This week I introduce you to Uncle Alf & Uncle Charlie - my great uncles. 2 brothers who never married.
Although uncle Alf never married he lived with a lady named Deedee for about 27 years.
A cousin shared this story: "When they came to stay, Deedee wouldn’t sleep with Alf because they weren’t married. Mum used to have fits because our house wasn’t large, and she’d have to prepare two sleeping spaces for them. "
Alf & Charlie's parents were:
William Herbert Dendy
BIRTH 27 JUL 1867 • Balham St Mary, Surrey, England
DEATH 25 DEC 1929 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
and
Amy Louisa Baker
BIRTH 18 MAR 1875 • Ealing, Middlesex, England
DEATH 23 DEC 1949 • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Alf was the older of the two born on the 29th of May 1900 in London, England in the south west district of Clapham. When he was 3 years old the family immigrated to Canada.
Charlie was born the 6th of September 1912 in Calgary, Alberta where the family was farming in the east side of the city.
Alf & Charlie were the best of friends as adults. They enjoyed hunting and trapping in a shared cabin. They were roommates for parts of the adult years. They were very connected to family.
This wasn't always the case. When Charlie was young he was placed in an institution because he had seizures. He also had strange behaviour that scared his mother. He would begin running across the room, and not stop until he banged into the wall, and fell to the floor sometimes having a seizure at the end. We now know that what Uncle Charlie had was complex partial seizures in addition to the generalized seizures. It was the early 1900s, there was little in the way of treatment for epilepsy, and Charlie was too strong for his mother to handle when he was having a seizure. Charlie was placed in what was then called a mental institute. After moving into the institute Charlie never had any further seizures. He stayed at the institution in Portage La Prairie until his younger sister Rose, my great grandma, got married in 1925. Rose wasn't able to get her brother out of the institution as a single woman. Once married she and her husband were able to get Charlie released. I have not yet found any records of Charlie's admission to the institute which leaves this at the family lore stage for now. All the Dendy children were close, and when Charlie returned that hadn't changed.
UPDATE: Found in the 1931 census residing in the 'Home for the Aged, Infirm, & Incurables' in Portage La Prairie - Page 3 of 12
Charlie's birth name was William after his father. Shortly after William was born his sister Rose (my great grandmother) had a friend tell her if the first William died then this one would too. Big sister Rose spent two days crying before her mother asked what name she wanted the baby to have. Rose chose Charlie. Family lore says that Charlie legally changed his name as an adult. The baby who died was called Wilfrid James Dendy (25 Feb 1902 [Clapham, London, England] to Dec 1903 [Norwood Cemetery London, England]), and not William as young Rose had been thinking.
When I went looking for photos I was surprised to find almost no photos of uncle Alf, but many for uncle Charlie. In discussion with family member I discovered that Charlie traveled out west to visit my extended family members, but Alf never did which is why we have so few photos of Alf.
My only memory of meeting either of them was when my family visited their apartment in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When my brother and I arrived uncle Alf was super excited to present us each with an ice cream bucket full of hard candies. The buckets were almost too heavy for us to hold since we were probably too young to be eating hard candies. The visual of all those brightly coloured candy has stayed with me all these years. Uncle Charlie was there too, but uncle Alf presented the bucket so his face is clearly etched in my memory.
My favourite family story about uncle Alf was about when they lived on the farm. All the chickens unexpectedly died. Knowing that the feathers were very valuable uncle Alf plucked all the best feathers off each chicken. He tossed the chickens on the burn pile after they were plucked since no one was sure why they died so eating them was likely a bad idea. Several hours after he had accomplished his task those chickens began to wake up, and wander around. Some of them were fully bald, and some still had the less choice feathers attached to them. The chickens had not been dead - they were very drunk. They had gotten into the silage, and passed out after consuming the fermented grains. Imagine how they felt when they woke up hungover, and bald thinking their friends were the worst pranksters ever. Uncle Alf dutifully rubbed butter on those chickens to protect their skin from the sun until their feathers grew back. We now know that butter does nothing to protect from the sun. I wonder if it smelled like frying chicken on that farm awaiting the feathers regrowing.
My favourite family story about uncle Charlie is when he came to visit my grandma's family in Victoria. He would take his 3 nieces downtown, and give them some money for a pop and fries while he went to the pub for a beer. They would order a single soda and plate of fries to share, and pocket the remaining money for future treats. Uncle Charlie would come check on them, and give them more money before heading back into the pub. They would repeat the process a few more times. His nieces remember these visits fondly. This was the late 1950s or early 1960s. Imagine what society would think of this today.
The things we don't know until we do!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of to the blog post***
Alf & Charlie's parents were:
William Herbert Dendy
BIRTH 27 JUL 1867 • Balham St Mary, Surrey, England
DEATH 25 DEC 1929 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
and
Amy Louisa Baker
BIRTH 18 MAR 1875 • Ealing, Middlesex, England
DEATH 23 DEC 1949 • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Alf was the older of the two born on the 29th of May 1900 in London, England in the south west district of Clapham. When he was 3 years old the family immigrated to Canada.
Charlie was born the 6th of September 1912 in Calgary, Alberta where the family was farming in the east side of the city.
Alf & Charlie were the best of friends as adults. They enjoyed hunting and trapping in a shared cabin. They were roommates for parts of the adult years. They were very connected to family.
 |
| uncle Alf on the left, uncle Den (Dennis Dendy 1909-1999) on the right - with my grandma & her brother |
 |
| The cabin where Uncle Alf & Uncle Charlie were hunters and trappers. Uncle Den joined them until he got married. |
This wasn't always the case. When Charlie was young he was placed in an institution because he had seizures. He also had strange behaviour that scared his mother. He would begin running across the room, and not stop until he banged into the wall, and fell to the floor sometimes having a seizure at the end. We now know that what Uncle Charlie had was complex partial seizures in addition to the generalized seizures. It was the early 1900s, there was little in the way of treatment for epilepsy, and Charlie was too strong for his mother to handle when he was having a seizure. Charlie was placed in what was then called a mental institute. After moving into the institute Charlie never had any further seizures. He stayed at the institution in Portage La Prairie until his younger sister Rose, my great grandma, got married in 1925. Rose wasn't able to get her brother out of the institution as a single woman. Once married she and her husband were able to get Charlie released. I have not yet found any records of Charlie's admission to the institute which leaves this at the family lore stage for now. All the Dendy children were close, and when Charlie returned that hadn't changed.
UPDATE: Found in the 1931 census residing in the 'Home for the Aged, Infirm, & Incurables' in Portage La Prairie - Page 3 of 12
Charlie's birth name was William after his father. Shortly after William was born his sister Rose (my great grandmother) had a friend tell her if the first William died then this one would too. Big sister Rose spent two days crying before her mother asked what name she wanted the baby to have. Rose chose Charlie. Family lore says that Charlie legally changed his name as an adult. The baby who died was called Wilfrid James Dendy (25 Feb 1902 [Clapham, London, England] to Dec 1903 [Norwood Cemetery London, England]), and not William as young Rose had been thinking.
When I went looking for photos I was surprised to find almost no photos of uncle Alf, but many for uncle Charlie. In discussion with family member I discovered that Charlie traveled out west to visit my extended family members, but Alf never did which is why we have so few photos of Alf.
My only memory of meeting either of them was when my family visited their apartment in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When my brother and I arrived uncle Alf was super excited to present us each with an ice cream bucket full of hard candies. The buckets were almost too heavy for us to hold since we were probably too young to be eating hard candies. The visual of all those brightly coloured candy has stayed with me all these years. Uncle Charlie was there too, but uncle Alf presented the bucket so his face is clearly etched in my memory.
My favourite family story about uncle Alf was about when they lived on the farm. All the chickens unexpectedly died. Knowing that the feathers were very valuable uncle Alf plucked all the best feathers off each chicken. He tossed the chickens on the burn pile after they were plucked since no one was sure why they died so eating them was likely a bad idea. Several hours after he had accomplished his task those chickens began to wake up, and wander around. Some of them were fully bald, and some still had the less choice feathers attached to them. The chickens had not been dead - they were very drunk. They had gotten into the silage, and passed out after consuming the fermented grains. Imagine how they felt when they woke up hungover, and bald thinking their friends were the worst pranksters ever. Uncle Alf dutifully rubbed butter on those chickens to protect their skin from the sun until their feathers grew back. We now know that butter does nothing to protect from the sun. I wonder if it smelled like frying chicken on that farm awaiting the feathers regrowing.
My favourite family story about uncle Charlie is when he came to visit my grandma's family in Victoria. He would take his 3 nieces downtown, and give them some money for a pop and fries while he went to the pub for a beer. They would order a single soda and plate of fries to share, and pocket the remaining money for future treats. Uncle Charlie would come check on them, and give them more money before heading back into the pub. They would repeat the process a few more times. His nieces remember these visits fondly. This was the late 1950s or early 1960s. Imagine what society would think of this today.
Charlie with 2 of his nieces (my two aunts)
 |
| BACK: my great grandpa (Hap/Ernest), my great grandma (Rose), my aunt, my great Uncle Bill (Johnson), Teedie (who uncle Alf may have lived with), FRONT: my mom, my great uncle Alf |
 |
| uncle Charlie with one of his nieces |
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