Like the nine Reids and the eight Frasers of our grandparents’ day, the Hood family was a large one. Zelma Victoria (Hood) Stevens had three brothers and six sisters.
Unlike the Reids and Frasers, however, we have very little recorded history to document the life of Zelma and Fred Stevens and their six children. A family tree (courtesy Alice's son Brian Burrows) is at least a start, and these posts will essentially be collected photos from Mom's album.
Zelma Victoria was the second child born to Oscar Edmund Hood and Mary Rosana Weir. Her parents came from an area near Oakville, Ontario, and raised their 10 children on a farm near Roseisle, Manitoba at NE-14-06-08W.
The original Hood farm was west of Leary's and Roseisle.
Oscar Edmund Hood
(son of William Hood, 1820-1884 and Louise Wilcox, 1826-1891)
born: June 2, 1862
Trafalgar Township, Halton County, Ontario (present-day Oakville)
died: January 23, 1938
Leary, Manitoba
married: Ontario, Canada
to: Mary Rosana Weir
(daughter of Thomas Weir, d. 1898 and Jane Emerson, d. 1882)
born: Flamboro East Township, Wentworth County, Ontario
(just west of Waterdown)
September 6, 1871
September 6, 1871
died: Leary, Manitoba
October 31, 1938
An 1877 atlas identifies William Hood's property in Trafalgar North Township, Halton County, Ontario.
[Source: McGill Digital Library]
Thomas Weir came from Farnboro Township East, in Wentworth County. Wentworth County is adjacent to, and west of Halton County. The Weir property is just west of Waterdown, which is also in Farnboro Township East.
The very first photo in Mom's photo album is this picture of her grandfather Oscar Edmund Hood driving several of his children.
The caption on the back, in Zelma's hand, reads as follows:
The right-hand drive suggests this car is older than 1912, and the existence of baby Pearl means the photo was likely taken between 1915 and 1917, when Zelma married. It is the only image of Willie (fourth from the left?) we have. There appears to be another sister behind Zelma (perhaps Flossie or Gertie) not named in the caption.
Roseisle Cemetery. Oscar and Mary both died in 1938.
(1) Flossie Myrtle Hood
born: January 23, 1896
died: May 8, 1948
married: November 29, 1915, Roseisle, Manitoba
to: George Saunders (b. 1895, d. ____)
children: Lorne William Saunders
(2) Zelma Victoria Hood
born: March 12, 1898, Leary, Manitoba
died: January18, 1974, Winnipeg, Manitoba
married: November 14, 1917, Roseisle, Manitoba
to: [Clifford] Frederick [or Fredrick] Guise Stevens
(b. 1883 Gravesend, England, d. November 13, 1949 Roseisle, Manitoba)
children: Edmund Guise Stevens, Fredrick Charles Stevens, Hazel Marguerite Stevens, Albert Walter Stevens, Ernest Clifford Stevens, George Wesley Stevens
(3) Oscar Orval Hood
born: Feb. 12, 1900
died: July 28, 1948
(4) Gertrude May Hood
born: June 29, 1902
died: November 24, 1991
married: ___________, Roseisle, Manitoba
to: Valentine Leary (b. ___, d. June 29, 1976)
children: Doreen Leary, Muriel Leary
(5) Mary Louisa Hood
born: August 20, 1904
died: December 12, 1994
married: December 11, 1929, ?? Manitoba
to: Edgar Grant Elsey (b. 1902, d. 1975)
children: Donald Kenneth Elsey
(6) Edmund Amos Hood
born: April 4, 1906
died: October 9, 1989
married: December 28, 1940, Winnipeg, Manitoba
to: Edna Mason (b. June 1, 1909, d. October 1, 1988)
children: Sandra Hood, Barry Hood
(7) William Thomas Hood
born: March 11, 1908
died: December 19, 1931
(8) Alice Elizabeth Hood
born: April 22, 1910
died: July 6, 1997
married: January 28, 1933, Roseisle, Manitoba
to: James Burrows (b. February 28, 1903, d. May 30, 1990)
children: Brian Burrows, Elain Burrows
(9) Grace Evelyn Hood
born: December 4, 1912
died: January 24, 2006
married: September 15 1913, Roseisle, Manitoba
to: Albert Waddingham (b. September 15, 1913, d. October 13, 1984)
children: Leona Ferne Waddingham, Noreen Faye Waddingham, Gloria Jean Waddingham
(10) Viola Pearl Hood
born: November 11, 1915
died: April 19, 2007
married: November 1, 1939, Pilot Mound, Manitoba
to: Dwight Latter Collins (b. February 20, 1919, d. March 27, 2007)
children: David Lloyd Collins, Deanna Marlene Collins, Ronald Dwight Collins, Darrell Wayne Collins
====
ALBUM: Zelma's siblings
Mary (age 15) and Gertie (17) Hood, about 1919
Mary (age 24) and Zelma Hood (age 28) at Sidney, Manitoba.
Zelma had five children by this time (1926).
L-R: Flossie (Hood) Saunders, George Saunders, Mary Hood and Gertie Hood
George Washington Saunders II cutting his father's hair beside the log home in the Pembina hills about 1939. In the doorway are George's wife Flossie and son Lorne.
1942. Mary Hood (1904-1994) married Edgar Elsey (1902-1975) and had one son, Donald Kenneth Elsey.
Viola Pearl Collins (1915-2007), Zelma's youngest sibling, married Dwight Collins (1919-2007), shown here with their son David Lloyd.
David Lloyd Collins with his dad. Another three children (Deanna Marlene, Ronald Dwight, and Darrell Wayne) were to follow.
1942. Zelma with her brother Edmund Amos Hood (1906-1989) and his 7-month-old daughter, Sandra Lynn. Edmund was a pharmacist in Winnipeg, Virden, and Lac du Bonnet.
L-R: Mary, Alice, Pearl, Eveline, and Gertie.
[Photo courtesy Ina Bramadat, Leary, Manitoba]
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