Off on a Tangent

So. I decided to spend the winter researching and putting together a display for Cupar's 110 th anniversary celebration. I thought, well I can't do the full history, so I will concentrate on the first 5 years, that is possible. However, even that could take a lot of effort so I will narrow it down to early businesses, the people who ran them, possible ads and location of buildings. I can manage that. I found what I believed were the only existing photos from that time period at the museum, I added ones I found in Cupar's history book and put out a call for photos. As I began to go through the Cupar Herald from 1906 to 1910 I thought, well I really should include the churches, and maybe about the school and of course about the Masonic Order, maybe I should include the overseers in the village. Then I came across the first 17 bylaws, well that is important too. Well of course information on the elevators, oh yes and fires in the village. No I will stay away from the development of a rural telephone system, won't deal with districts outside Cupar like McDonald Hills, although it is really interesting, no to the concern to find safe drinkable water. Sports and sports days no no no stay focused. Oh look, marriages, funerals and births no no no. Stay focused. What is the Canadian Order of Foresters Cupar Court # 1184, and what is the Cupar L.O.L # 2053. ? No no no. I'm losing it, time for a long break to refocus. .................................

Okay, I'm back, I'm focused and I can continue.

Then I found the following article dated 12 April 1907.

Oh, interesting. Roumanians, what, this is basically Hungarian in the Cupar area. So I check in the Cupar history book page 8. Bukovina, an eastern European territory. I was rather confused by the end and the map didn't help. So the borders have been shifting for years, either we have Roumanians from Hungary or Hungarians from Roumania, or a local english journalist thinks they are the same. I think I am getting a headache. I will pursue another avenue. The group of 80 travelled 20 miles north. Where is that? Someone said well that would be Gordon Reserve, and that is impossible so it must be Lestock. Well I'm sure the roads were different so how far is that? Obviously a homestead map with townships would be helpful. Another tangent as I not only work through how big is a section, how big is a township, actually 36 sections, a range – which way do they run? Then where is ground zero, Cupar, located. Eventually I find myself somewhere near Lestock. Then I think okay 1907, I'll check the census records for 1911, how hard can that be? Skip to the punch line there are no Roumanians just Hungarians in the area. Scream. Okay the Lestock history book, that will have the answer, so off to my neighbour's to borrow the book. Another distraction, found 2 sets of my husband's great grandparents, and great grandparents of a woman across the alley. I'll just mark that for later. So it seems in the Lestock book, anyone who arrived in 1907 seemed to come through Lipton. Just great. Finally success, maybe, Joe Buki Senior and family arrived in Cupar by train in the spring of 1907. Okay that is not 80 people, but................ Wait a minute what was I doing, oh yes, the first 5 years of Cupar and the early business men and there businesses. By the way I've taken up shuffle board as a distraction..... Oh look, Church of the Nazarene, I wonder, no no no.