Life Sketch: Edward Radford (1893-1946)

This life sketch is the second in a series of brief biographies previously published on the Amesdale Cemetery Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/amesdalecemetery

Edward Radford, son of John Radford and Mary Blows, was born on May 15, 1870 in Bourn, Cambridgeshire, England.  On December 2, 1893 he married Harriet Boston in the town of Dunton, Bedfordshire, England. Edward and Harriet settled in Bourn, where Edward worked as a farm labourer, and more specifically a hay bailer.

While living in the village of Bourn six children were born to the Radfords,  Edward (Teddy), who lived only three weeks, then George Edward, William Ernest, Florence Emily, and Reginald Moses.

Mechanization of farming and the introduction of trucks onto the farm reduced the need for farm labour in England.  Edward suffered from health problems aggravated by the damp English climate, and even wore gold rings in his pierced ears were to control these ailments.  At age 39, these and other factors prompted him to emigrate.  On the last day of March 1909 he departed Liverpool harbour for Canada aboard the SS Lake Manitoba.  His family remained in Bourn until Edward established himself in Canada.

Upon arrival in Canada he travelled to Snowflake, Manitoba where he worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway in their shops.  Edward may have had some knowledge of mechanics, since as a young man had owned a motorcycle and also worked on with a manual hay bailing machine back home.

Eight months after his arrival in Snowflake, his sixth child Violet Lily Snowflake was born in England, and named by the children for the place or their father’s residence.  It wasn’t until 1914 that the family was able to join Edward in LaRiviere, Manitoba.  Jim and Fred the last two boys in the family were born in LaRiviere.  Five years later, Edward decided to take up farming, and headed north to farm a property he had purchased in the municipality of Ste. Rose, Manitoba.  Edward and Harriet’s ninth and final child, Alice Beatrice, was born there. She was delivered by Harriet without the aid of another person.

Times were tough on the farm near Shergrove, Manitoba, due to soil being of poor quality and very rocky. George and Bill had previously moved to Amesdale, Ontario with Samuel George Ames, so in April 1931, the parents and their three youngest children joined them there.  With George and Bill’s assistance life was better in Amesdale.  Potatoes were grown as a cash crop, and cows, pigs, chickens and some rabbits were raised for meat.  There was always a big garden full of vegetables, and George the hunter of the family always got his moose and deer.

At home on their homestead Edward passed away of a heart condition on March 8, 1946 For a time Harriet remained on the homestead, but eventually she moved to Sioux Lookout, Ontario where Jim and Fred were working for the CNR.  George, Bill, and Beatrice lived in Amesdale with their families.  Reg raised his family in Flin Flon, while Flo and Vi raised theirs in Dauphin.