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- The Reverend Thomas Wettenhall Rogers family lived sixteen miles south ofWolseley on 36-15-9, west of the second for many years. Mr. Rogers hadbeen born in Sussex, England in 1874 and came to Canada as a young man.He had procured work in the Grenfell post office for a few years, afterwhich he bought a homestead for $10 in the Baring district. On the first of July, 1896 he married Miss Agnes Fotheringham, who hadtaught school at different points in the Grenfell area. She was born atMerriton, Ontario, on the 29th of March, 1874 and had come west with herparents, one sister and five brothers in 1884. Mr. Fotheringham and theolder brothers built a sod house to live in until such time presenteditself that they could build one from lumber. For farm power for cultivating their land they used one pony and one ox,a far cry from the very large and modern equipment we see working theland in this day and age. Mr. Fotheringham taught school in the Moffat district and preached inchurch services in various homes close to Bonnie Brae, his home. He andhis sons built the Kirkfield Presbyterian Church in 1885 some threemiles from their home beside what is now known as #47 highway. Thechurch was burn down in April 1951 by a prairie stubble fire that got out of control andcompletely wiped out the church and all its contents and today a stonecairn stands close to where the church was built. Among the treasuredthings destroyed was a very large and beautiful Bible given to the churchby Andrew T. Fotheringham, on the fly leaf of which was a scroll done by J. T. M.Anderson who was principal of the Grenfell School, and later Premier ofSaskatchewan. All that is left now is a little cemetery, where some of the followingnames may be found: Gaw, McNabb, Frances, Gates, Auld, Orr, Rogers,Turner, Balding, Fotheringham, Telfer, Anderson. In the Centennial year, 1967, a stone cairn was placed on the site of theold church in honor of those old pioneers 'Who held fast to the faith ofour fathers, in the little white church in the snows' Rev. J. R. Wyber, B.A., B.D., conducted the dedication service assistedby Dr. A. E. Elliott. Mr. A. W. Fotheringham unveiled the memorial. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers had four children, the eldest being Mrs. VictorBurton ‘Vic’ (Muriel) Ennis, now of Grenfell, Lionel (deceased) whosewife, Elsie, lives in Winnipeg. Sydney (deceased), his wife, Myrtle, isin Grenfell and Mrs. Archie (Gwen) Hie in Wolseley. This account is stated in the book - ‘Bridging the Past -Wolseleyand District 1880-1980’, and was submitted by Mrs. Gwendolyn ‘Gwen’Marion (Rogers) Hie to that book on page 422. The additional statement about the church was copied from page 167 of thebook - 'Grit And Growth, The Story Of Grenfell', by Annie I. Yule, 1980edition.
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