ROBERT SCARTH RANNIE - by Mrs. Andrew Stewart (Sheila Rannie)
In 1898, at the age of 18, Robert Scarth Rannie, eldest son of Jane
Jessie Scarth and Rev. Robert Robertson Rannie, emigrated from
Shapinsay, Orkney, to Binscarth, Manitoba. He spent some time at the home of his uncle
Matthew Scarth who had located some years earlier at what is now the extreme south west of
the municipality of Silver Creek. He then worked for various farmers in Castleavery
district and learned the ways of the country. In 1901 he bought the south west of 34-19-27
from Mr. Wood, and a few years later the north west of 34-19-27 from Mr. Ham. Most of the
good land near town had been taken up by this time, and land near the settlement was a
much higher price. Oxe nwere used at first, then the broncos, some of which they were
never able to break. The first tractor was a gasoline model, a Titan purchased around
1922. Crops were good and in the fall of 1912, he had a sale of effects, rented the land
to Archie Nichol, and returned to Scotland. Prices were good at this time. The Lees
brought a horse to this
sale which sold for the princely sum of $217.00, the price of which launched Lara Lee in
Agricultural College in Winnipeg.
The voyage to Scotland proved to be a hazardous one. The ship ran into
foul weather and all the lifeboats were swept away in the storm. Dad, being a good sailor,
often boasted that he and the captain were the only two on board who never missed a meal.
In the spring of 1913 he returned, and in August of that year he married Eliza Harriet
(Daisy) Flett, who was visiting at the home of her sister Nettie (Mrs. Lorne Crerar). She
had also come
from the Orkney Islands but at an earlier date, having come with her mother and family in
1893 from Stromness, Orkney. When the William Scarths moved from the now Mac Fraser farm
to Silverton, Oregon, she went with them to help with the children and stayed to train as
a nurse, graduating from the Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon on April 21st,
1908. This training served her well in later years when crops were poor and money scarce,
Mrs. Rannie again went nursing, and many varied and rewarding experiences she had.
Dad had a true farmer’s love of the land, and took pride in growing good grain. He
exhibited at the Winnipeg Exposition, the Chicago World’s Fair and Brandon. One of
the prizes was a land
packer which he used as long as he farmed. Another prize was the gramaphone, a cylinder
model with diamond needle, still in use a couple of years ago.
This machine proved to be a bone of contention
at our house as my mother thought that, as he had a choice, he should have taken the case
of silver. I recall many winter evenings spent
around the dining room table handpicking grain for the seed grain fairs. We possessed only
one gasoline lamp, and others in the family needed light to read, write, sew or do
homework. This
lamp was also taken to the Lidford School on the occasion of the Christmas concert or
other social events before the building of the Lid-Clif Hall.
I believe Dad grew the first flax in the district and many were the trials of harvesting
and marketing it. Rape and mangles, also firsts in our district, were planted for the pigs
and cows. Long rows sown with the garden seeder which seemed even longer when it came to
weeding them. Dad had a lifelong interest in pigs, and was for many years a member of the
Swine Breeders Association. Even after he bought the Boulton property in Russell, he kept
pigs as long
as he was able to look after them.
He believed in purity of color in his stock. Yorkshire pigs, Plymouth Rock chickens,
Shorthorn cattle, Clyde horses, but always a few light horses for riding and driving.
About 1919 the southwest quarter of 3-19-27 was purchased. Fifty acres were broken with
horses the first year. Then came a wonderful crop of oats. Dr. Shaw on seeing this crop
said, “There will likely be a new house there next year,” but Dad built a fine
new barn. The old house was taken apart and moved up to ‘3’ with the help of
neighbours’ tractors and horses. The main reason for moving being lack of a good and
sufficient water supply. The well on ‘3’ had
been drilled by Beamish Bros. of Shoal Lake at a cost of $2.25 per foot and $1.00 per foot
for casing. It was not until 1936 that the new house went up. Then it was built of squared
logs hauled
from Stewart’s mill. These were covered with stucco.
What we termed the Hudson Bay quarter S.W. 26-19-27, had been rented for a number of
years, was bought about this time. Here hay was put up and the main herd pastured all
summer.
In 1921 Dad and Mr. Bowley decided that if a grade were built across Reid’s slough
where it narrowed, the road to Silverton would be considerably shorter. The extra mile was
always grudged by those who had to haul grain in the rough bumpy wagons. Mr. Bowley tells
me Dad waded across the slough to show the Reeve and Council that the water was not too
deep for the proposed project. That winter, Arch Bowley, Dad and their hired men set to
work to lay a
foundation of brush for the grade so that the horses and scrapers could be used to
complete the road. This attempt was abandoned but brush can still be seen from the new
road which was com-
pleted by Widdicome and Low in 1963 with their modem equipment. The first gravel road past
our farm.
It was about 1926 swamp fever in horses reached epidemic proportions. We lost twenty-two
horses over a three-year period with swamp fever and a sleeping sickness. At its height
three died in one day.
After buying the Boulton Manor, my parents did not at first move to Russell. When my
brothers returned from overseas, they wanted to get back to the land. Robert bought the
west half of 24-19-28 through V.L.A. ,and married Dorothy Armitage of
Foxwarren. She was for a time receptionist in Dr. Shaw’s office.
James and Richard rented the home farm and Dad moved to Russell. Here he died in October
19, 1958. Mrs. Rannie still lives in the old Manor built by the Boultons in 1894. Her
daughter and son-in-law, Sheila and Andrew Stewart and family live with
her. The north
wing of the house is rented. James married Mary Leask
from Edinburgh, Dick married Noreen Perley
of Wolsley, Saskatchewan and Douglas, the youngest, carries on a
contracting business from Virden. Robert, the eldest, is the postmaster
in Binscarth but still lives on his farm.
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