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| Frederick Puzey with wife Emily Neilson and son Freddie (likely taken in 1918). |
Frederick Puzey, my great-grandfather, was the eldest son of Henry William Puzey and Lydia Ann Pollard. He was born on October 4, 1875 in Spring City, San Pete, Utah. His father was a wagon maker, following in his father, Joseph Henry's profession after following his father across the plains to join with the Latter-Day Saints in Utah. His mother was also an early pioneer in the church - walking much of the way at the age of 5. In 1887, when Frederick was 13 and had 5 younger siblings, his father died.
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| Fred (on left) with his younger siblings and mother after his father's death. (1887?) |
In 1902, he emigrated to Canada and tried to settle in Raymond, but in 1905 he moved to the family homestead in Champion Alberta with his friend Parley Peterson on a homestead nearby. He became a naturalized citizen of Canada in 1906.
Fred Puzey returned to Utah and married Emily Neilson from Sweden in Spring City on March 10, 1910. She returned to Canada with him where they lived in a two room home on the farm. You can see a picture of this original homestead in the banner on this website with Emily standing at the door of their home.
On August 25, 1911, their only child, Frederick Elmer Puzey, was born. In 1918, the family was sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple on a trip to the United States after a good crop. They visited with relatives in Utah and appear to have even made it as far south as California where they visited the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena.
Fred's 2 time brother-in-law (Charles Neilson (his wife's brother and married to Fred's sister) moved up to Canada and sent for his family to join him in 1919. They lived and worked Fred's ranch in Mountain View with sheep, cows and a few horses for a while- staying in the area until the late 1930s.
Emily passed away from pneumonia just before their son's birthday 1924, leaving her husband to raise their 12 turning 13 year old son.
Frederick returned to Utah andin 1925, he married a widow, Mary Ohlin, also from Sweden and brought her back up to the farm in Champion.
Frederick passed away at the age of 63 after a lingering illness. His son Fred, my grandfather, was 27 years old at the time and before a year had past, he was married to my grandmother Hannah.
Just two days before the first anniversary of Frederick Puzey's death, Canada entered World War II. Newly married and with our country now at war, I can understand how getting a grave marker for his father's place of rest may not have been a priority for my grandfather.
However, as I have been using checklists to gather documents and images in my research (using the Family Tree Notebook system shared by Carly Morgan) I realized that this oversight has never been corrected.
Frederick's first wife, Emily Neilson, has a large impressive tombstone in the Mountain View Cemetery in Lethbridge, Alberta. Fred is buried next to her but with no marker to indicate this. The location, if you are close and want to visit is Block C Lot 27 Grave 1E and 2E.
There is room under Emily's information to add Fred's name and birth and death year. I've been in touch with both the cemetery and Lethbridge Monumental to sort out the process and get a quote on the work.
I know that with cremations and with our families growing, looking back at the life of a great grandparent and marking his grave may not seem like a priority for our funds these days. But when I talked to mom, she said she never even realized that her grandmother and grandfather were buried there in Lethbridge and I wonder why this was. It is possible that the lack of marking his father's grave would have made Grandpa not want to bring attention to this.
I know often when I drive south, I stop in Champion to visit the cemetery where my grandparents were laid to rest. And after spending some time in the states during the Memorial Day weekend in 2019 and seeing how much the families there acknowledge their ancestors on this weekend(it used to be called "Decoration Day" and that is still what many do at the cemeteries), it is something I have a greater appreciation for.
It is possible my interpretation of events is inaccurate and if anyone has any more relevant background on any of these events, I would love to learn more about them! All I can know for certain are the facts and dates when some of these events happened.
To learn more about Fred Puzey and your own ancestral trees, you can find these new Discovery Pages hosted by FamilySearch or sign up for free and research your own family.
