Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon

By Ruth Jones

My grandfather, George Jackson, came to the Cheadle district in 1908 from Kirkintilloch, Scotland. He was hired as property manager for a couple of wealthy cattle barons from Chicago by the name of Stewart and Alexander. They had purchased three sections of land in the Cheadle district, a farming district between Strathmore and Carseland, just about 8 miles north of the Carseland weir on the Bow River.

When my Grandfather arrived on the train and got off and went to see the land, he fell in love with it. He must have been homesick for Scotland because it reminded him of the song, Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon, so he called the farm "Bonnie Doon", a name that is still in use.

My brother, third generation, lives on the farm now and my mother, Margaret Jones, nee Jackson, who is still living at age 89, still owns part of the land. My sister, Gwen Warrack, nee Jones, and her husband Bruce own some of it too, and farm the entire place, except where the old home place is, which is where my brother Jim Jones lives.

My grandfather was assigned the task of buying a herd of registered Aberdeen Angus purebred cattle, which took him to Chicago where he gathered the animals on behalf of his employers. While there, he met my grandmother, May Sharp, an American gal whose ancestors fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was smitten and they soon wed and he brought her back to Cheadle with him. They lived in a granary while they built their home (still occupied by my brother). The home was purchased in a "package" from the Eaton's catalogue and was delivered on the train in Langdon. They had four children, 3 boys and 1 girl (my mother) by 1916.

During the flu epidemic after WWI, my grandmother became very ill and developed consumption. Grandpa sent her back to Chicago with the children to be cared for by her parents, as he was too busy on the farm to look after her. There my mother and her brothers enrolled in school and she eventually died of her affliction. My grandpa was heartbroken. He was with her in Illinois when she died in his arms. He didn't know what to do. His sister-in-law Renie Sharp offered to come back to Cheadle with him and the children to help him with his handful. He quickly accepted her offer, and it wasn't long before they were wed in the yard and Bonnie Doon and the family circle was once again complete.

My mother has told me many stories about growing up at Bonnie Doon. When she wed my Dad, a Welsh immigrant in 1942, they moved to Vancouver, where I and my siblings were born. In 1952, my grandpa, being of failing health, asked my mother and dad to come back to Cheadle to help him farm Bonnie Doon. We did, and I got to experience first-hand the idyllic childhood that my mother had described myself. My parents retired from the farm in 1972 and moved to Calgary. My father passed away in 1990 and my mother continues to live in their home in Collingwood in NW Calgary. She is a marvel and has one of the most optimistic natures I have ever encountered. She is, as we all are, hoping and praying to make it to Alberta's Centennial.