Big FIVE-OH birthday wishes today to Alan Amon, husband of Mary Jean Kleinsteiber (great granddaughter of Hugo Kleinsteiber, who immigrated from Germany in 1867).
Much as the Greatrix families in eastern Ontario changed their name from Gratrix, Hugo Kleinsteiber changed his name from Kleinsteuber, and all his descendants have used that spelling since.
It is interesting to note that Anna Therese Kleinsteuber (known as Rosa), Hugo's twin sister, married Ocke Rolufs and they immigrated to Saskatchewan.
I am currently reading Richard Gwyn's excellent biography of Sir John A Macdonald (Canada's first Prime Minister), titled Nation Maker.
Prime Minister Macdonald recognized early on that the only way to make Canada a nation was to extend its borders from the Atlantic to the Pacific by building a transcontinental railroad. Most historians agree that Western Canada would have been annexed to America if this had not taken place.
Another master stroke by Macdonald was to survey all the land across the prairies prior to settlement (as opposed to the American model of settlers just arriving willy nilly and putting down stakes wherever they wanted). Quarter sections of land (160 acres) were offered to homesteaders for $10, and it is likely the Rolufs settled in Saskatchewan in this way.
Much as the Greatrix families in eastern Ontario changed their name from Gratrix, Hugo Kleinsteiber changed his name from Kleinsteuber, and all his descendants have used that spelling since.
It is interesting to note that Anna Therese Kleinsteuber (known as Rosa), Hugo's twin sister, married Ocke Rolufs and they immigrated to Saskatchewan.
I am currently reading Richard Gwyn's excellent biography of Sir John A Macdonald (Canada's first Prime Minister), titled Nation Maker.
Prime Minister Macdonald recognized early on that the only way to make Canada a nation was to extend its borders from the Atlantic to the Pacific by building a transcontinental railroad. Most historians agree that Western Canada would have been annexed to America if this had not taken place.
Another master stroke by Macdonald was to survey all the land across the prairies prior to settlement (as opposed to the American model of settlers just arriving willy nilly and putting down stakes wherever they wanted). Quarter sections of land (160 acres) were offered to homesteaders for $10, and it is likely the Rolufs settled in Saskatchewan in this way.