Martin Olsen Skaret

   Another name for Martin was Martin Olson Skaret.⁶⁶⁰²

  Research Notes:

1. Alberta homestead

Sec 21, Twp 77, Range 5, West of the 6th; Martin Olsen Skaret; Rycroft; (Valhalha area?) ;; this is about 7 kms south of the current village of Rycroft '96 go south on Hwy 2 and then left at Twp Rd 774 and then right at Range Road 54 '96 Sec 21 and 22 (re; Peter Skaret)

film 2466, file 3360420; starts with images 844 - 850; ; SE¼, Sec 21, Twp 77, Range 5, W6th ....
image 845, 846 entry and affidavit signed 16 Mar 1915 at Grande Prairie
image 847 sworn statement for application of homestead patent; signed 22 Jan 1918; address as Hay Lakes, age 52, farmer; entry 16 Mar 1915; question "when absent from homestead..." "Engaged in general farming with Olaus Olson on his farm NE14-48-20 from April 15th 1917 to July 15th 1917 and with Lewis Grue [grandpa Lars T Grue] on his farm NE 16-49-21 doing ordinary farm work from Jul 17th 1917 to Dec 20th 1917
image 848 - sworn statement for application of homestead patent; address as Rycroft, AB; homestead entry 16 Mar 1915; question, Residence on Homestead: "from 16th Mar 1915 to 15th Aug 1916, from 25th April 1918 to 2nd Jul 1918, from the 1st Apr 1919 to 3rd May 1920; when absent, farming in Camrose, AB; broke 10 acres in 1916, nothing in 1917, 15 acres in 1918, 5 acres in 1919 with 25 acres crop and in 1920 nothing broke but 30 acres in crop; in 1919, 8 cattle, 4 horses and in 1920 4 cattle and 2 horses;
question # 10 buildings - house 20 by 16 log house with value of $150, and a stable 20 by 30 made of logs; 1.5 miles of 3 wire fence value of 175; no indication of minerals signed 3 May 1920 at Spirit River;
image 849, statement of support by Ray Lee Plazter of Roycroft [Rycroft], dated 7 Oct 1920
image 850 - letter for patent, date stamped 21 Oct 1921 and sent to Hay Lakes, AB

post 1930 Sec 8, Twp 74, Range 9, West of the 5th; Martin Olsen Skaret ; Lesser Slave Lake area. Kinuso




2. South Peace Regional Archives (Grande Prairie, AB); Spirit River Taxes Collection


a.
http://southpeacearchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Spirit-River-Taxes-1917-25-compiled.pdf
page 131, 132

1917-1925name as M Skaret or Martin Olson Skaret; sec 21 ; address Hay Lake, but in 1925 also the address as Swift Creek, BC [ just outside of Valemount, abt 20 kms south of Hwy 5 and 16 ] - initially, a railway station that was built around 1914


1917-1925name as P Skaret or P J Skaret or Peter J Skaret or Peter Johnsen Skaret; sec 22; address Rycroft or Spirit River, but in 1924 as Langaurth, BC [?? no location, google]

b.
http://southpeacearchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Spirit-River-Taxes-1917-25-compiled.pdf
page 95

1926-1930name as M Skaret; sec 21; address, 1926-27, Swift Creek, BC [next to Valemount, BC]; 1928-29, Silverwood [Alberta, just south of Rycroft, so maybe junction name]; 1930, Rycroft
No Peter Skaret listed

http://southpeacearchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Spirit-River-Taxes-1931-35-compiled.pdf

page 125
1931-1935name as M O Skaret, sec 21; address Kinuso; also mentioned, John Sarich Robb, 1933-35

http://southpeacearchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Spirit-River-Taxes-1936-43-compiled.pdf
page 210
1936-1941name as M O Skaret; sec 21; address Kinuso; also mentioned, John Sarich Robb, 1936-37

** next years are 1943-1950 - not recorded


3. a. 1916 Census, Canada prairie provinces; Edmonton W, sub-dis 63, p 40

- Martin is recorded with the household of Peter Skaret

b. 1921 Canada Census; I have NOT been able to find him recorded, (nor in the 1926 Prairie Provinces census) nor is he indexed on ancestry. I have reviewed the Edmonton W, sub-dis 63; as well I have reviewed areas around Hay Lakes (Grandpa Grue's sub 19) and sub 20 and sub district (Thore Grue's home place and Ole Skaret, etc)


4. Kinuso [ written 2 Mar 2017 by Rueben D Grue ]

a.
About 1961-62. I was about 11-12 years old and sometime in the summer, all of us had gone on short holiday (this may have been the one of the few times we all went on a holiday together; we had gone to Jasper once when I was probably about 4 or 5). For whatever reason, we went to Lesser Slave Lake; we had rented a cabin and I remember Dad renting a boat and going fishing. I can also remember the sand dunes (at least least that is what I called them). Mom and Dad did have some photos of this, but I don't know what happened to those photos.

One day we travelled around looking for Martin Olsen Skaret's homestead. Mom and Dad had found his house/cabin. It was a bit run down, but looking through one of the windows, we saw an old cook stove. This was the old cook stove that Mom and Dad had in our old house on the farm in Armena. About 1982, Mom had handwritten in a short hardcovered notebook titled "This Old House". The pages are not numbered, but is page after the first glued photo from the start. On this page mom, wrote "we had a nice enamel (cream & white) kitchen stove with a warming reservoir ... sometimes in winter [it was so cold that] ice formed in the reservoir. This stove was poorly made and didn't last long. But remember Oscar Grue took it, fixed it up and gave it to Bethora, and we found it in an old house when went exploring in Kinuso by Lesser Slave Lake."

This stove lasted a few more years, since Ed Grue had written (in the Pearl Grue album, 1990) -- "in the spring of 1944, they (Bethora and Ed Moore) moved to Kinuso and bought a quarter section from Martin Skaret had homesteaded". Bethora lived in Kinuso for about 15 years, starting sometime after she was married (in 1943) and leaving around 1960. We had moved out of the old house in the summer of 1953, so the old cook stove was likely moved to Kinuso around 1953-54 and was used for about 5 years when Bethora left.

b.

I remember Dad talking about Martin Skaret. He said that his dad (Lars) and Martin Skaret were good friends and dad says that Martin Skaret stayed with or lived with them many times. As indicated above, Martin mentions on this homestead papers that in 1917 he had been farming with Lars Grue in Hay Lakes and on the Spirit River tax records, Martin's address is often Hay Lakes.

I don't remember Dad saying much about Martin's life or personality, although Dad did write a few comments (booklet, "We Remember; Isabelle, Gladys, Norman, Velma, Amy, Chester, Oliver", about 1981) on page 10 of Dad's submission. "...He was such a good man. It seems that he made his home at our place when he came from Norway. He was a second cousin to Grandpa Skaret [actually 4th cousins]. Had the pleasure of seeing the place where he was born in Norway this last summer, 1980. He had two different farms in the district at different times of course. He would come often to get milk and eggs, etc. And it was the thing when he would take me with him home to stay a day or so! He always had a bag of candy around (which was not very common in them days) to treat the kids. Glen and Mark remember him I'm sure."

[18 Mar 2017; David doesn't remember anything but remembers his name and that he had been talked about. David thinks that Martin had lived just west of the Hanson's (Neil Hanson's grandfather ?, no, since he was Halvor Hansen and they had lived north and west of grandpa Grue and closer to the New Separta - see page 756 of Hay Lakes history book); this would have been about 3-4 miles west of Ivar's - this would be the Peter Hanson's place (Wanda Grahn's father) or a bit west that was land by Ole Feragen)]

Dad was born in 1915 and Martin came to Canada in 1914, but he had spent time in the Hay Lakes area. Dad would likely remember him as early as 1920 or so. As indicated, Martin had a homestead in the Rycroft area and in the Kinuso area, and had spent some of the year on his homesteads and the rest of the years in the Hay Lakes area. I'm sure if Martin Skaret owned land in the Hay Lakes area (he is not recorded in the Hay Lakes community history book, as a land owner on the various sections of the various school districts). Of course it is possible that he rented some farm in the area, and lived in there for parts of the year. Since Dad remembers going and staying with Martin Skaret, it would likely be between the years of 1920-1930 (Dad was 5 in 1920 and 15 in 1930).

Gladys had also made a note in the same booklet (page 4 of her submission) talking about Grandpa and Gramma moving to the new house, when Norman and Leila were married. " ... I remember we carried things over there - even Old Man Martin helped. He was a dear old man who came to live with us. I rembmer when we were small we used to stand of his feet while he walked around, and he played with us a lot."

Grandpa and Gramma Grue moved to the new house in 1946 or 1947 and Gladys would have been 22 or 23 at that time. Martin died in 1948 at the age of 83 years and so at the time of this move, he was 81 or 82. Gladys' memory of playing with Martin would likely have been in the late 1920's when she was ages 4 or 5.

Martin did not marry and he had no children. I'm not sure where he lived after he sold his land in Kinuso sometime around 1944-45. It is possible that he had stayed at some of the time at Grandpa Grue's.

Grandpa Grue had is first stroke in Sept 1944 [shortly after Mark was born], that mom described as "a hard one'. It is quite possible that Martin Skaret came to Grandpa's that fall and worked on the fall harvest (Norman was in England serving in the war; Dad had his own farm; Chester may have been at home; Wallace would have been about 10-11; Amy and Isabelle may still have been at home; Gladys was living in Camrose in 1948 [Camrose Canadian, 11 Feb 1948, page 13]; Velma was married in 1942, so likely wasn't living at home).


4. c. Camrose Canadian, 18 Feb 1915, page 4, col 1. "District News: Dinant"

"Martin and Peter Skaret are very busy just now getting things in shape for their long trip to the Grand prairie country. Henry Hanson will accompany them to Spirit river returning in March."

- This would likely mean that Martin Olsen Skaret and Peter Skaret had first made their way to Grandpa Ole Skaret's place. Martin left Trysil Norway on 27Jul 1914. Peter Skaret and family also left Trysil Norway in Jul 1914, although I have not found a record of this. Peter and family and Martin had registered on 5 Aug 1914 at Kristiania and sailed on 7 Aug 1914 (Digital Archives, Emigrants from Kristiania, 1871-1930, edited version) and arrived at Ellis Island on 28 Aug 1914 (https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger)




5. Death/obit; died in 15 Jul 1948, buried at St Joseph's; Camrose Canadian, 21 Jul 1948, p15 c6; age 83

- notes he came to Alberta in 1914 and "...settled down to farming in the Hay Lakes district for several years. In 1928 he left for the Peace district and farmed there until the fall of 1945 when he came to live with the L. T. Grue..."
- fell ill 9 Jul
- likely written by Gramma (Avey)
- at end of obit, there is a "card of thanks" from Mr. and Mrs. Lars Grue and Family.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Residence, 1910, 1910, Trysil, Hedmark, Norway. ⁶⁶⁰⁴ Farm: Støpa (gnr 26, bnr 19). Martin Olsen Skaaret, born 1865; Skogs og jordbruksarbeider [ Forest and farm worker]

2. Migration, 1914, 27 Jul 1914, Trysil, Hedmark, Norway. ⁶⁶⁰⁵ Leaving Trysil Parish, 27 Jul 1914, Martin Olsen Skaaret, single, . This record notes he is leaving for America. In this Norway Parish Registers, Emigrants from Trondheim database, records that he registered on 7 Aug 1914 and his designation as Canada. I have not found him on immigrant ships lists in the US or Canada.

3. Emigration - 1914, 7 Aug 1914, Kristiania, Norway. ^6558,6606 Date of Emigration with designation of Canada. Arrival at Ellis Island, New York on 28 Aug 1914 on board the Ship United States. Traveled with Peter J Skaaret family

4. Homestead, 1915, 16 Mar 1915, Rycroft, Alberta, Canada. ⁶⁶⁰⁷ Homestead Entry for 16 Mar 1915.

5. Residence, 1917-1930, 1917-1930, Rycroft, Alberta, Canada. ⁶⁶⁰⁸ The Spirit River Tax Records indicate that Martin had been paying taxes on his property (homestead land) in the Spirit River area from 1917-1930. It is reasonable to conclude that he lived on his land for at least part of the year. Martin continued to pay taxes on this land in the Rycroft area until about 1941 (although it appears John Robb also paid some of the taxes, beginning about 1933). For many of the years, the tax records also includes an address in Hay Lakes, Alberta (in 1925 his address is recorded as Swift Creek, BC, just outside of Valemount, BC).

6. Residence, 1930-1944, Abt 1930-1944, Kinuso, Alberta, Canada. ⁶⁶⁰⁹ Around 1930, Martin sold his homestead land in the Rycroft area and was able to obtain a second homestead (Alberta post 1930 Homestead Index) in the Kinuso area (close to the shores of Lesser Slave Lake. About 1944, he sold this land to Bethora Grue and Ed Moore. He likely lived (at least part of the time) with relatives in the Hay Lakes area.