Honour Roll archive

Donald E. Carrothers, the eldest son of Thomas and Etta Carrothers was born and educated at Austin, Manitoba. There he married Muriel Tattersall and raised their family. At a very early age Don developed a keen interest in engines. He was fascinated with their detail and performance. When the war of 1939-45 started, it had an enormous appetite for scrap iron. Most of the farm machinery and implements of our forefathers was being devoured to serve the war effort. Don, alert to the fact that a vital part of our heritage could be lost, took up the concern of collecting and storing these vital heritage links. Mr. Carrothers’ personal dedication or “mission” in life was established. His first action was...

Percy Brockinton was born in the Peninsula District of Arthur Municipality and attended the district school until 13 years of age. At this time he started working on the home farm, and in 1914, he ventured into farming on his own in the Melita area. Mr. Brockinton won numerous awards in his long career as a seed grower. In 1917, he won the Championship Best exhibit of Marquis Wheat at the Manitoba Exhibition in Winnipeg, and with this same exhibit won First for Best Exhibit of Durum Wheat at the Toronto Royal. Percy was presented with the Robertson Associate Award by the Canadian Seed Growers Association in 1964, in recognition of over 30 years of continuous good work as a...

Wilfred Albert Samuel Beattie was born in Township Mara, Ontario, near Orillia on April 20, 1902. Wilfred came to Douglas, Manitoba in 1906 and to Roblin in 1908, moving to Makaroff in 1909. He received his education in Roblin and Makaroff. In 1932, he married Helen Lindsay and together they raised a family of four daughters and one son. Mr. Beattie built his first Gravity Blanket Cleaner in 1933 and proceeded to make another fourteen machines. For some years he had the machines moving throughout the country cleaning grain on farms. In 1947, they were built at Cancade Brothers in Brandon. Some 4,600 cleaners were made and sold in Canada with another 800 being marketed in the United States. The...

Merle M. Barkley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Barkley, was born in the Mississippi Valley, Missouri, USA. He moved to the Cheval District, near Morden, in 1915, and started to farm. He began to experiment with the growing of corn. In 1934 he expanded the operation to grow corn as a grain. His inventiveness was clearly shown even at this early date. When the “runs” on the seeder he was using plugged, he developed a couple of hand planters. That fall the corn was picked and shelled by hand, however, by 1937, he was able to buy and use a one row corn picker. In 1941 he was one of the first farmers to plant hybrid seed. He also...

Born in Kenilworth, Wellington, Ontario. George Batho arrived in Manitoba in 1897 to farm in the Austin district. Having learned the printing trade in Mount Forrest, Ontario, he became a traveling representative and correspondent of the Nor’-West Farmer. In 1903, having moved to Winnipeg, he served as editor-in-chief of this pioneer Journal of Western Canada for thirteen years. In 1916, Mr. Batho was appointed as the Editor of Agricultural Publications and Statistics for the Manitoba Department of Agriculture, where he was to supervise the publication of 411 booklets, 69 of which he wrote himself. George Batho had a keen interest in prairie horticulture especially in noxious weeds. He served as president and director of the Manitoba Horticultural and Forestry Association,...