Thanks to the Lac du Bonnet Library for forwarding a copy of “The Life Story of Zenta Kronberg-Ritchey from 1918 – 1982” by Mary Hodges, self-published in March 2004, to the Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society.
Alfred Kronberg was born near Riga, Latvia and had a brother named George. Due to the harsh treatment by the Russian Government and pending compulsive military training Alfred Kronberg and his close friend John Pitruck decided to escape Latvia.
The two young men obtained 3 or 4 sets of forged passports but did not have a chance to use them. Alfred and John hid in heavily forested areas and made their way to the Baltic port where they were able to stowaway on a ship heading to the United States in 1907.
Inevitably the two were discovered on board and had to work their passage by shoveling coal into the huge furnaces with the possibility of being deported when the ship docked. Arriving in New York the two twenty-three year olds jumped ship and went into hiding.
Alfred Kronberg and John Pitruck, speaking no English and having no money, decided to work their way to the west coast of the USA. Obtaining a few jobs here and there and earning a few pennies they were able to make their way to Kansas. In Kansas, the young men found employment with a friendly farm family who taught them English and paid them for their winter’s work.
Alfred Kronberg, 1908 (from The Life Story of Zenta Kronberg-Ritchey, pg. 1)
In spring, John & Alfred heard about opportunities in Canada. Now being able to communicate in English and with the few dollars they had earned, travelled north through Nebraska, South and North Dakota crossing into Manitoba.
Arriving in Winnipeg the two rented a room and Alfred Kronberg was fortunate to be hired by Ogilvie Flour Mills on Higgins Avenue loading 100 pound bags of flour into boxcars.
Before leaving Latvia Alfred was engaged to Alma Bercziem and promised to send money for her passage as soon as he could and he did so in 1909. Alma was born in Alubsne, Latvia and came from a refined home, her father a minister and teacher. Alma and Alfred were married in Winnipeg.
Hearing of the government granting homesteads in the Lac du Bonnet area, the Kronbergs with their first child Elinor, packed their meager belongings and took the CPR train to Lac du Bonnet.
Then by rowboat on the Winnipeg River headed to Poplar Bay some 15 miles distance, after filing an application for NW S19 T16 R13 E in 1910. Several Latvian families in the district helped them construct a one room cabin (Schuman/Kulikowsky?). Their friend John Pitruck, squatted nearby for about a year before heading to Chinook, Alberta.
In 1912 another daughter Lily was born. The Kronbergs, after only about three years in Poplar Bay, abandoned the homestead and moved to Lee River. Forty acres were acquired there and Alfred built a larger log home where another daughter Zenta was born.
About 1915 Alfred Kronberg acquired a home on Second Street in the Village of Lac du Bonnet near Campbell’s General Store (now Daley’s Pharmacy). Alex and Alvina Dancyt stayed with the Kronbergs during the 1918 flu epidemic. Alfred Kronberg worked at the Lac du Bonnet Brickworks with Alex Dancyt during this period.
In the early 1920’s the Kronbergs acquired eight acres of property along the Winnipeg River where Apsit Road is today and built a home and barn at this location. The Kronberg girls attended Lac du Bonnet’s three-room school at Fourth and Park.
Other Latvian families, Kalnin, Karnalchuk, Strasdine, and Kreishman bought land nearby and became their neighbours. Alfred Kronberg was on the Lac du Bonnet school board for a time.
Brookfield School, Elinor Kronberg and her pupils (from The Life Story of Zenta Kronberg-Ritchey, pg. 28)
Elinor Kronberg completed her grade twelve and was accepted in Normal School and received her teaching certificate at eighteen years of age. She accepted her first teaching position at Brookfield School south of Lac du Bonnet in 1928. Elinor taught three years in Brookfield and then taught in Libau, west of Lac du Bonnet.
By the 1930’s Alfred Kronberg established a trapline at Eagle, Echo and George Lakes.
Lily Kronberg opened a beauty parlor in a small room above the Pioneer Store at First and Park in Lac du Bonnet. Business was brisk as she was the only hairdresser in the Village. Lily married Holger Malmgren of Brookfield in 1932 and the following year Lawrence was born (the first boy in the Kronberg family!)
Alfred Kronberg moved again and bought a sixty-seven-acre farm from Mr. Lundquist near the Pinawa Generating Station. The Kronbergs had thirty head of cattle, two horses, a few pigs and chickens. Peter Frank was a neighbour.
Alma Kronberg passed in 1956 and Alfred the following year. Both are buried in the Lee River Cemetery on Urban Road.
Kronberg Trail off Channel Drive from PR 313 in the RM of Lac du Bonnet is named in their honour.