Axel and Martha Olson
Axel and Martha were born in the same community in Sweden, Södra Sannäs. Axel on 23 July 1891 and Martha on 26 October 1895. Axel was 13 years old when his family moved to Canada. Martha came to Canada with others from the area in the spring of 1913. She married Axel later the same year in Torquay Saskatchewan . They lived on the homestead with Axel's parents. Three children were born to them. Henry, Helge and Lilly(Lillian). The birth dates are not certain because the births were never registered.
The following is excerpted from a submission by my aunt Lillian to the Quill Lake Historical Project.
Mother and Dad were both born in Sweden. Dad came to Canada in 1904 with his family to Estevan and later took up a homestead at Torquay. Mother came out in 1912. They were married at Torquay in 1913. We three children were born on the homestead. Then hard times came so Dad went out to work. He worked at the mines in Bienfait, and Mother did the cooking for the men working there. In 1922 we moved to Estevan where dad did carpentry work. We took all our schooling there. This is where Judith joined us. Judith was raised by the Olsons but never formally adopted.
Then the 'dirty thirties' hit us. and in 1934 Dad and Helge started out looking for greener pastures. They landed in Kelvington where work looked plentiful so Mother hired a man with a three ton truck to move us there. I will never forget that ride, as highway 35 was mostly prairie trails and there were five of us in the cab and a dog at our feet. By the time we landed in Kelvington we were really tired.
We were in Kelvington a little over a year when John Alder and others came from Quill Lake to try to get more Baptist families to move to their community. Thus in 1935 we moved to Quill Lake to a farm north of town which we purchased from Mr.Alder. They had a few hard years, being hailed out and frozen out with no insurance, but they loved the farm and enjoyed their years there.(end Quote)
The farm was typical of farms of that time, where the family lived on the farm and produced most of what they ate and grew grain as a cash crop. They raised cows for meat and milk, horses for their labor and pigs, chickens and sheep. They maintained a large garden and picked and preserved wild fruit. During our school years, my sister Darlene and I spend every summer on the farm and experienced all the pleasures with little of the pain and hard work.
In 1951, due to the failing health of Axel(heart problems) they decided to sell out. At first they took up residence in the town of Quill Lake, but later they moved to Midale Saskatchewan where Axel's brother and other relatives were living.
To be continued