Edward McCheane was brother to John McCheane, who married the Mary Saunders of the previous project. Edward married my father's older sister, and like some of the others of my older generations he left evidences of his life for those who followed him. He was a trained commercial artist who for much of his life made his living operating Globe Signs in Saskatoon; his creativity was exercised in painting landscapes in oil, watercolor and pastel. Many of us have examples of his art; we particularly treasure those which show scenes of the area which we define as our home country - the area around Borden, Saskatchewan.
Uncle Edward's book includes examples of his art, provided by his son and several other family members, and by the Saskatchewan Archives Board. After he died his widow, my Aunt Edith, moved from Saskatoon with her young son back to the home place, Valley Springs Ranch, After she died years later, his memorabilila were included in the donation made to the Saskatchewan Archives Board by his two sisters-in-law.
Uncle Edward's book contains a transcription of the journal he kept of his immigration to Canada from England, and of the first months of homesteading near Borden, Saskatchewan, more than a century ago. This homesteading is a different matter than that of my father's family and my mother's family. THEY travelled steerage on their immigration ships; they arrived in Saskatchewan with only their own energy and commitment to making a new life. Family legend is that my Grandfather Hinde had $48.00 in his pocket when the train with his family on it pulled into Borden, Saskatchewan. Edward and HIS family travelled first class and dined on the ship at the captain's table. That family's first years of homesteading were not leisured, certainly, but they were quite different from that of my father's family. Edward's journal of this time describes the transplanted English family as raising hawk chicks, after shooting the parents, in the attempt to train them to kill gophers, and then finding that much time needed to be spent in killing gophers to feed the insatiable chicks.
Edward didn't remain a homesteader. Soon he was in Borden, taking up his career as commercial artist. Old photographs of Borden show the signs he painted on buildings; some of these are preserved on buildings which now form the museum of the Village of Borden. Moving to Saskatoon, he established Globe Signs, and in 1939 at the request of the City of Saskatoon he produced an illuminated scroll for the City to present to Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of their visit. A reproduction of this scroll is included in Uncle Edward's book.
Status: this family history project was completed in 2004.