Family Homesteads

The fella above is Hector Munn, who is my father's father's father's mother's father. His father and grandfather are the ones along with many other family members who came from Scotland on the Spencer, but that's a story for later. Below is Hector's wife Sarah (Munn) Munn. She was also his cousin, another story for later.

 

Below is a family portrait taken in 1866 (a guess judging by the age of the children). That is Hector standing, Sarah sitting in the center and the children from left to right are Duncan Hector (1853-1876), James Hector (1864-1926), Dorothea Jane (1861-1949), Jessie Euphemia (1865-1890), Flora Grace (1858-1945), Mary Sarah (1857-1935), and Elizabeth Ann (1854-1927), who is my grandfather's grandmother. 

 

And this was their house, at the west end of Gray's road in Belle River. I receives a number of photos from a cousin of ours, Hector Munn, who is descended from James in the picture above. He lives in Newberg Oregon, and we have been sharing family information since he found me through the Colonsay website, Corncrake, after Munn 200 in 2006.

Edgar Munn took Grammy, Grampy and I to the house in the early '80's and then I took Winnie and Joyce there and took this photo below of the same house in 1985. At the time it was sitting on piles ready to be moved and restored, but whoever was doing the project abandoned the house. I assume it's in the ground now. I'd like to find it again and see what it looks like.

Below is the headstone for Hector and Sarah. They are buried in the Wood Islands Pioneer Cemetery. Both died aged 49, and his death was caused by a kick to the head by a mule. Stuff you pick up when you dig far enough.

Below is the home of John Danny Munn, a post-portrait child of Hector and Sarah, and was the father of Edgar, who I used to go visit and compare family notes with. This house was also in Belle River. I don't know if it is still standing or not. Maybe somebody reading this can tell me.

This next farm was the home of Dan and Elizabeth Ann Munn. She is the girl at the far right in the family portrait above, and she and Dan were Ira's parents, Grampy's father. This is how the place would have looked at the turn of the 20th century.

It was located in Hopefield across the east fence from Jimmy Smith's place. Dad owns the front parcel of this place now. The buildings are long gone. Dan died in 1911, and Elizabeth Ann lived here until her death in 1927. Ray and Joyce lived on the land in a different house moved here from Hopefield Station, and Carol was born while they were there. They left for England when Carol was a baby and their house was moved back to Hopefield Station. Joyce still owns the back portion of the place.

Below is another family portrait, taken in 1907, this time at Dan and Elizabeth Ann's place. The tall guy in the middle is Ira, Grampy's father. Next to Ira is his mother and the man at far left is Dan.

The following picture was taken in the barnyard. From left is Sophia, Ira's sister who was home from Boston. The woman in the carriage is Sarah Kathryn, Grampy's mother. The baby is Grampy. Ira is with the horse in the center. Sophia's son Edgar Barker is holding the wagon and Dan is at the far right. Ira, Sarah Kathryn and Grampy were living there for a couple of years when Viola was born in 1912.

Our friend Julia here in Lincoln is a talented artist and she hand colored a copy of the above photo. This now hangs in our dining room. 

This is how Dan's house looked in 1945. That is Viola, Sadie and their children in the photo.

After Viola was born, Ira bought this place down the road. The only way you know where it was is that it was at the corner of Gray's Road and Munn's Road. Winnie loaned the original to me and told me the reason it was so beat up is that Danny had it in his pocket when he was at war in Europe. Danny, Jim, Sadie and Ray were born in this house.

 

These were the barns

The house burned down in 1940 and the only thing they were able to save was the sideboard that we have been using at the River which was made by Ira's father Dan.

Below is the house where Grammy grew up in Abney. She was not born in this house. They moved here before her brother Lewis was born in 1916. It burned down in the 1950's.

This is the house that Grammy and Grampy bought from Alec Taylor in Hopefield. As a part of the deal, Alec lived with them until he died some time in the early 40's. Ola was born in the house in Abney, but Carl, Sylvia, Dad, Betty and Loreen were born here. They moved to Charlottetown in December 1951.

Grampy took me up to look at the place in the summer of 1981 and I took the following photographs. It had been empty for decades and the floors were soft so he didn't let me go in but he crawled around in it a bit. I remember very well that it became my dream at that moment to one day get the place back and restore it but it was not to be. That October the owner burned it down.

 

 

I painted the watercolor below for Dad for Christmas in 1998. I pulled together some old photos of the house and composed them together. That's Dad with Peter the dog, and Grampy sitting on the running board of the Whippet, their rumble-seat car.