The Dyers had lived in Devonshire, England, for many years. The men had been in the navy for generations, so it was expected Hugh Dyer would follow the example of his father and older brother. His name was entered soon after his birth at The Royal Navy College. But when he was called to write his entrance exam he was in bed with the measles and was unable to attend so he had to seek another occupation. When he finished his education he taught school until he, James Ewens and Frank Pearson decided to immigrate to Manitoba in the early spring of 1881. They took with them a Loggin boy whose parents had immigrated to Manitoba. The Loggins took up a homestead in the Birnie District.
After helping Mr. Loggin for a couple of months and learning a few tricks of the trade, they went south and took up land in the Glendale District. They purchased oxen and a plow and built a log cabin and broke a few acres of land. Hugh Dyer returned to England in the winter of 1881 to marry Helen May Pearson. Later Frank Pearson married Edith Dyer and James Ewens married Evelyn Pearson.
In 1883 Reginald Hugh Dyer was born to Hugh and Helen May Dyer. John Marshall was born in 1885.
Improvements were made to the original log cabin. Clearing the land was difficult work because of the scrub oak and their limited power of oxen and later horses. The seed was sown by hand and reaped with a cradle.
After having paid up and proved their land they sold it and bought land in the Franklin District, where Wilfred Harry was born in 1892.
Being concerned about the boys’ education, they bought land - the E. and S.W. of 18-15-17, northeast of Minnedosa. They moved there in the winter of 1900 into the house belonging previously to Mr. Shuttleworth, father of Mrs. William Funnell. Mrs. Funnell was born in that house. In the spring Dad built a house and barns on the S.E. of 18-15-17. This house belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kolesar now.
The youngest of the family, Maurice "William", the writer of this history was born at the farm home January 29, 1907.
Jim Ewens moved up to Bethany soon after Dad moved, and bought a farm immediately west of the village of Bethany. He soon started buying grain at a small elevator.
He also began in import registered livestock from England; Shire horses, Shorthorn cattle and Berkshire pigs. In later years he also drop ‘Cop’ a Hackney stallion. These top grade animals were a great boon to a starting farming district. He showed the animals at many fairs and sold animals all across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. EDITOR’S NOTE: Wm. Dyer tells me Shire horses were a breed of heavy draft horses, heavier even than Clydesdale. They were used for heavy freight and brewery wagons in Britain.
While Jim was away, Rex Dyer ran the elevator and when Rex was busy, Jack took over.
My father also bought the E. of 12-15-18 and the quarter immediately north of it, in partnership with Mr. McGregor-Davies. This house was built by the Malcolm brothers and was entirely of logs. The logs were cut and floated down the river by Pat Burns, a well-known man in the meat business in later years. A few years later, a big kitchen was built onto the north end of the house and the entire house was roofed with sawn rafters. The finishing lumber was brought from Ontario. The mortar for the basement was made of sand and lime, there being plenty of sand and limestone near the house. The remains of the pit where the limestone was slaked can still be seen under the scrub on the hill. The house was completed in 1880.
In 1896 the Malcolm brothers moved north to the Dauphin plains with all their possessions, including a herd of cattle. This trek was made in one of the worst winter storms on record. When they arrived on the Dauphin plains, they found all the haystacks put up the previous summer were gone.
Various people have lived in that house over the years, a Mr. McCulloch at one time. The McGregor-Davies lived there in the early part of this century. They built the stone kitchen on the east side of other buildings in 1904.
Rex Dyer bought the Tommy Mellor farm immediately east of the home farm in 1905. In 1906 Rex married Beatrice Filliter. Two children were born there: Crystal, now deceased and Evelyne Rose, now living in British Columbia.
In 1912, Rex moved to the Malcolm house and farm where Nel, Joyce and Kathleen were born. Nel and Kay live in Winnipeg and Joyce at Birnie. They lived there till 1948 when Rex died and Beatrice moved to town.
I, Bill Dyer, bought the farm from Beatrice Dyer and lived there until 1979. Mr. John Motuz bought the farm and I have moved to town.
Jack and Rex Dyer went to school in Minnedosa and took correspondence courses from the Manitoba Agricultural College in Winnipeg. In the winter of 1904-1905 Jack went to the Peace River District to learn trapping and hunting from the Indians. He became a crack shot with the riffle. He spent several winters there, coming home each spring to help with the farming. He found his skills in hunting and trapping a useful sideline.
Jack married Gertrude Harrison in 1912 and took over the S.W. of 18-15-17.
They had four children: John Phillip, killed in a plane crash in W. W. II, Hugh Richard, also in the air force in W. W. II. He rose to the rank of Wing Commander. He and his wife Sally live in Victoria, British Columbia. Their only girl Bessie was a nursing sister in W. W. II at Basingstoke, England. She, too, lives in Victoria with her husband and family.
Jack looked after the whole farm until 1919, when Father returned home from overseas. Jack had rented the half section immediately south of the home farm on section 7. It was known as the Butchart farm.
When war was declared in 1914, Father was senior officer (major) in the Dragoons at Minnedosa. The armory was opened for enlistments. Captain Candlish was second in command. My brother Harry had finished his degree course in Agriculture Engineering at the Agricultural College and was lecturing on various kinds of bees from a C.P.R. railway car. He got as far as Salmon Arm, British Columbia when he got a wire from Father to return at once to enlist. What to do with the bees! He loaded them on a truck and took them to Uncle Frank Pearson in Salmon Arm, piled them on his verandah and caught the train for Minnedosa. Lance Corporal W.H. Dyer was on parade in the armory in short order. I never did hear Uncle Frank’s reaction to the bees!
Volunteers from all across the Western Prairies were soon moved to Valcartier, Quebec, and the 5th Battalion was formed. They sailed to England in S.S. Lapland. The contingent of Canadian troops that contained the 5th Battalion was sent to Salisbury Plains. It was flat land and it rained steadily; some men caught pneumonia. Basil Ewens, Jim’s son, was one who died there from pneumonia. They were all living in tents and it was impossible to keep dry. When they applied to their English counterparts for lumber to build barracks, they were told it was impossible as they would have to build a rail line for three miles before anything could be done. It would take a matter of months. Father told them that if they supplied the rails, ties and lumber, that the barracks would be up in three weeks. The Englishmen were sure this was impossible, but were finally persuaded.
The Armament Section - Engineering, cold, hungry and restless, soon had a number of empty old barrels which they sawed in half at an angle so that when hales and handles had been added, there were two slush scrapers from each barrel. The surveying completed, they went to work to build a rail bed, laid ties and rails and brought in lumber. Each section built its own hut and they were out of the wet for the first time in three weeks. Both Harry and Father told me many war stories but not all as pleasant as this one.
Father was wounded at the second battle of Ypres in April, 1915. He was shot through the lungs while endeavoring to take a message, to retire, to the same 5th Battalion men, who were quite sure they could lick the enemy. The Germans were using poisonous gas and the lines were broken up. Father was a heavy man in those days and the men carried him out about four miles over terrible terrain. He eventually arrived in a hospital in Calais and was there for a month. A telegram was sent home saying he was not expected to live, so it was decided that Mother should go to England. She took me with her.
Maud Filliter, sister of Beatrice Dyer volunteered to go with us, which was a great help as she was a seasoned traveller. Maud Filliter later married Allan Ewens. We were supposed to sail on a C.P.R. boat from Montreal but it had been delayed so we were sent to New York and sailed on a small ship the "Philadelpia." As we were going up the gangplank we heard the newsboys shouting that the Lusitania had been sunk by a submarine off the north coast of Ireland. Not a good omen!
I was sent to school at Felsted in Essex, an old school founded in 1564.
After Father’s month-long stay in hospital in Calais, France, he landed in England the same day we did after coming several thousand miles.
He made a marvelous recovery and returned to the regiment in July.
Harry was wounded in the battle Festubert; hit by shrapnel, and had a long stay in hospital, having bits of shrapnel taken out every few weeks, although they never did get all of it. After leaving hospital he got his commission and was married to Evelyn Locksley. He was never able to go back to France.
When Colonel Tuxford left the 5th Battalion to command a brigade, Father became Lt. Colonel in command of the 5th Battalion. One thing he always contrived to do was to write to the parents of all the men who had been killed or wounded in action, and he knew many of the parents.
In July, 1917 Father left the 5th Battalion to take command of the 7th Brigade and he was promoted to Brigadier General. The 7th Brigade consisted of the Princess Pats, the Royal Canadian Regiment, the 42nd Royal Highlanders of Canada, and the 49th Edmonton Regiment.
On September 18, 1918 he left the 7th Brigade to take over the two camps at Seaford from which came many of the Canadian reinforcements for the front. Less than two months later we had the Armistice.
We sailed from Liverpool on the S.S. Melita. Harry and his bride came with us. We arrived in Minnedosa in April to a tremendous welcome. Father and Mother were presented with a chest of sterling silver which we have with us now. Later he was presented with a portrait of himself which now hangs in the Legion Clubrooms.
Both Mother and Father enjoyed riding, and along with neighbors and town people ‘rode to hounds’ fox hunting - and when no fox was to be found, rode after coyotes. There were some good horses and lots of dogs to be had. Mother rode side-saddle. Rex and Jack also rode well.
Mother was an early member of the Women’s Institute and either rode or drove in the buggy to meetings.
Father belonged to the Agricultural Fair Board and was also on the Hospital Board. In 1904 Dad became a member of the Agricultural College Board, and in 1908 became the Chairman of the Board. He was given leave of absence when he went overseas. He was also elected a Vice-President of the Western Empire Life Assurance Company, and after the war was made Chairman of the Canteen Fund, which was concerned with the needs of the returning servicemen.
Mother died in April, 1934 and Father on Christmas Day, 1938. His younger brother, Colonel Wm. A. Dyer who was in command of the 107th Battalion Seaford also died on Christmas Day a few years before.
After the war, Harry and Evelyn lived with us for awhile and then bought the quarter directly north of us from Mrs. George Boyd. He bought the A.T. Eaton house, all pieces numbered, and having a bee of neighbors it went up in no time as the basement had been built previously.
He farmed there until the early thirties when rheumatism from his shrapnel wounds, and the pieces he still had in his body made him unable to continue. After a short sojourn in Minnedosa, the family moved to Victoria and bought a house that was outside the city. They had four children: Hope, Claire, Peggy and Jean. Add married. A few years later Evelyn died of cancer. In 1970 Harry also died of the same disease. I went out to see him before he died and he was full of old jokes and cheerful to the end. Harry went to school in Minnedosa and was taught by Minnedosa Armitage.
After Father died, I left the farm in 1939 and went to Flin Flon. I stayed with Mary and Charlie Dunbar until I secured work with the H.B.M.S. Co. Mary Dunbar was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Ewens and they died when Mary was three years old. She had three brothers, Roy, Sam, and Bernard. Jim Ewens and his wife took Roy while Bernard and Sam went to the Pearson families. Mary came to us and lived with us until her marriage to Charlie Dunbar, son of Wm. Dunbar, of Bethany. They had four children, Ronald, Bernard, Catherine and Sharon.
I built a home in Flin Flon and lived there with my wife, the former Viola Livingstone and son Ronald, until I joined up with the radar group in 1942 in W.W. II.
After demobilization I returned to Minnedosa in 1946. My brother Rex died in 1948 and we bought his farm and moved there. I raised pigs, had some cattle and established a small orchard. We even had some pear trees. Our last year on the farm, one tree bore about a dozen pears, quite edible when preserved.
Susan, our daughter was born in 1950. She lives in Winnipeg and is employed by the Dept. of Public Works. Ronald and his wife Helen and two daughters Vicki and Lisa live 13 miles south and west of Boissevain. Ron is in partnership with Ransom Cattle Co. of Boissevain.
I was on the staff of the post office from 1951-1972. Robin Harrison was postmaster when I joined the staff and Effie Macdonald was postmistress, after Robin Harrison retired.
After I retired in 1972, we spent our time gardening and managed to do a bit of travelling.
I was forced to leave the farm in 1979 due to ill health and we bought Mrs. Cora McMillan’s home.
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