August William Holtswell (Oltsvel?)

Born in Crimea, 25 July, 1897 Died in Calgary, 13 June, 1967 (age 70)

August was born in Crimea. At the age of 20 in the year 1917, due to conditions in his homeland, he walked out of Crimea through Rumania, Bulgaria, and Poland to Estonia. Estonia had gained its independence by that time. He stayed in Estonia for a few years. There he met his future wife, Helmi.

August then went to Canada, settling in Calgary in about 1923. He had several jobs and finally became manager of an office furniture manufacturing company called KP Nielson Furniture Factory. He kept this job until he retired.

During the mid 1930’s Walter Silberman (Silverton) worked with Mr. Holtswell at the factory. Mae Silverton was born in Calgary at that time. Lea Weiler Silverton was Walter’s bride. They married in Tallinn in 1933 and when they came to Canada to live, they found work at Mr. Holtswell’s factory for only one or two years.

Helmi came alone from Estonia in 1928 and the Holtswells were married here. At first they lived in a small apartment near the main library. In 1953, Mr Enzio Magi encouraged the Holtswells and another Estonian family to build new houses near the Elbow River - and to be neighbors to the Magis. So three Estonian families lived next door to each other in a very nice part of Calgary.

The Holtswells were very sociable. They attended Estonian get-togethers here. August enjoyed painting and artwork as a hobby. The couple had no children.

After August died, Helmi married Peter Kalev who was from the Eckville, Alberta, group of Estonians. She outlived August by over 30 years. She died in 1999 at the age of 90.

Note: Mr Enzio Magi and his wife Mimo came from Estonia after WWII. Mr. Magi worked on many of the big office buildings in Calgary as an architect. His son is a doctor here. Enzio kindly supplied this information about the Holtswells .