Daniel McCurdy Genealogy and Family History Notes


Daniel McCurdy
Thanks to Don and Marion McCurdy - marion.mccurdyodyssey.on.ca for sending the above photo

1881 Census of Canada View the census
Daniel McCurdy
Male
Other Information:
Birth Year <1870>
Birthplace O.
Age 11
Occupation
Marital Status
Ethnic Origin Irish
Head of Household Daniel McCurdy
Religion Church of England
Source Information:
Census Place Brant, Bruce South, Ontario
Family History Library Film 1375911
NA Film Number C-13275
District 176
Sub-district H
Division 2
Page Number 83
Household Number 353

1891 Census of Canada View the census
Name: Daniel McCurdy
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Age: 21
Birth Year: abt 1870
Birthplace: Ontario
Relation to Head of House: Son
Religion: Church of England
French Canadian: No
Father's Birth Place: Ireland
Mother's Birth Place: Ireland
Province: Ontario
District Number: 51
District: Bruce East
Subdistrict: Brant
Archive Roll #: T-6327

1901 Census of Canada View the census
Name: Daniel McCurdy
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Age: 31
Birth Date: 17 Oct 1869
BirthPlace: Ontario
Relation to Head of House: Son
Father's Name: Daniel
Racial or Tribal Origin: Irish
Nationality: Canadian
Religion: Epis
Occupation: Farmer's Son
Province: Ontario
District: Bruce (East/Est)
District Number: 48
Sub-District: Brant
Sub-District Number: A-6
Family Number: 72
Page: 9

1906 Western Canada Census- View the census
Name: McCurdy, Dan
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Age: 35
BirthPlace: Ontario
Family Number: 182
Relation to Head of House: Head
Province: Saskatchewan
Sub-District Description: Townships 4, 5, 6 In Ranges 4, 5, 6 West of The 2nd M
Sub-District: 9
Page: 19

Detroit Border Crossings - View Image Front View Image Back
Name: Daniel Mccurdy
Arrival Date: 9 Nov 1911
Age: 42
Birth Date: abt 1869
Birthplace: Vesta Ont
Birth Country: Canada
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: Irish
Port of Arrival: Detroit, Michigan
Accompanied by: Wife Nellie; Daughter Verlie; Daughter Laura; Daughter Dora
Departure Contact: Father Daniel Mccurdy
Arrival Contact: Mother-in-law Mrs Laura Nichols
Microfilm Roll Number: M1478_58

McCurdy: Dan & Nellie

Dan McCurdy came west at the turn of the century, lured by the promise of prosperity to those wishing to take a homestead. He was accompanied by his younger brother Dick, and also two close friends, the McGill Brothers. They all came from Chesley, Ontario.

Dan and Dick homesteaded the N 1/2 of 2-6-6 W2 and the McGill brothers took the south half. They brought lumber and shingles in a boxcar with their settler's effects. They built their houses at the center of the section, in order to share the problems as well as the tools. They built a sod workshop on the line between them, where they met at noon or evening and shared the repairing of things or the never-ending job of sharpening plow shears. It was also a place to discuss problems or just visit. On occasion, their spirits were lightened by the sharing of a bottle.

In a few years, with much hard work, Dan had broken much of the rich sod and was growing bumper crops. He realized it was time to do something about his lonely life and began to think about a wife and family. His attention had been attracted by a spunky young girl, Nellie Knight (nee Nellie Jane Smith), who was born in Ohio in 1885. As a very young girl she had come with friends to Manitoba, where she worked for some very nice people. It was there that she met Bert Knight and they were married. Later they decided to come to Saskatchewan.

Bert and Nellie built a sod house and that is where their daughter, Verlie, was born, but their happiness did not last long, because Bert had what was called galloping consumption. He died when Verlie was four months old, leaving Nellie a widow at the age of eighteen, with a small baby. Times were hard and Nellie had a tough decision to make, There were still two more years to go to prove up the homestead in order to get the title, or the land would go back to the Crown. Nellie knew that it would not be easy, but she had several good friends nearby, Wainmans, Smiths, Coxes and the others, so she decided to apply for the right to homestead. Needless to say it was not an easy choice; there was a great deal of hard work and worry. At times she wondered if it was worth all she had to go through. She managed to prove up the homestead with the help of all her friends, who included George and Warren McGill, and Dan and Dick McCurdy.

Dan offered to help whenever he could, so it was only natural that Nellie found herself liking the tall handsome neighbor with curly dark hair. Nellie had refused to marry Dan until she had won the title to her homestead. Now that she had the title, Dan proposed marriage, but Nellie had one more plan that she wanted to carry out. She had not been back to Ohio since she had come out in 1902 and Dan had not been back to see his folks either since coming west. Nellie persuaded Dan to visit his people that winter while she went to spend the winter with her family in Ohio. They would be married when she returned that spring.

The following spring Dan arrived back before her and eagerly waited for her return. On March 8, 1907 he met the train in Bienfait, where she arrived. They were married in Bienfait that day in the Anglican Manse. They spent the night there and travelled home with the team the next day, to begin their life together.

Their hopes were high that summer as they watched the heavy crops mature, but it was not to materialize because heavy frosts came early that year so the crop was very poor. There was one happy event that year, however; Dan could hardly wait for the arrival of their first child. He spent many hours making a cradle for the new baby. Finally the day arrived and Dan was delighted with a wee daughter, Laura Rose Ann, born the day after Christmas.

The next spring Dan applied for and got a boy sent out from Barnado Homes in England. His name was Walter Elshaw and he was a big help. The good lad soon became like part of the family. Walter was with them for a few years and then they lost contact with him after he left. Dan and Nellie never stopped wondering how he fared in life.

In the fall of 1910 Nellie decided that it was time that she took Dan home to meet her family as they were anxious to meet him and and also another baby girl, who had been born the year before. Nellie's family in Ohio coaxed her to come home for the winter so they could meet her husband, Laura and new baby Dora. Dan and Nellie rented the farm to the Joe Lloyd family and were on their way.

Dan was overjoyed to have a son born in Ohio the following spring. The baby was named after his dad. Since young Dan had been born in the States he always retained his American citizenship and later on chose to make his home there. During the war he served in the marines, then continued to live there until his death in 1970.

While in Ohio, Dan and Nellie discussed trying another lifestyle. They decided to buy a house in Boissevain, Manitoba and Dan would work as a carpenter. The farm would be worked by the Lloyds. they spent the next four years in Boissavain and by then they both realized that their real roots were in the soil and with the livestock that they both loved. They also knew that the farm could produce most of the food for their increasing family ( another son, Archie, had been born in Boissavain that January). They missed the milk, eggs, poultry and fresh meat that had been so plentiful on the farm. Dan and Nellie returned to the farm and went to work planning for their future there.

In 1925 Dan built a large modern barn that he had planned so long to shelter his livestock. The following year Dan and Nellie began work on their new house. They had waited so it could be the house they wanted. It was a large house. Electricity for it came from a light plant in the basement. The basement also contained a large cement cistern which supplied them with running water and indoor plumbing. What a luxury these things were and the spacious house was a constant enjoyment for the whole family after living in cramped quarters for so long.

Dan was happy that his years of hard work were finally paying off and he was able to provide his family with a better standard of living. The farm was beginning to prosper, so he decided that a new tractor and threshing machine were needed.

In spite of the ease of farming with a tractor there was still one job that Dan did with an outfit of horses and that was seeding with the drill. They horses were always high spirited and hard to handle after an idle winter, so the first few days of field work were extra difficult. In the spring of 1927 Dan had filled the drill with grain and he had two stone jugs sitting by the granary. One held drinking water and the other held Formalin, which was used to treat seed grain. Dan was occupied with controlling the prancing horses and without looking he bent down and picked up what he thought was the water. He pulled the cork and swallowed a huge gulp before he realized his mistake. The formalin burnt his throat and stomach lining. Dan was feeling sick all that summer and finally Dr. Corrigan persuaded him to go to Winnipeg for treatment. They operated on him but Dan died on the operating table. How ironic life is !

Thus in January, 1928 Nellie was once again a widow and this time with a large family for which she was responsible. She went back to the task of managing the farm. Fate had yet another blow in store for the family. The next fall the new barn, newly filled with the winter supply of hay, burned to the ground. Dan's fine horses and other livestock perished in the blaze, which also claimed all the harnesses and much other equipment. The fire was caused by spontaneous combustion from the new hay.

Nellie and her family made it through the dry thirties and saw the farm prosper again. When the decision to sell the farm was made in 1973, it seemed fitting that it be sold to Dick McCurdy's grandson, Telford McCurdy and his wife Elda.

Nellie spent five happy years enjoying the lovely Okanogan and doing her housework, but her health began to fail after being hospitalized for pneumonia in January 1979. She was tenderly cared for at home by Carman, Laura and later with the help of a home-care nurse, who finally told them that Nellie would be more comfortable in Cottonwoods Extended Care Hospital. She spent four months there and passed away on October 5, 1980, just before her ninety-fifth birthday. Up until the time of her death many of her happiest memories were of those early years on the prairies.
The McCurdy family can now be found scattered across western Canada.

Excerpts from
"Poet's Corner"
Pages 769 - 772

Daniel McCurdy, of Browning Sask one of the pioneer residents of the district, died Wednesday evening at St. Boniface hospital in his 59th year. Of Irish parentage, he was born in Fullerton, Ont., and came west about 30 years ago, taking up land at Browning where he was a successful farmer for many years. He took an active interest in community and municipal affairs and in addition to being a life member of the Loyal Orange order, was also promnent in Court S ylvan, COP. He is survived by his wife, sons, Daniel Archibald and Carmen, all resident at Browning, and daughters, Mrs J Lawrence, Mrs. O. A. Creighton and Misses Dora and Mildred, also resident at Browning; also sisters, Mrs W Redford, Elmwood, Ont., and Mrs A Campbell, Harding, Man., neices Mrs A. J. Hutchlngs and Mrs. M. MacCallum, of Winnipeg. Gardiners undertakers will forward the body to Browning, Sask., for interment. Sunday evening. The funeral will be held Tuesday afternoon.
Manitoba Free Press
Friday January 20 1928
Page 10

Brant Man Dies in the West

R. J. McCurdy of 14th con. Brant received a telegram on January 19th announcing the death the previous day of his brother, Dan, at Browning, Sask. The cause of death is not known. The late Dan McCurdy was born on the 14th Con. Brant but had lived at Browning, Sask., for some 30 years. He was married and leaves a wife and family of six. Mr. McCurdy had prospered in the West. Not many years ago he put up a fine steel barn and the residence he erected in in 1926, in which there are all modern conveniences, is valued at $6,000. His barn and home are lighted by electricity.

Of the original eight who gathered around the old roof tree at the old home on the 14th Brant, only four are now living, namely, Mrs. W. T. Redford of Elmwood, Mrs. A.D. Campbell in Manitoba and Archie and R. J. on the 14th of Brant.

Manitoba Vital Statistics
Last Name: McCurdy
Given Names: Daniel
Date Of Death: 01/18/1928
Age: 26
Units Of Age: Years
Sex: M
Place of Death: WPG
Registration Number: 1928,004047
Registration Date:



More About Daniel McCurdy:
Known As: "Dan"
Burial: Unknown, Elm Lawn Cemetery, Lampman, Saskatchewan, Canada

Census images and Headstone photo sent by Myrna

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