name of Sydney Hart and she died while in childbirth in 1929. Dorothy took a job as housekeeper for Sam Colquhoun. who lived three miles away.
The Sheward children attended school at Motherwell. According to Robert Sheward, some of his teachers were Miss Bolton. Miss Dow, Miss Graham who married Mr. Kitson a local druggist. and his favourite Lily Smith. Three boys started school together and studied and played through eight grades. They were George Duffee, Elmer Hawn and Robert Sheward. They were later joined by Malcolm Colquhoun. These four youngsters represented four distinct religious affiliations – Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Jehovah Witness. This religious distinction made little difference to the way the boys got along together.
Schools were arranged six miles apart so theoretically the farthest any child had to walk to school was three miles. This did not always hold true however as sometimes natural road blocks such as creeks or lakes made the distances farther. The surrounding schools from Motherwell were Webster, six miles north, Gulloway six miles east and Royal Edward six miles west. Children rode or walked to school. When the Galloway school closed in 1925 for lack of funding, the students were transported to Motherwell by Donald Crawford in a team and wagon or sleigh. In the winter hot rocks would be buried in the straw of the sleigh box to keep the youngsters warm.
As more and more homesteaders failed in their attempt to make a living from the land, those hardier souls that stayed, acquired their holdings. By the late 1920’s, Fred had acquired four quarters bordering his original homestead. As the dry years of the 1930’s took over the area, whatever social life there was, was centred around Motherwell School. The annual picnic there with its baseball games, horse shoe pitching and sumptuous lunches are fondly remembered.
According to the eldest son Robert Sheward, he left the area after he completed grade nine in 1931 and worked his way through high school as a street car conductor in Vancouver. He spent two years as a High School principal in Lillooet and then went overseas as a war correspondent in World War 11, gained his Bachelors’ degree in Toronto and then went on to work towards his M.A. in Tucson, Arizona and Archaeology in Mexico. His mother Florence when she was sixty-five spent a season with Robert, excavating ruins in Guatemala and they often reminisced about their pioneer days north of Maple Creek.
When Robert got employment on the Vancouver street cars, he made a house for his family there and they left the farm in 1937. Florence ran a boarding house and Father continued his spiritual activities. Raymond, a diabetic all his life became a successful builder and contractor. Lloyd apprenticed as a mortician and undertaker, after some tine in the air force, he moved to Long Beach and raised a family of two boys. Gladys became the head dietitian in the dining hall of the University of British Columbia. She married and had two children. Marjorie and Myrtle, have been active all their lives in the religion of our father. Both raised families and lived in Surrey. Dorothy, lives in Chilliwack and is retired from a lifetime of teaching and she has won recognition with her water colours. Joyce, lives in Langley and raises pedigreed Pugs. All of the children have all passed away accept Dorothy and Joyce. Fred died in 1956 and Florence in 1966.
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By: Gordon Rebelato
