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CHARLES N. FANNON was born on his parent’s farm two miles from Bernard, Missouri, attended Business College and secured a job with a bank at Red Oaks, Iowa. A few years after his father’s death, in the spring of 1911 his mother and sister Beuhla had come to Canada to join his sister Clara (see Walker) at Makaroff. Clara had recently obtained a teaching position and the women had come to help in the care of her son, Lewis. Charles arrived later that fall, in time for the harvest. He got a job for the sum of two dollars per day threshing for Griffith and Diamond using a portable steam outfit (the 15 H.P. engine was pulled by four horses and the 28-50 Case Separator was pulled by four horses).  Tony had no binder to cut his crop so he and Charles did the stooking for Albert Alder and Albert cut their crop in return. Later Charles and Tony went to work at Cockerill’s Mill where they were paid fifteen dollars a month including board. By spring they had sufficient lumber; the boards were hauled into Roblin and shipped to Makaroff by train. The basement was dug and the Walker’s new house was completed by the fall of 1912. Charles then took up a homestead in the Duck Mountains and that winter cut tamarack posts: he hauled them out to Lachance’s Store where Tony met him and exchanged sleighs. Charles later purchased a farm west of Togo from Joe Dickie and in 1915 married Ruth Mills (see Mills)who had come to Togo in 1911. In 1917, Beuhla Fannon married Frank Baker. Frank was one of the boys brought out to Canada by Dr. Barnardo; Walter Boyce and his family had taken him in and when they had moved to Makaroff he had come with them (see Boyce). Frank and Beuhla Baker farmed the land later known as the Lindsay place. They had two sons: Jim their eldest died during WW2 and Donald went with his parents when they moved to Missouri. In the meantime, Charles Fannon like many of the early farmers, worked out periodically to make ready cash, taking on any job to “make ends meet”. He drove a dray-team, ran Sinclair’s Steam Outfit, shingled an elevator in Togo - when it was fifteen below zero and the nails had to be heated - and went as far as Burgess, SK to help build a house for the Baulf Elevator Co. By then they had two children, so when Tony Walker and Clara built a house on their land near Makaroff, Charles and Ruth moved into their old house. In 1923, the Fannons moved to Colfax, SK where Charles worked for Bill Lennox who owned three sections of prairie land but had no available water. He learned to dig a “dug-out” in two weeks, with one horse on a plow and three on a Fresno Scraper.  Later still, they moved to Yellow Grass, SK to work for Joe Marshall, where he operated a Rumley Threshing Outfit and dug a cistern - which a cow fell into and nearly drowned.  In time, Carles and Ruth had enough ‘moving around’ and took up a homestead at Kelvington, SK; in all they raised a dozen children, six boys and six girls: Harrison started school at Makaroff, served in the army and became a plumber; Leona was killed in a car accident at Barrie, ON; Chester served in the Army, lived in Calgary; Gordon died of Spinal Meningitis; Emory, a navigator in the Airforce, lived in Edmonton, worked for Alberta Utilities; Charles, killed in Hochwald Forest, was buried in Holland; Mark served in the Medical Corps, lived in Burlington, ON; Rose married Jack Holmes, lived at Camp Borden; Ruth married and lived at Camp Borden, and three more daughters - one at Cold Lake, one at Winnipeg and the other near Saskatoon. Charles and Ruth Fannon, at 80 and 72 years of age respectively in 1971, sold their homestead and retired, moving their house from the farm into Porcupine Plains, Saskatchewan.

CHARLES TRUEMAN FILLMORE, born 1885 at Lower Sackville, NB was one of two sons of a miner, Edward Fillmore and his wife Mary, of Springhill, NS. After his father’s death, when Charles was just five years old, his mother obtained work with a family by the name of Tingley who moved west, first to Rapid City and later to the Brandon area of Manitoba. In 1899 she married a Brandon farmer, Thomas Foster, and two more children were born: Bedford and Vera. By this time Mary’s older sons, Walter and Charlie Fillmore were old enough to work out, coming home only for visits. Unfortunately, Thomas Foster died when his children were very young and again Mary was widowed and had to find work. In the meantime, her son Charles had rented and settled on a farm at Makaroff, bringing a carload of machinery and household items with him.  In 1911 Mary and the little ones came to visit and she obtained work as housekeeper for Mervyn Evans. They remained only a few years then went to Winnipeg where Mary died in 1924. Bedford Foster, when older, returned to Charles’ farm each year to help with the harvest; he played the saxophone and was well known in the Makaroff area. He later married a girl from B.C. and lived in Penticton. Verna Foster became a teacher and married Albert Barkley of Rossburn in 1924; he worked for the C.N.R. for forty-six years, first at Portage la Prairie and then at Rivers. They had three children: Albert (Clara Gardiner of Portage la Prairie), Beverley (Alex Montagon of Portage la Prairie) and Shelagh (Dennis Cabana, a service man of Montreal). Walter Fillmore died in Winnipeg while still a fairly young man. In the meantime, Charles T. Fillmore had met Mary Elizabeth Reid of Melita. After her mother died in 1907, her father decided to farm and in 1910 moved his family to Deepdale. Charles Fillmore and Mary Reid were married in the Makaroff United Church in 1911. They farmed in Makaroff, Deepdale and Bield districts before settling on their own farm at Grand Narrows; they raised eleven children: Mildred, Viola, Walter, Christina, Mabel, twins Joan and June, and Wilma. The children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School for which Charles drove a school van for many years. In 1947, when most of their older children had already left home, Charles moved his wife and remaining family to a farm at Shining Bank, SK. After Charles death in 1953, Mary went to keep house for her bachelor son Edward at his cattle farm at Peers, AB. Mary lived a long life and by her 91st birthday was living in Parkland Lodge at Edson, AB. Muriel married Neil Carroll, a C.N.R. brakeman in 1935; they lived in Winnipeg and had three children: Patricia (Jack Kolisynk); Kenneth (Dawn Pollen and later Bernice De Vito); and Donald. Viola married Leo Longbottom who was employed by the C.N.R., made their home in Winnipeg and retired to Burnaby, BC; they had two children: Sharon (Eddy Gluting) and David. Walter died in 1930 on his thirteenth birthday. Christina married Fred Wilcott at Roblin in 1938, farmed at Pine Falls (he worked at the mill) and had three children: Eva, Melvin and Valerie. Mabel served in the army and after the war married Howard Scott of Deloraine. Muriel married Norman Dixon in 1942 and farmed at Grand Narrows; they had three children: Maynard (Darlene Airriess of Togo) farmed near Togo and operated a Garage; Keith and Lyle (Lorraine Paradis) farmed together in the Grand Narrows and Silverwood districts. Helen married Harvey Armistead, a carpenter of Treherne in 1949 and had two children, Glen and Melis, and later, about 1957 moved to Edmonton. Joan in 1951 married Walter Paul a building inspector in Winnipeg; they had four children: Lorna (Robert Ridley of Herbert, SK), Calvin (Lori Barsi of Kennedy, SK), and twins Victor and Vinton. June married Vernon Nordvedt in 1961; he worked for the Forestry and had four children: Donna (Rickie Shank), Mary, Brian and Norman. Wilma, the youngest of Charles and Mary Fillmore’s family, remained single and worked for many years in Quebec and later in Edmonton.

ALLIE LARGE and his wife, both born on Prince Edward Island, were married in 1911 and came to Winnipeg (St. James) to make a new life together in the west. A carpenter by trade, one of Allie’s first contracts in Manitoba was to build the United Church Manse at Makaroff. Allie arrived with his young uncle later that year, the house was constructed and everyone was suitably impressed with their ability with tools: crude instruments such as a saw, a plane, and a hammer and sand paper. The Manse proved to be only the first of several buildings they constructed in the area. The community respected their ability and apparently Allie was equally impressed with it. In 1921 he moved his wife and family to Makaroff.  The family included their five children: Winnie, Marion, Arthur, Russell and Edythe and all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. In succeeding years, two more children, Helen and John were born and the small farm, formerly owned by C. R. Grundy was purchased. Hard years followed; the whole community struggled through the lean years that would later be referred to as ‘The Dirty Thirties’.  Everyone helped each other; bleached sugar and flour bags became their ‘unmentionables’, their aprons, dresses and shirts, their pillowcases, sheets and tea towels. The bodies was respectfully covered, and if old coats were torn apart, turned inside out and reassembled, no one cared. Everyone was ‘in the same boat’. Allie Large died in 1941 and his wife in 1969; both are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. Their daughter Winnie became a teacher, married Bob Switzer, had one son and made their home at Fort St. James, BC. Marion trained as a Registered Nurse, married Errol McVey, lived in Emerson, MB and had four children: Marilyn, Jeanette, George and Jim. Arthur, a Medical Doctor, had a large practice in Roblin for several years; he and his wife Betty had two daughters: Linda and Gwenda. Russell married in England and paid the supreme sacrifice in World War 2. Edythe, a nurse, married Ray McTavish and lived in Charleswood, MB with their three daughters. Helen, a teacher, married Morris McGregor, lived at Morris, MB and had four children. John went into the oil business, married, lived in Edmonton and had a daughter, Pattie, and a son, Douglas.

ALEXANDER LAIRD, better known as “Sandy”, immigrated to Canada in 1911with his brother Frank from Alloa, Sterlingshire, Scotland.  On April 1st of that year they came to homestead NW 29-26-29 at the top of the Boggy hill. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Laird and two younger brothers, Robert (Bob) and John (Jack), accompanied by Margaret (Maggie) McMillan of Linlithgow, arrived in Makaroff in 1913 and filed on homestead NW 28-26-29. Sandy and Maggie were married in November of that year and farmed on the homestead for many years until their retirement. Sandy died in 1967 and Maggie in 1981. Sandy’s brother Frank died in 1918, seven years after arriving in Canada. Their father, James Laird died in 1923 and their mother, Elizabeth, died in 1931. They are both resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. In 1956, Sandy and Maggie Laird sold their farm to Arthur Haberstock and moved into the village of Makaroff where they purchased the former home of Allie Large. It was here that Sandy died in November of 1967. Maggie remained in their home for about a year, then in failing health, sold the property to Sylvester and Elsie McGinnis. Maggie moved into the Roblin Residence for a few years and later made her home with Jack and Annie Pound.  She lived her final years at the Personal Care Home in Grandview where she died in 1981. Sandy’s younger brother Bob married Peggy Laird (see George Laird) in 1932. They farmed in the Makaroff district until about 1939 when they sold their farm to Harold Staub and moved to Winnipeg where for many years Bob was employed by Scott Fruits. They had one daughter, Helen who married Frank Deeley, a fireman, and had three sons: Bob, Jim and Chris. Jack Laird, completed his schooling at Makaroff, married and was employed in the maintenance department for heavy machinery at the Public Works Department of St. Charles, MB; they had six children: Frank, James, Steven, Elizabeth, Jacqueline and Kathy.

JOSHUA MILLS, his wife and five children came to Makaroff from Gas City, Indiana in the spring of 1911. Mrs. Mills and the children arrived by train, and while awaiting the arrival of Joshua and son Otto with their belongings, were taken in to the home of her cousin Mrs. George Sloan. Their possessions included two Singer Sewing machines which Joshua had picked up for the ‘reasonable’ price of $25 each; one for his wife and the other for ‘Auntie Sloan’. The Mills rented the farm east of Charles McGregor and the children were registered at the Northwood School with teacher Mrs. Tony Walker. Coming from a more advanced area of the USA, the Mills family found the Makaroff district roads quite primitive. There were no graded roads at the time just three tracks: one in the middle for the horse and one on either side for the wheels of the vehicle. Nevertheless, Mrs. Mills always referred to the road as the ‘King’s Highway’. Their home was a two-storey frame house, but to gain more space, Joshua added a ‘lean-to’. Constructed of pealed poplar poles with a packed earth floor, this addition proved the bane of his wife’s existence - to keep the dust down required constant sprinkling. The Mills had brought from the states what was referred to as a ‘mud boat’ for winter travel; a vehicle with two long wide runners that were each about ten inches in width. It was unique in this area and consequently the tracks were quite distinguishable in the snow. Everyone knew when the Mills had left home and where they had gone. Regardless, the family were impressed with the friendliness and neighbourliness of their neighbours and felt they resembled “one big happy family”. The Mills remained only a relatively short time but many years later, their children still had particularly fond memories of their stay in the district. Their daughters Martha and Mary wore little red bonnets to school and when they played ‘Hide and Seek’, others borrowed their distinctive headgear to confuse the ‘seeker’. And it wasn’t long before all of them were crawling with lice. Thus the Friday night ritual the girls remembered well: heads scrubbed and de-loused with a coal-oil rinse. Then there was the day they defied their mother’s warning, “Never cross the King’s Highway!”  Very young, they imagined the ‘King’ like a fairy that would pop out of nowhere at any time. Berry-picking one day, emboldened because the strawberries on the other side of the road were definitely much redder and more plentiful, they dared to sneak ‘just a few’. While one stood guard on their side of the fence, the other tiptoed across the ‘King’s Highway’, grabbed a few berries and stole quietly back in the same manner. They waited breathlessly, but when no ‘King’ appeared, the other sneaked across while the first kept guard. Their mother never knew until many years later that her precious daughters had one day in their youth, stolen the ‘King’s’ strawberries. The family purchased a farm two years later and moved west of Togo - where they soon discovered that the horses they had brought with them were mere ‘ponies’. It took real muscles and stamina to break land; consequently, one of their first purchases in Saskatchewan was a team of oxen. The children, by just crossing the line into Saskatchewan, were ‘set back a year’ at school - just as they had been after their arrival from Indiana. Their daughter Mary later claimed that she had had “three years of a grade three education”. There was a bonus involved, however, for eventually she won a prize for top marks in Spelling! The Mills had five children: John, Martha (H.R. Gunnes of Togo), Ruth (see Fannon), Mary (Russell Finch) and Otto. In July of 1969, fifty-six years after their departure from Makaroff (when daughter Mary and her husband Russell Finch celebrated their Golden Anniversary), all five of these siblings were still living.

JAMES C. ARNOTT, born 1889 in Kinrossshire, Scotland, came to Canada in March of 1911. His two uncles had come earlier to the Tunnel District and his brother, John, to the Makaroff District, where he had registered for homestead NW 30-26-29 at the fork of the Boggy and the Assiniboine. On his arrival, James homesteaded the adjoining NE 30-26-29 with a team of oxen he bought from John. They worked together for four years then James purchased his brother’s land in the spring of 1915 and John purchased the Crane homestead NW 2-27-29.  During the First World War, while James was away serving his country his land was rented to neighbours. After his return more land was added, and in 1929 he married Edith Deacon of Winnipeg who had come to teach at Makaroff.  The hard years of the ‘Dirty Thirties’ were survived and two sons, Glenn and John were born. It was a time of drought when cisterns, rain barrels and wells were often dry, and clothes were taken in a buggy down the hill to a slough to be washed. Water was heated over a bonfire and the washtub, washboard and boilers were kept busy. A ‘bath’ was a quick dip in the slough.  Neighbours long remembered the annual cranberry and saskatoon berry-picking excursions to the Arnott farm, where women and children tiredly climbed the hills after sunset with pails and sacks of berries to enjoy hot buttered scones and tea with Edith’s mother ‘Grandma Deacon’ before starting their weary way home. James was a keen curler and a member of the Makaroff Curling Club that was organized in 1927; he received Life Membership in 1969. He was also keenly interested in gardening, especially fruits and flowers. His exhibits took many red ribbons at the fairs in Roblin. The Arnotts were faithful members of the Makaroff United Church; James, an elder, served as Secretary-Treasurer for ten years, and Edith was a well-known and respected teacher. Arnott cattle and sheep grazed the Assiniboine hills for more than one hundred years. Eventually, because most of their farm was pasture on the hillside, more land was added for growing grain. Their home buildings, which are but three hundred yards from the Saskatchewan border, now overlook Lake of the Prairies - the lake more recently formed when the Assiniboine River was dammed and the valley flooded. James died in 1987 at 97 years, Edith passed away in 1990 at 88 years. Their sons both attended the Makaroff School: Glenn married Vaughan Person of Sunny Slope, made their home in Winnipeg where he worked for Draining and Metal Products and later retired to Guelph, ON. They had three of a family: Doug (Janet Laliberte), Murray and Diane.  John, the younger son, remained on the family farm and after his death in 1992, his wife Arlene remained and raised cattle with assistance from her brother Gerald Brook. John and Arlene had two daughters: Shellie, born 1968, became a financial officer, married Kevin Wasilka and made their home at Shoal Lake; Ellen, born 1970, majored in environmental studies and was employed in BC.

ARCHIE HOGG, born 1888 in Scotland, immigrated to Canada in 1912 and arrived with his wife Alice, two sons and two daughters to spend the summer with Mrs. Hogg’s brother, A. Allan who lived six miles south of Togo (just inside the Manitoba border). In September they purchased SE 18-27-29 from J. W. Mitchell of Togo and named their farm ‘Ninewell’s Mains’ after their home in Scotland. They enlarged the original two-storey house and log barn that was already on the farm and as long as they lived on the property, mail arrived addressed to ‘Ninewell’s Mains, Makaroff, Manitoba, Canada’.  Archie purchased two oxen and lent himself, his team and wagon out for the harvest. One day after the harvest they returned to the Allan farm and picked up Mrs. Hogg’s sewing machine that she had brought from Scotland (it had been left at her brother’s in the initial move to their farm). A tick had been filled with straw to cushion the bumps and she sat up proudly protecting her prized possession. But the night was very dark and it soon became evident they were lost. Stopping the team, Archie struck a match and to their horror discovered they were in the middle of a slough - the oxen had decided to return to the Allan’s. Hearing the commotion, her brother came out with a lantern and again directed them back to the proper trail. It was an experience Mrs. Hogg never forgot and she always spoke of the oxen as “the brutes”. As time passed more land was added and their two youngest completed their schooling at the Makaroff Consolidated School. When war broke out in 1914 their elder son, John, joined the 107th Battalion and while serving overseas met and married an English girl. Although they came to Canada for a few years, he and his wife eventually returned to England where he died in 1937. The younger son, Allan and his wife, remained on the family farm; his parents moved into the village of Makaroff in the mid 1950s where his mother died after a lengthy illness. Sometime later his father went to live in Saskatchewan; he married again and died at Nippawin in 1964. Mr. and Mrs. Archie Hogg; their daughter Agnes and her husband, Alexander; Allan and their baby daughter all rest in the Makaroff Cemetery. Their daughter Helen and her husband, Jim Laurie, farmed in the Coté Municipality west of Togo before moving to the Grand Narrows area where their four youngest children attended the Walker School (NE 1-29-29) that was a half-mile west of their farm. Their post office at that time was San Clara.  Later, the Lauries and their five children: Alice (aka Joan), Ina (aka Jean), Robert, Alexander, and James moved to a half section of land in the Silverwood area. In the early 1940s when Jim’s rheumatism worsened, they sold their stock and much of their belongings to move into Roblin where he worked for a time for William Ford, a bulk dealer and Helen took in boarders. Later they purchased a house, which she ran as a nursing home, the birthplace of many of those born in the late 1940s. This ended when Jim’s health deteriorated and he went to a nursing home at Dauphin where he died in 1956, at 69 years of age. After her husband’s death, Helen worked for two years at the Birtle Indian Residential School before returning to Roblin to become a Nurse’s Aid at the hospital. Helen Laurie was a faithful member of the Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary and was presented a Life Membership in 1983. After her retirement she resided at the Roblin Senior Citizen’s Home and in 1984, at 95 years of age, was a resident of the Roblin Personal Care Home. Jim and Helen Laurie’s daughter Joan married John Henry Dixon, eldest son of Thomas and Priscilla Dixon of Grand Narrows, and had nine children: Bernice, Adele, Telford, Linda, Garnet, Kerry, Gregory, Brent and Heather.  Jean married Glen Finch (killed in action WW2) and had five children: Constance, Marion, Melville, Glen and Sharon. Robert joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, was taken prisoner during the Dieppe Raid in 1942 and held until the summer of 1945. He married Anne Nespiak of Roblin in 1948, made their home in Winnipeg and had two sons Douglas and James. Alexander joined the Canadian Forestry Corps where he served in Scotland driving trucks hauling timber for the war effort and after his return, married Goldia Stelton and worked in several locations before retiring in Alberta.  James, after graduating from Goose Lake Collegiate, joined the Royal Canadian Airforce and towards the end of the war, transferred to the Royal British Navy.  After his return to Canada he married Edith Moore, lived for a time in Toronto before going to Detroit, Michigan.

SAMUEL HAMPSON, born September 24, 1874 at Preston, Lancashire, England, came to Canada in 1903. He returned to England in 1904, married Mary Ellen Sowerbutts at Preston, and after farming there for several years returned to Canada in 1912, settling in the Makaroff School District on a farm near Togo. Their sons Joe, Bill, John and Frank were all born in England; after their arrival in Togo, three daughters were born: Helena, Annie and Betty. All their children attended the Makaroff School. Samuel was a member of the Grain Growers and the Saskatchewan Pool; he also served as a trustee of the Makaroff Consolidated School. After his retirement he and his wife purchased the former Frank Baker (Lindsay) place where they resided until his passing in 1954; Mrs. Hampson died in 1963.  Their son Joe married Adele McInnes, daughter of Art and Florence McInnes (see McInnes) of Makaroff in 1929 when he was a grain buyer for the B. A. Elevator. In 1944 Joe and Adele operated a Hardware Store at The Pas, and a few years later built one at Cranberry Portage which they sold a year or so later. Joe and his brother, Frank, entered into a partnership with a third party and went into the hotel business at Alert Bay, BC; after selling this hotel they operated one at Yak, BC. Joe and Adele had three sons and two daughters: Sterling, Winston, Ted, Jule, Evolda and Ted. After Joe’s death, Adele married again and had another daughter, Lorna Jean. Bill married Mabel Craig of Togo, operated the Hampson & Sons Hardware in Togo for several years and later took over the Liquor Commission. They raised two children, Beverly and Wayne.  John married Margaret Harper, formerly of England and later Togo; they remained on the family farm, had three daughters and one son, and later purchased his brother Frank’s farm. Frank married Irene Gliesen (formerly Sorbo) of Roblin, farmed in the Togo district for many years and later moved to BC to go into business with his brother Joe before retiring to Burnaby; they raised one son, Rick (Sorbo). Helena married Lawrence Vipond of Togo and had two sons, Sammy and Jay. Sometime after Lawrence was accidentally killed, Helena married Dale Olson who had taken over his father’s business, Olson’s Garage; they had two daughters, Linda and Nelda. Annie married Cecil Craven, son of Bill and Lillie Craven (see Craven). Betty married Dick Geisbretch and resided in Winnipeg.

CHARLES TRAUB, born 1864 in the farming community of Schmellenhof in the Kingdom of Wurttemburg, immigrated to the USA in 1880. He obtained work on farms in the Elgin area of Illinois and was at Gilberts Station in 1887 when he married his first wife Rose Rupp; they had three children: Charles, Minnie and Rose. Sometime later, Charles moved a few miles north to farm at Huntley and married Anna Peterson-Bore, a widow with three children: Fred, George and Ethel. Over the years, several more children were born: Anna, Bert, Albert, Frances, Clarence, Violet and Tessie. While at Huntley, Charles’ one arm was severed above the wrist by a corn husker. In 1909 the lure of cheap land brought him to the west bank of the Assiniboine River (SW 34-26-30) and the west half of (27-34-30), ten miles southwest of Togo in the Calder district. After clearing some land and arranging for a house to be built, he returned to Huntley for the winter and the following March returned with his family. Only Charles Jr. and George (of the original six children) accompanied their parents and younger children. The others were already working or had married and remained in Illinois. The Traubs arrived with Holstein cattle, horses, oxen, pigs and chickens, machinery that included a big steam tractor, and household items. The younger children attended the Gartmore School and two more children were born: Lawrence (1910) and Mabel (1913). In 1913 Charles purchased the east half of 34-27-29 in the Makaroff district, renting the broken acreage to his neighbour Charles Pillen, while he and his older sons concentrated on breaking new acreage. In 1914 he purchased the west half of section 36 in the Coté Municipality from J. H. Abercombie. Selling the Calder land in 1918, he purchased twelve acres on the western edge of Togo giving his children better access to schooling (this house burned down several years later). His older sons, in the meantime, remained “batching” in a granary on the Makaroff farm, scrubbing and breaking new land. When a house was built in 1916 George and Harriet Harvey were hired to supervise operations; it was the Harveys who planted the rows of spruce trees that later became the farm landmark. The Traubs took over the farm in 1922 and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Violet, died the following year of complications after an appendectomy. Mrs. Traub died of pneumonia in 1932 and Charles of a perforated ulcer in 1937. Charles and Anna, their daughter Violet and son Charles are all resting in the Togo Cemetery. Charles and Anna’s eldest child, Anna, attended high school in Togo, Teachers’ College in Saskatoon, and taught in Kamsack, and later Stenen, SK where she married Sid Hollier. After farming there for a few years, they and their two sons, Maynard (1920) and Melvin (1924) moved to New Kensington, PA. Sid worked for Aluminum Company of America and in time four more children were born: Shirley (Charles Short), Muriel (John Motosicky), Sam (Phyllis Beatty), and Charlotte. Anna died in 1946 and Sid in 1968; they are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Lower Burrell, PA. Their son Maynard owned a garage business in PA, married Nora Schall and had five children: Andrea, Lawrence, Pamela, Cynthia and Kirk: he died in 1975 of a heart attack while bowling and is resting near his parents in the Greenwood Cemetery. Melvin became a federal agent in law enforcement and married Joyce Harnish; they had three children: Glenn, Kevin and Kerry Ann. In 1993, Melvin, his wife and daughter Kerry Ann met his cousin Lorene Traub-Lyle in Illinois where they researched the Traub family landmarks, visited several relatives in the Elgin area, then drove north into Canada. At Stenen they located the log home in which Maynard and Melvin were born and toured other Canadian landmarks where he met three of his aunts and several cousins. In July of the following year, Melvin died of a heart attack while golfing; he is resting in the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Mechanicsburg, PA. Frances, born in 1902, attended Gartmore School then worked in homes in the Togo area before going to Winnipeg where in 1929 she married a widower, Fred Paterson, a journeyman electrician with two children, Kathleen and Rod. They made their home on Young Street where eight children were born: Beatrice (1930) married Lowell Sones, had two daughters, Sharon and Alana, and after her divorce, married Jack Lane; Viola (1931) married Jim Sexsmith, had son Alan and daughter Debbie, divorced and married Ben Czech; Dorothy (1932) married Walter Lerch, had one adopted son, Kurt; Patricia (1934); James (1936) and his wife Jean had one son, Stanley; Diane (1939) married Keith Bowes and had three children: Susan, Robert and Leslie; Barry known as “Billy” (1943); Hugh (1947) and his wife Sharon had two daughters: Shelly and Cathy. In April of 2002 Frances Paterson lived with her daughter Patricia in Winnipeg and celebrated her 100th birthday. Tessie, born in 1908 was only a toddler when her family came to Canada; she attended schools at Gartmore and Togo and as a young woman worked in Winnipeg and Clanwilliam. In 1942 she married a Clanwilliam farmer, Arthur Averill, and had three sons. Reginald (1943), an electrician, lived with his family in Brandon. Harold (1945), an historian, was employed by the Ontario Archives in Toronto. Stewart (1946) was a geologist and made his home in Ottawa with his wife and two sons, Owen and William. Tessie and Arthur eventually retired from their farm and moved into Minnedosa. Mabel, born 1913 at the farm by the Assiniboine, attended school in Togo and went to work at Clanwilliam where in 1938 she married Jack Lane a local farmer. They had three children: Tessie (1941), Robert (1942) and Kenneth (1947). Mabel died of a brain tumor in 1961.

CHARLES TRAUB Jr., born 1887 in Illinois, came to Canada with the family in 1910 and registered for homestead NE 32-26-30 in the Calder District of Saskatchewan. In 1920 he rented the farm of George Ross just west of Togo and became engaged in road building and lumber contracting. Later, he purchased a farm from Robert McBride in the Makaroff District just north of that of his father and brothers. Charles never married but for years had a housekeeper, Mary Thorne whose daughter Shirley attended the Makaroff School. Charles died 1954 of Leukemia. George Bore-Traub, born in 1891 came to Canada and worked with his brothers until the Makaroff farm was established, then farmed in the Togo-Makaroff-Silverwood area for several years. In 1921 he married Virginia Wager and about 1928 moved to their farm at Choiceland, SK; they had eight children: Effie born 1922 (Townsend of Clearwater, BC); Olive 1923 (McAuley, Nippawin, SK); Marjorie 1925 (Worman, Dauphin, MB); Wilbert, 1927 (B. C.); Hubert 1929 (B. C.); Edward 1931 (Waverly, BC); Lawrence 1931 (Clearwater, BC) and Alvin 1935 (Littleford, BC). Virginia died in 1947 and four years later, George married Isabella Vickberg; they had one son, Harry born in 1952. George and Isabella retired to B. C. where George died in 1973.

BERT TRAUB, born 1899 at Huntley, Illinois came to the Calder farm with his family in 1910 but after his father purchased land in the Makaroff area in 1913, he and his brothers, George and Albert, spent most of their time on this property, living in a granary and breaking new land. At eighteen years of age, Bert claimed his own homestead SW 34-27-29 in the Boggy valley, two and one-half miles north of Makaroff. In 1926 he married Edith Harvey, daughter of George and Harriet Harvey and moved into the small house in a field across the road from his parents. Soon after the birth of their eldest son, Harvie in 1927, they moved to NW 28-27-29 on the Makaroff-Togo road where they lived for several years and where three more children were born: Lorene (1929) George (1932) and Alan (1934). Bert farmed and worked as foreman on road construction for the Shell River Municipality, served on the Makaroff School Board and the boards of the Pool Elevator and Makaroff United Church. Edith was active in the W. I. and Ladies Aid. They both were involved in the Curling Club and loved to dance. When Bert purchased SE 27-27-29 in 1935, Edith’s stepfather Alex Taylor camped in a caboose while building a house on the property. Situated at the top of the beautiful Boggy valley, from here one could watch over their own sheep and those of their neighbour, Andy Addis, while they grazed below and on the opposite hillside. Some may recall toboggan parties on these hills when families came to enjoy an evening with their neighbours and drink hot chocolate under the stars. They may also remember the shock of October 17, 1946 when Bert and Edith’s son Harvie was killed in an accident on that hillside while taking lunch down to his dad’s road gang working in the valley just north of the Traub farm. It was a traumatic experience for the family and their Collie dog, Ranger, after returning to the site each day to howl mournfully - simply disappeared several weeks later. That autumn, Bert purchased the Elder farm and moved the remaining family to NE 28-27-29. It was here that their daughter Eileen was born in December of 1947. Eight months later, August 9, 1948, Bert was killed on the hilly road north of Boggy Creek while he and Tom Beck were hauling lumber for the construction of the new Makaroff Curling Rink. (The Makaroff Curling Rink is now gone but a memorial plaque has been placed in Bert’s memory in the Makaroff Hall). Edith continued on the farm for a few years with the help of her sons but in 1954 rented the land to Ted Saunders and began working in the Roblin District Hospital. Her son George went to work on the building of the dam at Pine Falls and son Alan joined the R.C.A.F. and trained as a pilot with the NATO forces at London, ON and Moose Jaw, SK. Alan and his instructor were killed May 5, 1955 when their Harvard aircraft crashed sixteen miles south of Moose Jaw; Alan was given a military funeral from the Makaroff Hall and is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. In the meantime, driving back and forth daily to work in Roblin, Edith often on a dark wintry morning broke trail through the valley. In 1961, she and Eileen moved into Roblin and in 1963 purchased the home on the corner of Windsor and Hospital Street, across from the new Roblin Collegiate. She retired from her job at the hospital in 1968 and sold the farm. After her heart attack in 1984 her house was sold and Edith moved to Brandon. Bert and Edith’s daughter Lorene taught school in northern Manitoba for several years and in 1950 married Henry Lyle when he was on embarkation leave prior to serving in the Korean Conflict; after his return they made their home at Dryden, Ontario where their three children were born. They later moved to Calgary, before retiring to Abbotsford, BC where Hank died in 1986. He is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery with four generations of the Traub family. Hank and Lorene’s daughter Julie (1953) married Gordon Anderson of Wildwood, AB, lived at Langley, BC and had two children, Lisa and Curtis. Garry (1955) made a career in the military, married Carrie Schmidt of Red Deer, AB and had two children, Andrew and Elizabeth. Doug (1959) worked for Scholl’s Shoes in Toronto and Victoria, and later as an interior decorator with Colour Your World in Burnaby and Calgary. George married Bonnie Coutu in 1951 and moved to Dryden, ON where he worked at the pulp and paper mill. He later returned to work for his uncle, Lawrence Traub and lived in his mother’s house on the farm, their children attending the Makaroff Consolidated School. In 1975 the family moved to Calgary where George started Deer Ridge Construction and later moved the business to Winnipeg. He was accidentally killed in a fall from a ladder in 1985 while trimming branches off a tree to make way for a swing for his grandsons. He is resting beside his parents and brothers in the Makaroff Cemetery. George and Bonnie had seven children: Diana (1952) married Larry Hulbert of Weyburn, SK, spent several years in South Africa before returning to Canada to make their home in Ottawa; they had two children: Shawn and Kimberley. Joann (1953) married Peter Robinson, farmed at Tompkins, SK and had two children: Devonne and Jody. Sharlane (1955) married Ed Parisiene in Winnipeg and had three daughters and one son: Danette, Jennifer, Bernadette and Ernest. Sharlane later made her home in Weyburn. Barry (1957) married Lynn Berrard, took over his father’s construction company and later made their home at Teulon; they had two sons, Ryan and Cory and one daughter, Karly. Gail (1958) and her first husband, Wayne Schumaker had a daughter and a son: Chrissy and Jamie (who died accidentally at eight years of age); she and her second husband, John Wiest lived at Consort, AB and had a daughter and a son, Tania and Justin.  Lynn (1963) spent several years in the USA where she married Mark Torgeson; they had two daughters, Danette and Tamara and later moved to Weyburn, SK. Alan (1965) became a carpenter working for his father but later moved to Consort, AB and started his own business; he and his wife Crystal Kiesman had a son and a daughter, Geo and Chynna. Eileen attended United College and worked at summer camps in Northwestern Ontario during the summer. After being employed in the Library of the Dryden High School for one year she entered the retail florist business in Brandon in 1969. She was a floral designer at Fosters’ Floral Fashions on 10th Ave. for many years. She purchased the heritage house at the corner of 14th and Victoria that had originally been the top storey of the home of Brandon’s first mayor. In 1984 she made a home for her mother for several months after Edith was released from the Roblin Hospital. Her mother had survived the traumatic experience of loosing her husband and all three sons in accidents. After her heart attack and moving to Eileen’s in Brandon, Edith was able to live alone again; but several years later in failing health, she moved into Hillcrest Home. Edith Traub died in December 2000 at 93 years of age and, during a wild snowstorm, was laid to rest in the Makaroff Cemetery.

ALBERT TRAUB, born 1900 in Huntley, IL came to Canada with his family in 1910 and spent much of his time on the Makaroff property. In 1918 he claimed homestead NW 34-27-29, farmed until 1940 at which time he moved to Winnipeg where he was employed at Westman Steel until his retirement in 1965. But each summer for many years he returned to Makaroff on holiday at harvest time to work with his brother, Lawrence. He married Alice Nastrom-Harvey and rented out rooms in their large home on Spence St. Albert passed away in 1983 after a long fight with cancer; he rests in Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens in Winnipeg.

CLARENCE TRAUB, born 1905, was five years old when his family came to Canada. He attended school, first in Gartmore and then in Togo and later farmed in the Makaroff-Sunny Slope-Silverwood districts. He married Ena, daughter of Alex and Elizabeth Donaldson (see Donaldson) in 1931. After their farmhouse burned in 1941, they made their home on the Donaldson homestead, NE 2-28-29 until purchasing a house in Togo in 1952. Ena was an accomplished pianist and played for Christmas Concerts at schools in Sunny Slope and Silverwood as well as the Silverwood Church. Clarence spent several years logging and working in the construction business; he later was employed building roads for the Hillsburg Municipality until he retired in 1980 at seventy-five years of age; he died of cancer in 1984; Ena died at Quesnel, BC in 1999.  Clarence and Ena had seven children: Marcia (1932) married Harold Staub, lived in Prince George, BC and had two children: Patricia and Alan; Raymond (1933) married Eleanor Staub and lived in Edmonton. Vivian (1936) married Donald McMahon, made their home in Calgary and had two daughters, Ivy Rae and Dawn Marie. Clifford (1940) married Judy Wear and had three sons: Ben, Shean and Darren. Clinton (1944) married Gail Wilkie, made their home in Edmonton and had two daughters, Jennifer Rae and Kristen Ann. Wendy (1950) married Kelly Vipond,, made their home in Quesnell, BC and had a son and a daughter. Garry (1954) remained a bachelor in the year 2001.

LAWRENCE TRAUB, born 1910 in the new house overlooking the Assiniboine, attended school at Togo. As a young man he worked on the Makaroff home farm before going west; his dream was to save enough money to immigrate to Australia and go into cattle ranching. Instead, he returned home when his mother became ill, and after her death remained to help his ailing father in the summer - working in the mines at Sudbury in the winter. Lawrence never got to Australia but after his father’s death in 1937, he purchased the Makaroff home farm and started to build up a prize herd of purebred Hereford cattle. He became closely associated with Thorpe Herefords in the U.S.A. and for several years showed his cattle at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon. In the following years, on an average, one-hundred-and-thirty purebred Herefords would bear the ELT brand in any one year. In the late 1940s Lawrence joined the Togo Masonic Lodge; he was a member of the Pioneer and Pool Elevators and an active member of the Makaroff Curling Club. He also loved to golf, occasionally going to play with his friends at a course at Clear Lake. He served as Ward 4 councilor of the Shell River Municipality for several years. In 1958 he purchased the Donaldson farm NE 2-28-29, and in 1965 the Sangster farm SE 2-28-29, and for twenty-four years rented the farm of Jack Rule. He was very exacting and thorough in his farming activities and extended service to the neighbours in winter by keeping the roads snowplowed. Often this involved constant work with tractor and snowplow, not only in keeping roads open but raising ridges in open fields to act as buffers to the wind. Unfortunately, Lawrence developed Parkinson’s disease and as his health failed he was forced to sell more and more of his cattle until 1967 he rented his land to his friend and neighbour, Lloyd Elder. He married Kaye Lalonde in 1972. She had come to the farm with her two children, Bill and Carol in 1952; her children had attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and Kay was active in the United Church Women and the Roblin Auxiliary. In 1974 they sold the farm to Lloyd’s son, Bruce Elder, and moved into the new house they had built in the Parkland area of Calgary, AB. For several years, however, they returned in the summer to Makaroff and “borrowed back” the house on the farm - until Lawrence’s health deteriorated and he was unable to travel. He suffered a stroke and died at his Calgary home in 1983; he is resting in the Rockeyview Garden of Peace, on the eastern outskirts of the city, immediately south of the Trans-Canada Highway. In 2001, Kaye still remained in their Calgary home.

WESLEY PAYNE married Mary Law 1900 in Ontario. In 1904, they and their small son, Walter, came to farm at McCauley, MB where their second son, William was born in 1905. In 1912 they came to Roblin and rented a farm for a year while they looked for property of their own. In 1913 he registered for homestead NW 23-27-29 and moved to the Makaroff district. Building a frame house and a large log barn, and breaking only enough land to grow oats for feed, they went into raising cattle. Twenty to twenty-five cows were milked, and every second day, an eight-gallon can of cream was taken by horse and buggy to the Makaroff  rail station to be shipped to the creamery at Roblin. At that time, there were few fences and cattle roamed mostly at will. Consequently, to prove ownership all cattle were branded. Their daughter, Ruby Donalda, was born on the homestead and the boys attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. In 1918, the Paynes rented their land to Bill Pound and moved to the Harry Robertson farm where daughter, Ordella was born a year later. In the fall of 1919 the Paynes gave up farming to move to Roblin where Wesley operated a dray business for over twenty years. He sold the business in 1939, first moving to a farm north of town until his retirement in 1943, then into Grandview to manage the Rest Room. After his wife’s death in 1952, Wesley lived with his daughters until his death in 1962; he and his wife are resting in the Roblin Cemetery. Their son Walter married Amelia Ingleton and had six daughters: Elva (Wilfred Ward), Irene, Eileen, Audrey (Fred Taylor), June (John Peel) and Mary (Art Strubel). William married Janet Baskerville of McCauley and remained on the farm northwest of Roblin; they had two children: Ernie and Yvonne (Alan McKenzie). Donalda, an R.N., married Robert Kilmister of Grandview and had three sons: Barrie, George and Lawrence. Ordella, a telephone operator in Roblin for several years, married Alex. Henderson.  They built a new house in 1962, and when they retired to B.C., they sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Beattie of Makaroff.

JIM LAW, his wife and daughter Ruby, came from Ontario in 1903 to farm in the McCauley district of Manitoba. Ruby married James Baskerville at McCauley in 1908 and had one son, Burton. In 1913 the Laws came to the Makaroff district to homestead NE 23-27-29; they built a frame house, a bank barn, and settled in to raise cattle. Their daughter Mary and her husband Wesley Payne (see above) came to Makaroff the same year to homestead NW 23-27-29. The two families lived on neighbouring farms but only remained a short time. The Laws moved into Roblin in 1916 where they bought a boarding house. It was here that their daughter Ruby died of the Spanish Influenza in 1919; she is resting in the Roblin Cemetery. Mrs. Law died of cancer in 1921 and Mr. Law, while living with relatives in the area, died in 1936; they are both interred in the Roblin Cemetery.

FRED W. CURLE came with his family from the Minnedosa area to Roblin in 1904. His father, John Hayes Curle registered for homestead NE 10-26-28; John Leonard Curle registered SW 27-26-28; Frank James Curle registered SW 13-26-28. Frank married May Rogers (see Rogers) of Makaroff. Fred W. Curle registered for a homestead at Makaroff: NW 29-27-29 in 1912, and later for SW 29-27-29. He broke land with a steam engine and a four-furrowed plow and in 1913 married Pearl Waggoner of Togo. The Curles helped considerably in community affairs and had three daughters: Fredella (1920-1922), Sarah (1925-1838), and Wreatha. Daughters Fredella and Sarah are resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. Fred served on the municipal council and Pearl, a member of the W.I and the Ladies’ Aid, also worked with the C.G.I.T. group; many enjoyable evenings were spent at their home after a hike or a toboggan ride. For several years Fred and his neighbour, Albert Boyce, pastured their cattle in the Duck Mountains near Madge Lake. When times were tough Fred augmented their income by trapping beaver and muskrats and had wolfhounds he used to trail coyotes. He loved to tame wild animals and he had his horse sufficiently trained that when he rode her into Makaroff, she would return to the farm by her self. One spring Fred found seven wee coyotes abandoned in a den and brought them home to feed by bottle (five survived and became tame enough to pet). Fred and Pearl sold their farm in 1945 and retired to Victoria, BC where Fred died in 1954. Ten years later, Pearl returned to Manitoba to live with her daughter in Winnipeg, where she died in 1972. Wreatha attended the Makaroff Consolidated School, took her grade XII in Togo and obtained her teaching Certificate at the Normal School in Winnipeg. In 1938 she married Ronnie Allen (see Allen), one of the Fred Allen family who had resided in the valley of Boggy Creek.  Wreatha and Ronnie operated a store in Winnipeg and had two sons, Brian (1940) and Mark (1945). When the boys were both old enough to attend school, Wreatha returned to her profession and taught in the St. Vital School District for nineteen years. Their son, Mark, went into the real estate business; he and his wife Cookie had two daughters, Debbie and Rhonda. Brian operated the hotel in Sperling, MB and had one son. After Ronnie’s sudden death in 1975, Wreatha remained in Winnipeg.

WILLIAM ANDREW ADDIS, better known as “Andy”, was born in Herefordshire, England in1887. He immigrated to Canada as a young man and came to the Roblin area in 1905 to work on the farm of George Evans. He came to the Makaroff district one and one-half years later to work for Charles Pillen, but left in 1908 to claim his own homestead, SW 22-27-28 in the Merridale district. He farmed with a team of oxen and for a couple summers went breaking land for neighbours. In 1916, Andy married Mabel, daughter of Robert and Agnes Henderson of Sunny Slope, and returned to the Makaroff district where they farmed SW 26-27-29 until their retirement in 1974. Andy was proudest of his horses but also owned sheep, cattle, a pig or two and a few chickens. Mabel grew a large garden and often sold her homemade bread and butter to neighbours. They had two sons, George and Ken, and loved to play cards and go to local dances. In 1966, Andy returned to England to visit relatives and in 1974, they left the farm to live in a house in Roblin. Two years later, after moving into the Roblin Residences, Andy suffered a stroke. He spent time in the Brandon Rehabilitation Centre before returning to the Personal Care Home in Roblin where he died in 1978. Mabel died the following year after a lengthy illness. Ken, younger son of Andy and Mabel, married Jean Duns of Togo, worked for the Department of Highways and made their home in Roblin; they had two sons, Leonard (Lisa Carriere) and Leslie.

GEORGE ADDIS took over his parent’s Makaroff farm when they retired; he married Evelyn Belcher of Bield and had five children: Elizabeth married George Wilgenbusch and made their home near Roblin where he managed the G&G Slashing Co.; they had three children: Tracy, David and Jillian. Cheryl married Tim Stephanow who operated the T&C Trenching & Excavating Co. in the Merridale district; they had three sons: Trevor, Cody and Tyler. Andrew, a mechanic, married Tracy Harris, an X-ray Technician of Grandview; they farmed at Makaroff and had two sons: Devin and Trent. Donald married Angela Musey of Gilbert Plains, farmed at Makaroff and was employed by D. Laliberte Logging. Valerie married Elmer Hollinger of Yorkton where both were employed at Harvest Meats

GEORGE EDWARD HARVEY, born 1866 in Cornwall, England, was the son of a seaman who frequently sailed to the Channel Islands. As a young man, George went to the island of Guernsey where he was employed as head gardener for Lord Hamilton who owned a large dairy farm at St. Sampson. Meanwhile, Harriet Stevenson, born 1879 in Orkney, Scotland, had come to Guernsey with her employers who owned and operated a greenhouse business across the road from the dairy. George and Harriet were married in 1905 and made their home at ‘Eastbank’ (a small acreage rented from Emily and Alfred Lepoidevin) where their three children, George, Edith and Archie were born. In the meantime, Harriet’s brother, Robert Stevenson had emigrated from Orkney to work on a farm near Russell, MB. At his brother-in-law’s encouragement, George Harvey came to Canada in 1910. He obtained work with the Doigs at Binscarth, MB and his family followed a few months later. They moved shortly after to the Atwood farm north of Russell and later to the Jay Watson farm at Calder, SK. Their children attended the Gartmore School with those of their neighbours, the Charles Traub family. In 1916, when Jay Watson married and the new house had been built on the Traub property at Makaroff, George and Harriet Harvey were employed to oversee the farm. It was George, with his background of gardening, who planted the rows of stately spruce that remain a landmark. Their daughter, Edith, never forgot carrying pails of water to the seedlings. The Harvey’s third son, Albert, born in 1918 died of Scarlet Fever just short of his second birthday; he is interred in the Makaroff Cemetery. Edith also recalled the time her family was quarantined, looking longingly out the windows to the gate with the colourful banner, and watching for neighbours who were so kind as to bring them necessary groceries. They’d ring the bell, leave the items at the gate and disappear, quickly. She recalled the terribly long days of suffering, scratching and burning - and watching helplessly as her sweet baby brother died of the fever. The Harvey children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and when in 1922 the Traubs sold their Calder property and came to take over their Makaroff farm, the Harveys moved into Makaroff. Here they worked for a short time for Mervyn Evans and when the A. B. Johnson Hardware store (the Pete Beck property) became available, took it over and ran it as a rooming house. Some of their boarders were Jack Radford the station agent, Irene Clark a teacher, and Wincie Thompson a student.  The Harveys then took over the School Cottage and among those teachers, were Edith Deacon (Arnott) and Jean Blackburn. Later, they purchased from the Sloans the little house in the east end of the village. They were living here when on the evening of Election Day, November 18, 1930, George Harvey died suddenly of a heart attack in Joe Grundy’s store (after returning from driving the school van). Harriet, at the time was acting as mid-wife for Mrs. Charles Rogers. George and Harriet Harvey’s son George went to Ashern, MB, married the schoolteacher, Eileen Diamond in 1931, and later made their home in Winnipeg. George was employed by Carter Motors for many years until his death from cancer in 1957; they had two sons: Lorne and Garth. In 1952 Lorne married Annetta Howlett; they had four daughters: Shannon, a chartered accountant, married Douglas Hunt and had one son, Christopher; Colleen, a banker, married Alan White, a teacher and had a daughter, Tia and a son, David; Sandra became a lawyer, married Ken Chapman and had one son, Andrew; Dana remained single. Archie married Alice Nastrom of Roblin and worked in the Makaroff area for a short time and then in the mines at Sudbury; they had one son Derek. (Archie and Alice were divorced and Alice later married Albert Traub.) Archie later went out to Vancouver Island, worked at the Moose Lodge in Duncan and died in 1990. George and Harriets’s daughter, Edith, worked for the Kerswells and the Pounds and later at the Trickett’s in Deepdale until her marriage in 1926 (see Bert Traub). After George Harvey’s death, Harriet went to Deepdale as housekeeper for Henry Bodtcher and in 1934 married Alex Taylor. Ten years later, after selling his farm, Harriet and Alex moved to her house in Makaroff. Alex, a carpenter, built several homes in the area: Bert Traub home on the Payne farm; D’Arcy Johnson (Giles) house in Cromarty; Ed Charbonneau home in Sunny Slope; Fred Austin and George Holliday homes near Togo and the aluminum machine shed of Lawrence Traub (Bruce Elder). Alex, born 1872, had come from Palmerston, Ontario to Manitoba in 1907; by a previous marriage he had four children: Dorothea (Charles McKenzie) of Deepdale, Vernon and Fred (Irene Collis) of Westbank, BC and stepdaughter, Violet (Len Curle). Alex died in 1961 and Harriet, in failing health spent the winter at the home of her daughter, Edith Traub in Roblin. In March of 1962, shortly after her eighty-third birthday, Harriet died of cancer in the Roblin Hospital; she is resting between her two husbands in the Makaroff Cemetery. One cannot leave the Harvey story without again mentioning Emily Lepoidevin and her family. Harriet and Emily were of the same age and had become very close friends in Guernsey.  Shortly after Emily’s husband died, she and her son Bill and daughters Mable, Evelyn and Maude also immigrated to Canada. They came first to the Harvey family (at the Traub farm) and then to the School Cottage in Makaroff where Emily boarded teachers. She became ‘Aunt Emily’ to the Harvey children and later to Edith and Bert Traub’s family. The Lepoidevin children completed their schooling in Makaroff. In 1922 when the Makaroff Women’s Institute was organized, Emily Lepoidevin became its first president. She married Bill McDonald and after his death a few years later, married Dan Martel of Inglis. They lived on his farm in the valley, and after his death she resided in a little house in Inglis where she lived until her death some years later.

WILLIAM EDWARD HOWE, better known as “Ed”, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Howe who had claimed a homestead northeast of Roblin in 1908 and later operated a shoe-repair shop in the village of Roblin. Some will remember Ed’s sister Ethel who married S. T. Argent; she and their two daughters died tragically in the early morning fire in Deepdale that burned the store and Post Office in which they lived. In 1916 Ed married Allie Collings (see Collings) on the Collings homestead SW 32-27-29 at Makaroff. They lived for a short time near her parents in a small frame house in which their only child Margaret was born: delivered in 1918 by Dr. Leach of Togo who was assisted by Mrs. Fannon, Tony Walker’s mother. The Howes moved to Victoria, BC for a short time but returned to Makaroff where they contracted Charles and Allie Large to built a new store in about 1922. The Howes owned and operated this business, known as the Red and White Store, for several years. Allie became a member of the Ladies’ Aid, the W.I., and worked with the C.G.I.T. Later, they rented the store briefly to Mr. Scrieber and moved to Winnipeg. In 1937 they sold the store to Ernest Lee and moved to Port Colburne, ON.

CHARLES BEERMAN, his wife Mary and family came to the Makaroff district from Winnipeg in 1917 and purchased SE 34-26-29. They experienced the hard work and drought of the 1920s and the ‘dirty thirties’; it was a time of little money and Mary coped and made do with what was available. She made her own yeast, roasted barley for ‘coffee’ and ground wheat for breakfast cereal. They took wheat to the Roblin Flour Mill and made their own flour. They butchered an animal if and when they could and made their own butter and cheese. Charles farmed with horse-drawn machinery and traveled by horse and buggy, wagon or sleigh, depending on the season. Eventually, they purchased their first car, a Model T Ford and an ear-type radio and by the 1940s things had improved. Charles and Mary retired from farming in 1944 and moved to Dauphin where she died in 1954 and her husband, two years later. The Beermans had three children, two sons and one daughter. Bessie married George Charman of Deepdale; their daughter, Kathleen took her schooling at Deepdale and Roblin, became a registered nurse, worked at the Roblin Hospital, married William Case and had two children, Sheryl and Jeffery. Jack married Ann Linton of Deepdale, took over his parent’s farm and in 1973 retired to Roblin; they had two daughters and two sons: Lenore married Glenn Matcyk a mechanic, made their home in Grand Prairie, AB and had two children, Lisa and Tanya; Brenda became a stenographer and worked in civil service in Winnipeg; John, a mechanic, married Mary Bolezuik, made their home in Roblin and had two sons, Brent and Ryan; Brian went to Calgary where he worked in the oil-drilling business. Philip served in the R.C.A.F. during WW2, married Bernice Ward of Deepdale and had two children, Joan and Douglas; Philip passed away in 1961and rests in the Dauphin Cemetery near his parents.

JOHAN GOTTFRIED HILDERMAN, known as “Fred”, was born 1881in Holstein, Russia, and immigrated to Canada as a young man. In 1903 at Winnipeg, he met and married Augusta Wirth who had been born 1886 in Ugartsthal Stry. Austria. Fred and Augusta ventured first to Runnymede, SK, back to Winnipeg, then to Greenwood, B.C. before moving to a farm at Culbertson, Montana. In 1919 the family returned to Togo and finally to the Makaroff district in 1920. Fred, a carpenter and blacksmith by trade, built a new house in the village, the one probably better known as that of Walter Rogers, across from the Makaroff Hall. Two years later they rented  NE 9-27-29 from J. R. Spear and moved out to the farm. Mrs. Hilderman was an accomplished seamstress: with measurements and one fitting she could produce a beautifully made garment from just looking at a picture. There were nine children: Mary, Fred, Laura, Dave, Ted, Annie, Emma, Elsie and Otto (the only child born at Makaroff). The two eldest and the three youngest were born in Canada, the others were born when the family was in the USA. After his wife’s death in 1935, Mr. Hilderman returned to the USA and made his home in Florida where he died in 1948.  Mary (1905) their eldest child was born in Runnymede and died in 1923 at Makaroff; she is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery beside her mother. Eleanora, known as “Laura” (1912) was born in Culbertson, Montana married Henry Pheifer, farmed at Kamsack and had three children: Adeline, Leonard and Beatrice. She died 1985 and is buried at Yorkton, SK. David (1913-1949) died at Los Angeles. Annie (1916-1985) and her husband, Philip Busch, lived in Winnipeg and had six children: Phyllis, Marlene, Delbert, Lawrence, Dennis and Robert. Ted (1917-1971) served in the US armed forces during WW2, worked for Allis Chalmers Co. and died in Milwaukie. Emma (1918) married Alan Patterson, lived at Morden and had three children: Carol, Blaine and Patsy. Elsie (1918-1986) born in Runnymede, married Ray La Folds but had no children, they lived in San Francisco and later at Mt. Vernon, WA where she died.

GEORGE FRED HILDERMAN, known as “Fred”, was born 1907 in Winnipeg and was twelve years of age when his parents came to Makaroff.  In 1930 young Fred rented SE 3-27-29, which he later purchased; Ben Spear had previously farmed the land. In 1931 Fred married Mary Holstein, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Holstein of Runnymede, SK. In 1935, subsequent to the death of Fred’s mother and his father’s move to the USA, Mary’s parents took over the J. R. Spear farm NE 9-27-29 for three years, at which time their youngest child attended the Makaroff Consolidated School; in 1938 the Holstein family moved to the Tummel district. In the meantime, Fred and Mary Hilderman survived the “dirty thirties”. A time when a bushel of wheat in 1933 sold for 25 cents a bushel plus a 5-cent bonus from Prime Minister Bennett. A time which meant ironing with a sad iron and every time you changed the iron for a hotter one, you had to add a stick of wood to the fire - even during the mid-summer heat waves. When the Hydro finally arrived in the area the Hildermans were only too happy to sign up for service. Fred did his own construction and blacksmith work on the farm, consequently electricity made a remarkable difference in their lives; their work became so much easier and faster using electrical tools. Mary replaced the ‘sad’ iron with an electric iron, and even toasters and a washing machine came in time. Later, water could even be pumped up for the livestock! With the advent of WW2 and modern equipment there was an increase in farm production and things in general began to improve. Fred and Mary had three children: Lloyd, Laurine and Gloria; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. Fred, for three years, served on the Makaroff School Board. He also served a term on the elevator board and drove a school bus for a time. When the curling rink was being built, Fred helped the men in construction while Mary helped the women who fed the men. She became a member of the W.I. but was disappointed when after six years she had to withdraw because of her health. Fred died in 1968; he is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. Mary retired from the farm a year later and moved to Dauphin. Their son, Lloyd, a welder, married Erna Isaaks of Vancouver, had two children: Scott and Kelly and retired to Chilliwack, BC. Laurine married Merv Gunness of Togo, lived in Fort Saskatchewan, AB and had two daughters: Glenda and Marla. Gloria married Tony Yaworsky of Roblin, an engineer with MTS and lived in Dauphin where Tony served as a councilor for sixteen years. They had three children: Natalie, Gregory and David.

 OTTO HILDERMAN, Fred’s youngest brother, took over NE 9-27-29 when the Holstein family left in 1938. Otto, unlike his siblings, was born, raised and educated at Makaroff. As a young man, he worked on local farms, including that of the Kerswell’s and the Button’s as well as farms at Brandon and Binscarth and points west. He returned in 1938 to rent the J.R. Spear farm and sometime later purchased SW 12-27-29. In 1951 he married Evelyn Charters of San Clara; they had three children: George, Keith and Karen. Their sons received their education in Makaroff until 1967 at which time the school entered the Intermountain School Division and all children were bused into Roblin.

ARTHUR E. McINNIS, born 1879 at Parkhill, Ontario, came west on a harvest excursion at fourteen years of age to work in the fields of North Dakota and Manitoba. After the harvest he stayed to work at carpentry, a trade he had learned from his brothers. In 1910 he met Florence Kerswell (see Kerswell) in Winnipeg; they were married at Makaroff in 1911 but made their home in Winnipeg until 1918 at which time they came with their young family, Adele, Lorna and Edwin (“Ted”) to farm on 4-27-29 at Makaroff. In the succeeding years three more children were born: Eleanor (accidentally drowned when she was sixteen months), Ray and Jack. Arthur and Florence were active members of the Makaroff community; they were members of the church, school, curling club and ball teams and Florence was a member of the W.I. There were many family trips to fairs and chautauquas at Roblin, fishing at Boggy Creek, cranberry picking in the Assiniboine Valley, and holidays at Madge Lake. There were also the dances, box socials and masquerades in the Makaroff Hall and barn dances in the valley, as well as ball games in Togo, Deepdale, Silverwood and Roblin. Their pasture was used as a ball diamond and Florence never knew how many would sit at her table after a game. Then there were the winter sports: curling, toboggan slides, skating on the ponds and the outdoor rink. And of course there was education; their children attended the Makaroff School. In the summer the ride was rough and in the winter dangerous - the van would sometimes upset in the snowbanks on slippery, ungraded roads. In 1937 the family moved to Flin Flon where Arthur continued in the building trade and Florence continued to be active in the church and curling clubs. She also became a member of the Legion Auxiliary. Arthur passed away in 1967 and rests at the Hillside Cemetery in Flin Flon. After his death Florence continued her love of curling, attended many Silver Brooms across Canada and in 1985 celebrated her 95th birthday. Arthur and Florence’s daughter Adele married Joe Hampson (see Hampson) of Togo and had five children: Stirling, Winston, Jule, Evolda and Ted; sometime after Joe’s death Adele married Chester Mordena and another daughter, Lorna, was born. Lorna nursed for many years at Flin Flon, married Ernie Young and had a son, Grant, and a daughter, Claire. Edwin, known as “Ted”, was an electrician, served in the Navy during WW2, married Melba Buxton and had five children: Lorne, Dale, Dianna (Pearce), Garry and Susan (O’Connor). Ray served in the Air Force and married Ada Smith; they had one son, Rodney. Jack worked for Manitoba Hydro at the Dorsey plant, married Margaret Fisher and had five children: daughters Jacquie (Sivertson), Mona, Cindy, Susanne and one son, Sandy.