Ada's Autograph Book

In the spring of 1892, several weeks before her eleventh birthday, Ada Hern, Lois' aunt, acquired an autograph book. Carefully, she wrote her name and address inside the front cover and then proceeded to number the 62 pages in the book. One can only imagine her excitement at owning such a book and then her anxiety to get some autographs in the book. Not surprisingly, the earliest entries are those of her mother and father and her younger brother Robert. The book has poems and autographs from friends and neighbours and relatives. The last entry is in 1900 when Ada would have been 18 or 19. While there are no entries after that point, the autograph book must have remained important to her. Through the many moves and upheavels in her life, Ada's autograph book remained with her, and after her death as an old lady in the 1960's the autograph book was moved to me.

Gordon as a eleven year old

Here is a picture of Gordon taken in 1926 when he was 11 years old. While he loved sports and likely dreamed of being the boxing champion of the world, he was also a quiet studious person who loved books. A good assortment of his books have survived, a testament, very likely, of their importance in his life. Books appear to have been a standard gift at Christmas. The year that he turned 12 his cousins Bill, June and Charlotte Simpson who lived on a farm almost immediately behind the McEwan farm, gave him Ralph Conner's The Sky Pilot In NoMan's Land. He also owned Conner's The Prospector. Robinson Crusoe had been a gift when he was seven. Horatio Alger appears to have been a favourite author with several of Alger's books being part of his collection.