Moscaliuk, Dumitru and Sanda

Metru Moskaliuk was born in 1868 in Boian, Bukovina. He married Sanda Falka in 1891 and emigrated to Canada in 1899 with two children, George who was five years old and Vera who was four. At the same time Sanda’s father and her stepmother, the Nikolai Falkas came.

The two families brought with them articles and clothing they felt they would need in the new world.

In bags and boxes and trunks they had packed bedding, clothing, tools such as saws, a scythe, a spade and a sickle. Some had even brought a quern for grinding wheat into flour and also one family had brought a spinning wheel and loom. Like many others, they brought very little actual cash.
When they finally got to Edmonton they hired teamsters and wagons to take them to the Boian area.

Arriving in late March they found the land covered with forests, bushes, frozen lakes, streams and some open meadows and prairies. They were all very glad to see there was so much wood. There would be no shortage of fuel or building materials.
Like others they first built a bordei large enough to accommodate the two families. Then they dug a well close by and cribbed it with rails. The men left the families and went to Edmonton to search for work.
The women cleared more land to plant a garden and the pile of logs grew. One day Sanda and her stepmother decided to build a log house as they were fed up living in a hole in the ground like animals. They cut down trees, limbed them and cut the logs into equal lengths. This was hard work and Sanda’s shoulders became raw from hauling those heavy logs, but she refused to give up.
The first summer and fall they lived off the land. They gathered wild duck eggs, picked berries, and edible roots. When the men came back, how happy they all were to see some fresh food supplies, especially flour for baking and tea for drinking. With some money to spare they hired some neighbor to break enough land for a bigger garden and for some wheat.
It was a great day when Mitru brought home a cow and Mr. Falka brought a cow and a plough. They teamed the two cows and ploughed more land. Now they had milk and cheese and cow-power. How heart broken they all were when Sanda’s cow took sick and
died! However, being a practical woman, she skinned the animal and was able to fashion moccasins for the entire family.
In time Mitru purchased another cow but this time they did not use it for plough-power.
The years went by. More land was cleared and more children were born. The family moved two more times and finally settled one mile directly west of Boian Marea school. In all, they had five girls and six boys.
George, the eldest, worked on the farm and during World War I, he served overseas. After the war he returned home, then left for U.S.A. where he lived till his death in 1928 in Buffalo, New York.
Vera married Tom Kokotailo and they farmed in the Boian district for many years.
Katie was born in 1900 and married Pete Revega. They farmed at Boian for a few years, then moved to Pierceland, Saskatchewan, where they continued farming.
Nick was born in 1904 and unlike his brothers he became a carpenter. He operated his own shop in Wil- lingdon for many years up to his death in 1944.
Bill was born in 1905 and at age 18 left home to seek his fortune. He worked in a number of places and ended up in Butte, Montana where he worked in the copper mines. Here he took up boxing at the local Y.M.C.A. and soon began making his name known. In 17 matches he won three gold medals, five silver and two bronze medals. He went on to Buffalo where he fought for the Niagara District. He won a Hamilton gold watch and went on to the national boxing in Boston in April, 1927. He won two K.O.’s but also suffered a cracked jaw. A year later he took up pro boxing in Buffalo and became known to his readers in the “Buffalo Courier Express” as the K.O. artist. His pay was $350 for a round fight. His brother’s untimely death brought him back to Canada, but he continued boxing from Drumheller. He won the middle weight championship for western Canada but after a bout with acute appendicitis, he decided to hang up his gloves for good and return to farming at Boian.