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- William 'Grandaddy' Axford had led an adventurous life. At twelve yearsof age he ran away to sea. He spent some years on a whaling vessel,sailing all the seven seas. It was a rough life for a boy, amongchurlish crewmen who often treaded him cruelly. The food was coarse andunpalatable. The profits from the whaler's catch were divided among theseamen, but no share was allotted to the boy. When the ship anchored onthe shore of New Zealand, William deserted. This was an uncivilizedcoast and the only inhabitants of the area were Marois. They took himin, adopted him into the tribe, and he lived with them for four years.Eventually he got passage back to Scotland, where he married Phoebe Glensand raised a family. The family came from Leith, a suburb of Edinburgh,Scotland, in 1883, on the last sail boat to bring passengers over toAmerica, they were on the boat for three weeks, in the month of March andhad a very rough trip. They were able to travel by train as far asBrandon, Manitoba, Phoebe and the two girls, Phoebe and Margaret stayedthere a year, while William and son, George homesteaded in Grenfell,North West Territories. From the Marois William had learned the art ofthatching which he now used to roof the log house he and his son Georgeerected on the homestead. The following year, Phoebe, along with the two girls, came to join thepair. One of the girls, Margaret subsequently married Alf Moore inGrenfell, the other, Phoebe, married John 'Jack' Ennis and had ninechildren (see the book, 'Ennis History', by Jean Agnes (Ferguson) Smith1979, pages 5, 7, 44-82). Phoebe didn't have very good health and had been gently reared and wasscarcely fitted for pioneer life and in the cold Canadian weather, it washard on her, she quietly passed away in 1890. Their log house burned three or four years after they built it and theywere building a new lumber one, but she didn't last long enough to get init. William 'Grandaddy' Axford died at Peebles, North West Territoriesand is buried in Summerberry Cemetery, Grenfell, Saskatchewan, Canada. At this time William's parentage is not known. This account is found in the books, 'Grit and Growth, the Story ofGrenfell', by Annie I. Yule, 1970 edition, on page7 and the 1980 edition,page 7. Both books were published by the Grenfell Historical Committeeand Printed by Brigdens and the covers by Universal Bindery, Saskatoon,Saskatchewan, Canada.
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