Oscar Mottus

Oscar Mottus and his wife Juuli came to Canada from Estonia with their two daughters, Meta and Ella, in 1914. They joined Oscar's brother Hugo on his homestead at Gilby, Alberta (near Lacombe). Two days after they arrived, their third daughter, Adele, was born. In 1916 the Oscar Mottus family acquired their own homestead at Gilby. The family continued to grow; between 1916 and 1925, five more children were born: Albert, Hilda, Elmer, Louise and Robert.

Oscar and two of his brothers, Hugo and Alexander, jointly purchased a threshing outfit and traveled around the country to offer their services at harvest time. Oscar and his brother Arthur built the Wolfe School in 1922.

Juuli died in childbirth in 1925 but the baby survived. The oldest daughter, Meta, only 15 years old, took on the responsibility of running the household and caring for the large family that included a newborn.

Oscar married Annie Dahl in 1935, and they moved to Eckville. After Annie's death in 1965, Oscar lived in a lodge in Rocky Mountain House and then a nursing home in Rimbey. He died in 1976 at age 89.