The Allan Family
Excerpt from Cherished Memories.
A compilation by Ardrossan Unifarm. (1972)
ISBN 0-919212-16-6
Pages 55-57
THE ALLAN FAMILY
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Not far from Lackey's lived Alex Allan, a
Scots immigrant, who had quite a history of moving around. He'd been on
hid way to Peace River to farm, stopped in Edmonton to pick up his title
for land, and met someone who offered him a job around Ardrossan. He took
it, hoping to save up a little money. He stayed on, and worked in the 1920's
for Tom Dagg, Dick Huggard, and Will Garbe. In Winters he worked at the
Ottewell Coal mine at Clover Bar. Alex eventually settled on a quarter
section of soldier settlement land. It was to be an endless struggle and
hardship for him, but not without happy times.
In 1931, he and Dorothy Lackey were married
and settled down to raising a brood in a granary. The brood was kids, not
chickens!
Three girls - Betty, Barbara, Agnes, but there
had to be a son; Alex Hamilton came to fill the position and a few years
later Mary, and then James just for an added bonus. Before the youngest
two, Grandpa Lackey had lived in the Allan yard, in a little house built
by Bill Peters. Grandpa passed on in 1940.
Grandpa left some very lively descendents,
the Allans, who are ready to tell something of Ardrossan in their day.
Well, we never did get out of that granary,
our dad just added a lean-to and kept piling in beds to fill it! We went
along, rather poor and very rich at the same time. There is space here
for only a few glimpses of the way it was.
There was always a hug, a story or song from
our wonderful mom for us, a good "clap on the lug" from our dad when we
needed it, porridge and a good fire before our long walk to Baker School. |
As we attempt to tell the Allan story, our thoughts go straight to "our
neighbors".
Barbara owes her life to Davis Maxwell, who found her, a little child
on a cold day wandering far in the snow, and brought her safely home on
his horse.
We remember the summer of '44 when our mother was so ill in hospital.
The kindness of our neighbors at that time will be in our memories always.
Now, here are a few memories too, that we have and often "dust off"
for a laugh or two - The day we found the bottles of moonshine cached in
a ditch, hauled them home in school bags, and Dad fed it to the pigs. -
The time our cat jumped on a kitchen shelf and knocked half a year's Western
Producers all over Doug Horton seated underneath. - What about Barbara's
and Agnes' corn cob pipes and tins of dried corn silk that our dad discovered?
One Saturday he told all the men in the store. Red faces! - And the great
leghorn round-ups on summer nights when all the pullets had to be chased
inside. Mom lightly tossed a tin at a pale blob in a bush. That 'chicken'
was wee Jims blond head! - Also, the time Rev. Alex Stewart gave little
Mary a nickel and said "Get yourself a cone". We 'big ones' took great
delight for weeks, insisting he had said 'comb'. - The time Alex Jr., proud
of his newly acquired ancient, roofless Essex, drove the family in a great
sputtering, smokey din, to the church chicken supper.
We really did have many, many happy days growing up in Ardrossan, and
fortunate we were, for days of sadness lay ahead.
The family now quite grown up, the farm and Alberta winters too trying
on our parents' health, in 1956, the Allans moved to Surrey, BC.
Dorothy and Alex Allan have both been laid to rest there, she in 1958,
he in 1962.
Today our family members are: -
Betty (Mrs. Ray Foy) with four daughters, Sandra, Diane, Sharon, and
Linda.
Barbara and David Thornton have two boys and two girls, Allan, Nancy,
Ian and Beverly. David is employed by Modern Glass, Edmonton.
Agnes and Ian Morgan have a son and a daughter, James and Carol. Ian
is employed by Woodward Stores, Edmonton.
Alex and Joanne Allan have two sons and two daughters, Douglas, Barbara,
Miles and Laura. Alex and a partner own Gateway Refrigeration Ltd., Edmonton.
Mary and Kenneth Gillies and baby son Cameron live in Calgary where
Ken is employed by Dome Petroleum.
Jim and Florence Allan live in Edmonton. Jim works with his brother,
Alex.
We still have real roots in Ardrossan. There are six spruce trees in
Brian and Elaine Horton's yard, planted by our dad as each of us was born.
Our other roots we can't see, but we can feel, for to us, Ardrossan
will always be home.
Go to the Web
Family Card of Alexander Allan and Dorothy Lackey.