Remembering our Roots ~ Cliff and Linda Christensen
By John Godsman Times Contributor
Clifford Christensen’s family history originates in Denmark. His maternal grandparents, Jacob Herbert Snider and Lily Florence, were descendants of the United Empire Loyalists, born in Pennsylvania in the late 1800s, later moving to Ontario, then to Alberta. Several children were born in Bassano, including Cliff’s mother Hazel Beatrice Snider, born June 6, 1914. They later lived in the Hussar and Drumheller areas.
Cliff’s paternal grandparents, Rasmus Anton Christensen and Kirstine Maren, were born in Denmark between 1877 and 1883. They had two sons: Sigfred, born in 1906 and Richard, born in 1908. Sigfred was Cliff’s father.
Rasmus and Kirstine and their sons immigrated to Canada in 1914, sailing from Liverpool, England on the Empress of Ireland. On arriving in Halifax, they took the train to Alberta, living for a time in Calgary before settling in the Drumheller Valley where the brothers attended school. Rasmus worked in the Robin Hood Coal Mine for five years, before dying of Spanish Flu in 1919. Kirstine and her two sons found employment on the Two Bar Ranch on the west side of Wintering Hills, working for Jack Morton. The family purchased land nearby and farmed together until Sigfred and Richard bought their own parcels of land in the same area. This land is still being farmed today by their descendants.
Clifford was born in Drumheller in 1943, one of eight children. He attended the Two Bar School in the early years, before transferring to the Dalum School where he stayed through Grade 9. He then worked for Poole Construction in Calgary, before returning to Wintering Hills in 1962 to farm with Joe Merkel. He purchased and rented his own land before finally taking over the Merkel Farm in 1976.
Linda Christensen’s paternal grandparents, Johnnes and Katerina Merkel, were both born in 1887, in what was then called White Russia but now is part of Germany. Johnnes was a Hussar soldier, a very accomplished horse rider, an interpreter for the German Army and spoke four languages. Johnnes came to Canada in 1913 to escape the Bolshevik War, and Katerina arrived the following year. They worked and lived in several places throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta before eventually settling in the Drumheller Valley where they started a market garden which delivered produce to Drumheller and Rosedale. Johnnes also worked at the coal mines in Rosedale before retiring at age 65. He died in a house fire in 1952.
Linda’s maternal grandparents, Hans and Anna Mortensen, were both born in Denmark. Hans came to Canada in 1926 to look at land previously owned by his brother-in-law Tom Dissing, who had sadly drowned in the Red Deer River. Hans continued farming with Tom’s brother Niels, and sent word for his family to join him in Wayne, Alta. Linda’s mother, Rosa Mortensen, was born in Denmark in 1920, one of the four children who accompanied Anna for the Atlantic crossing in 1927. They travelled by train from Halifax to Wayne. No small feat when no one in the family spoke any English.
Linda’s father, Joe Merkel, and his wife Rosa had two daughters, Linda and Sandra, born in 1944 and 1948, respectively. After living in various locations in Alberta, they moved to a farm in Wintering Hills in 1952.
Linda graduated from Hussar School in 1962, then attended Henderson Business College in Calgary, before getting a job in Drumheller.
Linda met Cliff when he came to work for her father Joe. They were married in Dalum Lutheran Church in 1965 and had two sons, Sheldon and Wendell. Today, Wendell manages the family farm and Sheldon is a platoon chief with the Red Deer Fire Department. Linda and Cliff have four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Not only did their busy lives include managing a farm and raising a family, but also participation in sports and contribution as board directors of various community organizations. Linda and Cliff believe technology has changed the way farming is done, for example the use of GPS and cell phones.