Samuel Caswell 1845-1925

SAMUEL CASWELL PHOTOGRAPHER 1845 - 1925

Compilation of material from Gordon Gladstone Caswell, Margaret Atherton & Winnifred Colt – edited by Judy (Todhunter) Rosmus

Sam Caswell 

      This chapter was compiled from a manuscript written by Gordon Gladstone Caswell, Sam’s younger son.  Frances Caswell Farquhar, a granddaughter of Samuel, has graciously made it available.  Margaret Borthwick Atherton, another grandchild, has also written down her recollections of their grandfather during his later years at the former village of Juniata.  Notes from various other family members have been inserted where needed.

Samuel was the sixth of Andrew and Mary Jane Caswell’s children, and was also born in Ireland.  While living at Granton, Ontario he met Emily Christina Humpidge of nearby London.  They were married about 1873, and if recollection serves, the newlyweds moved to Stratford, Ontario, where Sam opened a photographic studio.

Children of Samuel Caswell and Emily Christina Humpidge:

-      Ella G Caswell, B: 1874 in Ontario, D: 1955.

-      Mabel Caswell, B: 1880 in Ontario.

-      Minnie Wallace Caswell, B: 29 Feb 1876 in Palmerston, Ontario, D: 11 May 1939 in Gilroy, California, M: Will Corey Colt, 06 Sep 1899 in Palmerston, Ontario.

-      Hattie Louise Caswell, B: 1882 in Ontario, D: 1955.

-      Ida M Caswell, B: 1878 in Ontario, D: 1910.

-      William Herbert Caswell, B: 1885 in Ontario, D: 20 Jul 1946 in Calgary, Alberta.

-      Ethel E Caswell, B: 1889 in Ontario, D: 1962.

-      Gordon Gladstone Caswell, B: 02 Sep 1892 in Palmerston, Ontario, D: 27 Mar 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia.

     A few years afterwards they moved to Palmerston, Ontario, where members of the family had preceded them.  There Samuel's eight children were born.  One, little May, died of diphtheria at about 2 years of age.

Sam Caswell residence in Palmerton

         Eight years after incorporation of the town of Palmerston, Sam was appointed town clerk at $100 and Treasurer at $75 per annum.  His additional duties as assessor and dogcatcher were without salary. (Town of Palmerston, Council Minutes)
    At least two of his children, Louise and Ethel, acquired an early acquaintance with office procedures, for when he became overly busy, they were put to work in the office doing routine tasks such as making ledger entries and copies of documents.

     In 1877 Sam established a Family Photography Studio and probably held photographic sessions at nearby villages as well.  In 1883 his work was awarded first and second prizes at the Ontario Provincial Exposition.  In 1882 and 1883 he took first and second prizes at the Northern Exhibition.  “Granddad taught himself much of the chemistry of photography at a time when it was still a fairly new technology."
     Samuel one first and second prize at the Provincial Exhibition in 1883 and first and second prize in the Northern Exhibition in 1882 and 1883.

     He must have been keen to keep up with the times, for Louise, who was a young child at the time, remembered his enthusiasm in describing to the family a telephone which he’d seen demonstrated in Toronto.

Possibly Sam’s home in Juniata, Saskatchewan

     In the 1880’s five of his brothers and his sisters Sarah & Mary Jane had gone west to the vicinity of Clark’s Crossing, Northwest Territories, about 17 miles north of the village of Saskatoon.  In 1903 Sam decided to follow them and applied for homestead land some 30 miles west of Saskatoon (SE ¼ of Section 14, Township 36, Range 10 W of the 3^rd Meridian).  He built a house, an outbuilding or two, and had three horses, a cow, and a few pigs.  His older son, Will, who had worked for Eaton’s in Toronto, received a patent for the quarter-section just north of his father’s in 1904.  The Canadian Pacific Railway came through in 1907, and the village of Juanita sprang up nearby.  (Today it is as if nothing had ever been there.)

 Sam Caswell home in Saskatchewan, not sure if this one burned down.

     Two of Sam’s girls did not come with him.  In the 1880’s Minnie had spent a season or two in the west keeping house for Uncle Joe.  After returning to Ontario, she married Will Colt and went to live in the U.S.A.  After coming back for a visit with the family in Palmerston, Minnie took Lou with her for company on the Nebraska frontier.  They detoured by way of Philadelphia, where they visited their Uncle Alex.  Later Lou, accompanied the Colts on a move to Anacortes Island, Washington, some 30 miles south of the Canadian border.  Thence they went to Gilroy, California, where the Colts bought a farm.  In 1907 Lou rejoined the family in Saskatchewan.

     Sam was always interested in local affairs.  In 1905, two years after he settled in Juniata, he was treasurer of the Local Improvement District.  From 1907 to 1909 he was councilor for Township 36, Range 10, W 3^rd.

     Following the total loss of their house by fire, Granddad moved another 30 miles west near the Canadian National Railway of Castlewood.  There he acquired a half-section of land.  Just about that time his two sons, Will and Gordon, left to take up homesteads in the Sibbald-Oyen area, and his son-in-law died.  Although coming from an Irish farming family, it seems unlikely that Granddad had much actual farming experience either in Ontario or Saskatchewan, so by 1915 his land was probably rented out.

     I was frequently a visitor for weeks at a time, but my impressions of Granddad do not rest on any communication we ever had, for he was deaf.  I recall vividly his little black skull cap, worn to ward off his neuralgia, and his black Stetson for formal wear.  I realize now his patience with me, for he overlooked my many untidy activities, such as cluttering his back yard with little houses made of chicken coops, cardboard cartons, and other bits and pieces.  By contrast, his few black and white speckled hens lived in a neat and substantial building constructed of discarded railway timbers.  There was usually a cow in a little pasture, often milked by the “Galicians”, as Granddad called the section hands’ families who lived by the track, a short stroll down from the house, past the well and across the corner of the pasture.

     And then there was Skip, the Appaloosa “Indian” pony who pulled the buggy in summer and the cutter in winter.  He was either hobbled or tethered on a long chain in the little pasture.  On school mornings it was Grandpa’s custom to catch and harness him ready for Ethel’s drive through the hills to the local school where she taught.

     Sam and wife Emily were buried in Perdue, Saskatchewan.

     Notes from Winnifred Colt regarding her father-in-law Will Corey Colt.      He was born in New Hampshire or Connecticut and lived there until 15 years old.  His father, John Gardner Colt went broke in the hardwood lumber business during the 1870’s crash.  He worked as a stone mason and landscape gardener in Manchester, NH and the old elm trees on Elm Street were planted by him.

     The family moved to Cherokee, Iowa in 1878 to start a nursery – they spent 6 years there before moving to a government claim near Harrison, South Dakota.  The government bet 160 acres against the land office fee of $15.25 that a person couldn’t live on a claim for 8 years.

     Father, Mother and Will lived there two years when John Gardner Colt became ill in May, so the family moved back to Cherokee, Iowa and after 4 months he died.  A Colt cousin said that the sod house he lived in Cherokee, Iowa, killed him.  He died of apoplexy at age 55 years and is buried in Cherokee, Iowa.  In October of the same year, Will and his mother moved back to the claim in Yankton, South Dakota

     Will’s mother, Sarah White Colt after a series of strokes, died and is buried at Armour, South Dakota and Will lived by himself until the eight years were up.  He had won the bet with the government.

     Will went back to Boston, Mass and spent 5 years working for the state in the control of the gypsy moth.  His bird egg collection started at this time was given to the University of California at Berkeley.

     He then started work for Outram Bangs, who became first curator of birds and mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge Mass. gathering specimens of small birds and small rodents for the Boston Museum.  He received $1.25 a day and expenses.  He travelled from Ontario to British Columbia, to Washington, Oregon and as far south as lake county, California.  He gathered as many as 1200 to 1400 mice in his travels.

     During his stay in Osler, Saskatchewan, Will Colt boarded at John Caswell’s place and met Minnie Caswell who was keeping house for Uncle Joe Caswell.

     In the meantime Will went east again and spent another year with gypsy moth control, then tired of his job returned to the west.

In Butte, Nebraska, he bought 200 acres and built a one room cabin. He met Minnie Caswell and after five months they were married Sept 6, 1899.  The marriage took place at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Caswell in Palmerston, Ontario.  They left by train to return to Nebraska.

     The Palmerston Spectator for Sept 7, 1899 recounted the marriage of Minnie to Will Colt in her father’s home the night before.  “After the ceremony, an enticing supper and enjoyable social evening beguiled the wedding party into forgetfulness of such mundane affairs as railway time tables, with the result that the intention of the newly wedded couple to take the train was not carried out and a proposal was made that the whole party drive to Listowel, about 20 miles away, to see them off.  Mr. and Mrs. Colt said goodbye to their friend and started on their long journey to the west, the escorting party returning home in the small hours.”

Wills son Edwin was born in Butte in 1901 and an unnamed son who lived 3 weeks.  Fred was born in the San Juan Islands, Wallace in Modesto and Willard & Ethel in Gilroy.

     Will Colts wandering penchant seemed to be satisfied by his Gilroy surroundings and he lived there until his death in 1943.  He is buried in the Colt family plot in Gilroy, as is his wife, Minnie.

     Will’s obituary mentions that there was a collection of rare sea gulls in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London made by him, as well as a collection of butterflies in the Smithsonian Institute.