Historic Homes & Families – 110 Prospect Cres. Lumsden, SK

William E. (Ed) Cooney was born in 1855 in rural Ontario. Ed was the eldest of six siblings recorded as living with their parents and farming in Haldimand sub-district of Northumberland West District, in eastern Ontario in the 1881 Census. Their youngest sister, then 8 years old, was apparently not recorded at that time. The largest population centre of Northumberland County was and is Cobourg on Lake Ontario. All seven siblings subsequently made their way to the Lumsden area and were well-known residents.

Most accounts indicate that Ed was one of a group of about 7 men from the Cobourg, ON area who arrived at “Old Crossing” on Wascana Creek on 24 May 1882. They had travelled by rail through the United States, crossing into Manitoba then continuing to the end of steel of the transcontinental railroad which had reached about 150 miles west of Winnipeg at that time. They then continued west overland with livestock, wagons, provisions and farming equipment to Old Crossing which was so-named because it was where the historic trail from Fort Qu’Appelle to Wood Mountain crossed Wascana Creek. The area had been an Indian rendezvous site and the location of a buffalo jump. There was a large collection of buffalo bones in the area. The settlers chose this area because some of their party had been to the area in 1881 as members of a survey party laying out the lands for the anticipated rush of settlers when the railway arrived. A celebration of their arrival with a picnic and sports day at the site on the 24th of May was a major social event for many years thereafter.

It was the practice of some early settlers from Ontario to return to their Ontario roots during the winter then bring a carload of quality livestock with them when they returned. The Leader (newspaper) of 5 February 1889 reported that “Ed Cooney has gone east to bring back a carload of horses in the spring.” Ed was recorded as farming with his brother, Benjamin, and sisters, Caroline, Rachel and Margaret, in the Wascana district in 1891. His brother, George, was recorded as living nearby. Together they were farmed 1120 acres and owned 11 horses and 22 cattle.

The arrival of the Cobourg-Wascana group was commemorated by a plaque mounted on a cairn built at the site in 1955. Unfortunately, the plaque contains many errors and Ed Cooney’s name was omitted in the printing. Perhaps anticipating such a slight, the inscription on his headstone in the Lumsden Cemetery includes: “PIONEER MAY 24 1882” so we can assume that he was one of the original party.

By 1911 Ed is recorded as living in Lumsden with his wife, Ellen (who immigrated to Canada from England in 1905). According to census data at the time, his occupation is listed as “none” - he was thus retired by age 52. Ed served on the Lumsden Town Council in 1917 and from 1920 to 1925. Ed passed away in 1935 and Ellen in 1948. The couple had no children.