Explore collections

Michael Eszta received this pipe from his father in Budapest Hungary just prior to taking a boat to England and then on to Canada in 1901. He also received a ring and never saw his father or Hungary again. He and a friend from the Hungarian army took the train to Winnipeg and settled there. Both men sent for their wives from Hungary. Mrs. Eszta died in childbirth in her first year in Canada. He married his second wife Amelia Gek, the donor's mother in Winnipeg two years later, c. 1905. They stayed there for two years, moving on to Saskatchewan, before settling in British Columbia, first at Renata for a year and a half before moving to Vancouver (in 1923) where he worked as a shoe repairer. They later moved into his own store at 2175 East Hastings Street, an apartment block with six stores downstairs. The family, including the donor lived in a large room behind the shop for the next twenty years, moving after that to Burnaby. Michael grew ill and he died in 1944 at 2175 East Hastings Street. Buried in the family plot at 30th and Fraser. Based on telephone interview with donor on 20 June 2008, He smoked the pipe on special occasions only.