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Record #2739

Name :: : Clifford Norman CLARKE (1887 - 1970)
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 1887
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: : 1970

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Warwickshire, Rugby

Abode (2) : Place of Death / BurialCanada, Alberta, Calgary

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 3 May 1902
Country: : Canada
Ship: : Tunisian
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Shaftesbury/Bisley Farm School

NotesA birth registration was found for Clifford Clarke; Year of Registration: 1887; Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec; District: Rugby; County: Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire; Volume: 6d; Page: 512.

Family tradition has it that Norman Clarke's farm failed (sometime around 1892-1893) and the family was split up.

In 1902, Clifford Clarke, 14, arrived at Quebec, Canada, along with a group of Roman Catholic children from the Liverpool Catholic Children?s Protection Society, 99 Shaw Street, Liverpool, England, en route to St Vincent Rescue School, 11 St. Thomas Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Brother Cecil Clark, 10, arrived on the Tunisian with Barnardos, along with 101 other children in 1900.) (SUBMITTERS NOTE: Clifford was actually one of five Shaftesbury "Old Boys" from the Shaftesbury farm/school in Surrey. Shaftesbury used other agencies to transport their boys abroad when they were ready. They were escorted by an Anglican group called the SPCK (Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge) to Shaftesbury receiving homes in Canada. The particular party were sent to a farm near Ingersoll, Ontario where some were later sent on to Winnipeg and assigned to farms in that area. Some were assigned to farms in Ontario and some to the prairies.)

Clifford Clarke obtained a homestead grant in Alberta: CLARKE, Clifford Norman; Section 12; Township 19; Range 20; Meridian Film #2785 in Accession #1970.313 at Provincial Archives of Alberta
File #1436164.

He wrote a short sketch about obtaining his homestead, which was published in the book "Snake Valley : a History of Lake McGregor and area," pages 228-233:

"CLIFFORD N. CLARKE

It was the fall of 1911 that my brother and I started out from the town of Gleichen with a team of horses and a light wagon to try and find a small grazing lease which we had seen advertised for sale. As we had recently acquired a few head of cattle, we were interested in finding a location for them, and thought that this might be the opportunity we were looking for. This lease was advertised as being about 45 miles south and east of Gleichen, and the legal description given.

We started out early and headed south across the railway track, and took the trail to the bridge across the Bow River. From then on it was all open range land; the few trails there were, branched off in every direction, presumably leading to the various ranch headquarters that were established at that time. We decided that after crossing the bridge our course would be directly south-east. It was all open country, which allowed for travelling in any direction without running into many road-blocks.

While working on a survey part the previous year, I had met a Mounted Policeman who had travelled many times on the open course, in any direction, by using the grass itself as a guide. He explained how the prairie grass always lies to the south-east and can be easily followed, especially where the grass is thick and underlaid with the old "bottom" or the previous year's growth, and that, by taking this angle as a fixed line, one can, with fair accuracy, travel in any direction.

We found several trails which we had to disregard, but eventually came to one which seemed to be going in our direction, and after following it for some distance, we were rewarded in finding that it led to a set of ranch buildings where we hoped to be able to check our course. This turned out to be the Brown Ranch in the Buffalo Hills; and was the home of Kitty and Susan Brown who were so well known at that time as expert cowgirls who could hold their own with any cowboy on the range. We were invited to stay for a while but as we had everything with us that we needed, we decided to travel on for a few more miles before stopping for lunch. After being assured that we were going in the right direction, we continued on until noon, when we unhitched, fed the horses, then ate our own lunch beside a slough. After a good rest, we continued on our way. It was all open country ahead, as far as eye could see. As the day wore on and still nothing but prairie was in sight, we began to wonder whether we had kept on the right course, as, according to our travelling time, we should have been within 15 miles of our destination. As we topped the ridge ahead of us, however, we were surprised to find that we were coming into a settlement which turned out to be a "homestead" district, and we were soon headed into a road allowance which took us to the 'now' Majorville post office. It was a welcome sight, and we at least knew that we were not entirely lost, so continued on our way eastward and arrived at the west boundary of the settlement. It was no beginning to get dark and we realized that we soon would be in open country again. As we were going around a bend in the trail, we saw a light in a small shack, so decided it would be a good chance to find out where we were. We pulled up to the building and a small, elderly lady came out to meet us, and this in itself was a surprise. But when her husband joined her, we all got a real jolt as they were old friends of ours whom we had last seen and worked with at the George Ross Ranch a few miles south of Calgary.

(Mr. and Mrs. Cutforth had recently come out from England to work at the Ross Ranch, Mr. Cutforth being in charge of the management of the main residence. This was more of a "Dude Ranch" than anything else, having its own race track and polo grounds and, consequently, making it a favorite meeting place for Calgary sportsmen, many of whom were Old Country remittance men.)

It was a strange coincidence that we should meet these people away out there in the wilderness as they were the most unlikely couple one could expect to find under such circumstances. They were both past middle age with little or no experience as to the requirements of a primitive country such as it was at that time. They had each raised their own separate families before uprooting themselves from their homeland, and now they were facing, with indomitable courage, the challenge of survival on this rugged frontier, far removed from the centre of civilization.

It was our good fortune to have met the Cutforths at this time, as they knew the place we were trying to find, and told us that there was a faint trail and that it was only about three miles father on. It was now getting dark, so we decided to go on. We had no trouble finding the place, which was not very inviting. The few buildings which had been there were a total wreck, but hte old shack still had most of its roof, which would give us some shelter fo rthe night. Lighting our lanterns, we fed and watered our horses and covered them with blankets for the night, then made a camp fire and enjoyed a good meal ourselves, after which we were quite ready to unroll our blankets and "call it a day." The last sound we heard was a lone coyote howling on a nearby hill.

By the time we awoke it was getting daylight. We fed and harnessed the horses, then cooked ourselves a good breakfast, camp fire style. After a good look around, we packed up and started for home as we had found nothing which would be of any value to us. We were not very disappointed, however, as we had the satisfaction of having been able to find the place for which we had been looking. We started early as we had promised the Cutforths that we would visit them on the return trip, and were looking forward to seeing them again. As we drove into their yard, their collie dog came bounding out ot give us a friendly welcome, and, at their invitation, we unhitched the horses and tied them to the wagon. They took us into their small one-roomed house, which served as bedroom, living room and kitchen. It was a small place to contained so many convenience, but there seemed to be room for everything. Mrs. Cutforth served coffee in a large silver coffeepot which, no doubt, was a relic of former days. She served us thick cream with the coffee, homemade bread and lemon curd, and out there, in that remote spot, we found ourselves injoying a little of that cultured atmosphere which will always have a distinctive meaning of its own.

The Cutforths told us that it was their second year of homesteading. They had made wonderful progress as they had a comfortable cabin, a small barn with loft for their four horses, and milk cow, and also a good chicken house. The land (160 acres) was all fenced, with several acres under cultivation. Their first few acres of crop were still in the field waiting to be threshed. Although ti would be forty miles at least to the nearest elevator, ti would be a "red letter" day when the first load of wheat would be hauled into town with team and wagon to be sold for whatever price it would bring.

Regardless of all the hardships in the life of a pioneer, I believe that these people had found more contentment and real purpose in life than they had ever known before. Mrs. Cutforth was one of those high-spirited women with lots of grit, and would take a "pot shot" with her single barrelled shotgun at any coyote or chicken hawk which happened to come into the yard.

It was when we were ready to leave for town tht the Cutforths told us of a half section of land which had been vacant for a long time, without any improvements having been made, and they thought that it might have been abandoned, in which case it would again be open for homesteading. They were able to give us the legal location of this land, so we decided to go to Calgary and inquire about it. As we said "good bye" we had a feeling that we would meet again. The country seemed to take on a different meaning as we took the homeward trail. It must have been a prolific buffalo country as there were still plenty of skulls scattered over the vast prairie.

After getting back to town we took the first train to Calgary in order to find out about our "prospect." At the land office we were told that the time had expired in which improvements should have been made, so we filled out our application which would not become effective for six months. The original parties were to be notified and if no action was taken during this period, their claim would be forfeited. We could do nothing else but wait and see what happened, so we went back to Gleichen where we rented a cabin and stable for our horses. Another cowboy joined us, which made a good setup for the winter.

Early in March, I took a job with my team hauling telegraph poles from the railway tracks to a farm south of the Gleichen bridge. These poles were to be material for a big barn which I was also to build. It was while we were working on this project that we received a letter from the Land Office advising us that the land was now open. We took the train to Calgary where we filed our separate claims and paid our registration fee of $10.00. My brother filed on teh NW1/4 while I took the NE1/4 12-19-20.

We were happy to know that we now had a place which we could call our own. When I finished building the barn at Gleichen I was asked to build three miles of fence and seed 40 acres to wheat. The payment for this work was a great help in getting us started on the homestead, and early in June we were ready to take possession of our land. We loaded all the lumber we could haul, together with our camping equipment, and set out on teh long trek to the place where we were to build our first home.

I will always remember that day in June, 1912, as we came in sight of a landmark which we recognized as part of the land on which we had recently filed our claim. It was then that we turned off the faint prairie trail to make our own tracks, and were soon crossing the boundary line near the NW corner mound. We stopped to check the legal description which was plainly marked on teh iron stake in the centre of the mound. We continued on until we found a favorable camping spot within easy distance of a slough of clean water.

We arrived at 6 p.m. which gave us plenty of time to put up our tents and arrange our camping equipment before dark. The horses had made the long, hard trip in good shape, and after getting rid of their harness and enjoying a good roll, they were ready to start grazing on the abundance of fresh grass that covered the whole country. After finishing our chores, we too enjoyed our first meal at our new home. As the sunset deepened into a lingering twilight, we were ready to crawl into our blankets and "call it a day."

When we awoke in the morning we were surprised to find that we had "company." An Indian and his squaw had come into the tent during the night and were now sound asleep! We looked outside and saw their wagon and hobbled horses not far away. They stayed with us until after breakfast, then went on their way across the hills to the south in the direction of the Blood Indian Reserve. Neither of them could speak a word of English. It was lucky for us that they were not on the warpath as there might have been a couple of "made in England" scalps missing!

As far as I know, these were the last two homesteads to be settled in the Majorville district."

Clifford Clarke remained in the district until 1923, at which time he had an auction sale, and although it was in the early part of March, and a bitterly cold day with many roads plugged, there was still a good attendance.

Clifford Clarke married and moved to Calgary in 1923. He had four daughters and one son, all of whom married and continued to live there.

Clifford Norman Clarke, insurance agent, ran for parliament in 1949, under the banner of the Social Credit Party in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Clifford Norman Clarke died in 1970. He is buried in Queens Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

ContributorsCreated : 2009-01-11 19:21:12 / From original database

Last Updated : 2019-01-07 16:32:56 /

Family History ResearchersRootsChatters with family connections to Clifford Norman CLARKE:

Andy_C

Readers Comments

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 4 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
2739	CLARKE, Clifford Norman	1887	ENG, WAR, Rugby	May 1902 : Tunisian	CAN	Shaftesbury/Bisley Farm School	Andy_C
10636	HOPCRAFT, Bernard	1908	ENG, , Rugby	May 1922 : Montrose	CAN	Waifs & Strays
22765	LAY, Charles William Alfred	1906	ENG, WAR, Rugby	May 1920 : Minnedosa	CAN	Middlemore
11003	PETTIFER, Albert	1909	ENG, , Rugby	May 1920 : Minnedosa	CAN	Middlemore

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