The Estonians in Barons, Alberta

The Estonians in Barons, Alberta – Early 1900s

Barbara (Johnson) Gullickson

I am honoured & pleased to be here today.

A little about my family background – My great grandfather, Jacob Erdman, & my grandfather, Gustav Erdman, filed on their homesteads in 1903 & moved here with the family in 1904. As well, my Johnson grandfather homesteaded at Barons in 1904 – and both of my husband’s grandfathers homesteaded in 1903 & 1904. So, you see, we have very deep roots in the Barons community.

First, I want to tell a little about the emigration of the families from Estonia to The Crimea, about their life there, and why they moved to North America, first to the United States and then to Alberta. I will talk mostly about their early days here in the Barons area.

A number of Estonians arrived after the World War II and I will talk a little about them.

In the early 1800’s, life was very harsh in Estonia for the people; they could not own land, and the rents paid to their landlords were oppressive.

One result of this economic oppression was uprisings in many places. These were severely suppressed by the Russian military. It was at this time, that the Prophet Maltzvet and his followers were waiting for the “White Ship” which was to take them away to the Promised Land’.

It never did arrive.

The house in Paide, Estonia, where Jacob Erdman was born. This photo was taken in 1927.

By 1860, there was more freedom of movement – and there was a story going around: the Russian government was giving Free Land to settlers in the South. This was after the Crimean war and some of the Tartars had fled to Turkey so their villages were available.

In 1861, 23 (or 70) families obtained permission from the Russian government to leave Estonia, for free land in The Crimea.

To obtain permission from their landlords to emigrate, each adult between 20 & 40 was required to pay an extra tax, or take 20 lashes. All the adults took the lashes. One man, whose wife was pregnant, took his wife’s share & received 40 lashes. The treatment for his lacerated back was regular applications of salt water. This story goes that it took a month for him to recover enough to travel.

He was the only young adult to ride on a wagon. Most walked, some had carts, some had baby carriages, and a few had horses, which pulled the carts. One man had 2 cows. When one got lame, the shoemaker made shoes for it from the people’s shoes.

They traveled 1500 miles (about 2200 Kilometers). The journey took 3 months. It was very difficult – many died along the way, mainly the old and very young. Only a small amount of food could be taken. As they went through the land, the Russian farmers gave them food; bread, sour milk, & cider.

When the Estonians arrived in Crimea, they were disappointed; the fields looked barren & unproductive. They were not, however, discouraged.

This was their land and it meant a new start for them as Free Land Owners.

The reasons for the desolation of the land were the Crimean War, and as happens to farmers everywhere, it was a bad year for crops.

Twenty three families settled in a town called Targhan, near Simferopol. These families were strict Lutherans and all the families went to church regularly – except one!

Jacob’s and Mari’s family in The Crimea, in 1894. Standing: Emilia, Helena, Miina, Liisa. In front: Jacob with Charlotte, Mari holding Natalie and Gustav

Jacob Erdman was one of the men elected a term as mayor of Targhan. While he was in a position of authority, a Turk stole an Estonian girl, because he could not afford to buy a wife. The Turk was sentenced to 8 years in Siberia. Stealing of girls was quite a common occurrence. If the stolen girl was gone more than 3 days, she stayed with her ‘husband’; if less than 3 days, she returned home to her parents.

The Estonians were industrious, ambitious, and productive. They enjoyed their freedom in the new land and became prosperous land owners.

Jacob’s orchard in Targhan, Crimea. Man unknown.

As time went on, Jacob’s and Mari’s sons reached the ages of 16 & 17, finding enough good land for them to farm was a problem. As well, 18 was the age young men were conscripted into the army. Mari, who was very determined, decided that her sons would not go into the Russian army! They would leave! Friends of theirs had moved to South Dakota and told them how good it was in North America, and the decision was made to go there.

Jacob sold their land for $25,000 in gold. One daughter, Helena, was entrusted to look after the box during the train ride to Estonia and the boat trip to England. She was an impressive lady. Helena was Perry’s grandmother. ( Perry Kotkas is Managing Director of the Barons 2004 Centennial Celebration of Heritage & Homesteading – and he did a very good job!)

In England, Gustav, the older son, persuaded Jacob to exchange the box of gold for a bank draft. Jacob was very worried – would they every see their money again? When they arrived in New York, Jacob was very relieved when they were able to exchange the piece of paper for money.

The family lived in South Dakota for 1 ½ years, and unhappy with the severe weather conditions – and a bad crop – they decided to look for other land. Some of the other Estonian families were interested in farms with a more favourable climate, as well, and the search was on. Land in Oregon was too expensive.

They heard CHEAP land was available in Alberta. So, in 1903, some of the Estonian families homesteaded here, moving to Barons in 1904.

When they left South Dakota, they traveled by ‘Settlers’ Train’. Each family had 2 box-cars to accommodate them, their household goods and their livestock. The family lived at one end of one boxcar and the household goods were at the other. In another box-car they had all their cattle and horses. The men took care of the stock at the different stops made by the trains.

After arriving in Lethbridge, t hey loaded people and goods onto the wagons they had brought with them and went to the river, to the ferry which would take them across the Old Man River. The ferry crossing took one loaded wagon or ten head of stock at one time. There was a cable across the river and the water current took it across. It was slow, but they got to the other side. There was no charge except after 6 p.m., when it cost ten cents a trip.

Arriving at their homesteads, the first thing was to build a sod house, a sod barn and dig a well. In this way the house was built: a walking plow turned the sod, and let it lay in sheets about 10 inches wide and 3 inches thick. It was cut into 18 inch lengths, and these ‘blocks’ were made into a wall the same way a brick wall is made.

The only lumber used was for framing doors and windows. The roof was built from trees cut from the river bottom; then it was covered with prairie wool (hay) and (they say) this roof never leaked. The first doors and windows were made of gunny sack.

The well served as a fridge. It was cool down there and a pail with milk, butter and the usual perishable food was stored down there.

This is the interior of Jacob’s and Mari’s home at Barons.

This photo is of their youngest daughter, Natalie, who graduated from the University of Alberta in 1917.

The trials of these pioneers included prairie fires, which had nothing to stop them, wild cattle as there were no fences and they roamed free, and the weather. In the summer, it was very hot, often over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 C), and the severe winters, which reached less than – 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 C). A mystery and a wonder were the Chinook winds. When these came, the temperature could rise 60 degrees in 24 hours.

Jack Kulpas tells of a prairie fire shortly after they homesteaded. Fortunately his father had experienced a prairie fire in South Dakota and knew how to protect his farm. He kept the grass burnt off around the buildings. So when they saw a wall of flames coming toward them, they were ready with all available containers filled with water. The fire was fanned by the wind and the flames were 20 feet high. The fire passed over in a few seconds and the burnt area around the buildings prevented the fire from coming too close to their home, and the sparks which lit the haystack were quickly put out by the pails of water.

Jack’s words, ‘A week later the new grass came up green as velvet. The prairie was beautiful.’

Another good result of the fire was that it exposed their winter’s supply of fuel – cow chips or buffalo chips, which burned hot and quite slowly. The children were given gunny sacks in which to collect them. The objective was to have enough to keep them warm all winter.

Each homesteader had to ‘prove up’ his quarter section of land, 160 acres. It was required that 10 acres of land be broken each year for the first 3 years, and that the homesteaders had to live on the land or within 10 miles, for 6 months each year.

When Grandpa Gus hauled wheat to Lethbridge, he would get up at 2 or 3 am, deliver the grain to the elevator, and return home the same day, getting home very late. It was expensive to stay overnight in the city, especially with a 4-horse team. He would bring mail, coal and groceries home.

In the early days, before there were roads or even trails, Grandpa Gus and some others would aim bee-line for Lethbridge. Grandpa said, ‘We met the Blackfoot Trail at Black Butte, a little south of what is now Nobleford. There we made a big pile of rocks and put a buffalo skull on top of it, so that on the way back we would know when to turn off the Blackfoot Trail.

Finally we found that the Blackfoot Trail continued past our homestead, only a few miles east. One can still see the mark of it passing through the grounds of the Barons Consolidated School.’

By 1908, there were 20 Estonian families in the Barons area – 77 individuals.

Some names of the Estonian families: Minnik, Kewe, Musten, Kulpas, Krikental, Kotkas, Erdman, Lentsman, Reinstein, Malberg, Meer, Watman, Silbermann, Andrekson.

In 1916, the crops were very good. Weather conditions were just right and even bad farmers could get a crop. Prices for wheat were $2.00 to $2.25 a bushel and the yield for wheat ran around 50 bushels to the acre, oats yielded 130 bushels to the acre. The only taxes were for the school, $2.00/quarter.

So it was at this time that big, new houses were built, new cars were purchased and a good time was had by all.

One of the big houses built in 1917. This is Gus and Madga Erdman’s home. Gus is Jacob’s and Mari’s son.

New equipment was bought for farming; a steam engine and threshing outfit, with cook car, bunk car, sheaf loader, water tanks, bundle racks and wagons.

Gus Erdman’s threshing outfit, c. 1917. The Barons elevators are in the background.

All these purchases did not use up all the profit from farming – several poker games were going on. These were pretty wide open with bets up to $2,000.

Bowling became very popular around this time and Barons had a world class team, taking part in contests in Calgary, Lethbridge and Winnipeg. Barons also had a ball team, and the competition with Carmangay (the neighbouring town) was fierce, including importing of high-priced players.

A ball game, c. 1918, at Steve Pakkila’s homestead, north east of Barons.

Good crops brought the gophers: at some time, perhaps around 1917-19, gophers were particularly numerous. Mr. Gow offered the boys 1 cent for each tail. When the boys brought their tails in for payment, Mr. Gow threw them into his stove. Of course, it was summer and there was no fire. The boys collected the tails when Mr. Gow wasn’t looking and re-sold them to him.

1933, Jacob’s & Mari’s 60 th Wedding Anniversay. Their house at Barons is in the background. This is a wood frame house, with straw in the walls for insulation. Their son, Robert, was an avid gardener and imported bulbs from Holland and peonies from Japan. The house was moved to a new location some years ago, and is still used as a residence.

Reverend Silak, a Lutheran Minister who lived in Medicine Hat, came a few times a year, performed church services, baptized, married those who were engaged and buried the dead. In the meantime, these were performed by Gus Erdman. His last baptism was Mary Lou Andrekson. Mr. Ira Allen and his wife often would come to the services by Reverend Silak. Although they did not understand the service, which Reverend Silak performed in both Estonian and German, they sat through both renditions. When asked why they came, they said they enjoyed being in a place of God and the singing.

The most was made of the farm products. Sheep’s wool was carded, made into quilts, knitted into socks and mittens. The garden fruit and vegetables were canned. 20-gallon crocks of sauerkraut, salt pork, and corned beef were common. The pioneer women also made their own soap.

I haven’t mentioned the ‘barb-wire’ communication system. The barb-wire fences were used as a way to talk with one’s neighbour. Sound traveled through the barbed wire, and a can was used as a receiver.

The Estonians gathered often for meals, to exchange ideas (argue), to sing and dance. Anyone who needed help had a neighbour to assist.

Everyone knew everyone for miles and miles around, personally.

The Estonian community placed great emphasis on education, and a large number of their children went on to university to receive Bachelors, Masters and Doctors degrees.

Although the early years were difficult, the Estonians prospered, bought more land and became bigger land-holders. Owning land still seems to be important to us.

The people of Barons worked together as a team, no matter what their ethnic backgrounds were: Estonian, Norwegian, Swede, Chinese, Finnish, German, English, and people from the United States.

After the 2 nd World War, a number of Estonians wanted to come to Canada. Some because they believed it was a good place to live, and others because they had escaped from USSR dominated Estonia and needed a safe place to live. A number of them had relatives or friends in Alberta and were able to arrange sponsors.

It seems that all the Estonians who were still in the Barons area sponsored a number of these. Many were professional people: doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc., and others were people who worked in factories and on farms. All of these people were required to work on farms, in sugar beet fields, etc. for, I believe, 2 years. It was expected that during this time, they would learn to speak English, and then to return to their profession.

I would like to name the sponsors and the people sponsored, but I do not know all of them and I do not like to leave out people who should be named.

I remember a cousin of my mother’s who was sponsored by Grandfather. She was a ballet dancer. I don’t know if she worked in the fields, but she lived at Grandfather’s house, and taught dancing to the girls in Barons. She then moved to Edmonton, where she gained fame as a Ballet teacher.

My cousin, Glenda Erdman was telling me of an Estonian who was sponsored by her father, Victor

Erdman. Mr. Liiv didn’t speak English and wasn’t able to work in Victor’s plant, so Victor gave him his grandmother’s house to live in, and he became their gardener. Glenda said they had a picture perfect garden, flowers the size of butter plates, vegetables which were spectacular, and he even grew celery, hilling up the soil around them, so they had the white flesh typical of celery. At this time, Glenda’s little brother was about 2 years old, and as any 2-year old, was intent on creating havoc in the garden. When David got too close to a precious plant, Mr. Liiv would shake his finger at him and forcefully say, “Aye, yi, yi, yi.”

Some of the attractive girls married our Estonian farmers.

It was not easy for these people to come to a new country, to mostly be among strangers, and to not be able to work at their chosen profession.

It comforts me to believe that their lives here are better than they would have been in the Old Country.

Thank you

From the talk Barbara (Johnson) Gullickson presented during the Estonian program at the Barons 2004 Centennial Celebration of Heritage & Homesteading, July 31, 2004. Barons was the third settlement of Estonians in Alberta.