Saskatchewan – A Deck of Ancestors

52W Mark IV – Week 50: Card L11 Katherina Loran

While I might not have a lot about my Germans from Russia ancestry and I haven’t gotten as far back in those lines as the other branches of my family tree, Katherina Loran, is one of the few of my Great x3 Grandparents of this lineage for whom I have the names of all four of her grandparents. In fact, I know the names of three of her for Great Grandfathers, but it should come as no surprise to any genealogist that I don’t know any of her Great Grandmothers.

Katherina was born in the Karlsruhe colony in the Beresan in 1846, to Michael Loran and Klara Stumpf. Both of Katherina’s parents were born in the Beresan – Michael in Karlsruhe and Klara in Speier.

On her paternal line, Katherina’s ancestors came from Queichheim, Rhinepalatinate. Queichheim is now part of Landau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about 40 kilometers northwest of Karlsruhe, where many of my other German-Russian ancestors originated.

On her mother’s paternal side, Katherine’s maternal grandfather, Jakob Stumpf, was born in Riedseltz, Weissenburg, Elsaß (Alsace). Alsace spent much of its history moving between French and German control. At the time Jakob was born, it was primarily under French control, but small exclaves were under German control. Riedseltz is now within France, about five kilometers from the German border and just over 30 kilometers due west of Karlsruhe.

Katherina’s maternal grandmother, Elisabetha Berk (or Burck) was born in Pforzheim, Baden, on the other side of Karlsruhe and about 50 kilometers from Riedseltz. Just over 15 years ago, when one of my cousins married, they and their spouse created a new surname that was a mash-up of their surnames at birth. The result was “Burke”. I had to let my cousin know that she was reviving the surname of our Great x5 Grandmother!

Returning to Katherina, she married Jacob Anton in Karlsruhe on October 28, 1863. Over a 25 year period, Katherina had 11 children with Jacob. At least half her children emigrated to the United States and Canada, mostly to Montana and Saskatchewan. I think it’s amazing to think that my lifetime overlapped with two of her children. The youngest of Katherina’s children, Mathilda, lived until December 1971, passing away at age 83. If I had ever met Mathilda, I’d have been meeting with someone only one generation away from someone born more than 100 years before me.

In 1874, Katherina and her family moved from Karlsruhe to Christina, one of the German daughter colonies in the Beresan. It was very likely that Katherina was pregnant at the time of the move, because she gave birth to a daughter, Veronica, in June 1874. Katherina and Jakob may have been amongst the earliest settlers in Christina, as it may have been founded in 1874; however, there are birth records showing that German colonists were there as early as 1860. Today what remains of Christina

Katherina died young, at age 47, when her youngest child was only five years old.

Paul Antone, my maternal grandmother’s second cousin*, made a trip to Ukraine in 2010 to visit some of the places where the German colonists had lived. He shared many of his photos with me, including several from the Christina cemetery. Amongst those was a photo of Katherina’s headstone.

Translated to English, the inscription on Katherina’s headstone reads “Here rests in God Katherina, born in the year 1846, died 1893.”

*Yes, I know that makes him my second cousin twice removed. 😏

52W Mark IV – Week 49: Card L10 Jacob Anton

Not only is researching my maternal grandmother’s line difficult, it’s exhausting! Not only is there a paucity of evidence, there are so many conflicts and inconsistencies to reconcile in the few records I do have. When I began this post, just the thought of writing about my Great x3 Grandfather Georg Jacob Anton was taxing, only because I knew I had my work cut out for me.

In fact, after many hours of pouring over what I do have, the most significant advance I made was to change the title and image caption from “(Georg) Jacob Anton” to simply “Jacob Anton”. One of my oldest sources for the Anton line is The Antons: German-Russian Heritage 1720-1995 published in 1995. It listed Jacob as “(Georg) Jacob”. It’s been in my database that way ever since, even though in the last 30 years I’ve come across enough information indicating that it’s simply “Jacob”.

Jacob was born in 1843 in Karlsruhe Colony in the Beresan. Based upon the Karlsruhe census for 1858, he was the eldest son and second child of Johannes Anton and Marianna Schmidt. Johannes and Marianna were most likely from Mörlheim, Landau, Rhinepalatinate before settling in Karlsruhe.

Jacob married Katherina Loran on October 28, 1863 in Karlsruhe. The family lived in Karlsruhe until about 1874, when they relocated to Christina, a recently founded daughter colony. In Christina, Jacob and Katherina had six more children.

Katharina died about 1893. Jacob remarried shortly after Katharina died, to Magdalina Gustin. Magdalina was a widow herself. They had two sons, Alexander and Thomas, known as “Fat Alex” and “Al Capone” after they immigrated to southwest Saskatchwan. There were a lot of Alexander Antons in their community, so they all had nicknames. As for Thomas, my Great Aunt Adeline (who was Thomas’s great niece), told me that he earned his nickname because he operated a homemade still.

Jacob died in Christina on September 18, 1908. Magdalina, along with Alex and Thomas, left for Canada in June 1912. The ship manifest noted that Magdalena was a widow. In addition to her sons Alex and Thomas, the manifest noted that there were two other individuals traveling with Magdalena. One was an individual who was 21 years old and married, but the name is intelligible. Presumably, this person could be a child of Magdalena’s from her first marriage. This person also had a one-year-old child named Rosa, who would likely be Magdalena’s granddaughter.

Magdalina and her family travelled aboard the S.S. Pennsylvania on the same voyage that brought Jacob and Katherina’s son Jacob and his family to the new world. Also on that voyage was Katherina’s brother, Sebastian, and his family. The ship landed at Ellis Island on July 1, 1912. A fitting date, as that was Dominion Day (now known as Canada Day). The families all then made their way to the Fox Valley and Rastadt area of southwest Saskatchewan.

For me, the passenger list almost reads like a family group sheet!

52W Mark IV – Week 44: Card L5 Margaretha Heck

Margaretha (“Margaret”) Heck (1868-1946)

Both sides of my Grandmother Helen Lerner’s family are Germans from Russia. Her branch of my tree is the one I know least about and is the most difficult to research. As a result, it does not go back very far for most branches, and is the most rife with brick walls and conflicting information. Perhaps the line I know least about is that of my Great Great Grandmother Margaretha (“Margaret”) Heck.

Margaret Heck was born on April 1, 1865 (although the year might be in question), in one of the German colonies in the Beresan District of what is now Ukraine, but at the time was part of the Russian Empire. Not only do I not know which specific colony she was born in, I have no idea of where her ancestors came from. At most, I suspect that they had their origins in the same German states, principalities, and duchies that my other Beresan ancestors had come from, such as Baden or the Palatinate. I really know nothing more than the names of Margaret’s parents, and even that information has little foundation.

My mother shares the same birthday as Margaret. As a result, she shares Margaret’s name as her middle name. In fact, Margaret was supposed to have been my mother’s first name, but her father, Leo Burgess, objected, saying that everyone would call her “Maggie”. When my Grandmother arrived home from the hospital with my mother, Leo’s father Milton was there. Upon seeing my mother he exclaimed, “There’s Maggie!” It stuck. Since that time, Lorraine’s father and grandfather called her Maggie.

Margaret married Jacob Anton sometime before 1890, possibly in the Karlsruhe colony. There Margaret had five children, from 1890 to 1898. Sometime after February 1898 and before April 1900, the family left the Beresan for Russia proper, settling in Selo Suchoi, somewhere near Veronesch. A “selo”, as I understand it, is a village with a church. The family lived in Selo Suchoi for just over ten years. During that time, Margaret gave birth to five more children, from 1900 to 1910.

The Anton family. My Great Grandmother, Emelia Anton, is on the girl on the right side of the photo who appears to be holding a bouquet. This is said to have been taken around 1910, and was most likely taken in Selo Suchoi. I believe it was taken before Margaret’s youngest daughter, Rose, was born. Emelia had two younger brothers and one younger sister, but only two children here appear to be younger. As well, Emelia only had two older sisters, but there are three girls who appear older than her. I suspect the girl in the centre is Philomena, likely dressed for a First Communion or Confirmation, who was three years older than Emelia. My guess is that one of the older girls might be the wife of one of Emelia’s older brothers.

On June 18, 1912, Margaret and the family departed Hamburg aboard the S.S. Pennsylvania, bound for Canada via New York. The ship’s passenger manifest described Margaret as 5’6″, blonde, and blue-eyed. The Pennsylvania arrived at Ellis Island on July 1, 1912. By the end of July, the family had arrived at Rastadt, Saskatchewan, where Jacob secured a piece of land for homesteading. Jacob farmed the land for less than 10 years, as he passed away in May 1921. The land he owned was divided between three of his sons.

A few years later, sometime after January 1924 and before April 1925, Margaret remarried, to a man named George Meuchel (1863-1948). George was also a German from Russia. He moved from the Beresan to North Dakota in 1892. At the time he was married and had three children; he and his wife, Paulina, had 13 more children in North Dakota. Paulina died in January 1924. The 1925 North Dakota state census shows Margaret and George as married.

I have no idea how Margaret and George met. Some rudimentary digging seems to indicate he might have had a son who was homesteading not far from where Jacob and Margaret were farming. I also cannot find any record of their marriage, either in Saskatchewan or North Dakota. While census records suggest they were married, it may well be that they hadn’t actually gone through the civil or religious process.

The couple also were not in North Dakota for long after they married – the 1926 Canadian census of the Prairies shows them in Saskatchewan near Rastadt. Five years later, George and Margaret were living in Medicine Hat, Alberta. How long they were there, I cannot say, and 1931 is the last census year currently available. However, at some point in time they moved back to Saskatchewan.

My Aunt Adeline (Emelia’s daughter) told me that she would often go to her grandmother’s house after school. Sometimes she would spend several weeks at her grandmother’s. Addie said that her grandmother as far more straight-laced than Emelia. Addie described Margaret as religious, but in a quiet and not in a showy way; she was not the kind of person who spoke about God much. However, Addie told me that while Margaret did not say it a lot, if you shocked her she would say, “Holy mother of God”. She quickly added that her grandmother likely said it in German, but Addie could only remember it in English. Addie also remembered George, as her grandfather Jacob had passed away when Addie was nine.

Margaret died in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, on October 28, 1946. She is interred at the Fox Valley Cemetery. As for George, he ultimately moved back to North Dakota, where he died on March 29, 1948. George is buried alongside Pauline in Grant County, North Dakota.

I don’t recall seeing this headstone when I visited in 1997. I also don’t know where “Margred” came from.

52W Mark IV – Week 43: Card L4 Jacob Anton

My Great Great Grandfather, Jacob Anton, is another one of my Germans from Russia whose ancestors originated near Karlsruhe, Germany. Most likely they were from Mörlheim, Landau, Rhinepalatinate, which is about 30 kilometers northwest of Karlsruhe. Jacob’s people settled in the Karlsruhe Colony of the Beresan District. It was located north of Odessa in what is now Ukraine, but at the time it was part of the Russian Empire.

Jacob was born on May 3, 1865 in Karlsruhe, where he grew up to be a farmer. Sometime before 1890 he married Margaretha (“Margaret”) Heck, most likely in Karlsruhe. Together they had ten children, the first five of whom were born in the Beresan.

The family remained in the Beresan until sometime in between February 1898 and April 1900. In that time, they moved to Selo Suchoi, Veronesch, Russia. My relatives told me that Selo Sochoi was a settlement of 12 or so families who all separately owned their own land. As I understand it from my own reading, a “selo” is a small settlement with a church, as opposed to a “derevnya”, which did not. In Selo Suchoi, Jacob and Margaret had five more children, including my Great Grandmother Emelia Anton.

The Antons remained in Selo Suchoi for just over ten years before emigrating for Canada. Jacob and his family sailed from Hamburg on June 18, 1912 aboard the S.S. Pennsylvania. They arrived at Ellis Island on July 1, 1912 – Dominion Day in Canada (now “Canada Day”). Their declared destination was Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, to join Jacob’s son and eldest child, Rochus Anton. The passenger manifest stated that Jacob paid for the entire family’s transport, other than his son Philip’s wife Rosa, whose passage was paid for by her father. In total, the family brought $6000 with them.

On July 31, 1912, Jacob applied for entry to land located at Southeast Section 22 Township 17 Range 24 West of the 3rd Meridian, which is due east of Fox Valley and not far south from the Rastadt Cemetery. The application noted that there were 12 people in the family – 5 adult males, 3 adult females, and 4 children under 12.

Affidavits filed in support of Jacob’s homestead application show that in the first three years of occupation, he broke 60 acres per year. The first year he cropped 60 acres, in 1913 he cropped 120 acres, and in the following four years he cropped 180 acres. Jacob did not own any stock animals during that time, although it appears that he obtained some in 1918. Jacob built a 30 x 30 wood frame house on the property, which was completed by August 1912. In 1918 the house was worth $2,000. He also built a stable and four granaries, along with a well valued at $100. Jacob was granted the patent for the land on January 13, 1919.

In the meantime, Jacob became a naturalized Canadian (British subject) on October 26, 1914.

Sometime in 1916 or 1917, Jacob and his brother Joseph, who had also moved to Canada, returned to the Beresan to sell land they still owned over there. They had success in selling to relatives but barely made it out before the 1917 revolution began. Moreover, one of the brothers apparently missed their passage out of Russia and had to remain behind for a time. To me, the whole idea of crossing the Atlantic and through Europe in the middle of World War I was not the wisest idea.

Jacob died in Fox Valley a few years later, on May 3, 1921. Jacob executed his will that same day, written in German. His sons Rochus and Phillip were named executors. At the time of his death, Jacob had a second piece of land, SE 8 Twn 17 Rng 24 W 3, in addition to the original piece of land he acquired by homestead after arriving in Canada (SE 22 Twn 17 Rng 24 W 3). Jacob also owned a full line of farm implements, fourteen horses, and sixteen horned cattle. The total value of the estate was $10,305.00.

The original piece of land was bequeathed to his son John Anton, who was to pay one-quarter of the value of the land to his brother, Rochus. The other property was left to his son Ralph, who was then to transfer half to his brothers Mathias and Jacob. Smaller cash amounts were left to Jacob’s wife, Margaret, and to his other seven children.

Jacob is buried at Rastadt Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Cemetery. Along with the school, which closed in 1970, the cemetery is the only thing that is left of Rastadt.

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