April Ancestors

For the sake of brief entries, I am not footnoting the facts in this ongoing memorial. Sources have been noted either in other blog posts or in my family history books.

11 Apr 1912 Victor Karl Freibergs, son of Otto Freibergs and Ilse Hendricksons, and Marija Jurikas, daughter of Janis Jurikas and Katrina Tukums, were married by Rev. Isaac Sturges, the Latvian rector at St. Cornelius Russian Orthodox Church In New York City. The wedding took place at 442 West 47^th Street and was witnessed by John J. Kalnins, the Latvian Consular Agent in New York. An original marriage document signed by all parties is in my possession. St. Cornelius, located on Governors Island in Manhattan, was later called St. Cornelius the Centurion, a chapel of New York's Trinity Episcopal Church. Victor was then living in Port Arthur, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) where he and his bride took up residence for most of their lives. They were my maternal grandparents. 

 

12 April 1808 John Fraser, son of Duncan Fraser and Catharine Robertson, was baptized at Killin, Perthshire, Scotland. John came to St. Andrews East, Argenteuil, Quebec, about 1830-1831. Little is known of his life (and nothing about his death) except he practised as a blacksmith in the village and may have had family relations on either side of the Ottawa River. His brother William became a respected doctor in Montreal. John disappeared from the radar about 1839 after the conception of his last child. Further details were posted here. He was my great-great-grandfather.

22 April 1906 Victor Freibergs arrived in Canada at the port of Saint John, New Brunswick on the Lake Michigan. Within a very short time he was bound for Montreal by train, arriving there the next day. He found a boarding house to stay in while seeking employment. Like many immigrants, he had to deal with the Russian Consul in Montreal to sort out his status and prepare for Canadian citizenship, a process that went on for some years. Victor never returned to his native Latvia.