Wednesday, May 15, 2019

ROUND TWO ON DETAILS

     I didn't know what to expect when I opened up the last post to questions. I enjoyed the questions and most could be answered with a reply. However, Tabor from  Room Without Walls had a question that was  a little broader and to do justice to it I thought an extra post would be necessary. Other questions touched on similar ideas.  Tabor's question was "I want to know more about grandma and grandpa. Where they came from, how the got the farm and what their backgrounds were."

     

    I have to take you back to the late 1700's. Many German people were brought to the Ukraine and Poland to farm. This area needed more food produced and they wanted the resident population to learn better farming methods. Each family was given about 40 acres to farm. This was an attractive offer as land was becoming scarce in Germany.  Russia also offered these people something they were very passionate about. Most of these people were Lutheran and Mennonites. They were promised that they could keep the German language, practice their faith and not have to serve in the army as both groups were pacifists.

     So this sounded like a good set up for everybody.

      However , as time went on things gradually changed. Men had to serve some time in the army. It was more difficult to keep the German language.  Another problem was that since they gave away land at the beginning, later on there was not land for more farmers.

     Gradually things became more intolerable and they began to look for other opportunities. Canada was a great option. They would be given 160 acres of land.

    So many German Lutherans and Mennonites came to western Canada.

    They worked hard and helped each other to get money to travel to Canada. The majority of these people came to Canada about 1900.

    My Grandpa was not a farmer on Poland. He couldn't get any land so he was the night watchman in the village.

   My Great Grandpa brought all seven of his adult children and they set up farming. For many of the first years it was subsistance farming. They grew enough food to feed themselves. Later on they were able to borrow money and buy machinery and build buildings.

  So by the mid 40's Grandma and Grandpa were at an age for retirement. Grandpa was 80!

   I remember Grandpa in our home. We talked a mile a minute. Later on my uncle told me that Grandpa never learned to speak English? Us kids spoke English and Grandpa spoke German and we didn't know the difference.
   

22 comments:

  1. Now that is fascinating that you children and Grandpa could understand but not speak the other's language! Do you still have the ability to understand German?

    People of earlier generations were hardy souls, weren't they? We have it so easy compared to them.

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    1. I didn't know I understood German then either. When My uncle told me that Grandpa didn't speak English I remember my youngest brother and Grandpa. Grandpa lived at our house and the two of them chattered all day.

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  2. You have the most marvelous history!

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    1. A comprehensive local history was published in 1990. I've spent a lot of time with it.

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  3. Wow, that's really interesting, Red. Especially how your family ended up in Canada, and about all that conversation in two different languages! You tell a good story. :-)

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    1. Europeans were encouraged to come to Canada at that time. The family sent two members to scout the area. The scouts said it was good

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  4. What a rich family history. Very interesting to read about.
    Thank you.

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    1. A very detailed local history of 2000 pages was published in 1990 so I've been busy with it.

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  5. My grandparents all learned English, and would speak either in English or Dutch after they settled in. This was after the Second World War.

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    1. The area was populated with mostly German speakers so they didn't need English

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  6. Wonderful post! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this about your family. Thank you Red :)

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    1. For a family of peasants it had a good ending.

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  7. Interesting story and you are lucky to know those details. It’s funny that you didn’t know your grandfather wasn’t speaking English. Does that mean you understood German as a child,then? I understood quite a bit of Norwegian from my grandma’s generation but never learned to speak it at all and answered in English when it was spoken to me.

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    1. A very comprehensive local history was produced in 1990 . Yes we understood German without knowing it.

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  8. That is a wonderful bit of history of your family and also of how much of Canada was settled. It is great that you know this family history and can pass it down to your kids.

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    1. As I've said in previous posts I gained much of this from a detailed local history.

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  9. It's always fun learning about your history! It is so interesting. Do your kids read your blog?

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  10. Hello, it is fun learning about your family history. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy your day, wishing you a happy weekend.

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  11. Well, that was an interesting post. It shows how people have been looking for opportunities and a better life for hundreds of years. On the few occasions when I have spent time in western Canada I did see Mennonite people and was curious about their background. Now I know a little more about them.
    I found the two language conversations amusing but that's how the brains of little kids develop and how they learn. In face to face communication there is also tone of voice, facial expression and body language. It all adds up to make conversation.
    Thanks for the post Red.
    Alphie

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  12. Hi Red, That is quite a story. I would have enjoyed listening to you kids and grandpa have a converstion. Must have been fun for all ;-)

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  13. thank you sooo much for sharing incredible history about your grandparents dear Red!

    how surprising that your roots sprout from Germany and you know it now in this part of you r age
    but how wonderful that eventually you know :)

    My paternal grandfather was from Kashmir ,though my grandma had to leave the city after being widowed yet my father was able to speak his original language
    he could speak 5 or six languages though he was only 10 grade passed

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  14. It's so wonderful that you know so much of your history. Your German-English conversation memory is fun because quite a bit of that happens in our home right now.

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