Letter, Howard Jones to Barry and Stewart Jones, 24 February 1943
Description
- Creators
- Jones, Howard, Author
- Jones, Barry; Jones, Stewart, Recipient
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Type
- Correspondence
- Description
- A three-page (front and back) handwritten letter by Howard Jones to his sons Barry and Stewart. In his letter, he wishes his son Stewart a happy ninth birthday and wonders if by his next one he will be growing a beard like his uncle John. He also discusses the progress of the farm and hopes that Mr. Pate will be feeling better by the time Howard’s letter reaches them. Likely sent alongside a letter from his wife [2017AM001.069].
The letter was provided by E. Ann McRae. - Notes
- The Pate-Jones Collection consists of some photographs of the family members and a large group of letters. The majority of the letters are written by Margaret nee Wilson, and some by her husband Howard Jones, to their sons Barry and Stewart Jones, or to Mr. and Mrs. Pate. From 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, Barry and Stewart lived with Margaret’s second cousin Andrew Wilson Pate and his wife Mary Herron nee McClure at the Brantwood Farm. The original farm was founded by Andrew’s father James Pate, and was situated on the south side of Powerline Road and Gretzky Parkway, which at that time, was considered part of the County of Brant.
The correspondences cover from detail Margaret Jones’ dilemma in settling her boys with virtual strangers, her return trip to England to rejoin the war effort there, news of farm life in England, the concern that England might lose the war, and the anguish of both families when Andrew Pate died in 1944, leaving his teenage son to run Brantwood Farms. These letters are therefore a fascinating way to conceptualize how the war affected daily life in Canada locally, and in England.
In recent decades, the original Brantwood Farm that was situated on the south side of Powerline Road was sold by the Pate family for development. The farms are now located on the north side of Powerline Road, and consist of several farms belonging to several Pate families, mostly within the County of Brant, remaining a thriving local establishment to this day. - Inscriptions
- Copley,
Pattingham,
Wolverhampton
24th Feb. 1943
Dear Chaps,
Its Stew’s birthday today so I must write a letter to you. We could not very well have a birthday party because Stew would not be there and it would be “like playing Hamlet without the Prince” – Do you know what that saying means and what Hamlet is? Let me know next time you write.
Anyhow, I hope Stew got our cable wishing him all the best and now I can say that today we have been thinking about him and wishing again that his birthday is happy and that he will have many many more. Nine years old – my word how time flies. He must be filling his years and is getting a big fellow. I wonder if he will be growing a beard like uncle John for his next birthday
(2)
But then he is going to be a pilot and its only in the Navy they grow beards so perhaps he wont bother for a while anyway.
We’ve had quite a nice few letters from you lately and are very interested to hear of all your doings. I’m glad you got the books we sent for Christmas and that they did not go to the bottom of the sea. It is much better that you should have them to read than some mermaid at the bottom of the Atlantic. In any case it is doubtful if they could read English.
Then the tobogganing – That sounds good fun – Let me know who holds the record. How about skating. Have you [illegible] much this time? And how are you getting on at it. Can you do figures and the fancy [knot?] I hope so and then you can give an exhibition when you come home. I used to be able to skate once but my feet are not to good and I don’t enjoy it now.
(3)
2/.
We have had very little frost this winter and scarcely a flake of snow. Altogether it has been very mild and we are well forward with our work on the land.
The autumn sown wheat looks well also the winter beans. We are well forward with our spring ploughing and we having a dry warm spell of weather at the moment. In all probability we shall start sowing Oats tomorrow. We have 24 acres to put in altogether and if the weather hlds they will be in by the end of the week. We shall then have the barley to sow. We should have been ready to put this in before now only the lambs ([feeding?] sheep) are still on the ground clearing up the sugar beet tops. We shall get them off by this time next week and so long
(4)
as this weather is suitable we shall [them?] sow it 18 acres altogether.
The ground for next seasons Sugar Beet is nearly all ploughed and lined and we hope to get it completed arriving the next few days. After that our big job is to get the [pitals?] ground ready and planted. There will be 18 acres of sugar beet and 23 acres of potatoes so there is still plenty of work ahead of us.
We have not any young lambs yet but [illegible] them to start lambing in about 3 weeks time. There are 53 Ewes to lamb so with good luck there should be a nice lot. I will try to take some pictures of them and send them along to you. The Cattle are busy eating up the [illegible] and make the much needed manure for the potatoes. They will stay in the yards till the end of April and then they will go away to the spring Sales. We have not [illegible] grass
(5)
3/
land to keep them through the summer so that someone else will buy them and feed them on grass till they are fat enough for killing.
We finished all our threshing about 3 weeks ago. The wheat did quite well and altogether yielded 25 [cuts?] to the [illegible] – The Oats yielded about 20 [cuts?] and the Barley about 21 [cuts?] to the acre. The crops turned out quite as well as I expected but there is room for improvement because the land was in very low condition when we came here. If the [illegible] is good we are hoping for a slightly higher average yield all word next harvest, but we are not counting our chickens before they are hatched [or?] I should say our corn before it is in
(6)
the stack.
I hope by the time this letter reaches you Mr Pate will be quite well again. We have been thinking about him a lot and shall be glad to hear the latest news of him. Please give him our very best wishes. I hope you are doing all you can to keep with things whole he is away – You are getting by chaps now and I’m sure you can make yourselves quite useful.
And now I must [close?]. Keep smiling, stick to your lessons at school, also your music practice.
We are all quite fit here and are always thinking about you.
All my best love and [ever?] more I hope Stew had a happy day.
Love again!
Daddy - Date of Original
- February 24, 1943
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Jones, Howard ; Jones, Barry ; Jones, Stewart
- Local identifier
- 2017AM001.068
- Collection
- E. Ann McRae Personal Collection
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
-
-
Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.1334 Longitude: -80.26636 -
England, United Kingdom
Latitude: 54.61667 Longitude: -1.86667
-
- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Recommended Citation
- Letter, Howard Jones to Barry and Stewart Jones, 24 February 1943. E. Ann McRae Personal Collection, Item No. 2017AM001.068
- Terms of Use
- The information and images provided are for personal research only and are not to be used for commercial purposes. Use of this information should include the credit "provided by Ann McRae"
- Contact
- County of Brant Public LibraryEmail:digitalhistory@brant.ca
Website:
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12 William Street
Paris, ON
N3L 1K7 | @brantlibrary
