Goldenberg Family
The pioneering Goldenberg family escaped from a pogrom in Odessa, Russia, and arrived in New York in 1899. They then went on to Montreal where father Solomon, mother Sema and children Benjamin, Katy, Annie, Jack, Izzy and Mary established a home.
They decided to move to Calgary in 1903. Solomon was at first a quarryman at Sandstone, 15 miles south of Calgary. He became a harness maker, and finally homesteaded at Trochu, Alberta, along with twelve other Jewish farmers.
Summers were hard and long on the farm, and winters were spent in Calgary at the Grand Saddlery and Harness Shop on 8th Avenue E.
Solomon and his son Benjamin each had a 160-acre homestead and sharecropped the farm until 1955. The family grew and branched out with sons and daughters-in-law remaining close to the family’s roots in Calgary. Solomon and his family were early members of Rumsey’s Beth Jacob synagogue.
The Goldenberg saddlery in Calgary was a meeting place for new arrivals and generally was a place where business was conducted with a handshake and verbal commitment.
Ranchers and farmers regularly visited the old store and soon a second-hand business flourished from this establishment. Farm tools, furniture and household goods were traded. The walls sagged and the floor rolled from the weight of the inventory.
Both Solomon and Sema lived to a ripe old age – each received a congratulatory telegram from the Royal Monarchy upon reaching 100 years of age.