52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 1 Prompt - Fresh Start

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 1

Prompt – Fresh Start

As another New Year has come we all think of those things we might do to improve our life or make us a better person. Resolutions. Personally I rarely make any because they are too easy to make and very hard to keep. None the less, the calendar I hang on my wall seems like a blank page for the coming year full of potential. It is indeed a fresh start or a new beginning of our own making. 

Bill's maternal great grandfather is Johann Friedrich Jahnke. He married Ernestine Emilie Heyn in Bromberg, Prussia on April 20, 1890. Johann's brother Leonhardt married Emelie's twin sister – Amalia. Johann and Emelie's first son, Leonhard Ferdinand Jahnke was born in January of 1891. Later that same year Johann and family and his brother Leonhardt and family decided to immigrate together to the United States. They heard it was a land of opportunity and “free land”. They initially settled in Winthrop, Minnesota where Bill's grandfather, Arthur Johann Jahnke was born in 1894. When Arthur was just two years old, his parents decided to move 350 miles away in Ulen, Minnesota. In the oral history of Arthur Jahnke taken by Bill's sister, Elaine it was explained like this.

“They made this trip in a covered wagon, with very little in the line of equipment. They bought a farm and built a fairly large two story frame house with nothing but a hatchet and a saw as tools. The foundation was made of stones.”

Arthur and Ida's Visit to The Home Arthur Was Born In.

They started over by breaking land and building a farm. This would be only the first of many moves to find better opportunity for Johann and his family. In 1903 Johann moved his family to Killaly, Saskatchewan and bought a quarter section of farm land for $10.00. The proceeds from the sale in Ulen also gave him enough money to buy lumber to build a home. This move they made by train. John and his older son, Leonard stayed with the cows, horses and machinery in the freight part of the train. So in one sense they were starting over in a new country but with more than a hatchet and a saw. Johann sold this farm in 1911 and moved to Entwistle, Alberta (60 miles west of Edmonton) to help his oldest son, Leonhard start his own homestead. One year later after Leonhard was established, Johann, Emelie and Arthur moved on to Hatton Saskatchewan (20 miles northwest of Maple Creek). His fresh start in this location was to build a general store and another new home. His was the only general store in a 70 mile radius of Hatton. Further Hatton was on the main C.P.R. Line. All this made for good business. 

Circa 1912 - Johann and Emelie Hatton House

1913 Circa - John Jahnke's Hatton General Store

In 1913 when Bill's grandfather was 19 years old he went to Regina to take a 3 month Business course. I believe this was a decision based on taking on the business of the general store. Obviously things were good as Arthur bought a brand new 1915 Model T for $600.00. 

1915 Model T With Arthur Jahnke

By early 1916 itchy-footed Johann had decided to move back to Winthrop where this all started for him and his family. He sold his Hatton store, but decided at the last minute to make a trip out of it and took the train from Hatton to Seattle. In Seattle Johann bought a brand new 1916 Maxwell for $740.00 and they did the rest of the trip in their new car. They meandered through northern California and finally decided to start afresh in a place called Gibbon, Minnesota where Johann bought a store. 

Sometime over the next few years Bill's grandfather, Arthur, went back to Hatton, Saskatchewan and shared ownership of the store with possibly an uncle or cousin named Julius Jahnke. In June of 1917, Arthur married Ida Bachmann. In early 1918, Arthur bought out Julius' half of the store and he became soul owner of the Hatton Store.

Sometimes a fresh start is forced upon us by circumstances not in our control such as disasters. The oral history of Arthur Jahnke explains the sad news like this. Grandpa in this story is Arthur Jahnke.  The Bachmann is Ida's parents. 

"It happened that there was Grandpa's General Store on one lot, then an empty lot, then an hardware store on the next lot. The owners of the two stores decided to build the empty lot into a warehouse for both of them by adding a roof, a front, and a back to the existing walls of either store. In January, 1920, a fire started in the hardware store, spread through the joint warehouse and into the general store, totally wiping out everything they had. 

Grandpa decided against starting up again in the store because money was tight all over and it wasn't proving to be very profitable for the others just starting out.  This was because of a new C.P.R. line 25 miles away - taking a lot of the business.  (Hatton is now non-existent).  So he decided to buy a farm back in Killaly - two 1/2 sections of unbroken soil, 2 miles apart.  The price of the land was $35.00 an acre (final payments were made in 1944). While Ida and little Elsie stayed at Bachmann's, Art bought a tractor, broke the soil, and planted a crop, as Ida's father built a frame house (14x24); only a kitchen and bedroom.  They moved in by October."

Arthur and Ida started over after the fire of his store. Their fresh start involved going back to the land and becoming farmers in Killaly, Saskatchewan. 

1921 Circa - Arthur and Ida's First Two Room Farm Home in Killaly, Sask.

Arthur's father, Johann certainly began his fresh start by immigrating from Prussia to United States in 1891. After that Johann and family moved quite regularly always looking for something better or bigger which in most cases he did.

Wendy