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WILLIAM JAMES McMURRAY was born on the family farm in Rawdon Township, Hastings County of Ontario (near Belleville) in 1881; his wife, the former Ella Maria Eggelton, was born in Sidney Township, Hastings County in 1890. “Will” worked in lumber camps during the summer and attended school in winter. He came west to Killarney, MB in 1903 to work for a family who raised and showed purebred horses and cattle. Ella’s family had moved to that district previously and she had obtained work as housekeeper for one of the local families. In 1908, Will and Ella were married in Killarney and after farming in that district for six years, came first to Togo and finally to the Makaroff district in 1918. After several moves they finally settled on NE 28-28-29. Their six children: Percy, Arnold, Donald, Marjorie, Mabel and Harvey attended the Makaroff Consolidated School to which their father, for many years, drove a school van.  The vans in those days were horse drawn vehicles in which a stove was provided for warmth in winter. It was a long ride and not unusual for the younger children to fall asleep before reaching home. Ella became an active member of the Grand Narrows United Farm Women and after she and Will retired to Roblin in 1951, worked as a nurses’ aid at the Roblin District Hospital. In 1960 about ten years after Ella’s death, Will moved into the Personal Care Home. Until the day he died he had an incredible memory and would fascinate people, young and old alike, with stories of ‘the early days’. He had lived through a period that had advanced from the Red River Cart and homemade lye soap to that of watching a man walk on the moon. He died at 103 years of age in 1984 and is resting beside his wife in the Roblin Cemetery.  Their son Percy married and lived in the Makaroff district for a time; he and his first wife had four children: Allen, Dennis, Gail and Glenna. Allen married and had three children (one died in an accident in Snow Lake) and later made their home in B.C.; Dennis is believed to have remained a bachelor; Gail became a missionary and worked in the north; Glenna married and had one child. Percy later spent most of his life at Flin Flon and Snow Lake where he and his second wife had three children. Arnold lived in Killarney and Elgin, MB, married and had a family of five. Donald, after serving in the armed forces, married a girl from the States, moved to Wichita, KS and had a family of two. Marjorie married Lorne Kempthorne of Boissevain, raised two sons, two daughters and one stepson. Mabel married George Peters, made her home at Fort Saskatchewan and had one son and one daughter.

HARVEY McMURRAY, Will and Ella’s youngest son, attended school in Makaroff and lived all his life in the district. He drove a school van at one time and was a member of the Makaroff School Board. In 1948 Harvey married Bette, the widow of H. T. Burrell who was killed in action 1943 in Italy. After the war Bette and her two daughters, Grace and Frances, and her sister Mary (Ben Radford) immigrated to Canada.  A year later, in 1947 Bette and Harvey were married. They had two children, Margaret and Bill. All four of their children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and were active in 4H garden clubs, which were under the leadership of Mrs. Van Dretch and later, Mrs. Dick Smith. Grace became a teacher, married Nelson Skomorowski and had two children, Angilene and Thomas; Frances took nurse’s training and was employed at the Winnipeg General Hospital; Margaret, a physiotherapist, lived at St. John’s, Newfoundland and Bill, a Heavy Duty Mechanic, worked at the Ratten mines near Leaf Rapids.

FRED ALLEN and his family moved from Killarney, MB sometime before 1920 and established a farmyard at the bottom of the hill where the original Brook’s ranch was located (along the Boggy Hill road to Togo). The water from a spring was piped through the house providing a natural water supply. What an envious feature when many neighbouring farmers lacked drinking water on their properties. For the ten-year period from 1925, a herd of Hereford cattle owned by then Premier Bracken grazed on the property and were cared for by the Allens. This was a golden opportunity for farmers in the area to obtain quality breeding of their stock. Later, after the Manitoba Farm Loans employed Fred at their Roblin office, his sons Billy and Ronnie took over the care of the cattle. One of their hired hands was Les Henderson. When the branch office in Roblin closed and Fred was moved to the Winnipeg office, the family relocated. Premier Bracken’s cattle were then taken to a farm just north of Winnipeg. Billy married Madeline Spear, daughter of one of Makaroff’s early pioneers, and moved to The Pas. Their daughter Connie trained as a Registered Nurse and worked in the Roblin Hospital for many years. In 1959 she married Calvin Keast, son of Alfred and Mary Keast who had come to Roblin from Calder, SK in 1930 and purchased the Cross Garage on Main Street. Connie and Calvin had a family of five: Barbara, Cameron, Tannis, Kelly and Tracey. Ronnie married Wreatha Curle (see Fred Curle) and moved to Winnipeg.

WESLEY SCOVILLE had come from the USA, first to the Poplar Point area of Manitoba and then to Kamsack, SK before arriving at Makaroff with his wife and family in 1918. They settled on the Jack Irvine farm one mile east of Togo, just one-half mile inside the Manitoba border.  They had four children: Harold and Irene attended the Makaroff School for a year;  then in the years 1928 to 1931, the younger children, Raymond and Lyle attended. But, because it was closer, all of the children at some time or other went to the school at Togo. In 1944, because of failing health, Wesley and his wife left the farm to retire into the village of Togo where he died in 1949. Mrs. Scoville celebrated her 88th birthday in 1970.

ARTHUR E. SCOVILLE and his wife, Mabel, were married in 1909. They and their four sons Vernon, Willard, Raymond and Merrill arrived from the USA in 1920 to rent the Curtis farm at Makaroff. Shortly after their arrival they had the misfortune of losing their son Merrill; he is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery. The family only remained on the farm for five years but during this time had two more children, Melba and Clifford. In 1925 they returned to the States, making their home at Palouse, WA where another daughter, Marilyn was born. All their children were married and living near their parents at the time of Arthur’s death in 1971. Mabel’s sister Ada, came to live with her sometime later and they shared their senior years together.

FRANCIS A. SCOVILLE, known as “Frank”, was born at Abercrombie, ND in 1882; his wife Amanda was born 1886 in Sweden. They married at Toppen, ND in 1910, claimed a homestead in the northern part of the state and in 1912 sold the land and immigrated up into Canada. They farmed first at Poplar Point, SK then at Togo before coming to Makaroff in 1920 to farm SE 20-27-29. Their two children, Chester and Lucille, remembered a huge threshing machine that was stored in a large shed on the property. The owner, Fred Acre would come from near Winnipeg each summer to repair the ‘monster’ in preparation for custom threshing in the fall.  The children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and their mother was a member of the Ladies’ Aid (United Church Women) for many years. Frank and Amanda celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in May of 1960 and Frank passed away in June of the following year. After his death, Amanda retired to Togo. Their daughter, Lucille, married Charles Stone in 1944; they had three children: Carol, Kathryn and Lloyd.

ANDREW LABUIK, his wife and little daughter, Mary, accompanied by Andrew’s brother Sanky Labuik, all emigrated from the Ukraine in 1909. Sanky obtained work with a farmer in the Russell area while Andrew settled on a homestead near Merridale. In the meantime, their brother Peter Labuik had followed them to Canada and settled in the Makaroff district. About 1920, Andrew and his family moved from Merridale to Makaroff to live near his brother Peter who was at that time driving a van for the Makaroff Consolidated School. Andrew purchased the farm NE 17-28-29 and he too, for seven years, drove a school van to Makaroff. Their family included Mary and their Canadian born children Annie, Victoria and John; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. Andrew Labuik and his wife retired to North Burnaby, BC in 1946 and later moved to Armstrong. Mary married John Fedoruk of Togo, farmed NW 18-28-29 which they purchased from Samuel Hampson, and SE 18-28-29 purchased from John Hampson; in 1956 they retired to Togo. They had four children: Harry married, lived in Winnipeg and had four children; Walter married, lived at Togo and had a family of five; Willie, killed in a car accident in 1972 was buried in the Togo Cemetery; Sadie married John Beresowski and had one child. Annie married Peter Styranko of Togo who had come to Canada from the Ukraine with his parents in 1921. Annie and Peter had two children: their daughter Jennifer married Percy Price, had four sons and lived in Fort St. James, BC; William married, lived at Saskatoon and had one son and two daughters. Victoria and John moved to B.C. where she married John Gargol and made their home at Armstrong.

SANKY LABUIK arrived from the Ukraine in 1909 and obtained work with a farmer at Russell. After his marriage to Domna Kolonuik, they augmented their income with his occasional work on the railroad and Domna’s employment as a dishwasher at a restaurant. In 1911 they took out a homestead in the Timber district where they worked diligently in clearing the land and building a cabin while awaiting the birth of their first child. Space was prepared for a garden in the spring and wild hay was cut with a scythe and gathered by hand to feed their two recently purchased cows.  Mother nature was generous; wild game and berries were plentiful and trees were cut for firewood. Domna was very resourceful; the buckets she had saved while working in the restaurant were put to good use in storing home made dill pickles, sauerkraut, cottage cheese and butter which were then stored in the root cellar for the winter. In the spring, Sanky went back to Russell where he worked until fall and made enough cash to purchase horses and a wagon, flour and sugar and other necessary staples for the following winter. The years passed, things improved and in time they raised a family of eleven: Alex, Paul, Peter, Andrew, Bill, Annie, Pauline, Mary, Fred, Verna and George. But when the time had come for the children to start their education, and there was still no school available, the family uprooted and moved to Makaroff. They settled on a farm very near the Saskatchewan border from which all their children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. The Labuiks loved their new country and always thanked God for the bountiful supply of food and shelter that He supplied for their fine family. Mrs. Labuik passed away in 1957 and her husband in 1961; they are resting on the hillside in the Togo Cemetery beside their three sons: Alex, Bill and George. Their son Paul married Ada Schrimshaw and had two daughters: Lorna and Joyce; Peter left home at ten years of age, worked as a farmhand, at McBride Lumber Mill and after its closure, as a welder at Roblin Forest Products, before retiring to the Roblin Residences; Andrew married Rose Dubois and had five children: Rita, Danny, Roseanne, Ricky and Diane; Annie and her husband Alex Bonazew had a family of five: Madeline, Irene, Howard, Merle and Patricia; Pauline married Ken Bieman and had two sons: Barry and Tim; Mary married Ed. Myslichuk and had eight children: Dorothy, Frank, Ted, Arlene, Sharon, Roxie, Edward and Kenny; Fred married Tessie Borely and had three: Danny, Joe and Dorothy; Verna and her husband, Henry Schneider, had a family of ten: Jeanette, Wilfred, Garry, Gloria, Kimberley, Marvin, Wayne, Elmer, Angela and Carlene.

A.B. JOHNSON was born about 1887 in the U.S.A, immigrated to Canada, became a naturalized Canadian and served during WW1with the Canadian Forces. Wounded in France, he returned home to Winnipeg in 1917 where he became an active supporter of the Royal Canadian Legion. He met Edith, the widow of a fallen comrade and after their marriage in 1918 adopted Charles Crossland, the young son of another fallen comrade. In August of 1920, A. B. Johnson was sent to Makaroff to start a branch office for the Beaver Lumber Company. However, on their arrival in Makaroff with their six-year-old son Charles, and their new three-month-old daughter Kathleen, they discovered there were no living accommodations awaiting them. Furthermore, the only vacant house in the village was the church manse and a new minister (Rev. Bates) was expected momentarily. A hastily called meeting of the Church Board gave its consent for the Johnsons to occupy the manse until the minister’s arrival and people united in force to build them a house. Under the guidance of acting foreman, Art McInnes, the building of a house and lumberyard began immediately while Mrs. Joe Grundy scurried around the district to find alternate living quarters for the Johnson family. After the minister arrived they were welcomed into the Kerswell home and when school opened, young Charles accompanied the Kerswell children to classes.  The new lumberyard and the small ‘Beaver House’ were completed by early October. Edith became a member of both the Ladies’ Aid and the W.I., serving a term as President.  Her sewing machine was used for W.I. sewing classes held at the school under the direction of an Extension Department representative. A.B. took part in church and community efforts and helped in the building of the Makaroff Hall. Their daughter, Eileen was born in 1922 and in June of that same year they had the tragic misfortune of losing their elder daughter, Kathleen; she is buried in the Makaroff Cemetery.  In 1923, they built a new house facing the railway and the newly married Camerons (teachers) moved into the little Beaver House. It was a time of unusual growth and expansion in the district, a time when people worked hard and made their own entertainment. Presenting plays was one of their favorite pass times when one district performed for another. A.B. and Edith eagerly took their parts in these performances, particularly enjoying “The Census Taker”.  However, their sojourn in Makaroff was short. In 1926 Beaver Lumber sold the business and transferred the Johnsons to Pleasantdale, SK. Edith, however, never forgot the day before their departure. There was an Arts and Crafts event scheduled in the hall, but because of last minute cleaning of the house, she was unable to attend. Down on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor, she was startled when the door suddenly burst open and one of the ladies dashed in requesting her help in finding something that had been mislaid at the hall. She protested she could not go to the hall because of her dishevelment, but her friend insisted no one would notice and that it would just take a few moments. So off she went - to be helpful - and ended up on the platform being presented with a farewell gift, a beautiful cut-glass dish. And there she was in her housedress and runs in her stockings while her presenters, Mrs. Fred Curle and Mrs. Art McInnes were dressed in their Sunday best. She was so overcome, she wept. The cut-glass dish remained a family treasure for generations. In 1935 the Johnsons were transferred to Biggar but in 1939, because the lumber business was poor, A.B. left the company to become a Postmaster at Saskatoon. He retired in 1954 and died in 1965 at 76 years of age. His wife, a few years later, retired to Victoria. Eileen obtained her education in Pleasantdale and Biggar, SK, took a business course, and in 1941 was called to Ottawa to serve in Civilian Personnel of the Canadian Airforce. In 1944 she married and moved to Toronto. Her daughter, Janice, inherited her grandmother’s treasured cut-glass dish. Charles (Crossland), educated in Makaroff and Saskatchewan, won a scholarship to University. He served in the Headquarters Staff under General McNaughton during WW2 and was one of the first to go overseas in 1939. In 1942 he married Doreen Meyrick in England and the following year received the British Empire Medal for Meritorious Services. After the Armistice, he and his wife and son returned to Ottawa where he retired as a Major in 1964.

GEORGE LAIRD and his wife, Helen, arrived from Linlithgow, Scotland in 1922.  He was a brother of James Laird who had come to Makaroff in 1913.  George and Helen’s son, George Jr., came to Canada in 1921at seventeen years of age to join his uncle, James (see Alexander Laird). In the spring of the following year, his brothers, Sandy and Jock, joined him. Their parents, George and Helen, arrived in the fall accompanied by daughters, Peggy and Helen. The Lairds named their Canadian home “Helenlea” after their home in Scotland. Sandy drove a school van for many years and young Helen attended the Makaroff School. Their mother died just two years after their arrival into Canada and Peggy kept house for her father and brothers until her marriage to Bob Laird (see Alexander Laird). George Sr. died in 1962 and sometime later Jock and Sandy sold the farm to Ken Boyce and retired to Roblin. Helen married Charlie Miller of Roblin. George worked for various farmers in the area until 1929 when he went to work for an ice company in the U.S. A. during prohibition, delivering ice to speakeasies. In 1931 he returned to his father’s farm at Makaroff and three years later bought a farm of his own in the Cromarty area where he married Vi Nott in 1934. George and Vi always took a keen interest in their community; he gave 29 years of service to the Credit Union, served as councilor in Ward 2 and on the boards of the Pool Elevator, Co-Op Store and the CCIL. They were members of the United Church and Vi a charter member of the Horticultural Society.  George and Vi retired to Roblin. Their daughter Joyce married George Farmer, a flying officer in the R.C.A.F., made their home at North Bay and later Calgary; they had four children: George, Terry, Tim and Jody. Ken married Finnette Lantz, lived in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan and Calgary, AB and had two sons: Jordy and Jeremy.

R.W. COBBE, better known as “Whit”, came to Makaroff in 1923, bought the A.B. Johnson building on Railway Street, opened a hardware store and a year later married Alice Brown. In 1927 the year their son, Gerald was born, they moved the building on to Maine Street, setting the lumber building into the corner (Railway and Main). Whit had come from Glenboro, MB, a town noted for its curlers. He was an ardent curler and took little time to organize the community into building a curling rink in Makaroff. By 1927 a curling rink had been constructed at the corner across from the church and the whole community vied for space in the small waiting room to watch the games.  He taught many of the men, young and old, to place a rock where it was needed. He also assisted in making a tennis court and other sport facilities and served for a time on the school board.  Both Whit and his wife were active in community and church affairs and in time had two more sons, Garry and Howard and two daughters, Margaret and Helen. The older children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School until 1936 when the family sold their business to Gibson Brown and purchased a hardware business at MacGegor, MB. which they operated for many years until Whit’s ill health forced him to retire. By this time his three sons had formed the Cobbe Heating & Plumbing in Portage la Prairie; Whit commuted into Portage each day to keep their account books up-to-date. But when he was no longer able to make the drive, he was forced again to retire. He passed away in 1967 and two years later his wife moved into Portage to reside in a Rotary Housing Unit. Gerald served as a Liberal M.L.A. for several years; he and his wife Doreen had three children, as did Garry and his wife, Margaret. Howard and his wife, Glenna, had four of a family and later moved to Dauphin. Helen married Douglas Cameron of Roblin but they too, made their home at Portage. Margaret married Gordon Irwin and lived in Winnipeg.

WILLIAM YOURCHEK arrived in Canada from the Ukraine with his parents, Nick and Telka, in 1904. They settled on a farm north of Roblin and in 1906 William married Annie Glutek. Because there were no churches in the area, they had to drive all the way to Kamsack, SK with horses and sleigh to have the ceremony performed by a visiting priest. Beginning a homestead was difficult and meant cultivating land with a grub hoe and a yolk of oxen. It was hard work but in time the oxen were replaced with horses; and forming a cooperative agreement, William purchased and shared a set of implements with two of his neighbours.  Like her neighbours, Annie hand-sewed her children’s clothing. She was kept busy; there were ten children born to this family, seven of whom attended the Hillcrest School. When the older ones obtained their Grade eight, they attended high school at Makaroff, staying with friends during the week and returning to help on the farm on the weekends. In 1924, when the bank foreclosed on William’s mortgage, he obtained work with the C.N.R. and moved his family to Makaroff where their three youngest children were born. It was a time of drought. Hundreds of men were riding the freight trains looking for work and because the westbound trains slowed on the hills approaching Makaroff, some would get off to ask for food. The Yourchek family lived near the tracks and was often required to share. Many days during the summer, mother and daughters travelled to the valley in search of berries that would fill their huge crocks with jams and preserves. Their two eldest sons, Joe and Walter, went to Winnipeg to seek employment and were followed a few years later by the two eldest daughters, Stella and Elma. When William retired from the railway he moved his family into Roblin where he died in 1961. Joe, the eldest of the Yourchek children, married Lucy Patsula and later moved to Vancouver where he worked for the Roger’s Sugar Refinery for forty years; they had two sons: Walter and Ernie. Walter married Flossie Leply, had two sons, Walter and Raymond and went to live at Stockton, California.  In 1933 Stella entered a marathon-dancing contest and won a course in Hairdressing and Cosmetology. This training enabled her to return to Roblin and start up her own Beauty Parlor. She married Russell Perchaluk and had six children: Silvery, Marika, Paul, Sally, Donna and Susan. They later moved to Winnipeg and then Brandon, where over time, Stella operated a beauty parlor for thirty-five years. Elma went with her husband, Bill Repka and their three children, Garry, Starlet and Levinia to Stockton, CA. George married Stella Bilesky and lived at Summerland, BC; they had three children: Marshia, George and Theresa. Mary and her husband Jim Boychuk and son, Ronnie, made their home at Calgary. Susan married Michael Lysy, lived at Thunder Bay, ON and had eight children: Helen, Eugene, Iris, Michael, Natalia, Anne, Mary and Catherine.  Love and her husband John Chernesky and their four children: Veronica, John, Bill and Terry made their home at Penticton, BC.  Verna married Paul Welechenko and lived in Stockton, CA with their three children: Carole Ann, Rosemarie and Bill. William and his wife Georgina Paulenko had three children: Liza, Leanne and Jennifer and made their home in Winnipeg.

HERBERT MORTEMORE had served in the Imperial Armed Forces in England. In 1924 he, with his wife Rosa and three sons, James, Reginald and Sidney, immigrated to Canada and worked on SW 8-28-29, the farm of Arthur Taylor (known as the Jack Nabe farm). When Mr. Taylor died in 1930, the Mortemore family moved to the farm of Jack Davis, and two years later purchased their own land in the Boggy Creek area.  During the earlier years their children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School.  After his wife’s death in 1965, Herbert made his home with his son Reginald where he died in 1973; both are resting in the Silverwood Cemetery.  Their son Jim worked in the retail business as a fur buyer and in 1938 married Monica Connors; they had one daughter, Monica who married James Brechka. Jim served with the Canadian Armed Forces in Europe for five years during WW2.  After his return in 1947, he opened a store and post office at Boggy Creek. Reginald married Jennie Henderson of Deepdale in 1938, and after serving four years with the Artillery in Europe, returned to farm in the Boggy Creek area. They had two children, Ellen (Reginald Robertson) and Ernest (Edith Allen. Later they sold their farm and moved to San Clara where Reg was employed with Good Roads. On his retirement in 1974 they moved into Roblin. Sidney also joined the Artillery and served in Europe; after the war he took up farming at Boggy Creek. He married Ella Kerr of Neepawa and had one daughter Janis (Leonard Upton) and two sons James (Nora Sanders) and Richard.  Sid later became interested in game and forestry, took a position with the Parks Branch in Ottawa and four years later moved to Pincher Creek, AB to serve as a warden at Waterton, AB.

NICK MYSKO, born 1895 in the Ukraine, came to Canada with his family in 1902. They came first to Shoal Lake, MB and six months later took a homestead at Stornoway, SK.  The family included Nick’s two brothers Mike and Bill, and sisters: Anne, Mary, Tillie and Frances. They attended the local school and helped their parents on the farm. In 1917 Nick married Katherine Ewacheski of Togo.  Katherine was the daughter of George and Jessie Ewacheski who had come from the Ukraine in 1902; she had brothers, Steve and Mike, and two sisters, Annie (Harry Ninowsky) and Mary (John Bodnar). Besides farming, Nick worked for sixteen years as a municipal foreman on road construction. In 1924 he and his wife moved to Makaroff where they bought the three quarters of 17-27-29 from Dan Sinclair. In 1940 they moved to a farm once owned by Robert McBride and in 1947 purchased the Dunlop homestead where they built a new home. Two years later, Nick and his son, Peter, purchased the adjoining half-section from William Winn. Nick and Katherine had five children: Michael, Harry, Peter, Steve and Anne. They were active members of St Michael’s Church near Roblin and Nick helped to build the Grotto near St. Vladimir’s College. Their son, Michael died at six months during the flue epidemic of 1918. Harry received his education at Stornoway and Makaroff, served in the army for two years and in 1941 married Josephine Yakimishyn. They farmed eleven miles north of Roblin and in 1952 purchased a country store at Dunleath, SK. They sold the store and in 1956 moved to St. Walburg, SK, first to run the MacLeod’s store and later the Big River Hotel. They had three children: Edward, Peter and Stella (Ernie Toth). Peter served in the army for a year and in 1946 married Emily Styba. They farmed thirteen miles northwest of Roblin and had three children: Dennis, Karen and Peter.  The family was active members of St. Michael’s and Peter for a time served as trustee of the Sunny Slope School. At the time of the new millennium, this family continued to farm the west half of 17-27-29, land  that had once belonged to his father, Nick Mysko. Steve served in the army for a year, married Theresa Griepel of Humbolt, SK and made their home at Big River, SK where he was employed at the sawmill. They had seven children: Blair. Margaret, Theresa, Stephanie, Ronald and Catherine. Anne, Nick and Katherine’s only daughter, married Mike Yakimishyn in 1936 and operated the Hillside Store on Highway 83 until 1963. Her husband had started the store in a granary in 1930 with a $100 stock of groceries. It was the days of few cars; most of his customers drove a horse and buggy and a whole day’s sale may have been 5 cents. But things improved and in 1932 Mike and his brother, Andrew, built a new log building, 16x22 feet. Farmers came for miles in the evening to buy a nickle’s worth of peanuts and spend time playing cards. In 1935 a half-ton truck was purchased and groceries were brought in from the Roblin C.N.R. Station. Two year later they bought a 1½-ton truck to haul grain, cattle and cream cans to Roblin and soon started trucking in earnest; they sold the store in 1963. Mike and Anne had two children, Michael (Louise Watson) and Alice (Edward Styba).

JOHN BILESKI, of Polish ancestry, married Mary Klopoclak at Merridale in 1914. They farmed in that area for a few years then moved to NW 36-27-29 at Sunny Slope. Their six children: Adolph, Frank, Bronyk, Walter, Steve and Alma all attended the Sunny Slope School. Their son Adolph, born 1916, served in the army and worked for many years for the International Harvester Co. in Roblin. He never married and died in 1990. Bronyk, probably better known as “Berne”, was born in 1920, served in the military for a short time, married Anne Johnson and farmed NE 7-28-28 until selling the farm to work at the potash mines in Saskatchewan. In 1968 they left the area to manage a service station at Abbotsford, BC where he died in 1987. They had three sons: Kenneth, Calvin and Richard. Walter born 1922, lived on his parent’s farm and never married; after their death in 1965, he sold the property and moved into Roblin where he died in 1986. Steve born 1927, like his elder brother Adolph, worked for International Harvester Co. in Roblin for many years. He married Sandra Hamel in 1972; they resided in Roblin and had two daughters, Karen and Gwen. Steve died in 1986. Alma, born 1932, graduated from high school at Roblin and trained as an R.N. at St. Boniface Hospital. She nursed at Lamont, AB and in 1961 married Frank Shymkiw (see Shymkiw) at Redwater, AB where they lived until moving to Kerrobert, SK in 1974. They had two children, Patricia and David. Frank retired from the oil industry in 1995 and Alma retired from nursing in 1998; she was the last surviving member of the original Bileski family

FRANK BILESKI, son of John and Mary Bileski, was born in 1918 and received his education at Sunny Slope.  In 1947 Frank married Annie Shymkiw (see Shymkiw) at the Greek Catholic Church in Roblin. They rented land in the Silverwood and Togo districts before purchasing NW 32-27-29 in 1957, land formerly owned by Ezra Cryderman and Bill Deederly. Frank did mixed farming and drove a school van to Makaroff for several years. After the school closed in 1967, he commuted to Roblin where he was employed by the International Harvester Co. He retired from the company in 1982. Frank was an avid curler and held the position of president of the Snow Club for the area north of Makaroff. Frank and Annie had four children: Bernice, Ronald, Janette and Marie, all of whom attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and later the school at Roblin. After Annie’s death in 1987 Frank remained on the farm until 1991, when he rented the land and purchased a house in Roblin. Frank died in 1998. Their daughter Bernice attended M.I.T. in Winnipeg and took a library technician course, obtained work at the University of Manitoba Medical Library and later became a Librarian at the Extension Service Library. She married Neil Taylor of Deepdale in 1969 and moved to Deepdale in 1972. They had four sons: Dennis, Michael, Keith and Trevor. Ronnie, their only son, graduated from High School in Roblin and took an Auto Mechanic’s Course at Brandon. He married Greta Sanders of Winnipeg and was employed by Modern Dairies at Thompson, MB; they had two children, Kimberley and Shaune. After graduating, Janette went to work for K-Mart at Yorkton. Over the next few years she was employed by Kenny Shoes at Thompson, Saan Store in Dauphin, and Kenny Shoes at Yorkton; in 1982 she was transferred as manager to the Kenny Shoe store at Weyburn. Marie graduated from secondary school and married Vern Branconnier in 1978. After living in Roblin for a few years they moved to Thompson where she worked in a bank until 1983; they had one daughter, Nicole.

MIKE SHYMKIW was born in Poland in 1893 and immigrated to Canada in 1913, at twenty years of age,. In 1921 he married Nettie Navitski who had come from Poland with her family in 1903 to homestead at Cote, SK. Mike and Nettie lived at Norquay and Kamsack before coming to the Makaroff district in 1927 to farm 22-27-29 east of the village. There were only thirteen acres cultivated at the time and they had to live in a granary. They built more rooms on to the building and made it their home.  In but a few years they had a barn and a few other buildings and had cleared most of the land. Mike had his own “shop” in which he made his own tools, horseshoes, farm implements and what ever was required. They planted fruit trees: apple, plums and crabapples, which he grafted himself to make new hardier varieties. Mike and Annie raised five children: Mary, Anthony (Tony), Annie, Frank and Ben; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. Mike and Nettie celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1971 with a family reunion, retired from the farm later that year and moved into Roblin where Mike died a year later. Mary completed her schooling at Makaroff and went to work at Sault Saint Marie where she married Richard Grier. They lived in Hamilton for several years before moving to Prince George, BC. They had six children: Marilyn, Jane, Vernon, Allan, Ernie and Elaine. Tony joined the army in WW2 and died in battle shortly after his arrival in Holland.  Annie helped on the farm until her marriage to Frank Bileski (see Bileski) in 1947. Frank graduated from the Makaroff Consolidated School, went to Edmonton for a course in diesel engineering and upon completion obtained employment in the Great Lakes region, and later on the pipeline at Redwater, AB.  In 1961 he married Alma Bileski (see Bileski); in 1974 they were transferred to Loreburn for eight years and then to Korrobert SK. They had two children: Patricia and David. Ben completed school at Makaroff, took a course in mechanical engineering at M.I.T. in Winnipeg and after graduating in 1966 worked several years for Templeton Engineering, and later for Morris Rodweeder Co. in Yorkton. In 1971 he returned to Makaroff to take over his father’s farm and bought the adjoining property. In 1976 he married Mary Brandt; they had two daughters, Tonya and DeeAnn and later made their home in Winnipeg.

PETER NABE, born in Kraft, Russia, immigrated to Canada in 1913 with his wife and six children: Jacob, Peter, Godfrey, George, Annie and Dave. They went first to Winnipeg and then in 1917 to a farm at Runneymede, SK before coming to Togo in 1918. In 1927 they moved to Makaroff to what is probably better known as the Frank Bileski farm and later west across the Assiniboine River to property better known as the J.H. Barrowman farm. Mrs. Nabe died in 1930 and Peter in 1935.

JACOB NABE, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Nabe, born 1903 in Russia, was ten years of age when his family immigrated to Canada in 1913.  Jacob was better known as “Jack” and came to the Togo area with his parents in 1918. He married Millie Leis a few years later and settled on NW 5-28-29, on the corner where the Makaroff and Togo roads meet. Jacob and Millie celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary August 9, 1970. Their eight children all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School: Emma, Jack, Alex, Anne, Mary, Ruth, Elsie and Rosalind. Their daughter Emma married Julian Habinski and made their home at Atikokan, ON. Jack married Georgina Shearer (see Shearer) of Makaroff and settled on SW 8-28-29 across the road from his parent’s farm. Alex married Marjorie Bauer of Togo and took over SW 9-28-29 just east of his brother and parents. Anne married Harry Maksymetz of Togo; Mary and her husband Paul Gauthier made their home at Lorette, MB; Ruth married Dave Pfeifer of Togo; and Rosalind and her husband Keith Malcolm lived at Starbuck, MB. Elsie died while still a young adult and had not married.

PETER NABE, came to Canada with his parents in 1913 and to Togo in 1918. In 1929 he married Martha Kimmel whose family farmed SW 30-27-29. In 1935 Pete and Martha purchased NE 19-27-29 and moved to the Makaroff district.  They had five children: Harold, Rhienold, Richard, Leonard and Geraldine and in 1969 retired to the village of Togo. Harold, their eldest son born 1930, was educated in Makaroff and married Donna Beattie (see Beattie) of Makaroff; she taught at the Makaroff Consolidated School and later in Togo while Harold worked at Bell Bros. Garage in Togo. In 1965, Harold built Togo Motors, which he operated until his untimely death in 1979. Rheinold, born 1933 completed his education in Makaroff and worked for a short time in Flin Flon before moving to Winnipeg. He was employed for twelve years by the C.N.R. before going to work for a sign company. In 1968 he married June Rombough and the following year was transferred to Saskatoon and in 1971 to Regina; they had one daughter, Cheryl. Richard, born 1936, completed high school in Makaroff, worked for the Hudson Bay Co. in Flin Flon and in 1959 married Joyce Topham. In 1972 they and their three children, Kim, Donnalea and Randy, moved west where Joyce passed away at Camrose, AB in 1983. Leonard, born 1937, was educated in Makaroff and worked for the Royal Bank in Binscarth and later Winnipeg. He married Gloria Cameron at Shilo in 1961, had three children, Darren, Kelly and Michael and later moved to Vancouver, BC where he was employed with Eatons of Canada, later retiring to Chilliwack, BC. Geraldine, born 1951, was educated in Makaroff and Roblin and like her two brothers, went to Flin Flon. She worked for a chartered accountant and married Bruce Mulroy in 1971. They moved to Togo where Bruce took over the management of Togo Motors and Georgina for a time worked at the Togo Credit Union. She left in 1975 to take over as bookkeeper at her husband’s garage; they had two sons, Michael and Jeffery.

GEORGE NABE arrived in Canada with his parents in 1913 and as a young lad worked on various farms in the Runnymede, Rhein and Togo districts. He married Mary Weitzel of Togo in 1932 and lived on her parent’s farm for a year. He worked on various farms in the district until 1935 when they came to NE 31-26-29 to work with his brother Fred. In 1943 they moved to the Ruf farm and in 1949 settled on SW 32-27-29 where they lived until they retired to their home in the village of Togo. They had four children: Shirley, Lawrence, Gertrude and Kenneth, all of whom attended Makaroff Consolidated School. Shirley married Leonard Grundy (see Grundy) and farmed in Makaroff on the former Morley Button place until retiring to Roblin. They had three daughters: Sheryl, Barbara and Debbie.  Lawrence went east to Ontario where he married Mary Murphy and made their home at Galt. Gertrude married Kenneth Franklin of Togo, lived at Dauphin and had two children. Kenneth married Roseanne Elaschuk of Roblin, had a family of two and resided in Winnipeg.

GODFREY NABE, known as “Fred”, emigrated with his family from Russia in 1913, received his education at Winnipeg and Runnymede and came to the Togo-Makaroff area in 1926. He married Elizabeth Weitzel of Togo, moved his wife and two children to Makaroff in 1934 and two years later purchased NE 31-26-29. A time of drought and high winds made farming a day-to-day survival during the “Dirty Thirties”, but like other families in the area, they managed on mere necessities. Times were tough during their first few years and their home was cold and drafty; many nights the family went to bed in their winter parkas, hoods drawn up over their heads to keep them warm. For a time Fred’s brother George and his little family moved in with them and within a thirty-six hour period, the brothers’ wives gave birth to two new babies (Gertrude and Albert); an unusual and exciting event. Because of the frail economy of the times, Fred lost his land one year but managed to reclaim it the next; he purchased a car in 1939 but had to sell it later for a payment on his land. He made himself a four-wheel cart that was his only means of travel for four years, except for his dog-team that he used in winter. Later he constructed a “Bennet Buggy” from an old wrecked car; pulled by a team of horses. But in time things improved. In 1947 a new house was built, and the following year a garage and hen house, and finally a barn in 1950. Fred drove a school bus for two years and often served as veterinarian for his neighbours. They had four children: Roy, Ramona, Albert and Larry; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School.  Fred and “Lizzie” retired in 1966 and purchased the former Painter residence in Togo.  Fred died in 1975 and Elizabeth in 1998, both are resting in the Togo Cemetery. Their son Roy married Rose Martinuik of Togo and farmed in the district until retiring to Kamsack, SK; they had one son, Elroy. Ramona married Orland Ruf, a farmer of Stornoway, SK; they had a family of five: Douglas, Karen, Cheryl, Twyla and Corrine. On retirement, Ramona and Orland moved to Kelowna, BC. Larry took his training at the Technical School in Moose Jaw and became an electrical technician. Albert married Trudy Mann of Roblin in 1966 and took over NE 31-26-29 when his parents retired. In 1969 Albert became part owner of the Roblin Meat Processing Plant until it was sold in 1982. In 1986 he was elected as reeve for the Rural Municipality of Shell River and later served as a director on the board of Association of Manitoba Municipalities. Trudy worked for several years with the Royal Bank in Roblin. They had four children: Greg earned his diploma in Business Administration in Automotive Marketing and worked for Ford Lincoln in Alberta; Dwayne took Heavy Duty Mechanics, married Jocelyn Rice, had one son and also worked in Alberta; Glenda trained as an R.N., married Darin Zimmer of Russell, had two children, Kaylie and Eboni, and made their home on a farm at Thunder Creek; Dana took Business Administration and later became a Certified Nursing Aid, married Donnie Soloniski, and made their home on a farm at Wroxton, SK.

HOWARD WILSON was the eldest son of John Harrison Wilson and his wife Gertrude Burnett. His father, better known as “Harry”, was of a large family who had come from the New England states to Canada when the thirteen colonies rebelled against England. Born at Uxbridge, ON in 1870, Harry began his carpenter apprenticeship at sixteen years of age. His work took him to several points in the USA and finally north to the Dauphin area of Manitoba and then to Togo, SK where he set up a livery business. In 1904 he sold the livery to William Appel and registered for homestead SE 34-28-29 in the Grand Narrows district. The Burnett family had originally come from Scotland. They came first to Ontario and in 1892 to Manitoba. “Gertie”, born 1881 at Waterloo, ON had lived for a short time at Portage and Drifting River (north of Gilbert Plains) before moving to Minitonas.  Harry and Gertrude, married in 1907, built up the farmstead where they lived for thirty-seven years and later acquired his nephew Stewart Taylor’s homestead SW 34-28-29; they raised a family of six: Howard, Verna (Paul Laliberte), Orville (Elaine Appel), Muriel (George Stephen), Vivian (M.G.H. Hofford) and Thelma. In 1944 they retired to BC where Harry died in 1954 and Gertrude in 1979 at 97 years; they are buried in the Royal Oak Cemetery in Victoria.
Howard and his sister Verna started school in Makaroff in 1916, walking about a mile to catch the horse drawn school van at 6:30 in the morning and arriving home late at bed time (school in those days remained in session until 4 o’clock).  In 1918 a school was built nearer to their home and the Wilson children began attending classes at Grand Narrows. For the first year, however, until a road was built to the school, they remained during the week at the home of their neighbour, Patrick Sloan. In 1922 Howard returned to Makaroff Consolidated School to take his high school, boarding at the home of Albert Boyce; his teacher was J.H. Cameron. The Wilson family was active in church and school affairs and in clubs for boys and girls.  Howard went to Churchill in 1931 where he was employed to build a dock for the Department of Railways and Canals. His wage was only fifty-two and one-half cents per hour, but in five months he had saved a nest egg of $500. It was big pay in those days! His money was deposited in the Union Bank in Togo, but when it closed later that year his funds were transferred to the Royal Bank in Roblin. In 1932 he rented some land, and with the use of his father’s machinery, grew oats that sold for eight cents a bushel. In 1933 Howard married Donalda Basso and took over SE 18-28-29 in the Makaroff district. This land had previously passed through several owners. Originally the Tom Bass homestead, this quarter had been purchased first by his uncle, Howard Wilson in 1907, then by Howard’s brother Harry, and finally by Harry’s son, Howard. There were nine children born to Howard and Donalda Wilson: Ray, Gerald, Joy, Floyd, Kenneth, Donald, Owen, and twins Fariel, and Fenton.  Howard’s early ambition had been to be an Electrical Engineer; finances prevented this at the time but many years later, in 1952 he passed an Electrical Examination and in 1969 was up-graded to a valid Journeyman trade ticket. He served on the boards of the Makaroff Consolidated School, Roblin Hospital and the Parkway Cooperative, and in 1955 was elected Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Shell River; a position he held for many years.  Howard and Donalda’s eldest son, Ray (1933) spent 22 years with the R.C.M.P. and after a great many moves resigned the force to work for a petroleum company in Calgary. He and his wife Eleanor Shearer (see Shearer) had two daughters, Leanne and Karen. Gerald (1935) obtained employment with the Mid West Mining Co. at Flin Flon, married Sharon Parker and had three children: Dale, Eddy and Sherry. Joy (1937) worked at Hudson Bay Junction, SK, married Emil Branconnier and had three children: Howard, Lorrie, and Patrick. After her divorce, Joy married again and a fourth child, Ronnie West joined the family. Floyd (1939) graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.Sc. in Agriculture and a M.Sc. in Soils; he married Audrey Marshall of Ninga, MB and had three children: Duane, Marla and Brenda. Kenneth (1942) received his B.E.S. degree at the U. of M., mastered in Architecture and married Margaret Ann Ruse of Flin Flon; they had two daughters: Barbara and Donna. Ronald (1944) received his degree in Agriculture and was employed as a crop production officer by Agriculture Canada. He married Dorothy Jones of Ottawa and had two sons, Matthew and Jonathan. Owen (1946) obtained both his B.P.Ed. and B.Ed. degrees at the U. of M. and went into teaching; he married Maura Salter of Diligent River, NS, farmed his own and his father’s land and had a family of four: Shannon, Andrea, Janis and Ryan. Fariel (1949) became a teacher and married Al Nanka who worked for the Forestry branch; they resided in Edmonton and had a daughter, Shantala. Fenton (1949) graduated from the U. of M. with a B.Sc. degree and worked for an Agricultural Chemical Co. in Edmonton.

LAWRENCE JOHNSON, born 1893 in Winnipeg, served in WW1and farmed at Plumas, MB.  In 1925 he moved his wife and daughters, Lazelle and Lettia, to the Makaroff district and settled on NE 5-27-29 (perhaps better known as the Curtis place). A third daughter, Mabel, was born at Makaroff. Mrs. Johnson had been born at Ninon, ON in 1893 and had come west with her parents in 1910. Jack Stinson accompanied the Johnsons to Makaroff. The girls attended the Makaroff School and in the spring of 1939 the family moved to SE 27-26-29, just three miles from Deepdale. In the fall of 1943 they returned to 8-27-29 south of Makaroff where they lived in a granary until a house could be built. Lawrence, Jack Stinson and Alf Christensen built a big new eight-roomed house on this property, and later a barn and car shed. When Mr. and Mrs. Johnson celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary in this home in 1947, their friends and neighbours presented them with a brand new white McLary range. And when they left the district to move into Roblin in the fall of 1948, they also received a lovely farewell gift.  At Roblin, Lawrence operated a saw-filing shop and acted as caretaker at the Roblin Creamery. He died in 1962 and his wife in 1982; they are resting in the Roblin Cemetery. Lettia married Chris Schick and lived on the Curtis farm for a number of years before moving to the Tummel district. She had four children and died in 1962; she is at rest in the Tummel Cemetery. Mabel married Ivan Sundquist, made their home in Mossomin, SK and had two children. Lizelle worked briefly as a telephone operator, in Perchaluk’s General Store and later as bookkeeper for the Roblin Bakery. She lived at home with her parents and remained with her mother after her father’s death. Jack Stinson, who had come to Makaroff with the Johnson family, married Ruby Linton and made their home on  SE 27-26-29 at Deepdale.

JOHN LINDSAY came to Canada with his parents, John and Helen, from Dundee, Scotland in 1901. His older sister, Jean arrived in Canada with her husband a year or so later, but the remainder of the Lindsay family remained in Scotland. His parents lived in the Rossburn district of Manitoba before coming with their son John and daughter Nellie to farm SE 19-28-29 in 1905, where they remained until their deaths. Their daughter Nellie married Alex Lowe, a blacksmith in Togo. John studied theology in Ottawa for seven years and returned to his parent’s homestead in 1913. In 1915 he married Jessie Hunter, a Scottish lass who had also come from Dundee.  After their marriage, the young couple homesteaded east of the original family farm but in 1925 moved to Makaroff where they took over the north half of 10-27-29. They had six children: Lois, Norman, David, Ina, Jessie and Victor; all attended the Makaroff School. Both John and his wife were involved in the United Church where he often took the service in the absence of a minister. He was instrumental in forming the Consolidated School District at Makaroff and served as Secretary-Treasurer of the local school board and the Pool Elevator Board. Their old Model T Ford served them well: after church it transported the family first to Togo to visit Granny Lindsay and then to the homestead east of Togo to inspect the cattle which was still pastured there in the summers. One day, on such a trip, the engine had fallen out beneath the car and John had to snip a piece of wire from a farmer’s fence to hold it up so they could continue on their way.  Get-togethers with neighbours were frequent and many happy hours were spent on the farm playing ‘Old Tin Can’, a favorite summer game. Their daughters, Ina and Jessie were instrumental in organizing the M.F.A.C. Young People’s group; summer camps were held at Madge Lake and Clear Lake; Folk Schools were held in several towns where public speaking and other self-improvement exercises were initiated. John and Jessie Lindsay retired to Roblin in 1947 where Jessie died in 1955 and John in 1958. Their daughter Lois took business training, worked in Ottawa as a civil servant and later as a private secretary in Montreal, where she met and married Walter West. Norman remained on the family farm until he joined the Army Service Corp in 1940 and served overseas. After his return and discharge he worked as a power mechanic in Manitoba and Alberta, married Bessie Ritchie and made their home in Edmonton until his death in 1982.  David (probably better known as “Dave”) stayed with his father on the farm until 1945 when he started a garage business in Makaroff. He married Marion Hall of New Brunswick; they and their two children, Allan and Karen, and later moved into Winnipeg where he worked for International. Ina graduated with a degree in Home Economics from the University of Manitoba and worked in the Ottawa Valley where she met and married Alex Bell; they farmed near Carleton Place, ON and had four sons: John, Sandy, Kevin and Robert. Jessie taught school in Manitoba, married James Butterfield, a grain buyer, and made their home at Swan River; they had two daughters, Pattie and Bobbie. Victor, remained on the family farm and sometime later moved into the former Stan Boyce house in Makaroff.  He and his wife Rhonda had three sons: Elmer, David and Darren.

ADAM SANGSTER (1882-1961) immigrated to Canada in 1903 from Fyvie, Scotland. A stonemason, he obtained work with a German family on a farm in the Northwest Territories (Saskatchewan) and went back to Scotland that fall to return the following spring accompanied by his two brothers William, a carriage builder, and Alex, a steam engineer. There was no shortage of work in the developing territory and by 1906 they had found their way to Manitoba where Adam claimed homestead SE 33-28-29. His brothers assisted him in clearing the land of the homestead with oxen that summer and in the winter all four worked (including Alex’s wife Violet who cooked) at the Maguire’s sawmill in the Shell River Valley. In 1911 their sister Jane Walsh who had lost her husband and three sons in an epidemic in Brighton, England joined William and Adam on the homestead. She returned to Scotland the following year to bring their mother, Margaret Sangster, out to join them. The Sangster brothers and the Sinclairs owned one of the first steam threshing outfits in the district. Instead of field pitchers loading the stooks, a ‘stook loader’ drawn by four horses, was used to load the stooks onto the hayrack.  In 1917 Adam married Mary Cameron and remained on the original homestead until 1930 when he purchased the north half of 11-28-29 in the Silverwood district, where they remained until retiring to Roblin in 1945. They had no family. Alex (1871-1950) married Violet Phillip of Glasgow, Scotland in 1906. Their daughter, Gladys, was born at Togo in 1907 and in 1909 they left the area to homestead south of Davidson, SK. In 1944 they retired to Vancouver, B.C.  Gladys married Stan Owen of Victoria and resided at Ladysmith, B.C.

WILLIAM SANGSTER (1879-1955) came to Canada in 1904 and lived and worked with his brothers until 1912 when he claimed homestead SE 23-29-29. In 1914 he married Eliza Jane Bannerman of Aberdeen, Scotland. Five of their six children were born on the homestead: William, Art, Isobel, Ian, and Alexander. Their eldest child, William, attended the Grand Narrows School, staying with relatives in the district and when the Clenenceau School was built one mile north of their homestead, William and Arthur attended the new school.  When the homestead was sold in 1925, William purchased SE 14-28-29 in the Silverwood district. Their youngest son, Alfred, was born on this farm.  All six children attended the Silverwood School, which was one mile east of their farm and those who continued on to high school attended the Makaroff Consolidated School.  William and Eliza’s eldest three sons all served in WW2. William, perhaps better known as “Bill”, a corporal in the RCAF, married Joan Hamilton of Lethbridge, AB, farmed in the Taber area for forty years and retired to Taber in 1981 where he became foreman of the Shipwheel Cattle feeders. They had five children, two boys and three girls. Arthur, a sergeant, in 1949 married Elizabeth Welson of Maidstone, SK, a corporal in RCAF W.D. and after several years in the automotive trade, joined the Department of Indian Affairs from which he retired in 1977 as construction and maintenance supervisor.  They had one daughter and one son and retired to the village of Bowsman, MB, where Art served as mayor for a time. Isobel, married Charles Dixon of Cromarty, had one son and one daughter and made their home in Dagmar, ON. Ian, Acting Sergeant PPCLI, received the Military Medal and was mentioned in Dispatches awarded for bravery and leadership in Italy and Holland. Field Marshal Viscount Alexander decorated Ian on the parade square of Fort Osborne Barracks in Winnipeg. After the war Ian took over his parent’s farm and never married. Alexander, known to some as “Red”, married Mary Rezanoff of Togo in 1945, and after farming for several years went to work for the mines at Snow Lake, Flin Flon and Thompson.  They had three daughters and one son. Red was active in sports, was one of the organizers of the northern hockey and baseball leagues and represented Carling O’Keefe in northern Manitoba. Their son Jack was coach at one time of the Brandon Wheat Kings hockey club. Alfred, married Mary Oleksyn of Wakaw, SK, had two sons and resided in Winnipeg where he worked for the Carter Frostshield Co (Tremco) for more than thirty-five years.

HENDRICK GEORGE CAPELLE, born 1873 in Amsterdam, Holland, trained as a blacksmith and after finishing his military duties, went to South Africa in 1900. Two years later he immigrated to Canada with two of his brothers and a friend. The three men homesteaded eight miles northeast of Battleford but split the partnership in 1906. One brother went to Vancouver, the other to Winnipeg where he joined the police force, and the friend went back to Holland. Hendrick remained in Canada working on the railways, taking several trips back to his homeland until 1911 at which time he bought a Blacksmith Shop in Holland and married later that year. In 1926, following the deaths of his wife’s parents, he sold the blacksmith shop and returned to Canada with his wife and their two children, Henry and Helena. They settled on a farm at Makaroff about a mile from the McGregor family. Later, Hendrick took over one of the Blacksmith shops in Makaroff and Mrs. Capelle became a member of the W.I. In 1935, when their daughter entered nursing, Mr. and Mrs. Capelle and Henry moved to Happy Lake.  A few years later Henry moved to Roblin. Mr. and Mrs. Capelle returned to Makaroff in 1947 to help on Pierre Hohle’s farm, and in 1950 went to live with their son in Roblin.  Mrs. Capelle passed away in 1953 and Hendrick in 1956. Helenea married M. Van Hartvelt and lived in Winnipeg. Henry worked for several years with the Manitoba Forestry in the summer months and in the bush camps during the winter. In 1950 he purchased a farm near Roblin and his parents moved in with him. Henry was employed one day a week at the Roblin Auction Mart but otherwise farmed, concentrating on cattle until he could no longer use the Community Pasture; he then switched to grain farming. In 1984 he married Olive Arnott.

GODFREY DEEDERLY, born and raised in Russia, immigrated to Canada in 1913. He came to Winnipeg, where he was employed as a bricklayer for a school-contractor, and two years later married Katie Staub. Katie had come from Russia with her mother and siblings to join their father who had come a few years earlier. In 1919 Godfrey and Katie rented the old Traub farm on the Assiniboine River and in 1926 came to NE 31-26-29 at Makaroff.  Katie had acted as a midwife in the past and this fact was well known in the community. Therefore, when the doctor failed to arrive one day when expected because of heavy rains, she was called to the home of John Beattie to attend his wife, Kay.  An amusing story about this event circulated in the area for years. It relates how the doctor and nurse from Togo were stalled in their car in the mud and were forced to continue with a borrowed horse and cart - with the nurse sitting on the doctor’s knee.  The wheel then came off the cart, the nurse abandoned by the roadside and the doctor continued on the back of the horse, arriving just in time for the birth of the Beattie’s son, Johnnie. The nurse, poor Katie, who had been left in the rain by the side of the road did arrive sometime later, but no one seemed to recall by what means. Such were the hard years of the ‘Dirty Thirties’. Godfrey and Katie survived by growing large gardens, milking cows for milk and butter, raising chickens, ducks and geese. They shipped eggs and cans of cream for the cash with which they purchased necessary staples. At the worst of times they roasted wheat or barley to make “coffee”. But as times improved their first gramophone, with a horn and cylinder type records, was replaced in 1937 by a battery cabinet-style model. Then, in 1941 the Deederlys left Makaroff to farm at Deepdale. But after just a short time, they returned to buy NE 30-27-30 in the Togo district. They celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1965 and a year later purchased the former home of Mrs. Allen from the school board and retired to Togo. Of their ten children, only seven survived to adulthood (one little girl is buried in the Makaroff Cemetery). Sometime after Godfrey’s  death in 1971, Katie went to live in B.C., but hating the dampness and feeling hemmed in by the mountains, she returned to live in Togo. They are both resting in the Togo Cemetery.  Their daughter Nellie married Leo Branconnier of San Clara, resided in Kamsack and had two children, Glen and Elaine. George married Kathryn Parkin of Roblin, worked in B.C. lumber camps and had two children, Raymond and Shirley. Willie remained to farm in the Togo district, married Minnie Bauming of Roblin and had three sons: Billy, Garry and Raymond, and one daughter, Sharon. Edwin joined the Army during the latter part of WW2; he and his wife, Lorene of Kamsack, and their son later moved to B.C. Elmer and his wife, Elsie Walonowich of Togo, and children Arnold and Dudie went into the hotel business at Fort St. John. Harold married a girl from Humboldt; they and their three children: Alan, Martin and Sandra, moved to Port Albernie, B.C. where he worked in lumber mills. Ruth married a Togo farmer, Ed Burbank, and had three sons and one daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Deederly also raised their nephew, Ernie Staub, son of Katie’s brother Fred. Ernie lived with them for eighteen years before going to work at Saskatoon.

PIERRE HOHLE, a friend of the Capelle family, came from Holland in 1927. He lived with the Capelles for a time, learned how to farm, and worked for neighbours until able to claim a farm of his own. He served in the armed services during WW2 and eventually purchased the Ed McGregor farm through the V.L.A. Several years later he returned to Holland where he married Cori De Bouer. Although he did not live again in Canada, they returned several times to the Makaroff area to visit friends and family.

LORENSZ HOHLE, Pierre’s brother, immigrated to Canada in 1928. He also spent time at the Capelle’s learning farming methods and eventually took over NE 8-27-29 and married Marion McGregor (see McGregor). In 1940 they purchased SE 20-27-29. Lorensz and Marion built a new home on this property with the assistance of Mr. Hiebert of Deepdale and later in the1950s held a Barn-Raising when all the neighbours came to help construct a new barn. The two Hohle brothers played a big part in community activities and were especially noted for their beautiful singing voices. In 1963 Lorensz and Marion bought the east half of 17-27-29 and beautifully landscaped the property. While dismantling the unused Makaroff Consolidated School, Lorensz rescued the old bell tower and moved it to his garden where it became a lovely place of respite on warm summer evenings.

MIKE MICHALUK, born in Czowice, Poland, immigrated to Canada in 1926. On applying for work at the Canadian immigration office on his arrival he was matched with Andrew Labuke who had applied for a farm labourer. Mike arrived at Makaroff a few days later and over the next seven years worked at Jack Diamond’s and other farms before renting the Archie Hogg farm, SE 18-27-29, which he later purchased in 1938. In 1942 he bought the adjoining farm, SW 18-27-29 from Charles McGregor and while Mr. Van Dretch was serving overseas during the war, he worked their land. When “Van” returned, Mike purchased the Lawrence Johnson quarter on section 8. During much of the late 1940s Mike drove the stub-route school van from the Donald Burns farm to the Loenzsz Hohle corner. He bought his first car, a Plymouth, in 1946; later that same year the barn on the Hogg place was destroyed by fire. In 1952 Mike married Mary Nizialek; they remained in the Makaroff district until selling their farm to Ed Burbank of Togo in 1967 and retiring to Dauphin. Mike had one sister who also immigrated to Canada. She and her husband Frank Ross rented the Frank Grundy farm for a few years. They had two children, Emily and Stanley who attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. In 1971 Mike returned to his birthplace to visit with his family and when his niece and children came to Canada the following year, he took special pride in taking them to visit his old landmarks at Makaroff.

CHARLES HURD ELDER, born at Burnt Island, Fifeshire, Scotland in 1883, immigrated to Canada via U.S.A. in 1905. He operated a dray business at Saskatoon for a few years then took up farming in the Waskada area of Manitoba.  In 1910 he returned to Scotland where he succeeded in persuading his parents John and Isabella Elder and his brothers: Sandy, Jack, James, Chris and Andrew to come to Canada. While in Scotland, Charles met Jean Fyfe and later persuaded her to emigrate; they were married at Waskada in 1914.  It was here that their first three children, Lloyd, Charles and Wilhelmina (Mina) were born. In 1920, after accumulating, cattle, horses, farm equipment and a model T Ford, the family moved to Mulvihill, where they found the soil unsuitable for growing grains. They then moved to Dufrost in the Red River Valley and later to Arnaud where their daughter Jean was born.  In 1927 they came to Makaroff and purchased NE 28-27-29. This property gave access to the Boggy Creek where water was plentiful for livestock; their nearest neighbours were the George Sloan and Tom Boyce families. Their children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School, transported by a horse-drawn van driven by Paddy Sloan of Grand Narrows. The family’s main transportation in the twenties and thirties was a Willys Overland and a 1929 Chevrolet. But the children’s favorite was their Indian pony that was used to round up cattle and special errands to town. This pony was trained to toss its young riders onto its back, one-by-one. They only had to signal their readiness by leaning over its neck and touching its ear - then up they went.  During the drought years and the hard times of the ‘Dirty Thirties’, this family was able to assist their Waskada relatives by bringing their cattle to pasture in the valley. Slowly, homesteading farm methods changed to those more modern: the advent of tractors, combines and trucks eventually replaced the horse and by the forties, with so many involved in the war effort, farm help was difficult to find. Gradually, Charles was forced to sell most of his cattle. In 1945 he sold the farm to Bert Traub and purchased the west half-section of 25-27-29 near Sunny Slope where he went mainly into growing crops. He built a house, machine shed and granaries on the property and managed with the help of his son, Charles, after his return from overseas. In 1960, his son took over the farm and Mr. and Mrs. Elder retired to a house in Dauphin where he died in 1967. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Elder moved to Winnipeg where she lived with her daughters, Mina and Jean, until her death in 1973; both are at rest in the Makaroff Cemetery. Their daughter Mina, attended school at Makaroff and Roblin and took a course in Home Economics at the University of Manitoba.  She worked in Winnipeg until 1942 when she was called to Ottawa to work for the Department of Defense. After the war she was employed as Secretary for Dominion Rubber Co in Winnipeg  she married Gilbert Snell in 1948. They made their home at Kirkfield Park and had three children: Linda, Gordon and Lorna. They also raised Gilbert’s two daughters of a precious marriage, Audrey and Judith. After her husband’s death in 1977, Mina took part time work as a tax consultant with U&R Tax Services of Winnipeg.  Their daughter Linda married Laurence Nahnybida and had one son, Jason; Gordon, employed by Manitoba Telephones, married Bonnie Ellingson; Lorna worked for the Manitoba Government and married Bill Lynch; Audrey managed her own travel agency in Calgary; Judith married Don Suszinski and had three children: Jodine, Donna and Barbara. Jean, the youngest child of Charles and Jean Elder, graduated from Makaroff Consolidated School in 1941 and was called to Ottawa in 1943 to work for the Department Allowance Board. She was later employed in Vancouver for a short time before returning in 1946 to work for the Manitoba Government in Winnipeg. The following year she married Alton Robinson; they had three children: Douglas, Gay and Marilyn.

LLOYD ELDER, born 1915 at Waskada, began school at Arnaud and completed his education at Makaroff. In 1939 he married Irene Boyce (see H. Boyce) and took over NW 28-27-29 where their eldest daughters Beverly and Florence were born. In 1944 they moved across the Boggy to NE 36-27-29, near Sunny Slope where four more children: Ronald, Veryl, Earl and Bruce were born; all attended Sunny Slope and Roblin schools. The Elder farming operations expanded over the years as new land was purchased and rented; their operations consisted mainly of growing grain and raising livestock. A new modern house was built on their home place in 1951. Lloyd and Irene were very active in their community and he served for many years as Councilor in Ward 4 of the Rural Municipality of Shell River. Beverley married Lloyd Ruschiensky, lived at Regina and had three children: Bradley, Cheryl and Laura. Florence married Ben Siemens, made their home in Calgary and had two sons, Sean and Ryan.  Ronnie married Gwen Hilland of Roblin and lived in Saskatoon. Veryl married Wesley Becker and lived at Regina; they have three sons: Craig, Chad and Todd.

CHARLES ELDER, born 1918 at Waskada, began school at Arnaud, completed his education at Makaroff and helped his father on the farm until volunteering for active service in 1942. He served in Great Britain, France, Holland and Germany, returning to Canada for discharge in 1946.  With the assistance of the Veteran’s Land Act he obtained his own farm NE 26-27-29 but continued to work with his father’s established farm operation on the adjoining property. In 1951 Charles married Edna Boyce (see Stan Boyce) and later had the misfortune of losing his arm in a farm accident. Charles and Edna raised four sons: Daryl, Keith, Brian and Darren.

ALEXANDER ELDER, known as “Sandy”, was one of the brothers that Charles Elder enticed to Canada. Sandy was born 1887 at St. Andres, Scotland and immigrated to southern Manitoba in 1909.  He farmed in and around the Waskada district until 1922 and then in the Red River valley for six years. He later returned to Waskada where he farmed until coming to the Makaroff district in 1934.  A horse breeder, he traveled the district with his Clydesdale stallion and after 1937 went to work for Lawrence Traub, where he remained for many years. He became “Uncle Sandy” to all the children of the Traub families. When his health failed he went into the Health Care Units in Roblin where he died in 1981. He is resting in the Makaroff Cemetery.

JOSEPH BECK, born and educated in Austria, came to Canada in 1908. He married Dora Nakonechny in 1913 and made their home at Calder, SK until coming to farm at Makaroff with their sons Tom, Pete, Steve and daughter Annie in 1927. For several years there had been only one blacksmith shop in the village of Makaroff. Built by J. Miller in 1907, it had been bought and sold by several over the years: Wilson, Art Sharpe, Charles Rogers, Henry Capelle and Walter Lupichuck. A second blacksmith shop was built and operated by Henry Beck in the 1920s and this was later taken over by his brother Joe. Joe and Dora’s daughter Annie, born at Calder in 1919, married Jack Pound (see Pound) and like her two older brothers, remained in the Makaroff district. Steve married Frances McGinnis (see Sylvester McGinnis) of Makaroff and made their home at Swan River.

TOM BECK, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Beck, married Chrissie (see Charles Rogers), granddaughter of James Rogers. Tom and Chrissie supported their community, took part in all local affairs and were one of the last of the original families to reside in the village. Their six sons and six daughters: Arlene, Doris, Evelyn, Dale, Doug, Garry, Brian, Lawrence, Ann, Terry, Beverly and Dennis were educated in the Makaroff Consolidated School and Roblin Collegiate. After Tom’s death in the late 1990s, Chrissie retired to Roblin.  Their house was one of few residences still remaining in Makaroff at the time of the millennium, 2000. Their daughter Arlene married Eric Giest from Togo and made their home in Calgary. Doris married Carl Slugoski, lived at Flin Flon and had one daughter and four sons. Evelyn and her husband, Harry Hart lived at Flin Flon and had two children, Kevin and Kim. Dale and his wife Betty Bannick lived in Calgary with their daughter and two sons, where he died in 1991; Doug and his wife Linda Barber of Lloydminster SK lived at Calgary with their daughter; Garry, a painter, and his wife Bonnie Hanson and two daughters made their home in Calgary; Brian, also a painter, and wife Debbie Tarr of Oyen, AB, and their two sons lived in the city of Calgary. Lawrence worked in the mines at Flin Flon, married Sandra Davey of Makaroff and had one daughter and one son. Ann married Fidele Carriere of San Clara and lived with their two daughters at Port Coquitlam, BC. Terry and her husband Maurice Carriere of San Clara had one daughter and two sons and made their home in Calgary. Beverly married Terry Carriere of San Clara and lived in Medicine Hat, AB with their son and one daughter. Dennis married Debbie Styba of Roblin, operated a grader for the Shell River Municipality and had one daughter.

PETE BECK was a youngster when his family moved to the district; he received his education at the Makaroff Consolidated School and worked locally on farms during holidays and after school. In 1942 he joined the Pictou Highlanders of Nova Scotia and took basic training at Fort Osbourne Barracks in Winnipeg, and Camp Silo in Brandon. He then was posted to Gander Bay, Newfoundland and later Sussex, NB. While stationed with his regiment in the Bahamas, British West Indies, he had the honour of being on guard duty during a visit of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. After his discharge in 1948, Pete returned to Makaroff where he purchased the house that originally had been built by A.B. Johnston, later used as a community hall and eventually moved onto Main Street across from the Red & White Store. He developed the property into a restaurant and the following year married Emily Kosinski of Zelena. In about 1955 they closed down the eating area and began to stock groceries. The two original grocery stores had by now been closed, thus Pete and Emily Beck’s establishment became the last supplier of food items in the village. After many years, they closed shop, renovated their property and developed it into a comfortable home for their retirement. At the beginning of the second millennium, they were one of the few remaining residents in the village of Makaroff. Pete and Emily had one son, Wayne. After completing school in Makaroff and Roblin, Wayne went north to work at The Pas and Churchill and eventually went into his own business in The Pas.

ADOLPH HISCHEBETT and his wife were married in Siberia, Russia and in 1928 immigrated to Canada. They came to join her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kimmel who had come from Russia several years earlier and rented the farm SW 30-27-29 at Makaroff.  During the 1930’s times were tough but Adolph was able to supplement the family income with doing blacksmith jobs for his neighbours; making rod-weeders, sleighs for vans and other needed articles. The Hischabett family remained living with the Kimmels until the time of the parent’s deaths. Adolph eventually was able to purchase the property in 1946 and in time the house was renovated and new outbuildings were erected.  They remained actively farming until about 1960 at which time their two sons took over the operation. They had three sons: Jim, Bob and Arnold and one daughter, Eleanor. Their son Jim served in the army during WW2 , was wounded and while stationed in England met and married Dorothy Anderson. After his discharge, Jim brought his bride to Canada and made their home in Moose Jaw where he was employed as an electronics instructor. They had five children: Elaine, Marilyn, Karen, Bobby and Rickie.  Bob helped work his parent’s farm and acquired a quarter section of his own; he also acted as a barber in Togo and drove a school bus for the Togo School District. Bob married Eleanor Hamel of Runnymede and had two sons, Rodney and Mark. Arnold remained a bachelor, resided in Togo but farmed his own land at Makaroff as well as helping at his parent’s farm. Eleanor passed away in the 1960s and is resting in the Togo Cemetery.

GEORGE BECKER, son of McNutt, SK pioneers, came to Makaroff to rent NW 32-26-29 from J.R. Spear in 1929. George arrived with his wife Molly and their two little daughters, Verna and Beatrice. In the nineteen years they remained on this farm, five more children were born: Georgina, Roland, Lorne, Beverley and Dennis; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. The family struggled through the ‘Dirty Thirties’ and survived many a dirt storm when the air was black with drifting soil making it impossible to see more than a few hundred feet. They never forgot the day when, having just completed painting the house a light gray, a storm blew through their fields leaving the house a terrible mottled  black and grey. To make their meager food go further, they picked whatever wild berries could be found and remembered with nostalgia the huge bags of cranberries they lugged up the hills on the Arnott farm. The family never had a telephone as long as they remained on the Makaroff farm. They travelled with a team of horses until they could afford a second-hand Ford in 1934; they farmed the land with horses until buying a tractor from Bert Doering of Deepdale in 1945. The Becker family left Makaroff in 1948 to purchase a farm in Stornoway, SK. Their daughter Verna married Arthur Doering of Deepdale, farmed in the Grandview district and had five children, three daughters and two sons. Beatrice married Leonard Ruf of Stornoway where they farmed and raised two girls and three boys. Georgina married Elmer Ruf and also farmed at Stornoway; they raised two girls and one boy. Roland took over his parent’s farm after his father’s death in 1953; he married Marlene Rathgaber of Stornoway and had two girls and one boy. Lorne married Evelyn Bowes of Togo and worked as a mechanic in Yorkton. Beverley and her husband Elwood Kaminsky worked and made their home in Winnipeg. After George Beckers’s death his widow, Molly, moved to Winnipeg where she lived with Beverley and Elwood, and for a number of years worked at St. John’s College. When his mother left Stornoway, her youngest son Dennis, remained on the farm with Georgina and Elmer.

WILLIAM HALIREWICH, known as “Bill”, was born in the Ukraine and came to Canada in 1923 to the farm of his uncle Peter Labuik at SE 30-28-29. Sometime later, when Peter took ill and returned to the old country, Bill worked with Andrew Labuik and then at jobs in the Russell area where he met Mary Maximnuk of Togo.  After their marriage in 1928, Bill and Mary spent the winter at the farm of Andrew Labuik and in the spring of the following year rented the Fillmore property SW 28-27-29.  In 1930 they purchased his uncle Peter Labuik’s farm SE 30-28-29, where they remained until their retirement to Yorkton in 1968. Bill died in Yorkton in 1989 and eleven years later, on October 5, 2000, Mary celebrated her ninety-second birthday. They had three sons, George, twins Mike and John, and two daughters, Pauline and Annie; all attended the Makaroff School. Their son John attended Normal School in Winnipeg and taught one year at Dutton Siding (half way between Grandview and Gilbert Plains) before becoming ill; he died in 1964.  Mike married Dorothy Klyn and farmed the Alf Diamond place one mile north of Howard Wilson. They had three daughters: Diane, Kandra and Debbie and two sons Kevin and Michael. After their retirement from the farm, Mike and Dorothy moved to Roblin where Mike drove a school van for several years. Pauline and her husband, Frank Werbowski, farmed southwest of Roblin and had two sons: David (who died at twenty-seven years of age) and Donald who made his home at Edmonton, AB. Annie and her husband, Tony Oucharik, farmed at Wroxton, SK and had three children, two girls and one boy: Tammy lived at Terrace, BC; Anthony in Utah, USA and Alicia, a nurse in Saskatoon, SK. George, the eldest of Bill and Mary’s children, was born on the Fillmore farm SW 28-27-29in 1929, attended school at Makaroff and in 1951 purchased SE 12-28-29 at Silverwood. In 1952 he married Eva Andrusaik of Poplar Point, SK and sometime later purchased and moved to his parent’s farm SE 30-28-29 beside the Saskatchewan boarder. George and Eva had five children: Garry (1954) lived at Yorkton, SK and had one son; Lorne (1955) farmed at Makaroff; Carol (1957) married Steven LeMert , lived at Las Vegas and had three children; Pamela (1962) and Lorie (1966) both made their homes in Calgary, AB where Lorie married George Krottner and had two children.
GEORGE SHEARER and his siblings emigrated from Russia in 1913 to join their father who had come to the Rhein area of Saskatchewan. Later they moved to farms at MacNutt and Togo. At Runnymede in 1926, George married Emily Burbank, better known as “Millie”. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Melchoir Burbank of Wallace, SK who had also emigrated from Russia. George and Millie farmed the Weitzel farm in the Makaroff District for two years then moved west across the border.  In 1942 they returned to Makaroff to section 6 and eventually purchased the original Tony Walker homestead, NW 28-27-29.  They farmed with horses until 1943 when they purchased their first tractor, a new John Deere Model A, and a used 1929 Pontiac Sedan.  For years they raised hens and shipped eggs to customers as far away as Dryden, ON. Their children: daughters Alma, Georgina, Eleanor, Elrose and son, George, all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. In 1971 they sold the farm to Ernie Davis and retired to Roblin. After George’s death in 1986, Emily moved into Maple Manor where she lived until her death in May 2000.  Both are resting in the Roblin District Cemetery. Their daughter Alma married Steve Sembaluk, farmed in the Swan River area and had one daughter and three sons. Georgina married Jack Nabe (see Nabe) of Makaroff and farmed SW 8-27-29 across the Togo road from his parents. They had one daughter and three sons. Eleanor married Ray Wilson (see Wilson) of Makaroff who made a career in the R.C.M.P; they were stationed in parts of B.C. and Ontario, had two daughters and later made their home in Calgary. Norma married Ken McNichol of Roblin, made their home in Winnipeg and later, Calgary. Elrose married William McNichol of Roblin and lived in Winnipeg. George, the only son of George and Millie Shearer, married Rena Bangle (see Bangle) of San Clara. He owned and operated a bulldozing business and worked throughout the Makaroff District until moving north to operate in the Thompson area.

BILL NOWELL, accompanied by his sister Pearl and brother Charlie, came to the home of Mrs. Alec Rogers in 1928 to join their sister Ada who had come previously. Bill worked on the Roger farm for two years before going to work for John Beattie where he remained until moving to Fort Saskatchewan in 1938. In 1940 he enlisted in the 49th Loyal Edmonton Regiment at Edmonton. He served in England, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany and was the recipient of six war medals. While in England in 1943 he married his wife Nora. He returned to Canada in 1945 and Nora and their daughter Valerie joined him at Makaroff in 1946; met by Bill’s sister Pearl (see Elliott) and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rogers. The family lived in the house of Mervyn Evans until their house was completed on NE 8-27-29, the home in which their second daughter, Pamela was born. Bill purchased a new Ford tractor and implements to break the sod in the valley and while he was busy on the land, Nora was learning to can meat and vegetables and make preserves. Bill drove the school van for several years; Nora joined the W.I. and the Ladies’ Aid. In 1956, after renting their land to Lorenzo Hohle, Bill went to work up north at Flin Flon and Lynn Lake while Nora and their two girls visited her family in England. The following year Bill sold the Makaroff farm to Bruno Mitchell and went out to Abbotsford, B.C. where his family later joined him. However, work was scarce and the family moved back to England in 1958. While in England, their son Ricky was born and Bill became very ill, spending six months in a convalescent home. Returning to Canada in 1961, they made their home for a time at MacGregor, MB where his sister Ida was living, and then at Otter Falls and Churchill before moving to Kitimat, Prince Rupert and finally to Stewart, BC.  Their daughter Valerie married Bill Bottoms in 1960 while the family was in England. They and their daughter Sheryl came to Canada in 1966 and eventually made their home at Prince Rupert, BC.  Pamela married Bill Senior in 1966, made their home at Stewart, BC and had two daughters, Debra and Angela.

GERALD VAN DRETCH was born and educated in The Hague, Netherlands where agriculture courses at the University of Utrecht included a year’s volunteer work on a farm.  He immigrated to Canada in 1927, worked on farms near Brandon in the summers and attended the University of Manitoba during the winter.  In 1929 he went back to Holland, married Johanna de Klerk and returned with his bride to Winnipeg where they both continued their education: Gerald graduated in Agriculture and his wife, better known as “Jean”, took courses in Home Economics. In 1930 they came to Makaroff and purchased 7-27-29 (including livestock and furnishings) from Albert Alder.  After living all their lives in a city, life on a farm without running water and electricity was a rude awakening. But they adjusted, went into mixed farming and entered full heartedly into community affairs. They had seven children: Joan, Sonja, Gerald, Audrey, Cedric, Dennis and Reginald but had the misfortune of losing their son Dennis at six months. Gerald organized a grain club and Jean a garden club, under the youth activity branch of the Department of Agriculture Extension Service (this later became the 4-H Movement). Gerald became a member of the Order of Foresters, the Manitoba Pool Elevator Association and the Makaroff Curling Club, serving as president for several terms.  Jean joined the Makaroff Women’s Institute in 1930, served in official capacities both locally and provincially and organized the first out-of-the-province trip to New Brunswick of which sixteen Roblin-Russell members took part. Gerald served in the Patricia Irene Brigade of the Dutch Army 1940-1945, training at Stratford, ON and stationed for two years at Wolverhampton, England and two years as assistant minister of the Department of Agriculture of the Refugee Dutch Government in London where, in honour of his work, he was awarded a degree. He returned to Canada in 1945 and resumed his lifelong hobby in horticulture, his favorite being the gladioli. After Gerald’s accidental death in 1951, Jean continued to farm for several years. She lost her young son Gerry to cancer at the age of twelve and later moved to Roblin to a new home on Windsor Street.  She joined the Rebekah Lodge, was a charter member of the Roblin Hospital Society and a founding member of the Roblin ‘50 and Over’ Club.  Their daughter Joan became a teacher and in 1958 married Hank Giesbrecht, and because of his involvement in the trucking industry, moved around B.C. considerably until settling in Abbotsford. They had three sons: Dennis, Randal and Gary. Sonja took Home Economics and worked as an instructor for Singer Sewing Co. and later as a telephone operator; she married William Ramsay in 1956, had a family of five: Grant, Dallas, Donna, Kathy and Scott, and farmed at Cardale until moving to Rivers. Audrey took Home Economics and secretarial courses, worked in a real estate office and at the airports in Brandon and Rivers. In 1962 she married James Ashton, farmed and later moved to Rivers; they had two sons: Kent and Douglas. Cedric attended college in Wilcox, SK and Winnipeg, obtained his journeyman papers as a machinist-millwright and worked at Thompson, Winnipeg and Esterhazy; he married Shirley Belcourt and had four children: Vincent, Glen, Shawn and Shelley.  Reginald graduated from the U. of Alberta with B.Phys. Ed. degree, and from the U. of N.B. with B.Ed. degree. He taught in high schools at Fredericton, N.B and in 1982 married Sheila McParland.

EZRA CRYDERMAN and his wife Pearl came from Radville SK to farm NW 28-27-29 at Makaroff in 1932. Their family consisted of seven children most of whom attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. Ezra was known for his knowledge and soothing powers with ill animals and this talent was always made available to his friends and neighbours. In 1939 the Crydermans moved to Togo; his wife died at Snow Lake in 1959. Ezra retired to Roblin in 1967 and later moved to Snow Lake, MB. Louis married Doris Pike and made their home at Camrose, AB with their two daughters, Coral and Delouise; Jay married Cheryl Appel and farmed NE 31-28-29 until moving to Togo where their daughter Diane was born; Ola married W. I. Clark and lived at Salmon Arm, BC; Edna married Raymond Scoville (see A. Scoville), had four children: Dale, Dwayne, Wayne and Keith and lived at Snow Lake; Elva married Ernest Busby, had four children: Alan, Dennis, Gail and Glenda and made their home at Flin Flon; Dorothy married Gilbert Walsh, had a family of three children and lived at Sudbury; William and his wife and family of four also made their home at Sudbury.

MIKE PROKOPOWICH immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1914 and three years later married Irene Zeleny. In 1932 they purchased a farm east of Makaroff where they lived until Mike’s death in 1953. They had a family of six: Peter, Walter, William, Alex, Frances and Elma; all attended the Makaroff Consolidated School. Shortly after her husband’s death in 1953, Mrs. Prokopowich sold the farm to Mr. Doering and purchased the old Crane house in the village. She and her daughter Elma and son Walter remained here approximately eight years. After Elma’s marriage to Leo De Lorme in 1962, she made her home in Yorkton with them and the Makaroff house was sold to John Wallace. Peter made a career in the military from 1937 to1969: first in the R.C.E.M.E. during WW2 and later the Provost Corps in Korea and London ON. After retiring he ran a taxi service for government personnel. Walter served with the Winnipeg Rifles in the Holland-Germany Occupational Force during WW2 and after discharge was employed on a repair gang for the National and U.G.G. elevators until his untimely death. William, perhaps better known as “Bill”, served in the Infantry during the latter part of WW2 and after his discharge made his home in Winnipeg with his wife and three children. He was employed by the city hydro until his death. Both Walter and William died in a tragic plane crash near Winnipeg in 1967. Alex served ten years in the Medical Corps of the Navy and in 1960 married Jean Couteau in Winnipeg. They and their two adopted children made their home at Vancouver, BC where he was employed as an X-ray Technician. Frances married Percy Lyons of Inglis in 1949; they farmed in the Inglis area for eighteen years before moving to a farm twelve miles south of Roblin. They had three children: Janet (Larry Field), Rhonda and Douglas. Elma and her husband Leo De Lorme lived at Yorkton and had one daughter.

MIKE SKREPNECHUK, born in Boulovena, Ukraine, immigrated to Canada and farmed at MacNutt, SK where he married Dora Chornoka of Calder, SK.  They later purchased land and moved their family to the Makaroff district in 1932; all children attended the Makaroff Consolidated School and Mike drove a school van from 1945 to 1950. A new house was built on the property in 1940 and a barn in 1944. Their daughter Rosie died in 1935 and is resting in the Togo Cemetery. Two of their children, Elsie and John, married while on the farm and in 1957 Mike and Dora retired to B.C. They moved to Terrace and in 1962 to Comox on Vancouver Island. In 1972 they moved to Cranbrook to be near their son, Peter. Their daughter Mary married Mike Kulachkowski and made their home at Saskatoon; Elsie married Paul Zalopski and resided in Kamsack; Marjorie married Emil De Vylder and owned a motel at Boulder City, Nevada; John served in the army from 1942 to 1944, married Mary Shastko, had five children and resided at Haney, BC where he was employed by the City Waterworks Department; Peter married Yvonne Brake, had one daughter and resided at Cranbrook, BC where he was employed in Telecommunications & Electronics Department of the Ministry of Transport.

ELMER BANGLE, was son of Rex Bangle and his wife Mary Larocque who had immigrated to Canada from North Dakota in 1902 to claim homestead SE 2-29-29.  Born 1920, Elmer left school at an early age and worked at various jobs in the area including labouring as a farm hand and cutting lumber in the Duck Mountains. In 1939 he married Grace Rogers (see Alexander Rogers) in Roblin and lived on the Rogers homestead NW 16-27-29 at Makaroff. They resided with Grace’s mother, were active in the community and after Eadith’s death in 1951, continued on the family farm. Their daughters Happie and Sandra became the third generation on the homestead. Elmer died in 1991; Grace remained on the farm until her death in 1993. Their daughter, Happie, married and had one son, Russell Timmerman of Edmonton. Sandra lived in Saskatoon with her husband Brian Heinz and had three daughters: Robin, Alison and Shawn.

WALTER LUPICHUK was the son of Mykita Lupichuk and Sophie Glutik. His father, known in Canada as “Mike”, had immigrated to Canada from Skale, Austria, settled at Comarna, MB and married Sophie at Winnipeg in 1905. Later that year they had come to the Roblin area, claimed a homestead in the Zelena district, and became involved in the building of the first church, the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Holy Eucharist. Mike built the beautiful white crosses, which stand above the dome, and the conastas inside the church.  Sometime later they moved to a farm north of Roblin where Mike set up a blacksmith shop and a sawmill. He had a big steam-engine threshing outfit and went threshing for other farmers. They had nine children: John, Annie, Walter, Mike, Mary, William, Frank, Mildred and Zelia. Their son Walter was a big help to his father. He liked to operate tractors and sawmills, could shoe a horse while still quite young and charged 60 cents for the job. He purchased a big truck and worked in the bush, trucking logs and lumber, and later learned the art of welding. In 1933 Walter married Nellie Nykolaishen of Ethelbert, MB and brought his bride to Makaroff where he purchased the blacksmith shop from Capelle and started his own business: welding, repairing machinery and cars, blacksmithing and shoeing horses. In winter his job was to keep roads open with a blade he mounted on a tractor. One May morning word came into town that a big black bear was chasing Bert Traub’s cattle; the news spread fast and within thirty minutes about a dozen men with a gun was assembled. Within two hours the big game hunters returned to town with their trophy! A picture was taken to mark the occasion. Walter and Nellie had one daughter, Patricia, and when the village began to decline they closed their shop and in 1944 moved into Roblin where they bought a garage and started a similar business. Walter joined the Roblin volunteer fire brigade in 1944 when the fire truck was a big water tank on a wagon pulled by horses, and when he retired in 1982, he had served the longest of any firefighter in Roblin. Walter and Nellie were also very active in their church and St. Vladimir’s College. Their daughter, Patricia, married Larry Korman and made their home at Thompson, MB where Larry worked for Inco. They had four sons: Doug played hockey in Germany; Terry was in electronics at Inco; Tim joined the R.C.M.P. and married Susan Pawley; and Rickie also played hockey.