This is a photo of a photograph of my Dad taken in the early 1920's. He is in his early 20's as well. I know he is younger than his greying hair would suggest as he had his nose broken in his later 20's.

His suit and tie and haircut could have come from any era. Only his straight nose dates this photo. This was probably taken by a photographer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he was living at that time.

He was born and grew up on what he called a rocky farm in Nova Scotia in 1902. Second youngest of many children of the first marriage of his father, he was probably booted out at the age of 16. While nothing was ever said, I have the impression that his father was hard nosed and unyielding. One of the first and almost only arguments I remember between my Mom and Dad was over the fact that my Dad would not spend the time and money to go back to his father's funeral in 1950.

Upon leaving Nova Scotia in 1918, he made his way to Milwaukee as he may have had some relatives living there at that time and I think there were no restrictions on Canadians then. He lived in rooming houses and worked as a labourer in factories and spent most of his time boxing and studying and partying. My Dad loved to dance and to drink so I know he spent much of his free time at parties and dance clubs. He talked about going to night school and learning advanced math like calculus, especially while we were in high school and grouching about home work. He also made an effort to learn to speak German as he lived in mainly German boarding houses. Most of all though, he boxed and loved to fight. He rarely bragged, but when occasionally he did, it was to tell us of the matches he had with contenders. He also spent a great deal of time watching his weight as he could fight as a bantam to a welter weight depending on the scales that day.

There must have been hard times in Milwaukee in the 1920's. While my Dad was a hard worker, he was often laid off from work and needed to find another factory job. Sometimes between jobs, he would have to live on the money he made boxing. He made $3.00 if he lost a fight and $10.00 if he won. He could pay his room and board with $10.00/week so he had incentive to win.

When the depression hit, there was no work at all. Two of his brothers had gone to mine in Northern Ontario after the war and were making 'good money'. So my Dad like many others hopped freight trains and hitched rides from Wisconsin to Northern Ontario where he finally found, more or less, permanent work.