Taken from a copy of a biography that appears to have been in a local history book.
 Lakeview Cemetery Sylvan Lake, Alberta  |
Kanten, Andrew and
Martha Andrew Kanten was born in 1860 in Norway. He left there when a little boy and came to Watson, Minnesota with his parents. It took them three months to cross the ocean in a sailing ship. Martha Borgerson left Norway at the age of sixteen and also came to Minnesota, where she met and married Andrew Kanten the following year. There they operated a small farm and had a dray business. While in Minnesota eight children were born - Anna (Benson), Caroline (Draxten), Gilbert, Henry, Clara (Field), Iver, Minnie (Moyer), and Elmer. In 1899 the family moved to Eddy County, North Dakota. Land Patent While at this farm, five more children were born - Helen (Flick), Adolph, Joseph, Alma (Sunde) and Alice (Hoffos). Joseph passed away when a baby. In 1911 the family decided to homestead in Saskatchewan. They came by train to Moose Jaw and then travelled the last one hundred and ten miles to what would become Kantenville in a lumber wagon. There was an immediate need for a school and the next year Andrw Kanten played a large part in the building and opening of Kanten School. The Kantenville Post Office opened at about the same time in his home. This became a community meeting place in those early years. He had the post office until 1920, when they moved to Assiniboia. The Andrew Kantens lived in Assiniboia for many years where he did carpentry. In 1937 they move to Rockglen and he continued in his building trade. He built and lived in the present dwelling of Carl Neilson. His son Henry had the theatre there and called it 'The Dreamland.' In 1932 along with several other members of the family, they moved to Alberta. They lived for many years at Sylvan Lake. Mr. Kanten passed away in 1944 a the age of eighty-four. Grandma Kanten lived on for many more yers, enjoying the visits of her large family. Before she died in 1963, at the age of ninety-seven, she was featured in a Reader's Digest article as having the most known living descendants - two hundred seventy five - in Canada. Quite a contribution for one little lady! Anne Martha Borgerson was the daughter of Hans Alm's maternal aunt, Kari Borgerson, making descendants of these two families double cousins. |
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