Early Life
John Glenn was born in Mayo County, Ireland in 1833. As a young man he left Ireland and travelled to England. He was homesick for his native country so started to travel back home, however he changed his mind just a few miles from his Father's home and turned around and travelled back to England.
From Liverpool he took a ship to New York, he was 16 years old. Upon arriving in the United States he decided to travel to Waco, Texas where he took employment on a ranch. In 1861 he was drafted into the Confederate Army, however, as he did not believe in slavery, he deserted and joined the Northern Federal Army. He served during this period under General William Tecumseh Sherman until the end of the Civil war in 1865.
He then traveled around the United States, working in mines and in 1867 he moved to British Columbia and then on to Barkerville (along with James Votier and Sam Livingston - who would later become his neighbours in the Calgary area).
He spent many years as a solitary man, and at the age of 40 he decided, in 1873 to settle down and this is when he married Adelaide Belcourt of Lac Ste. Anne. The marriage took place in the mission in St. Albert (built by Father Lacombe twenty years earlier) and the ceremony was performed by Father Leduc.
They then headed out to find good land to settle on. When they reached Fish Creek they were impressed by the rich soil and decided to make their home there. They built a log cabin in 1873, becoming the first settlers in what is now Calgary. Later he said "I like the climate better than any I have found between the Atlantic and the Pacific; the Rio Grande and the Peace, over all of which Territory I have travelled. There is everything in the country a settler can desire".
Read more about this topic: John Glenn (Alberta)
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)