JOHN ARNOTT, born 1885 in Kinrosshire, received his education in Scotland and came to Roblin in September of 1907 where he helped his cousins in the Tummel district take off a very badly frozen crop. In the spring of 1908 he came to homestead about five miles south of Makaroff on NW 30-26-29 at the forks of the Boggy Creek and the Assiniboine River. He broke land with a team of oxen, purchased an adjoining quarter and in 1911 was joined by his brother James C. Arnott. They worked together until the fall of 1914. The spring of the following year, John sold the homestead to his brother and bought NW  2-27-29 from Tom Crane and a year or so later obtained the adjoining quarter NE 2-27-29. He took a trip to Scotland in the fall of 1913 and in the fall of 1915 Isobel Livingston came from Scotland; she and John were married in October of that year at the home of Arnott Livingston in Tummel. Isobel became an active member of the L.A. and also the W.I. where she was elected president in 1929 and 1930 and treasurer in 1934. John was a very busy and highly regarded member of the United Church; some ministers returned to visit him many years later. He was also active in school affairs and served as secretary for years on the Makaroff Pool Elevator Board. An ardent curler, John started with Whit Cobbe in the old rink (which was located just across the street from the church) and for several years in the new rink, over time acting as Draw-Master and for a short time as Secretary-Treasurer. The Arnotts had five children, Grace, Elsie, James, Winifred and Robin. After Isobel’s death in April of 1941, John bought SW 21-27-29 from Ben Spear and moved into Makaroff about 1950.  In 1953 he married Grace Reid Arnott - Dr. Janet E. Arnott was her daughter by a former marriage. Grace too, soon became an active worker in the community. She was a member of the U.C.W. and for over 12 years the Superintendent of Sunday School.  She was an active member of the W.I. and served on various committees, representing Makaroff at the Provincial Convention in 1965. Being an accomplished pianist she was very much in demand at the school and for concerts.  She was Church Organist, pianist for the Glee Club and taught music to many in the community. Due to failing vision, however, she had to relinquish the position at the church after about twelve years and was replaced by Mrs. Jas. Kerswell. Grace accompanied her daughter to England in the summer of 1964 and she and Robin took a trip to England and Scotland in March of 1967 where they visited relatives; Robin visited the home in which his father had grown up. The windbreak planted along the road that leads to the Makaroff Cemetery is a living memorial to John Arnott’s love of gardening in his later years. He suffered a stroke in 1957 from which he recovered fairly well; he died in February of 1978. John and Isobel Arnott’s daughter Grace, trained in the Winnipeg General Hospital, became a registered nurse and married Lewis King; they retired to Union, Ontario. Elsie, who never married, made her home in Dauphin. Winifred, also a nurse, worked at Brandon Mental Hospital and married John Brooks who farmed in the Forrest district; they had three sons and one daughter.

JAMES S. ARNOTT, the eldest son of John and Isobel, received his education in Makaroff and during WW2 spent five years in the Second Corps serving in France and Germany. Released in 1946 he returned home to take over NW 3-27-29 and NE 1-27-29. In 1950 he married Alice Charters of San Clara and raised three daughters and two sons: Jack, Amelia, Isabel, Roberta and Colin. With the birth of their first son, Jack, in 1951 this family had the unique good fortune of having five generations at one time living in the immediate area (Laliberte-Burwash-Charters- Arnott-Arnott). A generation later when their daughter Amy married and had a child, there were again five generations. James Arnott served in the Curling Club, the School and Church Boards, the Togo Legion and as charter member of the Canadian Order of Foresters. Alice was active in the W.I. and served on the district board. Their son Jack married Marilyn Bernard of Roblin and had three children: Gailene, Michael and Nicole. Amy and her husband Doug Cockerill resided at Lynn Lake and had three: Cherie, Gina and Jason. Isabel married Henry Bergeron; they made their home at Fort Saskatchewan, AB and had one daughter. Roberta and her husband Shane Younger lived at Roblin and Colin remained at home on the farm.

ROBIN ARNOTT, second son of John and Isobel, attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and remained a bachelor. He farmed his father’s land and the Ben Spear quarter in Makaroff where he lived with his stepmother Grace for about twenty years until her death. Robin was always very active in the community; he was a 4H member and later a leader, served on the local rink committee and was draw master for over ten years.  He was a member of the Makaroff Elevator Board for a number of years and served on the Makaroff United Church Board where he held the office of recording-secretary for five years.

LEWIS D. SHARP and his family arrived in Makaroff in 1908 to settle on the south half of 8-27-29. He and his wife, daughter and two sons had come from Rapid City to farm near their relatives (the two McGregor families) who had come to Makaroff in 1902. The Sharps hired Mr. Wesley of Asessippi (later of Togo) to build their house and barn; these are the buildings that were many years later still occupied by the Charles Grundy family. Lewis was an excellent horseman and was known for his fine horses.  Mrs. Sharp, unfortunately, died in 1916; the men continued to farm for a few years but after his son Joe married and son Harmon went back to southern Manitoba, Lewis sold the farm to Charles and Hazel Grundy in 1920 and went to live with his married daughter in Togo. There remains an oil painting of the Makaroff Consolidated School by the Sharp’s granddaughter, Mrs. Claud Bishop (nee McGregor). It was framed and donated to the Makaroff district and hangs in the Community Hall.

ERNIE CASSON was born 1899 at Darlington, England. In 1908 as an orphan child of nine years, his paternal grandfather sponsored him to immigrate to Canada where the child was met at Togo by Frank Painter, the Postmaster, who delivered him to the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Collings (see Collings).  He remained with the Collings on their homestead SW 32-27-29 for several years, going to classes with their daughter, Allie; first to the Northwood School then to the Makaroff Consolidated School. In 1919 Ernie left the district to work in Winnipeg where he married Phoebe Dicks of Teulon, MB in 1928.  In 1930 they moved to Chicago, IL.  He and Phoebe were divorced in 1941 and in 1952 Ernie married Pearl McClure of Washington, IA; they made their home at Wheaton, Illinois.

MERVYN EVANS came from Abergavenny, Wales in 1908 to join his brother Thomas who had already registered for homestead NW 14-27-29 in the Boggy valley east of the village and adjoining the Payne place. This property may be better known as the Sid Rogers’ farm. Shortly after his brother’s arrival, Thomas moved to the Roblin district where he farmed until his death about twenty-five years later. Mervyn, however, remained at Makaroff and purchased the general store from the Sinclairs. This was a small log building at that time and housed the store and post office as well as living quarters.  Shortly after taking over the business, Mervyn married a widow, Mrs. David Fraser; she had come with her young son Bill from Paisley, Scotland to her sister’s in the Castleavry district.  A two-storey frame building replaced the original log building soon after their marriage and then came the day Mervyn rode his horse to Yorkton and registered for homestead SW 23-27-29 - the farm which is probably better known as that of Mike Shymkiw. In time, two sons (both died as infants) and a daughter, Margaret, were born and they sold the business to C. R. Grundy and built a frame cottage in town where they were living when Mrs. Evans died. Mervyn was employed as janitor at the first brick school when it burnt in early 1918. He assisted in the building of the first rink and the community hall, was active in the local church, served as school trustee and as councillor of Ward 4 from 1936 to 1939. After his wife’s death in 1922 he hired a housekeeper by the name of Mrs. Dagg who remained with him until his death in about 1940. She then went to keep house for the widowed N.J. Kerswell. Both Mr. and Mrs. Evans and their two infant sons are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. Their son Bill Fraser, after attending the Makaroff Consolidated School, took his teacher’s training at Normal School in Dauphin, taught for many years, served overseas during the war and then worked in the Dominion Civil Service at Camp Shilo until his death in 1968. Their daughter Margaret was a member of the local W.I. for three years until she left to train as a nurse in 1937.  She married Alexander Skene, had two sons and became a social worker with Children’s Aid in Brandon.

JOHN BEATTIE, with his wife Emma Fox and their six children George, Wilfred, John, Maude, Edna and Evea, moved from Udney, Ontario to Douglas, Manitoba in the spring of 1905. During the two years of their stay there, Mr. Beattie was engaged in cattle shipping and also in a carpentry business. In 1908 he moved his family to Roblin where he operated a livery business, but a year later traded the business for the Bert McGillivry homestead and moved to NW 12-27-29. This land was actually situated in the Deepdale school district, but to enable the Makaroff district to qualify for school grants, the Beattie children were invited to attend the Makaroff School. Another son, Isaac, was born on this farm and two years later, in 1914 John Beattie purchased Sec.15-27-29 just southwest of the village of Makaroff. This became their permanent home and while working with his oats one day, which contained a considerable amount of wild oats, Mr. Beattie noticed that the wild oats stuck to his work socks. After a time of considerable deep thinking he held up a flannelette blanket, threw some oats up against it and behold, the wild oats stuck to the blanket - separating the wild oats from the tame. Thus was the beginning of what would later develop into the Beattie Blanket Mill. At this point it may be noted that John Beattie’s son Wilfred, in 1943 constructed and patented the Beattie Wild Oat Grain Cleaner and later, the Beattie Wind Cleaner. John Beattie continued with his mixed farming until the time of his death in 1940 at the age of 78. His wife Emma predeceased him by just 53 days, at the age of 69; they are both resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. The Beattie family did their share in developing the community and is one of the few who have descendants still living in the district.  Maude (see T.W. Pound above). Edna (see Walter “Tom” Boyce). Evea (see Harvey Boyce). George married Leola Westfall of Esterville, Iowa. They lived in various places in the west and in the U.S.A. but returned to the Makaroff district to farm NW 10-27-29 for several years before retiring to Oak Point, Manitoba.

WILFRED BEATTIE married Helen Low of Togo; her father Alexander Low, a blacksmith by trade, had come from Scotland in 1899 and her mother Helen Lindsay had arrived from Scotland in 1904. The Lows had married at Rossburn in 1905 and by way of Grandview and then Roblin, settled at Togo. Wilfred and Helen Beattie farmed SW 15-27-29 and the west half of 17-27-29. Wilfred served as school trustee, member of the Pool Elevator and Church boards and the rink committee. Helen, a member of the U.C.W, held office as president on occasion. Wilfred died in 1985 and Helen in 1995, both are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. They had four daughters and one son: Wilma, a teacher, married William Cowling and made their home at Crandall, Manitoba (Wilma died in 1970); Jean, an x-ray technician, married George Robertson, lived in Dauphin, went into social work and retired in Brandon; Evelyn, a teacher, married C. E. Rheaume and made their home in Portage la Prairie; Roberta, a nurse, married R. Kaspruk and lived at Eden, Manitoba. Wilfred and Helen’s son Douglas and his wife Geraldine remained on his parent’s family farm.

JOHN BEATTIE, born 1905 at Udley, Ontario was only one year old when his parents moved west to Douglas, and shortly after to Roblin where they ran a livery stable. “Johnnie” was four when they traded the business for the Bert McGillivry homestead at Deepdale and nine years of age when they moved to Makaroff. He attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and as a young man went to work in B.C. In 1929 he returned to Makaroff and purchased the Richard Craven farm SE 30-27-29. In the meanwhile, Kathleen Levins of Crandall, Manitoba had come to teach at Makaroff. Two years after Johnnie’s return from B.C. he and Kay were married in Brandon. Little firewood was available in the area by this time; it had to be hauled from north of Togo. This was in the days before municipal graders. Farmers using V-plows and blowers on their tractors kept the roads open. The group in their area included farmers: Johnnie Beattie, Sam Relky, Adolph Hischabett, Pete Nabe, Frank Grundy, and Evert Boyce. In 1940 Kay returned to teaching and in 1963 transferred to the Roblin Collegiate from which she retired in 1970. She had taught school for a total of 36 years and was presented an Honorary Life Membership of Manitoba Teachers’ Society in ‘appreciation of many services to the community of education’. Johnnie and Kay raised three daughters and one son and retired to Togo in 1974. Their daughter Donna, a teacher, married Harold Nabe (see Peter Nabe) and made their home in Togo; Ilene married Peter Penniston of Togo, both became teachers at Stony Mountain and raised two sons, Don and Jack; Beryl, who had been with the Royal Bank since 1957, married Ross Poulsen, an accountant with Inco at Thompson, Manitoba. Clifford worked for a year on a ranch in Alberta and a year in construction in Calgary before returning to work as a P. F. R. A. rider at the community pasture. He later worked at Bell Brothers Garage in Togo. In 1963 he purchased the McKnight farm at Grand Narrows but didn’t take up full time farming until 1968 when he purchased the farm of Pete Nabe at Makaroff. In 1981 he married Marg Delaney of Maple, Ontario.

ISAAC BEATTIE, the youngest child of John and Emma Beattie, was the only one of their children born at Makaroff. Known as “Ike”, he attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and remained on his parent’s farm NW 15-27-29. He married Muriel Boyce, the daughter of Russell and Catherine Boyce of Deepdale. Russell Boyce born 1884 in Ontario had moved with his family to the Neepawa district and later, in 1906 to the Silverwood district. Catherine Davies, born 1892 in Wales where she trained as a teacher, came to Canada in 1912 to join her parents J. D. and Margaret Davies who had emigrated earlier. Catherine taught school at Silverwood for two years before marrying Russell Boyce. Their daughter, Muriel, married Ike Beattie at Roblin in 1935 and moved into his parent’s farm home at Makaroff, where they remained until their retirement. They had two sons and one daughter: Earl, Yvonne and Lyle. Both Ike and Muriel were very involved in the Makaroff community and enjoyed curling. Ike, on occasion, also traveled to Clear Lake to golf with friends. On retirement from the farm, they moved into the new home they had built in Roblin - where they celebrated their 65th Anniversary in the year 2000. Muriel died on Christmas day, 2001and is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. Their son Earl married Marlene Dobson in 1958, made their home in Flin Flon and had three children: Lori Ann, Clark and Diane. Marlene, daughter of R&M Dobson of Killarney, had come to Makaroff with Elsie and Dave Clark, agent for Manitoba Pool Elevators, when her mother was ill with tuberculosis. She attended Makaroff Consolidated School and later, Normal School in Winnipeg, teaching for a time at Grandview. Earl and Marlene returned from Flin Flon in 1973 to a farm at Roblin where they raised Herefords and Marlene resumed teaching. Yvonne married Thomas MacQuarrie of Winnipeg in 1970, resided in Regina and Winnipeg and had one daughter, Sabrina. Lyle, a graduate of University of Manitoba, married Marion Hamblin of Morris, MB in 1971. They had two daughters, Heather and Colleen, and made their home at Souris, MB where Lyle taught for many years at the Souris High School. Later, they moved into Brandon.

WALTER BOYCE (1856-1918) and his wife Pheone (1858-1950) had six sons: George, Albert, Harvey, Walter (Tom), Stanley and Earl. The boys were all born in Pembina Township of North Dakota, U.S.A. and accompanied their parents north into Manitoba in 1902. They resided in Headingly until moving to Winnipeg in 1908. Shortly after, Major Schurman Walter Boyce, known as “Walter”, registered for homestead SW 33-27-29 at Makaroff and his son Albert registered on adjoining NW 33-27-29. Walter and Pheone’s sons all farmed in the Makaroff district. Walter passed away in 1918 and after his death his wife eventually moved back to Winnipeg where she died in 1950. Both Walter and Pheone are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery.

GEORGE BOYCE, the eldest son of Walter and Pheone, helped break up the prairie sod and bush land with a steam engine which was used later as part of a threshing unit. In 1922 he married Frayne Hulse and took over    NE 3-28-29, and in the late 1930s moved to SW 23-28-29. Sometime after his wife’s death in 1939, George gave up farming and moved back to Winnipeg where he died in 1963; they are both resting in the Makaroff cemetery. They had one son George, a carpenter, who at sixteen years of age went to live in Wisconsin, USA where he married and had two daughters: Frayne  and Tracy.

ALBERT LAWRENCE BOYCE, born 1887 in North Dakota came with his parents to Canada in 1902. After short stays at Headingly, Winnipeg and Rosser, Albert registered for homestead NW 33-27-29 at Makaroff. He married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Joyner in 1910. Born in Sydenham, Ontario in 1886, Lizzie had accompanied her family when they had moved west to Togo. Albert served on the school and elevator boards and was active in political affairs. Both were involved in community events and curling. In 1948 they gave up farming and took up residence in the village of Makaroff where Albert died in 1965 and Lizzie in 1969; both are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. They had one daughter Elsie (see Sylvester McGinnis) and one son, Kenneth who married Gertrude McGinnis (see W. McGinnis). Ken and Gertie farmed at Makaroff; he was a member of the Makaroff School Board and Gertie a member of the Ladies Aid and U.C.W.  She passed away in 1975 and is laid to rest in the Makaroff Cemetery. They had four sons: Earl, Neal, Larry and Kelly. Earl married Margaret Greenly, farmed in Makaroff but later sold the property and moved into Roblin. Neal married Jeanette Makelki and remained farming in the district; they had two daughters, Lorie and Christa. Larry married Dawna Doering, had two daughters, Tricia and Janelle, and made their home at Russell. Kelly remained farming, married Twila Murray, a nurse, and had two children: Jenna and Wade.

HARVEY BOYCE, better known to some as “Jum”, came to Makaroff with his parents and in 1919 married Evea Beattie (see John Beattie Sr.). They lived on the James Rogers homestead NE 16-27-29 south of Makaroff for a time before making their home on NE 21-27-29 where they lived for many years. Harvey served on the school board for fifteen years, on the municipal council for sixteen years and drove a school van for sixteen. Evea joined the W. I. in 1924 and was an active member for thirty-four years. Their children all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and were very well known in the area. Sometime after Harvey’s death in 1963, Evea went to live in Roblin. They had four children: Irene married Lloyd Elder (see Elder) and remained farming in the Makaroff district; Ivan married Eleanor Currey (see Currey) and made their home in Flin Flon; Alfred married Shirley Bates and made their home at Flin Flon. Orval married Velma McGinnis (see W. McGinnis), remained on his parent’s farm, worked for the Shell River Municipality for 27 years, and died in 1983 at Saskatoon. Their six children all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School: Bryan (1951) married Sandra Currey, daughter of Art and Marie Currie of Roblin, and had a son, Stacey and a daughter, Leslie; Betty (1947) married Ernie Epp of Winnipeg; Greg (1949) married Ilona Truffin of Roblin and had three daughters: Riana, Jennie and Mandy; Barbara (1954) married Ken Jerome of San Clara and had three sons: Corey and twins, Christopher and Chad; Brenda (1956) married Peter Carriere of San Clara and had two daughters, Rena and Kirsten and one son, Devron; Randy (1962) married Elda Wilkenson of San Clara and had three daughters: Vanessa, Melissa and Jackolyn. Except for Betty who remained in Winnipeg, Velma and her family later made their home in the Calgary area where Bryan and Greg owned Boyce Heating Company and where Randy was employed as a backhoe operator.

WALTER ALFRED BOYCE, known as “Tom”, born 1893 in N.D., came to the Makaroff area with his parents and in 1917 married Edna Beattie (see John Beattie Sr.). They settled on the north half of 22-27-29 and had three children: Muriel Eva (1918), Ina Winifred (1921) and Evert Walter (1923). Muriel married Robert Ingles of London, Ontario a member of the Royal Canadian Navy. They had one son, Ernest, and after residing in London for a number of years moved to Calgary where they had a music store until retiring to Kelowna, BC. Ina married Leslie Thompson, one-time minister of the Makaroff United Church. Leslie had been a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW2 and after his discharge had moved to Winnipeg where he worked for the Department of Education and met Ina who worked for the United Steel Workers’ Union. They had one son, Thom, and later moved to Toronto where Leslie died at Sunnybrook Veteran’s Hospital. Ina married Pat Tirrell and moved to Kelowna, BC. Evert served overseas in the Royal Canadian Army where he married Doreen Brown of Goole, England. After his discharge in 1946 Evert and Doreen farmed the west half of 29-27-29. He served on the Makaroff Pool Elevator board and was a trustee of the Makaroff Consolidated School. Doreen was active in both the Ladies’ Aid and the W.I. and both were active participants of the Makaroff Curling Club. They had five children, three of which survived infancy - Lorna, Graham and Timothy. After Doreen’s death in 1966, Evert and Tim moved to Yorkton where he was employed by the Morris Rod-Wheeler Co and in 1968 married Louanna Mickey. Evert and Lou resided in Australia for four years, returned to Yorkton in 1982 and retired in 1983 after fifteen years with the company.

STANLEY BOYCE, born 1896 in N.D., came to Togo in 1914. He joined the army, trained in Regina and after the Armistice in 1918, moved to Makaroff where he married Violet Rogers (see Alex Rogers) in 1927. Stan and Violet farmed up north for a few years and then returned to Makaroff. In 1956 they moved to Winnipeg where Stanley was employed at the Imperial Bank of Commerce. They had two daughters who attended the Makaroff School: Louise married Merle Currey (see Currey) and resided in Winnipeg; they had three sons and one daughter. Edna married Charlie Elder (see Elder) a local farmer and had four sons: Keith, Daryl, Brian and Darren. Stanley died in 1970 and was buried in Makaroff; sometime after his death Violet moved to Maple Manor in Roblin.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ALBERT ADER, his wife Bessie and children Wayne, Paul, Lindsay, and Albert (known best by his nickname “Pete”) immigrated to the Makaroff area in 1909 from Mercer County, Missouri. Albert had been enticed to the area by his half-sister Julia (Mrs. George Collings) who had come in 1903. Although the Ader family returned to Missouri for the winter, where their daughter Catherine was born, they came back to Makaroff in the spring to farm two miles southwest of the village. After moving to a farm two miles east of Togo in 1913, they returned to Makaroff in 1917 and purchased land on section 7. This family built the house, barn and several granaries as well as the fencing on this property. Four more children were born to the Alders after their arrival in Canada: John, Wilson, Roy and Veach; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. Albert Ader was one of those who helped build the first Curling Rink. He also became a dealer; purchasing a Hider tractor in 1918 and a 1918 Chevrolet in 1919. He and Art Scoville did threshing around the vicinity for several years. Wayne, the eldest of the Ader children left in 1926 to farm in Washington where he later became foreman for Ribet Tramways; he married a Washington girl and raised eight children. Paul, also left in 1926; he obtained work with John Deere, married a Missouri girl, made their home in Washington and had five children. Pete, like his brother, worked for John Deere but he and his wife made their home in Moline, IL where two of their six children were killed in an electrical storm. In the fall of 1927 Albert and Bessie Ader returned to Missouri while their son Lindsay remained and worked on the Makaroff farm. Then, in 1930, he too left to work for John Deere.  Catherine and her husband, who worked for Santa Fe Railway, had three children and made their home in Kansas City. John went into business with the MFA Insurance Companies in Columbia, Missouri; he married and had two children. Wilson, remained a bachelor and worked for International Harvester in Moline IL. Roy, also employed by John Deere, married and had one child. Veach married an Illinois girl and made their home in the Chicago area. Albert and Bessie Ader both died at Trenton, Missouri.

BERNARD McGINNIS, and his wife Bridget Mehan were both born in Iowa. They were married in 1889 and spent the first eighteen years of their life together on a farm in Iowa - where all but three of their twelve children were born. About this time the government of Canada was spending a great deal of money advertising  “better, cheaper land” north of the American border. Homesteads were available for the $10 registering fee and American farmers were especially welcome because they already had the tools and experience required. In 1907, the McGinnis family answered the call, loaded their possessions into a covered wagon and headed north. They followed the Pembina Trail into Manitoba, the Dawson Trail and then the Pelly Trail as far as Asessippi. They settled in but for a short time before continuing north in 1910 to homestead SE 31-26-29 in the Makaroff district. Here in their permanent home, their last three children were born. Their children first attended Berry Grove School and later the Makaroff Consolidated School. Bernard farmed all his life and for years drove a school van, while also serving as weed inspector. The McGinnis home always welcomed visitors; no one was denied a meal or overnight lodging. Bernard died in 1937 and his wife Bridget in 1944; both are buried in the Makaroff Cemetery, as are their daughter Emma who died in 1948 and their son Sylvester in 1970. Philip lived at Conwood SK; Gertrude at Detroit MI; Lily and Lester at Miami MB; Bernard at Piawa MB; Patrick at Roblin, and Blanche in Winnipeg. Their daughter Belle died 1938 at Birch River. Walter, who died in 1962, rests in the Mount View Cemetery at Silverwood and Elmer in a cemetery in Winnipeg. Only four of Bernard and Bridget McGinnes’ children survived beyond 1984.

WALTER McGINNIS, the third child of Bernard and Bridget McGinnis, born 1895 in Iowa was twelve years of age when he came to Canada with his parents in the covered wagon. In 1912 he married Clemmentine Rosevear in San Clara, took a homestead in the Silverwood area and began farming on his own. In 1916 he enlisted with the P.P.C.L.I. and was gassed while serving as a sniper at Vimy Ridge. Unfortunately, this left him in very poor health. When farming became too much of a gamble, they moved to Winnipeg where he found work at a box factory. Later still, they went to Miami where he worked in a garage, but because of his health he eventually returned to the good clean air of Makaroff. Despite very little formal education, Walter became a very well read man. And he loved to farm. During the ‘dirty thirties’ he took about 25 head of cattle to a small lake west of Blue Lakes in the Duck Mountain, and built a cabin. His main interest, however, was his horses; his favorite team, Sandy and Fanny, were thought by some to be the best in the area. His wife “Clemmy” gave birth to seven children: Gertrude, Earle, Noreen, Velma, Lloyd, Jean and Yvonne; she always had a beautiful garden and sewed all her family’s clothing. She also boarded the Silverwood teacher (Ethel Rogers of Makaroff had a room with them for seven years) and gave a home to Jim Donaldson who at six years of age was stricken with polio that left him a paraplegic. Walter always hired a man to help him on the farm, usually a Donaldson. In 1929 they acquired a new Model A Ford, ten years later a John Deer Tractor, and even later a threshing machine which was hired out to harvest crops of neighbours. In 1945, Walter and Clemmy sold their farm to their son Earle and they and their four youngest children moved north to The Pas. But farming there was not as expected; Walter’s health deteriorated. He had to give up farming at the time of the 1960 flood and died two years later. Their daughter Gertrude married Ken Boyce (see Albert Boyce) and made their home at Makaroff; they had four sons: Earl, Neal, Larry and Kelly. Gertrude died of cancer in 1975 at 51 years of age. Earle married Hazel Maguire (see Maguire) of Makaroff and made their home on the Maguire farm where Hazel was born; they had seven children: William, Lynda, Sandra, Robert, Ronald, David and Colleen. Noreen married Howard Radford (see Radford), farmed in the San Clara area and had three sons: Walter, Douglas and Carl. Howard died in 1981. Velma married Orval Boyce (see Boyce) of Makaroff and had six children: Betty, Greg, Bryan, Barbara, Brenda and Randy. Lloyd married Vera Anne Spencer of The Pas; they and their two sons lived in Winnipeg.  Jean married Don Lorch of Portage la Prairie; they made their home at The Pas and had one son and one daughter. Yvonne married David Bagshaw, an airman of The Pas; they had two daughters and in 1962 were posted to England with the British Air Force.

SYLVESTER McGINNIS, born in 1906, was a young boy when his parents moved to the Makaroff district. He received his education in Makaroff and in 1931 married Elsie Boyce (see Albert Boyce). Sylvester farmed and drove a school van until joining the Armed Forces in 1940. After discharge he returned to farmland purchased through the Veteran’s Land Act. In 1950 he became the Post Master at Deepdale. They moved to The Pas in 1955, returning in 1961 to take over the Post Office in Makaroff. After Sylvester’s death in 1970 Elsie moved to Maple Manor in Roblin. Sylvester and Elsiehad six children: Frances married Steve Beck (see Joe Beck) and made their home at Swan River; Neal married Ella Lachance of San Clara and lived in The Pas; Leona married Arthur Haberstock of Zorra; Loretta married William Wright of Welton, Arizona; Lawrence married Marion Eslinger of Zorra and resided in Saskatoon; Garth married Linda Oliver of Churchill and lived in Thunder Bay.
 

WILLIAM CURREY and his wife Charlotte (sister of George Sloan) came to Makaroff in 1910 from Quincey, Illinois. Enticed by her brother to make the move, the Curreys rented a farm on section 9 from J. R. Spears (brother of Ben Spears), approximately two miles from Makaroff, and worked the land with two teams of “stubborn” oxen. Their sons Merle and Jim were ever so thankful when times improved enabling them to purchase horses. While the boys were helping their father and learning to farm, their young sister Lucille enjoyed visiting with her Uncle George, traveling around the farm with him in a buggy, pulled by a team of mules, and listening to his stories of when he was a sheriff  “down south”. She also idolized her cousin George. Five years her elder, he particularly liked to roll a barrel to the top of a straw stack, persuade her to climb into the barrel and then push it down the stack. It was a miracle she was not killed! Many Makaroff school children would forever remember the Currey family. One winter during a severe snowstorm, the school vans unable to deliver them to their homes, all twenty-one of them remained the night in town with the Curreys. They never forgot the hospitality extended to them and the special kindness they received from Mrs. Currey. The family left Makaroff in 1916 when William and his son Jim purchased a farm four miles west and two south of Roblin.  Jim served as a Corporal in the Air Force during the First World War and again during World War 2 as a mechanic. He married Jean McMillan of Roblin and was a Fuller Brush Agent for years, also servicing the Makaroff area; they had four daughters and two sons: Jim Jr. married Gwen Stephenson, spent much of his life in the military, raised four children: Zoe, Lee, Janet and son Dale and retired in Alberta; Art (Marie Nolan) had two daughters, Haver and Sandra (Sandra married Bryan Boyce of Makaroff), and was employed for years as engineer of the Water Works in Roblin before retiring to Alberta; Arlene (Bob Agar) had a men’s clothing store for several years in Roblin; Alice (Don Gray) resided in Thompson; Margaret (Stuart Mackay) lived at Roblin and later at Edmonton; and Vivian (George Woodley) lived at Swan River and Minitonas. Merle married Bessie Spear of Roblin (Merle died in 1951 and Bessie in 1961, both are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery); they had four daughters and one son: Eleanor married Ivan Boyce (see Boyce) and lived at Flin Flon; Ada married Dave Gawley of Togo; Madeline married Jack Brown (see Brown); Anna married Dennis Lindsay of Togo and lived at Calgary; Merle married Louise Boyce (see Boyce) and made their home at Calgary. Geneva (twin of Jim) married William Waggoner of Roblin and had four sons and four daughters: Ed, Reigh, Lloyd, Joan, Charlotte, Marjorie, Wallace and Reta. Lucille married Franklin Pettypiece of Dauphin, lived in Winnipeg and had three children: Franklin, Ada and Donald. William and Charlotte Currey and their son Merle are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery; the twins, Jim and Geneva, are in the Roblin Cemetery.
 

ALFRED K. CHISTENSEN, born 1893 was raised and educated in Randers, Denmark and trained in the making of cabinets. While Alf was quite young, his father died, his mother remarried and seven more children were born into his family. In about 1910, Alfred emigrated from Denmark to the Makaroff district, and obtained work with Bob Spear and Merle Currey. In 1912 he purchased the Currey farm. While farming, he took carpenter jobs when and where he could and was always willing to lend a hand in community projects. He was a member of the Roblin Masonic Lodge. Two of his half-sisters had immigrated to the USA and in May of 1971, his sister Anna visited him. Alfred died a month later and Anna returned his ashes to his old home in Denmark.

OTTO CHRISTENSEN, Alfred’s half-brother, was educated in Denmark, trained as a Locksmith and emigrated to Canada in 1927 where he lived with Alfred and worked on the John Lindsay farm for several years. Later he rented the Ben Spear farm and in 1935 purchased NE 3-27-29 from Morley Button. Otto, a member of the Masonic Lodge at Togo, dug many wells in the Makaroff area - back breaking work with only the pick and shovel as his tools. It was a highlight in the brothers’ lives when their sister Anna came to Canada to visit them in 1971. It was the first time they had been together in forty-five years.

JOHN DELOSS DAVIS and his wife, Hattie Maude Flack, operated a hotel-boarding house at Mine Centre, ON and came to the Makaroff district in 1910 on the recommendation of Donald Sinclair. They and their six sons and two daughters arrived to claim homestead NW 3-28-29.  Their eldest son, known as Jeff (but recorded as Joshua) filed for the adjoining quarter SW 10-28-29 as soon as he became of age. Canada Land Records relate that their son Charles later filed for homestead SE 33-27-29 and George for SW 18-28-29. The age for qualifying for a homestead was eighteen years of age. Their children attended Boggy Creek School (SW 22-28-29) but the younger ones, after the consolidation of the school district, attended school in Makaroff. The Davis boys were especially interested in baseball and at one time they and the Pillen boys made up the major part of a baseball team. Unfortunately, in 1914 (before antibiotics were known, and just four years after coming to the Makaroff district)   J. D. Davis died of mastoiditis. He was laid to rest in Fort Frances, beside his daughter Ethel who had died in 1909. The widowed Hattie remained on the homestead for a time with the help of her sons, and then moved into Makaroff where she ran a boarding house in the house built by Charles Fannon; she died in 1949 and is also buried in Fort Frances. Their son Jeff (born 1895) farmed briefly at Makaroff but later moved back east where he was employed as a pipe fitter. He loved to sing and dance, never married and died in the St. Boniface Nursing Home in 1962 sometime after suffering a stroke; he rests at Fort Frances with his parents and sister. Howard (1897) served in WWI and farmed only briefly; he married Minnie Heard-Law a widow with two children, Charlotte and Cecil. Howard and Minnie had three children: Hattie (George Hazelhurst), Patricia (Melvin Carson) and Mervyn. George (1899) had a barbershop and pool room in Makaroff and married Bernice Spear, later moving to The Pas where they farmed, had the Massey dealership and owned Mac’s Taxi; they had two children: Velma and Ronald. David (1902) worked at various jobs then moved to Roblin. In 1932 he married Marion Austin-Smout of Togo and in 1943 settled on NW 25-26-29; they had five children: Elsie (Henry Watson); Shirley; Edith (Jim Pyott); J. D. (Margaret Ready) and Albert (Gail Oliphant). Cora (1904) married Jack Bradford (see Bradford), the Makaroff station agent and because of his job moved around considerably, living at various places in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario before retiring to Winnipeg; they had four children: Joye  (Harvey Meneer), Ted (Rita Omstead), Jack of Toronto and Stewart at Dawson Creek, BC. Olive (1906) married Cliff Snedden and farmed in the Togo and Roblin areas; later Cliff became a barber and worked in Roblin, Shoal Lake and in 1980, at the time of his death, was living at Minnedosa. Olive and Cliff had four children: Faye (Don Campbell), Fern (Dave Callum), Judy (Gordon Reid) and George. Donald (1910) while attending school at Makaroff, worked in the poolroom owned by his older brother, George. At sixteen years of age he went to work at Cromarty for H. H. Simpson, and later for other farmers in the area. In 1938 Don married Maime Schneider, made their home on acreage at the top of the Assiniboine valley, and in 1944 purchased SE 33-25-29. Don drove a school bus for over twenty-years until his death in 1969. Their only child, Bruce (1940) worked at a garage in Dauphin as a young man and for five years at Roblin Motors where he met and married Eleanor Rice. After becoming employed with Beaver Lumber, they resided in Inglis and Reston and in 1970 purchased the Clement farm 21-25-29 in the Tummel district. In 1979 when his widowed mother, Maime, went to live in Roblin, Donald and his family moved to the home farm. Bruce and Eleanor had three sons: Leslie (1965), Jeffery (1966) and Douglas (1970).

JOHN DOUGLAS DAVIS, known as “Jack” was born in 1908, the second youngest son of John and Hattie Davis. He attended school in Makaroff and farmed on 4-27-29, the former Art McInnes farm. Many Saturday nights during the early years, Jack walked to town for groceries. In 1936 he married his neighbor’s daughter, Vera Kerswell (see Kerswell) and for a number of years operated a barbershop and poolroom business in Makaroff in the building once owned by Pete Nastor. In 1957, he purchased the building owned by McRae Brothers (the original Red and White Store) and sold gas, oil and confectionery. In the meantime he continued to farm with his son, Ernie. The usual mode of travel in the early days was by horse and buggy in summer and cutter in winter. It was not until much later that travel was by car or truck. Jack was a member of the school board, the Farmer’s Union (for fifteen years), the curling club and served as president of the hall committee. Vera was a member of the W.I. and at times held the positions of president or secretary-treasurer until it folded in 1975. She was active in the United Church and Hall Committee and, after Elsie McGinnis resigned, took over the Makaroff Post Office for a time, moving it into her own home until it closed in 1970. Jack died in 1969 and Vera in 1997; they are at rest in the Makaroff Cemetery. Jack and Vera had five children: Betty, Audrey, Allan, Ray and Ernie. Betty married Chester Rudd, an industrial mechanic, made their home in Flin Flon and Snow Lake and had three sons and one daughter: Terry, Keith, Darin and Cynthia. It was for saving the life of young Darin who had fallen into a cistern that his grandmother, Vera Davis, received special recognition and a pin of the Manitoba National Emblem from the Premier of Manitoba. Audrey married Charles Viddal, a fellow teacher in Winnipeg, later moved to take up positions at Atikokan, ON and had two sons, Kirk and Brett and one daughter, Rae-Ann. Allan worked in Calgary, married and had two daughters: Jackie and Jo-Ann. Ray, employed by Zellers and posted to several stores in the western provinces from Winnipeg to B. C., married Georgia Wurdick of Saskatoon and had a daughter, Laurie and a son, Jeffery. Jack and Vera’s youngest son, Ernie purchased NW 28-27-29 from George Shearer in 1971; he and his mother lived on the farm and in 1979 his grandmother, Alma Kerswell-Jacobs, came to make her home with them. In 1983 Ernie married Gwen Craven.
 
THOMAS La PERE, a carpenter from Toronto, came to Makaroff in 1911 to take up residence near his sister, Mrs. Morley Button. He arrived in April with his stock in a boxcar; his wife and family followed one week later. There was no one to meet the family when they disembarked at the station in Roblin, so after having breakfast in the hotel, Mrs. La Pere had no choice but to hire a livery-man with a team of horses and a democrat to drive them out to the Button farm. That afternoon they were installed in a small house on the Powell property where they remained until another house could be built. Thomas completed the new house in 1913 on the adjoining quarter known as the ‘Watson Place’ (later purchased by Fred Hilderman). The children attended classes at the Berry Grove School (NE 23-26-29) where every second Sunday, they also attended Church services. After the schools were consolidated in 1913, the children were taken by van to the school at Makaroff. In the meantime, Thomas kept alert for a chance to purchase his own farm. Finally, just such a property became available south of Roblin and he and his eldest son, Harold, began moving their belongings to their new home, staying overnight and returning to Makaroff the next day for another load. One night, however, a prairie fire broke out near the new place and by morning their barn had burned to the ground. And worse still, their horses had perished in the blaze. Thomas had no choice but to walk the fifteen miles home, broken-hearted and in despair. But, with true pioneer spirit and the help of neighbours, the family was finally relocated and the children registered into their new school at Roblin. Some years later the La Peres returned to Makaroff to live on SW 12-27-29 where Mrs. La Pere died in 1921. There were six children: Evea (Joe Schneider of Roblin); Harold married in Ontario; Eris (Leslie Hatchell of Shellbrook, SK); Mildred (George Luck a Saskatchewan farmer); Ruby (Dave Bowley of Roblin); Ross who married and lived at Dauphin.
 

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