Lewis

History

This property was homesteaded by P.E. (Rollie) Maddox in 1905. Mr. Maddox was the nephew of Mrs. James A. Colvin. Unfortunately, Mr. Maddox died during a drive home from the coal mines one winter between 1906 and 1913.

After her husband’s death, Mrs. Maddox sold the property to Mrs. R.J. Woodhill and Mr. William Wood. Mrs. Woodhill was well-known in the Lawn Hill area for providing sweets to children at all community functions. Mr. Wood and Mrs. Woodhill were not married, they simply wanted to farm in Western Canada and decided to take up the challenge together. The pair of them cleared some 200 acres of push and planted the large evergreens on the home quarter.

In the spring of 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Anderson bought the property. Mrs. Helena (Lena) Anderson was the sister of Vernon Simpson, whose barn is also featured in this database.

In about 1955, Daniel and Gertrude Lewis bought the property with Mamie Lewis. The Daniel Lewis family lived here until 1982, raising their four sons. Mamie Lewis’ home barn is also featured in this database. The property the following barn sits on now belongs to Randy Lewis.

This barn is thought to have been built by C.P. (Carl) Colvin using frame construction and platform framing. Early in the life of the barn, the barn housed horses, milk cows, and pigs. The barn had three large stalls on either side of the main walkway. An addition was added to the eastern side in 1929 to create more pens and a storage area. Slowly, horses were no longer needed and cattle were kept out in the pasture. This barn was last used by Daniel Lewis to house the family’s pigs and gamefowl.

Lewis, Daniel. Personal communication. 13 Jul. 2017.

This frame shows the northern face and western side of the barn.

This frame is a close-up of the loft door and hay hood. Notice that the wood for the main barn is vertical. This siding is called board-and-batten.

This frame shows the western side of the barn and roof.

This frame shows the southern face of the barn. The platform for the frame starts where the split exists between the batten siding in the main barn.

This frame shows part of the southern face and eastern side of the barn. The main barn had a shed roof addition installed in 1926.

This frame shows the eastern side and northern face of the barn and addition.

This frame shows the stall that exists in the south-western corner of the main barn. It is the only stall that is still intact as the rest of the barn was renovated for pigs and chickens.

This frame shows one of the pig pens inside the main barn. The south-eastern corner of the main barn is visible.

This frame shows the cement floor inside the shed addition. The year “1929” is written into the cement on the western side of the floor of the addition.

This frame shows the south-western corner of the shed addition. The ladder to the loft is visible in the right aspect of this frame.

This frame is of the southern face of the barn’s loft.

This frame shows the southern face and western half of the barn’s roof. Notice the transition area between the walls and the roof. The platform in this barn is much higher than in most other barns. This loft has more space than if it would have been built with a lower platform.

This frame is of the western half of the barns roof.

This frame is of the western half and northern face of the barn.

This frame shows the southern half of the loft floor and ground-floor stall.

This frame is of the entry to the loft. The ladder up into the loft leads to the south-east cut-out, which is the whole in the right portion of this frame.

This frame is of the north-eastern storage area in the shed addition.

Location

52.666698, -111.755429 NW 36-42-13 W4

Characteristics

Barn Condition: Poor

Construction Date: Pre 1920

Features: Hay hood

Roof Shape: Gambrel

Paint: None

Decorations: No names or dates

Roof Covering: Wooden shingles

Siding: Board-and-batten

Foundation: Cement

Additional History on the Property

Mr. William Wood and Mrs. R.J. Woodhill Story

William Wood_RJ Woodhill Family History 1

William Wood_RJ Woodhill Family History 2

Wood, Rosa. “The William Wood Story”. Sedgewick Sentinel: A History of Sedgewick and Surrounding Districts. 1st Ed. Sedgewick: Sedgewick Historical Society, 1982. Print

Jake Lewis Family

“Jake Lewis”. As the Wheel Turns: A History of Merna and District. 1st ed. Sedgewick: The Community Press, 1971. Print.

Daniel and Gertrude Lewis

“Dan and Gertrude Lewis Family”. The Pleasant Country: Volume One Killam and District 1903-1993. 1st ed. Killam: Killam Historical Society, 1993. Print.

C.P. Colvin

“Carl P. Colvin”. As the Wheel Turns: A History of Merna and District. 1st ed. Sedgewick: The Community Press, 1971. Print.

“James A. Colvin”. Sedgewick Sentinel: A History of Sedgewick and Surrounding Districts. 1st Ed. Sedgewick: Sedgewick Historical Society, 1982. Print

Grave of C.P. Colvin in Merna United Church cemetery.

You can learn even more about all of the individuals mentioned in the above passages in the “Sedgewick Sentinel” and “As the Wheel Turns” – two of our local history books.