William John Lee and Elizabeth Nickson

William John Lee
Grandfather
b. August 20, 1871, Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire, England

Elizabeth Nickson
Grandmother
b. January 1875, Liverpool, Lancashire, England

William John Lee was the first in the line of Lees to settle in Canada. The British 1891 Census shows Williams occupation at the time as a bricklayer's labourer. The British 1901 Census shows him as a lamplighter. His father, William Thomas Graham Lee (Great Grandfather) was a shoemaker as was his father before him, William Lee (2^nd Great Grandfather).

William John Lee came to Canada in 1903 with two of his wife's brothers, Walter and John Nickson. They worked on farms in Manitoba to get enough money for land claims and to buy passage for William's wife and family and Walter and John Nickson's mother and sisters. The three men obtained land claims on three adjacent quarters near Young, Saskatchewan.

In June, 1905, William Lee' wife and three daughters sailed from Liverpool to Montreal on the “Lake Manitoba” to join William in Saskatchewan. Walter and John Nickson's mother and sisters sailed from Liverpool to Montreal on the “Lake Champlain” in June, 1908.

Walter Nickson was born in 1878. In the British 1901 Census, Walter is listed as a bread and flour shopkeeper. John Nickson was born in 1884. In the British 1901 Census, John is listed as a painter and decorator. He would have been seventeen. None of the boys had farming experience until they came to Canada.

Elizabeth, Walter and John's parents were Joshua Nickson (Great Grandfather), born May 26, 1844 in Torrisholme, Lancashire, England and Sarah Hannah Dixon (Great Grandmother), born 1850 in Kendal, Westmorland, England. She came to Canada with her daughters and joined the Nickson boys in Saskatchewan. She died in Vancouver, British Columbia on July 05, 1926. She was a widow when she emigrated, Joshua had died in Dec 26, 1899. In the British 1861 to 1891 Censuses, Joshua is listed as a farm worker, coachman and carter.