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

Member’s article

Kitscoty, Alta

I remained in touch with Evelyn until she died in 2015. Her niece Jackie then took up the reins and we continued to exchange family information until I was finally able to close the chapter on Great Aunt Daisy. It transpired that Daisy hadn’t moved directly to Kitscoty when she arrived in Canada in 1912 but to the small Albertan village of Carbon. She married Harry there the following year. By the time of the 1921 Census, Daisy and Harry, whose occupation was given as ‘rancher’ had moved to the wonderfully-named Streamstown with their three eldest children. From there they moved to Kitscoty where Rod was born in 1926. The final move was to the tiny village of Czar with a current population of just 248 and a motto ‘Where the cowboys reign’. Daisy died there and was buried in July 1966. She was aged 74. Harry died five years later. I wish I had known Daisy or ‘Little Grandma’ as she was known to her Canadian family. She must have been a remarkably feisty lady with the courage and strength of character to travel

over 4,000 miles alone by land and sea into the complete unknown. She was something of a pioneer, for three cousins rapidly followed her to Alberta along with her brother Percy who emigrated to Calgary in 1926. Remarkably, I would have known nothing of her story had it not been for a 95 year old gentleman in a care home in Felixstowe. His recall of the name ‘Kitscoty’ had first unlocked the door and by an outrageous slice of fortune

I had been able to open it fully. Rod Cross Member #14715

Czar – cowboy country

162