Photograph shows four men posing in front of a wood-framed shop on 8th Street and Rosser Avenue. The men are wearing three-piece suits or vests and long-sleeved shirts. A painted sign above the shop reads: Wright & Wright, Hamilton Stove & Tin Store. Hanging from the exterior walls are various tin items for sale: lantern, ladel, dust pan, pots and pans.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: Corner of 8th & Rosser. Photograph is stamped Public Archives Canada.
Photograph shows eight men posing in front of a wood-framed building on the corner of 8th Street and Rosser Avenue. Above the building's entrance is a painted sign that reads: Apothecaries' Hall. A. Fleming, Druggist is painted in the window above the door. Street signs designating 8th Street and Rosser Avenue are affixed to the building. A transit/theodolite is mounted on a tripod in front of the store.
Notes
Writing on the front of the photograph reads: Corner 8th St and Rosser Ave May 1882. Writing on the back of the photograph reads: Corner 8th St and Rosser, May 1882, Apthecaries' Hall, A. Fleming, Druggist. Photograph is stamped Public Archives Canada.
According to G.F. Barker (Brandon: A City, 1977, 291), William (Billy) Muir worked at Coombs & Stewart's on Pacific Avenue until he opened his own grocery store in 1888. The shop was located at 143-6th Street, Brandon, and was demolished for a parking lot in 1952.
Custodial History
Donated to Fred McGuinness by Allena Strath (nee Coombs).
Scope and Content
Photograph shows the "Wm. Muir General Grocer" building on 6th Street. Two men pose in the doorway of the store. The man on the left is likely William Muir. Barrels are lined on the boardwalk in front of the store. Apples and mason jars can be seen in the shop's windows.
Notes
Front of photograph reads: Sixth Street between Rosser - Princess. Back of photograph reads: Billy Muir's Store, 143 6th Street Brandon - 57 years in business in this location. An address label affixed to the back of the mat reads: Mrs. James Strath, Box 421, Souris, Man.
Photograph shows seven men posing in front of a wood-framed shack on 10th Street. The men are wearing three-piece suits or vests and long-sleeved shirts. One man can be seen holding an axe another a saw. A double ox-team wagon is in front of the structure.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: 10th St. May 1882, Brandon. Photograph is stamped Public Archives Canada.
Photograph is stained and water damaged. A newspaper clipping about William (Billy) Muir is glued to the top left hand corner of the mat. The image is exfoliated in the right hand corner. The negative has been reverse printed.
History / Biographical
Coombs & Stewart opened the first general store in Brandon in 1881, which was located on 6th Street and Pacific Avenue. According to G.F. Barker (Brandon: A City, 1977, 291), William (Billy) Muir worked at the store until he opened his own grocery store in 1888.
Custodial History
Donated to Fred McGuinness by Allena Strath (nee Coombs).
Scope and Content
Photograph shows the Coombs & Stewart general store located on the corner of Pacific Avenue and 6th Street. A group of men pose in front of the wood-framed store.
Notes
Back of photograph reads: One of first stores in Brandon, Coombs...[?]
Very poor. Item has been broken in half on a diagonal from top to botton. Upper right corner is missing. Various tape stains and some tape residue on the bottom left.
History / Biographical
Lottie Louisa Currie was born on September 9, 1876 in St. Mary's, Perth, ON, to William and Eleanor Currie. She came to the Brandon area with her family in the 1880s. Currie worked as a bookkeeper and stenographer for Smith & Burton, from at least 1906 until the business ceased operations in 1917.
Currie continued working in bookkeeping and accounts, first for Brandon Gas & Power Co., then for the Manitoba Power Commission. She appears to have retired around 1942. She is not listed as living in Brandon between 1943-1945, but was once again a resident by 1947. Currie was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, a charter member of the Brandon Business and Professional Women's Club and in 1916, she passed her examinations for the St. John's Ambulance Association.
Lottie Louisa Currie died on November 25, 1972 in Brandon, MB.
Smith & Burton, a grocery store that also had mail order and china departments, was founded by E.B. Smith and John Burton in the 1886. It was housed at a few locations in downtown Brandon; their location at 829 Rosser Avenue is the one that mostly likely appears in the photograph.
Scope and Content
Item is a portrait of office employees at Smith & Burton, grocers. Lottie Currie, daughter of William Currie, is shown standing on the left.
Mrs. Hilda Rosa Osmond (nee Bridgeman) was born in Hampshire, England in 1888 to parents Edwin Samuel Bridgeman (b.16 Jul 1852; d. 19 June 1922, Brandon) and Rosa Holkham (b. 26 Mar 1859; d. 27 May 1927, Brandon). Edwin was a sailor and Rosa was a dressmaker.
Following the death of her brother Edwin Frederick Bridgeman (1886-1890), the family immigrated to Canada in 1891. The Bridgeman's took the train to Griswold, Manitoba, and settled near Edwin's brother, Albert Bridgeman, and together they farmed the N 1/2 of 36-12-23. The Bridgeman's had three more children, Ellen Grace (b. 27 Jan 1893; d. 22 Feb 1893), Harry Volantine/Valentine (b. 14 Feb 1894), and Charlie Cuthbert (b. 03 Aug 1896; d. 25 Aug 1901). Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Bridgeman retired in 1913 and moved to Brandon where they lived until their respective deaths. The couple are interred in the Brandon Municipal Cemetery.
Hilda married William Arthur Osmond (b. 1867; d. 26 Oct 1943) of Baisingstoke, England, on 31 Jan 1913. They had a daughter Nellie who later married Glen Mossey. The family continued to farm the property on section 36.
Hilda Rosa Osmond passed away in 1980 at the age of 91. She is interred in the Greenwood Cemetery near Harding, Manitoba, where her husband and siblings also rest.
(Sources: England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013 [online]; Findagrave.com; Harding History Committee, Home to Harding 1879-1981 (Brandon: Leech Printing, 1981; Manitoba Vital Statistics Database)
Custodial History
Photograph given to Fred McGuinness by Burton Strange of Kenton, 25 Nov 1974
Scope and Content
Photograph shows Mrs. Osmond sitting at a kitchen table with a cup of coffee before her.
Notes
Label accompanying photograph reads: Mrs. Osmond, a resume of the good days over a cup of coffee