Arthur Samuel Thomas Searle was born on November 17th, 1884, on the 2nd Lot, Concession 10, in the Township of Nichol, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. He was the second youngest of ten children born to Margaret Cahill and Henry William Searle. The Searle's moved from within the city of Guelph to begin farming in the township of Eramosa during the 1870s. In the 1880s and 1890s they moved from leased farm to leased farm throughout the townships of Pilkington, Nichol, and Guelph.
Isabella McGinn was born on September 10th, 1895, on her family’s farm in the Township of Nichol, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. She was the second youngest of twelve children born to Isabella Healey and John McGinn. The McGinn's owned and farmed about 200 acres of land in the township of Nichol and Guelph until the late 1890s. By 1899, John McGinn retired from farming and the family moved to Alice Street in the City of Guelph. In 1902 or 1904, Isabella’s family, including her brother William and eight other siblings, moved to Glenavon in the Qu’Appelle district of Saskatchewan.
During parts of the 1880s and 1890s, both the Searle's and the McGinn's lived relatively close to each other and the families would have known of each other; the children of both families attended the same school, the Roman Catholic Separate School in Nichol, and it is likely the families both attended the same church, the Church of Our Lady, in Guelph.
By 1911, Arthur and his younger brother Bill (John William Leo) had moved into the City of Guelph and were living at 2 Dublin Street South with their aunt, Elizabeth Cahill, her husband Barnie (Barnabas, aka Bernard) Gibson, and two of their children: Emma and John. Bill was a moulder earning $300 a year working at a foundry shop, while Arthur was a woodworker earning $550 a year working at the Bell Organ and Piano Company, located in downtown Guelph.
Between 1911 and 1915 Arthur moved to Glenavon in the Qu’Appelle district of Saskatchewan, about 50 km east of Regina. While it is not clear why Arthur decided to move west, one likely factor is that one of his older brothers, Harry (George Henry), had moved to the same area in the early 1900s. In 1911, Harry worked as a farmer in the Glenavon area, earning $300 a year, and lived as a lodger in the house of William McGinn and his wife Jane McDevitt. William McGinn, the brother of Isabella McGinn, and Harry, were the same age and were likely friends during their time growing up in Wellington County.
While it is unknown exactly how Arthur Searle and Isabella McGinn met, it is likely that he moved to Glenavon and stayed for a time with his brother Harry in William's house. Isabella would have been around and was possibly working for her brother William, as she did when she was younger. A story recounted by one of Isabella’s grandchildren, Susan Shaver (nee Manion), tells of Isabella working as a cook and housekeeper for some of her brothers at the age of 10 (circa. 1905 or 1906). Her brothers were surveyors for the railway in Saskatchewan and their jobs would take them away from home for days, leaving Isabella alone to fend for herself. During this time, Indigenous people would stop by, speak with her, and help her; they did not like that a child was treated this way, being left alone on the Canadian prairie. These experiences gave Isabella a fondness for Indigenous Peoples, as she always spoke well of them. Another grandchild of Isabella, Iris Manion, remembers that Isabella used to sing Indigenous songs to her, most likely learned from the Indigenous Peoples that visited her while tending house alone on the Canadian prairie.
On October 27th, 1915, Arthur and Isabella were married at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Regina. The marriage was witnessed by Isabella’s brother, William McGinn, and Mary Luddou.
Arthur and Isabella started their family in Glenavon with the birth of their first daughter, Eileen Margaret, on December 12th, 1915. A little over a year later, they welcomed their second daughter, Genevieve, on January 24th, 1917. Shortly after Genevieve’s birth the family moved from Glenavon to 504 Fairford Street East in the city of Moose Jaw, where their third daughter, Isabelle Cecelia, was born on October 15th, 1919. Between 1921 and 1938, Arthur and Isabella had 6 more children: Violet Mary (August 14th, 1921), Catherine (June 16th, 1923), Rita Elizabeth (1929), Patricia (September 9th, 1932), Arthur John (November 26th, 1935), and William Henry (June 8th, 1938).
In the 6 years from the birth of their 5th child Catherine and their 6th child Rita, Isabella gave birth to triplets that died shortly after birth. Genevieve would later recount that she hated going into the shed because that is where the triplets were buried. It is also likely that Isabella gave birth to two other children that died shortly after birth during this time: records for the Rosedale Cemetery in Moose Jaw show a baby Searle that died on March 21st, 1924 (age 4 hours) and another that died on September 5th, 1926 (age 13 hours).
Another tragedy struck the family on December 2nd, 1929: Arthur and Isabella’s 8-year-old daughter, Isabelle Cecilia, died from pneumonia. A funeral for Isabelle was held at 9 o’clock on Monday, December 5th, 1929, at St. Joseph’s Church in Moose Jaw. The funeral proceeded to the Rosedale Cemetery, where she was buried.
Not much is known about Arthur and Isabella’s time in Moose Jaw. As of 1921, Arthur was a driver for the railway, earning $1400 a year. He was also a bird fancier, raising chickens and later racing pigeons.
During the local winter fair in March 1923, Arthur’s chickens won several awards in the “Leghorns Black” category. A year later in the Manitoba winter fair held in Brandon on March 7th, 1924, Arthur was the principal winner in the Ancona’s section. Later that year in September, an article was written in The Leader-Post newspaper in Regina, about Arthur Searle claiming to have the youngest laying pullets in the world: 3 birds had contributed the acceptable offering of eggs at the age of 4 months and 7 days. This claim was validated by local poultry authorities. However, the following week, a man named A. E. Counsell wrote into the Leader-Post stating that he had pullets that laid eggs as early as 3 months and 26 days old.
From 1927 to 1934, Arthur liked to race pigeons, appearing in many pigeon races around the Moose Jaw area. In 1933 and 1934 Arthur raced pigeons with an associate named Rogers. Arthur often finished the races in the middle to bottom of the standings, with only a couple top finishes over the years.
Arthur and Isabella also raised Chesapeake Bay retrievers. In July 1931, Arthur Searle won the Chesapeake Bay, Puppy, category at the Regina Dog Exhibition with a blonde puppy. In Aug 1932, “Mrs. A. Searle” won the Chesapeake Bay, “Limit class female” category at a Dog Show with a dog named Prairie Blossom.
Isabella McGinn participated in the Moose Jaw social scene, attending parties, and playing games of whist, a classic English trick-taking card game. On July 19th, 1924, she attended a party at her neighbour Mrs. Thompson’s house, honoring Miss Isabel King, who was leaving for Seattle Washington. In 1937, she won honors playing whist at events put on by the Sussex fellowship and later at the St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Moose Jaw.
On October 19th, 1935, Arthur was knocked down by an automobile during a snowstorm. At the corner of Main St and River St in Moose Jaw at 11 pm, Arthur stepped from the curb in front of the car of Clifford Campbell and was knocked to the street. He suffered three or four broken ribs on the left side and scalp injuries. By Sunday night his condition in the Moose Jaw hospital was reported as being “fairly good”.
With Arthur working for the railway, the Searle children were able to return to the Guelph area via train during the summers to visit with family. They would visit the Searle family farm, run by their Uncle Joe and Aunt Maud (Arthur’s brother and sister). Mildred Moran, daughter of Arthur’s sister Emerentia, who died in childbirth in 1912, lived on the farm in the 1920s and possibly 1930s with Joe and Maud. Fred Searle, son of Arthur’s brother Bill, lived and worked on the farm around 1935, and his brother, Cecil, did the same around 1945. The children would also visit with their Aunts Elizabeth and Cecilia Marie, their Uncle Bill, and his other children, Roy, Margaret, and Charlie, all who lived in the City of Guelph, as well as their Aunt Rose McCann in Fergus.
On April 23rd, 1940, Arthur Searle died of a heart attack in the Providence Hospital in Moose Jaw. According to his death certificate, the doctor had been seeing Arthur since March 1st, 1940. The immediate cause of death is listed as a cerebral hemorrhage, with a secondary cause of hypertension (also known as high blood pressure) that he had been suffering from for years. Another cause mentioned that may have contributed to his death was auricular fibrillation, which is an abnormal heart rhythm (also known as atrial fibrillation). Arthur was buried on April 26th, 1940, in the Rosedale Cemetery in Moose Jaw.
Following his death, Isabella moved her family back to Guelph, Ontario. By this time both of her eldest daughters, Eileen and Genevieve, were married. Genevieve married Charles Manion on May 15th, 1935, at St. Joseph’s Church in Moose Jaw. Eileen married Robert John (Jack) Noble in Guelph on September 4th, 1937, at the Church of Our Lady Immaculate.
Isabella married William Boyd around 1942 and continued living in the Guelph area until her death on February 13th, 1979. Her funeral was held on February 15th, 1979, at the Church of Our Lady in Guelph. Isabella is buried in the Marymount Catholic Cemetery in Guelph.