A Hildred Connection

It was very interesting to see you mention the name Hildred, Roger as a Hildred did marry into the Hundelby family. Matilda (Tillie) Hundleby of Hemingby, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth, married James Hildren on Oct. 8, 1898. He was 24 years old, living at 75 Burgfield Street, London and was was a Porter with the GN Railway. His father, Thomas, was deceased. He and Tillie lived at 25 New End Road, Hemingby and Mildred's parents lived at #10 and her brother, John at #19. My Dad remembered Aunt Tille and Uncle Jim and evidently he was a very jolly sort of person (at least to an 8 or 9 year old boy)

Canadian Connections

How did Hundleby members get to Canada and why.

Ellen Hundleby, daughter of Samuel the Preacher was born in Hemingby 14 May 1879. She married Valentine Edmund Mackinder on Dec. 25, 1899 at Horncastle. They had the following children: Frederick and Edmund, identical twins born Oct. 23, 1900 at 41 North Street, Horncastle; Nellie born 3 March 1903; Grace born 4 March 1906 died 22 Oct. 1906; Kathleen born 3 Feb. 1908.

Ellen was not that healthy a person and in 1909 the Doctor recommended that they find a drier climate. As Valentine had a friend, Joe Walkey, who had been an apprentice butcher with him, they decided to come to Canada to Cranbrook, British Columbia where Joe lived. They had considered South Africa and Australia but chose the wettest and dampest place!

After a very stormy 8-day crossing on the S.S. Laurentic, the family arrived in Quebec City on Oct. 23, 1910 the twins' 10th birthday. They then took a 5 day trip across Canada by train. Life was not easy for them, and their daughter, Kathleen, died 15 Nov. 1910 in Jaffray, B.C. The doctor listed her death as from Marasmus, which was basically malnutrition due to a protein difficiency in the diet.

They then moved to Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island, becoming part of the group of first homesteaders on the townsite, Valentine building his Butcher Shop on 2nd Ave and homesteading 5 acres further out. They lived in a tent. Ellen, however, was diagnosed with T.B., so they moved again to Kamloops in the interior of the Province in the year 1918. This is a very dry semi-arid desert area. However, it was to be too late for the improvement of her health. Ellen died in Kamloops 17 Dec. 1922.

Childhood in B.C.

Hello again from Evelyn. I guess I am 5 years older than you - born in 1944. Used to tease Dad that I was a furlough baby which made him blush. Dad and his brother, Fred and Ed were the twin sons of Ellen Hundleby and Valentine Mackinder. They were born in 1900 and lied about their age in order to join WWII. However, both remained in Canada, my Dad being a Heavy Duty Mechanic and Bandsman.

We always had central heating, Roger, but when I grew old enough and the others had left home I happily went to the basement bedrooms which Dad had built for the older ones and which were not heated. We lived in Cranbrook in the East Kootenays where the temperatures could go to -25F and I used to wake up with frost on the quilt from my breath. It was a mad dash up the stairs, across the enclosed sun porch and into the warm kitchen where Dad had the pot of porridge bubbling on the stove before he left for work.

Anyway, what more news from the two contacts you had from the publicity. The graves in Hemingby will be my Great-grandfather Samuel, his wife Elizabeth and probably some of his children who stayed there in the agricultural machinery business and threshing. I would love to go there when I come in April/May.

We had winds of up to 157kph last night. We are fine, but two trees at our old house blew over and put a large hole in the neighbour's roof. Glad we don't have to pay.

Evelyn

Hundleby B.C. connection

Hello Roger: What a great idea. This is my first time as a 'blogger'. I read the newspaper article on-line and the 5 W's were there, so from that point of view, it was a success. I used to deal with the Press a great deal in my working life and always found it useful to give them a one-page sheet summarizing the details which they could then refer back to as they wrote the article. It would be useful, if you are doing any more papers, to mention descendants from both the male and female lines of the Hundleby name, as, of course, we are all not Hundlebys now.

Regarding the Convention next May, I was thinking of going to Lincoln for 3 or 4 days before the date to do some research at the Archives. My sister and I were in Lincoln for 4 days last September and stayed at the Carline Guest House on Carline Road. What a shame we did not know of each other's existence. I do now have a much better idea of what I wish to search for. I will then take the train from Lincoln to Spalding and stay with Janet and Brian for the Convention Weekend.

Our weather on the idyllic West Coast has been anything but this last month and a half. We had a windstorm on Monday which tore off 4 or 5 shingles from the roof. That has now been repaired but we have another storm on the way which is supposed to be packing 100kph winds with it. This is not our usual weather at all!

Hope this gets on the site O.K.

Evelyn