| Note |
- William Franklin 'Frank' Glen Ennis got his first paying job in 1907, helping build the Wolseley-Reston railway line. Each employee had to supply his own team of horses and his own sleeping quarters. Frank and his Dad built a mini cabin 6' X 10' from scrap lumber and put it on skids. With the railway completed, the village of Baring, Sask. sprang up in 1909. Being handy at working with metal, Frank started a blacksmith shop in Baring. He later moved to Grenfell where business was a little more inviting. Frank always had the desire the invent things from cast-off materials. In 1913 he built a car from scraps he could find, and when he cranked it up one day, it started like a charm! From the picture in his scrapbook you will notice that there are no frills. A car seat bolted to an old buggy frame and a few other bare necessities. It didn't even have floor boards in it, so when he took his cousin, Ellen McDonell, for a ride, her long skirt got caught in the drive shaft. When they got to Ellen's aunt's house, Ellen had to back up into the house because she was missing the back of her skirt. As this incident repeated itself, Frank and his car weren't too popular with the girls! From 1915 to June 1919, Frank served in the Canadian Army overseas. When he returned from overseas, he farmed at Glenavon with his brother, Johnny, until 1925 when he bought his own land. Frank and his mail-order bride, Maude, moved to their new home on the farm. One partner answered the other's lonely ad in the paper and they corresponded for a while before they actually met in person. Maude had the most beautiful dark red hair as a a young girl and as she was telling us, in one of her letters to Frank, she told him that she had something to tell him but that she was afraid that it would ruin their relationship so she'd only tell him in her next letter for fear that she wouldn't hear from him again. Curiosity got the best of Frank and he replied by return mail. Maude sat down and wrote the tragic news that she was a red-head. Now with glitter in her eyes, Maude told us that again Frank replied by return mail to inform her that he would love her all the more for it. Frank and Maude's union was blessed with a son, Ralph. Many a story Frank has told us about the hardships of the depression years, but he always seemed to see a funny side to them. When one-way discs were the latest in farm implements, he built one from scrap metal he had lying around the yard. In 1953, Frank and Maude retired to a house he had built in Glenavon.Their son, Ralph took over the farm. Frank kept himself busy making tables, lamps, and numerous other articles from diamond willow and caraganas. After Frank passed away, Maude lived in their little house for a few years but now (1979) she has her little unit in the Senior Citizens home in Glenavon.
|
1887 - 1975 (88 years)
[1]