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finally settled, with several other families, at Woolsley. Richard and Mary settled in with their family. They had brought the proceeds from the sale of the family farm with them and these were hidden under the floor of their new home. Thomas took his children, John and Emma and made his way to the Canadian Pacific Offices in London, Ontario. There he took up his commission, to survey for the Railway.

Thomas had been trained to Survey using the method of, ‘throwing the chain’, but CPRR. Wanted their engineers to use specialised instruments. Thomas would not adapt or learn these new skills so he did not take up the commission!

There were plenty of jobs available at the Logging Camps so he took the two children to one of these camps. Lumber Camp Life did not favourably enrich their lives. Inevitably Emma no more than a teenager herself got herself pregnant by a Logger called Cook. At about the same time Thomas learnt that his brother Richard and sister-in-law, Mary had both died from diphtheria. Thomas had to leave the logging camp and moved to Richard’s house and look after his children. Thomas certainly had his hands full with three children to support! Emma was sent home to England to stay with her aunt, Emma Parkhouse,

Thomas’s son John had made good friends with David Gee with whom he had sailed from England and in 1866 they both travelled back to England. Taking Emma with them. While there John visited his mother Anne and his new brother George who was now eighteen years old. They stayed for about six months before returning to Canada. It has been said that John was so shocked with his mother that he never wanted to hear about her again.

John returned to Canada and in the following year, April 1867, he married Margaret Fifield. Margaret had been born in July 1845 at Putnam, Ontario. She was the third child of Hiram Fifield. John had never attended school in his life and it was not until his own daughter, Loretta was taught at school that he learnt to write his own name! But even with such a lack of education John calculated all the measurements and sizes of lumber required for the farm out buildings they built. When Margaret married John and they set up house together, her parents gave her a Sheep. Margaret kept all the lambs this sheep bore and soon had produced a large herd. During these first two years of marriage they lived with John’s father, Thomas, at their uncle’s house with the rest of the family. They joined in the running of the farm.

Within these two years their family had three additional children: Thomas born February 1868, Mary Ann born 1869 and Loretta born November, 1870. The house was getting crowded so Thomas, together with John decided to look out for farming land in central America where their cousins had told them there were miles of rich farming country. Margaret sold some of her sheep she had saving of over $200 which she put towards their new start in America.

In 1869 they took the train to Mondamin, Iowa in the vast unbroken prairies of Central America. Their first winter was spent with David and Elizabeth Gee in a one-roomed house. The Gee’s, at that time, had a son Willie. The men went off each day looking for land to buy or rent, It seem that this involved a lot of drinking. The two wives stayed at home to care for their babies. Elizabeth Gee was expecting Freddie who was born in1870 she already had Willie who had been born in1868. In the high chair. beside her was Margaret Wallis who was expecting Mary, with her son Tommy biting Willie’s toes in fun. The two ladies sat on either side of a wood burning cooker that had an oven door on either side. To keep warm they would sit with their feet in the oven.

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