Peach Farms in Canada

[CConingsby]

One of my relatives Ted (in his 80s) remembers traveling through Canada during WW2 and being on a train which stopped and young men came to the train from a peach farm to give them peaches. His memory is a bit 'fuzzy' but he thinks it was 'on the plains' somewhere past Toronto!  He then also remembered that an Uncle had emigrated to Canada from the UK when Ted was a child and that the uncle Henry William Smith from Oakington Cambs was supposed to have owned a peach farm.
I wonder how comman peach farms were in the inter war years in Canada and how difficult it would be to find out where Henry went? 
Any advice of information would be greatly received.
Thanx

[Lydart]

I dont know about then, but now there are many peach farms in Bristish Columbia, along the Okanagon Valley ... there is even a place by the lake called Peachland !

http://www.britishcolumbia.com/regions/towns/?townID=3444

Peaches grow well there ... probably the Mediterranean type climate, plenty of sun, adequate rainfall ...

[KarenM]

There are peach farms in Ontario.  Most are located in the Niagara region or extreme south west towards the Michigan border.  I actually just drove past one the other day near Chatham Ontario, they recently lost their contract to a major food supplier and tore out all the peach trees 

What year was Henry born?  We might he able to find him arriving in Canada.

Karen

[CConingsby]

Wow, I love this forum! Ted will be so pleased that I can tell him a bit more about where he might have been -  they weren't told where they were going as they were going to board the secret navy subs that were supposed to rival the u-boats.

The only facts I have for Henry William Smith is that he was born in Oakington, Cambridgeshire, UK on 07 September 1885, He was still in the UK in the 1901 census, so must have left sometime after then.

[KarenM]

What were Henry's parents names in case there is a marriage for him?

Karen

[CConingsby]

Henrys parents were Jabez John Smith and Kezia Opheild ( pronouced O-Field, also spelt Offield)
Also both of Oakington.

[Lydart]

I've had a look on the Canadian census for 1911 (what a lot of Smiths !) and the only one I can find, Henry Smith aged 25/26, is in Kootenay, listed as .... I don't like to say this ... a horse thief ! 


Have you checked the Canadian censuses ?   

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/index.html

They have 1901 and 1911, very full, and 1906 ... limited only to some provinces.

[Jacquie in Canada]

If Henry William Smith emigrated when Ted was a child then I'm afraid he won't be on any census as Ted would have been born after 1920 and the latest national census and the latest regional census released are from 1911 and 1916 respectively. Could Ted be mistaken about when Henry emigrated?

Jacquie

[Lydart]

CConingsby doesn't say if the memories of Ted about travelling in a train 'beyond Toronto' AND the uncle with the peach farm are linked ...  I'm still niggling away at the possibility that uncle Henry had a peach farm in BC !

Looking at the BC Vital records, there is a death in 1966 of one Henry William Smith aged 81 in Vancouver ... and another for the same name in 1980, aged 75, also Vancouver .... both which would be the right sort of time frame.

see      http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-3D5C729/search