The Nobert family sure gets around a lot.
They first arrived in Quebec in 1691, says Sturgeon County resident Leonard Nobert. A branch of the family headed to Kansas during the 1860s, and his grandfather, Walter, came from there to Alberta in 1898.
You can still find Noberts in each of those regions 100, 150, and 300 years later, Leonard says.
"Once they moved, they stayed," he said.
The Noberts were one of three county families recognized last Thursday at the annual Agriculture Service Board Tour and Dinner for having spent more than 100 years farming in Sturgeon County.
Leonard, 69, accepted the award on his family's behalf in a ceremony at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.
Coun. Tom Flynn hosted the evening's event.
"These folks we're recognizing are descendents of those original landowners," he said, and represent years of hard work.
The Noberts
The Noberts had spent centuries in Quebec before they moved to Kansas in around the time of the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), Leonard says. His great-grandfather, Frank, helped haul cannons for the Union Army during that conflict.
Tired of the drought, lawlessness and tornadoes they encountered, the Noberts and their in-laws, the Comeaus, bought land in Alberta from Canadian Pacific Railway at just $3 an acre.
Walter Nobert came to Canada from Kansas in 1898, settling near Riviere Qui Barre and Alcomdale. At the time, the region was known as the Municipal District of Rae, which included St. Albert.
Farms were all horse-powered in those days, Leonard says, as were most vehicles.
"There was a grain elevator every five miles," he adds, as that was the farthest a horse could haul a wagonload of grain.
"He was a hard worker," Leonard says of his grandfather, one who ran his own farm and a sawmill by Sandy Beach. He would butcher a steer every Friday and be selling the meat in St. Albert the next day.
But he had a strange fear of chicken eggs.
"Walter never picked an egg because he was worried about rattlesnakes," Leonard says, which had a habit of hiding in the hay. His grandfather would always insist on scoping out the coop with a match or lantern before he reached in for the eggs, he says, with a chuckle.
Walter served as a councillor for the M.D. of Rae from 1919 to 1937. One of his descendents, Alphonse, would act as reeve, councillor, and later treasurer for Sturgeon County from the 1950s until the 1980s.
You'll find Noberts all around the county and St. Albert today, says Leonard, who still lives on the family farm but works as a dentist.
He thanked the county for the recognition, but joked that it was his ancestors who did all the work.
"We don't have to do anything for it. It's just a matter of hanging around long enough," he said.
Panciw/Kryschuks
Rev. Meroslaw Kryschuk, 81, received a 100-year award on behalf of the Panciw/Kryschuk family.
Meroslaw, who has been a pastor with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for about 54 years, says his grandfather, Stephan Panciw, came to North America from Ukraine in around 1903 along his wife, Ewdochia. Their daughter, Anna, married another Ukrainian immigrant (and Meroslaw's father), Joseph, around 1925.
The family started a farm north of Bon Accord, Meroslaw says.
"It was all bush and grass," he says, and they had to break the soil. They went on to help build a church in the region and run the local 4-H club.
The third award went to the Perreault family, Flynn said, representatives of which were not able to attend the dinner.
Each family receives a small wooden plaque and a large metal sign that will be posted by their front gate.
