I am not a relative,
however, I am a retired genealogist. Several years ago, I was given the
personal effects of Lieut. Ivan Clark Maharg by an elderly neighbor of mine
who got it from another person who was going to throw the items in the
garbage (horror of horrors). I have always felt very badly that I could not
locate any relatives in Canada (I did find one who passed away before I
could contact him) and no one seems to want to remember Ivan as he should
be, for the brave young man he was. It breaks my heart. My business partner
and I (known as the Snoop Sisters before we retired) did our best to find
the family and loaned his letters and a few pictures to our local University
and they are reprinted and posted on the web. The site is for Malaspina
University College and the prof. in charge of the "Canadian Letters & Images
Project" is Dr. Stephen Davies. The website is:
www.mala.bc.ca/history/letters
The project is part of the history program.

Ivan was a Canadian, born on Mar. 16, 1897 in Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada and
died at 21 yrs. on Sept. 29, 1918 fighting in WW1. His parents were: Clark
Stewart Maharg and Mary Staples; his paternal grandparents were: Archibald
Maharg and _____ Freeland; his maternal grandparents were: Samuel Staples
and Martha Henry. I have birth, death and marriage dates and places for his
parents. I believe he had a sister named Martha F. Maharg and another sister
named Ethel Maharg who might have married ______ York.

I would very much like to see the collection back in the hands of the Maharg
family, preferably someone who is interested in preserving the family
history.

The collection has his WW1 diary right up until he died. The diary talks
alot about a girl he left at home. I would love to know who she would have
been. There's definately a story there somewhere. I also have several
pictures of Ivan, the letters, of course, death certificate, school medals,
war medals, a large scroll from King George V from 1917, a bronze memorial
plaque that was given to the family, etc. My business partner and I ordered
his attestation papers for entrance into the military and received 27 pages
of information, which is with the collection.

Are any of you related to Ivan in any
way? I'm sure you are somewhere since Maharg is not a very common name. I
knew it was Graham spelled backwards to escape out of Scotland, I believe.
As a sideline, my maiden name is Blair and we were a sept of the Clan Graham
and fought wars along side of them in Scotland. Back to the topic: Would you
want to have this collection? If so, I will send the collection to you. Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you and Happy Hunting.

Joanne Burroughs
Nanaimo, B.C., Canada