Chris Jessup donation

  In October 2013 the Cupar Museum 

 had their Harvest Lunch and a Cultural Expo

 featuring sports in the community over the past 100 years. 

 I had found a number of articles about the formation of

 a football club and games played in the area. 

 I was disturbed that we had no football artifacts.

 It was not until recently that I discovered, 

 because of a photo donation by Chris Jessup from England

 of a winning soccer team from Cupar in 1912,

 that football meant soccer. I stand corrected.

  Mr Jessup also donated a marriage certificate of his grandfather Clem Jessup of McDonald Hills. A farm called Mitcham Court was mentioned in a wedding write up I found in the Cupar Herald in October of 1912. I went back again to the Cupar Herald and was able to send him information on life in the McDonald Hills District at the time. Too often we look today at these districts as remote and isolated, but in reality they were active and lively areas with dances, derbies , church socials etc.

Every Man Remembered Project

A friend of mine Terry Brown told me about a project called : Every Man Remembered. He brought up the fact that some of these men because they were single had no wife or children to remember them.

He states: “In this, the 100th anniversary of the start of World War l, The Royal British Legion is working with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to keep alive the memory of those who fell in the First World War, for future generations. They would like every single man and woman from across the Commonwealth who fell, to be individually commemorated by those alive today. This is your chance to take part in a truly historic and incredibly significant act of remembrance.”

Cupar Soldiers KIA WWI

Chambers Joseph Arnold #426219 8^th Bn. (not married) d. 2.6.1916 age?

remembered with honour Ypres ( Menin Gate) memorial

Galloner Roger

Jack John William Clyde  #907063 16th Coy (not married) d. 12.3.1917 age 24

remembered with honour Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-Au-Bois

Hardiman John Patrick #1069189 46^th Bn. (not married) d. 2.9.1918 age?

remembered with honour Vis-En-Artois Cemetery Haucourt

Holdsworth (Oldsworth) C 195^th Battalion CEF

Hope W

Keyser Lloyd #3353545 Depot Bn. (Saskatchewan) (not married) d. 16.11. 1918 age 23

remembered with honour Cupar Cemetery

Lewis Daniel Andrew # 427311 58^th Bn. (not married) d. 6.10.1916 age 35

remembered with honour Contay British Cemetery, Contay

Little (Lyttle) Andrew #907411 5^th Bn. (not married) d. 11.4.1917 age 21

remebered with honour Barlin Communal Cemetery Extension

Luck Hayward James # 426521 3^rd Bn. (not married) d. 7.9.1916 age 30

remembered with honour Sunken Road Cemetery, Contalmaison

McCrimmon Norman #908002 9^th Bde. (not married) d. 25.10.1917 age 23

remembered with honour Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery

MacMillan #195^th Battalion CEF

Mole Walter Stanley #234440 44^th Bn. (not married) d. 11.5.1917 age 32

remembered with honour Vimy Memorial

Morton R.

Murray E.A.

Neale Arnold Selwyn #234753 52^nd Bn. (married) d. 1.10.1918 age 32

remembered with honour Canada Cemetery, Tilloy-Les-Cambrai

Smith A.

Taylor Duncan McCallum #907363 5^th Bn. (not married) d. 26.5.1917 age 26

remembered with honour Braco Churchyard

Trafford Norman Frederick #551439 “C”Sqdn. (married) d. 3.7.1918 age 36

remembered with honour Barlin Communal Cemetery extension

Weatherup John (Jack)#907326 “A” Coy 52^nd Bn. (not married) d. 24.5.1917 age 23

remembered with honour Petit-Vimy British Cemetery

Information on gravesite, type of headstone, any inscription can be found at

www.cwgc.org Commonwealth War Graves Commission

There are also photos of the cemetery.

Hardiman Killed in Action WWI

John Patrick Hardiman was killed in action 2 Sept 1918. He was buried at Vis-en-Artois a British Cemetery at Harcourt France. He was born in Liverpool England but at the time of his enlistment

6 Dec 1916 he was listed as living in Cupar and a farmer.

Early Cupar Recruits WWI

Over the last couple of winters I have tried to gather as many WWI attestation papers for men from Cupar who enlisted in the war. I found over 70. 35 of these men were in the 195^th. It helped that the Local legion, United church and Anglican church have honour rolls, but there are still men missing. Part of the problem is sometimes there is no first name, just an initial. There appears to be 2 different attestation forms one asks for present address, the other does not, I therefore may have missed some.

I was also curious as to who were among the early recruits. The Cupar Herald 15 Oct 1914 lists 3 men who left “in the past week” to enlist in Regina. They were Bernard Hitchcox, Donald L. Copeland and George Watkins. It appears from an early paper dated 20 Aug 1914 that Bernard Hitchcox and W.M.Gawley had left their names with Captain Anderson of the 95^th Saskatchewan Rifles.

But the earliest Cupar recruits appear to have gone directly to Valcartier . Eustace E. Wallis ( later to be postmaster in Cupar) enlisted 21 Sept 1914 he was listed under 1^st Brigade CFA , and Frank Whiskin Reg. # 21902 (printer) 23 Sept 1914. He was designated with the 11^th Battalion CEF.

Frank Whiskin in reality was a journalist who worked for a number of small papers in the Cupar area.

He wrote a number of letters home from the front. The letter he wrote 21 Aug 1915,  is the most descriptive I have found, appears in the Cupar Herald 30 Sept 1915.

Summer a time for anniversaries and re-unions

Congratulations to Bob and Donna Turner who recently celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary.

Weddings and anniversaries are also a time for impromptu reunions. We were fortunate to have a number of the Turner clan, including two 3^rd or maybe 4^th cousins from South Dakota, visit our museum. Joan Turner ( Bob's sister ) who lives in Ontario, donated a scenery tile painted by Isabel Gould, who taught music in Cupar. The tile was given to Joan in 1947. If you are interested in more information on the Gould family their is a very good write up in the Cupar history book.

Joan also donated a photo album compiled by her aunt Iona Turner. Iona was part of a group of journalists who toured war ravaged Europe in 1924. Also included are reception announcements, new articles etc. It is an amazing and beautiful snapshot of a moment in time as seen through the eyes of a local resident.

WWI hundred years ago today

I found this clipping from the Leader Post Regina, dated November 1918 in a scrapbook that had been donated to us sometime back and found it interesting.

At the end of WWI these were the most significant key events.

Chaps Donation

Thank you to Delores ( Kaytor) Johnston granddaughter of Gasper Nistor ( 1894 – 1984 ) for a set of his working chaps.

 He was born in Hungary and came to the Cupar area to farm north of town about 1905. He married Marie ( Bacsu) ( 1908 – 1983 ) Sometime in the 1930's they moved to the Arbury district, RM of Touchwood # 238. They are buried at St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church Cemetery.

Busy Summer Student Worker

Tenaisha, our summer student, is a busy young woman, who besides the day to day maintenance requirements of the museum, is also assisting in cataloguing new artifacts, and under our volunteers' supervision is also restoring some recently acquired artifacts.
 She has also conducted a number of tours. It is a shame we only have her for 8 weeks.

 

In this photo Tenaisha is busy digitizing our catalogued artifacts. They will be cross referenced under catalogue number and name of donor.

Kevin Bonish Donation

Thank you to Kevin Bonish for his donation of sports and school memorabilia. The acquisitions committee is in the process of sorting and deciding what can be kept according to our mission statement and limited space.

I am quite excited by the photo record of one room school houses taken circa 1949 for Cupar School Unit #28.  Many if not most of these schools no longer exist.






We are fortunate to now have a record of 73 schools and one day we hope to find those that are missing.

MUSEUM SILHOUETTES

The silhouettes designed and constructed by Jim and Linda Adam have been restored by Mike Lorencz and Wes Bailey. Once again they grace the exterior of the museum.

WWI Display

This summer's special display on WWI has been completed and is now up at the museum.

 

After the summer many of the framed items will be kept in a binder for future reference

and accessible for future displays and research. Also of interest are numerous attestation

papers and letters from the front between 1914-1918 written by local soldiers serving overseas.

Cupar School Tour

Mrs. Wiers and her 27 kindergarten/Grade I students toured the museum June 25.

They were full of energy, yet very attentive.

 What is a school room without students.

Each student keeps a journal, so when they returned to school each had to note down 5 things they learned.

I was impressed with Mrs Wiers approach to our artifacts, linking them to items the children see in their daily lives. Such as a wall crank phone to an i phone or a chalk slate to an i pad.

Memory of Fallen WWI

This curtain still hangs in the Cupar Town Hall, a little worse for wear and many years of people smoking.  It was painted by L. Hazelaar in 1951.

Normandy 1944

Cupar has a connection to Normandy in the sacrifice of a number of young men.  I was able to find information on 2 of these men.

 

                                                                     

WWI postcards

Canadian soldiers in World War I spent many long hours in the trenches just waiting.

To help pass the time some soldiers like “Uncle Bill” did embroidery. This particular embroidered post card was sent July 10, 1917 from France.  Soldiers were not allowed to disclose their exact location. 

 Bill was engaged to Nellie, the Aunt of Edna Elliott ( age 4 ). Bill never returned from France.

Another kind of postcard was basically a form or fill in the blank style.