The Alex Easton Family
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The Alex Easton Family
| thekidz2 (View posts) | Posted: 10 Dec 2004 5:41PM GMT |
Classification: Biography
Surnames: Easton - Gregory - Lonsbury - Nash
Take from a book from Crowsnest Pass, Alberta
The Alex Easton Family
submitted by Nora (Easton) Tolman
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Easton came to Canada from a small village near Stirling, Scotland, in 1904. With them came their three children, a son, Alexander, and two daughters, Janie and Charlotte.
They went first to Cumberland on Vancouver Island and in 1906 moved to Coleman. In Coleman, Mr. EASTON worked in the mines and Mrs. EASTON operated first a bakery and later a Ladies' Ready-to-Wear Store. The son, Alex, joined his mother in these enterprises.
Father and son were both active musicians, each of them playing the cornet in bands which played in the Pass in those early years. Alex also played the piano and was a member of an orchestra which provided the music for the many dances which took place in Coleman in the prewar years. He was the pianist for the old Coleman Theatre in the days before talking pictures arrived.
Alex was a great sports enthusiast. He was a member of both the Coleman Football Team and the Coleman Hockey Team until he joined the army in World War 1. Among his cherished possessions was a10 K gold medal awarded when the Coleman hockey team were the champions of the Crowsnest Pass League in 1913.
In 1911, Alex met Miss. Ellen Jane GREGORY, younger daughter of Mrs. Leonard Jerry LONSBURY. Ellen had been born in North Dakota, U.S.A. in 1891. On October 31, 1912 they were married at a double ceremony with Ellen's older sister, Anna, and Mr. Jack NASH. The wedding took place at the Coleman Institional Church, with a reception following in the Eagles' Hall.
For both Alex and Ellen, time erased what must have been many hardships of those early years. But both had rich memories of the sporting events, the picnics, the dances and the costume parties of those years before the war. Both told often of Mrs. LONSBURY's Sunday night bean suppers where the two sisters, Anna and Ellen, were courted by Jack and Alex.
In 1915 both Alex Easton and his father joined the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and went into training at Sarcee Camp outside Calgary. There Alex was attached to the 192nd Overseas Battalion as a Corporal in the Brass and Bugle Band. The battalion went overseas early in 1916. Alex fought in France and in Belgium and was wonded twice, once at the battle of Ypres and again shorly before the Armistice in 1918. While recuperation in England from the secon wound, he was commanded to dine with King George V at Windsor Castle. He was in London awaiting transport to return to France when the Armistice was signed.
After discharge from the army in 1919, Alex returned to Coleman where he lived except for a few years spent in California and in Granum, Alberta. He lived in Calgary until shortly before his death on May 10, 1974.
Ellen is in her 87th year and resides in a Nursing Home (1977).
The Alex Easton Family
submitted by Nora (Easton) Tolman
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Easton came to Canada from a small village near Stirling, Scotland, in 1904. With them came their three children, a son, Alexander, and two daughters, Janie and Charlotte.
They went first to Cumberland on Vancouver Island and in 1906 moved to Coleman. In Coleman, Mr. EASTON worked in the mines and Mrs. EASTON operated first a bakery and later a Ladies' Ready-to-Wear Store. The son, Alex, joined his mother in these enterprises.
Father and son were both active musicians, each of them playing the cornet in bands which played in the Pass in those early years. Alex also played the piano and was a member of an orchestra which provided the music for the many dances which took place in Coleman in the prewar years. He was the pianist for the old Coleman Theatre in the days before talking pictures arrived.
Alex was a great sports enthusiast. He was a member of both the Coleman Football Team and the Coleman Hockey Team until he joined the army in World War 1. Among his cherished possessions was a10 K gold medal awarded when the Coleman hockey team were the champions of the Crowsnest Pass League in 1913.
In 1911, Alex met Miss. Ellen Jane GREGORY, younger daughter of Mrs. Leonard Jerry LONSBURY. Ellen had been born in North Dakota, U.S.A. in 1891. On October 31, 1912 they were married at a double ceremony with Ellen's older sister, Anna, and Mr. Jack NASH. The wedding took place at the Coleman Institional Church, with a reception following in the Eagles' Hall.
For both Alex and Ellen, time erased what must have been many hardships of those early years. But both had rich memories of the sporting events, the picnics, the dances and the costume parties of those years before the war. Both told often of Mrs. LONSBURY's Sunday night bean suppers where the two sisters, Anna and Ellen, were courted by Jack and Alex.
In 1915 both Alex Easton and his father joined the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and went into training at Sarcee Camp outside Calgary. There Alex was attached to the 192nd Overseas Battalion as a Corporal in the Brass and Bugle Band. The battalion went overseas early in 1916. Alex fought in France and in Belgium and was wonded twice, once at the battle of Ypres and again shorly before the Armistice in 1918. While recuperation in England from the secon wound, he was commanded to dine with King George V at Windsor Castle. He was in London awaiting transport to return to France when the Armistice was signed.
After discharge from the army in 1919, Alex returned to Coleman where he lived except for a few years spent in California and in Granum, Alberta. He lived in Calgary until shortly before his death on May 10, 1974.
Ellen is in her 87th year and resides in a Nursing Home (1977).