Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthOctober 12, 1895
Place of BirthWestland, Skön, Västernorrland
CountrySweden
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMr August Olson, father, Eriksdale, Manitoba
Trade / CallingFarmer
ReligionLutheran
Service Details
Regimental Number3347018
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion260th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentEriksdale, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentJune 4, 1918
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceSiberia
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathApril 27, 1984
Age at Death88
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot40E-13-1

Olson, August Valfrid Oskar

August Valfrid Oskar Olsson was born on 12 October 1895 in Westland, Skön, Västernorrland, Sweden (spelling of name on birth registration; as many Swedish immigrants did, August gave Sundsvall as his birth place as it was the nearest city to his village of birth). His father August Olsson, born in 1866, was from Klintsjon, Nysätra, Västerbotten but had come south to Skön in search of work. On 22 January 1888 he married Stina Cajsa (Karin) Norlander in Filland, Skön, Västernorrland where she was born in 1862.

August’s father August  and uncle Anders Olson left Sweden in 1902 for Canada, lured by the promise of good farmland.  They ended up near Eriksdale, Manitoba and his mother, August, and his siblings left Sweden in late August 1904, sailing from Liverpool aboard the Tunisian for Canada to join them. August’s siblings were Olga Ester, Erik Oskar Hjalmer, Anny Katarina, Einer Gottrid, Bror Petra ‘Patrick’, Andrew Olger Eugene,  and Ernest Gustaf, the only child born after immigration. Travelling by oxcart from Winnipeg to Eriksdale, the family lived in a tent while a home was built by August senior and the older boys in the family. Life was very difficult on the homestead as the land had to be cleared of the many rocks before any planting could begin and a well dug. Most of the children eventually left the homestead with only Hjalmer staying and John farming in nearby Lundar.

August signed his recruitment papers in Winnipeg on 4 June 1918. With the Company of the 260th Battalion Canadian Rifles he was sent to Willow Camp for training in Victoria, British Columbia. While there he became ill with influenza, spending 15 days in the camp hospital from 28 October to 11 November 1918.  He embarked from Vancouver aboard the Protesilaus on 26 December 1918, arriving in Siberia 15 January 1919. On 10 February 1919 he was admitted to the #11 Stationary Hospital In Vladivostok for tonsillitis and was later discharged on the 2nd of March. He embarked from Siberia on 21 April 1919 and was officially discharge on the 12th of  May in Winnipeg.

After the war August married Christina Bystrom Sundberg on 4 November 1921 in Winnipeg. Born in 1900 in Jämtland in Sweden, Christina was the daughter of Anders Bystrom and Emma Sjogren, also Swedish immigrants to the area. The couple followed August’s sister Ester Lawlis and brother Andrew to the Kenora/Keewatin area where he found work at the Lake of the Woods Milling Company. Unfortunately the flour raised havoc with his asthma and eventually he had to leave the mill. During WW2 he worked for Trans Canada Airlines in Winnipeg and after the war returned to Keewatin to work as a carpenter for Thorpes. August and Christina had three children: Ervin, Myrtle, and Irene. August was a lifetime member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 13, Keewatin.

Predeceased by Christina in 1972, August later married widow Julia Martin. Born in 1905 in the RM of Rosedale, Manitoba, Julia was the daughter of Edmund and Jane (Willerton) Martin. She was predeceased by her first husband William Hugh Anderson in 1942 and second husband William Martin in 1973. August died after a short illness on 27 April 1984 at the Lake of the Woods Hospital in Kenora. At time of his death, August had seven grandchildren and four great grand sons. Julia later died in 1990 in Langley, BC. Along with Christina, August is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

by Judy Stockham

Olson-August-2 Olson-August-3 Olson-August-5 Olson-August-6 Olson-August-7 Olson-August-8

photographs courtesy of the family


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