Fonds 0496 - Lettington/Hogg fonds

Osborne Hogg was born in Delburne, Alberta and came up to the Peace Country in 1922 with his parents, William and Mary Hogg, four brothers and three sisters. They settled in the Hythe district, living first at Gimle, then near Goodfare. Two of the Hogg boys—Barney and Maurice (Jim)—were well-known bronc riders at the local stampedes, and Osborne often joined them.

One of the stampedes on the Hogg boys circuit was St. Georges Ranch, located on several sections in Township 71, Range 13, midway between Rio Grande and Goodfare, in the Windsor Creek district. The ranch was operated from 1927 to 1938 by the Fred McFadzen family who organized an annual rodeo at the ranch. This was a gala affair concluding with a dance in the evening, and people came from miles around to join in the excitement.

Hannah “Nance” Alice Lettington was born in Winona, Ontario. Her parents came originally from England, and settled in Ontario. Her father was killed in World War I, but as the older children came of age, mother Emily decided to come west with Hannah and her two older siblings, Maud and Alf. They arrived in Hythe, by train, in 1929. Mrs. Lettington took first a homestead in the Southwell district, then a Soldiers Settlement Board grant of a half section of farmland in the Lambert School District near the Hearfield, Fielding and Hayes families who were also from England. This was before the railway was extended to the B.C. border and before Lymburn was established as a railway siding, so they had to walk the six miles up to Brainard for mail and groceries at Pollack’s Store there. In the spring of 1930, the railway line was surveyed and the Pollack family opened a store and post office at the new townsite of Lymburn. This made life easier for the Lettington family, who could now do their shopping at Pollack’s store in Lymburn. Nance walked (or ran, for she was quite a runner) to the nearest one-room school, named Lambert.

Nance married Osborne Hogg in 1933. They farmed in the Lymburn district for four years, but later moved to Turner Valley where he worked as a “Cat” operator for several oil companies. Osborne and Nance returned to Beaverlodge in 1970, where he passed away. Nance passed away in 1984.