Fonds 430 Leslie family fonds

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Leslie family fonds. — 1920-1977. — 4 cm of textual records. — 65 photographs.

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Biographical Sketch

Thomas Leslie and Margaret Garrett were married in 1887, and in 1913, on the urging of sons Normand and Edward, came to the Peace country. They took up homesteads about 14 miles east of Grande Prairie and applied for a post office which was then named the Glen Leslie post office. They were much loved pioneers, helping to build the Glen Leslie Church, and nursing the sick during the 1918 flu epidemic. They decided to return to Ontario in 1920. Sons Norman and Edward had also come to the Bezanson area and taken up homesteads. Norman went away to war in 1915, was wounded and, returning three years later, took over the post office after his parents left. He married Gladys Bryenton in 1923. Edward lived with his parents and farmed until they left in1920. Then he bought another quarter of land and built a small house on it. In 1921, he married Dorothy Morrison (a cousin to Gladys Bryenton), but although the land was good, weather conditions often resulted in poor crops. In 1923, Dorothy began teaching at the local school which helped their finances. In 1927, Edward and Dorothy had a sale and moved to Grande Prairie where Edward worked in Morrison’s general store owned by Dorothy’s father. In 1928, they moved back to Glen Leslie to operate Dorothy’s father’s store there which was built on the corner of their farm. In 1930, Norman with his two children, Jean and Keith, moved to Dimsdale and operated a small store and post office. In 1935, Norman took over the Massey Harris agency in Beaverlodge while Gladys operated the store in Dimsdale and a year later, Norman took over operating the Wheat Pool elevator. By 1940, he was president of the Grande Prairie Legion and when WWII started he responded to the call and went to serve in the Veteran’s Guard of Canada. At the end of the war, Norman returned to Dimsdale and in 1968 he and his wife sold the store and retired in Grande Prairie. He was active in the Masons, Royal Arch Chapter, and a member of the Shrine Club. Norman died in 1972 and Gladys in 1983 and both are buried in the Glen Leslie cemetery.

In 1945, Edward and family moved to Grande Prairie where he had bought the British American bulk oil plant which supplied gas and oil to service stations and to farmers in the area. In 1947, Edward was found to have cancer with few months to live. His mother told them of a specialist in Bellville, Ontario and asked that Ed come see him. He and Dorothy flew down but there was nothing the doctor could do and Edward died January 4, 1948, in Ontario, never able to return home. Edward and Dorothy had five children: Margaret Edith died as an infant, Kenneth (b. 1927) married Rosalie McHaffie and their children were Edward, Corlie, Robyn, Karen, and Kenneth; William (b. 1929) married Jean Trout and their children were Ellen, Marjorie and Robert. Marion (b. 1933) married Donald Podritske and their children were Sandra Gail and Glenda Lee; and Thomas (b. 1935) married Marion Shields and their children were Dorothy Dianne and John Hunter. (For more Leslie history, refer to the document in this fonds “Leslie’s of Hastings County, Ontario – Their ancestors and descendants and Morrison’s of Prince Edward Island – Their ancestors and descendants.”)

Custodial History

The records were donated to the South Peace Regional Archives by Bill Leslie in 2009 and 2012.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of 65 family photographs of the Bill Leslie family, the family history book, “Leslie’s of Hastings County, Ontario and Morrison’s of P.E.I.”, a 2009 Leslie Family Reunion edition with additional pages which includes a history of Bezanson and Glen Leslie areas, a scrapbook belonging to his mother, Dorothy Leslie, containing news clippings of events in the seniors’ center (1975-1977) and copies of individual news stories (1976-1978) of Jean Lozeron, Jim Johnson, J.B. Oliver, Rev Bob Wallace, Philip Fitzpatrick, Johnanna Haakstad, Jake Wiens and Paddy Croken.

Notes

This fonds has been identified as having Indigenous related content. Researchers may encounter language that is outdated and offensive. To learn more about Indigenous records at the South Peace Regional Archives please see our guide.