Tomasz Nawroski (1884-1960) left Poland
for Canada sometime after World War
One. He quickly moved to Wavell (township
of Benoit, near Ramore) where he settled
on a wooden lot and prepared a square
timber house before welcoming his
wife Katarryny Mielnik
(1887-1963) and their son
Frank on November 1922 – the family
grew by another seven children, two
sons (Tony, 1927 and Victor, 1932)
and five daughters (Jenny, 1923; Rose,
1925; Victoria, 1926; Pauline, 1928
and Anne, 1930)
The Nawroskis and their progeny “worked
morning till dark” in order to
bring about 150 acres (out of 320)
into cultivation .
The Nawroskis practiced
mixed farming and produced enough
for the family’s subsistence, raising
livestock (cattle, hogs, horses as
draft animals and chickens), harvesting
oats and hay as feed crops for animals.
They also maintained a large garden ,
while fishing on the Black River and
hunting wildlife
added to the family’s sustenance.
The revenue derived from logging and
fur trapping were
reinvested in the farm. It paid for
the purchase of horse powered mechanical
instruments such as a disk, a harrow,
a mower, a plough, a reaper and forging
instruments. There were never any
tractors on the farm nor was it ever
equipped with hydroelectric power.
The eldest son Frank remained
the longest under parental rule and
proved the most helpful to the household
– he stayed until he found a wife.
Frank (33) married a Wavell girl by
the name of Alice-Rose Beauvais on
March 20, 1943 at the farm – Jenny
and Tony also married Beauvais people.
Not surprisingly, the newlywed couple
settled on an 87 acre plot of land
nearby in order to preserve family
cohesiveness. Pauline married a mill
worker from Iroquois Falls while Rose,
Victor and Victoria married and moved
out of Northeastern Ontario. The youngest
child, Anne, died at the farm of pneumonia at
age 13.
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