Every story starts with “Once upon a time”, and this story has a similar ring to it. Once upon a time, there was a need, a hope and a dream, living in the heart of an English couple.

This is the story of a determined journey of their hearts, across the ocean and the vast steppe overcoming their fears, with prowess, moments of mischief and resilience.

This journey began at the end of the XIX century, when Percival returned from a sailing trip to Punta Arenas, in the south of Chile. This lit the flame of new adventures. He and his wife were inspired to leave their home and embark on an odyssey in a new continent, a distant land called the Americas.

In early  1900, Percival Master and Jessie Wildig went to Buenos Aires and, 2 years later, they established themselves in Patagonia, to stay for good, after their first and only son, Herbert, was born. They settled in Cabo Virgenes, in the southeast of the Santa Cruz province, gaining experience in both windy and woolen affairs.

In those years, learning from the land, and working with sheep and wood, the fourth member of the family arrived. Elinor Cristina Masters was born in 1904, and with her arrival to these untamed lands came the need for more. They moved west in search of larger plots of land and a better future, bringing with it cold winters and isolation.

For those who have not been here yet, we have three words, meticulously chosen, to talk about this land which I have been acquainted with since the very first day of my life.

 

Percival Joseph Masters 1876-1971.

Elizabeth “Jessie” Wildig 1876 -1971.