Norman Gould came to Alberta about 1915 to work at the homestead of his friend Myer Potter. Norman had, at the age of 11, been the last of his family to emigrate from Poland to the United States.

      The Potter family, including son Myer and one-year-old Ida, had reached America in 1900. Following the death of his father, Myer decided, about 1915, to take advantage of the Canadian government's offer of free farm land to homesteaders.

      Myer Potter soon gave up on farming and moved to Calgary, where he opened a dairy product store. Norman came to the city as well, and learned the meat-cutting trade. In 1917 he married Ida. In 1919, her younger sister, Molly Potter, married Sam Kline.

      Norman and Ida Gould were active in Jewish communal life from the beginning. Norman Gould served as President of the B'nai B'rith lodge and was Chairman of a BB Western Canadian council conference in 1938. He devoted much energy to the development of the House of Israel community building, and was an ardent Talmud Torah and Zionism supporter.

      He was a popular and eloquent speaker (in both Yiddish and English) at community events, and frequently made fund-raising appeals at high Holy day services.

      Ida's main concern was her family, but she was active in Hadassah and served as a Chapter President for one year in the 1920's.

      The family income came from Norman Gould's butcher shop in the City Hall Market on 7th Avenue and 2nd Street E. He was one of a number of Jewish merchants, including the Sheftels and the Barons, who operated market stalls in the busy centre.

      Ida and Norman Gould had three children: Marcel, Alfred (Alfie) and Dodie. All three moved to California.

      Norman Gould retired from the retail meat business about 1960. Ida passed away in 1970 at age 71. Norman died in 1978 at 85.

      Sarah and Harris Groberman raised ten children in Manchester, England. In 1904 the parents moved to Calgary with Barnet and Edith, their youngest.

      Harris operated a second-hand furniture store in East Calgary, and became active in the growing Jewish community. He helped organize the first Hebrew School and was known for helping immigrants, regularly meeting new arrivals at the CPR station.

      Harris Groberman died aged 74 in 1927; Sarah, matriarch of the huge family, died in 1936.

      Eldest son Morris Groberman (b.1880) followed his parents to Calgary in 1906; he was by now married to Hilda Goodman. Morris Groberman operated Dominion Furniture and Dry Goods on 8th Avenue and 1st Street E. until 1934, when he moved to Vancouver. There his family ran National Furniture stores.

      Hilda and Morris Groberman raised five sons in Calgary: Cyril, Sydney, Alfred, Jack and Cecil. Only Alfie Groberman, of Vancouver, survives.

      Morris was ex-officio "President" of the Calgary Jewish community for many of his years in Calgary. He served as President of the House of Jacob Synagogue for several years, and was a Talmud Torah leader, helping to reactivate the organization and house it in a new school building in 1920.

      From 1926 to 1930 he was head of the Calgary Jewish Community Building Fund, a group that was able to build the House of Israel Building and see it open as a community centre in 1930.

      Charles Groberman (1885-1964) married Bessie Samuels and emigrated to Canada in 1910. They had two sons, Maurice and Sidney. Maurice was a Rhodes scholar and, tragically, was lost at sea when his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine while the Calgary scholar was returning home from England in 1940. Sidney Groberman still lives in Calgary.

      Abe Groberman (1892-1965) married Lily Ziselman in Calgary in 1921. They had two sons, Lionel and Herbert, and operated Standard Furniture Store.

      Barnet Groberman (1898-1974) was an auctioneer until 1937, when he purchased Sykes Imperial Furniture. He later ran Nielsen's furniture and Dry Goods. He married Rose Bercov; they had two children, Annabelle and Harold. Annabelle married Benjamin Gurevitch and is still active in Calgary Jewish life.

      Edith (b.1896) married Leonard Jacques and operated the Chesterfield Shop. Their son Vincent continued in the family furniture tradition, daughter Pat married Sam Sanford.

      The remaining five children of Sarah and Harris Groberman stayed in England for most of their lives, although most moved to Western Canada after the Second World War.

      They were Ellen (b.1876, married David Weller, seven children); Charna (b.1878, Isaac Kay, five children); Jane (b.1884, David Hatterstone, three children); Mendel (b.1890, Mary Drucker, four children); and Meyer (b.1894, Miriam), Meyer died in Calgary in 1980.

      The descendants of Harris and Sarah Groberman continue to enrich Jewish communal life in Calgary, Vancouver and elsewhere.

      The story of the pioneering Hanson family of Alberta reaches back to Czarist Russia. In Grodno, Byalestok and Popov Gora the family name was Gandyin, or Handzin, in Russian.

      A group of Handzin men arrived in Alberta in 1905-1907. They worked as labourers for the Canadian Pacific Railway, using the name Hanzin. They did such work as fencing the right of way and tunneling through the mountains.

      One day a fight began between an overbearing foreman and Elchonen (Emil) Hanzin. All the Hanzins were fired. They desperately needed the money to improve their homesteads and also to send for their families back in Russia. The CPR never rehired anyone they had fired.

      The solution to their problem was to change their names. They chose Hanson, because it sounded the same and they knew that Scandinavians were hired most readily. They were hired again under the new spelling of the name, and stayed out of trouble.

      Abraham (Abram) Hanzin filed on a homestead north of Cochrane. He obtained his Certificate of Title to the 160 acres on December 11, 1914.

      Abram Hanzin was married to Chaya. They had one son, Sam Hanson (Hanzin), who was in the first class of the medical faculty at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. He completed his medical degree in California and practiced in Stockton, California.

      Mordechai (Mark) Hanson filed on a homestead north of Cochrane, neighboring on Abram Hanzin's land. Mordechai Hanson died of a heart attack at age 60 while hauling barrels of water from a slough to fight a prairie fire.