The Wruth FamilyDelbert Wruth: Dad, was born in Ont. In 1897 he and his brother Jack came to south eastern Manitoba where he worked as a farm hand till 1901 when they came to Saskatchewan and both took homesteads. Dad's was N.E. Sec. 1/4 10-5-32 W1. Uncle Jack's was S.E. 1/4 of same section. They planned to build a house directly on the quarter line and living together. When ready to build they found there was a big slough where they planned to build. So Uncle Jack married with wife and two or three children built on his land. One had to live six months every year for three years on the homestead to get title. Dad built a bunk house across the slough on his own quarter which he called home in summer and lived with Uncle Jack in winter months. He and Mother were married in 1907. That spring Dad sold his homestead. He left his new bride behind and he and Grandpa Moore left with team and wagon to hunt for better land to make home. They drove as far as Edmonton, Alta. They found only one place, Tillie, Alta. where they figured land was better. Dad said at Tillie you could put the post hole digger down the full length of the handle and still bring up black loam. Land was so expensive they could not afford to buy it so returned home to Thunder Creek. Dad bought the W 1/2 of 15-4-32 W1. The first summer Mom and Dad lived in a very small shack. Mother said it was so small that the home made table which sat in middle of the room and used at meal time was turned upside down on the bed as soon as the dishes were washed so to leave room to get around. They did not live in the little shack too long for by 1911 they built what we kids know as the west wing of the house, two rooms upstairs, a front room down stairs with a north lean-to kitchen. It was added to in 1918. Lean-to was moved off and used as a chop house. east wing was built in 1918. There was a dining room, parlor and pantry. Front room of old part was used as a kitchen. A coal shed was built on the north. Three rooms added upstairs. They had a small stable at first. They had a horse barn just three stalls each side. A big barn was built - 60 x 100 feet with horse barn, cow barn, each with loft, feed barn, hen house, pig pens, sheep pens and pens for young cattle all under one roof. Dad's Mother, Grandma Wruth had passed away before Dad came west. Grandpa Wruth came west for a visit soon after Dad and Mother were married. He liked the west so well he went back east to settle affairs and intended to come back west to live but passed away before he could get back west. While visiting he helped build the big barn. Beryl recalls things that make her think she was maybe 3 or 4 years old when it was built. Grandpa Moore gave Mom 2 milk cows and a dozen laying hens for a wedding present. That, along with Dad's outfit of horses, was their start in life. Mom said she set some hens as many as 3 times to hatch more chickens. Each time they hatched, she took the chickens from them and raised them by hand. Four kids came along and growing up on the Wruth farm was typical to any other farm and more so. Nearly every kind of livestock we had - horses of all sizes and shapes - from nice drivers to good old work horses. Russell had a beautiful Palomino that won races at fairs and sport days. Also were cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, laying hens, geese, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowl, both collie and hound dogs, cats and bees. We went to school but were not allowed to miss as many days as some kids. Seldom we were kept home to work but if we were we really worked. If it was sickness you had to mostly stay in bed all day so no sick excuse. Rainy days was no excuse to miss school. On rainy days the old cart was pulled into the barn, horse hitched to it. We climbed in the cart and a horse blanket was thrown over us and off we went the 2 1/2 miles. We always had plenty of work to do with 10-20 cows to milk and a big garden to tend. But there was plenty of play time too. We looked forward to May 24. Potatoes were planted in the morning. After dinner the kids and Mom went on a picnic. We hooked the horse to the buggy, took lunch and gopher catching equipment and went 1/2 mile east to the pasture. Dad gave us 5 cents for each gopher tail we got. We took traps and string to snare gophers. Mother had a 22 rifle and spent the day shooting gophers. She was an excellent shot. We did not have to go home to get supper but ate lunch out doors. Dad was elected to the school board in 1917. Joe Stovin and Gene Eddy ran against him. Dad got 6 votes, Eddy 4, Stovin 3. Being a trustee was no new job for Dad. While he was still on the homestead he chaired the first meeting held to organize a school district in that community. Later it was known as Rosebank. Dad, although a bachelor, was one of the first trustees elected. This is significant of the esteem people had for Dad all during his lifetime. In 1914, a motion was on the Secretary book that the Methodist Church pay $6.00 per annum for the use of the school for Church services and $3.00 per annum for Sunday School. At his very first trustee meeting Dad made the first motion on the books - "to give all religious groups free use of the school." Looking through the books I could find no place where Dad was off the board again. He was still on at his passing on Jan. 1, 1940. There are two other outstanding motions of Dad's on the school books. He made the motion to hire Miss Gilchrist as teacher and also the motion to build the new school. A lot of the time he served as chairman. In the books his signature is just as plain and distinct signed with an indelible pencil some 60 years after he signed the books. The indelible pencil, along with matches and a jack knife, were Dad's "trade marks", you might say. Always he had these 3 in his pocket. The pencil was never more than 2 inches long. If you borrowed his pencil and did not return it as soon as you finished with it, you soon found his hand held out in front of you, palm up. That was to say, "Where is my pencil?" Dad's Mother and Dad were both smokers. Grandma Wruth smoked a pipe and his brother Jack smoked but Dad never drew a breath on a cigarette or pipe nor chewed tobacco. He was never without matches and many a time someone borrowed matches for cigarettes. Dad always had a jack knife in his pocket. It was easily borrowed from him but if not returned the same hand was held out palm up. He never laid his knife down when he finished using it but folded it and put it in his pocket. His knife carrying started at an early age. When he was about 7 or 8 he and his Dad walked the railway track to their local town of Gelert, Ont. Grandpa gave Dad a $1.00 bill and told him to buy himself something. Years later Dad realized this was a way of getting rid of him so Grandpa could go to the pub. Dad said he spent a lot of time shopping for the biggest knife he could find. He got one 6 or 7 inches long. He carried that knife until the blade wore out. That knife was so weighty he missed it from his pocket so after that he always had a knife in his pocket as his pocket did not feel right without one. By sheer coincidence these 3 items were never found after his burial. There seems no doubt but they were in his pocket of his suit pants and buried with him. Another of Dad's "trade marks" was his ability to be on time for meals. When he left the house after breakfast, if nothing was said, dinner would be at 12 noon. That meant sitting down to the table ready to eat at 12 noon. If he was going to be early he named the time as he went out the door, 11:30a.m., 11, or whatever, and everyone was sitting at the table at that time. The same went if dinner was later than 12 noon, which was very seldom. Same went for supper as it was always at six unless time was set different at noon. Mother was away from home a considerable amount of the time. She was always helping in homes where there was sickness. She often was called day or night to help when a new baby was arriving. Our home seemed to be the community nursing home as several babies were born at our place. Beryl quit school as soon as she was old enough to quit. She spent some time with Aunt Ellen at Pense. She came back home and one night went to a Pie Social at Nottingham. A young gentleman, Wes Potts, who bought her pie, either fell in love with the cook or the pie because it was not long before they were married.
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