August Schmidt was the brother of my Grandfather Herman Schmidt.
He was born on April 13, 1889 in Shitomir, Bessarabia, Russia. His father Ludwig was 27, and his mother Helene (Mueller) was 29. His mother passed away in abut 1992 when he was just 3 years old.
He emigrated to Canada in April 1911. Immigration papers show that he had a prior residence in St. Boniface, Canada. That was probably his entrance point to Canada, and he went from there to Winnipeg, Manitoba where Herman and Wilhelm were at the time.
He changed his name to Smith, to avoid discrimination and animosity for people from Germany in the years preceding WWI.
He left Winnipeg and went to Birch Lake, Saskatchewan where Herman had a homestead, along with Mary's brother August (Gus)Tobert. There was some sort of dispute while there, and August left for Michigan, where he met and married Mariana Pagel. They had one child during their marriage, Virginia, born in 1926.
Mariana had children from a previous marriage, Edith Schadler, Erving Schadler, and Dorothy Voss. In the 1930 Census, Edith S. was 15, Erving was 13, Dorothy was 8, and Virginia was 4.
In that same 1930 Census, August is shown as being employed as a carpenter in the home building industry.
After August left the family in Birch Lake Saskatchewan. there appeared to be little or no communication with the Schmidt family. However, Herman and Mary sent Christmas cards to August and Mariana, which were not opened, and only found when Virginia opened a "forbidden" chest to see what was in it, and found the unopened cards. She sent a letter which was found by Aunt Ruth, and the two corresponded by mail. Eventually, Herman and Mary visited them in Maryland, and there was a reunion there. My family, Ben and Alma, along with their three children, also visited them in Maryland. The event which caused the breakup in the Schmidt family was never discussed with any of us, and remains a mystery.
He died in Glen Burnie, Maryland, USA in 1983 at the age of 94.
I contacted Virginia a few years ago, after Mariana passed away and inquired about the chest to see if she had ever looked into it further. She mentioned that there had been pictures from the "old country", and other personal things which may have yielded the source of the dispute, and family information from Bessarabia. Unfortunately, Virginia must not have recognized the value of those documents and when they were cleaning up the house for sale, since they had put the chests (the one for August, and one for Mariana) in an out-building or shed. They were then stolen, and that information source gone. The people that stole the chests, probably just wanted the chests to sell, and would have dumped everything inside.
Virginia and her husband have since passed away.
