So Far Away in Mirror, Alberta:
John Herniman: 1834-1916
Robert Manley Herniman: 1883-1948
My last blog post, “Close to Home”,
dealt with two of the thirteen children born to my third great uncle, John Herniman.
I had discovered the two women, Elizabeth and Ella Herniman, lived just a few miles from the farm where I
grew up. This week I am going to write about one of Ella and Elizabeth's siblings. Robert Manley Herniman, who moved "so far away" from Sleepy
Eye, Minnesota, ending up in Alberta, Canada.
Robert Herniman
Around 1899, John and Jane Herniman
and several of their children packed up their possessions and moved to North
Dakota. I don’t know what prompted this sudden migration; John and Jane had
lived on a farm outside Sleepy Eye, Minnesota for nearly twenty years, and
according to county histories, were respected citizens.
Their sojourn in North Dakota was
very brief. By 1902, they had decamped to Alberta, Canada. John was in his late
60s at this point—an unlikely time to start over. Perhaps his wife Jane
influenced his decision, as she was born in Canada. John and Jane’s daughter
Effie Belle had married Archie McDonald, and he too was originally born in
Canada. Perhaps Archie had contacts in Alberta that encouraged the family to
move there. Also, as I had discussed in a previous post, Canada’s Interior
Minister was encouraging immigration of farmers to the prairies of Alberta
during this period, so probably the extended Herniman family answered the call.
At least by emigrating together, they would have a built-in support system in
their new country.
The family first lived in
Strathcona, which now lies within the Edmonton city limits. At some point
between the 1906 census and the year 1911, John, Jane and some of their
children and spouses relocated to the small town of Mirror, south of
Strathcona.
Son Robert Manley Herniman, born
March 21, 1883, originally accompanied his parents to Strathcona, becoming naturalized as a
Canadian citizen in 1905. However, he returned to their previous home in Lidgerwood,
North Dakota at some point, for in 1911, the Mirror Journal newspaper reported
he was visiting his family in Mirror from Lidgerwood. He must have liked what he saw, for by
1912 he had moved to Mirror.
So why Mirror? In 1911 the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway had built a branch line linking Edmonton and Calgary that
ran through Mirror, setting off a wave of development. The Railway Company
itself promoted the city, producing a booklet extolling the area and offering
an elaborate plat map of the proposed town, filled with streets, homes and
businesses. Mirror was described in glowing terms, supposedly set on high
ground with views of the lake and the surrounding area, with “clumps of trees adding to the charm" of the town.
The reality was quite different, as the 1911 postcard below shows.
The town was barren, with dirt streets and wooden sidewalks, not a tree in
sight. According to the Mirror Wikipedia page, the few buildings there in 1911
had been moved in from elsewhere or were temporary structures that were meant
to be replaced.
Mirror had a local newspaper, The
Mirror Journal, that provided charming information about the Herniman family’s
lives, including Robert’s. Robert Herniman threw himself into life in his new
home. He quickly became involved with real estate. By early 1912, he and C J
Allen converted the Allen farm into lots for sale that could be used for home
or business construction; their ads were steady fixtures in the local
newspaper. Robert also sold insurance, and by 1913 he also advertised his
services as an auctioneer.
In August 1913, Robert sold his
downtown office to his nephew Lloyd Humphrey, telling the newspaper that he
planned on “going into the hog raising business on his island in Buffalo Lake.”
That plan must not have worked out so well, as the newspaper reports in
February of 1914 that Robert “sold 36 acres, being the S. W. half of the island
in Buffalo Lake to Archie Jaques, who owns the balance of the island.” By the
time of the 1916 Canada census, Robert was living with his parents in Mirror,
probably in the fine home they had built on Carroll Street, and was farming.
Presumably he owned more land than just the Buffalo Lake island property.
Robert also ran for office and
participated in community meetings. The newspaper rather mockingly referred to
one speech he made in 1912, noting that “everyone knows ‘Bob’”. He was elected as a city councillor in 1920;
he was the top vote-getter on the ballot.
Robert never married or had
children. He continued to live in Mirror until his death February 20, 1948. He
was buried in the cemetery at Mirror. There is little information on his life
after 1920, but I expect he continued to reinvent himself, striving for success
in various businesses.
While the town of Mirror thrived for
a while, with the advent of diesel engines, Mirror was no longer a stopping
point for the railway. The jobs servicing the railway disappeared, and the
town’s economy declined. The town shrank to the point that it is now officially
a “hamlet” of only 500 residents. The grand promises of the 1911 promotional
booklet and Robert Herniman’s dreams of glory never came to fruition.
Sources:
Mirror Journal Newspaper and Mirror The City Beautiful pamphlet from http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/index.html
Mirror Journal Newspaper and Mirror The City Beautiful pamphlet from http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/index.html
University
of Alberta Libraries postcard collection.
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