Alfred Walter Pryce was born in England c. 1880. He emigrated from England in 1903 and was hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway, likely in Manitoba. His wife, Kate Louisa Buchan, was older than her husband. She was born in England c. 1873. They were married in England? and she followed her husband to Canada in 1904. Alma Jane Pryce was born June 24, 1905 and Herbert Walter Pryce was born May 12, 1907 in [Elton] Manitoba. In autumn 1911, the Pryce family returned to England for a Christmas visit. They sailed from Halifax on the Empress of Britain and arrived in Liverpool on December 9, 1911. The family returned to Canada on the Empress of Ireland from Liverpool in early 1912, landing at St. John, New Brunswick.
Alfred Walter Pryce died in Brandon, MB on January 31, 1922. Kate Pryce died in Winnipeg, MB on March 18, 1938.
Custodial History
Donated to the McKee Archives by Jennifer L. Bunting in November 2013.
Scope and Content
Studio portrait of Alma and Herbert Pryce, The Railway Foreman's children, taken June 1911 in Kenora, ON. Writing on the back reads: To Granfather with Love from Herbert and Alma. Alma Jane Pryce Age 6 years. Herbert Walter Pryce Age 3 years 5 months. Keonra, Ont. Canada. June 1911.
Notes
History/Bio information provided by Jennifer Bunting. Additional information is available in the custodial file.
Mrs. McVicar was Brandon's/Grand Valley's first postmistress. Biographical details about Mrs. McVicar can be found in a newspaper clipping [F.A. ROSSER, “Sunbeams – The Birds Dived Down Like Fighters on Gopher,” Brandon Sun, September 16, 1978, 3] in McG 4.1 File 67.
Custodial History
Photograph was brought to Fred McGuinness by Owen Anderson of Cypress River, Manitoba.
Scope and Content
Photograph is a portrait of Mrs. McVicar sitting outside of her home in Texas.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph consists of greetings and salutations to the unknown recipients. Photograph "finished by Edrington's Studio, Weslaco, Texas."
Harry Spafford (b. 22 Oct 1888, d. 10 May 1978) was born in Holmfield, Manitoba. He married Isabella Hawking of Ninga in 1914 and the couple moved to Brandon in 1915 where they continued to reside until 1973. Harry worked as a locomotive fireman and then as an engineer with the Canadian Northern Railway (CN). While with CN, he was an active member of the Brotherhood of Local Engineers and Firemen No. 788 of Brandon. He served as an alderman in Brandon from 1928 to 1945. In 1932, Harry ran in the Manitoba by-election for Brandon as an Independent Labour candidate and lost to the Conservative member George Dinsdale. In 1952, Harry ran as a Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) member in the provincial election and lost to Conservative party representative Reg Lissaman. Harry Spafford passed away in Burnaby, BC, and is interred in the Ocean View Cemetery. (Source: see obituary in McG 4.1 File 66)
Alva/Alvery/"Alvie" Reddell/Riddell/Ridall Spafford (b. 15 Mar 1891, d. 23 Aug 1985) was born in Enterprise, Manitoba, in the R.M. of Turtle Mountain. In 1911, he married Francis Ethel Harrison (d. 1979) in Killarney and had three children. Alvie farmed in Bannerman from 1902 to 1936, after which he moved to Boissevain to work as a Rawleigh salesman. In 1942, the family moved to Brandon where Alvie worked as a conductor with the CNR until his retirement. Alva Spafford passed away at the age of 94 at the Brandon General Hospital. His funeral was held in Killarney, Manitoba. (Source: Obituary, Brandon Sun, 23 Aug 1985)
Scope and Content
Postcard is a studio portrait of the Spafford brothers. Alvie is seated, Harry is standing.
Notes
Writing on the front of the postcard reads: out of the past, Harry & Alvie Spafford, 1909 Winnipeg. The back of the postcard reads: Harry on left, Alvie on right, in our early, days, Railway.
