Here’s a historical/biographical article of mine that appeared in the Spring 2017 issue of Folklore magazine, published by The Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society.
The schoolgirl, the ship-builder, and the Siberia-seeker
By Elma (Martens) Schemenauer
In 1925 my mother, Agatha, was a ten-year-old Mennonite schoolgirl in Russia. In that year she and her family, like a number of other Mennonites, started their long journey to Saskatchewan. The family left their village and made their way to Moscow, then Latvia. Here, in my mother's own words, is a description of their sea and ocean crossings.
"We boarded a small ship to cross the North Sea to London, England. It was a bit rough and cold. For me, it was a great adventure. There was a dock strike, so we were sent on to Liverpool. After a few days in that foggy city, we boarded the steamship Montclair to cross over to Saint John, New Brunswick.
"The ocean was calm and the voyage pleasant with no delays. For me, who could get around, it was exciting. For Mother, it was harder as Dad was very seasick, even delirious. He wanted to throw our visas overboard. There were other families we knew, so one of the men took all our papers for safekeeping.
"We were fortunate in that our parents had enough money for the fare, since they had sold all their belongings before leaving their home. Some families borrowed money from the CPR. This was hard to pay back."
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My mother goes on to describe the family's early experiences in Saskatchewan. Like many other immigrants, they had relatives who helped them.
"After disembarking from the ship in Saint John, we had a long trip by CPR train to Rosthern, Saskatchewan. We were a little early, so there was nobody to meet us at the station. After we made some inquiries, a Mr. Ens, a relative, took us to mother's grandparents on a farm near Waldheim. They were Jacob and Elizabeth Epp, parents of my Grandmother Maria.
"My mother's Aunt Margaret (daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Epp) and her husband, Peter Friesen, came to visit and took us to their farm at Laird, Saskatchewan. This was on December 17, 1925, a few days before Christmas. It was interesting to be in the lovely, large farmhouse. Going to a Canadian Sunday School concert was different, warm, and friendly.
"Sophie, the youngest child in the family of Margaret and Peter Friesen, was about five at the time. All that winter we played together—my two little brothers and Sophie and I. Dad and Mother worked for our keep."
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Eventually Agatha and family headed out on their own.
"In the spring we were fortunate to move to a nearby farmhouse. While there, lightning struck the telephone wire, which had been cut and left bare. Mother tried to put out the fire with a wet cloth and received a shock. Then she threw water on the fire. I heard her pray for protection in this strange new land.
"I had missed school all winter. Stony Hill school was not far away, and this is where I walked with a neighbour's girl. To a great extent, it was she who taught me to speak English. School was not hard for me, seeing I had taken some subjects before.
"By the time we move to Glenside in 1927, I was the interpreter for the family. At least we could make ourselves understood among English-speaking people. Dad learned the language fairly quickly. Mothers stayed at home those days."
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A horse named Slim was a useful, sometimes troublesome part of Agatha's school experiences.
"I drove a horse to school alone till my brother Jake started also. One morning when I was driving alone across a small neglected dam, the cutter (sleigh) got stuck and upset. Slim, the brown gelding, pretended not to hear my "whoa" and dragged the cutter to the top of the hill. Then he turned to watch me carry up his oat sheaf, the seat, my books, and my muddy sandwiches. We made it to school a bit late.
"Another time I got caught in a slough when the cracked ice kept the cutter from moving. Fortunately a neighbor heard my cries for help and came to my rescue. Slim and I had a few adventures. Dad said the horse was smarter than I was.
After a while we changed to a school where there was a better road. School was fun for me, even though the boys called me a 'Midianite' (their playful interpretation of 'Mennonite')."
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Two years later schoolgirl Agatha and family moved to the Loreburn-Elbow area, near the South Saskatchewan River. Here's my mother describing this relocation.
"After two years, a friend advised us of a farm in the Bonnie View district, six miles west of Loreburn. In 1929 we moved there by wagon. It was a good district with very kind neighbours."
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While Agatha and family were settling on the farm west of Loreburn, a less enthusiastic immigrant across the river was thinking of leaving the country. He was a farmer named Tom Sukanen. Tom had immigrated from Finland and wanted to go back. Nobody knows just why. The Great Depression, which started in 1929, probably influenced him. However, Tom seemed to have more mysterious reasons for wanting to return to his native land. Some people said he was afraid a great flood was going to cover the prairies. Others said he believed he had a mission to Finland.
Whatever Tom's motives, he chose an odd way of pursuing his goal. He had $9000 saved. This would have been more than enough for a train ticket and ocean crossing to Finland. Instead, Tom decided to build a steamship for the voyage. He planned to launch it into the South Saskatchewan River and sail it north to Hudson Bay. From there he would navigate across the Bay, out into the Atlantic Ocean, and on home to Finland.
Did Sukanen's ambitious but strange plan work? You can find out by reading his story in my book YesterCanada: Historical Tales of Mystery and Adventure.
YesterCanada includes the story of another unenthusiastic immigrant. She was an enigmatic young woman named Lillian Alling. Lillian arrived in New York City about 1925, the same year my mother arrived in Saskatchewan. Lillian was Polish or possibly Russian. She got a job as a housemaid, but after only a short time decided she wanted to go to Russia.
Her employers didn't know why and Lillian wouldn't explain. They thought she might have received news about relatives or friends being exiled to a prison camp in Siberia. Maybe she wanted to try to help them. Or maybe her former home was in Russia and she hoped to return to it.
Whatever the reason, the young immigrant became obsessed with reaching Russia. She saved every penny she could but soon realized it would take a long time to save enough for a steamship ticket. At last Lillian made the astonishing decision to walk to Siberia.
She started in late fall 1926. On Christmas Eve she reached Niagara Falls and crossed from New York State into Ontario. From Niagara Falls the durable traveller trudged across Western Ontario, Manitoba, and into Saskatchewan.
Sometimes a kind-hearted motorist stopped and offered her a ride. Lillian almost always refused. Occasionally she stopped in a village to buy bread, tea, and perhaps a few vegetables or a chunk of smoked sausage. On these occasions she never spoke more than necessary. If a store clerk or farmer questioned her about her destination, she replied "I go to Siberia."
Did Lillian ever reach Siberia? The answer is uncertain, but you can read her story in my book YesterCanada: Historical Tales of Mystery and Adventure.
YesterCanada presents 30 historical tales spanning this great land and the centuries from the 1200s to the 1900s. It's a 248-page paperback with 30 illustrations and a bibliography, ISBN 978-0-88887-650-8, price $19.95. If you're interested, you could ask for it in a store or library. Or you could order it online from Chapters Indigo, Amazon, or the publisher, Borealis Press of Ottawa. For more information, please visit http://elmams.wixsite.com/elma .
Elma (Martens) Schemenauer was born and grew up in the Elbow-Loreburn-Davidson area. She is the author and editor of numerous books published in Canada and the United States. Her latest book, YesterCanada: Historical Tales of Mystery and Adventure, includes several stories set entirely or partly in Saskatchewan.
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