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Thomas
Hill
Mr.
Thomas Hill was born in England on April 23, 1856. He emigrated
to Huron County, Ontario, when only a few months old. He lived at
Bluevale until 1882 when he travelled to Manitoba and homesteaded on
N.W. quarter – 30-3-18 W.1. He worked on the Canadian Pacific
Railroad to earn money, as only six months’ residence on the land was
required. He worked as far west as Swift Current on the
transcontinental, on the old wood-burning locomotives, as a
fireman. He later obtained the S.W. quarter – 30-30-18 as a
pre-emption and in later years increased his holdings to a section and
a quarter.
He
was
married on October 2nd, 1884, to Elizabeth McIntosh, Richard McIntosh,
a brother, was married to Mary Jane Cantlon on the same day.
He
built a frame house on the S.W. quarter. His other buildings were
built either of logs or sod.
One of
his early experiences was going to Brandon with wheat. There were
three in the group. Their wheat was on wagons drawn by oxen. When
they reached the Souris River there was quite a fall of snow on the
other side. Two of his friends managed to borrow sleighs to
continue. He could not obtain one and was offered twenty-two
cents a bushel for his wheat. The others continued to Brandon
where they sold theirs for twenty-five cents a bushel, and of course
the extra three cents a bushel was not enough to cover their board and
lodging. Mr. Hill saved two days travel as well.
Another
early experience was with hired help. He hired an Englishman who
was just over to this country. He told him one day to feed a team
of horses and found that he had stuffed a few handfuls of hay in the
manger boxes intended for their grain ration.
Another
day he left the same man, whose name was Sid Hallsworth, at home.
On returning home, he noticed a very strong odour as the man
approached. Sid said he had caught an animal that would make a
nice pet for his sister back in England. Needless to say, the
pretty black and white animal was never sent, and his clothes required
burial for a day to remove the odour.
Another
hired man was a Doukhobor, one of quite a number imported from Russia
in the fall of 1900 to help harvest the crop.
All the
fuel they used in those days was hauled from the Turtle Mountain area,
a distance of thirteen or fifteen miles. This was done in winter
on sleighs, then sawed and split for the cookstoves.
In
the
early eighties, plowing was done with two oxen and a single-furrow
walking plow. He had a wooden roller about three feet in diameter
and nine feet long. This was used after seeding to pack the land
but its use was soon discontinued, as the land tended to drift.
The first seeder was a hoe drill with about thirteen furrow
openers. Not everyone had a binder at first, and they were used
by more than one farmer. The first threshing machines were
hand-fed, and the straw was carried by slats up a short carrier. The
grain was bagged at the side of the machine, and the size of the gang
was around eighteen or twenty-two men.
A gang
of this size meant a busy time for the housewife who made her own
bread, churned her own butter, made the soap she used from fats and
lye, sewed most of the children’s clothes and washed them on a
scrubbing board. All the meat was butchered at home. Some
was either cured in brine or dry salted for future use.
There
was not much social activity. Dances were very rare.
Neighbours often gathered together in the winter to play crokinole,
blind man’s buff, or Jacob and Rachel.
Mr.
and
Mrs. Hill were members of the Presbyterian Church and supported it as
long as they lived. The children were sent to Methodist Sunday
School before there was one of any other denomination.
The
first school in the district was a small frame structure and was called
Fern Hollow. It was moved to Ninga when the railroad came through and
served as a dwelling, and a school building was erected in the village.
Thomas
Hill served as councillor of Ward Four, Turtle Mountain Municipality
for some years, and for a good many years he was trustee of Ninga
school District Number 485.
Six
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hill, four boys and two girls.
One son died in infancy. The others are all living at this date,
1964, three in Ninga, Etta (Mrs. S. W. Tripp); Will (W. L.); Tony (T.
A.); Ellen (Mrs. Maguire) lives in Winnipeg, and Cliff in Detroit.
Mr.
Hill passed away in 1939, and Mrs. Hill in 1942. They are buried
in Ninga Cemetery.
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