My grandfather, Nathaniel Schincke and his brother, Sam, moved from Nebraska to Fort Saskatchewan in 1898, where they homesteaded. My father, Andy Schincke (not Andrew), was the oldest of my grandparents' seven children. Father was married in the year 1903 and he and his brother-in-law, Robert Simpson, started peddling ice to hotels and restaurants. In 1905, Father and Robert formed the Edmonton Ice Company and in 1910 sold their business to the Arctic Ice Company for a considerable profit.
Father, Mother, brother Jim and I moved to Inga, Alberta in 1911 and Dad operated the Inga store for one and a half years. He then bought George Duncan's store in Duffield in 1913, and he also operated the Post Office.
There was no school in Duffield at that time so my parents sent me to Edmonton to live with my aunt for a year and attend school. The next year I returned to Duffield and attended school in the railway station waiting room. Later a school was built. We had a wonderful school teacher, Miriam Castleman, who could also play the violin beautifully. She made a lasting impression on me. In 1923 I married Scott Bell, and when our second daughter was born, I named her "Miriam" after Miss Castleman.
In 1925, Father sold the store to the Taylor brothers and he and my stepmother moved to their farm three miles south of Duffield. My stepmother only lived three months after they moved onto the farm. She was a wonderful woman and we missed her sadly.
Father served the community as a school trustee for many years. He was also a member of the Telephone Company Board of Directors. Father remarried and he and his wife both passed away while living on the farm.
My uncle, Sam Schincke, lived on my father's farm and operated the farm for several years. Uncle Sam retired on a small twenty-acre farm near Calgary, where he later passed away. My brother, Jim, didn't like farming, so he moved to British Columbia and worked in the sawmills. He is married and is presently residing there.