Voyage to Canada - Part 4

Voyage

Our departure to Canada

Early in the spring of 1910 father sold all his possessions, and with mother and myself being a minor of 12 years, emigrated to Canada too. The reason we left our country was two fold- yearning for religious freedom, and to better our material situation, but the main reason was a providence of God, which we understood only later.

Our journey was as follows:

We left our village on March 29^th by the Julian calendar, or April 11^th by the Georgian Calendar, in the year 1910. Neighbours transported us by wagons to the town of Voronezh, about 20 kilometers away. We did not leave alone, four more families and three single men from our village joined us, and we had company including children of 3 souls.

At Voronezh we boarded a train and arrived at the Libow Sea Port in the province of Curland located on the Baltic Sea. Passports were issued to us there on April 2^nd or April 15^th by the Georgian calendar. At Libow we boarded a small, shabby ship by the name of “Colsberg, Spiro and Co. a Jewish name written in Russian. We sailed on the Baltic Sea and through German sea near Kiel and North Sea. The voyage lasted four days and during this time nearly everybody was sea sick. At last we reached England, there we waited three or four days until April 23^rd, when at Liverpool we boarded the ship named “Carthaginia” which supposed to take us immigrants to Canada.

Although the ship was not fit to transport people never the less it was newly painted loaded with cargo and with people and so we began the voyage in the Atlantic. On this ship our immigrants were poorly fed, not enough even bread, so other boys after meal, goes to another table to see if something left over there, but as for me, I was lucky that mother took some dry rye bread from home, so I was finishing my meal with that.

Our voyage at Atlantic lasted 21 days as in the middle of Atlantic something broke down in the steamer and we were at the mercy of the waves. Throughout each night the ship whistle sounded continuously to prevent a collision. At last a ship whose name I cannot remember came to our rescue. A small rope was thrown to our ship, a thick cable was attached to the rope, and our sailors pulled it aboard and attached to our ship, and when that rescue ship started to pull our ship that cable snapped and so they had to repeat it again, and this time was everything fine.

The rescue ship towed us to the land somewhere in the Maritime Provinces, can’t remember the name. There our ship was repaired and we sailed again on to Saint Jones (Johns?), where the cargo of sheet iron and other products was unloaded, and then passengers were allowed to go on shore.

I remember when we were ascending a hilly road to this harbor town, we met Salvation Army, singing and playing their musical instruments, I think it was Sunday. So we stopped and listened to them, and when the collection plate was passed around, some of our immigrants donated Russian Kopecs. After collecting the money I noticed they looked at our coins with great interest.

I think this was the last voyage as a passenger ship for our “Carthaginia” as all the paint that had been applied at the start of the voyage, was scrapped off right there at the harbor. Later there were rumors that it was converted to a whale hunting ship.

At Halifax we boarded a train for the Western provinces of Canada, and as we passed through Southern Ontario we saw dwellings and orchards of inhabitants and our immigrants were gladdened by the sight and imagined to have sometimes such places of their own.

Later on though, when we passed though the bush and hills our people began to keep saying “Where are they taking us?”

Then when we was passing though the plains of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we were encouraged a bit. The length of our delayed voyage caused my brothers and sister to think that we had perished in the ocean.

Since we left our village on 11^th of April by new calendar, and reached our destination in Saskatchewan on the 23^rd of May. So it took us 42 days of travelling. 4 days voyage from Libow to England. 21 days voyage on the Atlantic and the rest 17 days with the stop overs on land. So that’s why due to our long journey they thought maybe we had perished.

Approaching our destination in Canada in the Province of Saskatchewan

“Never the less we were surrounded by the grace of God”

When our CPR train was passing through Canora Saskatchewan and stopped at the station on suggestion of my mother, I looked out through the train window and saw a man talking to a conductor and told my mother about it; and all at once that man was inside the train, and took mother and me with him out of the train and this man was my oldest brother Ivan.

I think he was informed by a group of CPR agents that the group of immigrants at last are coming, so that’s why maybe not once he was at the station waiting for us. As he recently moved to Canora, but we didn’t know that because, he lived near Borden, and Radison and that’s why our destination was at Radison and we had address in Borden.

Well he took us to his home where we met his wife Katerina and their five children. The youngest one Vera was just born. So we stayed at their home and father and Ivan had gone to meet the others at Radison Lake where they had to disembark at the end of their long treacherous sea and land journey and it was on May 23^rd 1910.

My stay at Canora Saskatchewan and my school days.

Soon my mother received a word from Father, to come immediately to Lizard Lake district at which from now on supposed to be our future home. So she left the home of her son and departed to Lizard Lake, while I stayed yet for another while at the home of my brother.

As dominant language of Canada is English which is incomprehensible for us immigrants and as we came here with intentions to live here and to be citizens of Canada we had to learn the language of this Country, so my brother sent me to school.

While at school I was sitting in a desk at rear of a school room and as I didn’t understand anything yet, so teacher had a bird cage on her desk table and was saying “open- shut, open –shut.” Well I was repeating after her open shut but didn’t know what it means as I didn’t see that tiny door she was opening and closing.

 Of course by and by I learned the Alphabet and spelling, but the meanings of the words and pronunciation of them was a mystery to me. If I had Russian English and English Russian dictionary with the pronunciation of words, or self taught, I could make a better progress but at that time, I knew nothing about it and of course there was nobody to think about it and supply me with such helping books. At school were many Ukrainian and Doukhobor children as inhabitants of Canora and vicinity where mostly (or largely) of Slavic origin. I even had a privilege to see at the station first Doukhobor spiritual leader Peter Verigin when he arrived to visit Doukhobor’s community there in Canora.

My attendance at Baptist’s Sunday school and Church Service.

As there was no Ukrainian Baptist service in town but in the vicinity on the farms as there were already believers who were gathering in farm dwellings for their worship services. So my brother Ivan borrowed team of horses with wagon and one Sunday he and his wife and myself we drove to the farm where services was held that Sunday.

On the way there as we passed through the bush country a few times I jumped from the wagon to pick strawberries in a jiffy and to overtake them as they continued the trip. At last we arrived to the Kuziacks place where church service was held in his house and also Sunday school. This was my first attendance at Sunday school and church service of Evangelical Baptists.

I can’t recollect the lesson now, but the golden text was from Matthew 7:21, which I memorized then in Ukrainian language and which during my life never escaped my mind. “Not everyone that says to me Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

We had dinner at Mr. Gabora’s place where I was surprised to hear Gabora’s son, boy of my age praying at the table, before partaking the food I thought it was only the father’s duty to do it, and here father asked his son to ask God for blessings on food and he obediently and earnestly prayed coming from the heart and not by memorized prayer as I was taught.

Few more times I have been there and began to know more people like Mr. Tom Jevardowski, who was a missionary there at that time. I didn’t know at that time but much later I learned that the previous year of 1909, there was on the farms in this Mr. Pavolink’s place, first Russian-Galician Evangelical convention, initiated by my brother Ivan, who invited from eastern Canada Reverend J. Kolenikof, to help to organize their convention. Later the name was changed to Russian-Ukrainian as gradually, the name Ukrainian became more known.

My stay at brother’s place in Canora was about 3 or 4 months, and by staying here I was spared all the hardships that immigrants on their arrival to Lizard Lake went through this first summer in 1910.