When I found this photograph of a family posing with their pumpkins and squash, I was optimistic that I could learn more about them, even without a photographer’s imprint or stamp on it. There was a notation, written in pen on the back of the photo, “Uncle Saul & A. [Aunt?] Maggie Pritchard & family near Rathwell, Man.” The antique dealer had also written his best guess for a year on the back, and, of course, a price, and both numbers seemed a wee bit inflated. I had already formed my own ideas about the dating of the photograph, based on the dress styles. The older woman’s garb dates to the early to mid 1890s. The younger woman, standing third from the right, is wearing a slightly more modern style dress, from the mid-to late 1890s with balloon sleeves that drape over a tight sleeve below the elbow. Her hairstyle is also from the period, pulled back with short, curly bangs. The second girl from the left has pulled some of her hair into a top knot, a feature which was popular around 1894-1898. The men’s clothing and accessories are more difficult to date. Styles didn’t change as much for men, but there are a few details that point to the 1890s. A pocket watch & chain was a prized accessory in the 1890s. Vests and felt hats were commonly worn during this time, as well. There is a difference between work clothes and dress-up clothing and this group seems to be wearing their Sunday best. I managed to negotiate a better deal on the photograph and took it home to see what I could discover.
“Saul” Pritchard did appear not in the 1891 Canada Census in Manitoba, at least with that specific given name. I found a Solomon Pritchard, age 51, in the S. Norfolk, Marquette District of Manitoba. In 1891, he and his wife Margaret, age 45, had seven children under their roof. I started to feel justified in my earlier optimism. There were seven young people (and one dog, name unknown) in the photograph. Would the sexes and ages match up as well? From the census we know the children in the family included: Walter, 17; William, 15; George E., 13; Maggie, 11; John, 8; Annie, 6; and Betsy, 3. Since I have dated the image to 1895-1898, it is necessary to add four to seven years to those ages. When we do that, the family in the portrait fits the family in the census rather well.
Solomon applied for a land grant on SE-22-8-9-W1 in Manitoba in 1879 and received the grant in 1889. This land is located a few miles north-west of Rathwell and it was on this property the Pritchard’s built their first home in 1881, “a log shack …[that] had no windows if light was required, a door had to be opened, that or the light given off by the fire in the open fireplace.” Solomon would have been familiar with farm life and its challenges in Canada. His parents, William and Ann Pritchard, settled in Sullivan Township, Grey County, Ontario after emigrating from Wiltshire, England when Solomon was a young boy. In 1851, the Pritchard farm (1st Concession, Lot 22) had 14 acres of cropland--wheat, oats, barley, rye, and peas along with six acres of pasture and 30 acres still uncultivated and wild.
He married Margaret Barron in November of 1872 in Holland Township, Ontario. This was Solomon’s second marriage. His first wife, Jane Walker had died only one year into their marriage, after the death of the couple’s only child, Mary Ann, in 1865. Mother and child were likely buried in The Pritchard Cemetery in Sullivan Township. Solomon and Margaret moved from Owen Sound, Ontario to Manitoba around 1875 and then, to Rathwell in 1879. Their children were among the first pupils to attend Rathwell School when it opened in 1890; Maggie and John in grade one, and George in grade three.
So, is this photograph of that Solomon Pritchard family? I think it likely is, but further research would have to be done to know for sure. Ideally, if other photographs of any of the people exist, it would be wise to compare them to this one to see if there is a match. If this is our family, the Pritchard’s home was still relatively new, and likely a huge improvement over the first one with its roof “made of wild hay and kept down with a layer of mud.” I believe the photograph dates from the mid-to-late 1890s, but whatever the year, it does look like it had been a good one for pumpkins and squash.
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1851 census of Canada, Sullivan, Grey, Canada West, population schedule, Schedule: A; Roll: C_11723; Page: 17; Line: 8, William Pritchard household; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 Apr 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada Census of 1851 (Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia).
1851 census of Canada, Sullivan, Grey, Canada West, agriculture schedule, Schedule: B; Roll: C_11723; Page: 23; Line: 38, William Pritchard; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 Apr 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada Census of 1851 (Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia).
Rathwell History Committee. Twixt Hill and Vale: A story of Rathwell and surrounding district, 1970, p. 28, 49, 62, 238, 239, digital images, University of Manitoba (https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca): accessed 15 May 2020.
1891 Census of Canada, Norfolk South, Marquette, Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 7, subdistrict A, p.6 (penned), family 36, Solomon household; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 May 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-6344.
1901 census of Canada, South Norfolk, MacDonald, Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 8, subdistrict # 6, p.5 (penned), dwelling 22, family 45, Solomon Pritchard family; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 May 2020); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-6428 through T-6556.
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com, entry for Solomon Pritchard, citing Homestead Grant Registers. R190-75-1-E. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
"Ontario, County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CB-CQSZ : 17 May 2020), Soloman Pritchard and Jane Walker, 06 Sep 1864; citing Grey, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,030,056.
"Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1928," online database, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca: accessed 1 May 2020), Solomon Pritchard and Margaret Barron, Holland Twp, Grey, Ontario, 21 Nov 1872, citing original data at Archives of Ontario; citing microfilm MS932, reel 6.
Sullivan Historical Society. A History of Sullivan Township: 1850 to 1975, 1975, v. 1 & 1993, v. 2. Sullivan Historical Society, Desboro, ON.
Pritchard Family Cemetery, Lot 2, Concession 1; digitized by Roberta Clark in 2009 for the Bruce & Grey Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.
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