Vos-Roth

History

Henry and Catherine Vos (Slattery) were the original owners of this barn. They married in 1907 and came to Canada to homestead. Originally, Henry was from Minnesota and Catherine from Masonville, Iowa. Their Canadian home was eight miles from Strome, ten miles from Daysland, and two miles from Spring Lake village. Which was a community that had, at that time: a store, post office, creamery, Catholic Order of Foresters Hall, and blacksmith shop. There were 13 kids born to Henry and Catherine, 9 girls and 4 boys. Their names were: Florence, Helen, Mary, Mabel, Cecelia, Anthony, Irene (Sister Rose of Lima), Leo, Brother Alfred, Agnes, Kathleen, Henry and Genevive. The barn was built in 1915, the same year as Anthony was born.

Catherine passed away in 1954 and Henry in 1959. Leo stayed on as the farmer of the home place and married Jean (Malone) Moessner, who had five children: Trudy, Kevin, Michael, Theresa and Greg. Leo and Jean had two children of their own: Joan and Dave. Leo and Jean built a house in Daysland in 1986. Kevin helped Leo farm until 1992 when Leo slowed down. At that point, Joan (Vos) and Mark Kuziak took over farming with Joan’s brother Dave. Mark and Joan had three children: Katie, Michael, and Matthew. Leo passed away in 2013. Jean is currently living at Providence Place in Daysland. Mark did extensive work to the inside of the barn and calved out his cows in there as well.

Mark and Joan sold the home quarter to Ken and Kathy (Cail) Roth in 2004. Ken and Kathy have two children, Carley and Jordan. Ken is originally from the Daysland area and Kathy from the Camrose area. Although we do not know much about the barn’s origins, builders, etcetera, it has been suggested that the lumber may have come from the Spring Lake Village. Lou Kilmer lived directly to the West of the Roth Barn and he built other barns in the area. So one could surmise that he, and his crew, may have built the Roth barn as well.

Ken Roth built footings for support for the beams inside the barn and, in a few areas, added additional woodwork to increase the barn’s integrity. The barn is without a proper foundation, as most of the barns of its era. Instead, field-stone and mortar hold up the giant structure. The North side of the barn has been, over time, sliding off its foundation. Joan Kuziak said that Leo told a story about the barn being blown off its foundation while under construction and they had a difficult time moving it back into place. This may be the trouble area today. Ken took siding from the Zwack/Roth barn to replace some of the rotten boards on the western face and northern side of this barn. He also built a new sliding door on the western face and had the shingles replaced. Although the barn has been painted often in the past, it is due for another coat. In 2015, Ken built a chop bin to hold the chop for the Roth family’s calves. The door to this chop shed holds some names of the horses that used to work on this farm. Some of the names date back to 1917 – a lovely piece of history which can be viewed below. He also replaced the broken windows and added braces inside the cupola. This barn has a hay hood and hay carrier system. The hay slings are laying in an old chop bin today. The Roth family hopes that this barn stands for another hundred years.

Roth, Kathy. Personal communication. 26 June 2017.

Ken and Kathy Roth. Wagon Trails in the Sod: A History of the Heisler Area: Volume II. 1st ed. Heisler: Heisler Community Historical Society, 2017, pg. 669. Print.

This frame shows the eastern face and northern side of the barn.

Close up of the wooden date on the eastern face of the barn and the hay hood.

Close up of the wooden cupola.

This frame shows the northern side of the barn.

This frame is of the western face and part of the northern side of the barn.

This frame shows the eastern face of the barn.

This frame is of the pens in the middle of the barn. These pens are in the northern half of the barn.

This frame is a continuation of the last photo but moving towards the West.

This frame shows the penned area in the southern half of the barn in the western corner.

This frame is of the south-eastern corner of the barn.

This frame shows the names of the horses that used to live in the barn. The names and dates were written in pencil on the back of the chop-room door.

This frame is of the hay sling for this barn. It would have been used to carry loose hay from the ground into the loft of the barn using the hay carrier and hay rack.