Katherina Elizabeth [Erhardt]Jauck was born June 6, 1884 at
Halstein [Holstein] Russia in the Volga Colony to George Erhardt and
Anne Fretzler[Fritzler], being one of a family of three brothers and two
sisters.
In 1902, at the age of 18, she immigrated to new land in an
area hardly touched by human hands. In 1903 she was married
to Gottfried Jauck in Winnipeg Manitoba. In 1904 her husband
and his father, George Henry Jauck, took up land grants of
two quarters on section 11, three miles north of what is now
called Duval. In the spring of 1905, her husband purchased
four horses, a wagon and a few implements and set out for their
new home on the prarie.
The train going north from Regina stopped at Bulyea. From
Bulyea they travelled by wagon a distance of nearly 30 miles.
They made their first stop with the Schwandt family and spent
the first night in the hayloft. Her husband went on from
there to locate their new land. The first days were spent under
a wagon box. Their first concern was a fire guard and digging a
well for water. They constructed their first house of sod and clay
plaster.
Having firmly planted their roots, they raised their family of
eleven children, seven boys and four girls, one died in infancy.
She had a very simple, deep and abiding faith which not
only provided for the foundation for her life but for her children.
Her humble home became the centre for church services since
the community didn't have a Lutheran Church. In 1917 she
and her husband donated the land for a church and cemetery
on the original homestead. St. Paul's Lutheran Church was
built in 1918 in which some of her children were baptized and
confirmed and from where her family said their last goodbye.
Because of the closeness of the church to her home, Sunday
after church it became a meeting place for many of the parishioners
especially those who had come from a long distance with horses
and buggy.
The farm has been passed on from one generation to another
and is presently the home of her grandson Darcy. The Jauck
children considered it as home although they reside in different
areas of North America. She retired from the farm in 1949
to make her home in Duval.
For over seventy-six years she was a resident of the Duval
area, when because of failing physical strength she became a
resident of Last Mountain Pioneer Home at the age of 97.
She was a resident there for 10 years and went to her
heavenly home on July 31, 1991 at the age of 107 years.
She was predeceased by her husband Gottfried in 1950; two
daughters, Marie in 1915 and Katherine in 1987; two sons;
David in 1953 and Jacob in 1977; also one grandson and one
great granddaughter. She is survived by five sons and two
daughters and their families; Godfrey and Emilie of Southey;
Henry and Daisy of Shattuck Oklahoma, Alex and Catherine
of Duval; Fred and Esther of Victoria, B.C.; Ernest and Elsie
of Regina; Molly and Fred Bender of Saskatoon, and Caroline
and Chris Herber of Regina; as well as 11 grandchildren, 21
great grandchildren, 5 great great grandchildren and
numerous nieces and nephews.
Blessed be her memory.
. . . . .
(from a local newspaper in 1991)