Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Hallama Family fonds

The Hallama Family of Grande Point, MB., ca. 1925
Photograph courtesy of the U of M Archives & Special Collections,
Hallama Family fonds (PC 123).
 
The Hallama Family fonds  [Mss Sc 128, Pc 123 (A96-21, A12-08 )] consists of photographs, farm account books and a history of the Hallama family and farm in Grande Point, Manitoba. Wenceslaus Hallama, a Czech inmmigrant, who arrived in Canada in 1891, settled on his uncle, Joseph Schwab's farm, near Grande Point. Wenceslaus Hallama later purchased the farm from his uncle, where Wenceslaus' bride, Barabara Blahnik, from Bohemia, soon joined him. The couple then raised a family, from which the farm was passed on to their son, Joseph, and then later, to Joseph's son, Edward.

a fascinating collection that recollects the early years of the Hallama family, one of earliest Czech families in Western Canada. Of special note, Wenceslaus  Hallama was the first farmer in the area to own a seed drill and a gasoline tractor.  The Hallama Family Fonds is available to view in the U of M Archives & Special Collections.