Panko Century Farm Celebration

He was in time for harvest work.  That fall he worked many long, lonely days stooking and helping thresh the prairie grain.  Each night it seemed as if his legs would fall off and his arms would come out of their sockets.  Still the hard work was nothing to the loneliness among the strangers who did not speak his language and only ridiculed him when he tried to speak theirs.  One bully never left him alone.

 

Having experienced a certain prejudice and discrimination among fellow workers that fall, the winter of 1905-1906 while awaiting spring work, was spent in a Winnipeg boarding-house in a kind of isolation.  The harvest money was being spent.  Everything seemed so hopeless and depressing and a far cry from the freedom, security and good life that every immigrant envisioned when he sailed for Canada.  An intensely religious man, it was the only time in his entire life that he did not attend church all that long winter as he could not understand why God had so punished and foresaken him.

 

He got himself a Ukrainian-English dictionary and with the help of two young English children, he undertook to master the language.  In the spring of 1906 he found work on the railroad.  It was construction work and in spite of the hard work and long hours - 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at only $1.15 a day - he experienced a sense of hope and a satisfaction of work well done.  The fruits of his language efforts soon were evident, for he was made a section foreman of a track crew, for C.N. and was based out of Franklin, Manitoba.  The years of railway work - 1906-1916 - took him from Winnipeg to Neepawa and on to Sifton, Manitoba.

 

One weekend in 1911 he was invited by a fellow railway worker, Wasyl (Bill) Yarema, to his home in Neepawa.  Jokingly, the friend even said that he had a very promising young sister-in-law visiting at his place.  The young, quiet 15 year old girl was Mary Federowicz.  She was born between September 15-22, 1896 in Skoviatyn, Borschiv, Galicia, Austria.  Her family felt the iron hand of the autocratic, regimented Austrian state.  To better their lot, the promise of freedom and 160 acres for a $10.00 filing fee brought her, her two sisters, one brother and her parents Wicenty (Vincent) Federowicz and Karolina (Lena) Sikorsky to Canada.  The family arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 24, 1898 aboard the S.S. Bulgaria.  They homesteaded on the stony land of Fishing River until the father's death in 1905.

 

Leaving the older daughter Nellie and her husband, Wasyl (Bill) Yarema, in Canada, the widowed mother with her 9 year old daughter Mary, moved to South Dakota to the free homestead that was distributed, along with a group from the Sifton, MB area.  Among the parched - poor - rattlesnake infested land, they eked a mere existence for a number of years but returned to Neepawa, Manitoba where the married daughter was living.  When John Panko appeared on the scene Mary was a nursemaid for a family.

 

Mary thought that John was a good catch because he was not a farmer, which would allow her to get away from the farm.  John and Mary were married on November 26, 1911 at the Holy Trinity Polish Church in Sifton, Manitoba.  Mary and her first two children, Lena and Francis, lived with Mary's sister and brother-in-law, Frances and Demko Kaschuk on a farm near Valley River while John continued his work on the railroad.

 

Born to soil, John yearned for his own piece of ground and home.  On April 15, 1913 John made an agreement with Fleming Wilson for the S.E. 1/4 of 22-26-19W.  Later, on October 26, 1915, for the sum of $2,100.00 he bought the quarter from Wilson, who earlier, February 13, 1913, had purchased it from the original homesteader William Chapman.  His last year on the railroad was the winter of 1915-1916.  The young wife and three children were left in a small two-story house on the farm.  Away from neighbours, their only companion was a cow in the nearby shed.  No sacrifice was too great to make a few extra dollars to buy another cow, a horse, or a farm implement.  The S.W. 1/4 of 22-26-19W was later bought from Richard Barrell and farming began in earnest.  It was not easy.  In spite of sickness, crop failure, the depression of the thirties and the death of their son Michael, in 1943, deep faith, hard work and the hope of a better tomorrow gave them courage, strength and patience.

 

Mary was a quiet, dedicated mother, teacher, doctor, and playmate to her four daughters, Lena, Frances, Anne and Marion and four sons, Peter, Michael, Paul and Wasyl who were all born outside the door of a hospital.  She not only devoted her time to household duties and care of children, but also helped provide a home for the family by combining her efforts with her husband's.  Side by side she toiled in the farm-yard and in the field.  With the help of the children, as they grew old enough, she helped John clear the bush land, make hay, look after the stock and harvest the crop.   Her son, Wasyl, feels that Mary always resented having to live on the farm, as she wanted a life away from farming.

 

John was a faithful husband, a loving father and a dutiful citizen.  The welfare of his family, community and beloved Canada was always foremost in his concerns and heart.  He was industrious and an excellent manager.  Within a short time a large barn, a six-roomed house and increasing number of cattle and other stock enriched the farmyard.  The family had sheep which they would shear and take the wool to Sifton to be processed by the Mary Maxim company. He was a full-fleged farmer.  In the 1940's, John purchased a 1929 Hupmobile for $110.  After WWII with men returning from the war he sold the car for $420.  The Hupmobile was wrecked a couple weeks after being sold, on the way to a dance in Valley River.

 

Deprived of the benefits of a formal education, he was self-taught in the Ukrainian, Polish, German and English language.  To him, it was very important to give his children a good education and to have them learn English.  Many cold Monday mornings he would be up at four a.m. to drive a child in a horse and sled to town to the high school.  One of his children, Anne, was the first from the community to complete Grade XII and go on to teaching.

 

In spite of all the time-consuming activities on the farm, he found time to take advantage of the freedom that Canada had offered them to preserve their national identity and to develop their culture which had been supressed by the foriegn rulers of their native land.  To this end he served on many school, church and civic boards.  He saw to it that the children were taught the Ukrainian language.  As chairman he was responsible for many socials, school concerts and church meetings which provided opportunities to get together, meet one another and become familiar with the ancestral cultural traditions.

 

John Panko farmed from 1916 until his death March 1, 1951.  Mary Panko died July 9, 1959.  Farming was continued by his third son, Paul, from 1950 until his death February 16, 1983.  Paul's son George continues to live on the family farm.

 

August 1982 - a family reunion was held and a plaque was erected close to the site where the original small two-story house stood.  The plaque was updated at the family reunion held in 2005.

 

Today - July, 2014 - six children are deceased.  Lena Carol (Kreshewski of Rossburn, Manitoba) October 8, 1912 - April 14, 1967; Frances (Willoughby of Portand, Oregon) November 23, 1913 - December 19, 1960; Peter (of Toronto, Ontario) June 25, 1918 - June 22, 1996; Michael (of Dauphin, Manitoba) April 25, 1920 - December 1, 1943; Marion (Harrison of Dauphin, Manitoba) September 14, 1924 - November 10, 2005 ; and Paul Harry (of Dauphin, Manitoba) November 25, 1927 - February 16, 1983.

 

The two remaining children are: Anne Williston of Bay du Vin, New Brusnwick: born August 17, 1915 and Wasyl (Bill) Pankow of Okotoks, Alberta: born September 8, 1932.