for the last twenty-five years of his life.
Our ancestor was born in Bützow in what is now Germany on March
3, 1831 to Jewish parents Ahraham Ährenfeld and Jette Mendel. This was at a time when what would be future
Germany was a still collection of various autonomous kingdoms, duchies, and
states. Although all that would change with the 1871 unification of Germany,
Selig’s birth city of Bützow was then part of the Duchy of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
In 1852 at the age of twenty-one young Selig Ährenfeld
decided to leave his homeland and immigrate to Canada. His chosen destination was Ontario’s
Waterloo County where there was already a large German presence in Berlin
(later Kitchener) and surrounding towns. In fact, by 1848 some nine
thousand German immigrants had already arrived there. German immigration was
high during the 1850s, a logical consequence of crop failures and famine across
Europe in the preceding years. Before German immigration finally peaked
in 1854, many German states even provided assisted passage to ease population
pressures and demands of social welfare.
Apart from wanting to better his lot in a new land, avoidance
of military duty, although a supposition, may also have been a compelling
reason for Selig’s decision to emigrate. This conjecture is on account of an
archival source, cited as the “commission”, mentioned by a German researcher in
2003. One of its documents was said to refer
to our ancestor, a merchant’s clerk “in very good health”, who was due to begin
compulsory military service in the army of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg in
October of 1852. Hamburg passenger list records show that Selig's
emigration was on March 31, 1852, some five months before this military service
was to begin. Opportunities in a new land as well as a desire to skip out on
his imminent military service may thus have both been decisive factors in his
decision to emigrate.
The result was that our 21-year-old ancestor sailed from
Hamburg with, it appears, no other family members accompanying him. His
occupation on the manifest is given as "drechsler", a turner or one
skilled in turning wood on a lathe, a skill which he would
never put to use in Canada to earn a living. The ship he sailed on, The William Ash which flew an English flag, took him from Hamburg to New York City, likely via England. What may have been a reference to this
departure was noted by local diarist Friedrich Seidel whose September of 1852
diary entry reads:
“A miller by the name of Wolf and the son and
daughter of the “Jew” Abraham Ährenfeld emigrated to America.”
(Although likely referring to Selig, the notation is
confusing given his March departure for Canada months prior to the entry. Equally problematic is the reference to a sister
accompanying him, something unsupported by the passenger manifest for the William Ash. Despite these
contradictions, the parentage provided is accurate. As well, since the only two
other known sons of Abraham were by this time dead, by process of elimination
the reference would clearly seem to be to Selig.)
Although the German ports of Hamburg and Bremen offered Quebec City passenger service via England, Seelig and most other immigrants preferred the direct and faster service to New York from Rostock. This was the route also chosen by Selig's future wife, Mary Schall. At the age of twenty in 1852 with her mother and stepfather, she too in 1852 separately immigrated on a different another ship bound for Canada from Mecklenburg on a passage which likely bore similarities to that of Selig's. Oral tradition passed on to her grandson Ray Arntfield was that her passage took three months and that many passengers, as was then usually the case, died en route. She then “came as far as Buffalo by train and the rest of the way by ox-cart”.
Selig and Mary Schall, although from the same general area
of Germany, had not previously known each other before their separate arrivals
in Canada within a short time of each other. Oral tradition from grandson Ray
Arntfield was that:
“Mary met another German
boy who had come to Canada at almost the same time although they had not known
one another in Germany”.
A notation in the Arntfield family bible indicates that
Selig married Mary within two months of her arrival in Canada. Similarly,
an unsourced obituary from a German language newspaper indicates that Henry
arrived in Canada in 1852 and “soon after married Mary Schall”.
The first Canadian census for which Selig, (now referred to
as Henry) and Mary were present was that of 1861 when they are found living in
Galt with their then four children. The religion of all household members
is erroneously listed as Roman Catholic. By 1871 the family had settled
in Hespeler where Henry had found employment in a local saw mill. This census shows a now expanded
family of eight children (two others are known to have died) living with Henry
and Mary. On this census the family religion is correctly recorded, Henry shown
as “Isralite” and Mary as Lutheran. This
census also records the fact that Henry had by this time lost his right
arm. This was due to an
industrial accident sometime between 1861 and 1871. Grandson Ray
Arntfield records:
“He was caught in the
shafting and belting of a saw mill and belted aloft in the machinery until his
one arm was torn out by the roots.”
At the time of the 1881 census, although the family was
still in Hespeler, the three oldest children and the fifth child, now adults, were
out of the home. The fourth
child had by this time died. There
are now two new sons who are part of the household, one of whom, though listed
as a son, is actually an illegitimate son of eldest daughter Caroline.
The family religion is now recorded as Evangelic Christian.
Although no disabilities whatsoever are noted for Henry
(the 1871 census having disclosed he was missing his right arm), it is likely
that Henry, based on family oral tradition, had by this time already suffered
his second industrial accident. This,
remarkably, had resulted in the loss of his left arm. Grandson Ray
Arntfield writes:
“Years later [after the
first accident] when he was foreman in a
woollen mill he lost his balance and fell into a cutting machine which he was
repairing and his remaining hand was caught in the knives and fed into the
machine until his body clogged the works. They found his body, more dead
than alive and that was the day my father was born --- a six and half month boy
--- grandmother’s eleventh and last.”
The exact date of this second tragic accident can thus be
pinpointed as April 27, 1872 since that was the day that Ray’s father Fred was
born. It was Ray’s separate recollection that Henry, it was said, that
the accident occurred after Henry had been called back to the mill at night to
repair the machine, and that, following the accident, he had, rather amazingly,
not been taken to hospital but brought home “more dead than alive” following
the incident.
Although the subsequent 1881 census was silent on
disabilities, the 1891 census does mention that Henry had lost both his
arms. Life was clearly not
easy for Henry and Mary after his second accident. Grandson Ray
writes:
“Strange to say,
Grandfather survived and from then on. Grandmother had not only all the kids to
raise, also the adopted ones, and also had to do everything for grandfather,
dress and undress him, cut up his food, put it in his mouth, take him to the
bathroom, and keep boarders to find a few bucks. Needless to say
it was a mighty poor existence they worked out but they lived like that for
twenty-six years until after I was born. Father had to leave school at
ten years of age and go to work at the woollen mill at two dollars per week
with twelve hour days.”
Despite all, the family managed to survive on the income
from the boarders taken in and from those adult children who were able to provide
some financial support. Although there was clearly not much work to be
had for an armless labourer, Henry persevered. An1878 directory for
Hespeler lists a Hy “Ardfield” who was working as a pedlar; life as a pedlar
without arms must have presented a host of challenges. Later directories record
that Henry worked as a tobacconist. One
assumes, given his disabilities, that as a tobacconist Henry had to have help
in the store or strongly rely on the assistance and honesty of customers helping
out with the transacations.
Henry carried on in this fashion until his December 20,
1899 death of apparent heart problems. Although
later census records listed him as Protestant, at death his religion is once
again recorded as Hebrew. His
entire estate consisted of five hundred and sixty-five dollars, mostly
consisting of inventory in his tobacco store. His wife Mary would go on
to survive him for almost another eighteen years.
Although Henry fathered eleven children, three would die as
youngsters and three more as young adults. It is only through three sons that the
Arntfield name continues in North America to-day. Henry’s grandson Ray perhaps summed it up best when
he described his numerous aunts and uncles as “short lived and rather
harum-scarum”.
Henry’s challenges in life, although perhaps due to a certain amount of carelessness on his part, also underscore the incredible inadequacy of safety standards in factories at the time. Despite all, in an era without the remarkable prosthetics of to-day, Henry managed to cope with his daunting disabilities for almost three decades until his death. His resilience serves as an example for us all.
David Arntfield
No comments:
Post a Comment