THE LEDINGHAM - by Mrs. B. McLeod (Rene Ledinghams)

    The Ledinghams originally came from Aberdeen, Scotland, and I believe my Dad was a second generation Canadian. His parents farmed near Durham, in Grey County, Ontario, with their family of six, Dad being the eldest.  He apprenticed to the druggist in Durham, then graduated from the Pharmaceutical College in Toronto in the early 1890's.

    Mother's parents were Irish immigrants from County Donegal. The entire Protestant population of their district emigrated during the potato famine. Before leaving, the women packed as many bolts of dress material and as much linen and bedding as possible. However, everyone suffered a stunning loss after docking in Canada when the Customs House, containing all their settlers' effects, was totally destroyed by fire. They all settled on farms in the area around Chesley, Ontario in Bruce County.  My mother was the youngest of a family of eight. She attended Normal School at Owen Sound and taught in several country schools for the huge sum of $200.00 per year.

    Mother and Dad became engaged before he left Ontario in the early 1890's to get established as a druggist in Manitoba. He worked for a time in Portage la Prairie, then was persuaded to start on his own in Russell by Dr. Wright in 1894.   They became partners in the building of the Ledingham Block. Later sole interest was acquired by my Dad. When the living quarters upstairs neared completion, Dad returned to Chesley where he and Mother were married on Sept. 14, 1896. My grandmother King was disappointed that Maggie was the only one of the family to marry a "furriner" and besides she never could make out his writing when she read Mother's love letters. In Mother's luggage were two articles which I remember well.  One was a broad black strap which she had wielded as a teacher. It was a threat and a promise. My brother Bill threw it up on the roof one day when hot tar was being spread and it wasn't discovered for years.  The other item was her school handbell. This was called into duty every Fair Day when the church Ladies' Aid served meals in their booth.

    George, being the eldest, had the job of taking Bill and Russell out for an airing after school. By the time I arrived, he had had enough. He went to Mother and said, '"Now that's to be the last." Mother assured him it would be. Russell died of a childhood infectious disease when he was two and one-half years old in 1906.

    As the district filled up with settlers and the town and family grew up, it became necessary to add to the drug store and our living quarters. This was done sometime around 1910. New fumed oak fixtures and glass show cases were installed. The drug travellers used to say it was the best in rural Manitoba. People around Russell found it a very handy place. My Dad was the photographer for the old-timers who came into have pictures taken to send back home.  He could also test their eyes and fix their glasses, as well as fill their prescriptions. These he always filled, even when he knew he might never be paid.  The telephone exchange was installed in the back corner of the store when phones first came to Russell.  The Post Office was once housed in the south section of: the Ledingham Block.

    Although he had left his parents' farm because of his health, he still loved farming and acquired several parcels of land in the district.  He was one of the first to use mechanical equipment in the area, but it was through the use of such equipment that he suffered the loss of an eye.  After the accident he gave up being Superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday School and singing in the Church choir.  He sat with the rest of us in the family pew on the west side of the church.  I liked the location because it was so close to the hot air register.  Mother was a tireless worker in the church. She was president of the Presbyterian Ladies Aid for many years before church union. She was made a life member of the W.M.S. She was also an active member of the Red Cross and a charter member of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Army and Navy Veterans.

   George joined and graduated as a pilot from the R.C.A.F. at Long Branch, Ontario, in 1918. He didn't see action as the unit came down with the flu during the epidemic and the armistice finished all hope of their going overseas. He took his apprenticeship as a druggist in Russell with Dad. He graduated from the same college in Toronto in 1923 and even had some of the same professors as Dad.

    I was married to Boyd (Scotty) McLeod, on February 21, 1931. He was employed at the Bank of Montreal. We lived in Russell until December, 1934.

    Bill worked with Dad on the farm east of town. After my Dad's death, in 1933, Bill and George operated the drug store together. In 1936 the boys decided to give the suite upstairs a face-lifting. Mr. Highfield came to paint and grain the old dark woodwork. He repapered all the rooms. Bill and Elliott Hemroff laid inlaid congoleum in the living room, dining room and kitchen. They even added a porch with cupboards at the back door.  New modern furniture and a cookstove were added. All this took time but the deadline was Mother's 70th birthday on September 14th, when we planned a housewarming and birthday tea. Then Mother's dear friend, Mrs. Wright, arrived from Calgary for a visit. A public invitation went out for all her old friends to come and visit with her.  She and Dr. Wright had been real pioneers and the ladies came from town and country to see her again.  It may have been cold and rainy outside that day but inside there was a very warm reception for a real old-timer of Russell.  Bill died suddenly in the spring of 1939.

    I returned to Russell in 1941 when Scotty joined the Air Force. Mother and I moved to the Thos. Callin cottage at the north end of Pelly Avenue when it became available in the spring of 1943. After climbing stairs for 47 years, Mother was very glad to live at ground level once more.

    Grace Robertson and George were married June 14th, 1943. They had a son, William Edward (Bill) and a daughter Margaret Grace (Margie).   George had become very interested in growing gladioli and entered them at flower shows in Winnipeg, Brandon, Yorkton and Regina. It was quite a trick, to transport these fragile blooms without damaging them. He had special containers built and on one trip they were transported there in Mr. Braendle's hearse. He received countless ribbons and cups, very often winning the grand aggregate and best spike in show awards. Grace won many prizes for her flower arrangements.  During the Second World War he raised over a thousand dollars for the Red Cross from the sale of bulbs and blooms.

    Mother and I lived in the cottage until Mother passed away in August, 1945. When the house was sold in the spring of 1946, I moved to Winnipeg where Scotty and I lived until January, 1954. We have been in the Sidney area on Vancouver Island, B.C. ever since.

    George died after a short illness in November 1954. The drug store was sold in the spring of 1955. Grace and the children moved from the suite above the store to a bungalow opposite the Sacred Heart Hospital. Bill is away from home and working in Winnipeg but the Ledinghams are still represented there by Margie and Grace. It is now more than 70 years since our family had its beginnings in Russell and there has been continuous residence since.

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