THE FLETT FAMILY by James L. Flett (1967)

    On May 8th, 1893, Mrs. James Leask Flett, a young Scottish widow from the Orkney Islands, with five of her seven children arrived in Binscarth, Manitoba. She purchased the north east quarter of 34-19-28 from Alexander Crerar.

    Of the two older children, William had gone to sea at the age of sixteen. He was later to become Captain Flett and retired to Stromness, Orkney. Ethel remained with her Uncle Peter Leask, who had no children of his own and had agreed to educate her. She never married, and later cared for her uncle until the time of his death. Of the other children, Harry was the eldest. At sixteen he was to be for a time the breadwinner for the family - his mother, brother James, and sisters Nettie, Daisy, and Katie. Like all the pioneers of the era, they went through the many hardships and privations of the times. Coming directly from the milder climate of the Orkneys the harsh Canadian winters were almost unbearable as was indeed the summer heat In the Orkneys the temperature never went below 16 above or higher than 70. Eighty or ninety in the shade was unheard of.

    Having lived all their lives with the sound of the Atlantic always in their ears the stillness of the prairie evenings was almost like being stricken deaf. Years later Mrs. Flett remarked, "We loved to listen for the sound of the train coming up the Millwood hill. At a certain distanc it sounded like the breakers on the sea shore at home."

    There was very little bushland or timber in the district. Prairie fires year after year went unchecked except for the plowed fireguards which were a must around each farmstead. Fire kept down all tree life that was not on wet or swampy ground or along the Silver Creek. All firewood and building logs were hauled in by oxen from what is now the Angusville district, a distance of roughly twenty miles. Each trip took two days over prairie trails, around sloughs and from one farm to the next. There were no roads as we know them now, and neighbours were often miles apart. Later horses replaced the oxen, and the Fletts pre-empted another quarter of land to the west. Other settlers began to arrive in the locality.

    In 1903, Harry Flett, in partnership with P. J. McIntosh, purchased his first threshing outfit, a small portable L. D. Sawyer, return flue, the first of five different outfits he owned and operated from 1903 to 1919 when the smaller gasoline outfits came into the district. The days of the big steam outfits were nearly over. It was the end of an era.

In 1904 Harry was elected secretary for the Woodstock school, a position he held until he left the district.

    In 1908, Harry married Katherine Halliday of the Minniska district, the eldest daughter of John Halliday and Euphemia McLennan.  Mrs. Halliday was a granddaughter of then Duke of Sutherland. The Hallidays owned and donated the land on which Minniska Church now stands.

    Nettie married Lorne A. Crerar in 1909, and Daisy married Robert Scarth Rannie, another Orcadian, in 1913. Katie, the youngest, married Charles Williamson and moved from the district, residing in Lannigan, Saskatchewan for some years. James took up a homestead in the Watson Lake district in Saskatchewan. In 1914 he enlisted and served with the forces until 1918. On his return he made his home with his brother Harry and family for a few years.

    In 1920 the Fletts, Harry, his wife Katherine, two sons James and John, and his brother James, moved to Winnipegosis to take up ranching. The livestock, fifty head of cattle and twentyseven horses were not accustomed to the low swampy country and in four years nearly all the horses had died of swamp fever and over two-thirds of the cattle of malignant edema.

   James went into the dairy business in Winnipegosis and married Emily Cumming, also from the Orkney Islands. Harry and his family returned to the Binscarth district in 1924 where on December 24th his wife Katherine passed away and was laid to rest in the Binscarth cemetery.

    His mother, Mrs. James L. Flett, died at her daughter Nettie's home in 1930, at the age of 83, leaving with her descendants, the Crerars, Rannies, Williamsons and Fletts, warm nostalgic memories of a very dear and kindly little lady. During her lifetime she wrote poetry for her own amusement, a small volume of which was published after her death. I have selected one of these "Written in Manitoba."

HOMESICK

Oh! for the blue hills far away,
Where the light and the shade alternate play;
The magic voice of the far-off seas,
The fresh, wild scent of the briny breeze,
The plaintive call of the wild sea-mew,
As he skims his way offer the billows blue,
Oh! for a glimpse of the dancing foam
That crests the waves of my island home!
Fair is the scene I view today;
With summer verdure the land is gay;
There are bright pools glistening here and there,
And a bland caress with the balmy air;
Sweet roses bloom on many a spray;
There are bright-winged birds that chirp and call,
And the glorious sunshine over all!
Yet I long, oh, I long for the surging sea!
For the skylarks thrilling ecstasy,
The snowy lambs that frisk and play,
With their tender bleatings so far away.
I miss the song of the tinkling burn,
The graceful forms of the reed and fern,
That I left in the land where the hills are blue!
Blue are the hills that are far away!
Golden the light of a bygone day,
When youth and love are fled for aye -
Past like the blue hills far away!

   James, the eldest son of Harry and Katherine Flett, married Myrtle Ferris of Dropmore in 1934.  They have three children, Katherine (Mrs. G. A. Turnbull), Jack and Cameron. Katherine married Arthur Turnbull in 1952 and they have four children, Kathy, Jimmie, Bob and Barbara. His brother, John Halliday Flett of Russell, married Mabel Crosson of Spy Hill and they have three sons, Kenneth, the eldest, married Ena Ferguson in 1957.  Ronald, married Lorna Glasman in 1961.  They have two children, a son Cori and a daughter Delori. Roy, (Ronald's twin) married a nurse, Darlene Sirnick of Angusville in 1963.

    In 1946 Harry married Mrs. Bradshaw and lived in Binscarth until the time of his death in 1948. His wife, Florence died in 1965.  James and Emily retired to Binscarth and bought the old Bradshaw house.  She had earned her teacher's pension and was always interested in the progress of her nieces and nephews in their school work.  She died in May, 1963.  James passed on in January, 1965.  Of the family, only two are still living.  Daisy (Mrs. R. S. Rainnie) of Russell and Mrs. Carles Williamson, who lives with her daughter Janet (Mrs. James Stewart) of Saskatooon.

    Most of the old timers have left us, and we of the present generation are approaching the age where we are the old timers.  It is nearly three quarters of a century since the gallant little Scottish lady with her young family came to live on the original building site four miles north of Binscarth, a short distance west of what is now Victor Parr's gate.

    Time has erased many memories we would have liked to retain.  Much has been forgotten and is now beyond recall, but the old building site is still known to many as "Flett's Hill."

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