Discussions

In the twilight years of her life Mrs McPhail was a strong supporter of local, provincial and national History. She was a strong promoter of local and provincial celebrations for Canada and Manitoba’s Centennial celebrations.  
 
She was a volunteer with the Assiniboine Historical Society from its inception in 1970.  
 
She was a founding member of Daly House Museum in 1976. In this role she donated and collected much of the display material, and was a major resource person for the operation of the museum until her mid-eighties.  
 
When she was in her seventies, Mrs. McPhail, (Effie) applied for and received a Federal grant and produced a film Named “Pioneer Days”.  
 
It was a documentary on the history of Brandon.  
 
She was also instrumental in producing a series of taped interviews with many of the members of western Manitoba’s pioneer families.  
 
This collection of personal memoirs and historical stories is kept in the Brandon Public Library.  
 
Her parents were Alex and Blanche (nee Rae) Weir who were descendants of Scottish immigrants who sailed to Canada in the early 1800’s. Both the Weir and the Rae families were early pioneers in the Brandon area.  
 
When she was only sixteen Mrs. McPhail graduated from the Brandon Normal School, and by 1917 she had been given a teaching position at Roseland School.  
 
It was a one-room school south west of Brandon where she taught Grades one through nine for a salary of forty-eight dollars a month.  
 
Teaching in those early days was hard for any one, but especially a sixteen-year-old woman.  
 
Teachers not only had to teach up to nine Grades at the same time, but also were responsible for the heating and cleaning of the school, and organizing community activities like ballgames, picnics, dances, and concerts.  
 
She continued teaching for the next six years at Roseland, Rapid City, and Rivers.  
 
In 1923 she married Alex McPhail a farmer of North Brandon. They were blessed with four children, who they raised through the depression on a farm, which they developed successfully.  
 
They were dyed in the wool farmers and they farmed in the Forest District North of Brandon until they were in their eighties.  
 
Source: Daly House Museum Archives.  
 
Extraordinary Ordinary Women: Manitoba Women and Their Stories  
By Armstrong, Colleen (Editor)