THE G. A. COPE FAMILY
by Eileen (Mrs. W. Stitt) and Terence Cope

Our parents - Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert A. Cope, with a family of two boys and two girls, came from London, Englnd in March, 1895 to settle in Canada. Dad had a brother, Herbert Cope, who had come over earlier, settling in Carberry, Manitoba, and Dad thought he would like to try fanning also. The trip, through storms at sea and ice in the St. Lawrence River, took several weeks; on arrival in Montreal, he left Mother and the children there, while he went on to Winnipeg where, at the immigration office, he heard of people by the name of Pagan who wanted a man and wife to help on their farm. We all moved on to Russell to settle with the Pagan family - the grandmother of Bill Pagan of Endcliffe. Mother’s sister followed us over, also her two brothers, Frank and Leonard Burley. The sister, Isobel, married Harry Pagan, Bill’s father. In a year’s time, Dad bought a farm six miles north and west of Russell. They worked hard, with a mixture of good luck and bad. Things went reasonably well until the untimely death of our Mother in 1903 (a shock that none of us really got over, even to this day) leaving a family of eight children.

In 1906 Dad married again (Miss Hilda G. Gilkes, also of London, England.) They had one boy and one girl. As time went on, all the children, with the exception of the youngest son, Francis,
married and scattered; the eldest son
Pat is still residing in Winnipeg,
Dorothy, who married a farmer from the Swan River district, died in 1935,
Eileen still lives in Rossburn, Manitoba. Her eight children are all married with families of their own -one of her grandsons, Gerald Brown, has followed a career in music, making a name for himself in various music festivals throughout the Province.
May, who lived in Stonewall and Winnipeg, died in 1943; her eldest daughter Dorothy is married to a member of the R.C.A.F. and is living in North Bay, Ont.
Marjorie, married, lived in Saskatchewan for a time, then moved to Winnipeg and latterly to Cardiff, Ont. Her son Leighton, is a graduate of the University of Manitoba, having obtained a degree in engineering and is presently residing in Ottawa.
Evelyn married in 1938 and spent several years in the Arctic and is now living in Montreal. Terence, who served in the armed forces in the First World War now lives in Vancouver, where his eldest two daughters and his son also live; his younger daughter Geraldine and her husband are presently living in Portugal.
Dad’s three other sons, Harry, Anthony, and Francis also served during World War 1 and 2, Harry was killed on active service in 1915, Anthony in 1918 and Francis in 1944.

Dad’s main interest seemed to be the church and his music, and before long he gave up the farm and moved to town. He came from a very musical family and he himself had a degree in music
and was a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. It seemed he couldn’t live without music and one of the first things he bought was a second-hand square grand organ. I remember us children
sitting around with Mother and Dad having our Sunday School lesson and learning the hymns. My sister Evelyn took music lessons in later years and she also played the organ in various church-
es throughout the North. Dad spent as much time as possible from his work as painter, decorator, carpenter, etc., working at the Church. He was organist and clerk for 37 years, member of the Synod for 18 years and bell-ringer - to get everyone to church on time, caretaker and carpenter whenever a hammer and saw were needed. He did the stencil work in the chancel, something I always admired. He had started playing in churches in London, England and environs at the age of 12 and had given recitals in various concert halls in London. We all loved that dear little Angli-
can Church, Russell, where we were married and our children were baptized. On Dad’s 80th birthday, the family donated a baptismal font to the Church.

Dad at one time served as a councilbr for the municipality and a director and secretary of the Agricultural Society. He always maintained a keen interest in what was going on in the community and indeed, one of his main hobbies was, to use his own expression “writing a letter to the Times’.

All the children were educated in either Londonderry School or Russell Public School and High School. Dorothy, May, Marjorie and Evelyn all taught school at one time or another, with Evelyn still carrying on in her profession, doing private tutoring in Montreal, P.Q. Eileen followed a career in millinery up until the time of her marriage.

After forty years as organist in Christ Church, Dad gave up his position and he and Mother moved to Winnipeg to spend their remaining years, attending St. Luke’s and All Saints’ churches. In 1942, at the age of 83, Dad played the organ at St. Luke’s for his grand-daughter, Dorothy Vincent’s wedding. At nearly 90 years Dad passed away Nov. 11, 1948,  Mother July 14, 1952. Both are buried in St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery, Winnipeg.

                                                   
Gilbert A. Cope
                      (This photo was taken when Mr. Cope was 80 year of age)                                            

SOME STORIES OF G. A. COPE
by his son Terence Cope

There are many anecdotes I could relate about my old dad. Many sad, many humorous, often pathetic, often critical, as to why he should waste his talents and degrees as a dirt farmer; to which
he would reply “a dirt farmer is the salt of the earth, damn him”. Dad was a religious man and took it very seriously. As children we always had our Sunday Service at home or at church, a six-mile drive, and how Christ Church in Russell would have survived without him, I do not know. Also, he made a pulpit and other items and putting on the necessary Vestments would conduct Sunday services at old Mrs. Johnson’s farm the deserted house on the quarter section adjoining Dad’s. There was a deep well on that farm and when someone was ploughing they must have got too
close - result, Dad’s best three horses  and plow went down with the cave in.Hail, frost, drought, lose your horses, how long does it go on? Dad, however, was never down-hearted and would say
all would be well in the next world. I sure hope he’s right.

As a treat for summer he would let me ride the freight wagon to Shellmouth with old John L.McDougall. We used to go around to all the neighbors and collect the cream, which we took to Shellmouth Creamery. One old Dutchman asked me to watch out at the Creamery for his pipe, which he was afraid had fallen into the cream can. Pass the butter. please!

Then there was the time dad took us, about 30 below zero to listen to a gramophone L. L. Roberts had just purchased, the first gramophone in that neck-of-the-woods. But the thing wouldn’t make
a sound until someone dug some wax out of his ear and jammed it on the needle and diaphram and believe it or not - it worked!

Contact Gerald R. Brown at browner1@mts.net for more Cope Family History.

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