From Buchenland to Killaly
In the 1770's, the Austrian Empire required colonists for her newly acquired territory named Bukovina. This poor and mostly rural area, had been divided by the Ukrainians in the north and the Rumanians in thesouth. They needed good farmers and crafts people for economic development. The colonists to Bukovina, were made up mostly of Germans, poles and Slovaks. The Germans came mainly from Rhineland-Palatinate, from Wurttemberg area(Swabians) and Banat.
One of the original colonies was Rosch, settled in 1782. It was a suburb of Czernowitz. Rosch and the surrounding area arre the main interest of the Czer-group. In the lated 1800's, the descendants of the colonists started to immigrate to Canada and the USA. Some of the descendants of Rosch and surrounding area came to the Killaly , Sask. area in Canada. The Wilhelm Hanowski family arrived in the Killaly area in 1898, with them was their son Wenzel, who was 10 years old. In 1910, Wenzel Hanowski and Theresia Holitzke were married at Mariahilf district and lived there for 3 years until Wenzel and Theresia got a homestead in the Bayard are in 1903. In April of 1898, John Holitski and Margareta Dietrich immigrated from Rosch, Bukovina, with their children, Anna, Theresa, Wenzel and Sigmund. John's father Martin and his son Martin came with them. The family traveled by train to Hamburg, by ship to Liverpool, England and then a ship to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. From Halifax by train to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then to Grenfell, Sask. where they bought supplies and they travelled by horse and wagon to their homestead in the Mariahilf district south of Killaly.
In 1898, Venceslaus Baumgartner and his wife Elizabeth Wagner came to Canada from Rosch, Bukovina. They went to Hamburg, Germany and then by ship to Halifax, Nova Scotia. They came with their children Michael, Johann, Catherina, Elizabeth, and Jacob.Venceslaus died May 30, 1926 in Killaly, Sask. Michael son of Venceslaus Baumgartner and Elizabeth Wagner married Julianna Exner in 1904 in Killaly. They settled there.
Elizabeth Holicke, nee Tress, immigrated from Rosch, Bukovina with 3 of her children, Johanna Sophie, Eva and Frank Joseph. She stayed with her sisters family, either Johanna (Tress) Dietrich or Sophie Haas. They lived there for a short time and then moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In 1903, Adam Berryere and his wife Elizabeth Sapara and their two sons, Edward and Zacharius, came to the Killaly area. They had immigrated from Rosch, Bukovina and they settled in the Mariahilf district. Adams brother Edmund and sisters Catharina and Elizabeth also came. Edmund and Catherina eventually went to Ontario. Elizabeth Sapara's parents Bartholoman Sapara and Peppie Ludwar also came to Killaly area, they stayed for one year and went back to Rosch. Adam built a home with quarters for the animals in the lower half and living quarters for the family on the top floor, then later on he built another home for themselves.
In 1904, the CPR line from McAuley to Neudorf, Sask. was constructed. An engineer of construction, by the name of Killaly, worked on the building of the railroad. His name was given to the area which later became the village of Killaly.
John Ruff, agent of the Federal Elevator, which was built in 1904, erected the first house in Killaly the same year. The Ogilviee Elevator was the second elevator built.
The first store in Killaly was built by John Fessor in 1904. In 1905 a Post Office was added to the store. John Fessor built the second house in Killaly in 1905.
Killaly's first hotel was built in 1905 by Mr.Dekinder who later sold it to Otto Nestmann and Mr. Gross then sold to George Hahn.
In 1905, Johann Thiele and Gertrude Nestmann came to Killaly. Gertrude died in 1916 and Johann married Anna Thiele and they lived there and raised their children until 1941.
Memories of Killaly from my father, George Berryere, born in 1908 and son of Adam Berryere and Elizabeth Sapara. "when I was young, Killaly was bigger than it is now. There were about 600 people there.
There were two passenger trains, one east and one west. There were two general stores, Massey Harris dealer was Mike Bruch, Chris Schultz was the John Deere dealer. There was a poolroom, two elevators, a CPR station, Hicke had a livery barn, there was a hotel, Joe Klein had a blacksmith, there was a lumberyard, school, Post Office. John Ludwar had a dance hell and pool room, Phil Hauser was a blacksmith and welder, there was a Catholic Church. Jacob Ruhr had a machine shop and blacksmith, Frank Sapara's , they had seven sons, Philip Blaus, Lieks, Kleins, Frank Hicke, Mike Bruch, John Ludwar and Jack Ludwar, Ed Runzer married to my sister Margaret Berryere, Beutels lived at the edge of town, Meisters, Schmeltzers, Joe and Wenzel Baumgartner, they lived in the hotel for awhile and then moved north. Yes, it was much larger then."
From "The Ties that Bind" a book on the Melville area history and families.
From "German Emigration from Bukovina to the Americas" edited by William Keel and Kurt Rein.
The humour and sadness was unique to the Bukovinians, I grew up with it. A story from Elaine Senger tells it very well."John Holitski homesteaded in the Mariaholf didtrict in 1898. The nearest settlement to get supplies was Grenfell and that was 30 miles away. Because the railroad had not reached their nearest village of Killaly, they had to make trips for supplies by the prairie trails to either Melville or Grenfell. To make extra money they would sell wood. Once every year, they would take a load of grain to Grenfell where they had a water powered grist mill to have it ground. John told of one of these early trips made along with his neighbours William Hanowski and Jack Dion. Each chap with his own team and wagon left at 4 AM one morning in April and arrived in Grenfell in the evening early enough to unload their grain. They used part of their wheat to pay for their grinding. For the night they would turn their wagon boxes upside down and sleep underneath them after having spent a short time at the local hotel where drinks were 5 cents a shot. Before returning home, they would also buy sugar, salt and whatever other staples were available. On this particular trip, they found that there was flooding in the valley on their return journey. The water was rushing about a foot above the wooden bridge. John, who had a heavy team, was in the lead. His horses were scared so he decided he would try to lead them over the bridge, but they wouldn't budge. Jack Dion, who had a much smaller team and was somewhat fool hearty, decided to force his horses by whipping them. As a result one horse fell off the bridge pulling the entire outfit. The horses drowned, the wagon sank but the box with Jack in it floated. Rancher Simpson helped to pull the wagon out.
On another trip, after a few drinks, Jack bet John $% that he, Jack, would make it home first. Jack whipped his horses and was in the lead for most of the trip. However, once they had gotten out of the Valley, John left the track, caught up to and passed Jack. No money was exchanged because Jack had none to give.
Jean Daley
|