By Leone (Bader) FLYNN, from "Hilda's Golden Heritage" 1974 Write-Up —

Emanuel BADER the son of Joseph BADER and Louisa TRAUTWEIN was born in Paris, Akkerman, Bessarabia, South Russia on 13th of November 1892.

At the age of 11½ on the 30th of April 1894 he immigrated through Ellis Island, New York with his parents to Ellendale, Dickey County, North Dakota where he helped his father with the farm work until he married Elizabeth WELLER and struck out on his own. He resided near Ellendale until 1911 when he brought his family to Canada settling on a homestead at Hilda, Alberta.

By this time two children had been born, Richard and Elsie.
A minimum of essential material goods and livestock were shipped to Irvine, Alberta by rail and from there by horse and wagon to the piece of prairie land which was to become home until his retirement.

Establishing a permanent home meant breaking the soil with horse and plough, to raise a crop and garden; erecting buildings for shelter, building fences to keep livestock from wandering away and, of course, many long tedious trips to Irvine for clothing, food and other supplies. These "horse-and-buggy" days continued for many years until cars, trucks and better roads came along.

During this time two more children were born to the pioneer couple, Leone in September of 1911 and Leonard in February 1914. Wife Elizabeth's health had been failing for some time and on the 4th April 1915 she passed away leaving husband Emanuel with a family of four young children. She was laid to rest in a grave dug in the pasture and carefully guarded by a strong picket fence until years later when a grave yard was established and her remains were transferred there.

In July of 1915 Emanuel married Mathilda MAIER and to this union were born nine children, five daughters and four sons. Of the five girls, Ruth born in December of 1920, passed away after a short life of only twenty-one days. Della born in October of 1924 passed away in November of 1971, a victim of cancer, at the age of forty-seven. She lived at home with her mother until her passing. Her life was devoted to helping at the Medicine Hat Rehabilitation Centre. The other three girls are Esther, Ruby and Frances.

Of the four boys, Victor born on the 8th May 1922 passed away in October of 1943 at the age of twenty-one while residing on the farm with his parents. Death came very suddenly and its cause was never definitely established. The other three boys are Wilbert, Cecil and Gordon.

Mathilda and Emanuel BADER, together, spent their years on the farm filled with countless hours of hard work; lived through years of crop failures, drought, dust storms and experienced the crash of the stock market where hard earned money had been invested, hopefully, for a financial gain. There were enough good years however, to enable them to retire to Medicine Hat in the fall of 1943.

While residing at Hilda, Emanuel BADER helped establish Process School, the Seventh Day Adventist Church and served as councilor in the Enterprise Municipality for twenty years. He worked hard to get better roads for the municipality, and often would work along with the crew, to try to speed up construction. I remember taking lunches out to him (with horse and buggy) when he was building a small bridge over a creek, and installing a culvert in a road a few miles east of Hilda.

For a few years after moving to Medicine Hat he continued to help out with the farm work during spring and fall work. He also contracted and built several houses in Medicine Hat, with the help of Mr. Gottfried Saklofsky. Eventually, however, his health began to fail, and he passed away on the 15th of June 1964 after a lengthy illness.
=============================