The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 51 No.4 | March 2025

Member’s article

breakthrough? I researched Kitscoty and found that the first settlers arrived in this wintery outpost in 1905. It officially became a village in 1911 when its first store opened along with a blacksmith’s, livery stables and a small hotel. Its population in 2021 had swelled to 852. The next task was to link Kitscoty to Daisy. She obviously wouldn’t still be alive and it is unlikely anybody would be old enough to remember her. However, she had five children so there was still hope. Detailing everything I knew about Daisy Bullock (née Cross), I wrote a letter and addressed it simply to The Town Office, Kitscoty, Alberta, Canada . It was the longest of long shots and I wasn’t anticipating any form of reply. Five weeks later, a letter in spidery handwriting dropped on the mat. It was from Evelyn LEIGHTON , an 84 year old lady, living in Edmonton. Way back in 1946, Evelyn had become Daisy’s daughter-in-law when she married Rod, Daisy’s youngest son. Rod had been Evelyn’s first husband. He worked as a trucker and had been a chuck wagon racer of some note. Sadly, he was killed in 1960 whilst competing in the Frontiers Day rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA. Newspaper reports tell how he fell from his wagon after it struck a marker barrel and he was crushed under the wheels of a following wagon. A memorial in copper was set up to him and six other chuckwagon racers killed whilst racing. It stands in the town of Ponoka, south of Edmonton. In 1961, the year after Rod’s death, Evelyn became Evelyn Leighton when she married Arthur who died just recently. Yet, somebody

Harry and Daisy’s wedding day

in Kitscoty had remembered the name Evelyn Bullock from some 50 years ago and had passed on my letter! Like many Commonwealth residents of British descent, Evelyn and her family had tried hard to research their roots. They had compiled a sketchy family tree but it extended no further back than Daisy’s grandparents James and Emma Cross and William and Sarah JOHNSON . I was able to provide more detail and help fill in the blanks. In return, I received the family tree emanating from the marriage of Daisy and Harry. In an instant, I gained 99 new family members!

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