Jaak Kinna Family

Jaak Kinna's son Henry was the first of the family to immigrate to Canada. He arrived in 1902 and took out a homestead north of Eckville. For just three dollars, he wrote to his brother John, one could purchase 160 acres of land. John decided to join Henry, as did their brother Sam and their sisters, Tiina and Eva. Jaak's wife Helen and four of their daughters had died. Not wanting to stay behind without the family, Jaack came to Canada as well.

Jaak took out a homestead west of Gilby and served as acting minister. He died in 1917 and is buried in the Gilby (Kalmu) Cemetery, which was located on his own homestead.

Henry went back to Russia for two years and then returned to his homestead in Alberta. He moved to Eckville when he retired from farming. He did not marry. He died in 1948 and is buried in the Gilby (Kalmu) Cemetery.

Sam, who had taken a buttermaker's course in Finland and had managed a creamery in Estonia, took out a homestead but worked at a creamery in Calgary. A few years later, when he was working on railroad construction in Calgary, he fell from a scaffold and lost the use of both legs. He died, single, in 1954, and is buried in the Gilby (Kalmu) Cemetery.

The eldest son, John, took out a homestead with his wife and five children.

Tiina took out a homestead in the Eckville area and later moved to Wyoming, where she lived for the rest of her life. She had a daughter, Emma Tomingas.

Eva married John Teener and they adopted a daughter, Anna, who married Carl Langer. Eva and Carl are both buried in the Gilby (Kalmu) Cemetery.

Alberta's Estonian Heritage