This is a picture of one of my great-great grandfathers who moved to America from Canada in the 1920s. He was a limestone miner and sculptor and made many great works in his time, including the statues he stands on in this picture. In the early 1920s, there was a short but sharp financial recession in Canada that came from events that came from World War One, and the mining company that he was part of wasn’t able to give out enough for him to make a living for his family. Because of this, he looked to America, which had a more stable economy at the time, for new opportunities. He was able to find a new mining/sculpting job in Indiana and got his family to take the journey there, where he mainly worked on making materials for buildings. With this new job, in combination with other jobs his family members had, they were all able to relatively thrive during the Great Depression, which started almost immediately after they moved over in 1929. This is one of the few pictures of him that my family still has, which is held in a book of my early family tree. The book is currently owned by my grandpa, who is this man's grandson. It's a story that makes me proud of my family; I think that his works are amazing, and the fact that he was able to use his skills in sculpting to support his family through times as scary as the great depression is extremely impressive to me, especially after just moving to a whole new country.

– Jesse Dawson

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