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John Jacob Driedger, born 1923, Neukirch, Russia |
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My earliest memory goes back to 1927, when I remember seeing a black person for the first time. My parents, Jacob and Maria Epp Driedger, had two daughters and seven sons, namely Johann who was not well from the time of his birth, never walked, and died at four years of age. Sister Katie was born next, then Jake, Peter, Nick, John and Abe. Maria was next and died at six months. Henry was the youngest. We came to Canada in 1924 and were hosted by the Cressman family in Waterloo, Ontario. Then Dad got a job in Zurich on a dairy farm owned by a Schwartzentruber family. We moved into a house on their farm. One year later, Dad and my uncles decided to move to Newton Siding, Manitoba, south of Winnipeg. We stayed there one year; the crop was poor and we were out of money. In the fall of 1927, we came to Pelee Island. First we lived on Middle Island, then we moved to the West Side, where Dad worked for Ed White. We lived in a house they had for hired help. After three or four years, we moved to Reverend Rempel's place on Victoria Road. Here John Rahm was the manager and we grew corn, soya beans and 16-18 acres of tobacco. I went to the North End school where I remember teachers Mr. Hillier and Mr. Shore; I spent my seven school years there.
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Our family left the Island in 1937 and moved to Arner, West of Kingsville, on the mainland. Here we lived in the Arner house and sharecropped their farm for five years. They also had cows and horses. In 1942 we moved to a farm on concession 5, just east of Highway 77 owned by Alphonse Gabriel. Here we stayed for five years and share-cropped burley tobacco, early and late tomatoes and cabbage. We five boys helped Dad. My brother Jake was already married. Then, in 1946, my parents purchased the concession 8 farm where my nephew Gerry and Nadine live in 2008. I believe we paid $8,500 for the fifty acres. Here we grew six acres of burley tobacco, Heinz tomatoes and potatoes. In 1950 I married Mary Bergen and we moved to the Arnold Wigle farm near Olinda, on Highway 3 and concession 3. We grew potatoes, cabbage, apples, peaches, corn and beans. We lived in a house on the farm. After one year, we moved to the Armstrong farm, next to where Herm and Liz Dick live today. We farmed here on shares. Henry and Katie Warkentin had share-cropped it the previous year. We farmed the 50 acres and lived here for two years. We purchased our own farm in 1952 on the Simpson Sideroad: County Road 37. Lawrence Coulter, who had owned the 25 acres previously, was retiring to Wheatley. On this farm, we raised our four children and in 1963, John Wiens built our new house. Walter Wiens and Henry Krahn worked for John at the time. We grew early tomatoes, cabbage, asparagus and potatoes. We planted a peach orchard with early and late Red Haven, Garnet Beauty, Albertas and Harmony varieties. We farmed until 1989, when we rented our land to brother Henry. In 2000 we sold the farm and moved into Leamington. AK 2008 |
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