Do you or family members have fond memories of fishing at Meeting Lake Saskatchewan?  Or perhaps swimming and playing in the water? Did your family rent a cabin there every summer?

My mother in law Yvonne Aumack Miller and I are compiling a history and photo collection of the Aumack Resort at Crescent Beach, Meeting Lake, Saskatchewan in order to preserve this information for posterity. 

“We are actively collecting photos, records and memories of Aumack Resort, Crescent Beach, Meeting Lake, Saskatchewan”

John and Verna Aumack along with Verna’s mother Minnie Moss homesteaded along Meeting Lake shortly after they arrived in Saskatchewan in 1917.   Meeting Lake is about 7 miles from Rabbit Lake and north of North Battleford, Sask.

The Aumack Resort was a booming place in its heydey.  There was a slide in the lake for the kids and a diving board.  Dances were held in the hall.  My mother in law remembers a band called the Half Moon.  The hall also served as a meeting place for church and a movie venue.

There were boat rentals, horseshoes, a golf course, cabin rentals and more.  The Aumack resort operated from the 1920s (or 1930s) to 1959 when it was sold.

WE NEED YOUR HELP - We are actively collecting photos, records and memories of Aumack Resort. 

If you can contribute - please send photos scanned at high resolution.  Please include information about where photo was found in order for us to credit the source and the contributor.

To contribute to the Aumack Resort project please email  Joan Miller  for more information.  Your help in saving this part of Saskatchewan history is greatly appreciated!

Is your last name Aumack, Amak, Aumick, Aumock, Omick or some variation?

If so please consider participating in the Aumack Y-DNA Surname Project.

Overview

The goal of the Aumack Y-DNA Surname Project is find genetic matches to you or your family members in order to advance your family tree research.  Y-DNA testing will verify if an individual shares a surname or a paternal line.

Why choose this test?

• Choose this test if you wish to search the paternal surname line (father’s father’s father’s line).  (In this case for surnames Aumack, Amak, Aumick, Aumock, Omick)

• Choose this test if you are searching for direct paternal connections between men with different surnames (but have a connection to the Aumack and variants surnames) – examples: adoption, name changes, illegitimacy, fostering

• Choose this test if searching for clues to paternal geographic or deep ancestry of your Aumack (and variants) surname.
  

Who to test?

A male carrying the paternal surname. Women can ask a male relative carrying the paternal surname to take the Y‐DNA test.

How many markers?

Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) offers Y-DNA 12, 25, 37, 67 and 111‐marker tests.  Males are advised to test at either Y-DNA37 or Y-DNA67.

How to Join the Project

>>>Visit the Aumack YDNA Surname Project

Questions?

Please leave a comment below or contact me here.  If using the contact form please put  “Aumack Y-DNA Project” in the subject line.   I’m the project administrator and would be delighted to answer any questions.

That link again:

Aumack Y-DNA Surname Project – http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Aumack

John Henry Aumack arrived in North Battleford in January of 1917 with Verna, daughter Gretchen and Verna’s mother Minnie Moss.

John Aumack established a homestead at NW 26, 48, 12 W 3rd near Meeting Lake Sask.  (Sask Archives record 1818262).

Homesteaders had a certain length of time to break and crop the land.  This could take several years. The claim had to be  proven (with sworn statements).

Homestead Records – Aumack Photos of microfilm of original homestead application.  Source Sask Archives.  Photos taken with permission. CLICK PHOTO TO SEE MORE

Index to photo of the Aumack Homestead Application.

Page 1 of the Homestead Application is the cover sheet with the number 1818367 and land description

Page 2 John Henry Aumack, farmer of Meeting Lake.  Naturalization had been applied for. (Dec 16, 1922 – naturalization granted)

Dates on page November 3, 1917,  March 1918 to present date.

Wife and three children

Year 1919 Broken 15 acres, cropped 10 acres.

Year 1920 Broken 17 acres, cropped 20 acres.

1917 – 4 cattle

1918 – 11 cattle, 2 horses

1919 – 21 cattle, 3 horses

1920 – 21 cattle, 4 horses

Page 3

Building – 20 x 24 log and timber Value $400

Two Stables of logs Value $200

Granary Logs Value $100

Well $50

All fenced wire and poles $150

Signed November 11, 1920 by John Henry Aumack at Battleford Sask.

Pages 4 and 5 sworn statements of Dominicus Vrom (?) and Gzak K. J. VanDyke (?).  (writing difficult to decipher).  Usually neighbours gave the sworn statements to support the homesteader’s application.

John Aumack later purchased land at SW 35 48 12 W3 (originally homesteaded by a Mr. Ernest – Sask Archives Record 3064287.)

Minnie Moss – “Farmerette”

Minnie Moss established a homestead at NE 26,48,112, W3.  (Sask Archives record 2405432) and SE 35 48 12 W3 (Sask Archives record 3067386).  Note on the last page of Minnie’s application that she is called a “Farmerette”.    Also note her signature. (click on the photo to see more).

Homestead Records – Moss CLICK PHOTO TO SEE MORE

1918 Broken 12 acres 6 cropped

1920 Broken 20 acres 12 cropped

1921 – 23 acres cropped

1818 – 3 cattle

1919 – 7 cattle

1920 – 12 cattle

1921 – 15 cattle

Building 14 x 16 Logs and timber $75

Chicken House $25

Well $25

Click on the photo above to see photos of the Sask archives microfilm.  Originals are at the Sask Archives in Saskatoon.  We viewed the microfilms at Sask Archives in Regina.

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RELATED:  Homesteading at Meeting Lake – Photo of Minnie Moss’ log cabin

© Joan Miller

My sister has red hair, my two kids have red hair and my husband used to have red hair. So did my Mom and Grandmother. My father in law too!

Red hair is the rarest natural hair color in humans (1-2% of the population) but you wouldn’t know it in our family. Redheads are found most commonly in northern and western Europeans and their descendents. The colour ranges from deep coppery tones to bright oranges and is the product of two copies of a recessive gene that has been associated with the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), a protein associated with fair skin, red hair and ultra violet sensitivity.*

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to know that our family, are of northern European extraction.  Our IRVINEs are from Ireland and so were the KERRs, most likely via Scotland originally.  One of my grandmothers was a WILSON from Scotland.  The other, a WOODLAND, also with northern European roots. 

My husband’s AUMACK side of the family has been traced back to Dutch settlers on the Isle of Amager, in Denmark.   His father, a MILLER and also a redhead is thought to have English ancestry.

With all those redheads in the gene pool it wasn’t a surprise that our two children turned out to be redheads. 

How many of YOU have redheads in your family?  Are they of northern European extraction?  I’d love to hear your comments.

*Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair