compiled by (Mrs.) Alice M. Wilson
Mr. William James Dowkes of Souris Flat S.D. was born near Toronto. From there, his parents moved to Mount Forest, Ontario and then to Little Current, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He was born in 1860 and died in 1922.
His father, William Dowkes, was born Jan. 22, 1824 and died May 28, 1889. His mother (nee Elizabeth Suggitt) was born Jan. 7, 1821 and died March 28, 1890. Both were born in Yorkshire, England and both died in Boscurvis, Assiniboia, North West Territories, Canada. William J. Dowkes and his chum and co-worker John Fitzpatrick came fresh from the lumber camps of Michigan to the Meridian district south of Glen Ewen. At the Pembina Mountains they met Sam Jones with wife and family. He employed them as hired men and they came west together and arrived in Meridian district on July 11, 1882.
Will (Bill) Dowkes built his first log cabin and sod barn on SE 24-1-1 W2 and his parents lived with him until they died. He later settled on SW 21-1-34 Wl where he built a log cabin and barn for summer use. The first classroom of Kimberley S.D. was one room of this log cabin. Will Dowkes moved into one room of his log cabin so classes could be held in the other room. In the winter he and his parents lived in another set of log buildings on NE 16-1-34 W1. They were close to the Souris River in the shelter of the trees. The Dowkes used to pick wild plums green, pack them in oats and when they unpacked them Christmas Day they would be cherry red and ripe for eating.
In 1901 the Dowkes built a large frame house with cement block veneer. It was inhabited until March 1974. After Souris Flat School opened in 1920 most of the teachers boarded at Will Dowkes.
Will Dowkes was a large man six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. He was an impetuous man with a cheery smile. He was proficient in the use of an axe and was invited to all the building bees to help smooth the logs. He was also known as a man who could witch for water. He located the spot for the well at Souris Flat School and he could crib a well with stones without using mortar. He and John Fitzpatrick spent much time digging wells at Cannington and were quite familiar with the estate of the Beckton brothers. He also walked many times behind a team of oxen to Deloraine or Virden for supplies. It was a hard life but he was a strong man in all ways and equal to the rigors of it.
Isabella Duncan was born Sept. 22, 1860 in the Township of Normandy near Mount Forest, Ontario. She was one of a family of thirteen. About the year 1885 she graduated from Guelph General Hospital, Ontario, later taking a post-graduate course in massage treatment in the John Hopkins Institute, Philadelphia, U.S.A. In August 1891 she arrived in Boscurvis district, where she kept house for her twin brother Andrew Duncan and practiced her nursing profession.
On March 22, 1893 she married Wm. J. Dowkes. To this union were born eight children of which five survived.