Fonds F0197 - William Berry family fonds

Original Digital object not accessible

Identity area

Reference code

CA ACU GBA F0197

Title

William Berry family fonds

Date(s)

  • 1856-1964, predominant 1909-1964 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

1 m of textual records.
100 photographs

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

In 1885, William Berry, ?-1901, and his wife Emma Rachel Barfoot, left Chatham, Ontario, and settled in Chipman Creek, Alberta, where their sons, Sam, 1862-?, and George Thomas, 1865-1937, had set up a homestead in 1884. The family established a cattle ranch and dairy and later a hardware store called William Berry and Sons Hardware. In 1893 George married Ada Ann Gill, 1874-1934. The couple homesteaded near Yarrow Creek where George also was postmaster from 1895 to 1899. They had three children, Herbert George, 1894-1917, Ada Gladys, 1896-mid 1960s, and Hugh Wallace, 1898-?. The Chipman Creek ranch was sold in 1899, and the hardware store in 1901. George and his family moved to Victoria and then placed the children in Toronto boarding schools and travelled for a number of years.

In 1911 they returned to Alberta and established the Strathmore Hardware Co., selling it in 1921 and moving to a farm near Strathmore. Ada was involved with the Strathmore Sorosis Society and George was on the town council. Herbert attended Upper Canada College and university in Detroit, Michigan, USA and Toronto. He died serving with an ambulance corps at Ypres-Passchendaele during First World War. Ada Gladys attended Havergale Ladies College and married Captain Philip Harold Morgan, a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) engineer, in 1919. Herbert William, 1921-?, was their only child. The couple divorced in 1925 and A. Gladys and H. William remained in Strathmore. Hugh attended Upper Canada College and the University of Idaho. He returned to the Strathmore farm in 1921. He was active in the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, the Gleichen Conservative Constituency Association, the Oat Huller Coop, and the Wheatland Weather Modification Association. He also invested in gold mines including the Chinook Yellowknife Gold Syndicate.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Gifts of H. William Morgan, Hugh Berry, and Jennifer Peddlesden, 1980-2017.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds consists of George's correspondence, receipts, legal records, and insurance policies; Ada's correspondence with her children, her short stories and poems; family photographs (1901-1916); and records related to other members of the family including school work, military certificates, farm correspondence, receipts and legal records

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

No restrictions on access.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

      The material is in English.

      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Finding aids

      Allied materials area

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

      Related units of description

      Related descriptions

      Notes area

      Note

      Title based on contents of records.

      Note

      NA 4139 is copied from M 5756.

      Alternative identifier(s)

      Access points

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      Genre access points

      Description control area

      Description identifier

      Institution identifier

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Status

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation revision deletion

      Wednesday, May 31, 2017

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Digital object (Master) rights area

          Digital object (Reference) rights area

          Digital object (Thumbnail) rights area

          Accession area