Introduction

The love of history in our family is clearly longstanding. John Milne understood the value of his contribution to the building of our nation. His stories are interesting, informative and are filled with humanity. Reading the autobiography gives us a very real representation of what life was like in his time when our country was young and virtually anything was possible.

There is much that we can take pride in when reviewing John Milne’s contribution, but perhaps the lesson we can learn from this man’s life is that we all have the ability to contribute to the building of Canada. John Milne’s energy and accomplishments have become part of the very fabric of Canada.

John Milne’s energy and spirit also became a part of his granddaughter, Barbara Katherine Wilhelmina Helen Luete Winterton, the child he essentially raised. Through reading about John Milne, we can understand where she got her entrepreneurial spirit and how she must have found compatibility with our grandfather, William Edward Winterton, another entrepreneur. Their children, William (Bill) Milne Winterton (father of Bill, Brock, Barbara, Susan and Sharon) and Douglas Karl Winterton (father of Tracy) have their own stories to tell and we, their children, will be a part of those stories.

I believe John Milne’s story is one we should all be familiar with because it is a story about where we come from. It grounds us in the history of this country. I thought it important for us to retain the original character of the autobiography and so have had it published as it was typed, corrected and added to by his own hand.

It is an unabridged copy of his original.

Enjoy the stories.

You can download this book here in pdf format