Martha "Jean" Bray and Sheffield Spiers (seated) - Oct 10, 1900Standing - George Bray, Effie Madill
OBITUARY - Joseph Sheffield Spiers passed away at the Fort Hospital, Comox, B.C., Sunday July 14, 1957. Mr. Spiers was born in Muskoka District, Ontario, November 9, 1879.
He is predeceased by his wife, Martha Jean, who died in March of last year, and survived by two sisters, Mrs. Millie Bradley of New Liskeard, Ontario and Mrs. Lina Sims of Bracebridge, Ontario; one daughter, Mrs. E. Head of Toronto and eight sons, Melville of Hamilton, Ont., Leonard of Calgary, Alberta, John, Percy and Hartley of Vancouver and New Westminster, B.C., Carrol, Ron and Vernon of Campbell River, B.C.; 22 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at the Sutton Funeral Home on July 17 and interment made in the Campbell River Cemetery
MOVING WEST
By Lee Spiers
Sheffield Spiers and Jean Bray were married in Stisted Township, near Huntsville, Ontario, on October 10, 1900. On May 10 the following spring they, in the company of Jean's sister Edith and parents Martha and Joseph Bray, landed at the mouth of Wabi Creek at New Liskeard. They had travelled by rail to Mattawa, on the Ottawa River, then by spur line to the head of the river rapids. Here they transferred their possessions on board the steamer "Meteor" which plied the length of Lake Temiskaming; the fare from the transfer point to New Liskeard was $4.50 per person.
Joe Bray, a carpenter by trade, built a house in New Liskeard for his wife and Edith until he could build a family home in Kerns Township. In the meantime, Sheffield and Jean Spiers established temporary quarters in the Village of Highland until they too could acquire a farm in that district. Mabel, their oldest child (and only girl) of a family of nine was born at Highland in 1901. They farmed in Kerns Township until 1919, except for a short time in 1904-5 when they returned to Stisted Township. Their second son, Carrol, was born in Stisted but the other eight children were all born in the Temiskaming district. In October of 1919 they returned to Stisted Township where they farmed until moving into Huntsville a few years later. During the time they lived in Huntsville, Sheff worked in the lumber camps during the winter and in the spring of the year would open up the dozen or so summer cottages on Skeleton Lake for the owners. He would also do any needed repairs to the cottages and to the motor boats that were in use at that time. He would deliver supplies to these cottages as needed as well as supplying transportation for summer guests. In the autumn he would store the boats away and generally prepare the cottages for the coming winter.
By the mid 1920's the older boys were away from home most of the time, working in the bush during the winter and spring, and travelling as far as Saskatchewan to look for work during the harvest season. In September of 1929, Sheff and Jean left Ontario and took up a temporary residence near Willowbunch, Saskatchewan, where their eldest son Ron and family were farming. The next year, 1930, they moved to Greenan, Saskatchewan, the area where their second son, Carrol, and his family, were farming.
After a series of years of unfavourable weather conditions, and with work not being available on the farms due to poor crop yields, Sheff yielded to his love of the bush country and, in 1934, moved to Garrick in northern Saskatchewan where he established a homestead. In 1939, several of their sons had moved to British Columbia, and so they sold the homestead and, hoping that the west coast climate would be beneficial to his asthma, moved to Vancouver. Here Sheff obtained work as a janitor for Woodwards Department Store, but soon left that position for one in a Boeing Aircraft Plant that specialized in producing the wooden spars used in the manufacture of the Mosquito fighter-bomber.
In 1944, Sheff and Jean made their final move to Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, since a doctor had suggested that conditions away from the city might be better for his asthma. Here they lived on a small farm (sometimes referred to as their "stump ranch") while Sheff worked for the Provincial Public Works Department. Later, when the Village of Campbell River was incorporated, he worked for that municipality. Jean passed away in 1956 and, until his death the following year, Sheff resided with his son Vernon and family in Campbell River.
