These early memories of the area were written by Alice (Hood) Burrows, whose family lived across the road from Leary School. This account was written in 1967. At that time, Edith Leary was living in Altamont and Donald Leary had not yet moved back to the farm.
[info in brackets from Ina Bramadat]
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| Mary, Alice, Pearl, Eveline and Gertie Hood, 1962 Photo courtesy Ina Bramadat, Roseisle |
Mr. and Mrs. George Leary and family -- George, Charles Evan, William, Loretta and Valentine -- came to this valley in the 1900s from Winnipeg, where Mr. Leary had a government position. Mr. Leary was Irish, and most of the family grew up tall and straight like him, proud of their ancestry. Mrs. Leary came from a farm in the Ager district, south of Rosebank, where the Ager School had been named after his father. Mr. G. Leary had visited his uncle and family on a farm near Nelsonville, or Old Nelson, on occasions, and had met the Ager family and his future wife there. [Correction: As noted above, it was George himself who homesteaded and lived at Nelsonville.]
There was no railway when Mr. Leary came, but mud bricks were manufactured for the housing trade. [Note: The railway was completed west from Roseisle through the valley in 1903.] In 1905 a complete brickyard opened up; and it became a thriving business, as there was plenty of clay at hand.
Three men -- Mr. Roblin Sr. of Winnipeg, Mr. Rodgers, of Winnipeg, ad Mr. Leary might be credited to this, and the bricks were named Dominion Press Bricks. Later, Mr. Leary bought it out, and the name 'Learys' was stamped on each brick made. [Note: The brickyard was initially established as the Boyne Valley Brick Works in 1902, likely with government assistance; then in partnership with Roblin and others and finally, in 1910, the family bought out the partnership. George Sr., Armintha, J.S. George and Charles Evans are named on early letterheads.]
Mr. and Mrs. G. Leary and family lived in a big white house. It had many rooms and Mrs. Leary boarded the men working at the brickyard, and she also kept the post office after the railway came through. She had as her helper, Mrs. Lena Masters, and Mrs. Masters had a daughter, Violet. [Note: The post office opened in 1911. Ev Leary was postmaster from 1911 to 1912; Armintha from 1913 to 1945 when the post office closed.]
George, the eldest son, managed this plant for a number of years, later a second son, Charles Evan, and many years later, William. George, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Leary married Miss Simpson, and they had three children -- Gordon, Winston and Floyd. Hi wife, Mrs. Leary, was a good organist, and later played for church on Sundays. They lived in a large brick house which they built, just to the west of the boarding house. Their barn and outside buildings were also brick.
Charles Evans, second son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Leary, or 'Ev' to most who knew him, married a tiny doll-like girl named Mabel. They lived to the east and north across the valley from the brickyard by the river.
Ev had the first car around, and some of us can remember a man getting his foot cut. The neighbours called on Ev to take him to Carman. Later that night Ev heard his car horn blow, and, looking out the window, he saw a bear carrying away the rug that the man's foot had bled on. In those days, the car [horn] was a large rubber ball, and in order to blow the horn, you would squeeze the ball.
Later, Ev built a large brick house with screened-in veranda on two sides, to the west of the old house, and across the valley from the other homes. This was a lovely large home, and the family had one son, Allan.
It was the chore of the Hood boys to take milk down every evening to the Ev Learys, and two of them can remember one evening when they were to take the milk down and wait for their mother. She had gone with the Learys in their car that day. While waiting at the front of the house, they heard the crunching of bones. They kept as quiet as they could until the car arrived, and they found it was a mother bear eating at the bones that had been thrown out. The two boys, who were not very big, were often afraid to go down with the milk at night because of lynx, though they would never say they were afraid.
One year, the Indians came in and killed off the bear and lynx for skins. [Note: When George and Armintha bought the valley land, they decided to spend a night tenting on their new property. In the morning, they found bear hairs on the guy wires of the tent. The land was heavily treed at that time. In later years, an occasional bear or cougar would pass through the area.]
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| Leary Station |
Just about 1/4 mile up the valley, clay was taken out of the hills for Carman Tile and Sewer Pipes. About 1-1/2 miles west from Learys a cement plant opened up. Mr. Babcock of Winnipeg owned the property, so the station there was called Babcock. There were several buildings there besides the cement plan. ... Children living in the valley would often walk up to Babcock and go through the mines when the men were not working. The mines were very dark and damp. We all liked to visit Mrs. Gordon, who would play the latest music on the piano for us, and soon have us singing with her. It was sad for us all, when she took pneumonia, and in spite of having Dr. McGavin from Carman, she died.
In 1911, a small school was built, just up at the top of the hill, west of the valley, and it was named Learys. The school was a very nice building, with plastered walls and many large windows, with one small window of many colours above each large window. And by each window was a lamp in a bracket on the wall. It also had a library, porch and woodshed. It always looked so nice, especially at night, when the lamps were all lit, and shined up for an occasion such as the Christmas concert. Folks always turned out well. Lunch was served and there was no fee charged.
Some of the pupils who went to Leary School were -- Bill, Val, and Etta Leary, Violet Maters, Catherine and John Taylor, Lena Vandall, Flossie, Zelma, Orval, Gertrude, Mary and Edmud Hood, Margaret and Willie Fleming (Babcock), Doreen and Muriel Leary, Nellie, Albert and Lillian Clarke, who lived 1-1/2 miles east of Learys on the Tremblay place [south of Tremblay's on the "Clarke Place"], the Labossiere family, who lived at the foot of the hill from the school, Encontre family, who lived at the top of the hill, south from Learys. Bryson, Donald, Ina, Alvin and Carl Leary, [and] Tremblays.
The first teacher at Learys was Miss Elizabeth Hardy from Babcock, daughter of Mrs. Gordon from a previous marriage. Miss Hardy also gave music lessons to Flossie and Zelma Hood, who later played for church and Sunday School, held in Learys School. A minister drove up Sundays from Roseisle with horse and buggy to conduct services.
Some of the teachers who taught at Leary School were Miss E. Hardy (Babcock), Miss C. Cook and Miss Humphrey (Roseisle), Miss Graham (Winnipeg), Miss H. Miner (Altamont), Miss Georgina Fleming (Babcock), Mr. Mills (Winnipeg), Miss E. Saunders (Roseisle), Miss E. Lowry (Roseisle), Miss E. Fraser (Altamont), Miss A. Medlicott (Altamont), Miss M. Armitage (Altamont), Miss E. Massey (Selkirk), Miss J. Keith (Roseisle), Mr. R. Moffat (Portage la Prairie), Miss Davidson (Winnipeg), Miss A. McGillvary (Gilbert Plains), Miss A. Simon (Rathwell), Mrs. [Helen] Tranq, before her marriage [to local farmer Dan Tranq]. [Note: Augustine Simon married Arthur Chateau, and they lived in the old Hood house; she taught at Leary School for 12 years in the 1930s and '40s. Other teachers included Constance Pelly (Notre Dame de Lourdes), Hugette Vigier (Notre Dame de Lourdes), Beulah McNevin (Winnipeg); also Edith Leary, after Bill Leary died.]
Learys was quite a lively place to live when the brick plant was running, and the cement works were in operation [at Babcock]. The shift whistle, for the men, could be heard from both places, across the valley and hills.
In 1912, the Leary family went to Chilliwack, B.C. and returned in 1914. War came in 1914 and William, or Bill to most who knew him, was the first to enlist [first student from Brandon College]. Bill became a Captain, and received medals. We can recall hearing how his gas mask slipped off one day while leading his men in battle, and the effects were to prove damaging to his health in later years. [1] When Bill came back from the war he started farming. His farm was situated just up the top of the hill, to the south of the valley. Valentine, the youngest of the Leary family, or Val as most knew him, enlisted shortly after Bill, and he also started farming on a farm adjoining Bill's farm, to the east, after the war. ...
By now, Mr. and Mrs. G. Leary had moved over to the Ev Leary home. Ev moved away, had lost his wife, and had Allan to raise. G. Leary and family had also moved away. There didn't seem to be sale for bricks. [Note: WWI saw decreased construction on the home front; also manpower was not available with all eligible men in armed forces.] Loretta Leary, or Etta, as most knew her, married Rod Ager and they farmed two miles west and north across the tracks from Roseisle. They had one son, John, who taught school for awhile, went into the army, married, and is now (1967) a guard at Stony Mountain Penitentiary. Mr. and Mrs. Rod Ager retired in the F. Ager home in Roseisle.
Valentine Leary, or Val, to most who knew him, married Gertrude Hood, a few years after the war, and lived for a short time in the valley. They later moved to Belmont, and Baldur where Val worked in a garage. Later they moved to their homestead, approximately 1-1/2 miles west of the valley, until they retired two years ago [1965] and moved to Treherne. They have two daughters, Doreen and Muriel who attended Leary School and later went through for nurses at Selkirk and married there.
Ev Leary married again many years later, a lovely person and a teacher, They came back to the valley, and lived for a few years with their children, John and Pearl. Ev was a very good violin player, his wife was also good at the violin and piano. Etta was well schooled in music and Bill and Val played the violin also. They were a musical family and many pleasant evenings were spent there.
Bill Leary married E. Fraser of Altamont, years after the war, and they lived in the G. Leary home for awhile [brick house near brickyard] and later moved to the Ev Leary home. Later Bill had a large brick home built there [first house burned]. They had five children -- Bryson, Donald, Ina, Alvin and Carl. They all attended school at Learys and years later moved to Altamont.
When World War II came, Bill Leary joined up immediately and went overseas. [Note: Bill joined up, but because of age and earlier injuries, served on the home front and the Veterans' Guard and headed up a Mobile Recruiting Unit in Northwest Ontario and Manitoba.] A few years later, Bill hired local men and they cleared up the old brick factory and got the machinery running and once again, they made good bricks at Learys.
All went well for a few years. Bill's family had grown up -- Bryson and Carl moved to the North West Territories [North Alberta and Yukon] and were forest rangers there. Donald taught school. Ina went to United College [U of M] and married a classmate. Alvin is in the army, is married and is in Germany at the present time [1967]. By this time, Mr. G. Leary had passed away, and Mrs. Leary lived with her daughter and son-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Rod Ager, in Roseisle.
The Leary School closed, and was sold and moved to Graysville, where it is used as a shop. [Emil Tranq says the school was torn down and the material used to build a shop; says he saw the demolition.]
As I remember, the Leary district was mostly English, but French lived to the west of Hoods'. Though the French were represented in the school, by their trustees, the majority were English folk, and they had English teachers. Gradually there were fewer English, and more French, and toward the end, the school was run by French folk, who hired French teachers. [Note: By the late 1940s, Catholic Francophone students were in a majority. All teaching was in English but periodically, Father Picot from St. Lupicin, three miles distant, came with his horse and buggy -- or sleigh, depending on the time of year -- for religious teaching. The protestant, English-speaking students (all Learys by that time) were sent home a half hour earlier than usual. We were always pleased to get out early on those days. -- IJB]
In the year of 1967, with spring approaching, I believe there to be only one family living 1/4 - 1/2 mile west of Learys in the hills. They are Mrs. Tranq and her son. Besides his own farm, Mr. Tranq [Emile] farms the land belong to Mrs. Wm. Leary and also the farm belonging to Ed Hood, to the north.
Notes
[1] Bill Leary's impressive WWI war record can be viewed here:
http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B5490-S048
[2] As Ina Bramadat adds: "In the 1960s, there was an influx of artisans into the area. Donald Leary returned with his family to the family farm and Edith Leary moved a cottage back to the site of the brick house where she and Bill Leary had begun their married life, just west of the brickyard. Ina (Leary) and her husband Kelvin Bramadat retired on a parcel of land on the NE 1/4 of the original Leary property. Bryson and his wife Jean retired in nearby Altamont. Several families now live in the valley. Cross-country ski trails were cut and groomed throughout much of the valley."
Sources
(1) Text courtesy Brian Burrows, Miami, MB
(2) Photos: Ina Bramadat, Roseisle, Manitoba, used in 2018 report by David Butterfield
