52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 24 Prompt - Handed Down

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 24

Prompt – Handed Down

In the past I have posted the story of the special china cup and saucer that my grandmother McLaughlin gave me and that I had to return it because she thought I took it from her without her permission.  This is what I think of when I think of things being handed down.

In August of 2010, I received a parcel from my Aunt Phyllis.  She was married to my Uncle Wally. Uncle Wally was Grandma McLaughlin's third child.  

1987 -Wendy, Aunt Phyllis, Uncle Wally, Jill and Jackie

He was born May 5, 1927 in Calgary, Alberta.  Shortly after he was born, Wallace, my mother, Vivian, and Grandmother moved back to Saskatoon.  My mother(Vivian) was 5 years older than Uncle Wally and the two never got along.  Uncle Wally received his degree in engineering from University of Saskatchewan,  He got his doctorate in Engineering in Purdue University and then moved to Ontario in 1961.  He taught at the University of Waterloo Engineering until 1992.   He also was the Waterloo University Dean of Engineering from 1974 to 1982.  They had 5 children, my cousins. I believe I may have seen them twice in my life.  We were not close to them physically and thus we never got to know this side of the family.

My mother, Vivian predeceased her mother (Grandma Mary McLaughlin).  Grandma predeceased her son Uncle Wally.  When grandmother died, Uncle Wally and Aunt Phyllis came to Saskatoon from Ontario to take care of grandma's estate.  There were many things that were packed up and taken back to Ontario.  Sadly some of those things were promised to various Peters Grandchildren who never seen them again.

Uncle Wally died of cancer on July 5, 2009 in the Kincardine Hospital.

Before Uncle Wally died I had the chance to correspond via mail several times about any family history he knew.  He really had very few stories about his family.

After he died I maintained contact with Aunt Phyllis who over the next several years shared many stories, good and bad, on Uncle Wally and my mother's family.  However more importantly she had a small box of grandma's photos and “Krikau old stuff” and wondered if I would want them because no one in Ontario wanted them.  If I didn't want them they would probably throw them out.   Well of course I wanted them.

When the parcel arrived I could hardly believe the treasure trove of “things” in that small parcel.

It had two small leather bound books that were books given to grandma McLaughlin on her confirmation in 1917.  They were written in German.  One had an inscription inside of it; “From Mother and Father Krikau on my confirmation. April 1917 at Holy Cross Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba.”  There was original certificates for Uncle Wally's Baptism, Mary and Bob Sullivan Wedding Certificate from 1921, and Mary and Benjamin's Wedding Certificate from 1932.  These were the fancy church ones.  They were scrolled up into tight tubes for protection. 

Rolled Tubes with Various Certificates and Leather Confirmation Books

There was a reproduction on photograph paper of a Parochialfchein. This is family information that the Russian church pastor wrote out for those immigrating families and sent along with the family to present to the minister in their new country as a means of introduction and that they were in "good Christian standing" in the church.  Dated in 1911 from Privalnoje Russia.  On the back of this is written; “Mary this is your birth certificate from the Old Country. Henry” 

Grandma's McKague Funeral Home booklet was included.  Inside there was several loose papers such as; a letter dated from June 10, 1977 of grandmother's wish to be buried with her second husband, Benjamin McLaughlin.  There was a church bulletin of Vivian Peters Funeral, a newspaper clipping of Mary's Obituary, and the church bulletin from Grandma McLaughlin's funeral..

There was also a legal size envelope, fan folded manila colored wallet tied together with ribbon. Inside the wallet was 8 pockets with various papers. 

The 1st pocket held Grandma McLaughlin's Certificate of Death.

The 2nd pocket had an envelope named “Naturalization Papers and Passport” dated June 7, 1929.

Mary Sullivan Naturalization Certificate

The 3rd pocket had her original will dated October 4, 1960. 

The 4th pocket had a legal size envelope with “ Krakau-Sullivan-Papers scrolled on the outside.  The papers included "A Certificate of Changed Name" dated August 19, 1957. Also in this same pocket is an official letter; “Declaration To Be Made By Person Whose Birth is Desired to Be Registered:”. Benjamin McLaughlin was a foundling baby and he needed to fill out this paperwork to get an official birth date – this paper work was dated June 8, 1939. The Krikau-Sullivan papers had to do with Uncle Wally making his last name officially McLaughlin which he thought was officially done while Ben McLaughlin was alive, but it wasn't .

The 5th pocket was a Province of Saskatchewan Death Certificate for Mary McLaughlin; also a memorial card for G. Fred Krikau (her brother); and an obituary for Vivian Peters.

The 6th pocket was empty- what was missing I wondered and still am wondering!!

The 7th pocket had a small envelope and written on the outside is “My Brother's Grave No. In Winnipeg, Man.”  This was Willhelm Krikau which at that time I did not know about.   Inside was an official paper from the Winnipeg cemetery.

Also in this pocket there was a Certificate of Registration for Grandmother's middle child who was born Sept 28, 1924 that was dated Oct 27, 1924.

The 8th pocket had grandma's Inspection Card for Maria Krikau. It was the card given to each traveler who landed at Ellis Island in New York. Date was October 3, 1911. 

The box was filled with many many family photos.  Most were photographs that we had given grandma of our own growing families.  Some I had never seen before such as two Black and White photos of Mary and Pat, her first husband.  A photo of Pat's car and I didn't know he had one.  A photo of Grandma with my mother Vivian as an infant.  A 1933 photo of Wally and Vivian, two photos of Vivian at confirmation in 1937.  A shopping photo of grandmother Mary and her mother. The portrait picture of Andreas and Maria Krikau (my great-grandparents). I recall this one sitting on my grandmother's dresser in her bedroom.  A wedding portrait of Benjamin and Mary McLaughlin. Many small photographs of Ben and Mary during their married life.  Several photos of her brothers and sisters and their families.   A few 4 generation photos of Great Grandmother Krikau, Grandmother McLaughlin, Vivian and Betty.

Pat Sullivan's Car

Mary Sullivan Holding Infant Vivian; 1922

Mary McLaughlin Shopping With Mother Maria Krikau; 1940

Back Lt to Rt: Vivian Peters, Mary McLaughlin. Front Row Lt to Rt Betty Peters and Maria Krikau; 1951

 I only vaguely knew about some of this information and now I have the documents to prove these events happened.  Some of it I never knew about like the existence of her baby brother born in Winnipeg or for that matter that my grandmother had a second child who died at 3 months of age.

This “stuff” as Aunt Phyllis called it, was handed down to me.  I feel it was more of me being at the right place at the right time.  I shudder to think that they may have thrown any of these century old papers of my ancestors out in the garbage.  If you are in possession of such significant papers and don't want them; please don't throw them away – find that family member who loves genealogy.

Wendy

  I only vaguely knew about some of this information, but now I have the documents to prove these events. Some of it I never knew about like her the existence of her baby brother born in Winnipeg or for that matter that my grandmother had a second child' who died at 3 months of age.

This “stuff” as Aunt Phyllis called it, was handed down to me. I feel it was more of me being at the right place at the right time. I shudder to think that they may have thrown any of these century old papers of my ancestors out in the garbage. If you are in possession of such significant papers and don't want them; please don't throw them away – find that family member who loves genealogy.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 23 Prompt - Wedding

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 23

Prompt – Wedding

I interviewed Bill's mother, Clara Hoffart, on March 16, 2008 and again in August 28, 2017.  I was trying to piece together Clara and Tony's story and in particular how they met, their courtship and their wedding.

She sets the scene.

Tony's first job was pumping gas at the "Katepwa Service Station".  Katepwa is about 95 kilometers NE of Regina. 

For some time after his first job he worked on a very large farm run by the Novak Family which was south of Regina.  He helped with their harvest.

In the fall of 1944 or 1945 Tony and 3 buddies went to St Catharine's, Ontario to do some factory work.  Clara did not know the specifics of his type of work.  She did know that he really hated it because the job was so repetitive. 

Tony and 3 Buddies somewhere in Ontario. Tony is 2nd From The Left

Sometime after his factory work he returned to Regina and worked as an apprentice in Litz Electric Shop owned by Clara's cousin, Art Jahnke (not her father). Thus Tony knew a Jahnke before he met Clara Jahnke.  In the fall of 1945 Tony came to Killaly to work at Zaleski's Garage. 

Adam Zaleski opened a combined garage, dealership for Ford and Massey Ferguson.  Mr. Zaleski heard about Tony and offered him a job.

Clara said she met him at a dance.  I asked her whether she knew of him before the dance. She laughed and said; "you saw Killaly, if someone new came into town everyone knew!"

Killaly had dances most every Saturday night. There would be no dances from November 25 till Christmas and no dances during lent. Clara said the bands were four to five piece orchestras. Some were local and others were from afar.

Clara said, Tony and her relationship was on again and off again over the next 6 years. In fact she gave her ring back to Tony once.

Religion played a big part in this tension.   Clara was Lutheran and Tony was Catholic or as Clara said a "staunch Catholic" and Tony's family were “devout Catholics”. 

Plans for their wedding were begun and at least one big decision had to be made and that was where to have their wedding.  

Clara was told since she was not Catholic they could not marry at the altar of the Catholic Church but Priest Schneider said he could marry them in the narthex.  For those who may not know, a narthex is the entrance way or lobby space just before the entrance to a church.  After that comment, Clara did not want to marry in the Catholic Church and in fact she refused to be married there.  However if Tony got married in a Lutheran Church, he would be excommunicated and in the end he was.  Clara said at that point she knew that Tony was serious about their relationship when he was willing to part from the Catholic church and thus his family.

They set the date for October 6, 1952 in the Killaly St.John's Lutheran Church. 

Tony's parents, Rochus and Marian Hoffart and his siblings and family were not happy about the wedding being held in the Lutheran church.  In fact months after the wedding, Clara was told by her wedding singer who was a Catholic what the priest said in the Catholic church service the day before their wedding.  Priest Schneider announced in church that "it would be a 'mortal sin' to attend that wedding".   As a result most of Tony's family did not come to the wedding ceremony however some did come to the party afterwards.  Sadly, Tony's parents, and his oldest sister, husband and family were not their for either ceremony or party.

Further Clara remembers that this also affected the choice of their orchestra that her parents wanted for the wedding dance.  That orchestra refused to play for them.  One of the band members was a cousin of the Zaletski Garage workers.  Mrs Zaletski did not approve of this Catholic - Lutheran union and forbade them to play at the wedding.

Reverend Riekert was the Lutheran pastor who married them.

The wedding did go forward and no one died in its wake.  However Tony's relationship with his parents and some siblings would never be the same. 

 

As I mentioned before, the wedding was on October 6, 1952 which was a Monday.   I asked Clara why they chose to get married on a Monday.

Clara said that Tony was working in Saskatoon already and had to work until Saturday evening.  The drive to Killaly was quite far from Saskatoon.  Besides if the wedding was on Saturday, the party after the wedding would end right at midnight because it would be Sunday and liquor laws were strictly enforced at that time.

According to the newspaper write up, their wedding dance was attended by about 400 people.  That is one heck of a lot of guests. Tony and Clara met on the dance floor and started their married life dancing. 

Tony and Clara Leading to The First Dance.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 22. Prompt - Uncertainty

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 22

Prompt – Uncertain

The prompts for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks are made before the beginning of the year.  I find it eerily coincidental that this is a prompt in the midst of COVID-19.  Uncertainty is up there with other new catch phrases such as; unprecedented times and new normal.  I have noticed how this uncertainty is straining family and friends.

In isolation, surrounded by a mountain of uncertainty about the future, I find myself being more absorbed and comforted with my laptop and the genealogy in it.  It has a purpose.  It has easily achieved outcomes and a sense of satisfaction upon completion..  However it is also so easy to become unfocused or maybe it is undisciplined in the direction I want to go.  At times I feel like I am bouncing around like a pinball – that is reacting to pieces of information that I found that had nothing to do with whom I was searching for.  It is during these times that I become somewhat overwhelmed with my family tree.  I am uncertain where to go next and what to work on. 

So in total randomness I have chosen a great uncle of Bill's to investigate.  Frederick Hoffarth.  This is the oldest sibling of Bill's paternal grandfather – Rochus Hoffart.  Their parents were Jacob and Eva Hoffart who immigrated to Canada from Malcoci, Romania in 1914.  Within the 10 siblings in the family their last name takes on different spellings.   Hoffarth, Hoffort, and Hoffart.  I guess when you start over in a new country you can change your name quite easily.  Thus when I see a “Hoffarth” in my tree I am pretty sure that Frederick was the progenitor of that version of the name.

Frederick was born September 27, 1886 in Malcoci, Romania.  He married his wife, Rosa A. Melle on September 11, 1911 in Malcoci.  They immigrated to Canada arriving in Quebec on May 11, 1913. They joined their families in Bergfield, Saskatchewan.  Frederick took out a homestead.  They started their new life on this farm working hard and starting a family.

For reasons unknown to me, Frederick decided to move to Outlook, Montana from Bergfield, Saskatchewan.  The border crossing card states that they crossed over on June 15, 1923.  Frederick, Rosa, and their 5 children, Barbara, Roy, Mary, Cecilia and Louis started over as farmers in Outlook,Montana. 

On June 24, 1924, Frederick filed his “Declaration of Intention” for naturalization in the state of Montana of the United States.  Although I do not have the paperwork, I presume he was naturalized. His physical description, according to the Montana Naturalization Paper, is described as 'White' in color, Complexion Dark, 5 Foot 10 Inches, 210 Pounds, Brown Hair and Eyes.

Frederick and Rosa went on to have more children.  According to Rosa's Obituary she had two sets of triplets. My information only shows one set of twins. Elizabeth and Frank are the twins born in 1924, Jacob was born in 1925 and Evelyn born in 1929.

Unfortunately, Frederick Hoffarth died in June, 1936 – just a few months shy of his 50^th birthday.  His wife Rosa lived on to 1985 dying at 91 years of age.  Frederick and Rosa had at least 10 children, but probably more.   Her obituary said she 44 grandchildren, 82 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great-grandchildren.

That is a wonderful legacy for Frederick and Rosa Hoffarth. 

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 19 Prompt Newspaper

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 19

Prompt - Newspaper

Newspaper.com

Recently I have subscribed to this site.  It is the largest online archive of newspapers.  The archive has almost 17,000 newspapers.   Some of the newspapers date back to the 1700's.  They apparently add a million pages each month.  You can browse the newspapers by searching country, city and date. Or you can put in keywords and narrow the search by date and country.

It has been the most amazing site and when I can, I browse without an agenda especially those papers from the early 1900's.  They would print anything.   For example I found this news article in The Times from Munster, Indiana dated April 8, 1945.   It was on page 12.   This is my maternal great grandmother, Maria Krikau. 

Or this example of my 1^st cousin once removed (Freddie Krikau).   Again from The Times from Munster, Indiana dated July 3^rd, 1940. 

Of course I decided to search my maternal grandfather.  Remember the one I blog about every once in a while.  The black sheep!.  The man who married my grandmother (Mary Sullivan; nee Krikau) as well as another woman making him a bigamist.  It was a hushed family story.   His life had been wiped out of my grandmother's life quite meticulously.   She never or rarely spoke of him to us.  For some time at the beginning of my genealogical endeavors I had written off this bigamy story as a fairy tale .  Then a few years back I requested my mother's live birth registration and found out that her father, Patrick Sullivan lived in Stony Mountain Penitentiary as a prisoner.   Okay it was not just a family folk lore.  This past week I found this news article in The Winnipeg Tribune dated Monday, April 10, 1922 on page 6. 

Another so called "nail in the coffin" of this hushed family folk story.  The bigamy story is true.  This Patrick Sullivan lived at 609 Herbert Avenue in Winnipeg.  That was the same address as registered on their marriage registration.  By the way that is the address for Mary's parents!  This is my maternal grandfather without a doubt.

The date of this article was April 10, 1922.   My mother, Vivian Peters, nee Sullivan was born on April 19, 1922., just 9 days after Pat Sullivan was charged and sentenced to 2 years in prison.

Two different pieces of information prove what at first I did not want to believe.  This means I have more digging to do.  Can I get his court records?  Can I get any information about his stay in Stony Penitentiary?  When did they move to Saskatoon?  When was he released?  If it was a two year sentence and he was incarcerated right away he would be released according to my math; April. 1924.  However here is something to think about.  Patrick and Mary had their second child September 24, 1922 in Saskatoon.  Maybe he was released earlier than the full two year sentence.

This story of my grandfather, Patrick Sullivan, aka  Pat Sullivan,Robert Sullivan, Bob Sullivan, Robert Windsworth Sullivan and Robert Wentworth Sullivan, will continue. 

Circa 1922 - Patrick Sullivan

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 18 Prompt - What Was Written

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 18 
Prompt - What Was Written
 

I have had a blog for sometime.  I remember blogging about H1N1 pandemic.  At the time I was working for Alberta Health.  I was a clerk in a child's immunization clinic (not a nurse).  I have decided to re post it as I had written it 10 1/2 years ago!

Monday, November 2, 2009

As I See It On Being Prepared

In my opinion.

In the post 9/11 era, governments came together to encourage all of us to be prepared for that next disaster. Agencies were set up to help sort out the logistics. Companies big and small were asked to put together a plan. Daily adds were placed in various media to ask us if we were prepared? Health Canada even sent out glossy brochures to help us get ourselves prepared.

In the recent past we have been warned about the upcoming and overdue big flu pandemic. It would be a natural disaster of proportions that none of us could imagine. Get prepared.
As an employee of the health region, I have received many emails regarding the upcoming pandemic. Each with a proud assurance that the region is ready and well prepared.

We sat in our watertight ships waiting to float out into the pandemic sea and sail on through to the other side. We were prepared and we were ready.

Patient zero emerged in Mexico. Within weeks it had spread to 23 countries world wide. The good news was that it was at the end of the flu season for the northern hemisphere. There would be a grace period of 6 months and this would be adequate to get the vaccine prepared and ready for mass distribution. The news of H1N1 dwindled to the back pages of the newspapers as the summer blossomed forth in all of its warmth.

September rolled around and our school classrooms became petrie dishes and went into overtime producing Wave Two of the H1N1. Most, but not all, were mild cases. It would be a gentle reminder that we were into the Pandemic Season. It was an excellent time to brush up on ways to prevent the spread of flu. In my own personal opinion, I had a better chance of stopping a full speed freight train than I did the pandemic. The ministers and health officers in government decided to put out as much information as possible. The mass media inundated us with information that at times was incomplete and sometimes contradictory. It oozed through our daily life to a level of confusion not paralleled in the past. As the population looked for clarification that was not coming, they became confused and suspicious of the vaccine. Media showered us in H1N1 and we tuned out. In fact we felt that it was hyped up to the level seen only in a "bunch of hooey".

At this time of confusion and unanswerable questions, our Canadian government had not even rubber stamped the vaccine for use. I could envision the backrooms of the politico playing with semantics trying to put forth this vaccine as safe and yet not wanting to be the one who could be directly blamed. The approval came just a few days before the first vaccinations were rolled out.
At the same time as this the "behind the scenes"; pollsters polled Canada and we found out that less than half of the population would line up for the vaccine. Those in the know, knew that this was not adequate to stem the tide of the pandemic. Health Minister and chief medical officers came forward to urge us to be vaccinated. People with faces pleading to all of us really didn't persuade us to line up for the vaccine. Unfortunately at this time an 13 year old healthy vital hockey player from Ontario came down with H1N1 and died within a few days of it. Parents stood up and took notice. The shock wave was visible. Our chief medical officer jumped onto this shock wave and went in front of the cameras to say something to the effect, that I wouldn't want to be the parent of a child who died of H1N1 when it could have been prevented.
It worked. The mass of un-vaccinated people began to feel the government was not getting the vaccine out fast enough. Fear turned once again to frustration that the vaccine was weeks away and wave two was sweeping the homes, offices and schools of the country now.

Distribution of the vaccine was left to the individual provincial authorities. Most of the provinces decided to start with the high risk group. However Alberta would be different. In all of it's cockiness or maybe ineptitude it opened the doors to all Albertans because after all we had enough for all and we will not turn away anyone.

In Calgary four "Fast Flow" sites were set up in the city. In past we called them mass venues, but in all of their preparedness they wanted to put a positive name to these places. And looking back,it has been anything but fast flowing.

Monday, Day One of the H1N1 vaccination program rolled out. There was much hope in all of us. People were ready. They came and they lined up. They wound themselves around the buildings to wait for 7 hours to get the shot. It was unthinkable. It was unprecedented. It was a mess and people were vocal. In a knee jerk reaction the clinics were left open longer to deal with the first day blues.

On Tuesday,Day Two of the pandemic vaccination preparedness plan, people lined up earlier and stayed longer yet. The Calgarians were angry and for the most part it was directed at the government of the day. Words like "mishandled" and "unprepared" snuck into the crowd's vernacular. Meanwhile in some unknown back room an emergency meeting was put together to come up with the next best plan. Down from the top oozed the newly inspired plan that would get the job done. Seasonal flu vaccines were no longer available because H1N1 was the priority. Further all the well child vaccinations centers were to cancel the next week of appointments and stop making any new ones. These nurses were being deployed to the Fast Flow sites. Also they did decide to open one more site for Calgarians in the high risk group. The new preparedness vision was implemented and it felt good.

Wednesday, Day Three, came and people lined up earlier and stayed longer and unbelievably or is it ironically, the new vaccine site which was set up for those who could not tolerate the long lineups had the longest lineups. Media reporters gleefully reported the agony and anger in the line up. People wanted to put blame and there was no one there to accept it.

Meanwhile in the background the pharmaceutical company assured the government that they were on track and able to deliver their vaccines. That was until the whole adjuvented vs unadjuvented vaccines for the pregnant ladies was debated. At any rate the government advised the pharmaceuticals to stop production of the regular and get the unadjuvented out by the next week. They complied and in its fallout a shortage of regular vaccine sprang forth.

Thursday, Day Four, the media reported the possibility of a shortage of regular H1N1 vaccine. Health officials begged for calm and patience and continued to assure all Albertans who wanted it would get it, maybe not in the first week, but surely by Christmas! Wave two continued to ravage the city as 10% or more of the school population were home ill.

And on Friday,Day Five the lineups lengthened and the tears flowed with anger. The mobs were ready for a lynching and by god they wanted someones head on an H1N1 laden stick.

Saturday, Day six, the lineups began at 3 am or earlier. They came by the busload full. By 0815 they cut the lines to all vaccine sites and that was even before they had opened the doors to start vaccinating for the day.
At the end of that day Alberta's chief medical officer announced that the H1N1 vaccine program was shut down until further notice. I was gobsmacked to say the least. Also the medical officer said that when it did restart it would definitely be only for the high risk individuals and admitted they had not figured out how to implement that.

Six days and six plans. Unbelievable to those of us who were prepared.

Here it is the first day of week two and what do I see? No one is being vaccinated in this province. I surmise that somewhere in the backrooms of the Alberta government the blame game has begun. Blame is useless defence against the H1N1. I really don't care who is to blame, I just want the vaccine. Their ineptitude at delivering the vaccine for this program is appalling. The Albertan government has failed its population.
The Alberta government was NOT prepared for H1N1. It showed in its inability to come up with a sustainable and viable plan to vaccinate their population that lasted longer than 6 days.

Hopefully these past few days has helped them to come up with a working plan to vaccinate the rest of us. And if not, all I can say, may God have mercy on its soul.


WKH


 Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 17 Prompt - Land

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 17

Prompt – Land

Mennonites always seem to be on the move.  Prussia to Southern Russia to United States and Canada (and in my family's case moved from Manitoba to Saskatchewan) to Mexico and Paraguay.

As I have discussed before the Mennonites left Prussia for Russia at the invitation of Catherine The Great.  The Mennonites wanted land for their colonies.  They were looking to leave the increasing pressure to military service of their young men.  Along with the need for more land for their grown children.  For more than a 100 years Southern Russia was the promised land for the Mennonites.  In the 1870's things changed.  It was called “Russification”.  Slowly their privileges were rescinded. Their young men were conscripted.  The autonomy of education in their own language was replaced with compulsory education in Russian language.

In the 1870's Canada was opening up the west and looking for settlers.  Mennonites were known as industrious and successful farmers.  Negotiations began and promises made to the Mennonite delegation.  Canada gave them military exemption, religious freedoms, self governance of schooling their children.  Most importantly Canada gave them the large tracks of land on which to settle.

In an article by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO), it tries to explain this balance of governance, church and community in settling Manitoba in the 1870's.

“Because the government decided that a hamlet had to have a minimum of 20 householders, original villages normally contained 20 farmyards, 10 on each side of a central street, with 20 quarter-sections (160 acres [65 hectares] per quarter-section) of land surrounding the village. Each quarter-section was legally registered in the name of one of the householders, but the village and the land within the 20 quarter-sections was divided according to the traditional pattern of a street village (Straßendorf), a large common pasture, and long narrow strips of land (kögel) upon which crops were grown. This redistribution of land generally had no basis in law, but was undergirded by the authority of church. In those areas where church authority broke down or where churches split, the villages frequently disbanded. In Manitoba a tension was thus established between the wishes and the legal rights of the individual on one hand, and the good of the community on the other".

In 1874 the first of the Mennonites immigrated and settled in what was called “The East Reserve”. Quickly many Mennonites became aware that the land in this area was not as fertile as first thought. By 1875 "The West Reserve" was established.  Some of the East Reserve Mennonites moved to it, but mostly it was settled with the  new immigrants coming to Canada.

David Peters, my paternal great grandfather was a Mennonite immigrant that landed in Manitoba on July 1875.  His family settled in the colony of Ebenfeld in The West Reserve.  Between 1874 and 1880 nearly 7000 Mennonites settled in Manitoba.  In 1880 the first census was taken.

In the book 1880 Village Census Of The Mennonite West Reserve; edited by John Dyck and William Harms, I have found some very specific information about David Peters.

These are taken from the church books and consolidated and transcribed into the Reinlander Gemeinde Buch, (or Reinlander Church Book).  Note “Eb01” to the left of David Peters name.  This was taken from the first church book of the Ebenfeld Colony.  David and Katharina are listed with their date of births and their parents names to the right.   Also it lists their children, birth dates and in two cases their spouses.  It notes that this clan came over on the ship Canadian and arrived in July of 1875.  David Peters' homestead designation is listed. NE-31-1-3W.   Northeast quarter in the 31^st section of township 1 and range 3 West of prime meridian.

In another book called 1880 West Reserve Census I found the following information which was surprising in its detail. 

Note that David Peters is in Lot 1 of the village of Ebenfeld. 

In the same book is the taxation records of 1881 of the same colony.  This is not a great copy however it shows David Peters has 30 acres of cultivated soil and 130 acres of unbroken land. 160 acres is a quarter section of land.   David has no buildings on his land but has two oxen, two cows, two heifers, four hogs, one wagon and one plow.  David's total tax assessment on this was $340.00. So even though they lived communally they had taxes based on individual properties. 

Red Square is Homestead Location. South of Winkler and Plum Coulee.

David Peters' homestead certificate and location of same, based on the land information.  This now explains to me why a Mennonite would have a homestead certificate.  I just assumed that since the colonies were communal that no one individual would have land assigned to them.

David and Katharina only stayed on the Manitoba West Reserve for a short while.  They move on to the new reserve for Mennonites in Hague-Osler region of Saskatchewan; although at the time of settling it was still considered North West Territories.  I have not looked up a Saskatchewan homestead certificate for David Peters. I am sure the story will continue.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 16 Prompt - Air

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 16

Prompt – Air

Airing one's dirty laundry is an idiom.  To me it means that there is someone that has a secret that very few people know about and those surrounding that person don't want it to become common knowledge.   In my opinion often good stories are made up to cover the truth and become what I call  "the family story".

Discovering or knowing about these secrets or indiscretions as a genealogist poses a problem.  Should I or shouldn't I report the real story?   I was told that when writing family history one should take the high ground and give respect.  However I have also discovered that moral compasses change with time.   So does information that is available online to anyone with a computer.

Last week I blogged about Bill's two times great grandfather – Johann Jahnke.   Johann has a brother – Leonhard Heinrich Jahnke.  If you recall these two brothers married twin sisters in Bromberg, Germany and immigrated to America on the same ship.  Johann married Ernestine “Emilie” Hein. Leonhard married Henriette “Amalie” Hein.

Leonhard and Amalie had two sons,Theodore and Julius Jahnke. These two are cousins of Bill's grandfather – Arthur Jahnke. (Stay with me).  Julius and Arthur married sisters.   Arthur married Ida Anna Bachmann and Julius married Ida's sister – Dorothea Bachmann.  Not too complicated, right?

Dorthea and Julius Jahnke had 5 children.

They all go by their second name as is a German tradition.  Harvey is still alive and living on Vancouver Island.   Harvey is 92 and one of my contacts that I have spoke to a few times.  Bill's mother is Clara who just turned 93 a month ago and living in Saskatoon.  Harvey and Clara are first and second cousins (which I explained in another blog last year) and are very close.

As an aside I spoke of Robert and his unfortunate death in a plane crash over England during the WWII.

Today I want to talk about Ida Jahnke.

Ida & Anthony Okapiec Wedding Photograph

In 2009 Clara and I were going through her boxes of photos.  We came upon this one.  She tried to explain who she was.  She said they had a child as well.  So I began to dig into clues to try and fill out their story.  I found a Province of Ontario – Certificate of Registration of Death for Ida.   I could not believe what I was reading. I had not heard about this.

Coroner's Report of Death For Ida Okapiec.

It indicates that her death was a coroner's case and that she died of suicide by cutting her throat. Oh how tragic.

Years go by and in March of 2017, I have the pleasure of chatting with Harvey about his family. Somewhere along we were discussing his siblings.  When he mentioned Ida, I said oh I know she committed suicide.  He was quite taken aback and said quite tersely “no she died in childbirth”.  I was going to go into finding her death registration online but had a 6^th sense that his story was the family story and I let it go.

In the past couple of months I have subscribed to Newspaper.com.  It is crazy the things I have found on this site. I was hoping to find the obituary for my records of Ida Okapiec.  What I found was even more astounding than the Coroner's report.  I found the story Ida's demise. It was chilling.  

On page 3 of The Windsor Star dated July 11, 1944 is the following headline. “Mother Who Killed Her Baby Fights For Life in Hospital”.

Mrs. E. Jahnke is Ernest Jahnke's wife and they were living in Windsor at the same time as Ida and Anthony Okapiec. 

The first attempted suicide of the previous week must have been the reason that Mrs. E. Jahnke was with Ida Okapiec.

 

Today we would call this "poor health"  postpartum depression. 

The next day in The Windsor Star is another article.

So very tragic and sad.  I might be "airing dirty laundry" but I feel Ida and Marlene Jean deserve to be remembered despite the circumstances.  Postpartum depression is as serious as this story would indicate.  In a sense Ida's brother, Harvey was not far from truth when he said Ida had died in childbirth. 

Wendy