Douglas Paul Barnard, Master Brainteaser (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 34 theme: "Playtime")

Douglas Barnard from his obituary in the London Daily Telegraph 18 May 1994 p.25 accessed on Newsapapers.com 

Douglas Paul Barnard (aka Douglas St. Paul Barnard) was my husband's first cousin once removed. Born 27 January 1924 in Pakefield, Suffolk, England to Arthur and Laura (Parry) Barnard, his idea of playtime might not be everyone's idea of fun. As a cruciverbalist, his work was his play. (To save you the trouble since I had to look it up anyway -- a cruciverbalist is a compiler or aficionado of crossword-puzzles. And -- full disclosure: I have been a lifelong cryptic crossword puzzle junkie, a hobby shared with my mother and her brother Bob. I am in awe of the work of Douglas Barnard.)

Douglas Barnard's father Arthur was the younger brother to my husband's grandfather John Mathias Barnard. (Whereas John Mathias was a large man standing over 6 feet tall, brother Arthur's service records from when he signed up for the army at age 18 show him to be less than 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing just 124 pounds. Perhaps he was still growing?) After serving with the British army during the Boer War and in India from 1896-1908, Arthur committed to service in the Christian ministry. To this end, Arthur moved his family to Australia in the 1920s. 

Young Douglas grew up in Australia and obtained his education at the Brisbane Boys'  College. He compiled his first crossword at age 15.

He started work as a bank clerk, but soon enlisted in the Australian army at Launceston, Tasmania on 10 March 1942 shortly after turning 18. His capabilities were soon recognized and he was sent on a Junior Leaders Course followed by selection for the Royal Military College. Records indicate he was a Bombardier. His casualty forms list frequent illnesses and problems with his eyes and with his right ear after a gun blast near it. It is difficult to follow his military records with any real idea of what he was doing; there is a very mysterious reference to his having "m/in from Queensland LofC area  GDD" and embarked from Cairns for "Mexico" (yes, with the quotation marks) on 19-02-45 and then having disembarked at Aitape (surely this is in New Guinea?) on 3-1-45.  He was promoted to Sergeant on 8 November 1945 before his discharge from service in 1946. 

Perhaps he was actually an intelligence officer during the War as reported by a couple of sources (see Gilbert article and Best for Puzzles website in Resources below). If his talents were not taken advantage of in this way, a great opportunity was missed. No official source has been found, but his was exactly the sort of mind required at Bletchley Park or its Australian counterpart Central Bureau. 

At the end of the War, Douglas transferred to the Army Psychology Corps. Then in 1946 he entered Tasmania University to study political science. He was expelled for publishing a pamphlet calling one of his professors a Communist. Later vindicated when that professor was discharged, it nevertheless cost Douglas the Rhodes Scholarship he had won to study at Oxford. 

When paralyzed from polio at age 25, he was told he would never walk again. With characteristic determination and ability, he designed his own leg clamp and got himself back on his feet.  

In 1954, Douglas moved his wife and children to England where he found free-lance work, including as an occasional crossword compiler for the London Daily Telegraph. By the time his obituary was published in that newspaper on 18 May 1994, they reported that he had compiled 2,956 puzzles for them over a course of 40 years. They added that "recently his crosswords had appeared on Mondays because their clarity and cryptic elegance were considered a refreshing challenge after a relaxed weekend."

His book Anatomy of The Crossword is a classic for demystifying the cryptic crossword (which is unlike the more straight-forward encyclopedic version more common in North America). Having figured out on my own how the cryptic clues can follow a number of different formats, it delighted me to read this book and learn that the patterns all had names and explanations. He expounds on the use of puns (based on homonyms and homophones), drollery, allusion, dialectic clues, dilemmatic clues, paragrams, anagrams, disjunctive clues, parabolic clues, and finally the all-encompassing cryptic licence that may be taken by the cruciverbalist. Oh, my! 

Barnard's Anatomy of the Crossword, 1963

According to his obituary:

A true polymath, he quickly grasped the arcane details of any discipline. Science, mathematics, computers, religion and philosophy were of particular interest to him, but he was also a talented handyman who rewired, replumbed and restored his large Georgian house almost single-handed. 

He designed and built a large Adam-style mantelpiece, restored a Bechstein grand piano and collected and restored Oriental antiques.  

His interest in politics led him to run as a Conservative candidate in the 1964 election; he did not win a seat. 

Over the years, he set many other brain-teaser puzzles and wrote many articles as a freelance journalist, often under various pseudonyms. It takes a special mind to turn mathematics into playtime.

The Rochdale Observer 24 April 1965 accessed on Newspapers.com

In addition to his Adventures in Mathematics (1967), he also wrote The Puffin Book of Car Games (1977), It's All Done by Numbers (1968), 50 Daily Telegraph Brain-Twisters (1985), Figure it Out (1973), One Hundred Brain Twisters (1966), A Book of Mathematical and Reasoning Puzzles (1962) and 50 Observer Brain-Twisters (1963). So much playtime created by him for so many puzzle enthusiasts!

Here is an example of one of his regular Brain-twisters (and, no, I haven't tried to solve it, before you ask!):

The Observer 10 January 1965 p.39 from Newspapers.com

As to why he added the "St." to change his name from Douglas Paul Barnard to Douglas St. Paul Barnard or D. St. P. Barnard, no explanation has been found. Probably there is some sort of cryptic or mathematical clue. Perhaps the "s" and "t" are needed to create an anagram: absurd lapdogs rant? about grandads plural? Sorry, Douglas, some of us need a more fulsome clue to solve this one!

Some Resources:

• Australia, World War II Military Service Records, 1939-1945 for Douglas Paul Barnard, accessed on Fold3
• Barnard, D. St. P., Anatomy of the Crossword, London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1963
• Barnard, D. St. P., 50 Daily Telegraph Brain-Twisters: a book of mathematical puzzles and reasoning problems, Javelin, 1985, accessed on 25 July 2025 on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/50dailytelegraph0000doug/page/12/mode/2up
• Best for Puzzles Website, Crossword Who's Who for Douglas Barnard accessed online 25 July 2025 at https://bestforpuzzles.com/people/b.html
• Gilbert, Val, "The Telegraph Crossword is 80 and Still Going Strong", 30 July 2005 from the Narkive Newsgroup Archive  accessed online 25 July 2025 at https://rec.puzzles.crosswords.narkive.com/5ALuWsOd/the-telegraph-crossword-is-80-down-and-still-going-strong
• Obituary for Douglas Barnard, The Daily Telegraph, London, England, 18 May 1994, p.25.

The Andersons at Bawlf, Alberta, Canada (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 32 theme: "Wide Open Spaces")

My maternal great great grandfather Israel Anderson (1829-1910) spent a lifetime searching for wide open spaces. Born in 1829  and raised in Laxarby, Västra Götaland, Sweden, 3 miles from the nearest town, he moved to Norway as a young man to work on a farm there. He married farmer's daughter Johanna Gundersdatter Opsahl and moved to America in 1856 with wife and their first child, my great grandfather Anders (Andrew) Anderson. 

Israel and Johanna went on to have the following children: Andrew b 1855, Sophia b. abt. 1856, Ida b. 1858, Gunelius b. 1862, Olava b. 1864, Annetta b. 1868, John b. 1868, Betsy b. abt. 1870 and Carl Gustaf b. 1873. Johanna died in 1900.  

Over the years, the call of its wide open spaces took Israel and family to several newly developing areas on the American frontier. After first settling in Decatur, WI, they moved on to Northwood County, Iowa and then to Grafton, Dakota Territories, traveling by train and covered wagon. In 1901 son Carl Gustaf moved across the border to homestead in Manitoba. In 1902 son Gunelius moved his family to Canada as well, settling in what became the Bawlf area of what was then the North-West Territories.  In 1903 Israel himself emigrated for a third and final time to join Gunelius in the Bawlf area. He was a widower in his mid-70s.

Alberta was not even yet a province when Israel arrived. In 1903 the land was still part of the North-West Territories, and, of course, before that had been part of the truly wide open spaces occupied by the western First Nations peoples. At noon on 1 September 1905 Alberta became a Province of Canada. Israel had been there for a couple of years by this time.

Google Earth view of Bawlf area - showing the present-day checkerboard of fields that were wide open spaces when the Andersons arrived

The Village of Bawlf was established in the vast Canadian prairies in 1905, the same year that Alberta became a province. Named for Nicholas Bawlf, president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the town came into being alongside the new railroad. Farming and shipping grain were its raison d'être.

Son Gunelius "G.I."  had moved there the preceding year with his family. The following is from a letter dated 17 May 1977 from Ernie and Esther Anderson to R.W. "Bob" Anderson, based on their recollections of  comments made by Gunelius's son Lawrence Anderson: 

"G.I. left Edinburg, N.D., where he owned a hotel, in 1902 and moved to Alberta. Andrew and John came up two years later and bought a half section beside the homestead. Lawrence was saved land, proved it up and got it at age 21. The railroad came in 1906. Israel homesteaded near his sons' farms and was required to spend a few months each year on his homestead, so he had a house on skids that he pulled over to the land in summer and then back to the sons in the winter.    Lawrence said they lived in 2 tents when they arrive in Daysland and lived in them until three weeks before Christmas when their house was finally ready for occupancy. It was bitterly cold, he remembers."

The 1906 census of Alberta shows Gunelius at section 8-45-17-W4M, his sons Emil at 10-45-17-W4M and Lawrence at 30-44-16-W4M. Another brother, John Anderson, had homesteaded at Bawlf just east of his father at NE36-44-17 W4M.

Homestead application of Israel Anderson

Sadly, on 7 March 1910, at age 80, Israel died before proving up his homestead application. 

1910 Post Card from Gunelius Anderson advising sister Sophia of Israel's death

Decades ago my uncle Bob Anderson and his son visited the rural Lutheran cemetery near Bawlf  where Israel is buried. A few years after this, while attending a kids' hockey tournament at nearby Daysland, my husband and I also paid Israel's gravesite a visit.

Two of His Male Anderson descendants visit Israel's burial location 

In 1998, in response to my letter to the Village of Bawlf, local resident and historical record-keeper Lil Bohmer sent me a considerable amount of information based on local knowledge of the family. Lil was a member of the same Bawlf Lutheran Church as the Andersons and was the record-keeper for the cemetery. She provided the burial locations for Israel as well as for Gunelius, his wife Sophia, their daughter Gina Reesor (1891-1928), son Emil (1884-1950) and son Alfred (1886-1954).

Lil went on to say: 

I found in the Daysland History book the enclosed information about Kenneth and Aleda Anderson. Also in the book were copies of maps showing land owners in the early 1900s. Another son of Gunelius and Sophia farmed north of Ohaton. He was known as Ike but a gentleman who knew him said he thought his given name was Israel - after his grandfather. The other son Lawrence, who farmed with Alfred later lived in Daysland. I found several people who remembered Gunelius and family but no one is left who would remember Israel. The house that the Andersons built on their farm was considered a beautiful place. Their neighbours and church friends were all there for Open House when it was completed. A few years ago that house was moved into Daysland to be a neat looking place yet. It was a 2 story. The fact that it had a kitchen nook and a dining room had impressed everyone. 

Israel's grandsons Clarence and Ingwald (sons of Andrew) homesteaded in the Lancer area of Saskatchewan, Canada a few years later. The wide open spaces of the Canadian prairies did not suit everyone. Some of the sons or their descendants ended up moving back south of the 49th parallel. The current crop of Andersons inhabiting Canada's wide open spaces primarily descend through the Israel/Andrew/Ingwald line. 

3 of Israel's sons backed by their sons about 1915: lower left my great grandfather Andrew Anderson in front of his son Clarence, lower centre Gunelius in front of his son Emil and lower right John in front of his son Victor. The picture was taken after Victor returned from fighting in World War I

1912: A Year of Tragedy (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2024 Theme: Hard Times)

The sinking of the Titanic 14-15 April 1912 was a pivotal event in world history. Although no one from my family was on board, five deaths occurred in my family during the months of May to September that year. Although not on as grand a scale as the Titanic, four of these had their own special elements of tragedy.

1. Mortimer Bullen (1830-1912), my 2nd great granduncle (brother to my great great grandmother Sarah Catherine Bullen) died on 18 May 1912 in Richland, Wisconsin, USA. He was nearly 82 years old. Much of his life had been spent farming in the area. He was survived by his wife Alice and six children. 

Mortimer Bullen 1830-1912

According to his obituary, he had enlisted in the Union Army in Co. B, 45th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War and was discharged after 9 months with serious illness.  But life for him got better after the hard times of the War. Unlike others of my extended family who died later that year, Mortimer's death was a peaceful one at a good old age.

2. Fred Wescott, my great granduncle (brother to my great grandmother Mary Jane Wescott) was stabbed to death in Minneapolis on 2 June 1912. Lurid newspaper reports screamed out from the front pages as the time. (More details can be found in my blog story about Fred's tragic death.) 

Fred Wescott far right (with wife Josephine, children and other family members)

Fred was living apart from his family and working as a cook at a rather seedy restaurant in Minneapolis when his life was so brutally ended at the age of 45. No one was ever held accountable for his murder. 

3. Jorgena Torkelson (1862-1912), my great great grandmother,  died two days after Fred. They weren't related to each other and had no connection. 

Jorgena was born in Wisconsin to Norwegian parents. She married Andrew Anderson at the age of 17 and proceeded to have babies born at regular two year intervals. After the death of two children at an early age followed by the stillbirth of a baby born in 1900, she suffered from blood poisoning and  postpartum depression. She was institutionalized at the Yankton State Hospital for the Insane in Yankton, South  Dakota. (For more details, her story can be found elsewhere in this blog.) She died there of melancholia on 4 June 1912 at the age of 49 and is buried on the site.

Jorgena Torkelson at 17

4. Samuel Lester Hoover (1855-1912), half brother to my great grandfather Charles Edwards, (not related to either Fred Wescott or Jorgena Torkelson), died later that same month - 28 June 1912 at the age of 56. He died of a stroke. 

Samuel's life was also quite tragic. His father died when Samuel wasn't yet 3 years old. His mother's second marriage corresponded with the American Civil War and it seems unlikely that he really got to know his step-father Louis Edwards before Edwards died of consumption serving in the War. Samuel's maternal grandparents seemed to provide any sense of stability that he received during those difficult years. 

Samuel Lester Hoover 

His mother's third marriage in 1873 to a man named George Payton enabled the family to finally settle down as an integral part of a community in Kansas. By then young Samuel was ready to make his own way, working for years on railways throughout Mexico and the United States. His marriage to Hannah Wilcox in 1892 produced 5 children, all of whom died within a few months of birth. 

One record that provides a surprising amount of description of Samuel is this fishing license, which at least also shows he managed to find some enjoyment in life.

After their divorce, 50 year-old Samuel took up with 20 year-old divorcee Lillie Shagogue and had a child with her in 1911; sadly, this child also died in infancy. Lillie herself would die by suicide after ingesting Lysol just a couple of years later. More details can be found in another  blog story.

Samuel is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah.

5. George Thompson Saum (1824-1912), who is either my second great grandfather or my second great granduncle (DNA having established that either he or his brother was the unknown father of my great grandfather Charles Edwards), died on 19 September 1912. Although he died at the ripe old age of 88, he did not go peacefully in his sleep. As can be seen in the following portion of his obituary, he died when his horse-drawn cart was struck by a train,

Portion of obituary of GT Saum 1912

                         from the Norton Weekly Telegram, Norton, Kansas, 2 Oct 1912 p.3

Five family deaths in 1912 - one peacefully of old age, one murdered, one of melancholia in an institution for the insane, one of a stroke after a lifetime of losses and one struck by a train. It was indeed a tragic year. 

My Swedish Immigrant Family

My Swedish genes took a meandering route to Canada. The central figure in this journey is Israel Andersson, my maternal great great grandfather. He was born in Laxarby, Älvsborg, Sweden on 26 April 1829 to Anders Svensson and Anna-Maria Andersdtr. Israel was the second oldest of 8 children. Being the second son, he knew he would be expected to find his own way when he grew up; Israel proved that he was more than up to the task.

Israel in his later years

The first record of Israel migrating to another country is to be found in the Swedish Household Examination Record for his family in the period 1851-1855. These records were essentially annual censuses taken by the church and included birth, death, and marriage information as well as reporting when a person moved into or out of the parish. The far right column shows Israel leaving for Norway in 1854. 

Household Examination Record for family of Anders Svensson - Israel left for Norway in 1854

As in Sweden, Norway's Lutheran Church was tasked with keeping vital statistics, including in-migrations (innflyttede) to the parish. Sure enough, Israel appears in the Lier, Buskerud, Norway church book as having moved into the parish in 1854. Although the record is difficult to read and to translate, I believe it indicates he actually moved in November of 1854 and officially declared that intention on 9 December. Apparently he was living on the Opsal farm. 

Top entry is for Israel Anderson, age 25 when he moved into Lier Parish, Buskerud, Norway

Within the year, Israel had made a life for himself there, marrying the Opsal farmer's daughter Johanna Gundersdatter Opsal and fathering a young son Anders (my great grandfather). In 1856 the young family left for "Amerika", once again documented only by the church record of departures from the parish that year. No passenger lists can be found for this time period. 

Lier Norway Church Record "Uttflytted" for 1856, with enlarged segment for Israel, Johanna and Anders shown below. 

Fortunately, the Lutheran Church continued its practice of maintaining records of births, baptisms, marriages, confirmations and deaths in America. From those records, we find that the family first lived in Rock Prairie, Wisconsin and moved a few years later to Kenseth, Iowa. By the time Israel's wife Johanna died in 1900, they were living in Hoople, Walsh County, North Dakota. 

Hearing of opportunities for land in Canada, several family members made the move to Alberta to take up homesteads in the first decade of the 20th century. My grandfather, Ingwald Anderson was included in that migration but he and his brother chose land in Saskatchewan quite distant from the older generation, perhaps wanting to assert their independence.

1914 Canadian Naturalization of my grandfather Ingwald Anderson 

By 1903, widower Israel had settled near some of his sons near the small village of Bawlf in the Camrose area of Alberta. His homestead application form indicates that he had become a naturalized Canadian citizen 28 June 1906 and that he had made considerable improvements to his land.

Homestead application of Israel Anderson in Bawlf area of Alberta, Canada 

Sadly, Israel did not live quite long enough to "prove up" his homestead grant, dying 7 March 1910 just short of his 81st birthday. He is buried in the local Lutheran cemetery. 

But my story does not end with immigrant Israel, nor with his son Anders/Andrew who came as a baby from Norway with his parents and remained in the United States for the rest of his life, nor with Andrew's son Ingwald who went homesteading in Saskatchewan and also became a naturalized Canadian citizen. All three generations of my grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather were immigrants to one or more of Norway, the United States or Canada. But I was to discover there was yet another generation of Swedish immigrants in my tree! 

Israel's parents Anders Svensson and Anna-Maria Andersdtr had been left behind in Sweden when Israel moved to Norway and then to America. The Swedish family must have received positive reports of life in the new land. In 1868 parents Andrew and Anna and two of their other grown children followed Israel across the Atlantic. Passenger lists available for this time period brought this new information to light. 

Anders Svenson and son Gustaf Anderson on the "City of London" arrived in New |York 25 May 1868

Information about  and an image of the ship that they arrived on can be found through this link: "City of London".  Ann Andersdotter and daughter Eva are listed on another page for the same voyage. All joined Israel and his family who were living in Iowa at the time.

A combination of ship's passenger lists, church records, Naturalization documents and land records show the meandering migration path of  4 generations of  Swedish ancestors whose Swedish genes now reside contentedly with my family in Canada.