One of Okotoks’ lesser-known downtown roads was named after one of its more influential families.
Daggett Street runs west from Veterans Way, behind McRae Street, eventually connecting to North Railway Street west of the Okotoks Museum and Archives. It was named after Ernest Daggett and his wife, Alberta, who were both originally from Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick.
In 1890, Daggett bought a ticket to Seattle, making two one-day stops along the way – one in Calgary and one in New Westminster. In 1892, he returned to the Calgary area and began working on J.G. Van Wart’s farm at Davisburg.
According to his diaries, he found the prairie to be “kind of a desolate-looking country to one used to the coast.”
“Having grown up in New Brunswick on an island, it was probably a bit of a culture shock for him, but something must have took to his liking, because he stayed here and worked,” said museum specialist Kathy Coutts.
Daggett purchased land of his own from Van Wart at $5 per acre and continued farm work. He also became secretary-treasurer for the local school district, trustee and secretary for his church, as well as member of the agricultural society. He also helped form an organization known as the Society of Patrons of the Industry, a board to encourage industries to establish in the area.
“He really was sort of an instigator of early industry and the success of the community in the early days,” said Coutts.
In 1898 he returned home to New Brunswick to marry his sweetheart, Alberta Watt, to whom he had been engaged for nine years. After their wedding, they headed back west and arrived in Okotoks in 1899.
They made their home here, and Daggett began working as manager of the Lineham Lumber Company, which had been established in 1892 by John Lineham. The lumber company operated two sawmills – one in Okotoks and one in High River, and two lumber camps – one on the Highwood River and one on the Sheep River.
He kept a farm at Blackie and one in the Lineham district west of Turner Valley, as well as a home in Okotoks. The Daggetts’ house would have stood where the Okotoks HC Pharmacy is on Elizabeth Street, next to Elks Hall.
Daggett had one of the few cars in town, which he used primarily for driving from his Okotoks home to the sawmill in High River, the lumber camps, or his farms.
In his spare time, he liked to curl in the winter and was an avid follower of politics. In 1905 he sought nomination as the provincial conservative candidate, but lost the vote. Daggett was an Okotoks councillor in 1912 and 1913.
The family had one of the few cameras in Okotoks at the turn of the 20th century.
“A lot of the early photographs we have here at the archives are from them,” said Coutts. “We’ve probably got 300 or 400 photographs that belong to the Daggetts. We have quite a few photos of the family, which helps tell their story.”
Many of those photographs are of Mary, their only daughter. She was born in 1904 and grew up in Okotoks, eventually becoming a teacher before marrying Tom Wild and raising five children.
Daggett struggled with a heart condition and died in 1935. Alberta moved back to New Brunswick to live with her sister until her death in 1957, but Mary stayed in Okotoks with her family. Now, the seventh generation of Daggetts are living in Okotoks.
“My grandkids are seventh generation here,” said Tom Snodgrass. “We’re all here in Okotoks. I don’t know if any other family, Linehams or Wedderburns, I don’t know if any of them are seven generations.”
Snodgrass descended from Mary’s daughter, Hazel Wild (Snodgrass).
He said Mary’s husband, Tom Wild, was also a town councillor for years. He worked at the Turner Valley Gas Plant and drove from Okotoks to work every day.
The Snodgrass farm was located just west of Big Rock.
“Turner Valley had a swimming pool, so sometimes he’d pick us up and take us there with him and then we’d come home with him after work,” said Snodgrass.
During the school year, he and his siblings would ride their horses into town and leave them in their grandparents’ back yard while they attended classes, he said.
He recalls tubing down the river into town for fun – something that takes a lot longer now that the river has shrunk in size and flow rate, he said.
The river isn’t the only thing that isn’t quite what it used to be, he said. When his great-grandparents lived in town Okotoks would have had a population of 500 or less.
“It was a small town,” said Snodgrass. “Daggett Street was named after my great-grandparents, which is a neat tribute.”
