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Three Hills
Historical and geographical information
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Dates
are in red.
Hyperlinks
to other pages are in dark
blue.
Headlines
of the history of Three Hills are in brown.
References
and citations are in turquoise.
Contextual
history is in purple.
The Farndales of Three Hills
George
Farndale (FAR00588)
was a farmer at Three Hills, Alberta
Catherine
Jane Farndale (“Kate”), later Kinsey (FAR00601)
was the maternal
ancestor of the Kinsey Family who farm at Three Hills, Alberta.
Three Hills
Three Hills is a town located in the southern
part of the province of Alberta, Canada.
It takes its name from the three highly visible hills that are situated to its
north.
Three Hills Timeline
1911
George Farndale (FAR00588) went to Canada about 1911
and lived at Three Hills, Alberta. He never married.
He is shown on the passenger list of
the SS Halifax (Dominion Line) sailing from Liverpool to
Halifax on 1 April 1911, with James Farndale who
wrote a diary of the
journey.
George took a homestead near Three Hills, not far from Trochu and lived
there all his life until he retired, when he went to live in Calgary. He
lived alone all his life, remaining reserved and shy.
There are many stories about him. Once he
came to help his younger brother, Alfred, to drill corn. He arrived and started
and then, with the job only half done, he drove himself and the drill home.
Something said had annoyed him; so he left. He was
known as a very upright and honest man. His bank manager used to say he was one
hundred per cent reliable. There is also a story that he cared for a local
girl, a nurse, who also liked him. She knew he was shy and tried to help
him propose. He thought she was trying to pressurise him, so he never
spoke to her again! (Family
knowledge).
It is perhaps all these stories which describe this big, shy man best. Certainly he was alone most of his life. He had many
Farndale qualities, but his was an extreme version of them.
1912
Three Hills was incorporated as a village in 1912, the
year it was moved to its current location on the Canadian Northern
Railway. With ranchers and farmers constituting its first residents, it soon
became a centre for the surrounding wheat-growing area.
1917
When Kate Farndale (FAR00601)
arrived to look after Martin and George, a hard life after the farm in
Yorkshire, she met the Kinsey family of Cheshire, already friends of her
brothers. Then, on 28 June 1917, she married William Henry Kinsey at
Stettler. Catherine Jane Farndale married William Henry Kinsey at
Stettler, Alberta in 1917.
Bill Kinsey had homesteaded 16 miles north
west of Three Hills and extended an existing prairie
shack. They had three children, George, Dorothy and
Alfred. They lived at Three Hills, Alberta in Alberta,
near Trochu where
Kate’s brothers Martin, George and Alfred also lived (Family knowledge).
William Kinsey was born on 13 February 1874 in Cheshire. For a
number of years he lived on a dairy farm in the
United States. In 1904 he homesteaded 16 miles northwest of Three Hills.
His brother John and he bashed in a 12 foot by 14 foot
shack. Later they built a main room onto it. In June 1917 William married
Catherine Jane Farndale. They had three children. George later farmed 15 miles
northwest of Three Hills, Dorothy Goodbrand lived southeast of Lake Am, and
Alfred farmed 13 miles northwest of Three Hills. William Kinsey was a trustee
of Curlew School. He joined the Council after Bill Hazel's death in 1938 and
remained on until amalgamation, a period of about 5 ˝ years. His brother George
Frederick Kinsey was on the council in 1912 and resided on his farm. William
Kinsey died in February 1959 aged 83.
Kate is always remembered as very strict. She would not tolerate smoking or
drinking alcohol. She was deeply religious and set high
standards of behaviour for her own family. There are many stories of going
out to the barn for a drink or a smoke to avoid her displeasure!
Bill Kinsey’s threshing set in about 1917 in
Alberta, Canada
1922
In 1922, Prairie College (originally founded
as Prairie Bible Institute) was established in Three Hills with L. E.
Maxwell as its first principal. This occurrence helped to increase the
population of the town proper and its adjacent settlements.
1954
The Maxwell Tabernacle was Canada's largest religious
auditorium before it was demolished in 2005. It operated from 1954 to 2005 as a
local church, concert hall, and graduation auditorium of Prairie Christian
Academy and Three Hills School high school classes.
1959
When her husband died in 1959, Kate moved to a house
at Three Hills, where she was close to her family.
George Kinsey married and moved onto his parents'
farm.
Alfred William Kinsey was born on 11 January 1921 to
William Henry Kinsey and Catherine Jane (Farndale) Kinsey. While growing up on
the farm west of Trochu, Alfred along with his brother George and sister
Dorothy attended Curlew School. He worked on the farm after school with his
parents and alongside his brother as well as for various neighbours and
relatives in the local farming community. Alfred attended bible college at
Prairie Bible Institute and graduated in 1952.
In 1958 he
married Oneta Davis and they moved to the farm where
he had grown up.
In 1960 they moved to Three Hills where they joined
Prairie staff for 5 years. Alfred worked there on the farm and in the milk
pasteurising plant.
1966
Kate died on 9 September 1966, aged 82 years, at Three
Hills. She is buried not far from her brother, Martin, in Trochu graveyard.
1980s
In the mid 1980s, the
130-acre Prairie College campus and the nearby hamlets of Grantville and Ruarkville were annexed to the town.
1998
Although a relatively small community, Three Hills had
the distinction of hosting the Alberta Seniors Games in the summer of
1998. The town was chosen to host this event because of its ability to
utilize large and well equipped facilities at the college. This included the
opening and closing ceremonies which took place in the 4,300 seat Maxwell
Memorial Tabernacle, located on Prairie College's campus.
Because
of development of the nearby methane fields, the food and lodging industries in
Three Hills have grown considerably over the past few years.
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