When Joe was 10 or 11 yrs old his folks help found a new village of neu-Elsass. Joe's dad up and left the old country in 1914 right when the crops were ready for harvest. He must have had some word about trouble with the Bolshevics to leave so suddenly. The family first came to Regina Canada and very soon thereafter to Richardton ND where a farm was for sale. Joe was 16 when his father died and he was sent off to live at his sister Barbara's (married to Michael Leier) farm in Blumenfeld area. Ship manifest of SS Canada has Michael Meier and family arriving at Quebec on 3 Aug 1914 at 1:30pm Ship: SS Canada Depart: Liverpool 26 July, 1914 Arrive: Quebec 3 August, 1914 Name Age Destination Millbrandt Olga 14 Camper MB Martha 9 Meier Michael 52 Regina SK Anna 36 Joseph 11 Elizabeth 8 Johann 7 Michael 4 Franziska 3