THE QUIGG STORY In 1908, the Quigg family left Ontario. Tom, Jane Ann, and their five sons: Walter, Sam, George, Frank, William, one daughter Catherine and Jane's sister Margaret Shearson boarded a train for Alberta. The train, a homestead excursion took a week to arrive in Edmonton. The family stayed at the Immigration Hall, while their freight was taken to Stony Plain and unloaded and made ready for the last leg of their journey to Highvale. It took three days to travel from Stony Plain to Highvale. They camped at night allowing the stock to rest and eat. The calves became sick and were left with settlers along the road to be returned for later. Arriving at their homestead, which contained one hundred and sixty acres of wilderness and bush, they pitched a tent for shelter. A framework was built up and the tent was spread over this, raising the tent and making enough headroom so that the younger members of the family could sleep in the top part of the tent. Before winter arrived for the third time, a log building was built behind the tent. The day the beds were moved into this building, Quigg's sixth son, Wilfred, was born, Eventually, the log house was finished. This house became the post office for many years and a stopping place for numerous people traveling and freighting through the area. Also it was a home for many of the teachers who taught in Highvale. The last baby of the family was a daughter Elizabeth. Tom served as a councilor in the Tomahawk Municipality and in later years Walter and then George also served for one year. Sam and Walter left home to find work with twenty-five cents in their pockets. They threshed on the prairies and worked in logging mills in Cranbrook, British Columbia and The Pas, Manitoba. Walter went overseas during the First World War and Sam continued to work in the coalmines at Sundance then in Edmonton. While in Edmonton he was taken to the army barracks at Calgary. He wasn't the full age of twenty- one, having a few months to go. It was not unusual for the police to pick up a man and have him conscripted into the armed forces. Sam caught the measles and the war was over by the time he was out of quarantine. Large sawmills were busy in the Highvale area, in the 1920's. As the land was logged it became available for homesteads. Sam and Walter homesteaded adjoining quarters in the early '20's. Bill and Wilfred homesteaded their land in 1928, Wilfred and George went to work in the Turner Valley Oil Fields returning home in 1931. Sorrow struck the family in 1928 when Frank was shot while out hunting. Then in November 1932, Bill had an accident while working on the road, losing the sight of both eyes. He spent many months in the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. Walter was the first to marry. He married Isabel Kennedy in 1929. They raised a family of six girls: Evelyn, Gwen, Doris, Helen, Joan and Edna and two boys: Robert and John. Walter passed away in 1955 and John, their youngest son, in 1967. They are both interred in the Highvale Cemetery. The girls are all married. The oldest son Robert lives with his mother in Edmonton. Bill was the next to marry; he married Dorothy Dean in 1933. They raised a family of four, three girls and one boy: Audrey, Marilyn, Billie and Frank. All are married. In 1935 Beth married Francis Olson. They made their home in the Peace River country, for many years. Their family, a boy and girl, Doreen and Arnold are both married. In 1936 Sam married Annie Williams. Their family numbers six; four girls and two boys: Fay, Shirley, Bernice, Hazel, Raymond and Bruce. Three girls and one boy are married. Sam passed away in 1973 and is buried in the Highvale Cemetery. Catherine was married in 1939. They had no children. George married Jean McKay in 1941. They raised two girls: Carol and Maureen; both are married. Wilfred married Beryl McKee, a widow with one daughter, Dianne, in 1967. Their daughter is also married. Tom passed away in 1941. He is buried in the Woodland Cemetery. Jane passed away in 1968. She is buried in the Highvale Cemetery.