Friday you have arrived and you couldn't have come any sooner. We made it through another week and that means we are officially one week closer to Christmas and with that comes another Friday Find from Stockmen's Memorial Foundation set to go.
This week the brand and story of Mr. Alfred (Fred) Voight.
Fred was born in 1903 in Saskatchewan. In the fall of 1920, at 17-years-old, he and his sister would hop in the back of a cattle car and land in Cochrane. For the rest of his life, the little town of Cochrane would be called home.
At 21, Fred would issue a letter to the officer of the recorder of brands. His young age would cause for his uncertainty on the topic as his letter would kindly ask for advice regarding horse brands. Enclosed he had a pair of brand selections and their desired locations. He would anticipate a letter back and would later receive one with his future brand which he would carry on for the next 52 years. A year later he also applied to use the same brand for cattle which was granted just, of course, on a different location.
The brand is read bar over F V and was placed on the right shoulder for horses and right hip for cattle. In 1977, Fred would sell his farm and cancel both brands stating he had no further use of the brands.
Fred was very much a hard working soul, like any other rancher. That old school mentality was always at the forefront of his mind and hard work was just what you did because it needed to be done. At one point he herded 500 head of sheep for Pat Timmins and lived in a teepee near Jumping Pound Creek for some time. He had a sheep dog whom he named Fanny and eventually would go on to take Pat's dog under his wing when he and his wife left for the United States.
Millicent Zang was a very special friend to Fred. He resided with the Zangs at Horse Creek for 20 years. He passed away on Sept 16, 1989 at 86 years of age surrounded by friends and family at the Foothills Hospital.
