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Alice (Nellie) Dack
who married:
1) John Grand
2) William Grange
Alice Dack was known as Nellie. She was born on the 19th May 1853, the third daughter of Matthew Twite Dack .
She married a boot maker called John William Grand in Holt in 1879 and had three children:
left to right : Nellie's children, Albert William Grand , Daisy Ethel May Grand, and Percival Ernest George Grand
Sadly, Nellie's husband John Grand, died of appendicitis at the age of 29, leaving Nellie with the three children aged 5, 3 and 1. She went to Watford with her children where she was employed as a nurse to a very sick woman. Her name was Sarah Grange, wife of William Grange from Cambridge. Nellie cared for her until she died from her illness. Then, on February 1st 1891, she was married to William Grange, the widower for whom she had worked. They lived in Watford and by him she had two daughters, Bertha Ella and Elsie May.When Nellie's eldest daughter Daisy (pictured above) married in 1903, her husband (3 days after the wedding) sailed for Western Canada as a pioneer to start a business painting and paper-hanging for pioneer families, and called for Daisy to join him after a few months.
Daisy's daughter Edna tells the story:
After a few months he wrote to Daisy to join him, he had built a little one-room house with very little furniture in it and, because they didn't realise the severity of the climate in that strange country, they suffered terribly that first year. Mother came out (Edna's mother, Daisy) and with her came her step-father,while Granny (Nellie) stayed in Watford with her two younger daughters Bertha and Elsie Grange (left) and eldest son Bert.
But the following year all the rest of the family
came out to Canada and Bert, who was a fine carpenter, built his mother a really lovely home. It was one of the nicest in the town.
Here is a picture of it with Granny (Nellie) and her two young daughters standing in front.
Edna's grandmother Nellie Grange
Nellie's granddaughter Edna says:
This photo of Granny which is so stern-looking, isn't my favourite, but she did look like that sometimes, especially when she was getting after me for being mischievous. I like to remember her though, when she was laughing. She was full of fun, and would play with us like she was one of her own grandchildren.
I remember running races with her and she always won. She was small, and quick in everything she did. She was also very much in charge of her family. We all jumped when she cracked the whip! But we loved her, and it was a real treat to go to her home for a meal. She was a wonderful cook and a really beautiful seamstress. She taught me to sew and I've always been thankfull to her for that. She also was an excellent gardener - everything she touched grew. Her garden was full of fruit trees and berry vines and she had many flowers growing.The only ones left from the family now [in 1968] are Aunt Bertha Bennet who lives in Idaho, USA and Aunt Elsie Boyd in Downey, California.