Jacob Victor Lehn,

born in Southampton, England, 1927

My parents were Jacob J. Lehn, born in 1891 in Jekaterinowka, Ukraine,and Margaret Rempel born 1889 in Jelenowka, Ukraine.

In 1926, Dad's entire family decided to move to Canada. My grandparents were too old to come but they wanted their whole family to go as there was no future for them in the Ukraine. Dad had one brother and three sisters who managed to come to Canada. Three of his brothers died in the Siberian concentration camps. In mother's family, only two brothers could come to Canada and her only sister came after the War, in 1947 with one daughter. Brother Peter was a cripple so the parents stayed behind with him.

In Southhampton we were all held up for health inspection. Mom needed to stay over for nine months because she had trachoma, an eye disease. I imagine that it cost too much for the entire family to stay so Dad went on to Canada with the second and third oldest children, namely Ed and Tena. Sister Louise, the oldest, and Theresa (Toni) stayed with Mother who was expecting a child. As a result, I was born in the primitive warehouse filled with rows of beds separated with curtains, for immigrants coming through on their way to Canada. The beds were deplorable and the bathroom not fit for hogs. To the best of my knowledge, there were between 50 and 75 people in this building. They had one cook stove. Mom said she always got up very early and cooked enough porridge for the day because later in the day there were many people waiting to use the stove.

In May of 1927 we joined Dad who had rented a 160 acre farm in Davidson, Saskatchewan. At that time Davidson had a good number of Mennonite families. The first two years we had good crops; then it stopped raining. The following two years consisted of one dust storm after another. My first memory of Davidson is when my sister Theresa and I where playing outside and a man came driving onto our yard with two of the six horses we had been farming with. I said, "Look, he is driving our horses!" Theresa said, "They are not ours any more; he is taking this farm over and we have to move".

My Dad and Mother's brother Uncle Abe loaded their and our possessions onto one train box car. Uncle Abe went with the train and Dad drove uncle's Model T with his wife and seven children to Sonningdale. Dad helped Uncle Abe build his log cabin. My 14 year old brother Ed hitched the horses to the wagon, mother loaded the family and we headed to Sonningdale in a covered wagon. I believe it took one week to get there. Here we purchased 160 acres of bush land from the Canadian Pacific Railroad for $10. Our first tasks were to build a house from the trees, dig a well, and plant a garden. After that was accomplished, we needed to build fences and clear land, all the while taking on any job to earn a few dollars.

Our neighbour Mr. Kipp helped us out by giving us a little piece of his field to put in a garden. Now we had all the firewood we needed, along with milk, eggs and a garden. We never went hungry. Dad soon got some sheep and we ate a lot of lamb. The coyotes enjoyed eating lamb as much as we did. Mother got a spinning wheel and made yarn with the sheep's wool. And soon she was knitting warm socks, mitts, sweaters and scarves. Besides this, she made many warm woollen blankets. Some she sold for $10 each.

In the Sonningdale area lived many Old Colony Mennonites who were hiding there so they would not have to send their children to school. When 10 or 12 Russian Mennonite families moved into the area, the parents soon got together and built the Stoney Crest School. The labour was all voluntary; the government paid for the windows, chimney and roof shingles.

Our first teacher was Miss Annie Dyck who stayed two years. She received $50. annually but did not get her first paycheck until two years were almost over. The school building was also used for our church services. When this school started, the Old Colony Mennonites soon left the area. Some went to the bush area of Carrot River, Saskatchewan and Burns Lake, British Columbia and many went to Mexico.

Because we didn't have enough fencing sister Toni (Theresa) and I spent many summers herding cows to keep them out of hay fields and hay sloughs. This was boring work until one day I went into town with Dad and found an old jack knife which had only part of one blade. I soon learned how to sharpen it. Now I could cut sticks and wherever we herded cows we would build our little farms. When we moved the cows to a new area we started all over again. This is where I developed my love for creating miniature things. I still have that knife.

Here at Sonningdale our sister Mary was born and died in infancy.

When I turned nine, my playing days were over and I had to start doing man's work. My Dad was not a very good farmer and did not like horses so I did much of the farm work requiring horses. I had to stay home from school in spring until the crops were in and in fall I stayed home for harvest. But somehow I made it through grade eight.

Sonningdale farm circa 1935. L: the summer kitchen and chicken house. R: the stable. Seated on wagon are Nellie, Toni, Henry, Peter, Mother. Louise is standing.

When I had finished school I stayed home to farm in summer and in winter I got jobs at a wood camp cutting fire wood. Generally there were six fellows who each had their team and sleigh. We cut trees, loaded them and brought them to the saw. There each load was weighed; one cord equals 5,000 pounds. We were paid $2 per cord. A good worker could cut about 3 1/2 cords daily. We sometimes had to haul the load five miles, so it was very hard on the horses. But we could feed them as much as we wanted, and I always took good care of my team.

 Ben Riley's wood yard at Wilson Lake, Saskatchewan

I loved horses and had an opportunity to buy four books on training and care of horses from Professor Jeff Beery of Ohio. This was a great help for training colts. At this time there were still many horses on the prairie. Firstly, the colt needs to be lassoed after which it will fight until exhausted. At this point, the halter is put on and the horse is tied to a post. Then the horse needs to be sacked out: meaning rubbed down with a burlap bag attached to a 5 foot stick until he gets used to being touched. Once the horse stops kicking, it can be touched with ones hands and talked to. The next step is to harness it up for a team. It needs to be tied up during the first winter. A three or four year old colt is ready for training.

In winter most farmers kept one team in the barn and turned the others out to fend for themselves. When prairie grass cures in the cold fall weather it makes good feed, unlike other grasses which have no food value after frost. It was great fun in spring to get together with other young fellows and round up all the horses and sort out everyone's own.

By 1949 there were only four Mennonite families left in Sonningdale. There was no social life for the young people and our family decided to move out. By this time, we owned a 1/2 section (320 acres) and rented 1 1/4 sections. We had a car, tractor, many horses and cattle and sold everything at an auction sale. Some possessions we loaded into our 1941 Ford one ton pickup and moved to Ontario.

Sister Tena Pauls and brother Henry were in Ontario already. Nellie stayed to finish her school year in Rosthern before joining us. My parents bought a 15 acre farm on concession 4 next to Tena and Bernie Pauls' west of Highway 77.

My first job in Ontario that winter of 1949 was at the Imperial Tobacco Company on Oak Street of Leamington. That same winter I met my wife-to-be Elizabeth Woelk who had moved from Hanley, Saskatchewan about 14 years earlier. I worked at Imperial two winters; in spring I got work at Ford's in Windsor. In June of 1951 Elizabeth and I were married in Leamington by Reverend N. N. Driedger. Lily Rempel and Peter Lehn were our attendants.

I continued to work at Ford's until they moved to Oakville in the late 1950s. The work in the foundry was dirty and unhealthy because of the smoke. The place was heated with 45 gallon barrels filled with burning briquets. Holes were cut along the bottom to draw air. They had no chimneys.

After this I worked for my brother-in-law Dick Froese building big boiler chimneys. Then I worked for Stewart Construction where we built the first basement on Danforth Avenue.

Elizabeth and I first rented two small rooms upstairs in Dick Froese's garage. Elizabeth had a house next door and in my spare time I enlarged it so that we could live in one half and Elizabeth's parents - Helen and Gerhard Woelk - lived in the other half. When our three children were born I built a small house in the back yard for my in-laws where they lived until my father-in-law passed away. Then I remodeled our house and sold my in-law's house..

At about this time I got a job in the maintenance department of the H J Heinz Company. For many years my boss was Stan Gomer. I had many good bosses over my 32 years of work there. During my second year at Heinz, I started taking night courses in welding, then in blueprinting. Once I had passed my examination the company paid for my expenses. I soon became a welder with papers for high pressure welding, steam fitting and plumbing.

During my spare time, I started building a miniature model of my Dad's farm in Saskatchewan. I made many things for my children and grandchildren. My grandchildren asked me to bring my miniature models to their school for the class to see. When I found out how much the children enjoyed this, I made a lot of small tools for the children to peel logs, split cedar shakes, saw logs and build cabins. It was a joy to see these little faces light up when they looked at my models. As a result, I went to many grade three classes and showed them pioneer living in Winnipegosis, Fork River, Ethelbert, all in Manitoba; Timmins, Porcupine and New Market, in Ontario. The community sale at UMEI is always a pleasure. I also took my displays to many schools in the Leamington and Essex County area.

Today Elizabeth and I have eight grandchildren and one great grandson. Our best years were when the children were all home and we went on many wonderful vacations together.

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

AK 2008

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