| Thomas WARK
From "Tread of the Pioneers" by J. H. Metcalf 1932
"Thomas Wark, born June 2nd, 1842, in Ireland, moved out to
Ontario, and from the county of Grey, in that province, migrated to
Manitoba in 1872, arriving in June. Married Ann Hamilton and had four
sons and five daughters: William, John D., Richard, and Thomas, Kate,
Ester, Elizabeth, M. Ellen, and Dorcas. Twenty-three grandsons and
twenty granddaughters, divided among Sherritts, Scrases, Littles,
Folsters, Warks, and Owens will certainly carry on the family tradition
for many years. Date of arrival in Manitoba, as stated above, will be
sufficient evidence of the usual amount of pioneer hardship endured by
this family in the early days of settlement.
They traveled by ox-team from St. Paul to Winnipeg. There were
about twenty Ox teams in the party, and on the way the measles broke out
among the company. The disease went through the whole caravan and
everybody pulled through. There were no Doctors in the outfit, but
plenty of whiskey, and whiskey was cheap, and very effective, for they
all got better.
The family settled on the land of High Bluff, now owned by M. H.
Owens, and the records state that they scraped a very bare living until
the advent of the Canadian Pacific railway relieving them of the long
haul to Winnipeg with Buck and Bright which took at least five days with
good road conditions. Thomas Wark died May 1st, 1911." |
