Adam Sandau

GEDCOM Note

Adam SANDAU was born the third child and first son of Gottlieb SANDAU and Christine KLEISS on Saturday, November 25, 1865. He was number 51 of 57 children born in Katzbach that year. Adam would have experienced considerable heartache as a young child. His older sisters, Katharina and Karoline, died within two days of each other in October 1872. They were killed by a throat-infection ("Halsentzuendung"), which took the lives of nearly 50 children in Katzbach in less than a year. At this time, Adam was just under seven years of age. Younger brothers Gottlieb and Jakob also died before Adam was 10.

Still, Adam survived his childhood when most of the Sandau children did not. On Tuesday, February 5, 1889, at age 23, he married 21-year-old Katzbach resident Margaretha Finkbeiner.

It was a common saying in Bessarabian-German history that the first generation experienced death "(Tod"), the second misery ("Nod") and third bread ("Brod"). Adam Sandau would have been the third generation Sandaus in Katzbach, a generation in Bessarabia that finally experienced better times in the history of the colonists there.

Adam probably took over his father's land under inheritance laws in Bessarabia which saw property go to the youngest son. While Adam was actually the first-born son (i.e. potentially the oldest), the deaths of younger brothers likely left him inheriting the property. The land was likely in parcels, part of the entire area of the Katzbach community's land, consisting of 3,892 desjatines (10,500 acres) in the form of a slanted diamond.

Adam would have seen important changes in the Katzbach. In 1904, a large canal was dug through the village to replace the natural canal (probably the Aliaga Creek). He would have watched proudly as the village erected a new church, dedicated on Sunday, November 6, 1894. It seated 600 and cost 10,000 rubles to build. Religious and church life in Katzbach was "spirited," writes Albert Kern in his "Homeland Book of the Bessarabian Germans": "Church attendance was not only a duty but a spiritual need." Adam and Margaretha participated in church life in Katzbach. The 1883-1901 Katzbach Family Book indicates that Adam took communion on 26/9, 1892; and 26/3 and 10/10, 1893. Margaretha is recorded as taking communion much more often: in addition to the three times with her husband, she partook on 9/3 and 16/10, 1894; 4/6 and 24/12, 1895; 16/4 and 29/8, 1899; 17/12, 1900; and 23/12, 1901. (This sacrament was administered only periodically in many Bessarabian villages because pastors had to serve several communities.)

While the family saw progress, they also suffered many challenges along with the rest of the Katzbach villagers. According to Professor Arnold Winger's 1929 Katzbach chronicle, "one good crop every 4 or 5 years came along. There were years when absolutely nothing was harvested." Total crop failures occurred in 1892, 1899 and 1904.

DETERIORATION IN RUSSIA Adam was of the generation of Bessarabian Germans who saw freedom from military service taken away by the Russian government, despite this being promised in Czar Alexander's manifesto that invited Germans to colonize the province. Some young men were recruited into the Russian army, often selected through a lottery system in which those who were eligible had to draw numbers deciding their fate. "The colonists had to endure much in times of war, " explained Winger. "The men were out in the battlefield. Those few who were not soldiers had to go out to dig trenches (okopi) or had to build roads. Many a field was left unworked during this time." This cancellation of the right to freedom from military service would affect the Sandau family directly in later years.

Land shortages were becoming increasingly difficult, preventing fathers from buying their older sons property on which to farm. Winger's chronicle says, "Because Katzbach consisted of only 3,892 desjatines (10,500 acres) of land and there were no landowners nearby from which one could buy or rent land, Katzbach was soon overpopulated and many were persuaded to immigrate elsewhere."

No doubt these issues were a concern to Adam, as they were to other Bessarabian Germans. With offers of 160 acres of free land in Canada to those willing to homestead there, Adam began looking to emigrate.

Several of Adam and Margaretha's offspring died as infants or older children. Son Konrad died on January 2, 1892 at just 16 days of age of "Gicht" (Gout), a disease characterized by painful inflammation and swelling of the joints (check other sources to elaborate).Quite a few children died around the same time of this disease in Katzbach. Daughter Margaretha died sometime after January 4, 1899 (the last entry in the Katzbach church death records of 1821-1899) and before May 27, 1911 (when the family left Hamburg, Germany, by ship and she is not listed in the ship's manifest).

Son Gotthilf was born August 2, 1906, and seems to have died in May, 1911, just after the family left Katzbach for Canada (see below).

EMIGRATION In late April or early May of 1911, Adam and his family left Katzbach for the final time. Neighbors or relatives in Katzbach likely drove them by wagon to Kischineff, the capital city of Bessarabia. In Kischineff, the capital city of province of Bessarabia, the Sandaus boarded a train and began a journey to Canada. From Russia, they probably travelled through Poland and then through Germany to the port city of Hamburg.

Son Gotthilf seems to have departed "nach America" with the rest of the family, as listed in the 1883-1901 and 1892-1901 Katzbach Family Books. However, the S.S. Pisa ship's manifest does not list him at all, either as dying during the voyage or arriving in Quebec City on June 10, 1911. He is likely to be the child that E. Margaret Sandau refers to in her article on Adam and Margaretha Sandau in "Maple Creek and Area: Where Past is Present" (2000): "Just prior to immigrating, a young son (name unknown) had died of diphtheria causing the family to be quarantined for a three-week period before departure." It seems possible that Gotthilf died between the time that the family left Katzbach and it sailed from Hamburg on May 27. He would have been just under 5 years of age, certainly fitting the description "young son." (Diphtheria is an acute infectious disease that attacks the throat or other areas. (It produces a toxin that circulates in the bloodstream and causes various other symptoms, including fever, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. More serious symptoms can include breathing-obstruction due to tonsil inflammation, paralysis of speech, sight, breathing, or walking. Heart muscles and nerves may be affected, causing heart failure, paralysis, and sometimes death.) The Sandau's dream to find a better life in Canada had already cost a life only days into their trip.

The Sandaus sailed as third-class, steerage passengers aboard the steamship S.S. Pisa. The ship left Hamburg on Saturday, May 27, 1911, then Bremenhaven in Gemany on Sunday, May 28 and finally Rotterdam, Holland, on Monday, May 29 from Germany. The family was headed over the Atlantic on a one-in-a-lifetime ocean journey to Quebec City in Canada.

According to the "Emigration-Ships Mailing List by Ted Finch" on the Web, the Pisa was 14 years old, was 389 feet long, had one funnel, two masts, a single propellor, and sailed at a speed of 12 knots. According to the Pisa's manifest, it was a 3,244--ton vessel of the Hamburg America Line, captained by M.V. Vohren. The boat had more than 11,408 feet of passenger space in its four compartments. It was capable of legally carrying 754 adult passengers, but on this trip it wasn't full. Adam and his family were among the 599 persons on the ship (491 adults and 108 children)--all third-class steerage passengers.

Adam and his family are listed in the ship's manifest as number 1684 on page 16. The family had $2,000 in cash with them, quite a considerable sum as compared to other mostly Polish individuals or families on the same page (who were mostly headed to "Star City", Saskatchewan). These others had from $25 to $200 with them. Was the Sandau's larger amount of money just from selling a sizeable portion of family land in Katzbach?

The manifest lists Adam, 45 years, Margaretha, 43, Maria, 18, Theodor, 15, Lydia 11, Emilia, 9, Jakob, 7 and Elsa, 1 1/2. The family members are listed as wanting to permanently reside in Canada, as being able to read and write, as being born in Russia, as being of the German race, and destined for "Walsh, Alberta." They were listed as Evang.-Lutherans. Adam is described as having been a "farm labourer" for 31 years (from 1881-1911) in the country from which he came, and that he had intended to do the same in Canada. Margaretha was a "housewife." Maria was described as "maid servant" in Russia and would be one in Canada. Theodor was a "farm labourer" in Russia since 1911, and would be that in Canada, as well.

On June 10, 1911, the ship's surgeon signed the "Certificate of Ship's Surgeon" certifying that he daily made a general inspection of the passengers on board, and at least once during the passage did a detailed examination of each immigrant. " . . . I have seen no passenger thereon," he certified, "who I have reason to believe is, or likely to become, insane, epileptic or consumptive, or who is idiotic, feeble-minded or afflicted with a contagious, infectious or loathsome disease; or who is deaf, dumb or blind or other otherwise physically defective or whose present appearance would lead me to believe that he or she might be debarred from entering Canada under the "Immigration Act with the exception of . . . two persons. . . ."

The boat arrived at Quebec, Canada, on Saturday June 10, 1911, at 3:45 p.m., and docked 15 minutes later. Between 4:20 p.m. and 7:00 p.m, Dr. Gosselin and Dr. Nadeau did medical exams of the Sandaus and all the other steerage passengers.

At 7 p.m., the steerage passengers--the Sandaus among them--left by C.P.R. "Special Train," presumably in colonist cars headed west. After about two weeks at sea, the Sandaus were now facing many more days of land travel to cross most of Canada--their new home.

HOMESTEADING We don't know exactly when they arrived at their railway destination. However, only weeks later, on July 4, 1911, Adam Sandau went in Maple Creek to apply for a homestead in the Arbana District, which is about 14 miles southwest of the town, according to E. Margaret Sandau's account. Adam's application papers, from the Saskatchewan Archives Board, read as follows:

"Form A. No. 8353 Application for Entry for a Homestead, a Pre-emption or a Purchased Homestead

I, Adam Sandau, of Maple Creek do hereby apply for an Entry for a homestead under the provision of Section [blank] in that behalf of the Dominion Lands Act, for the NW Quarter Section of Section number 13, in Township 10, Range 28 of the 3 Meridian.

I am a citizen (or subject, as the case be) of [left blank], but I declare that it my intention to become a British subject under the laws of Canada.

[signed Adam Sandau]

. . .

Number in family, including entrant, giving their ages. Male adult -1 Female adult - 2 Children under 12 - 6 Total - 8

Country of Birth - Russia Sub-division of Country of Birth - [blank] Last Place of Residence - Russia Previous Occupation - Farmer

"Form B. Affidavit in support of an Application for Entry for a Homestead, a Pre-emption or a Purchased Homestead.

I, Adam Sandau, of Maple Creek, do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I am over eighteen years of age; that to the best of my knowledge and belief the land in respect of which my application is made is agricultural land and open to entry and that there is no person residing on the said land; that there are no improvements thereon; that this application is made for my exclusive use and benefit, with the intention of my residing upon the cultivating the said land, and neither directly nor indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever. (2.) That I have not heretofore obtained and Entry for an Homestead on Dominion Lands. (3.) [crossed out] (4.) That this application is made for my exclusive use and benefit, with the intention of residing upon and cultivating the said land, and neither directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever. [5.] That my homestead entry is in good standing at this date.

Sig. [signed "Adam Sandau"] Subscribed and sworn to this 4 day of July 1911 before me at Maple Creek [signed "J. J. English"] Local Agent (or Sub-agent, as the case may be)"

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(The homestead application that Adam made was for land that had actually been previously abandoned by homesteader Henry S. Brown of Cypress, Saskatchewan. He had filed for the homestead in January 1910, but then submitted a "Declaration of Abandonment" in August 1910. His stated reason was "land not suitable." Brown had done nothing to the land to that point.)

According to E. Margaret Sandau's account, a log house was built, and a deep water well dug and cribbed with stones. Homestead records show that Adam built the house in November 1911, and in 1912, he broke 20 acres of land, and cropped 10 acres.

Homestead records indicate that the log home was 16 x 24 feet with a cash value in 1918 of $150. As well, a stable and a granary (with a value of $300), and 1 mile of fence ($50) were put up by that year. How much of this Adam did is not certain, because he died later in 1912. E. Margaret Sandau's account says he "passed away suddenly," but no cause of death is indicated. [Some family members say he died of dropsy, an abnormal accumulation of serous fluid in the body). Her article says the date was November 22, 1912, but the homestead records indicate dates of November 21 and December 21,1912. Court records that accompany the homestead records say Adam died "on or about the 21 day of November" 1912 "at his home." I will use that date.He was buried on the NE1/4 of the homestead. Unfortunately, Adam died as a fairly young man (just shy of his 47 birthday), and had lived only a little more than a year with his family in their new country.

E. Margaret Sandau writes that son Theodore took over responsibility for the family after Adam's death until he left to get married and start his own farm by 1920. However, homestead records show that Henry became legal representative and administrator of the homestead for his dead father, and applied for the patent to the land.

Homestead records show the following improvements to the homestead: 24 acres broken, 44 cropped in 1913; 24 acres broken, 44 cropped in 1914; and 40 acres broken, 80 cropped in 1914. By 1917, 84 acres were broken and cropped. The family had livestock from the beginning.

Adam's wife Margaretha would be left to raise her family and settle down during the rest of her years in Canada. Fortunately, she had older sons to support her as a widow. According to E. Margaret Sandau's account, Margaretha died on March 23, 1933 and is buried in a Lutheran cemetery located 2 miles north of the Arbana school site. Also in that cemetery is daughter Emilie, who died at 18 years of age.

CONCLUSION In about 120 years, our Sandau family ancestors set down roots in three "promised lands"---first Poland, then Russia, and finally Canada. As this account is written, in the summer of 2002, the Sandaus' stay in Canada will mark the longest period (just barely--over nine decades) that the family has lived in any of these three places. Perhaps the Sandaus have truly found the best Promised Land.

GEDCOM Note

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Katzbach Church Births 1863 - 1888 (LDS Film #1768088) Source Medium: Book

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1865 [Birth No.) 51

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Surrogate Court of the Judicial District of Swift Current

GEDCOM Source

Documents with Adam Sandau homestead recrods (obtained from the Saskatchewan Archives Board) " . . . Adam Sandau late of Maple Creek, in the Province of Saskatchewan, Farmer, who died on or about the 21st day of November A.D. 1912 at his home near Maple Creek. . . ."