LEST WE FORGET 161 ECKERSLEY, Robert WWI Robert was born on July 10, 1896 (family history says 1894) in Sheffield, England (family history says Caithness County, Scotland) to George and Mavis (Robinson) Eckersley. He had an older sister, Minnie, and a younger brother, Fredrick. Robert’s parents both died when he was six years old, and he was sent to Dr. Barnardo’s School/Orphanage in London. At age eleven, he was sent to Canada to work on a fruit farm near Toronto. He sailed aboard the Dominion from Liverpool and arrived in Portland on March 21, 1906. In 1907, he was sent to Wapella, Saskatchewan. Robert came to the George Hogg farm in the Carnoustie district near Rocanville and lived with the Hoggs for the next ten years. He attended school and since the Hoggs kept the Carnoustie post office, there was mail pick-up as well as other farming jobs. Robert enlisted in the Army on July 26, 1919, in Regina and spent one month in the D.B.S. Regiment before being discharged. Robert worked on various farms in the Rocanville, Tantallon and Welwyn districts until 1934. He married Elsie Caroline Cunday and they moved to a farm in the Carnoustie district until 1963 when they moved to Moosomin. He and his wife had four children. Robert passed away in 1980 and is buried at the Sunset Memorial Cemetery in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. EVANS, William Ewart WWI William was born on September 10, 1896, in England. His father, William Sr., came to Canada from England in 1894 and married Margaret (Marjorie) Jane Millen. They purchased a farm in the Hillburn district near Rocanville. Their family consisted of three boys and one girl. William enlisted in the Army in Moosomin on March 5, 1917, with the No. 6 Forestry Draft. While training in Regina, he was hospitalized for an infected (gangrene) foot and missed going overseas with his unit. He sailed to England with the 249th Battalion aboard the Metagama on December 14, 1917. He was with the Forestry Unit from March 5, 1917, to August 1, 1917, doing railway construction and then was transferred to the 10th Battalion until June 1, 1918. He went to France on August 27, 1918, with the 28th Battalion. He received a large gaping wound in the right neck and shoulder on September 28, 1918, and was in Camiers Hospital. His father was notified that William was seriously ill. William was sent to hospital in Liverpool and was discharged on May 17, 1919. After service, he returned to help his father and brothers farm in Rocanville until at least 1926. William moved to North Star, Alberta with his father and brother Ulrich. His sister, Dorothy, kept house for her father and William.William “Bill” died on May 3, 1975, in Manning, Alberta and he is buried alongside his parents at the North Star Cemetery in Alberta.
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