Evelyn de Mille Bookstores are cultural windows of our nation. 1 Evelyn Doreen (Orser) de Mille, U.E., Ph D Photo taken in 1995 courtesy of Evelyn demille Evelyn was born in Tristram, Alberta, in 1919 and grew up with her grandparents, Willet Henry Orser and Annie (Haskins) Orser, on their homestead, 28 km east of Ponoka and 12 miles north of Tees. She attended Ellice School.
A photo of the Orser home and Tristram (post office) is shown below. Photo of Tristram Post Office in W. H. Orser family home taken in the spring of 1916, prior to Hullie Orser s departure for overseas and WWI. Left to right: Bruce Stephens, Edmond Price Orser (brother of Willet b. 1862), Willet henry orser, Annie Adelia (Haskins) Orser, Hannah Haskins (Annie Orser s mother), Orval Edmond Orser. Photo courtesy of Evelyn de Mille. Hulbert Henry (Hullie) Orser (1897-1981) was Evelyn s father. He volunteered for duty in WWI with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Company A, Battalion 202, Platoon 2, Regimental # 231733. Hullie was wounded in Passchendaele when he went over the top in charge of a Lewis Machine Gun Unit, with 11 other men. Four of his pals were killed and he was one of six wounded.after spending several months in hospital recovering from his wounds, Hullie was thrilled to know that he had been recommended for the Royal Flying Corp. He was waiting his turn to fly when war ended. 2 While convalescing, Hullie met and married an entertainer from London, England, by the name of Agnes May Pitcher. They moved to the farm in Alberta, a very uncongenial environment for Agnes. A divorce
was to follow. Their daughter, Evelyn, was raised by her Orser grandparents. Of her grandmother Evelyn had this to say; She was a typical homesteader s hard working wife. She provided great food and better-than-average accommodation. 3 Hullie left the farm and went to work in Edmonton for the Caterpillar Tractor Company. In 1931 he met Wiley Post in the Winnie Mae in his first flight around the world. Hullie met Wiley Post a second time in Edmonton on his solo flight around the world when he used a caterpillar tractor to pull the Winnie Mae out of the mud at Edmonton Airport. He remarried in 1935 and in 1936, he was hired by the Northwestern Utilities Company. He was an active baseball player and an award winning member of the Alberta Rifle Association. 2 When Evelyn was 17 years old, she went to Edmonton to complete grade 12. Evelyn married Henry Glenn De Mille (d 1968) in 1940. At age 27 years, Evelyn finally met her mother who was now remarried and living in a Victoria suburb. 3 Evelyn commenced her career with books in the book department at Eaton s in 1945. She left there in 1956 to become the first woman in Alberta to own her own stand-alone bookstore. Grant MacEwan, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, agriculturalist, and historian, helped her paint the walls of her bookstore. She also founded a bookstore chain. She became friends with authors such as Pierre Burton and Farley Mowat (1921-2014) as well as publishers such as Jack McClelland. 3 Along with running her book stores Evelyn was the first female president of the Canadian Booksellers Association (1972) and chair of the annual Canadian Booksellers Association (1973) at the Banff Springs Hotel. Evelyn was named Alberta s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in the lifetime achievement category in 1998 that was followed by an honorary PhD degree (Doctor of Laws) by the University of Calgary in that same year. She has donated her personal and business papers as well as many books to a Special Collection at the University of Calgary that is known as the Evelyn de Mille Collection of Books about Books. 1,3 A celebration of Evelyn s life took place in 2013. Volunteer roles: Initiated Bookseller of the Year Awards 1 Helped found the Book and periodical Development Council of Canada 1 Helped to create a publishing policy for the National Museums of Canada 1 Served on the Board of Directors of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation 1 Secretary-Treasurer of the UELAC Calgary Branch in the 1990s Long-time supporter of Word Fest 3 Books about Books (Evelyn de Mille Collection) at Special Collections, University of Calgary
LOYALIST ANCESTOR INFORMATION Generation 1: Evelyn (Orser) de Mille (1919-2013) Generation 2: Hulbert Orser (b. 1897; d. 1981) Generation 3: Willet Henry Orser (bp. 1858; d. 1935) Generation 4: (Joseph) Jewel Orser (b. 1831) Generation 5: Samuel Orser (b 1788; d. after 1851) Generation 6: Gilbert Orser Generation 7: Joseph Orser (bp. 1725) Joseph Aertse (bp 1725) and his wife, Annetji Jurckes, daughter of Johannes and Rachel (Williams), owned 100 acres (undeeded) on Philips Manor (Yonkers, New York). He bought this for 200 pounds sterling. Joseph and all but one son (the eldest named John) were loyal to the Crown. As a result, the rebels burned their house in 1782 and confiscated their land and belongings that included 30 head of cattle plus horses. With 3 sons in the British army, they moved to New York and headed for Canada at the end of the rebellion in 1783. Joseph died en route. They possibly spent the first winter in Sorel, Quebec and continued on to Adolphustown near Picton, Ontario in 1784. In the spring they received land in No. 1 Township (now Kingston). Evelyn assumes that Gilbert was a farmer. 2, 4 Joseph and Ann s son, Gilbert, received land and married Sarah Wright. Their son, Samuel (b.aug 8, 1788; d. after 1851) married Elizabeth Johnson in 1807. Their son, (Joseph) Jewell Orser (b. Oct.6, 1831) married Elizabeth Phoebe West and gave birth to Willet Henry Orser in Bloomfield, Ontario. 3,4 The Orser church and Orser cemetery are located in Bloomfield. Additional ancestor information: One of the first Dutch immigrants to New Amsterdam was Aert Willemszen who arrived before 1640. His son, Willem, was baptized on August 12, 1640, as the 22 nd child on record in Nieuw Amsterdam. Willem settled as a tenant on the estate of Frederick Philipse and many of Willem s relatives remained there. 4
EMIGRATION WEST OF ONTARIO Willet Henry Orser (bp April 25, 1858; d April 25, 1935) married Annie Adelia Haskins (b 1859; d May, 1942). They and their three sons (Ray, Orval, and Hubert) moved to Alberta. 3 Willet first arrived in the North West Territories (now Alberta) to view the land in the Ellice district in 1896. He selected a homestead and stayed for several years. As a carpenter, he helped to build pioneer buildings in the area including the first school in Lacombe. He returned to Wilberforce, Ontario, to gather together a boxcar of settlers effects and then he and two of his sons (Ray and Orval) returned in the spring of 1903. His wife followed in that summer with their six-year old son, Hullie. 3,5 Three million people came to Canada between 1896 and 1914. Sir Clifford Sifton, new minister of immigration for the Liberal government led by Sir Wilfred Laurier, wanted to open up the Prairies for settlement. He wanted to make Canada look attractive and affordable to people abroad so he offered free land to settlers. 6 The Orsers settled in Tristram, Alberta (29 km east of Ponoka)/ NE 10-42-23-W 4. The family residence changed from a tent, to a one-room shack, to the well-built house shown in a photo above. 2,3 Willet, Annie and Ernest Fry organized the first post office in the area. They called it Tristram and it was officially opened in 1907. The post office was moved to the Orser home in 1908 and Willet was postmaster for 21 years. After that time, mail delivery was made from Bashaw in 1929. Willet also worked as a carpenter, farmer, representative for the National Cream Separator agency, and a road builder. Road building included corduroy roads that were built through sloughs. 3 Annie was employed as a mail delivery person, farmer, no-nonsense mother and grandmother, and soap maker. 3 1905: Alberta becomes a province. On September 1, 1905, Willet and two of his sons (Orval and Hullie) attended Inauguration Ceremonies in Edmonton. Their area was becoming the Province of Alberta. They got up at 2:00 am, milked the cows, travelled by buggy to Ponoka, and caught the train carrying people from Calgary to Edmonton. They had to be ferried across the Saskatchewan River to see the parade that included Governor General Earl Grey and Lady Grey, Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier and G.H.V. Belyea who was to be sworn in as Alberta first Lieutenant-Governor. 20,000 people attended. At the end of the day, they repeated the trip by ferry, train, and buggy in order to return home to milk the cows. 3
Evelyn notes a 2001 Centennial Publication: The Canadian Pacific Railway built a branch line east of Lacombe in 1904 and reached Tees, September 25 th, 1905, opening mail distribution to the area. Tristram post Office opened in the Orser home, July 15 th, 1908 and was closed June 30 th, 1929 when mail delivery to rural mail boxes became the new way. 2 A photo of the family is shown below. Seated are Evelyn s grandparents, Annie Adelia (Haskins) Orser and Willet Henry Orser. Their sons standing left to right are John Ray Orser (23 yrs), Orval Edmond Orser (28 yrs), and Hulbert Henry Orser (13 yrs). This photo was taken in Lacombe in 1910. Evelyn states, It must have taken one and a half days to travel the 35 miles by horse and buggy from the homestead to Lacombe and back. Photo courtesy of Evelyn de Mille Literature Cited 1. Evelyn de Mille, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/002026-293-e.html 2. Mecca Glen Centennial Committee, Mecca Glen Memories, ACCU, Ponoka, 2001. 3. Evelyn de Mille, Personal Communication. 4. Turner, Daniel, The Orser Book, 1975. 5. Stephen Davidson, Joseph Orser, U.E., Dead on Arrival, Loyalist Trails Newsletter, August 21, 2011. 6. http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/pioneers/pioneers11_e.html