"History isn’t a myth-making discipline, it’s a myth-busting discipline ..."

Sir Richard Evans FBA

Friday, June 7, 2013

Private Daniel Cheer

Private Daniel Cheer from Brackendale was killed in action during the last days of the liberation of Holland in 1945. The image to the right shows a poster displayed in Brackendale on Remembrance Day. Click on the image to enlarge.
Was this Cheer related to the "Stave River" Cheers? Would anyone related to him still be living in the Brackendale and Squamish area today? Click here to find copies of records assembled to find answers to those questions.
The findings: Daniel's father was John Daniel  Cheer from Whonnock who died in 1929. Private Cheer was probably born there as well. Private Cheer had one maternal half-brother, Moses Antone and two maternal half-sisters Margaret Lewis (née Antone) and Marjorie Cordecedo  (née Miranda). Private Cheer's widow, Mabel Andrew(s), married Andrew Lewis, a son of Margaret Lewis. The most surprising discovery was that Private Cheer's only full brother, Alex August Cheer still lives in Squamish under the name Alex Williams. His photo shown here is from a video shown in the weekly newspaper The Chief from Squamish (courtesy Eric Andersen). Click here to read the article about him in The Chief and to look at the video.