Portrait of the Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall Family of Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario

This photo of the Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall family was taken about 1895 allthough there is no date on the back...

The Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall family of Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario, Canada. Back row left to right: Myron Manford Culbert and Hulda May Culbert. Middle row left to right: G. Arthur Culbert, Jane (Fairhall) Culbert, Lela Susan Culbert, and Richard Culbert. Front row left to right: Ethel Gertrude Culbert and Mary Elsie Culbert. This photo was taken in a photographic studio in Exeter, Ontario. 

Previously, the only photo we'd seen of the members of this family all together was taken much later, as seen here in 1927 ...

The Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall family, 1927. Back row, left to right: Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen, Myron Manford Culbert, Lela Susan (Culbert) Beadle, G. Arthur Culbert, and Mary Elsie (Culbert) Hodgson. Front row, left to right: Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert, Richard Culbert, and Ethel Gertrude (Culbert) Gras. Photo by Samuel Askin of Stratford, Ontario.

If you read my earlier post about Richard Culbert, you know that he was the youngest son of John Culbert and Mary Ward of Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario, Canada. I also wrote about Richard's wife, Jane Eleanor Fairhall, here.

It was Richard Culbert who took over the family farm when his father, John Culbert died in 1887. At that point, Richard and Jane and their children had been living in a log house at Lot 19, Concession 2 (the Coursey Line) in Biddulph Township, along with other family members. I'm sure that Richard and Jane must have longed for a larger house. By 1900, Richard had built a new brick house, and christened the property "Poplar Farm." The photo below shows the new brick house ...

Poplar Farm at Lot 19, Concession 2 in Biddulph Township on the Coursey Line near Lucan, Ontario. Home of the Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall family.

 

Richard Culbert and Jane Fairhall had seven children, six of whom lived to adulthood. Richard and Jane's children are listed as follows. You can click on the highlighted links for those children with biographies.

Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen (1881-1972)

George Arthur Culbert (1882-1978)

Myron Manford Culbert (1884-1961)

Ethel Gertrude (Culbert) Gras (1886-1986)

Mary Elsie (Culbert) Hodgson (1888-1988)

Lela Susan (Culbert) Beadle (1890-1992)

Richard Edwin Culbert (1896-1896. Infant death).

When Richard and Jane Culbert retired to a small house in Lucan, their son Myron took over Poplar Farm. Myron Culbert married Effie Pearl Taylor (1886-1957). Effie Taylor's family lived in Usborne Township near Exeter, Ontario.

The photo below shows Effie Taylor with her parents and siblings circa 1899 or earlier...

The William Taylor - Mary Elizabeth Bennett Family of Usborne Township. Back row, left to right: Addie Taylor, Martha Metta Taylor, Hector Taylor, and Mary Elizabeth Taylor. Front row, left to right: William Taylor, Effie Pearl Taylor (future wife of Myron Culbert), and Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Taylor.

Acknowledgements: Two of the photos you see in this post are new to the blog; the first photo at the top showing the Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall family c1895, and the last photo showing the William Taylor - Mary Elizabeth Bennett family. Thank you to my aunt Muriel (Hardy) Culbert for safekeeping these photos for many years. The photos are much larger than they appear here, and they are behind glass with frames. Thank you to my sister, Dana Elizabeth (Culbert) Garrett for suggesting that photos be taken of the large, framed photos in order to share them with you on the Culbert Family History blog. Thank you to my brother, Terrence Patrick "Terry" Culbert for taking photos of those big framed photographs. And thank you to Muriel's son, Tim Culbert for inviting Terry and Dana into his home to take the photos. A successful family project, all round.

Calling All Crafty Culberts!

The John Culbert - Mary Ward family brought with them from Ireland a spinning wheel.

Image found online. Image does not contain actual Culberts.

Ethel (Gras) Culbert (1886-1996) said, "Many a time I sat fascinated as I watched my mother spin the carded rolls of wool with which she knit socks and stockings for the whole family."[1]

Ethel's mother, Jane (Fairhall) Culbert cleaned the wool from her flock of sheep on Poplar Farm near Lucan, Ontario, and had it carded at a mill. Then she spun it into yarn for weaving blankets and for knitting socks for men and stockings for the children.[2] 

Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert (1858-1949). Crafter extraordinaire.

Ethel continues, "One thing I never could forgive her for was her insistence on my wearing homemade woolen stockings that drove me nearly crazy, the way they itched my legs. Of course it was her chief concern that her children should be warm, when walking two or more miles off to school [Atkinson's School] on cold and stormy winter days. She would not listen to my protest, saying "Now you'll get used to them," but which I never did, vowing that I never could be half so cruel to children of my own."[3]

Ethel says her mother did much sewing and knitting for little ones as they grew up, even unto the fourth generation of Culberts. "She was always making quilts, such nice designs in patchwork... She did nice crocheting, edgings mostly for pillow cases, and some doilies."[4]

"She braided rugs. In early days she sewed together strips of rags and hand them woven into carpets, some were dyed to make a pattern, and this was the only floor covering we knew in the old log house. The carpet was padded underneath with straw and tacked close to the wall."[5]

CALLING ALL CRAFTY CULBERTS!

Do you create any of the following arts and crafts?

Knitting, crocheting, quilting, sewing, embroidering, pottery, woodcraft/carpentry, metalwork, brewing your own beer, painting, drawing, making jewellery or creating other handcrafted items? 

If so, please email a few photos of your handiwork to me, Mary Jane Culbert, with a description of what you've made. If you sell your work online or in a gallery, please provide a link.

I'll put together a post (or posts) to showcase the arts and crafts of modern-day Culbert descendants. 

Note: This invitation to submit photos is open to the descendants of John Culbert & Mary Ward and also to the spouses and partners of those descendants. This invitation is also open to other families who are connected, however distantly, to the descendants of John Culbert and Mary Ward. 

My email address:

Footnotes:

[1]Stories From Life by Ethel Gertrude Culbert Gras, page 49. 
[2] ibid. page 94.
[3] ibid. page 94.
[4] ibid. page 101.
[5] ibid. page. 101. 

Six Women and a Baby

Can you help identify the people in this photo?

Photo courtesy of Wes Hodgson (great-great-grandson of John Culbert & Mary Ward)

There's an image further down of the handwriting on the back of this photo but it's not particularly helpful. However, I can identify three of these women, for certain...

The elderly lady holding the child is Jane (Fairhall) Culbert, wife of Richard Culbert (son of John Culbert & Mary Ward.)

Standing on the far left is Effie Culbert, the wife of Jane's son, Myron Manford Culbert. 

And the lady with ink around her head in the centre is Lela (Culbert) Beadle, Jane's youngest daughter.

So far, so good. I'm 100% sure of Jane, Effie, and Lela.

Now, let's taker a closer look...

This is where it gets confusing.

The lady on the far right looks very much like Jane's daughter, Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen. However, the handwriting on the back of the photo says it's Mary (Culbert) Hodgson, another one of Jane's daughters. UPDATE: The lady on the far right is definitely Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen. Thanks to Hulda's granddaughter, Wendy Boole for the update. We think that the person who wrote on the photo may not have been familiar with everyone in the family and was just guessing some of the names. He (or she) also incorrectly spelled Hulda as Hullda.

What about the child? Is this Effie & Myron Culbert's son Mert Culbert who was born in December, 1926? Or is it their youngest son, Earl Culbert, born May, 1929? There's no date on the photo to help me out. 

Am I the only one confused by the handwritten identification on this photo?

I don't recognize the woman standing second from the left in the back row. I don't recognize the woman seated on the far left in the front row.

The handwriting suggests that one of these women could be another of Jane's daughters, Ethel (Culbert) Gras. 

"Gramma Culbert" is Jane (Fairhall) Culbert. 

Whoever wrote on the photo correctly identified Effie as "Left - Myron's wife" because she is Myron's wife. But then they go on to say "Effie" in another part of the photo. What the? 

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on who's who. Leave a comment or email me at:

The Carscallen Kids Meet Their Grandmothers

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while...but our hearts forever.
- author unknown

Left to right: Ann Jane (Wilde) Carscallen, Charles Newton "Charlie" Carscallen, Kathleen Ethel "Kay" Carscallen, and Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert, c1912.

These two Culbert descendant children, Charlie and Kay Carscallen are enjoying a day with both their grandmothers. Up until around the time this photo was taken, these children had never met either of their grandmothers!

Today, children can easily see and talk to their grandmothers via Skype. However, in the early 1900s, Charlie and Kay wouldn't have heard their grandmothers' voices until they met them. And having never met them, the only image of their grandmothers may have come from a black and white photograph, if they'd had one.

Charles Newton "Charlie" Carscallen (1906-2007) and his sister, Kathleen Ethel "Kay" Carscallen (1908-2003) were the children of educational missionaries, Hulda May Culbert and Rev. Charles Rupert Carscallen.

The woman on the right of the photo is Charlie and Kay's maternal grandmother, Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert (1858-1949) of Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario; wife of Richard Culbert (1853-1932). 

The woman on the left is their paternal grandmother, Ann Jane (Wilde) Carscallen (1839-1925) of Dresden, Ontario; wife of Isaac Newton Carscallen (1828-1912).

The photo looks like it was taken at the Culbert homestead (Poplar Farm) on the Coursey Line near Lucan, Ontario. That's where the children's Culbert grandparents lived, and that's where their mother, Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen was born.

This photo was taken while the Carscallen family were on furlough; a leave of absence given to missionary families in China so that they might visit their families abroad. The Carscallens first furlough was from late 1911 to 1913 so this photo was taken somewhere in that time period.

Little Charlie and his sister, Kay would welcome two more sisters later but for now, they were the sole recipients of their grandmothers' affections. Charlie and Kay were born in China and up until this furlough, they'd spent all their young lives there; this being the first time they'd met their grandmothers.

Charlie and Kay grew up and raised families of their own. Their great-grandchildren have methods of communicating with their grandparents that were unheard of a hundred years ago! Who knows what the future holds for their descendants?

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.

World War One - Women in the Workforce

Before the First World War when women were expected to stay at home and were barred from voting, there were few opportunities for women in the work force. 

As men were summoned overseas during WW1, women stepped in to fill the employment vacancies left behind by their brothers, husbands, and sons. 

Women at work during WW1.

During World War One, the Sherlock-Manning Piano Company Ltd. in London, Ontario was the first piano manufacturer in Canada to train and employ women in their production plant. 

The co-founder and President of Sherlock Manning Pianos was Wilbur Nelson Manning. 

Wilbur Nelson Manning was the brother of Luther Manning. Luther Manning was the husband of Mary Ann Fairhall. Mary Ann Fairhall was the sister of Jane Eleanor Fairhall. Jane Eleanor Fairhall was the wife of Richard Culbert. And Richard Culbert was the son of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Proving once again that all roads lead back to John and Mary.

Note: Sherlock-Manning Piano Co. Ltd. was the last Canadian piano manufacturer, closing its doors in 1991.

Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert (1858-1949)

"A good mother, kind and generous to a fault." Her daughter, Ethel (Culbert) Gras described Jane (Fairhall) Culbert this way, and all who knew Jane agreed.

Many readers of the Culbert Family History blog are descended from Jane Fairhall and her husband, Richard Culbert...

Jane Fairhall and Richard Culbert

Jane Eleanor Fairhall (nicknamed "Jennie") was born in a log house on 2 July 1858, north of the Culbert homestead and south of Exeter, Ontario. Her parents, Frederick John Fairhall and Elizabeth JANE Woodman emigrated from England in 1852 to Stephen Township which has since been incorporated into the Municipality of South Huron.

Jane Eleanor Fairhall around May, 1872; two months before her 14th birthday. Photo courtesy of Wendy (Gowland) Boole from the collection of Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen.

Considering she was such a good mother, Jane had very little mothering, herself. When Jane was a toddler, her mother was chased by a bull. Trying to escape over a fence, her mother fell and was injured. She suffered a hemorrhage that brought on the miscarriage of her fifth child, and died of her injury.

Jane's father soon remarried and in 1862, the Fairhall family moved to Biddulph Township, about a half mile north of the Culbert homestead. 

Her childhood hadn't been easy. Jane was somewhat tolerated by her father's strict new wife, Sarah Long, and Jane was required to care for the many children born to her step-mother. Jane left home early to apprentice to a tailor. This training came in handy later when she made her children's clothing and suits for her husband by hand.

Jane Fairhall wed Richard Culbert on 16 December 1879. They moved in with Richard's parents, John Culbert and Mary Ward at Lot 19, Concession 2, Biddulph Township in Middlesex County, Ontario.

Jane (Fairhall) Culbert and Richard Culbert in 1886. Photo by George A. Ellis of Lucan, Ontario.

A couple of years later, Jane's father, Frederick Fairhall and his large, new family moved west. Frederick made a name for himself there as a pioneer of Killarney, Manitoba.

Jane's father, Frederick John Fairhall. Photo from the J.A.V. David Museum in Killarney, Manitoba.

Below is a photo of the six children of Jane and Richard who lived to adulthood. All were born in a log house at Lot 19, Concession 2 (The Coursey Line) in Biddulph Township, near Lucan, Ontario...

The Richard Culbert - Jane Fairhall family, 1927. Back row, left to right: Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen, Myron Manford Culbert, Lela (Culbert) Beadle, George Arthur Culbert, and Mary Elsie (Culbert) Hodgson. Front row, left to right: Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert, Richard Culbert, and Ethel Gertrude (Culbert) Gras. Photo by Samuel Askin of Stratford, Ontario.

There was a seventh child, Richard Edwin Culbert who was born in October, 1896 following all the other children. He died of lung congestion a month later. In her book, "Stories from Life," Ethel (Culbert) Gras says of Jane on page 93, "Six children of her own who lived, three that died." That means Jane had a total of nine children but I haven't found any documentation for the other two children. In a Culbert family history book, Grant Taylor says there were three babies buried in the orchard on the Culbert property at Lot 19, Concession 2, Biddulph Township.[1] The names of these babies aren't mentioned so I don't know if they're the children of Richard Culbert and Jane Fairhall or the children of John Culbert and Mary Ward. For now, this remains a mystery.

Jane had no formal education beyond the lower grades. She grew up in a time and place with few schools or teachers for the early settlers. At that time, education wasn't considered important for girls. Despite all this, she was self-educated, interested in world affairs, and was considered a woman of wisdom. She helped to educate her children by reading aloud from magazines, especially National Geographic...

National Geographic magazine, 1888.

Jane's daughters said she was a wise counsellor to them. Her daughter, Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen said Jane was a fine influence on her and had a good deal to do with developing her curiosity and stimulating her eagerness to learn.

Jane (Fairhall) Culbert (seated) with three of her four daughters. Left to right: Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen, Lela (Culbert) Beadle, and Mary Elsie (Culbert) Hodgson. Photo courtesy of Wendy (Gowland) Boole from the collection of Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen.

Jane was loved not only by her own children and grandchildren but also by those who married into the family. Her grandson Ken's wife, Helen (Needham) Culbert said, "Jane went out of her way to welcome all the Culbert boys' girlfriends." 

So beloved was Jane that I, Mary Jane Culbert, was named after her and my mother said that if ever she were to become a novelist, she would use the nom de plume, Jane Fairhall.

Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert, September, 1945.

What was a typical day for Jane (Fairhall) Culbert? Her daughter, Ethel answers that question. 

"She had much work to do. Milking cows at break of dawn; churning cream for butter fat; baking bread and pies and cakes; and getting meals ready three times a day for a family large and hungry. She washed, ironed, scrubbed and cleaned, kept the house all spic and span; she darned and mended, sewed and patches; she canned and pickled; smoked the hams; dried fallen fruit from apple trees; she boiled to syrup maple sap; and made good soap from fat and lye. She molded candles from melted tallow, which served the dim an only light until the kerosene came in, affording better light. In all her years she never knew a modern toilet in her house, nor water running from a tap, until the year she died. She never owned a vacuum cleaner or knew the joy of a Frigidaire [refrigerator.] Only late in life did she have an electric washer."[2]

Ethel goes on to mention many more tasks but you can see that Jane was never idle.

Jane (Fairhall) Culbert's 90th birthday

In her later years, Jane's daughter, Mary Elsie (Culbert) Hodgson moved in to take care of her in the little house on Alice Street, Lucan. Jane and Richard had retired to Lucan many years earlier, leaving the farm to their son, Myron Culbert. Towards the end of Jane's life, her hearing and eyesight failed and she was afflicted with arthritis but still she continued to knit. Her daughter, Ethel said that Jane "kept right on and would not much complain as many another might have done." Jane's daughter, Mary cared for Jane until the end, and another daughter, Lela (Culbert) Beadle, a Registered Nurse made frequent visits. 

Of Jane's final days, Ethel says, "She suffered much and death was hard; so great was her resistance; the doctor said he had never met with such resistance. But she knew full well her life was o'er; was ready quite and anxious then to go. Her prayer was answered only after months of suffering. In February she had taken ill and died on June eleventh."

Jane died 11 June 1949, three weeks before her 91st birthday. She is buried alongside her husband, Richard Culbert in Nursery Cemetery, north of Lucan, Ontario.

Jane Fairhall and Richard Culbert's headstone. Nursery Cemetery 35051 Richmond Street (Highway 4) Municipality of North Middlesex, north of Lucan, Ontario.
Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

Her daughter, Ethel (Culbert) Gras said, "Many were her friends and abundant were the lovely flowers heaped upon her bier. She lies now in the quiet Nursery grave beside her husband placed there seventeen years before her. Her cup of life was full -- spent more in doing things for others than in self-pursuit. She was full of human kindness, love and charity. She has dearly earned her rest and such reward as comes to those who fully use their talents. In the fine heritage she has left us her soul lives on immortal."

(Poem) To her loving memory
by her daughter Ethel

I can see her still in her rocking chair,

her dear face furrowed by time and care,

knitting for someone a woolen pair.

But now her hands are folded and still;

clasp them again we never will,

but her loving, dear, sweet memory

ever warm in our hearts will be.

Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert. Photo courtesy of Paul Hodgson.

Footnotes: 
[1] "A History of the John Culbert-Mary Ward Family and Their Descendants 1828-1995, Volume 1, Branches 5-6-7-8-9" by Grant W. Taylor, page 64.
[2] Stories from Life by Ethel Culbert Gras, page 93.

Jane (Fairhall) Culbert's Family Tree:

Ancestors:
Frederick John Fairhall & Elizabeth JANE Woodman (parents)

Descendants (children):

Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen

George Arthur Culbert

Myron Manford Culbert

Ethel Gertrude (Culbert) Gras

Mary Elsie (Culbert) Hodgson

Susan LELA (Culbert) Beadle

Richard Edwin Culbert (infant death)