2024

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 4

Prompt – Witness to History

 Wilhelmina Bachmann (nee Fesser) is Bill's great-grandmother. His mother's, mother's, mother! Got it? Good.

Wilhelmina Fesser was born in Theodorshof, Austria on 7 Dec 1870. Wilhelmina died in Melville, Saskatchewan at the age of 98 years on 10 Apr 1969.

Wilhelmina Fesser immigrated to North America departing from Bremen, Germany and Southhampton, England and arriving at New York, United States on 20 Apr 1889. Wilhelmina was 18 and accompanied by her father. I believe I discussed before in one of my blogs that the family folklore was that she travelled alone without her father. The passenger list debunked this story.

Newspaper Article: Wilhelmina Bachmann was featured in "A District Profile ... Her's Was a First in Killaly" published in The Melville Advance on 22 Jan 1958. This article written by Paul Ballendine and he was tasked to get a history or profile on someone in this district. The local postmaster set up an interview with 87 year old Wilhelmina Bachmann saying, “She's a real pioneer of our village. She also was the first women here to get a vote in the federal election.”

This article was a complete history of her life from immigration to her 87^th year. As a genealogist it was gold.

The author went on to talk about her pre-immigration years. Something that was relatively unknown to her descendants. He writes her name as Wilmina!!!

 From New York she went on to her destination of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Two weeks after arriving she had a job as a maid to one of very few German (Austrian) families in Winnipeg. She stayed with this family for 5 years. Her memories of Winnipeg was that when she looked out from her upstairs bedroom she could see the entire city of Winnipeg. She thought it had about 10,000 people at that time.

She met her husband-to-be at church. August Bachmann and Wilhelmina married in January 1893 or 1894. They lived a further 6 years in Winnipeg. August Bachmann preferred to live outside the city so they bought a farm just east of Winnipeg and farmed for 5 years before selling the farm. It was during these years that Wilhelmina and August had 3 daughters. The last daughter was born in 30 Mar 1905. They moved to Killaly on 15 Apr 1905, just barely 2 weeks after the birth. They moved to Killaly, North-West Territories and within 4 ½ months this territory became the province of Saskatchewan.

August Bachmann went into business with Wilhelmina's brother, John Fesser. They turned the local hotel built by John Fesser into Killaly's first general store. Besides the general store, August Bachmann contracted for the first post office in Killaly. August Bachmann was postmaster in Killaly for 35 years. Besides all this he was also he was also paymaster for the local elevators. Wilhelmina worked along side of her husband through all these years. 

Wilhelmina and August Bachmann at Killaly General Store

 Wilhelmina also recalled the beginnings of the city of Melville and the beginnings of the national railway into Saskatchewan.

 In this article, Wilhelmina recalled her greatest honour as being the first women to vote in a federal election in her area. That was 1917 during WWI. The Military Voters Act was passed in August or September of 1917. Up to this time women were not “allowed” to vote. After the act was passed, voting rights for women in federal election was limited to women serving in the armed forces such as military nurses or those women who had a relative serving in the army.

 Wilhelmina Bachmann was happiest working in her garden of vegetables and flowers. Her faith was a constant in her life. She never missed Sunday church services at St. John's Lutheran Church which was a few short steps from her home. She lived in her 7 room home in Killaly until October 1963 when she moved into Melville's St. John's Lutheran Nursing home. She was predeceased by two of her daughters and her husband.

Wilhelmina Bachmann was very much a witness to history. This remarkable woman was a participant in the history of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Wilhelmina Bachmann (nee: Fesser)

 Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 3 Prompt - Favourite Photograph

 

2024

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 3

Prompt – Favourite Picture

I have taken a hiatus for the past few years. At the time I quit, I felt that I really didn't have much more to say about family genealogy. I also said that it was taking time away from researching my ancestors. As it turns out there is always something to say about family genealogy. I also did much more research for my blogs than I have done in the past few years.

Further, Jackie is working on compiling my 3^rd genealogy book which should be published in the next little while. This prompted me to rethink doing my genealogy blogs. I will start up the blogs again with the best of intentions.

'Favourite picture' is almost an annual prompt by Amy Johnson Crow. As it turns out there is always a new photograph that becomes a favourite. Recently I have been working on updating my nieces and nephews' profiles. It is a bit trickier doing research on living individuals. However I have found that Facebook has been an invaluable resource for this. 

 Recently I was looking at my nephew's Facebook entries and photographs. I came across a photograph of my father, Jacob (Jake) Peters. It was one that I don't recall ever seeing. I almost flew by it but realized I was looking at a much younger man than I am use to associating with him. At first I thought I was looking at a photograph of my brother, Robert. 

 The top photograph on this page was an Army ID with photograph. It included his name, rank, his military number, his height and weight, the colour of his eyes and hair. It also included that he had a scar over his Lt elbow. I never knew or heard about this before. He signed it and was finger or thumb printed all be it very smudged and most likely unusable. It was issued either March or May 28, 1943. Jake Peters would have been 26 years old at this time. To me he looks so much younger. 

 The next photograph was one of Jake Peters standing alone in a field in complete army uniform. The background is bleak and very cold looking. He is neither smiling nor frowning. I am pretty sure that this was probably taken by family prior to him leaving for overseas. He looks as lonely as the background that he stands in front of. Makes me shiver!

Next to the photograph is Jake Peters' “dog tags”, or military identification. I think almost everyone knows what I mean when I say dog tags. I did not realize that the family had his real tags. They are quite worn but you can make out his last name and military number and CDN for Canadian. I have read that at times they could include their type of blood and religion (P for Protestant and R for Roman Catholic etc.).

There is something so real with his dog tags next to his photograph. I believe that I have never seen these photos. However it could be that I have forgotten. It was exciting to see photographs that I have never seen before. It gave me another glimpse into my father's life. It was a horrible time to be a young man. His identification tags, paper Identification and photographs show a man standing stoically alone and about to embark on a life he can't comprehend.

Wendy