Introduction / Families / Stevenson / George Stevenson and Charlotte Corrigal / Charlotte Stevenson and Robert Reid

Ann Reid and Matthew Fisher Peace

Ann Reid (b. 2nd July 1852) was the eldest of the five children of Robert Reid and Charlotte Stevenson and their only daughter.

She married Matthew Fisher Peace (b. 7th June 1847) in Eday on 30th November 1876. Matthew was the son of John Peace and Mary Reid. They were at Sillerha, Eday in 1881 together with Ann’s widowed mother and brothers who had to move out of Windywa following the death of her father in 1875.

Ann and Matthew had five children, the first three being born in Eday before they emigrated to Canada:

• John Reid Peace, born 4th July 1877 who married Ellen Carlson and had seven children. John died in 1947.

• Matthew Peace, born 9th August 1879 who married Inga Tait and had four children. Matthew died in 1961.

• Robert Reid Peace, born 24th May 1883. He is thought to be the Robert Peace who died on 9th April 1908.

• Mary Peace, born 5 September 1889 who married Ed Field and had a son. Mary died in Los Angeles on 22nd February 1966.

• William Peace, born after 1884. He is thought to be the William Peace who died on 19th April 1919.

On 15 September 1884, Ann and Matthew with sons John, Matthew and Robert left Eday. They sailed to Canada on the SS Siberian. Ann’s mother, Charlotte Stevenson, had emigrated the previous year with Ann's brothers Robert, James and William.

Robert Sinclair, his wife Mary Reid, and their family accompanied them from Eday. Mary was Ann’s aunt. Upon arrival in Canada, they took the train to Whitewood, NWT where they obtained supplies. The last seventy miles to York Colony was by ox-drawn wagon.

They took out homesteads on 24th October 1884. Matthew’s was across the creek from Charlotte Stevenson’s. That winter they all lived at the Reid’s homestead, that of Mary’s brother John Flaws Reid.

Dwellings were erected in the Spring of 1885, which was also the time of the Riel Rebellion when there was killing of cattle and the raiding of homesteads. Some twenty eight natives raided their house, taking food and a pocket watch from the wall. Some of the homesteaders sought safety within the stockade within York Colony.

Matthew was on the first school board of the original log Orkney School, established on 14th May 1887 and the first Presbyterian Church board in 1890.

The family’s homestead became one of the finest farms in the area and they built the first two-storey house.

Following deteriorating health, Matthew moved to Wadena and left sons John Reid Peace and Mathew Peace to run the farm.

He died in Wadena on 23rd November 1919 and the school and business establishments closed as a mark of respect. Ann died in Los Angeles on 21st July 1940 at the home of their daughter, Mary Peace. She was buried with Matthew in Wadena Cemetery.