Sleigh ride on a winter's evening near my dad's family's sod house in the 1920s, Southern Alberta prairie. The dogs are happy. The box sleigh on the right would have been used to transport goods, not people.
Herbert E. Burfield homesteading with his family: wife Francis, daughter Sylvia and sons Robin, Fred (father of Stan) and Peter. Near Hanna, Alberta.
Comments from the Facebook version:
Herbert E. Burfield homesteading with his family: wife Francis, daughter Sylvia and sons Robin, Fred (father of Stan) and Peter. Near Hanna, Alberta.
Comments from the Facebook version:
Larry Burfield Love the history! Great Memories of our families history.
February 1 at 7:50pm · Like
Linda Eva Williams That's beautiful, Stan. May I share this with my painter friend who displays her artwork at the Stampede? Judie Popplewell is her name if you'd like to visit her website.
February 1 at 7:55pm · Like
Stan Burfield Larry, in an album of photos from then, I discovered and envelope packed with negatives, many of them too big to put in my digitizer. Most of them I didn't have an old print of. I managed to digitize all of them. The biggest ones, I hate to say, I had to cut some of the sky and ground off to get them in. But otherwise there would be no picture. There are pictures from the sod house days, the log house days in the north, and later when Robin was in the Armed Forces. When I can figure out how, I'll send them all to you. There are some pretty good ones. A couple are shot inside the sod house!
February 1 at 8:05pm · Like
Stan Burfield Linda, go ahead. Share away. There are a number of pictures with the horses. One I really like has a couple girls riding down the road talking, and another just passed them the other way and turned her head to look back at them. Ha ha.
February 1 at 8:08pm · Edited · Like
Linda Eva Williams Are you going to make an album of your family's pictures? I await breathlessly.
February 1 at 8:08pm · Like
Stan Burfield Yeah, at some point. I have to sort them out first. Some of the bigger negatives I made into a number of smaller pictures that fit together more or less, because the one negative is too big. Actually they're kind of neat that way. You go from one to the other, scanning sideways, and sometimes up or down. It's like a discovery process. But it'll take a while. I have a lot of other stuff I have to do too.
February 1 at 8:12pm · Like
Stan Burfield And I have some really good prints that have no negatives with them, so I'm going to take some to Staples and get them scanned. Another job.
February 1 at 8:13pm · Like
Martin Hayter stan costco does prints REAL cheap and might do scans too - call and check. i can take them in if they do...I have a membership.
February 1 at 8:19pm · Like
Stan Burfield Here's my big plan. I've gotten to really enjoy writing these little, fairly short, prose blurbs. I've decided to do ones of the most interesting memories I have, mostly from my adventures, in chronological order. But just so it doesn't get too boring, being all from one life, I'm going to do the same for my father's life, taking turns. Dad's life was, to say the least, more interesting than mine. But here's the thing: last night I found a manuscript he typed out when he was blind later in life describing his entire life from birth in England. By then, he was getting to be a decent writer. I'll condense it and jump into the best things, with direct quotes from him. AND now with photo illustrations. I can't wait.
February 1 at 8:20pm · Like · 2
Stan Burfield Wow, thanks, Martin. yes, I'll check the prices.
February 1 at 8:21pm · Like
Martin Hayter ok - see you wednesday
February 1 at 8:21pm · Like
Stan Burfield you bet.
February 1 at 8:21pm · Like
Stan Burfield I'll bring my computer and show you a few of these.
February 1 at 8:22pm · Like
Dusty Ferguson I'd love to see these pictures too Stan. I only met your dad a couple of times when I was quite young but I remember him well.
February 1 at 8:31pm · Like
Stan Burfield Wow. How did you know him?
February 1 at 8:32pm · Like
Dusty Ferguson He was at Uncle Peter's a couple of times when I was there. No surprise since I pretty much lived there in the summers. He was blind then and I remember Linda describing me to him.
February 1 at 8:35pm · Like
Stan Burfield Are you married to Linda?
February 1 at 8:36pm · Like
Stan Burfield (By way of explanation, Linda was Dad's brother Peter's daughter.)
February 1 at 8:38pm · Like
Dusty Ferguson Linda Burfield. I'm Larry and Linda's cousin Deb. My mom was Bessie's sister.
February 1 at 8:39pm · Like
Dusty Ferguson I don't think we ever met but I do remember your dad well.
February 1 at 8:39pm · Like
Stan Burfield Oh. Deb. Sorry I got that wrong. Right, I'm afraid I hardly know anything about Bessie's side of Peter's family.
February 1 at 8:42pm · Like
Dusty Ferguson Haha. That's okay. But I guess that makes us cousins too
February 1 at 8:43pm · Like
Stan Burfield Cousin Deb. I come from a very small family. That's very nice to hear, Deb. Is that you playing guitar?
February 1 at 8:45pm · Like
Dusty Ferguson Yup. Sure is. I've had that one for about 40 years. I also have my dad's old violin and Uncle Robin's saxophone. The sax needs a lot of work done to it though. My daughter can play it and my son plays a bit of violin. I guess some of that musical heritage has continued on.
February 1 at 8:52pm · Like
Larry Burfield I dont think I have any pictures of the sod house. Uncle Robin told me the story of how a gopher got in and our Grandmother chased it out. I think most the pictures of Homestead Coullee were taken by Aunt Sheila, and she passed away before the family moved north.
February 1 at 8:55pm · Like
Stan Burfield Dusty, I remember in Calgary sitting in on Robin's little band playing in his basement. A couple of the guys were from the old prairie barndance days, and I remember Peter was there playing banjo. All I can do is my little wooden recorder that I still have from I think grade seven. When the computer goes down, I play a few notes to keep my stress load down.
February 1 at 9:01pm · Like · 1
Stan Burfield Larry, who was Aunt Sheila. I don't recall the name.
February 1 at 9:01pm · Like
Larry Burfield Sorry Stan, it should be Aunt Sylvia. I I had an older sister Shela, that passed away at 9 months of age.
February 1 at 9:20pm · Like
Stan Burfield Yes, Sylvia. I have a photo of her grave taken back then. She died of some disease quite young.
February 1 at 9:23pm · Edited · Like
Larry Burfield I think it was the flu that went through in the late 20s. I have been to her grave with my Dad, but a few years ago I went to find it and couldnt find. I will go to the Drumheller City office and ask to see a plot plan. I know where Granddad's and our Grandmothers stone is.
February 1 at 9:30pm · Like
Stan Burfield In the photo, the grave has a large cross on it, which looks like it was made of wood. It looks nice but not very permanent.
February 1 at 9:33pm · Like
Larry Burfield i remember a small pillow like stone, which may have been put on later. The grass had grown up all around it as it had settled into the ground
February 1 at 10:13pm · Like
Stan Burfield I'll make an album of the photo of the cross. Try doing it in the photo section first and then share it to the page. I think that's the way to do it, so that I don't get a lot of photos one above the other on my page. Probably 5 or 10 minutes.
February 1 at 10:17pm · Like
Larry Burfield ok, no rushSee Translation
February 1 at 10:18pm · Like
Stan Burfield Is the cemetary in the Red Deer River valley? And is that the badlands around it?
February 1 at 10:19pm · Like
Larry Burfield It is in the Drumheeler valley, I thought the grave was in the row backed unto a subdivision built in the 60s
February 1 at 10:26pm · Like
Stan Burfield Okay. And was the sod house near Hanna? Do you know how much land they were homesteading?
February 1 at 10:35pm · Like
Larry Burfield The sod house was far south of Hanna. You go east of East Coullee through ghost town of Dorothy. It is a few miles north of the Red Deer river. I have tried to find the homestead, but never sure I was there. It maps out as not too far from the Homestead Coulle school marker.
February 1 at 10:44pm · Like
Larry Burfield I think they had a quarter section by the description Uncle Robin gave me. I have no idea how much was farm land and how much was pasture
February 1 at 10:46pm · Like
Stan Burfield Yes. That seems right to me to. Does your son still farm that land, by any chance?
February 1 at 10:50pm · Like
Larry Burfield I was working for Conoco Phillips when I retired, and they has some pipelines, well locations and compresso stations, and they used Burfield in the desription to identify them. No the Burfields never had anything else to do with the hand after they left the area in early 30s
February 1 at 10:52pm · Like
Stan Burfield Good to know. I was never sure.
February 1 at 10:53pm · Like
Stan Burfield When I get into Dad's story of his life, that will all come clear. Thanks, Larry.
February 1 at 10:55pm · Like
Larry Burfield My sons dont farm, and the Burfield land at Munson is rented out. Michael lives on the farm where my Dad lived, and Kevin lives on an acreage 1 mile away, on the same 1/2 section.
February 1 at 10:55pm · Like
Stan Burfield All country boys, farmers at heart. Just like me.
February 1 at 11:09pm · Like
Larry Burfield Your cousin Larry is that way for sure. My sons have my old tractors, and keep them in working order, and when I visit and get to drive them. FUN Times!!!!
February 1 at 11:13pm · Like
Stan Burfield Ha ha. My dream.
February 1 at 11:49pm · Like
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