Mary Adelaide Sloan1,2

#17656, (1901 - 1987)
Extended Family
ChartsDescendants of John Inkster & Abigail Marion
Abigail Inkster & William Hemstreet descendants

Children of Mary Adelaide Sloan and Albert Kenzie Hemstreet
  • William Hemstreet1 (1918 - 1918)
  • Evelyn May Hemstreet8 (1920 - 1977)
  • Maurice Earl Hemstreet8 (1923 - 2007)
  • Gordon McKenzie Hemstreet8 (1929 - 2007)
  • Myrtle Adelaide Hemstreet8 (1934 - )

Life Events

BirthMary Adelaide Sloan was born on 22 Jan 1901 in Waynetown, Indiana.3
 
Note.Mary came to the Cappon area of Alberta in May 1912 at the age of 12 with her parents Claude and Elizabeth Sloan, her grandparents Amanda and Henry Huckery and great grandmother Maria Pifer (who died in 1914 at age 89 and is buried at Oyen). [Note: in the 1916 Alberta census, Mary's mother is named Mary, not Elizabeth]1 
MarriageShe married Albert Kenzie Hemstreet, son of William Hemstreet and Abigail Inkster, in 1917 in Alberta.1
 
1921 CensusAlbert and Mary appeared on the 1921 Census of Walcott, British Columbia. They owned their 3 room wood house and the family was Methodist. Albert was 32, born in Ontario, parents born in Ontario, occupation Pre-Emptor working on his own account. Mary was 25, born in USA, parents born in USA, immigrated in 1911, of Dutch origin. They had one child, Evelyn (age 1, born in Alberta).4 
Residence-Moved They moved with their youngest daughter to Sannichton, near Victoria on Vancouver Island in late summer 1947.5 
(Informant) DeathMrs. Mary A. Hemstreet registered the 1972 death of her husband Albert Kenzie Hemstreet in Victoria.2 
(Informant) DeathMrs M A Hemstreet of 5161 Rocky Point Rd, Metchosin, BC registered the 1977 death of her daughter Evelyn May Walker.6 
Newspaper In the summer of 1980, Mary Hemstreet returned to visit Vanderhoof. The local paper, The Omineca, interviewed her and wrote about her pioneering days in the area. Here are several excerpts from the article.


"I sold a cow my mother had given me, to raise the money for the fare...and we sold some coyote pelts to a fur buyer. We boarded the train in Oyen, Alberta on Christmas Day, 1918...When we arrived in Edmonton, I had the 1918 flu and was in the hospital for a month. My husband could only get 5 days work...We arrived in Vanderhoof in the middle of the night with only twenty five cents to our name. The mail carrier took us to the hotel."

Seventeen year old Mary Hemstreet left Oyen with her husband in December 1918 to seek out the rich fur trapping grounds of the central interior of British Columbia. Although they had intended to travel to Burns Lake, their enforced stopover in Edmonton left them with only enough money to reach Vanderhoof.

On her arrival in Vanderhoof early in 1919, Mrs Hemstreet found a job washing dishes at the Vanderhoof Hotel while her husband found employment at the camp located near Sinkut Mountain. She stayed with a young family in Mapes and only saw her husband on the weekends.

After six months, she received a letter from her husband that he had a job in Johnson's General Store in Vanderhoof. They moved into a log house beside the Nechako River. "We had a kitchen, living room and one bedroom..and I had 4 boarders who came in to eat". Mrs Hemstreet supplemented her husband's earnings by helping with housecleaning and laundry ... 35 cents an hour or a dollar for three hours. As well, she made baked goods to sell in the store, her husband packing home 100 pound sacks of flour on his shoulders which she would bake into buns. Next, they moved to Cluculz Lake during haying season. After haying they moved to the far side of the lake to start a muskrat trapline, living in an abandoned 8 ½ foot square cabin with a dirt floor and sod roof. During the winter of 1919, they ran out of food and lived on muskrat legs, bear meat, and beans. They sold their muskrat pelts to a fur buyer in Prince George for $4.50 each.

In March 1920 they walked in hip deep snow 15 miles across the lake to get to Finmore and take the train to Oyen Alberta, as Mrs Hemstreet was expecting her first baby. Once she was born, they moved to Walcott British Columbia where they spent the next 27 years.

Now [1980] retired, widowed, and living near Victoria, Mrs Hemstreet plays the violin, organ and accordian, decorates cakes, crochets, and has a gift for story telling.7
 
DeathMary died on 15 Aug 1987 in Victoria, British Columbia.
Details from the certificate: Mary Adelaide Hemstreet, residence 5163 Rocky Pt Rd, widowed from Albert Hemstreet, home maker, born January 22, 1901 in Waynetown Indiana USA, father Claude Sloan, mother Elizabeth Huckery, both born USA. The informant was son M E Hemstreet, Sechelt BC. Burial was in Hatley Memorial Gardens, Colwood.3 
Last Edited12 Mar 2015

Citations

  1. Oyen and District Historical Society, Many Trails Crossed Here: a Story of Oyen, Alberta and the Surrounding Districts (Oyen, Alberta: Oyen and District Historical Society, 1981), Albert Hemstreet entry scanned by a volunteer.
  2. Death certificate of Albert Kenzie Hemstreet, died 15 November 1972, registered 16 November 1972 in the Province of British Columbia, Certificate #72-09-015852.
  3. Death certificate registered in the Province of British Columbia. Mary Adelaide Hemstreet, 1987, #012935.
  4. 1921 Census for Canada. Image from Library and Archives Canada viewed at Ancestry.com. British Columbia, Skeena, SD 12, Page 30.
  5. Emails from Myrtle Olson.
  6. Death certificate registered in the Province of British Columbia. Evelyn May Walker, #77-09-013317.
  7. Emails from Myrtle Olson. Copy of article from the Omineca Advertiser, 22 July 1980, page 3.
  8. E-mails from Sharon Hoskyn, BC, to J Kolthammer.