My Paper

Where I am From Essay

Imagine you are 9 years old; your father is a part of the famous Buffalo Bill Wild West show, and he tells you “We are moving to Saskatchewan.” Everything you knew and did in life would have a dramatic change, practically a reset. No more travelling, meeting new people, and most importantly, no more living life to the fullest. This is the story about my great grandfather Roy Murray’s journey through his life. 

Roy Murray grew up in a wealthy society, but his family did not exactly earn as much as you would think while being a part of the Buffalo Wild West show. His father was a sharpshooter during his time in the show. “His good friends were the Indians and he really enjoyed them being a part of the show.” He was friends with Indigenous people from two tribes that did not get along. Both tribes were interested in the show, and he wanted both to be together, but the Indigenous people could not come to terms. The show went on travelling across the United States and parts of Europe for decades before coming to an end. They had plenty of fun being a part of the Wild West Shows, but they needed a sustainable place to live along with a sustainable income.

At the time Saskatchewan was offering free land to claim if you took care of the land and grew crops or raised livestock on it. Saskatchewan was doing this because they were trying to grow their province. My Great grandfather was living in South Dakota prior to coming to Saskatchewan, so It was not too difficult to move places. They followed the main rivers upstream until they reached Saskatchewan. Roy Murray’s father was 25 years older than his mom, so unfortunately, he passed away only a few years into living in Saskatchewan. They did not have much money, his mom worked extremely hard providing for them. My pop said to me “My father needed a well-paying job, so he applied for the army. He then got placed to guard the Pacific Ocean along the Coast of British Columbia.”

Roy Murray served in the army for several years before retiring to become a prison guard for sixteen years. As a prison guard he won the sharpshooter contest sixteen years consecutively. “He must have taken those skills from his father,” who was a sharpshooter for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. He loved how beautiful British Columbia is and wanted to grow a family here. He married my great grandma who came from a wealthy background native to British Columbia, and they settled in Surrey. They had seven boys all within ten years of age, the second oldest being my pops.

My great grandfather went from travelling the world at an early age to becoming poor to building himself and family back up. He lived in several places, met many people, built his reputation, and lived a long enjoyable life. Now, his father has a museum in South Dakota featuring a section all about my great grandfather Roy Murray.

The Writing Process

I throughly enjoyed the process of writing this essay about my family. I learned so much interesting facts, that I would have never known if I did not do this interview. The main challenge I found was the struggle to plan an interview with my grandpa because he is a very busy man. Once I finished the interview it wasn’t a problem writing the essay; everything came smoothly. Something that really caught my attention was that my great great grandpa was a part of the Buffalo Bill Wild West show. I did not know anything about it. Because I did not know anything about it, it made me want to research about this show.

Core Competency Reflection

I show that I value feedback from others in my group by taking their feedback into consideration and incorporating it into my essay.

My strategies for collecting relevant information for specific tasks include listening and asking questions to my piers.

I show others that I truly value their contributions by reflecting on what they have said and contributing it into my writing. As well as to showing them what I’ve done.

I remain open minded as I explore viable options or alternative approaches, like when I was not thrilled with someones idea but I gave it a try.

Communication: A goal of mine is to work on my communication skills. This would benefit my tremendously, because by talking to more people it opens ideas up, and everyone sees things differently, so it could boost my writing skills