Category: Secondary Sources

Journey to Canada, 1906

Note: This blog entry will expand as I verify more information.

According to this Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922 ship manifest (scroll down to view the relevant section), my great-grandfather, Julius Kelm (recorded here as “Julius Kelin”), made the journey from Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine), to Canada in 1906. Julius; his wife, Serafin[a] (age 22); son, Gustav (age 3); and daughter, Olga (age 2), arrived in Quebec City, Quebec, in May 1906. They arrived by ship, the passenger cargo steamship SS Mount Temple, their final destination Winnipeg, Manitoba. Julius is described as a farm labourer and the family is recorded as Russian.

From: Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922. Retrieved 12 Jan 2020 from FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2Q38-S1J.

One thing that I noticed while writing this blog entry was that all four members of the family have “N.A.T.C. Bonus Allowed” stamped beside their names. According to Library and Archives Canada, NATC stood for the North Atlantic Trading Company, a company contracted to find “suitable immigrants” from 1899 to 1910. I have always wondered why the Kelm family decided to migrate to Manitoba, so this is a good starting point—a future blog post maybe.

Tragedy struck soon after the family arrived in Winnipeg. On May 31, 1906, Julius’ and Serafina’s son, Gustav, died of pneumonia. According to family lore, Julius’ young son fell ill while crossing the Atlantic and died very soon after they arrived in Winnipeg. The following record was found through the Manitoba Vital Statistics Agency, under “Gustav Kahn.” Because his parents are not listed and because of the age discrepancy (he is listed as five years old and not three like in the ship manifest, but the two-year discrepancy also applies to other family members), I cross-checked information to make sure it was the same Gustav. In this record, Gustav’s birthplace is listed as Russia, and the address listed is 677 Ross Street, Winnipeg.

From: “[Gustav Kahn death record].” Manitoba Vital Statistics Agency. Retrieved 18 Jul 2018.

The address matches what is recorded in the 1906 Canada Northwest Provinces Census, which was recorded June 28. Julius (under “J Calman”), Serafina, Olga, and two boarders (H. Albert and Christian Geaman—possibly German or Herman) are living at 677 Ross Street. Gustav is no longer with them.

From: “1906 Canada Northwest Provinces Census.” Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 12 Jan 2020 from Ancestry.

To be continued.

Ed and Lena Kelm in “Footsteps through the Years”

The University of Manitoba Digital Collections is a good resource for digitized Manitoba history. Among their local history books is Footsteps through the Years, which mentions Edward and Lena Kelm (Edward is the son of Julius and Martha Kelm). Click the URL in the citation after the transcription below if you would like to view the original.

“Kelms 1938-1958

Ed bought a farm in Marquette in 1938. During the summers of 1938-38 and 40 acres of land was broken [sic], crops sowed and harvested with the Becker brothers. Ed’s winters were spent working in the mine at Creighton, Ontario.

January 31, 1942 Ed married Lena Drailick of Camper. The newlyweds arrived in Marquette on the night train Feb. 6 1942. After having dinner at Charlie Ursels they were driven to their farm.

Ed and Lea have four children, all born during their years at Marquette.

Joyce married Maurice Hamonie in 1969. They reside in Headingly and Joyce teaches school in Winnipeg.

Ernie married Yvette Beaudin of Montreal in 1969. Ernie works for the External Affairs Dept. in Ottawa and he and his family have resided mainly in Switzerland and Israel. They have two sons born in Tel Aviv, Israel. They returned to Ottawa, Ontario in 1975.

Kenneth resides in Winnipeg doing construction work.

Bettyann graduated from the U. of M. in Home Economics and is presently enrolled in the Education Dep. of the University of Edmonton, Alberta.

The Kelm family moved from Marquette with the help of Douglas Strachan and Chas. Slocombe, on September 14, 1958. They have many memories of the little “white” school, Ed’s Sayer Creck fishing days with Bill Maltby and Bill Kulezycki and the winter spent in the bush (1946-47) at the Lakehead with Mike Wallace, also of Marquette.

Ed retired on Feb. 12, 1976 but kept busy. Presently he is planning to build a cabin at Waterhen this summer. Fishing still takes up many summer weekends.

Lena continues to work at Canada Packers. Traveling to see her grandchildren has been her hobby for the last five years.

From: Marquette and District Historical Guild. Footsteps through the Years: Ossowa, Reaburn, Marquette, Meadow Lea, Poplar Heights, p. 126. Marquette: Marquette and District Historical Guild, [late 1970s]. Retrieved 18 Apr 2019 from University of Manitoba Digital Collections, http://hdl.handle.net/10719/2264425.