SECOND GENERATION

2. Alexander Jacob Maunu was born on 13 May 1886 in Estelline, SD, USA. He died on 18 Jan 1946 in Vancouver BC. He was buried in Ocean View Cemetery, Burnaby BC. He was in Luthern. He was a in Farmer. Homesteaded NE Sect 2 Township 27 Range 6 W 3

Alexander (Sander) Maunu

Introduction

Canada's Homestead Act of 1882, and the subsequent surveying of the West, opened the Canadian Prairies for settlement. Under the act, men eighteen years and older could purchase a quarter section of land for $10. Each homesteader was required to build a habitable residence on the land and live on the land for 6 months of the year. In three years, provided that improvements had been made to the land each year, the homesteader acquired title to the quarter section (also referred to as the "home quarter"). Under "Pre-emption Rights" he then had the right to purchase another 1/4 section, within a limited distance from the home quarter, for $3 per acre.

Settlement of the Canadian Prairies, which were a part of the Northwest Territories at the time, proceeded slowly for a number of years, in spite of the attractive prices, because there were few railways to provide easy access to the land. In 1896 the Liberal Government under Sir Wilford Laurier and Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior, began to actively search out potential emigrants to fill the Canadian prairies. Initially farmers in northern Europe were targeted. Later farmers in the American mid-west where enticed to move to the prairies where they could homestead and purchase land for a fraction of the cost of land in the USA. Many Finns in these areas decided to move to an area of Saskatchewan south of the Qu'Appelle River approximately 100 miles north of the Canada/USA border which became known as "New Finland". Wapella was one of the nearest towns. Subsequent Finnish settlers were forced to look further west and north for land.

Sander ("Santeri" in Finnish), also known as Alexander Maunu -- the eldest of Jacob's and Karoliina's nine children, was born in Estelline on May 13, 1886. In 1904 he and his oldest brothers, who helped their parents farm near Estelline, decided to search for their own farmland in what was then called the District of Assiniboia in the Northwest Territories. The Maunu boys sent brother John on a trip there to search out new farmland. He traveled by train with Mike Mukari and John Kakko, north to Winnipeg, west to Regina and northwest to what would become the Loreburn district of the new Province of Saskatchewan located approximately 220 miles to the west-north-west of New Finland. John located suitable land there approximately 6 miles east of the South Saskatchewan River. He filed his and his brothers' claim to homestead land in the area and returned to South Dakota.

This biography is based on the "Biography of the Maunu Family" by Mildred (Maunu) Clearwater as it appeared in Echoes of Coteau with modifications and additional information by Ernest Maunu and Terry Maunu.



Emigration to Saskatchewan

In 1905 Sander, now 19 years old, and his brother Arvid left John behind to look after the farm near Estelline and emigrated to Saskatchewan to homestead the land John had reserved for them. Their first homestead was west of Loreburn, NE 2-27-6 W3rd. At the time most of the pioneers in the area built and lived in sod houses, miles apart, and bought oxen for the field work, however Sander and Arvid were two of the first to build a wooden house and had horses for the farming. In 1906 John Maunu emigrated to the Loreburn district to homestead NE 23-27-6 W3rd while his brother Charlie homesteaded SE 32-27-6 W3rd, a piece of land that two settlers had previously claimed but did not improve. Around the same time, 1906 or 1907, Jacob, Karoliina, Kreeta and the younger children moved to Astoria, Oregon where they had a cherry orchard.

When the Maunu's moved to the Loreburn area they became good friends with Jack (Jacob) Kemp, formerly "Kempainen", and his wife Mary (Logan) Kemp who had emigrated from Minnesota to Saskatchewan in about 1903. In the latter part of 1909 the Kemps returned to Minneapolis to visit their folks and Sander accompanied them. He met Mary's younger sister Elizabeth there and after a short courtship they were married in Minneapolis on January 18, 1910. Elizabeth, whose family name had previously been changed from "Luukinen" to Logan, was born on May 8, 1889 in French Lake, Minnesota. Her parents were married in Finland and had initially emigrated to Michigan. The family had later moved to Minnesota where they lived in French Lake. They also spent winters in Minneapolis.

Homestead Life Raising a Family

In the spring of 1910 Sander brought his bride back to his farm near Loreburn. Also in about 1910 his parents and the children emigrated to Saskatchewan from Oregon and settled on the east bank of the river near the Loreburn Ferry (NE 19-26-6 W3rd).

As Sander's brothers grew up and married, they searched for homestead land for themselves on the west side of the river since all of the land on the east side was already settled. Gideon was the first to register a homestead there on August 5, 1912 (NW 18-26-7 W3rd). In 1911 Arvid married Mary Salminen who had immigrated from Saarijarvi, Finland one year earlier. On April 8, 1913 Arvid filed a new homestead on the west side of the river, 6-1/2 miles to the southwest of Gideon's place (SW 34-25-8-W3rd).

The first four of Sander and Elizabeth's eight children were born on the initial farm west of Loreburn. Mildred (Milkret Margaret) on October 17, 1910, (Lillian) Florence on March 28, 1912, Ernest Alexander on January 19, 1914, and Nora (Ester Elanore) on February 22, 1916. In 1917 Sander sold this land and moved four miles north to land west of his brother John's land (NE 20-27-6 W3rd). A fifth child, (Sylvia Ilona) Irene, was born there on August 5, 1918.

Farming in the Dunblane District

In the fall of 1918 Sander sold his land and bought a farm owned by Joseph Davidson located 1-1/2 miles west of Dunblane (SE 16-26-7 W3rd). In January of 1919 they moved their possessions across the ice of the South Saskatchewan River and spent their first night with the Albert Sarkilahti's who lived 1/2 mile east of Dunblane. The next day they moved into the two-room house on the new farm.

Sander had left his steam threshing equipment behind which included a steam engine, a thresher, a cook house on wheels and two bunk houses on wheels, and had planned to move it all across on the Loreburn ferry in the spring. However that spring the snow melted quickly and the river ice breakup and resulting rush of runoff water swept the ferry away. Sander was forced to use the next closest ferry at Elbow to bring the equipment across. What would have been a 15-mile trip therefore became a 40-mile journey.

In 1920 Sander bought more land, a two-storey house, and other farm buildings located 3/4 of a mile west of his new farmyard. He purchased these from Gideon Dance who had earlier bought them from Albert Waugh. That year Sander moved the house and the other buildings to his farmyard and expanded the house. The house became one of the largest and most modern in the district. There even was a well next to the house connected to a hand-operated pump in the kitchen. The other buildings were converted to a barn and a blacksmith shop.

In 1920 Jacob and Karoliina bought land on the west side of the river, 4 miles southwest of Dunblane (NE 31-25-7 W3rd) and moved there with the youngest boys, William and Emil, and their daughter Minnie. Also in 1920, Charlie Maunu and Lilli Waara, who had run off to the West Coast to live in Victoria the previous year, returned to the Dunblane area to farm Jacob's homestead on the East river bank. A few years later in about 1924 they moved across the river to farm land four miles west of Dunblane, NW 6-26-7-W3rd, which had been originally homesteaded by Henry Saari in 1909.

The rest of Sander and Elizabeth's children were born while they lived on the farm near Dunblane. Two daughters were born on the farm, Pearl Mabel on August 14, 1921 and Helene Natalia on December 16, 1925. Their second son, Marvin Jack Deloinne, was born in Moose Jaw on April 19, 1935.

The Steam Threshing Era

During the early farming years on the east side of the river Sander owned a steam threshing outfit and with a crew of 18 men threshed crops for neighbours on first the east, and after 1920, on the west side of the river. Eight teamsters driving four teams of horses pulling hayracks brought the grain from the fields to where the steam engine and separator were set up. Two men were designated as field pitchers to help load sheaves of grain onto the hayracks and two men were designated as spikers who pitched the sheaves into the separator.

Sander was crew chief during the threshing season. Both he and Arvid, who had steam engineer papers, operated the steam engine and separator. Up until the advent of the gasoline powered tractor, their brother Charlie assisted in operating the separator, learning steam engineering from his older brothers. Gideon Maunu normally was a field pitcher and brothers William and Eemeli were either field pitchers or spikers. John Maunu, who continued to farm the homestead on the east side of the river after his brothers had moved to the west side, was also often part of the crew and performed various duties. In 1932 John moved to the west side, settled one-mile north of Sander's place, and worked for Sander and Arvid.

In 1932 the parents died Jacob on January 5th and Karoliina on August 20th. They were buried in the Dunblane Finnish Cemetery next to Kreeta Maunu.

In 1939 just as the depression was beginning to subside, Sander bought his first gasoline powered tractor and one year later a pull-type combine. This brought an end to the steam threshing days when large crews of men were required to harvest the crops.

Sander's Other Interests

Sander owned a garage in Dunblane between approximately 1921 and 1924. It was located on Main Street, Lot 7, Block 2. He hired Charlie Waara to run the garage. He and John Ray (Reimari Jussi) also owned the Town Hall located on Lot 2 Block 2 until 1925 when Sander sold his share to John. The Town Hall had formerly been the "White Finn" Hall, or "Paksi", built by Gideon Maunu on his homestead 3-1/2 miles west of town in about 1915. In about 1919-1920 the hall had been moved to Hudson Bay Company land (NW 8-26-7 W3rd) just south of Simon Rapakko's land located 2-1/2 miles west of Dunblane and in about 1921 Sander moved it into Dunblane.

Sander was also a skilled carpenter and built farmhouses and other buildings for both himself and neighbours. He often worked on contract during the off season when the farm workload was lighter. In 1939 he went to Moose Jaw to work on the construction of the Moose Jaw airport which was being built as a training base for the British Commonwealth airforces engaged in the early phases of World War II.

Sander had a blacksmith shop on his farm near Dunblane. He became a skilled blacksmith repairing farm implements; fashioning parts for farm machinery, and repairing Jack Mainville's drilling rig (a rig used to drill test holes at the nearby future site of the Gardiner Dam). He also made and repaired harnesses by hand.

Retirement

Starting in 1943 Sander, Elizabeth, and Marvin traveled to Vancouver to spend the winters with their eldest daughter Mildred. In 1945 Sander retired and his oldest son Ernest took over the farming with brother-in-law Alf Hackinen. While spending the 1945-46 winter in Vancouver, in January Sander was becoming anxious to return to the farm to see how things were going. On January 18, 1946 Mildred and Buster had all of the family then living in Vancouver over to celebrate Sander and Elizabeth's 36th wedding anniversary. During the festivities Sander suffered a severe heart attack and passed away at the age of 59.

After that, Elizabeth and Marvin stayed with Mildred and Buster for several years. Elizabeth died on February 11, 1971 at the age of 82.

Alexander and Elizabeth Maunu Obituary

Following are reproductions of newspaper clippings in remembrance
of Alexander (Santeri) Maunu and an obituary of Elizabeth (Logan) Maunu
provided by Ernest Maunu

Alexander Maunu

MAUNU--In loving memory of our dear father and husband
Alexander Maunu who passed away Jan. 18, 1946.

Always so good, unselfish and kind,
None on this earth you equal
I'll find. Honorable and true in all your ways,
Loving and faithful to the end of your days.
Honest and liberal, ever upright,
Just in your judgment, always right;
Loved by your friends and all whom you knew,
One in a million, that husband was you.
(One) year has past, our hearts still sore,
As time rolls on we miss you more;
A loving father, tender and kind,
What beautiful memories you left behind.


--Ever remembered by your loving
wife, sons and daughters and grandchildren.

MAUNU--In loving memory of Alexander J. Maunu who passed away January 18th, 1946.

We who loved you sadly miss you,
As it dawns another year;
In our lonely hours of thinking,
Thoughts of you are always near

--Ever remembered by his loving

He was married to Elizabeth Logan on 18 Jan 1910 in Minneapolis MN. Elizabeth Logan was born on 8 May 1889 in French Lake MN USA. She died on 11 Feb 1971 in Vancouver BC. She was buried on 16 Feb 1971 in Ocean View Cemetery, Burnaby BC. Alexander Jacob Maunu and Elizabeth Logan had the following children:

+11 i. Mildred Margaret Maunu.
+12 ii. Lillian Florence Maunu.
+13 iii. Ernest Alexander Maunu.
+14 iv. Ester Elanore Maunu.
+15 v. Sylvia Ilona Irene Maunu.
+16 vi. Pearl Mabel Maunu.
+17 vii. Helen Natalia Maunu.
+18 viii. Marvin Jack Deloinne Maunu.