Alexander Dunae/Dubin

1891 - 1995

Alexander Dunae was born in 1891 in Russia, a son of Olga (née Kopik) and Frederick Dunaenko. He immigrated to Canada around 1908. The exact date is uncertain. He was leading the way for his family, who emigrated from Russia in 1910.

Alex Dunae, c. 1906, when he was about fifteen years old. The photograph was taken in Russia before he came to Canada.
Source of original photo to be determined.

When Alexander came to Canada, he may have been accompanied by an older sister, Eva. At first, he worked as a railway construction labourer near Swan River, Manitoba, where the Canadian Northern Railway [CNoR] was building a branch line. (The CNoR was a transcontinental line that became part of the Canadian National Railway system.) His sister, Eva, was employed in a boarding house at Swan River, where she met Paul Olenik, whom she married.

In 1909, Alexander travelled west to the town of Vegreville in central Alberta. His sister and brother-in-law probably travelled with him. The CNoR had reached Vegreville a few years earlier and the place was booming when they arrived. Many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants had settled in the vicinity and their legacy is evident in Vegreville's famous pysanka, a giant sculpture of a Ukrainian-style Easter Egg.

In August 1910, Alexander's parents and younger siblings – Sam, Paul, Peter, Jack, Mary and Nick – sailed to Canada from Rotterdam in Holland on the S.S. Uranium. They landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 3 September 1910 and immediately made their way to Vegreville, where they re-united with Alexander.

Earlier that year (on 24 February 1910), Alexander had filed for a homestead near Flat Lake, Alberta, a hamlet about 130 kilometres (85 miles) northeast of Vegreville. The nearest post office was at Rife, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) away. The village of Glendon was about twenty kilometers (12 miles) north.

The legal description of Alexander’s homestead was NW 3-60-8 W4 – indicating a parcel of land, comprising 160 acres, on the northwest quarter of Section 3, Township 60, Range 8, west of the 4th Meridian.

His father, Frederick Dunaenko, filed for a homestead on adjacent land at SW 3-60-8 W4 [southwest quarter of Section 3, Township 60, Range 8, west of the 4th Meridian] on 26 September 1910, just a few weeks after he and the family had reached Canada.

The patriarch and his family, including Alexander, were enumerated at the homestead in June 1911 in the 5th decennial census of Canada.

The family surname was written as Doonaenco on the 1911 census. In later years, and in other official documents, it was spelled Donenko, Doonanco, and Dunainko. Alexander used an abbreviated version of his father’s surname and short style of his given name. He was known as ALEX DUNAE.

On 13 September 1913, he married Eudokia Mushnahollova in Vegreville. According to the marriage certificate, both the groom and bride resided at Flat Lake prior to their marriage. However, they did not remain there for long. Instead, they moved east to the province of Saskatchewan.

As for Alex Dunae's homestead near Flat Lake, the title to NW 3-60-8 W4 was transferred to Dimetro Papirny, who married Alex's younger sister, Mary. The transfer was dated 5 August 1915.

By that time, Alex and Eudokia were living on a homestead near Netherhill, a village on the CNoR line about 20 kilometres [12 miles] east of Kindersley, Saskatchewan. The homestead was located at 10-29-21 W3 and Alex was then working as a "railroad section man." They relocated to North Battleford, Saskatchewan a few years later and in May, 1921 settled on a homestead near Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan.

The village of Rabbit Lake is about 90 kilometres [56 miles] north-east of North Battleford. Why Alex chose to file on a homestead in this part of Saskatchewan -- when his parents, brothers and sisters and extended family offered kinship in Alberta -- is a mystery.

The Dunae family then consisted of Alex and Eudokia (who was affectionately called Dunia) and three children: Nicholas (b. 1915), Peter (b. 1917), and Alexander (b. 1920). Two children, both boys, had died previously at a very young age. Another son, Paul, was born in 1924 and a daughter, Pauline, was born in 1926.

The homestead near Rabbit Lake was located at SE 36-47-14, W3 – that is, on the southeast quarter of Section 36, Township 47, Range 14, west of the 3rd Meridian. The homestead had been selected in the winter when the ground was covered in snow and it was soon apparent that it was not good farm land. The property was bisected by a ravine; and the soil, being sandy loam and riddled with rocks, was very difficult to cultivate.

Since the homestead yielded a very meagre income, Alex Dunae supported his family by working at a flour mill in the city of Saskatoon, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) south. The entire family moved to Saskatoon for a couple of years and resided at 321 Avenue "V" South in the city. The family was living in Saskatoon in June 1926 when the Dominion census of the prairie provinces was taken. On the census, it was noted that Alex Dunae, age 35, had been naturalized as a British subject in 1914.

The family moved back to Rabbit Lake in 1927. Alex was under notice by the Dominion Lands agent to fulfill his obligations for improving his homestead in order to secure a patent – that is, full ownership – to the quarter section of land. However, he continued to work intermittently at the flour mill in Saskatoon. Lamentably, he had an affair with a married woman there and in September 1930 he deserted his family. Abandoned on the unproductive homestead, his family were destitute. Alex was never forgiven by his wife and children and was estranged from them ever afterwards.

His whereabouts and activities during the next six decades are unknown.

At some point, he assumed the surname of Dubin; or, rather, he reverted to using Dubin as his last name. For reasons that are not clear, he used Dubin as a surname when he registered the birth of Nicholas in 1915.

In 1990, when he was elderly, Alex Dunae moved to Bonnyville, Alberta. His sister, Mary Papirny, lived there and his brother, Jack Doonanco, was nearby in Glendon, Alberta.

Alex Dunae died on 14 July 1995 at the age of 104 years. Prior to his death, he was a resident of the Bonnyville Health Centre Auxiliary wing and was known as Mr. Dubin.

He is buried in St. John's United Church cemetery in Bonnyville. His grave marker reads: "Dubin, Alexander. 1891-1995. Rest in Peace."