The Life and Times of Louisa Slater
By Allan Goddard
It has been some time since my last article to the Breton Booster. I had left off the last article in 1911 with Richard Funnell, age 46, obtaining title to his homestead that he had filed on in 1907. At this time he was single and would remain so for another ten years, but in 1921 this would change when a lady by the name of Louisa Slater arrived in the Keystone community.
As mentioned in the article about the Funnell community, the museum had found very little documentation about the Funnell family. As was often the case, much more focus tended to be on the men of the community and their lives. When the museum started to research the Funnell family, in 2012, additional information soon came to light about Richard through his homestead records, conversations with individuals and census records of the time. On the other hand, “Mrs. Funnell” was something of an enigma, all the museum had found was a picture of her in the “Ladder of Time” history book. She had to be more than “Mrs. Funnell” the wife of Richard Funnell. What was her given name, where had she come from, and why had she come to Keystone? At that time the museum didn’t have access to the internet at the museum, so I put my friend Arlene Hedlund hot on the trail to see what she could find out about “Mrs. Funnell”. A few days later she came back with a pivotal document that started to answer some of our questions. Arlene had found a Ship’s Passenger Manifest dated 1921 for a Louisa Slater age 42. While this information alone didn’t prove this was the individual we were looking for, her destination did give us a clue. Louisa indicated on the manifest that her destination was to a friend, Mrs. Kunsman, at Keystone, Alberta… proving we were on the right trail. A quick review of the Kunsman family in the local history book added strength to our theory.
Louisa was born in Fittleworth, Sussex, England about 1879. She was 42 years of age and listed her occupation as a domestic, and intend to take up domestic work in Canada. Another travel record indicated that she sailed on the Empress of France from Liverpool, England and arrived in Quebec City on the 18th of August, 1921, from there she travelled by railway to Alberta.
We have to wonder if there wasn’t a little matchmaking going on previous to her arrival in Keystone. A wedding announcement in the Leduc Representative indicates that on September 1, 1921 Richard and Louisa were married in Leduc, at St Paul’s Anglican Church. The article goes on to say that they will reside at Keystone, Alberta, and mentioned they would be living near Mr. and Mrs. W.B Kunsman, old country friends of the bride.
After their marriage Richard and Louisa settled on his homestead to start a life together. I am sure it must have been somewhat of a shock for Louisa to take up life on a wilderness homestead.
On January 23, 1923 their son John Richard was born in Price Albert Saskatchewan. It is believed that Louisa likely had family in Saskatchewan at the time. Life continued on the homestead over the next ten years, but in October 1933 tragedy struck when Richard Funnell passed away, leaving Louisa a widow with a young son to care for. However hard it was to cope with the challenges of the Depression Louisa and John continued to live on the homestead.
School records indicate that John attended Funnell school during the 1930’s where he completed grade 8. John remained on the homestead after completing his schooling, to help his mother. When World War II started, in the fall of 1939, many young men and women would answer the call to serve their country. In February 1943, at age 20, John travelled to Edmonton and enlisted in the Canadian Army. By 1944, John was in England with the Cape Breton Highlander’s Regiment, and in the fall of 1944 the regiment was sent to Italy. It was here, shortly after their arrival, that John paid the ultimate sacrifice. On October 1, 1944 John Richard Funnell was killed in action. We can only imagine how this must have devastated his mother back in Canada when she received word of his death. The inscription on John’s military headstone succinctly sums up what Louisa must have felt… “No One Knows… Only Aching Hearts Can Tell…Mother”.
During our research I asked Helen Jackson and Daphane Oulton; as young girls what were their memories of Mrs. Funnell. They indicated she was a talkative, small lady about five feet in height, who wore old fashion clothing, with a cameo choker ribbon and a hat.
After the death of her son, Louisa remained in the community for a couple of years, but about 1946 Louisa sold her land to Alfred Jackson Sr. and moved from the community. Louisa returned to Sussex, England, along with her old friend Lily Kunsman after the death of Lily’s husband. Louisa lived out the remainder of her life passing away in 1966 at the age of 88. We can see that Louisa‘s life was not without trials and tribulations, we only hope that her later life was comfortable and close to her family.
As mentioned in the article about the Funnell community, the museum had found very little documentation about the Funnell family. As was often the case, much more focus tended to be on the men of the community and their lives. When the museum started to research the Funnell family, in 2012, additional information soon came to light about Richard through his homestead records, conversations with individuals and census records of the time. On the other hand, “Mrs. Funnell” was something of an enigma, all the museum had found was a picture of her in the “Ladder of Time” history book. She had to be more than “Mrs. Funnell” the wife of Richard Funnell. What was her given name, where had she come from, and why had she come to Keystone? At that time the museum didn’t have access to the internet at the museum, so I put my friend Arlene Hedlund hot on the trail to see what she could find out about “Mrs. Funnell”. A few days later she came back with a pivotal document that started to answer some of our questions. Arlene had found a Ship’s Passenger Manifest dated 1921 for a Louisa Slater age 42. While this information alone didn’t prove this was the individual we were looking for, her destination did give us a clue. Louisa indicated on the manifest that her destination was to a friend, Mrs. Kunsman, at Keystone, Alberta… proving we were on the right trail. A quick review of the Kunsman family in the local history book added strength to our theory.
Louisa was born in Fittleworth, Sussex, England about 1879. She was 42 years of age and listed her occupation as a domestic, and intend to take up domestic work in Canada. Another travel record indicated that she sailed on the Empress of France from Liverpool, England and arrived in Quebec City on the 18th of August, 1921, from there she travelled by railway to Alberta.
We have to wonder if there wasn’t a little matchmaking going on previous to her arrival in Keystone. A wedding announcement in the Leduc Representative indicates that on September 1, 1921 Richard and Louisa were married in Leduc, at St Paul’s Anglican Church. The article goes on to say that they will reside at Keystone, Alberta, and mentioned they would be living near Mr. and Mrs. W.B Kunsman, old country friends of the bride.
After their marriage Richard and Louisa settled on his homestead to start a life together. I am sure it must have been somewhat of a shock for Louisa to take up life on a wilderness homestead.
On January 23, 1923 their son John Richard was born in Price Albert Saskatchewan. It is believed that Louisa likely had family in Saskatchewan at the time. Life continued on the homestead over the next ten years, but in October 1933 tragedy struck when Richard Funnell passed away, leaving Louisa a widow with a young son to care for. However hard it was to cope with the challenges of the Depression Louisa and John continued to live on the homestead.
School records indicate that John attended Funnell school during the 1930’s where he completed grade 8. John remained on the homestead after completing his schooling, to help his mother. When World War II started, in the fall of 1939, many young men and women would answer the call to serve their country. In February 1943, at age 20, John travelled to Edmonton and enlisted in the Canadian Army. By 1944, John was in England with the Cape Breton Highlander’s Regiment, and in the fall of 1944 the regiment was sent to Italy. It was here, shortly after their arrival, that John paid the ultimate sacrifice. On October 1, 1944 John Richard Funnell was killed in action. We can only imagine how this must have devastated his mother back in Canada when she received word of his death. The inscription on John’s military headstone succinctly sums up what Louisa must have felt… “No One Knows… Only Aching Hearts Can Tell…Mother”.
During our research I asked Helen Jackson and Daphane Oulton; as young girls what were their memories of Mrs. Funnell. They indicated she was a talkative, small lady about five feet in height, who wore old fashion clothing, with a cameo choker ribbon and a hat.
After the death of her son, Louisa remained in the community for a couple of years, but about 1946 Louisa sold her land to Alfred Jackson Sr. and moved from the community. Louisa returned to Sussex, England, along with her old friend Lily Kunsman after the death of Lily’s husband. Louisa lived out the remainder of her life passing away in 1966 at the age of 88. We can see that Louisa‘s life was not without trials and tribulations, we only hope that her later life was comfortable and close to her family.
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