The Six Sons of Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor

A new family photo has surfaced! Jane (Gras) Heigis found this gem while sorting through the photo collection of her late father, Alfred Edward Gras.

The six sons of Myron and Effie Culbert. Back row, left to right: Cliff and Ken; Centre row, left to right: Ivan and Mel; Front row, left to right: Mert and Earl. Photo taken at Poplar Farm near Lucan, Ontario, Canada c1932. Click photo to enlarge it.

This photo is a treasure because there are few photos of the six boys all together. Earl, the youngest, wasn't born until 1929 so photos of the boys from the 1920s are usually missing Earl. Photos from 1939-1945 often are missing the sons who served in World War Two, especially Ivan who served overseas during the entirety of the war. Photos taken after 1958 are missing Mel who died in July of that year. So to find a photo of the six boys all together is special, indeed. Thank you for sending this photo to us, Jane!

You've seen the following photo before but I'm including it because it shows the six boys as adults, together with their parents, Myron and Effie...

Myron & Effie Culbert with their six sons, c1950. Back row, left to right: Ken, Mel, Mert, and Earl. Front row, left to right: Cliff, Myron, Effie, Ivan.

The six sons of Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor were raised on Poplar Farm, the Culbert homestead, at Lot 19, Concession 2 (the Coursey Line) near Lucan, Ontario.

The six Culbert brothers are the great-grandsons of John Culbert and Mary Ward who settled on the property in 1840 from Ireland.

To read biographies about four of the six boys, click on their names, as  follows:

Clifford Burton Culbert (1912-1991).

Kenneth Arthur Culbert (1916-2000).

Ivan Hector Culbert (1918-1979).

Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert (1920-1958).

Merton Manford Culbert (1926-1998). No biography yet but a story about him is here.

William Earl Culbert (1929-1994). No biography yet.

FAMILY TREE FOR THE SIX SONS OF MYRON AND EFFIE CULBERT:

Ancestors:

John Culbert & Mary Ward (great-grandparents)

Richard Culbert & Jane Eleanor Fairhall (grandparents)

Myron Manford Culbert & Effie Pearl Taylor (parents).

Happy New Year from Poplar Farm

Let's travel back to New Year 1928 on Poplar Farm. Join the family of Myron and Effie Culbert at Poplar Farm, the Culbert homestead near Lucan, Ontario, Canada....

Left to right: Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert; Ivan Hector Culbert; mother Effie Pearl (Taylor) Culbert holding Merton Manford Culbert; Kenneth Arthur Culbert; and Clifford Burton Culbert. Father Myron Manford Culbert is missing from the photo and is probably behind the camera. Their sixth and youngest son, William Earl Culbert was born the next year.

Same photo as above from a distance. Poplar Farm was located on Lot 19, Concession 2 (the Coursey Line) in Biddulph Township between McGillivray Drive & Mooresville Drive (closer to McGillivray Drive). Although the house is no longer in the Culbert family, it still stands today (minus the front veranda) and now uses the address 34851 Coursey Line, Lucan. This house was built by Richard Culbert, son of John Culbert and Mary Ward. The first house on the property was a log cabin built by John Culbert when he settled on the land in 1840 after leaving Ireland with his wife, Mary Ward and their children.

Happy New Year!

Mert Culbert Finds Old Photo of His Brothers -- Under the Linoleum!

As a refresher, click here to see my Remembrance Day post from last year. In that post, you'll read the story about the Culbert brothers shown in this 1946 newspaper clipping ...

LUCAN VETERANS HONOURED: Left to right: Ken Culbert, a former Flight Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF); Ivan Culbert, a former Sergeant who just recently returned from 6 years and 4 months of overseas duty; and Mel Culbert, a former RCAF Sergeant. The Free Press caption says the Culbert brothers were from Granton but it should say Lucan.

Fast forward 15 years, from 1946 to 1961. Merton Manford Culbert (1926-1998) was the younger brother of the World War Two veterans pictured above: Kenneth Arthur Culbert, Ivan Hector Culbert, and Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert. 

Mert Culbert operated a painting/decorating business in Lucan, Ontario on Francis Street.

 

Brothers, Mert Culbert (left) and Mel Culbert (right) in the 1940s where Mel was stationed during World War Two.

On a July day in 1961, Mert Culbert was laying a new linoleum floor at the Lucan United Church parsonage.

Lucan United Church was located at 142 Main Street at the corner of Francis Street. Photo taken by Mary Jane Culbert on the church's last day of service on 31 May 2015. Many members of the Culbert family attended the Lucan United Church throughout its 153 year history.

The old linoleum had been padded with 15-year-old copies of the London Free Press. 

To Mert's surprise, the first paper he picked up contained the picture of his three brothers ...

And to my surprise, I found this clipping from the Exeter Times-Advocate that relates Mert's discovery ...

 

Source: Exeter Times-Advocate, 27 July 1961, page 14.

FAMILY TREE FOR THE CULBERT BROTHERS:

Ancestors:

John Culbert & Mary Ward (great-grandparents)

Richard Culbert & Jane Eleanor Fairhall (grandparents)

Myron Manford Culbert & Effie Pearl Taylor (parents)

Note: The Culbert brothers mentioned in this post (Kenneth Arthur Culbert; Ivan Hector Culbert; Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert; and Merton Manford Culbert) also had two other brothers, Clifford Burton Culbert and Earl Culbert.

Myron Culbert, Four of his Sons, his Mother, and an Unidentified Woman

Can anyone identify this woman?

She's standing in the back row, far left of the photo below...

Back row, left to right: unidentified woman, Jane (Fairhall) Culbert, Myron Culbert holding baby Earl Culbert. Front row, left to right: 
Mel Culbert, Ivan Culbert, Mert Culbert.

Myron Manford Culbert (back row, far right) is holding his son William Earl Culbert who was born 11 May 1929. Earl looks to be at least one year old so that's why I'm guessing the photo was taken sometime between the middle of 1930 to 1931.

Myron's sons in the front row are (left to right): Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert (born 29 May 1920), Ivan Hector Culbert (born 3 August 1918), and Merton Manford "Mert" Culbert (born 21 December 1926).

The woman wearing glasses and standing beside Myron in the back row is Myron's mother, Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert. Jane's husband, Richard Culbert died 2 June 1932, presumably before this photo was taken.

Missing from this photo are Myron's wife, Effie (Taylor) Culbert and their two eldest sons, Clifford Burton Culbert (born 10 September 1912) and Kenneth Arthur Culbert (born 9 June 1916). Perhaps one of them is the photographer.

I don't know the identity of the woman on the far left. Is she a friend? A relative? A Culbert descendant?

I don't know whose house this is, the exact year the photo was taken, nor why Mel and Ivan were wearing their "Sunday best." 

There was nothing written on the back of this photograph. I only know the identities of the other people because I'm Myron's granddaughter. So if anyone knows the name of this woman or recognizes the house, please leave a comment or contact me by email.

Don't Hibernate. Participate!

Winter weather got you down? Are you cooped up indoors? Don't hibernate. Participate! 

Mert Culbert shows us how it's done...

Merton Manford "Mert" Culbert (1926-1998) son of Myron Culbert & Effie Taylor, on his bicycle in the snow. Photo taken at Poplar Farm (the Culbert homestead) Lot 19, Concession 2 (The Coursey Line) Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario. No date but I'm guessing around 1940. Photo courtesy of Muriel Culbert.

The Culberts at Atkinson's School

If you missed the post about Atkinson's school, click here.

Atkinson's School was another name for S. S. No. 2 Biddulph School near Lucan, Ontario. It came to be known as Atkinson's School because the land was donated by Jonathan Atkinson and his wife Rebecca (Culbert) Atkinson. Rebecca was the daughter of James Culbert and Rebecca Portis.

In my collection of Culbert family photos, I found this old photo of Atkinson's School...

Generations of Culberts attended this one-room schoolhouse.

The school was designed with its back to the road; one of only a few Western Ontario schools to be built in this tradition. It's said that this way, the children wouldn't be distracted from their studies by watching the traffic through the windows and front doors.

In this older post we saw Myron Culbert in the Class of 1895 at Atkinson's School. Below, we see Myron's two youngest sons, Merton Manford "Mert" Culbert (1926-1998) and William Earl Culbert (1929-1994): students at Atkinson's School circa 1937.

Back row, left to right: Lorne Hodgins, Mert Culbert, Bill Wright, Teacher - Clifford Abbott, Ruby Armitage, Florence Calvery, Alvin Davidson & Donald Abbott.
Middle row: Jim Barker, Mayrene Atkinson, Wilda Armitage, Ruth Regan, Ruby Dobbs, Anna Atkinson, Pauline Abbott, and Ieleen Davis.
Front row: Earl Culbert, Lyle Revington, Earl Greenlee, Jim Regan.

The teacher, Clifford Alonzo Abbott (1904-1980) is related to the Culbert family by marriage, through his nephew, Don Abbott (1928-2018). (Don's in the class photo in the back row, far right.) Don Abbott married Culbert descendant, Audrey Jean Ethel Wood (1929-2008).
 

Don Abbott was teacher Cliff Abbott's nephew. Don married Audrey Wood, the great-great-granddaughter of John Culbert & Mary Ward.

Audrey Jean Ethel (Wood) Abbott was the daughter of Ethel Susannah Ryan & George Heslop Wood. Ethel Susannah Ryan was the daughter of Margaret Crawley & George Ryan. Margaret Crawley was the daughter of Susan Culbert & Philip Crawley. And Susan Culbert was the daughter of our ancestors, John Culbert & Mary Ward. So you can see that teacher Cliff Abbott is related to the Culbert family, albeit distantly by marriage.

Cliff Abbott's wife, Lela Myrtle Hodgins (1908-1992) is probably a distant blood relation to the Culbert family but I haven't yet been able to determine her relationship to us.

I see other names in that class photo who may be related to us but I don't want your head to explode with all the connections. I'll save that for some other time.