| Email: ecampeau@noralta.com
(Sandra Campeau) James Todd
(1866-1966) was born in Knnnell, Angus, Scotland. He came to Canada around
1909 to the Edmonton, Alberta region. He worked there on
construction of the High Level bridge and the Tegler Building. At
one time he also drove a stagecoach between Calgary and Banff in the Rocky
Mountains. He and his future brother-in-law, Hercules (Hec)
Stevenson signed up to serve in the First World War and returned to the
U.K. for that time. Upon his return to Canada, James brought his
wife, Alexina Livie and two sons, James and John to settle in the Strome
district of Alberta. To my knowledge, James had one sister, Rose,
married to Hec Stevenson who also settled in the same area. I
understand another sister may have settled in Nova Scotia. James
(Jamie to his friends) often reminisced about his homeland and missed his
family terribly. He never returned to Scotland after the war years
but pined for his home and family. Alexina returned to Scotland in
1958 for a visit before her death in 1963. These pioneers of our
country surely had a hard life and we'll never know the extent of their
lonliness and despair at times. Although they sometimes had a
brighter future here than at home, it must have been terrifying at times.
It seems to me that my grandfather was somewhat of an adventurous soul to
leave his homeland twice. I'm so grateful that he and my grandmother
chose Canada. I'm anxious to correspond with anyone who may be
related to these two people from my past. |
