My parents, John and Marie Dick, along with my brother Henry and I docked in Quebec in August of 1924. I was 2 1/2 years old and remember the following incident. Our family had a little stool which they took with them to Canada. Whenever my parents were not nearby I needed to sit quietly on that stool and wait for them. With all the commotion of disembarking I temporarily lost sight of Mom and Dad. Two English ladies came by and wanted to take me to Lost and Found, but I protested loudly and stayed on my stool until my parents returned.
Our first weekend in Canada went as follows: on Saturday, August 15, 1924, we took a train to Kitchener where Mr. Dan Eby met us. He took us to his home in Petersburg in his touring car. When we turned into the their yard, Mr. Eby honked the car horn making the dogs bark, the ducks quack and the chickens cackle; this was a big thrill for me. They had two sons Edwin and Gordon and one daughter, Ellen. The next morning we all headed for the Mannheim Mennonite Church and attended the service there. That afternoon, Mr. Eby asked a man from town to open his store so he could buy a pair of boots for my father, who needed to begin work on Monday. Early next morning, Mr. Eby took my Dad to work where he became part of the paving crew on the #8 highway from Kitchener to New Hamburg. We lived with the Ebys for seven months where we were treated like family members.
When spring came, we rented a house in Petersburg. During the summer months Dad continued to work on the highway; in winter he cut trees in the bush. By this time, some of our relatives who had headed West when they came from Russia were returning to Ontario to find work.
During the winter of 1926, our family, along with the Mathies, Thiessen and Berg families, rented a house near Tavistock; here brother Bill was born. We children had wonderful times there playing together.
In the meantime, Reverend Jacob W. and Mrs. Lohrenz had come to Essex County to act as liason for immigrant families coming to the Essex-Kent area. In spring of 1926, my father came to take a look around. First, he went to see Cornelius Neufeld who was already working in the fishery at Port Crewe. Then Dad walked and hitch-hiked to Kingsville’s brick yard and got work there. He found a white frame house owned by Everett Cowan to which he brought his family; rent was $6 monthly. It was here that I had my first drink of chocolate milk which was an absolutely delightful experience!
Because the Cowan house was large, a number of immigrant families lived with us until they found places of their own. Among them was the Cornelius Enns family and the Peter Warkentin family. In fact, it was Susie Warkentin who took me by the hand and got me started at the Inman School in 1927. Mennonite services took place in our house; Henry Thielman and Daniel Boschman led the Sunday School. I remember that one Sunday morning John Dresser’s barn burnt down. I also recall our first Canadian funeral when three year old Rudy Berg, son of David Berg, died.
In 1929, our family moved to the Zachary Wigle farm, located where Cashway Lumber is in 2008. Wigle’s had a son Arnold; they farmed 100 acres. We worked there and lived in a little house on their yard. The Reverend Janzen family and the Henry Willms family lived there later. The Wigle’s had a little pond, about four feet deep; I wasn’t allowed to go near it. One winter day I tested the pond’s ice with an axe and fell through. After sitting outside for a while, I decided to go indoors to face my punishment.
When we had lived there for two years, Dad was paid $30 monthly, no rental fee and free milk. In March of 1930, our wages needed to be reduced so we moved to a farm on Concession 5, Mersea Township owned by Howard Rymal which we worked on shares. The Rymals owned three farms. Most sharecropped 50-50. They grew early tomatoes and tobacco. I went to school at Mount Carmel and remember coming down with whooping cough. The crops sold well in those years. We delivered the tobacco to the Imperial Tobacco Company; part of our cheque went to the Agricultural Development Board in Toronto. We got a flu tobacco acreage to grow on shares. First we planted partly sprouted tobacco seeds in tobacco beds.
In spring of 1940, my parents purchased the 20 acre Dawson farm near Ruthven. It had a neglected stone house which still stands in 2008; we needed to re-plaster the house and install a bathroom. We planted peach trees and tobacco. We boys knew that it was important to work and use our money wisely. Henry and I worked in Hodges tobacco factory in Kingsville and gave $10 each week to our parents, the remainder was ours. We boys helped finance the gas heater. We worked on neighbouring farms in the summer where we earned $4 to $5 per day.
I celebrated my 21st birthday in 1942 and applied for alternate service exemption status. I was baptized in spring of that year and left for Montreal River on January 2, 1943. There we worked with picks and shovels building a right-of-way for Highway 17. After 4 1/2 months I began working on a Chatham dairy farm, owned by Harold Smyth, for two years. He had a herd of 80 Jersey cows. I was allowed to go home every other Saturday afternoon but needed to be back in Chatham early Monday morning.
In November of 1944, Helen Bergen and I were engaged; our wedding took place on April 7, 1945. We raised five healthy children and have 10 grandchildren. In our retirement, we keep busy with many activities including voluntary work at the Et Cetera Shoppe, golfing, visits to family and relatives and travel.
AK 2008
