(submitted by Fern Sutton, Velma Ring, Lois Milner and Janet Firman)
William and Elizabeth Harper came to Canada around 1840 from Ballymens, Ireland. They first settled in the Georgetown, Ont. area before moving to Warwick Twp. in 1855. They had ten children, all born in Upper Canada (Ontario).
William and Elizabeth’s son William and his wife Margaret Harper were the parents of George Harper and his wife Ethel. They had thirteen children. Seven are living in the Warwick area in 2008. The children of George and Ethel Harper are: Allen of Arkona, Velma and Lee of Forest, Maxena and Merle, both of Windsor, Ralph of Warwick Village, Leroy of Serpent River, Murray of Warwick Twp., Fern from near Forest and her twin sister Fay of Wyoming, Lois of Bosanquet Twp., Reid of Bright’s Grove and Raymond on Hickory Creek Line, Warwick Twp.
George first married Bertha Smith, but they had no family. After Bertha died he married Ethel Haskell from Fort Erie. They lived on the home farm, which is the west ½ of Lot 12, Con. 4 NER (Chalk Line). This farm has been in the Harper name since 1925. George and Ethel’s bachelor son Murray still lives on the home farm.
The children attended SS#4 (Birnam School). Fern, Velma and Lois reminisced about the children walking 2 ¼ miles to school, mostly by cutting through neighbour Stanley Brent’s fields with the cattle or sheep following them, rather than by the road. Mr. Brent left holes in the fences unrepaired so the children could get through them. Once during a blizzard their father came to meet them crossing the fields, in case they got lost.
Harper children. Back: Fern, Leroy, Lois, Murray, Fay. Front: Raymond, Reid. Courtesy Harper family.
The sisters remembered the windmill on the farm. When their brother Lee was little he climbed to the top of the windmill unexpectedly. Luckily his great uncle very cautiously rescued him.
Stanley Brent had a large pond on his farm, so the children used to skate on it during the winter months. The three girls closest together in age had two pairs of skates between them, so they took turns sharing them. While the one girl had a pair on, the other two would skate around with one skate each. They had lots of fun.
The family attended Bethel Church when possible. Having no car, they had to walk to church.
Christmas concerts at the school were a big highlight in their life. The children took part in various activities, then received a gift and candy from Santa Claus. Velma, being older, told how she bought three of the girls red dresses for Christmas. She let them wear the dresses to the concert, then wrapped and put them under the Christmas tree at home for Christmas Day. The girls knew beforehand that this was their only present but in this way they had a new dress for the concert.
Another incident they remember took place at school, while Helen Ross was their teacher. The twins Fern and Fay received a bracelet and toy watch for Christmas one year. Miss Ross could never tell the girls apart, so when they came with these gifts on, Helen thought that was great, that she would be able to tell them apart. Unknown to Helen, the girls would trade their gifts every other day and Helen still would not know which was which. Helen accused the girls of playing tricks on her.
In 1944 six members of the family came down with scarlet fever. They were quarantined for a month.
Their father George Harper died in March, 1964. Their mother Ethel lived on the farm with her son Murray until her death in 1980. In 1978 Murray moved a new house to the farm. The old house was torn down about 1988.
Chapter 24 of 25 - Harper, William and Elizabeth
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