Fulfilling A Dream
Celebrating the pioneering spirit of a family who, despite suffering a great tragedy, forged a new life north of the border
Oscar and Olina Erickson, together with their eight-year-old daughter Lillie, lived in Lyman County, South Dakota. They were a happy family, but life was not without its struggles; rainfall was scarce, resulting in poor crops. Then, there were the cyclones— when one would hit, they’d head for the storm cellar and wait for it to pass.
One time, Oscar was building a shed. He was almost finished when a cyclone struck, destroying it. A patient man, he collected all the boards and was almost finished rebuilding it when another cyclone struck. That was the last straw—he told Olina he wanted to go to Canada and buy a piece of land. This did not come as a great surprise to her, as they had talked about it— and their vast neighbour to the north was looking for immigrants to come and take up homesteads.
Oscar bought a train ticket and headed north. He was all smiles after buying a half-section of land from the CPR, which was selling off its surplus land. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “There’s a big slough with a deep stand of trees behind it.”
They planned to take their livestock with them, so Oscar set to work putting up hay. The hot sun beat down on him and he suffered sunstroke. Olina hurried to a neighbour’s house and asked him to take Oscar to the hospital. He did, but sadly, Oscar died a week later. He never saw Canada again and was buried in South Dakota.
Saddened and in shock, Olina wrote to her brother Ole, who had already immigrated to Canada with his family. He arrived to help Olina pack and get the livestock aboard a train to Canada.
Olina and Lillie arrived in Canada in the fall of 1903. At the time, the nearest town to their farm was Wetaskiwin, Alta., where they spent the night in a hotel. The following morning, when Olina looked out the window, she couldn’t believe her eyes—there were buggies and wagons on the roofs of buildings. “Lillie,” she called to her daughter, “we have to go back to the States. The people here are crazy!”
When she complained to the hotel manager, he laughed and explained that the townsfolk were just celebrating Halloween.
Olina and Lillie spent the winter with Ole and his family. In the spring, they lived in a tent on their land, while a log home was being built.
Other neighbours from South Dakota had
also settled in the area. The Bratrud family had sons old enough to own their own homesteads and one of them, Tom, generously let the community use the log cabin on his land as both a school and church.
Some years later, Parelius Bjerkseth (my father) arrived. He filed on a homestead, stayed long enough to complete his claim and then returned to the States, where he attended college to better his English. He returned to Canada in 1913.
By then, Lillie had become a lovely young woman and Parelius said he would stay in Canada if she agreed to be his wife. They were married and Parelius began raising cattle. He and Lillie also started a family—my sisters Olive and Annette were born in 1914 and 1917 respectively.
With a growing family, it seemed time for a larger house. Lumber was bought and a carpenter hired to build their new home. Two more daughters soon joined their growing brood, Sylvia in 1920 and me (Hannah) in 1925. It wasn’t until 1934 that a son, David, arrived.
The community was growing as well with the addition of a new two-room high school and a new church.
Although I loved the farm that Grandpa Oscar bought for us, I knew I needed to get an education. When our high school closed due to a lack of students, I went to the village of Ryley.
When my father passed away in 1943, David was still a child and couldn’t farm, so my mom sold the farm to my cousin. We moved to Three Hills, Alta., where I took a commercial course that included bookkeeping at the Prairie Bible Institute. This was a great help to me when I moved to Calgary to work and study accounting.
I have lived in Canada all my life and am proud to call it home.