52 Ancestors #18: Biking Across Western Canada in 1930

Ancestor Name:  William Warm

I have blogged about the adventures of William Warm before, which included stealing a train during World War I; he was the husband of my second cousin once removed. William and his family arrived in Canada on 27 August 1927 aboard S/S Seydlitz. With the help of Rev. Emil P. Wahl of the American German Baptist Mission, the family made their way Winnipeg, Manitoba to help harvest a bumper crop of grain in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. Bill decided to stay and try his hand at farming. After a few years of battling dust storms and other crop failures, Bill realized farming in that area of Canada was not for him.

He took off on 30 July 1930 on the one-speed Opel bicycle he brought with him from Germany and headed for Vancouver to look for his uncle, Dave Janzen. The description of the trip is included in Lucille Fillenberg Effa's wonderful book, Our Schalin Family: 1770-2003. I've included an excerpt here:

"He reached Calagary sooner than expected so carried on to Banff, before stopping for the night beside a river, near the roadside. Bill's slumber under the stars was soon interrupted by a bear attempting to ransack his rucksack. Thankfully, the furry thief was scared off when Bill jumped up abruptly and shouted at it.

Photograph of Bill's Opel bicycle during his trip across western Canada.
Photograph taken by William Warm

West of Banff, he headed south through the Windermere valley to Cranbrook, then west to Creston where he crossed the Arrow Lakes by ferry, at a cost of $0.05. Leaving Nelson, he continued his journey pedaling through the West Kootenays. Arriving at the foot of the 12-mile long hill outside of Rossland a kind soul in a Ford touring coupe stopped and offered him a rope tow. Bill accepted the offer but made the mistake of tying the rope to the spare tire on the back of the car. His second mistake was tying the other end to the bike's handle bars. Up, up, up they went through many switchbacks, before reaching the crest of the hill -- at least a half hour's grind. But as the law of gravity would have it, what goes up soon comes down -- rapidly. Bill, pell-melling behind, shouted for the driver to stop. He did. But Bill zoomed right on by, only coming to an abrupt halt in the ditch when the rope length ran out and snapped. After picking himself up, he immediately noticed the bicycle wheel now in the shape of a figure eight. What to do? He took the wheel off, picked it up, and bent it back into shape across his knee, reinstalled the wheel and carried on, declining an offer for further towing.

Interesting escapes weren't yet over. Upon arriving in Grand Forks, Bill was greeted by a bevy of stark-naked ladies protesting something as they paraded about the town trying to make a political point. Thankfully, this occasion was not planned for Bill so he kept on pedaling by, leaving the local RCMP officers to handle the problem presented by a group of Russian Doukabour 'mommas.'

Bill eventually arrived in Vancouver but still had to find Uncle Dave, without an address nor a phone number, but knew he lived on Lulu Island somewhere. Bill remembered having seen an advertisement for the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the German magazine Der Sendbote. He found the church on 52nd Avenue near Fraser Street. As it happened the pastor, Rev. Fred Mueller (son of Rev. F. A. Mueller[1]) knew Uncle Dave and directed Bill to his home.

William Warm and his Opel bicycle

Thus ended Bill's long journey sometime in August 1930. He averaged over 70 miles a day, and more amazing, never had one flat tire."

This is my entry for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge.

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William Warm was born on 13 Dec 1909 at Millirowa, Russia, to John and Helen (Janzen) Warm. After being displaced several times during World War I and afterwards, the family arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada, aboard the S/S Seydlitz on 27 August 1927. William married Norma Viola "Minnie" Grapentine on 6 October 1936. He died on 26 Aug 2007 at the age of 97.

To read more about William Warm's early life and journey from Odessa to Vancouver, including stealing a train, click here.

[1] Rev. F. A. Mueller was the German Baptist minister responsible for bringing several families from the Volhynia region of what was then Russia to the Leduc area of Alberta, Canada, including my maternal grandmother's Schalin family.

Odessa to Vancouver the Long Way via Vladivostok

William Warm (1909-2007), the husband of my second cousin once removed had one of the most interesting life stories I have yet discovered. Sit back and buckle your seatbelts, it will be a wild ride -- not everyone you meet steals a train!

William Warm's life travels

He was born on 13 Dec 1909 in Millirowa near Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine). In Nov 1914, Russian soldiers stormed into town and led all able-bodied men away, including William's father, John. The men were conscripted into the army and served as soldiers or paramedics.

Not long after the men were taken, the Russian soldiers returned in the middle of the night and rounded up all the women and children. They were jammed into cattle cars and traveled east by train. Then they disembarked and were loaded onto sleighs and continued east in sleigh convoys until they finally arrived in Vladivostok, Russia. Many died along the way. The Warms, however, were reunited with their father. The family were prisoners in Vladivostok unil May 1917 where they cut timber for the Russian Army.

When the Russian Revolution came to Vladivostok, Russian army discipline broke down and the prisoners were able to get a train together with the help of German soldiers. Five families organized the effort and ran the train with a couple hundred people onboard, including the Warms. When they ran into warfare, they would back up the train and wait until the coast was clear. It took three months for the train to get to Moscow.

Under the jurisdiction of the Red Cross, the Warm family was sent to Koenigsburg, East Prussia, which was still under German countrol.  They were cleaned up, deloused and given clean, warm clothing. Later they were sent on to Gdansk, Poland.  John Warm, William's father, was conscripted into the German army and sent to the Western front. When the war was over, he returned to his family in Gdansk. John served in both the Russian and German armies during World War I.

The Warm family lived in Gdansk until 1924 when it was declared a free city and the Germans were kicked out. The family then moved to Berlin. In 1927, they traveled to Bremen, Germany, along with twelve other families and boarded the S/S Seydlitz bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

North German Lloyd Line's S/S/ Seydlitz

They were met in Halifax on 27 Aug 1927 by Rev. Emil Wahl, a member of the German Baptist Church mission, who had arranged for the families' travel. They were transferred to the Canadian Pacific Railroad and traveled to Winnipeg, Canada.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, train station

Rev. Wahl learned that immediate help was needed to harvest a bumper grain crop in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. William joined the group that helped with the harvest and stayed until spring. In July 1930, he hopped onboard his one-speed Opel bicycle that he brought with him all the way from Berlin and headed to Vancouver. This trip alone is worth a separate post. In August 1930 he arrived in Vancouver and stayed with his uncle, Dave Janzten.

All this happened to William Warm before he was 21!

William and Norma (Grapentine) Warm and children about 1952
Photo courtesy of Lucille Fillenberg Effa