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Malcom (Mac) James McFadyen - By Mrs. John Craig (Mabel McFadyen) 1967
My Dad, Malcolm James McFadyen, was born in 1882, 40 miles the other side of Regina,
Saskatchewan. My mother, Margaret McDougall, was born on a farm in the Tummel district,
south of Roblin, Manitoba, in 1892. Here she lived until she marred my dad in 1913.
When Dad was quite young, his parents moved to Shellmouth, bringing
with them three daughters and two sons, namely: Mary (Mrs. Pete
Patterson, of Shellmouth); Katherine (Mrs. Bob Patterson) and Barbara
(Mrs. Lamb); Roy, who was killed in the First World War in 1914;
and my dad, Malcolm. Dad built a livery barn and a house in Shellmouth
when he grew up and it was here that he brought my mother as a bride. While there, Dad
drove the livery and well I remember his stories of the bad flu of 1918 when he would
drive the doctors from Russell and district, including Drs. Swallow, Bates, Spears,
Denmark, Salmark ( a C.N.R. doctor who was stationed at Shellmouth) and Dr. Tisdale.
Sometimes he would have to drive to Russell for the doctor, then back to Shellmouth where
he would change horses and perhaps would drive all night and day to Langenburg, Calder,
McNutt, Tummel, Rochedale, Wroxton, and even as far as Togo, making dozens of calls on
their way, many times arriving too late to save a life. He said he got his sleep in the
barns while the doctor attended the patient and the doctors would get their sleep while on
the road. This went on for weeks, mostly a livery man or woman (Mrs. Ellen Clement, of
Russell, was one) drove the doctor to Shellmouth and waited there until their mission was
completed.
From Shellmouth my parents moved to a farm in the Shell Valley six
miles south and two miles east of Roblin. Here it was very lonesome and in a few years
they moved to the Tummel district on to the McDougall home place one half mile south of
the Church. This was where my mother had been raised. Mother and Dad raised a family of
twelve, seven daughters and five sons. With a family of this size, especially in the 30's,
it was quite a problem to cloth and feed them, so besides farming Dad helped out the
family income by driving a school van with horses rising around five in the morning and
returning about seven or eight at night. He had to go every school day, regardless of
winter storms or muddy roads. The pay was $1.25 to $2.00 a day.
But it is here that I can recall our happy childhood days when we had
church concerts, and our happy school days, when the Christmas concert was the highlight
of the winter. Here too I remember my mother baked dozens of loaves of bread and churned
and printed hundreds of pounds of butter to sell to customers or to the store. I also
remember our Model T car which Dad eventually bought and when the twelve of us kids and
our parents piled into it to go to Roblin on Saturday night or made our once-a-year trip
to Shellmouth to visit, it was really full. It usually took the notion to stop on the
Dropmore hill and we would all have to walk up. Dad would end up having to back it up all
the way.
In 1946 my parents retired to Roblin. Here Dad did his first curling,
and like dancing, he enjoyed it immensely. He was made a Life Member of the Roblin Curling
Club.
In 1962 he passed away but Mother still lives in Roblin and still
enjoys the company of younger people, especially her fourteen grandchildren. We are all
scattered although several of us live close to Roblin Margaret Doreen (Mrs. Robert Keast),
and Roy are in Winnipeg; Bertha (Mrs. Bert Christianson), and Gertie (Mrs. Charlie
Prosick) are in Port Coquitlam, B.C.; Elaine (Mrs. Kahut) is at Thompson, Manitoba; Glen
and Donald live in Roblin; Albert and Gordon farm in the Rochedale district; Anne lives
with Mother in Roblin; and I married John Craig and we farm in the Rochedale district.
MRS. MALCOLM McFADYEN
by two of her granddaughters,
Mrs. L. William and Mrs. Mary Alma Black
Mrs. Malcolm McFadyen, nee Mary McGillvary, came to Canada from
Scotland in the year 1852, being twelve years old at that time. she and her family lived
in Tiverton, Bruce County, Ont. until her marriage to Malcolm McFadyen. They came to
Minnedosa, Manitoba in 1879 where they lived for a few years, later going west to Regina,
Saskatchewan, where they farmed for several years. Mr. McFadyen died at Regina and is
buried there. Mrs. McFayden and her family of eight then came back to Shellmouth,
Manitoba, where she and two of her sons got homesteads. Being a very close family resulted
in her other two sons taking homesteads also. Therefore, her four sons were all within a
few miles distance. Donald and James were married and Angus and Malcolm at home with their
mother. Her four daughters all married and lived in the same district. Mrs. McFadyen's son
Malcolm died in 1903 and her son Angus took over the old homestead in 1905.
Mrs. McFadyen then moved into Shellmouth where she resided until her
death at 75 years of age in 1905.
Mrs. McFadyen was indeed a true pioneer woman, having raised her eight
children and always ready to act as nurse and helper to all her neighbors in need of help.
Her home in Shellmouth was always open for prayer meetings and Church services until the
Presbyterian Church was ready for worship.
There are at time of writing these two daughters living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mrs. D.A.
McFadyen (Margaret) who is ninety-two years of age past, and Mrs. Jack Smith (Susan) who
is eighty six years of age; four generations of grandchildren living in all parts of
Canada, who are very proud of and enjoy listening to tales told about their brave and
courageous grandmother, Mrs. Malcolm McFadyen. She was buried in the Shellmouth
cemetery beside her two sons - Donald and Malcolm.