Fonds wet-1378 - Daisy Lucas fonds

Daisy Mearl (Nelson) Lucas (1906-1991) was the first child born in the Village of Daysland. The owner of the tract of land on which the Village was situated offered to give the child a building lot if he was allowed to name the baby. He named her Daisy after himself, R.J. Daly and the Village. Her mother Emma Weflen [1880?]-1967) came to the Wang (Vang) District in Alberta from South Dakota in 1898, two years after her father, Tosten Weflen and brother Andrew had immigrated. Her father, Fred Nelson, and his parents Henry and Mary, had come from Idaho to a farm in the Wetaskiwin area in 1900. Henry was a carpenter and contractor and they sold the farm and moved into Wetaskiwin where Henry and Fred started a business and built many buildings including the Alexandra School and the Prince of Wales Hotel. Fred and Emma were married in 1904 and moved to Daysland but returned to Wetaskiwin in 1912. After serving overseas with the 63rd Battalion during the First World War, Fred came back and took up farming in the Lucas district. There Daisy met and in 1922 married Cortez Lucas (1899 - 1959). They had eight children, Mearl (Lundblad), June (Coney), Lylla (Chokan), Cortez Mac, Val (Gentz), Davie, Laurane (Norstrom) and Larry. Cortez served overseas with the 49th Edmonton Regiment during the Second World War and upon his return worked for the Alberta Department of Highways until his death. The Lucas family was one of the earliest families in the district. Samuel Brigham Lucas had come west as a Government Surveyor in 1879, working in the Wetaskiwin area. He returned to Ottawa and in 1881 with his wife Amelie, and family along with brother Frank (1855?- 1935) and his wife Margaret (1860-1922) (Morrison) and other relatives came back to this area. They settled on a farm north of Wetaskiwin called the Peace Hills Indian Agency Farm where Sam Lucas was the Farm Instructor. When Sam Lucas was appointed Indian Agent, his brother Frank took over as manager and Farm Instructor. Nine children were born to Frank and Margaret, Frances (McDougal), Maude (Smart), Sam, Margaret Queenie (Groves), Tom, Ethel (Chapman), Martha Higginson, Noble and Cortez. Daisy Lucas spent the last several decades of her life gathering stories of pioneer families and documenting the early years of Wetaskiwin's existence. She was a founding member of the Wetaskiwin Historical Society, a dedicated member of the United Church, a member of the Royal Purple Lodge and for fifteen years was the Committee chair for horticulture at the Wetaskiwin Fair. She corresponded with many people and wrote but did not publish a history of the Wetaskiwin area. Dasiy Lucas died in 1991.