Family Histories for Grandview and Area History Book.
Being created for 2007
To be sure that your family history is preserved. Submit your photos to:
Grandview History Book Committee:
Box 235, Grandview, MB R0L 0Y0
For more information call 546-2085 or e-mail gvhistorybook@hotmail.com.
Watch the following websites for additional information:
www.rmofgrandview.ca
www.grandviewresourcecouncil.4t.com
Please Note: If submitting your history by e-mail or computer disc, please use Microsoft Word if possible. Please remember to include self stamped & addressed envelope to return photos.
The following is some of the information that you should ensure you have included in your story:
Also if you have any information/pictures of the following schools please forward to us as well:
The history book project is an Intergenerational Project and we are encouraging
our senior high students to participate and assist in it. This project will
match older adults who have a specialized knowledge of our community district
history and cultural heritage with young people interested in learning about
their history.
Whether you are a current resident of Grandview or a former resident we are encouraging you to send in a submission of your family history to have published in our book.
For more information on this project please contact Connie @ (204) 546- 2085 or e-mail gvhistorybook@hotmail.com.
The following is a few sample family stories from our last publication:
Peter Tanasichuk
In the spring of 1902, Peter Tanasichuk, his wife Varvara and their four children – John 17, Lena14, Mary 10, and Mike 4, left their native village of Babanach, Austria and set out for Canada. At Rotterdam they boarded a ship bound for Halifax. From there they traveled by train to Winnipeg and thence to Dauphin, where they were met by a friend from Valley River with a wagon and team of oxen. They built a sod house on a school section in Valley River, where they spent the following winter.
In the spring the family moved to the Grifton district north of Grandview, where Peter and his oldest son, John, both obtained land. There was a log cabin with a sod roof on Peter’s quarter section and the family lived there for four years until they were able to build a better home. The new home was built of logs and had a roof of split shingles, windows and a wooden floor. Outside it was plastered with a mixture of clay and straw and white washed.
All their cooking and baking was done in a clay oven, which was also their source of heat. For warmth, the children slept on the sides of the oven on the floor. Their parents had a bed made of wood with hay as a mattress.
The first year they cleared a little land for a garden. They also bought a cow which supplied them with milk, cream, butter and cheeses. In summer they picked berries and mushrooms and dried them for winter use. They also dug wild potatoes called “bulba”. Prairie chicken and partridge were plentiful and supplied meat for the table as well as feathers for making pillows. In winter they hunted rabbits and used the skins to make warm mittens and moccasins.
As more land was cleared they were able to plant a little wheat and rye. At
first this was harvested by hand with a sickle , bundled into sheaves and left
to dry. It was then threshed by beating it with a flail. A neighbour who owned
a grindstone ground the wheat into flour. Later they took their wheat to Grandview
and got their flour there. They also planted flax, which they used to make linen.
Three more children were added to the family in these years: Matt born in 1904,
Nick in 1906,. And Annie in 1908.
In 1906, the oldest boy, John, married Safrona Yurkiw. They had eleven children – eight boys and three girls. In 1929 Safrona died and John was left to bring up the family alone. He hired a housekeeper and found work as a carpenter. Later he managed a sawmill and ran a threshing machine to earn enough to keep the family going.
Lena married Paul Yaciuk in 1908. They farmed at Valley River and later at Shortdale. They had eleven children – five boys and six girls.
Mary married Joe Bogoslowki in 1910. They lived for a time in Winnipeg then returned to farm in Grandview. They had eleven children – five boys and six girls.
Matt, Mike and Nick never married. They worked for farmers in the area.
Annie married Ross Figas in 1926. They farmed in Grandview. They had five children - two boys and three girls.
Peter Tanasichuk died on September 27, 1928 and his wife Varvara on July 9, 1938. Surviving are Lena in Shortdale, Mary in Dauphin and Mike and Annie in Grandview.
By Mrs. Ross Figas
(Annie Tanasichuk)
The Brittons
William Britton*
Of the family of five boys and five girls born to Thomas and Mary Britton of Devonshire, England, four sons decided to immigrate to Canada.
Their oldest son William, who was born in North Devon, England, August 17, 1862, was the first to come to Canada. He crossed on a boat called the “ The Charmation” in the year 1887 and settled at London, Ontario.
He came west to Wawanesa, Manitoba, in 1982, returning to the east in the year 1887 marring Mary Jane Stacey on March 1st if that year.
He returned to Wawanesa immediately after marriage where they farmed for the next six years.
In the summer if 1899 he came into the Grandview district, traveling a large part of the way on a bicycle, and bought a half section of C.P.R. land namely N.E. 25-25-24 and S.W. 25-25-24. In the summer of 1900 he drove to Grandview by the way of Elphinstone and Lake Audy, driving cattle. The roads were bad and the mountains were on fire. It frequently happened that the effects would have to be unloaded and wagons pulled out empty, effects carried through he mud hole and reloaded. One night was spent at Lake Audy. Beds were made out of hay under the wagons. The mosquitos feasted on any portion of the body exposed and the fleas worked overtime under cover.
A stop was made at Sam Mitchell’s sore south of Gilbert Plains. The building site was at this time on the west side of N.E. 25-25-24. At that time one of the main trails passed down the centre of the section. There was a ford at the river, between the old Burrow’s saw mill and the Railway Bridge which was later to be built and operated.
About 1903 Wm. Britton bought S.E. 25-25-24 from Jas. Joynt, and a house owned by Sam Mitchell, and moved it down to the location just south and west of the present north bridge on the Valley River.
Wm. Britton later acquired further parcels of land – S.E. 36-25-24, N.E. 35-35-24 and later a further five quarters south and west of town.
When the Duke of Devonshire visited Grandview, Mitchell Matoff owned a new McLaughlin Buick, the best car in town at that time, so he was given the honor of driving the Duke around. Billy Britton, being a good Englishman, later bought this car.
Wm. Britton retired from active farming in 1942, but resided on the farm until the time of his death, which occurred in April 23rd, 1949, at the age of 86.
Mrs. Wm. Britton died August 10th 1941 at the age of 72 years. Howard, their only son, was born at Wawanesa and came to Grandview, someone stepped off the sidewalk and told them Queen Victoria had died. This was in 1901. Howard attended Grandview school. He married Janet Cowling and settled on S.E. 36-25-24,where they are still living.
They had five sons and two daughters, Eva, Bob and Tom are in Victoria, British Columbia. Della is in Virden. Wilfred operates a grain elevator at Stenan, Saskatchewan. Jim has a farm at Grandview and Bill is at home.
Annie, Wm. Britton’s oldest daughter, was born and educated at Grandview. She married Raymond Mitchell. They had three daughters and three sons. Wilda and Reena live at Flin Flon, Manitoba. Earl and Lavergne, twin boys, farm at Grandview. Keith is studying for a chiropractic doctor in the U.S.A. and Dianne is at home.
Doris, Wm. Britton’s youngest child, was also born and educated
at Grandview. She married Nelson Green. They have three girls and one boy. Hazel
is on a farm south of Gilbert Plains, Lila at Merritt, British Columbia, Evelyn
at Grandview and Burdette at home.
By Mrs. W. McLaren (Florence) Howard Britton & Effie Robertson
Grandview in the 1920’s, were any of these businesses part of your family history? If so, we would like to know more about it.