Channels

A. 1904, the Cucuy family in Russia before Asher's trip to Canada: Asher and Etil with the children
B. Meir Cucuy in a corn field
C. 1916, Canada: Leah and Tuvia in a corn field
D. 1917, Shimon Bonov, Etil's father, in Saskatoon, Canada
E. 1918, Leah on the tractor at a farm in Canada
F. 1918, siblings Leah and Aharon in Clooney, Alberta
G. 1918, Winnipeg, Canada. From the right: Tzipora, Tuvia and Miriam

The Cucuy family: Zionists with steam

Asher and Etil Cucuy reared exemplary family in Ukraine, but decided to move to Canada following riots against Jews, before immigrating to Land of Israel. First article in series presents photos from early 20th century documenting family's agricultural work

Asher Cucuy was born in 1872 in the Jewish colony of Har Shefer in the Kherson district, which is located off the shores of the Black Sea and Dnieper River in southern Ukraine.

 

Har Shefer was one of the five Jewish colonies in Ukraine founded at the tsar's command in 1815. In these colonies the Jews were trained as land workers by Germans specializing in agriculture. Asher worked a plot of land of about 250 dunam (62 acres) which had belonged to his grandfather.

 

Asher's wife, Etil Bonov, was born in 1874 in a Jewish colony called Sde Menuha. The two were married in the 1890s and had four children: Meir, Shaul, Aharon and Leah. The family made a living from agricultural work and would manually cultivate the land and harvest the crops.

 

In 1905, after disturbances broke out in Russia due to political unrest against the tsar's regime and strict orders against the Jews which led to riots against them, Asher decided to search for the family's future in distant Canada, in the Northwest Territories in the Saskatchewan province.

 

At the time, the Canadian government was trying to encourage young immigrants to come to Canada. They were promised large plots of land (160 acres) which had never been cultivated in exchange for a commitment that they would work the land and build their home there.

 

According to the leasing conditions, the settlers were promised another plot of 160 acres if they would stay for two years. The most attractive conditions was the promise to become the land's owner five years later, which was the dream of every Jewish farmer.

 

In 1904, Asher left on his own in a bid to settle in Canada and bring his family there. After three years of work in the Canadian wilderness, he sent money to his family in Ukraine in order to have them join him at the farm he built in Oliver, Saskatchewan.

 

The family lived in a mud house and tried to make a living from agriculture. Asher attempted to convince other relatives to join his family in order to extend the estate's territory and the agricultural cultivation.

 

The relatives did arrive in Canada, but all of them – apart from his wife's father – left to the cities. Asher and the young family members continue to engage in salaried agricultural work.

 

The tough weather conditions, the land which was difficult to cultivate and the social isolation from a community in general, and from Jews in particular, made things very difficult for the family.

 

Asher roams Canada with his family and medical equipment in different places where he works as a salaried laborer or as a lessee of agricultural farms who cultivated the land with steam machines and tractors which carried out all types of work: Plowing, sowing, threshing, etc. The apartments and kitchen were on wheels and dragged by horses and bulls.

 

Between 1910 and 1914 the family expanded and had five more children: Tova, Noah, Tzipora, Tuvia and Miriam. Most of them were born in places that were not recognized communities and were only marked by parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude on the Canadian map.

 

In 1914, Asher Cucuy decided to immigrate to the Land of Israel with his entire family, but then World War I broke out and disrupted all his plans.

 

In this article we present photos documenting the family's history until World War I. In the two next parts of the series we will follow the family's life in Israel.

 

We would like to thank Rakefet Sela from the community of Gilon, Asher Cucuy's great granddaughter, who has been researching the family's history in Israel and abroad.


 

1. 1909, the Cucuy family in Canada. In the photo: The Cucuy family's steam tractor before they left the farm in Olivier to Saskatoon


 

2. 1911, mother Etil Cucuy (Bonov) with her 5-month-old son Noah on her arms, on her way to an operation in Saskatoon. Her son Aharon, 11, stands next to her. On the wagon is Shimon Bonov, Etil's father. Etil and her son Noah were the only ones to go on the trip on a wagon harnessed to a bull


 

3. 1916, Meir Cucuy fertilizing land in Auckland, Manitoba at the Finkelstein farm


 

4. One of the Cucuy family tractors used for plowing


 

5. 1916, Aharon and Leah on harvesters dragged by horses


 

6. 1916, Shaul plowing land


 

7. 1917, father and son: Asher and Meir


 

8. 1917, Meir Cucuy activates a cultivator (4-horsepower) in Auckland, Manitoba in Canada


 

9. Children with a horse in Asher's field (Asher standing in the background)


 

10. 1917, at Ikens farm. Tova sitting at the house's entrance


 

11. Meir with his cousin near a wagon harnessed to four horses


 

12. 1917: Tova, Shaul and Noah


 

13. 1918, Berta Cook with Meir Cucuy near the family's Ford car in Canada


 

14. 1918, Asher and Shaul Cucuy plowing land


 

15. 1918, Shaul takes Leah to the railway stations in his Ford car on her way back home to Winnipeg


 

16. 1918, Leah driving a tractor between the farm's field dragging a cart and a plough


 

17. 1918, in the Cucuy family car during a trip from Clooney, Alberta to Winnipeg. From the right: Asher, Meir, Shaul and Aharon

 

  • For all trips to the past – click here

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.06.09, 07:33
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