THE JOHN A. FRASER FAMILY - by Mrs. Wm. Danish (Lillian Fraser) 1967

    John A. Fraser came to Russell, January, 1901 from Peterborough, Ontario, to work for W. J. Doig as tinsmith in his hardware store.  In 1902 he purchased Leonard's hardware store and started in business for himself.

    He served on the Town Council when Thomas Hill was Mayor.

    He married Dora Jane Setter in 1906. They had two children, Lillian and Archie.

    In 1914, he enlisted with the 107th Battalion and served for the duration of the war. My dad wore the red patch of the First Division on his shoulder - he marched through Germany to Cologne in 1918. He served in the Army of the Rhine until June, 1919.

    He was a good football player and was on the Russell Championship team. He was a lacrosse player (where he got the name "Doolin") . This is what he was affectionately called for the rest of his life.  He was a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Oddfellows Lodge.

    After a few years spent in the Confectionery business, which was in his building when he returned from overseas, he took up a homestead in the Blackstone district (Grandview).

    Lillian took a business course in Winnipeg, came back to Russell, and took a position in the Bank of Montreal, in which she was the stenographer for 9 years. In 1932, she married Wm Danish, an employee of the Provincial Government, Department of Agriculture Dairy Branch. Archie married in 1954.  He farmed until after his father passed away, then he took his mother to New Westminster, B.C., where he is employed by Pacific Veneer.

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