{"id":7180,"date":"2020-12-28T14:35:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T19:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7180"},"modified":"2020-12-28T14:40:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T19:40:38","slug":"episode-211-picture-of-james-skeoch-shortly-before-he-was-killed-in-1918","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7180","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 211 PICTURE OF JAMES SKEOCH SHORTLY BEFORE HE WAS KILLED IN 1918"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Note to General Readers:  Sorry to insert this episode as it is a Skeoch vignette of limited<\/div>\n
interest to those of you looking for excitement !  In these episodes I try to balance interesting<\/div>\n
stories with a dab or two of family history.  Call this a dab of family history .  The  pandemic <\/div>\n
gives all of us time to dab bits of family history.  I know hat from he email letters  I get back<\/div>\n
from some readers.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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EPISODE  211    JAMES SKEOCH SHORTLY BEFORE HE WAS KILLED IN 1918<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Dec. 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
JAMES SKEOCH\u2026LAST PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE HE WAS KILLED IN 1918<\/div>\n

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Look up top, far right.  That is the last image anyone ever saw  of James Skeoch… riding in a 1918 troop <\/div>\n
carrier to or from a rest break at a YMCA cafe in France.  I think this picture was sent to me by Tina Skeoch<\/div>\n
from the Skeoch farm at Corunna   Tina corresponded often with James.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
James was  the oldest child of James Skeoch sr.  When World War 1 broke out he volunteered o<\/div>\n
join the Canadian army and was eventually shipped with other Fergus volunteers to England and then to the trenches  of  France.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
His enthusiasm did not last long..  Somehow at least one  of  his letters escaped the eyes of the censors<\/div>\n
and  was sent to my father, Arnold (Red) Skeoch.  In that letter James states clearly that his brothers<\/div>\n
should not join he army.   The letter gave me the feeling that James did not expect to survive the war.<\/div>\n
Arnold was  unlikely to join the army anyway as  he was  only 12 or 13 when the war began and 16 or 17<\/div>\n
when the war ended.   Dad\u2019s brother John,  however, was prime military age and  seems to have<\/div>\n
taken his brother James advice.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Dec. 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THE SKEOCH LETTERS OF THE `830\u2019s and 1840\u2019S<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
P.S.  Two decades ago I spent one winter laboriously transferring the hand written  Skeoch letters of<\/div>\n
the  1830\u2019s and  1840\u2019s into typewritten form  Soon to be transferred to digital  form.  These  letters<\/div>\n
are  interesting  but a little difficult to put into context.  At some point in the mid 1840\u2019s a  decision was<\/div>\n
made  to leave Scotland.  Not all the family migrated. Some were left behind, particularly the elderly. <\/div>\n
Most came to Canada.   Some to the United States.<\/div>\n
Why?   Were they pushed out of Scotland by misery?  Or did they see a chance of great wealth in pioneer farming<\/div>\n
in Canada?   Push  or pull.?  I found both.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
One other branch moved<\/div>\n
to  St. Croix, Virgin Islands where they owned and ran a plantation.  A book was written about<\/div>\n
that branch titled  Robert Skeoch, Cruzan Planter.   We became  aware of this branch of the family<\/div>\n
when my wife Marjorie suggested we look up Skeoch\u2019s in a Scottish phone book while on tour in the 1960\u2019s<\/div>\n
The  visit was wonderful\u2026 elderly Skeoch farm family closely associated with the Virgin Island<\/div>\n
branch.  Back in Canada when  we told  Aunt Elizabeth about that she packed  a bag  and<\/div>\n
flew to the Virgin Islands to meet any she could find. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Another  flourishing branch high tailed it to Australia.  We write back and forth<\/div>\n
often.  The connection was made in the strangest way.  I discovered that I was<\/div>\n
not the only Alan Skeoch…there were three of us unknown to each other.  The third<\/div>\n
was a dentist in California who recently passed away before I could bother him.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Back in Scotland  the family seems to have thrived as well.  Even to the point of trying<\/div>\n
to establish a car industry by manufacturing The Little Skeoch in 1921.  Unfortunately the<\/div>\n
factory caught fire and burned to the ground.  Today, however, some enterprising men<\/div>\n
in Dalbeattie, Scotland, have successfully rebuilt a  model of the Little Skeoch.  Look it<\/div>\n
up on the internet\u2026you will even see the little car moving.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
STOP!  STOP, ALAN!  PLEASE STOP!<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In a subsequent Episode I willi include copies of the Skeoch letters even though it is doubtful<\/div>\n
they will interest general readers.  Wait!   Give me time.  I can  find a  hook that might make<\/div>\n
the letters of broader interest.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
ENJOY  the picture of James  Skeoch above.  You  do not have to be  a relative to find<\/div>\n
that photo interesting.  Worth researching even.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
P>A>   I HEARD  YOU SAY THAT\u2026HEARD YOU SAY \u201cI AM SICK AND TIRED<\/div>\n
OF ALAN\u2019S EPISODES\u201d  (I do not blame you.)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note to General Readers:  Sorry to insert this episode as it is a Skeoch vignette of limited interest to those of you looking for excitement !  In these episodes I try to balance interesting stories with a dab or two of family history.  Call this a dab of family history .  The  pandemic  gives all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}