From: Kingsford, Saskatchewan, Canada
12 September 1929

Dear Staats-Anzeiger!

Since my neighbor Adam Seifert urged me to report in this paper, I want to comply with his invitation and report how our other friends and we are doing. Why is it that the friends in the old homeland report so little in the paper? We send greetings to all of them, especially to Mr. S. Koch in Krasna, Bessarabia and ask him to write soon. In case you don’t receive our letter then please give the money to the old grandmother Gertrude Ternes.* (Doesn’t make sense to the translator) Her children Mathias and Klara are still healthy and had a good harvest.

On 13 August, Valentin Koehler and his wife from Strasburg, North Dakota surprised us with a short visit. Mrs. Koehler is a nee Paul. They came from Fox Valley where they had visited with Remigius Paul and several other friends. Their visit was very short and they started their trip home the next morning. We really enjoyed the visit very much and we want to thank our friends Valentin and his better-half cordially. They should write in the Staats-Anzeiger sometime.

We also read the report from Mariana Paul in Prelate and found out that you didn’t like it.

Elias Maas bought land for $20 per acre near Estevan. He plans to soon resettle there. Mr. Maas had a good harvest. These lines are to inform his brothers.

Our friends Otto and Zachaeus Bachmaier also bought land in our area for $25 per acre. They are working with the threshing machine and earn $7 a day. This is to inform their father Jakob Bachmaier.

The health conditions are to be praised, since no one has time right now to be sick.

We greet all readers of the paper and also the editor Mr. Brandt.

Joseph and Klara Miller

From: Fox Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada
16 September 1929

Dear Staats-Anzeiger!

Today I will reach for my pen and write my first report from the new homeland, namely about the journey from Bessarabia to Canada.

On 8 July at 11 o’clock in the morning, we left our beloved village Krasna, Akkerman County. Besides the undersigned, the travelers were Gabriel Anton with his wife and 6 children, Ignatz I. Ihli with his wife and 4 children, Simon I. Koch with his wife and 1 child, Markus K. Soehn with his wife and 9 children, and Alexander S. Becker with his wife and 1 child. Like always the good-byes were very hard for all of us, especially for me, who had to leave the parents, 4 siblings, 2 brothers-in-law and also good neighbors and various good friends. Only Rochus H. Ternes, who I had worked for during the time of war for two years, shook my hand smiling and made my heart feel lighter. May Mr. Ternes stay healthy and live to be an old man.

We drove off to the railroad station Beresina where we got on the train, which took us through Leipzig, Kischinew, Jassy, and Czernowitz and then arrived at the border to Poland. The trip through Rumania went quite well, but you always had to have your billfold handy to keep the conductor at bay because he always found a reason to complain. The hand luggage being too heavy or too big and then he wanted a child at the age of 5 or 6 years to have its’ own hand luggage. We passed through Poland without incidence and had the pleasure to see the capital Warsaw.

The trip on the German train was peaceful and quiet. There was no conductor or anyone else to bother us, and everything was in the best of order.

On 12 July, we arrived in Bremen at the “Lloyd-Heim”, since we had booked with the “Norddeutschen Lloyd”. Here in Bremen three doctors once again examined us. Unfortunately, two of the families traveling with us were sent back due to bad eyes, namely Alexander Becker with his wife and 1 child, and also Markus Soehn and his family. Since these families had sold all their properties in the old homeland and couldn’t go back because of it, they quickly decided to go to Brazil and it worked!

The rest of us from Krasna shipped out on the steamship “Seydlitz” on 23 July. We have to say that the treatment and the food were very good.

The seasickness really attacked me hard but my wife just a little. The children got over it fast and were able to always eat well. We were on the ocean for 10 full days and the weather was nice. For two days we had heavy fog. On 2 August, we caught sight of land and it brought on shouts of joy. All passengers started screaming; “Land, land, land!” At 10 o’clock on that day we left the ship. I had barely walked 10 steps when I was over my seasickness, since once again I was on solid ground.

The arrangements on the American trains were good. There you could stretch out and sleep. Every railroad car had drinking water and a place to wash up etc. We liked that a lot and we certainly were curious about how we would be welcomed and greeted in our new homeland. We were always in a good mood until we reached our destination on 7August at

9 o’clock at night, namely Prelate, Saskatchewan, where friends and acquaintances greeted us at the railroad station. Most of them recognized their friends and called them by name, but not me, because I am still young.

All of a sudden a heavyset man came towards me and asked me if I was Peter Soehn. I said; “No, I am not Peter Soehn but my name is Anton Soehn.” He really wanted to see Peter Soehn and said that he was Joseph Kopp. We got into a car and drove home with our friends.

The next day we started with the harvest, which made me very happy. Machines did the farm work, and we were finished with the harvest in 12 days and with the threshing in 11 days. I worked for Joseph M. Kopp and for A. Soehn. We took care of 5 farmers and threshed almost 10,000 bushels. The harvest was very weak this year. The average was 5 to 12 bushels per acre, while a good harvest yields 35 to 40 bushels per acre.

In closing, I am greeting Anton Gedak in Krasna, Bessarabia and I am asking him to diligently send reports to the Staats-Anzeiger. Please say hello to all our dear neighbors, especially Philipp Becker.

Everyone can imagine that a start with nothing is hard, but I am hopeful to make a living here. I have not regretted taking this step, and whenever I get homesick I think about the days when the rich food sat in my stomach for 3 to 4 days and the homesickness goes away immediately.

We are also sending friendly greetings to our friends in the United States.

Anton A. Soehn