Chapter 12: Thomas Blenkin and Hannah Ruth Wheatley

Henry Shannon married a neighbour named Rachel Blenkin. In this chapter, we will introduce the Blenkin family, which was another of the pioneer families at French Bay. The first part of their story is in the words of Sylvia Blenkin, who is a descendant of the pioneer Blenkin family with a keen interest in family history.

‘Thomas Blenkin was born in Pocklington, Yorkshire, England, and baptized on 24 Sept. 1829. His parents were James and Rachel Blenkin. (I imagine Rachel was named after his mother, she was his first daughter).

Thomas came to Canada in 1857 (according to what he told the census taker in the 1901 Census in Saskatchewan.) He married Hannah Ruth Wheatley on the 25 of July 1859 in Clinton, Upper Canada. They lived on various farms as tenant farmers before he bought a piece of land in Amabel Township.

In 1890 he came to Assiniboia Saskatchewan with most of his family. Some of his daughters were by now married, but they came then or later with their husbands, and some with children. Rachel was the only exception. He made application for a piece of land in 1896, and retired off the farm to let his son farm it in 1905.

Hannah Ruth Wheatley was born in Kirklington, Nottingham, England and baptized on the 8 July 1838. She came to Canada with her parents and siblings around 1852. There is a record in the land office of her father registered against a piece of property in October 1853. Her parents were Joseph and Nanny Wheatley. Nanny’s name was Anne, according to Joseph’s will, but she is Nanny on her tombstone in Clinton.’

Thomas and Hannah Ruth Blenkin lived as tenant farmers in Huron County for 9 or 10 years before they moved to French Bay. Their first 6 children were born in various townships in the vicinity of Exeter, which is a few miles south of Clinton. Rachel was born in 1860, Annie in 1861, Elizabeth in 1862, Jane in 1864, Hannah in 1865, and Joseph in 1867. In addition, Hannah Ruth had a daughter named Mary Ann Wheatley, who had been born in 1858 before her marriage to Thomas Blenkin.

Sometime after the birth of Joseph in 1867, the Blenkin family moved to Lot 21 Concession C in Amabel Township. This was about 1 mile north of the Shannon homestead on Lot 16 Concession C, in the area known as French Bay. The Blenkin farm is marked on the Amabel Map in Chapter 5 with the letter ‘C’. It has already been mentioned in Chapter 8, because it became the John Walker farm after the Blenkin family left Amabel.

The first Blenkin children in Amabel were twin boys, Thomas and James, born on June 5, 1870. Sadly, James died as an infant. When the 1871 Census was taken, the Blenkin family was enumerated on the new family farm at French Bay.

1871 Census of Canada - Enumerated 2 Apr 1871

Name	Sex	Age	Where Born	Occupation	Corrected Age
Thomas Blenkin	M	40	England	Farmer	41
Hanna Blenkin	F	40	England		32
Mary Anne Blenkin	F	13	Ontario		13
Rachael Blenkin	F	10	Ontario		11
Annie Blenkin	F	8	Ontario		9
Elizabeth Blenkin	F	7	Ontario		8
Jane Blenkin	F	5	Ontario		6
Hanna Blenkin	F	3	Ontario		5
Joseph Blenkin	M	2	Ontario		3
Thomas Blenkin	M	1	Ontario		1

There are a few discrepancies in the reported ages, and Mary Ann Wheatley is recorded as Mary Anne Blenkin. This may be a census error, because we believe she always used the name Wheatley.

During the next ten-year interval, Mary Ann, Rachel, and Annie would all get married, and 3 more children would be born to Thomas and Hannah Ruth Blenkin. Rachel would marry her neighbour Henry Shannon. The story of Henry Shannon and Rachel Blenkin will be told in the next chapter.

For the sake of completeness, brief stories about the other members of the Blenkin family will be included here.

Thomas Blenkin and Hannah Ruth Wheatley:
When the 1871 Census was taken, Thomas Blenkin was 41 years old. The Blenkin family had lived in Amabel for about 3 years. They stayed in Amabel for another 16 years, until about 1887. Thomas and Hannah Ruth had 3 more children born in Amabel, John in 1875, George in 1877, and Henry in 1878. John died as an infant.

Thomas Blenkin sold the farm on Lot 21 Concession C in 1887. For a period of about 3 years after 1887, Thomas and Hannah Ruth lived in Sullivan Township in Grey County. We don’t know exactly where they lived during this interval.

By 1890, Thomas Blenkin was 60 years old, and Hannah Ruth was 51. Many of their 10 surviving children were married or living away from home, but at least the youngest 2 would still be at home. Somehow, they decided to move to Saskatchewan, as a family, to begin homesteading again.

Thomas and Hannah Ruth Blenkin travelled by train to Indian Head, Saskatchewan in 1891. The next year they started homesteading again, on farm lot N.W. Quarter 14-17-11 just south of Sintaluta, Saskatchewan. Sintaluta is a small town about 45 miles east of Regina. The land in Saskatchewan did not need to be cleared of trees, but ‘breaking sod’ was equally hard work.

Thomas and Hannah Ruth retired from farming in 1905, and turned the farm over to their youngest son Henry. They moved into the town of Sintaluta, where they both died in 1919. Thomas was age 90, and Hannah was age 80. They are buried in Sintaluta Cemetery.

Mary Ann Wheatley and William Cook:
Mary Ann Wheatley did not stay on the family farm at French Bay for very long. She moved back to Clinton, Ontario and married William Cook on October 21, 1873, when she was age 15.

As far as we know, they only had one child, who was born in Clinton. We don’t have any records after 1874.

Annie (Nan) Blenkin and George Hannah:
Nan Blenkin married George Hannah on April 1, 1876, in Invermay, Arran Township, in Bruce County. George was age 23 and Nan was almost 15. They had a family of 7 children. Their first 3 children were born in Owen Sound.

Their fourth child, James Henry Hannah, was born in Red Fox, Saskatchewan, in 1886. Sintaluta is an Indian word, which means ‘tail of the red fox’. It appears that Nan and George Hannah were the first members of the family to move to the Sintaluta area, 4 or 5 years before Nan’s parents.

Their oldest son Thomas John Hannah married Charlotte Hamilton. They had a family of 3 children. Thomas John Hannah died on December 6, 1918, a victim of the great influenza epidemic. He was age 40.

George Hannah died in 1910 and Nan died in 1944. They are buried in Sintaluta Cemetery.

Elizabeth Blenkin and John Frankish:
Elizabeth Blenkin married John Frankish on November 19, 1890 in Chatsworth, Ontario. Chatsworth is just south of Owen Sound, in Grey County. They had a family of 4 children, of whom the first 3 were born in Ontario.

Their fourth child, William Thomas Frankish was born in Saskatchewan, on June 24, 1899. It would appear that Elizabeth and John Frankish moved to Sintaluta about 8 years after Elizabeth’s parents.

Elizabeth and John Frankish both died in 1933 in Sintaluta.

Jane Blenkin and Thomas Leslie:
Jane Blenkin married Thomas Leslie on July 12, 1883, in Allenford, Ontario. They had a family of 10 children, of whom the first 3 were born in Ontario.

Their fourth child was born in 1890 in Saskatchewan. It would appear that Jane and Thomas Leslie moved to the Sintaluta area a year or so before Jane’s parents.

Their youngest children were all born in Indian Head, Saskatchewan, which is about 10 miles west of Sintaluta.

Hannah Ruth Blenkin and Peter Cockriell:
Hannah Ruth Blenkin married Peter Cockriell on May 3, 1886 in Grey County, Ontario. They had a family of 3 children. We believe the children were all born in Sintaluta, but our information is not complete. This would imply that Hannah and Peter Cockriell moved to Sintaluta at about the same time as Hannah’s parents.

Peter Cockriell died in Sintaluta in 1900, and Hannah in 1953. They are buried in Sintaluta Cemetery.

Joseph Blenkin and Amelia Bishop:
Joseph Blenkin married Amelia Bishop on June 19, 1901 in Vancouver, British Columbia. They had a family of 5 children. We believe the children were all born in Sintaluta, but our information is not complete.

We don’t know how long they lived in Sintaluta. Both Joseph and Amelia died in Vancouver.

Thomas Blenkin Jr. and Roseanna Newstead:
Thomas Blenkin Jr. married Roseanna Newstead in 1892 in Red Fox District, Saskatchewan. This was the year after his parents had moved to Saskatchewan. We believe Thomas Jr. had moved with them in 1891. They had a family of 10 children, all born in the Sintaluta area.

The book ‘Tales of the Red Fox’ describes Thomas Blenkin Jr. as an ardent ‘thresherman’.

‘His biggest joy about farming was threshing, and he always owned his own machine. He threshed his own as soon as it was ready, and then went to neighbours. The crew consisted of the engineer, a man in charge of the elevator, and a fireman who started his day at 4:00AM. The engine was fired with straw until the steam gauge indicated full steam ready to go to work.

There would be 10 or 12 men with a team or horses and wagon to haul the sheaves, which were in stooks. This made a gang of about

15 men to cook meals for. It made a lot of cooking for the farmers’ wives.’

Mabel Hannah Blenkin was the third child of Thomas Blenkin Jr. and Roseanna Newstead. She is one of the girls in the photo above. Mabel was a victim of the great influenza epidemic at age 21. Her sister, Ola Mary Blenkin described this sad event in ‘Tales of the Red Fox’.

‘My sister Mabel decided she wanted to be a nurse so she was accepted at the Grey Nuns Hospital in Regina and went there to train. The flu had broken out at that time, and soon after she began her training, she became ill with the dreaded disease. There were many deaths and the hospitals were crowded. She was too ill to write home and a United Church minister who was visiting the sick, noticed how very ill she was. He contacted a sister of my father, who phoned Dad. He went by train in the evening and arrived in time to sit with her an hour or two before she passed away on November 27, 1918.’

Thomas Jr. died in 1940, and Roseanna Newstead Blenkin died in 1967, at age 100. They are buried in Sintaluta Cemetery.

George Blenkin and Emily Waddell:
George Blenkin married Emily Waddell on March 27, 1901 in Sintaluta, Saskatchewan. They had a family of 9 children, one of whom died as an infant. We believe they were all born in the Sintaluta area.

Emily Waddell died on January 12, 1919, one month after the birth of her ninth child. She was also a victim of the great influenza epidemic, at age 36. George Blenkin died in 1943. They are buried in Sintaluta Cemetery.

One of their grandchildren is Sylvia Blenkin, who provided us with information about the Blenkin family, and wrote the words used earlier in this chapter to introduce the story of the Blenkin family.

Henry Blenkin and Margaret Waddell:
Henry Blenkin married Margaret Waddell on December 20, 1905 in Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan. They took over the family farm from Thomas and Hannah Ruth Blenkin, and had a family of 4 children.

Margaret Waddell was the sister of Emily Waddell, who had married George Blenkin. Henry and Margaret raised George and Emily’s youngest son Lewis (Bud) Blenkin, who lost his mother when he was one month old.

Henry Blenkin died in 1953 and Margaret died in 1962. They are buried in Sintaluta Cemetery.

‘Tales of the Red Fox’:
The stories of the Blenkin families in Sintaluta are told more completely in a book called ‘Tales of the Red Fox’ published in 1985. Like ‘Green Meadows and Golden Sands’, ‘Tales of the Red Fox’ contains stories and photographs contributed by the older residents of the community, at a time when they could still remember the pioneers. There are several contributions from Blenkin family members.

The Spanish Flu:
The great influenza epidemic hit Saskatchewan particularly hard. The death toll 1918-1919 was more than 5,000. There were 2,500 deaths in Saskatchewan in November 1918, the worst month of the epidemic. There were more than 1,000 deaths in 1919, and a further 102 in 1920.

At least five members of the families described in this book died of the Spanish Flu. Thomas Hannah, Mabel Blenkin, and Emily Waddell are all mentioned in this chapter. In addition, Margaret Lewis (Chapter 5) died of the Spanish Flu in 1919 at the age of 28, and Luella Nickason (Chapter 11) died of the Spanish Flu in 1919 at age 30.

Saskatchewan:
With the exception of Mary Ann Wheatley and Rachel Blenkin, the entire Blenkin family migrated to Saskatchewan in the period around 1890. This may seem remarkable, but it was not particularly unusual for large families from Amabel at that time. Typically, they started with one homestead farm and raised families of 8 or 10 children. All but one had to go somewhere.

At the same time, the new Canadian Pacific Railway had opened up the west, and land was readily available in Saskatchewan. Many of the pioneer families in Amabel moved on after one generation and began homesteading again in the west.

In the case of the Blenkin family, none of Thomas and Hannah Ruth’s children remained on the original family farm in Amabel Township. In 1887 Thomas had sold Lot 21 Concession C, and moved temporarily to Sullivan Township in Grey County. The person who bought Lot 21 Concession C was John Walker, who had married Mary Jane Lewis, the sister of Annie Lewis. This was the same farm where Willy Ross was enumerated in the 1891 Census, working as a ‘farm labourer’ for the Walker family (Chapter 9).

In Chapter 5, we noted that Henry and Elizabeth Lewis had 8 children, 37 grandchildren and 77 great grandchildren (that we had records for). Thomas and Hannah Ruth Blenkin surpassed those numbers. At the time of writing, we have found 12 children, 57 grandchildren, and 90 great grandchildren. And, as was the case for the Lewis family, we are missing whole families of great grandchildren.

We don’t have enough information to even guess the number of great-great grandchildren of Thomas and Hannah Blenkin. The author is one of them.