52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 18 Prompt Crime and Punishment - Part 1

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 

Week 18 

Prompt – Crime and Punishment - Part 1 

My paternal grandmother's brother, my father's uncle, my granduncle - Wilhelm Dueck / Dyck.  Born in Manitoba on December 19,1878.  He died at 52 years of age on September 11, 1931 in an unknown place.  As I have mentioned before I have been working on my grandmother's siblings.   I have been adding events and sources.   I wanted to see if I could locate where he died and was buried.  I turned to Newspapers.com, looking for a possible obituary.   I did not find an obituary, however I found something way more intriguing and sensational.  

Jack (John)  Krafchenko - Not Our Relative!

The “Bloody Jack” Krafchenko Story is epic in the history of Manitoba.  John Krafchenko was 7 years old when his family immigrated to Canada from the Ukraine.  They settled in Plum Coulee, Manitoba. From the young age of 11 or so he started his criminal ways by stealing 5 watches.  At 15 he was charged with stealing a bike in Morden, Manitoba and sentenced to Prince Albert Penitentiary. Along the way while handcuffed to a officer, Krafchenko jumped out the window of a moving train.  He was caught, not such a big feat since his officer was attached to him, and sent to the prison.  However he escaped when he was assigned to paint the outside of the prison.  He hit the guard over the head with the paint can and he and 3 other inmates escaped.  All were caught except Krafchenko.  He held up a money shipment train for 2500.00 and fled to the United States where he committed bank robberies across the U.S including several in New York.  He caught a ship to Europe where it is alleged that he continued to rob banks in England, Italy, France, Germany and Russia.  In 1905 he married his wife, Fanica, and in 1906 they returned to Plum Coulee.  Krafchenko promptly robbed the Bank of Hamilton in Winkler.  He was sentenced to 3 years.  When he got out he moved the family to Ontario where he got a job with the railway, but due to his “violent temper” he was demoted and Krafchenko quit and went back to Plum Coulee and fell back in with his criminal buddies.  In late November 1913, Krafchenko and two buddies planned to rob the Plum Coulee Bank of Montreal.  However were unable to do so because of bad weather.  His two accomplices returned to Winnipeg and Krafchenko decided to rob it by himself a few days later.  On December 3, 1913 he committed a robbery of the Plum Coulee Bank of Montreal which ended in the murder of the bank manager, H. M. Arnold.  He escaped out of Plum Coulee to Winnipeg, hid out, was found a week later again immediately, jailed and indicted.  The same night he was told his case would go to trial, he escaped with the help of his lawyer, the police constable guarding the cell and a few other business men.  His escape through the cell window with a rope was his undoing.  The rope (which was a clothesline bought at a local store) broke 30 or 50 feet from the ground.  His fall caused great injuries to his spine and legs.  None the less he did hobble away from the jail despite his injuries.  One week later he was found still in Winnipeg.  It is thought that his injuries did not allow him to be mobile enough to get out of town which was his original plan.  He was jailed in the sturdier provincial cell in Winnipeg. He went to trial and was found guilty.  On July 9, 1914 he was executed by hanging.  This is just a quick synopsis.  The Winnipeg Tribune covered every detail of this story. 

What does this have to do with William Dyck?  Well I am glad you asked.  William Dyck at this time was Plum Coulee's liveryman.  He had a stable for horses and two cars for hire in the city of Plum Coulee.  William Dyck was seen driving the murderer from the scene of the crime out of town for some amount of miles that seemed to change depending on which story he was telling. 

Winnipeg Tribune - Dec 5, 1913

 In Part 2, I will try to put together the details of this tragic story as written up in The Winnipeg Tribune. 

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 17 Prompt - Favourite Place

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 17

Prompt - Favourite Place

Obituary for Elisabeth Peters.

Newspapers.com.  This is my favourite place to find genealogical gems.  Newspapers from long ago are informative and amusing at times.  A few months ago I found an obituary for my paternal grandmother, Elisabeth Peters.  I don't know why finding her obituary was surprising.  Maybe because my grandmother's funeral and burial was covered by welfare and I did not think an obituary would have been included.  My grandmother and her daughter lived on welfare, probably because Elisabeth was blind. 

Elisabeth Peters; Circa 1960's.

There is a story in my family that there was a “falling out” among my father and his siblings after the funeral of their father; Franz Peters in 1952.  Apparently my father, Jake Peters paid for the funeral, etc. I think he was expecting the siblings to help out financially.  They did not help apparently saying that he was working and could afford it.  Several months later several of the siblings and his mother moved away to Vancouver.  The rest of the siblings that lived in the city of Saskatoon rarely if ever visited again.

I know my mom and dad went to his mother's funeral in Vancouver.   I wonder if old feelings came up about his father's funeral.

The obituary was found on the website Newspapers.com by Ancestry.  It was published in The Vancouver Sun on January 19, 1972 on page 44.  I have tried to fix the fact it was blurry.  I think it was scanned that way.   I think it is readable.

It states her death was January 15^th, 1972.  However her death registration says it was January 16^th and that is the official date I go by.  

They listed my dad as “Jaque” instead of Jake.

I also found the place of her funeral which I did not have before.

Pacific Grace Mission

1587 Frances Street and Woodland

Vancouver

Performed by Rev. H. Claasen on January 21, 1972 at 2:00 P.M.

Elisabeth Peters Funeral.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 16 Prompt - Favourite Photo

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 16

Prompt – Favourite Photo

Marion Hoffart and Her Spinning Wheel

In 2018 we had the opportunity to meet Bill's first cousin once removed – John Hoffart.  John Hoffart has been working on family history for some time.  John is a kindred spirit of mine.  He wants more from his genealogy than the birth, marriage and death dates.  He has been collecting photos and stories from The Hoffart family.

On one of our visits he brought along some photographs that we had not seen before.  Thank you John Hoffart for allowing me to scan the photographs to have in my collection.

Marion Hoffart (Nee; Gross) is Bill's paternal grandmother.  John had interviewed the youngest living child (Regina Coupal) of Marion and Rochus to try to get more details about the photograph.

Marion and Rochus homesteaded two different areas in Saskatchewan. In 1919 their first homestead was just north of The Big Muddy Lake.  The problem was that part of his quarter section was in the lake. In 1929 he got another homestead a little further north of Big Muddy.  The problem was that in the 1930's his land was experiencing drought.  The cattle were dying due to lack of feed.  According to Regina (Reg), Rochus sent his sons Pete and Tony (Bill's dad) out to scout for better land for their cattle.  That found and rented a farm just 5 miles south of Neudorf, Saskatchewan in The Qu'appelle Valley. Reg said she was 10 years old when they moved there and thus it was approximately 1937 when the family moved to the rented farm.  This is the place that Reg remembers the “Spinning Wheel Photograph” was taken.

Marion's two oldest sons, Peter and Jack Hoffart built the spinning wheel for their mother.   The Hoffart's raised sheep on their farm from which she used their wool to make yarn.  Marion would then knit them into mitts, hats, socks, sweaters, etc.   John thought that Rochus and Marion were too poor to buy these things for the family.  I think that is true for most immigrant families of the 1930's.

We do not know who actually took the photograph of Marion at The Spinning Wheel. The photograph was entered in the local fair in Neudorf and apparently won first prize for best picture.

This photograph is one of my many favourite photographs. Not only is it a beautiful black and white photo of Bill's grandmother, Marion Hoffart from the 1930's, but the photo comes with a vignette of their life on the farm during the “dirty thirties” . 

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 15 Prompt - On The Move

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 15

Prompt - On The Move

Hague-Osler Mennonite Reserve; 1895-1995.  This tome was lent to me by my best friend whose husband (also a Peters) had received or inherited it from his family.  My father, (Jacob Peters) was born, Hague, Saskatchewan.   His father, Franz Peters was born in Ebenfeld Colony, Manitoba.  Franz' father, David Peters was born in Russia however he immigrated to Canada in 1875 settling in Ebenfeld Colony in The West Reserve of Manitoba.

For the longest time I was not sure when or how my Peters clan had come to Saskatchewan.  All that I knew came from Canada Censuses.  On April 6, 1891 The Canada Census listed him living in Rhineland, Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada.  Ten years later in 1901, I find his location listed as Hague, North West Territories, Canada.  Somewhere in those ten years he moved.

In the book, Hague-Osler Mennonite Reserve, 1895-1995, I found the following story.  I have copied the story of the Village of Blumenthal in Saskatchewan.  

"Blumenthal

Blumenthal, meaning valley of the flowers, is located approximately three miles South East of the Town of Hague. It is located on the SW quarter section 33, Township 40, Range 4 W of the 3^rd Meridian. The village land was purchased from Osler, Hammond & Nactor in 1898 for the purpose of settling as a village.

The founder of the village of Blumenthal was David Peters Sr. He was born in Russia in 1835 and had come to Canada in the 1870's, settling at Ebenfeld, Manitoba. He had hoped to set aside this village land for himself and his family but within the first year many other settlers settled here as well.

If you were to stand at the south end of the village of Blumenthal and look north along the main street, you would see that it angles northwest. According to Mr. Jacob D. Braun of Hague, there was a peculiar saying circulating in Blumenthal in the early years about why this street angled this way. “The section where the village was to be located had to be surveyed and since the majority of people preferred Daylight Savings Time, or fast time as some would call it, this was done so that they could have dinner at 11 o'clock instead of at 12. So the street was surveyed on a 5 degree angle, so the sun at eleven would seem to them as twelve according to the street.”

According to another source, the village was measured out by using a woman's apron. The apron was three feet long and stretched out to measure the lots of the village. It is quite possible that this form of measurement was not accurate enough and caused the angle of the street.

The first settlers in the village were: David & Katharina (Miller) Peters Sr., David & Susanna (Goertsen) Peters Jr., David and Susanna (Peters) Woelke, Jacob and Judith (Peters) Ginther, Johann & Gertruda (Peters) Giesbrecht, John & Helena (Niessen) Guenther, Jacob & Susanna (Hamm) Unger, Peter & Helena (Reddekopp) Mandtler, Peter & Susanna (Miller) Thiessen, Heinrich & Katherina (Giesbrecht) Braun, Peter & Helena (Dyck) Braun, David & Elisabeth (Miller) Derksen, David & Katharina (Blatzer) Thiessen, Heinrich & Anna (Remple) Thiessen, Peter & Maria (Miller) Wiebe, Abram & Helena (Peters) Wiebe, Jacob W. & Katharina (Neufeld) Martens, and Isbrand & Katharina (Bueckert) Penner. Abraham & Anna (Dyck) Giesbrecht also lived here, they moved to Blumenthal from Neuanlange in 1899.

Many descendants of these original settlers reside in Mexico, Swan Plain, Saskatchewan, near LaCrete, Alberta and northern British Columbia.

There has been numerous migrations from The Hague-Osler area which included people from Blumenthal.

There was a German School located towards the centre of the village, which was also used for church services. Mr Peter Harder was the last teacher in The German School, teaching his last class there in 1930.

An English Public School was forced into the community and located at the south end of Blumenthal Village. Venice School District was formed 1919 when a sum of $39,000.00 was borrowed from the Department of Education for the purpose of building a one roomed school, two outside toilets, a teacher's residence and for materials and furnishings for them. A poll was taken by the government to get the ratepayers response to this. There was 42 opposed and none in favour, but the government went ahead and built it anyway. In 1921 the school was finally opened although few attended.

After the migration to Mexico, more students began to attend. In 1931 a second room was opened. The problem of overcrowding had to be addressed again in 1953, when the trustees requested aid to build a third room or a new school. A sum of $3,000.00 was borrowed from the department of education to build a new school to alleviate the overcrowding at the Venice and Renfrew Schools. Southwest Venice was erected in SW 16-40-3 w of 3 and opened in late 1953.

The Venice School #4117 was closed in 1967 and became part of the Hague School District. On September 4 and 5^th of 1982, a Venice School reunion was held at Blumenthal Sports Grounds for all former residents, teachers and students of the Venice District.

One of the most tragic events that occurred on The Hague-Osler Reserve was a house fire which took place near Blumenthal at the home of Johan Unruh. On Tuesday evening September 22, 1931, six children were burned to death when a fire engulfed the house of Johan P. Unruh, while he and his wife were out visiting neighbours. Only three children escaped when an overheated wood stove turned the house into a hellish inferno. Still half asleep when their upstairs bedrooms collapsed into the flames, the children were found huddled together, charred beyond recognition. They were buried together in a single coffin constructed by their father. The funeral was a major event, swelling the numbers in the village of Blumenthal in a manner that has been matched by nothing else since. Cars and buggies lined the single street from one end to the other.” 

I now know how the Peters clan came to Saskatchewan. Also I learned that my great grandfather, David Peters was a founder of the Village of Blumenthal.  

Wendy