Jasperite Karen Fontaine is an amateur genealogist, who often receives requests from people around the world looking for information on long-lost family members with ties to Jasper.
The most recent request comes from Charles Hart of Texas, who is looking for information on his great-grandfather Manton Freeman.
Freeman was born in Nova Scotia, lived in Minnesota, homesteaded in Alberta and later in life moved to California. After the passing of his wife, who he buried in southern California, he moved back to Canada and lived in Pouce Coupe, B.C. for more than a decade. Then in his old age, he moved in with his daughter Hazel Landals and her family in Jasper.
With that information, Fontaine searched out the Landals of Jasper and discovered there are none left. Hazel passed away in 1954 at the age of 61 and her son, Bob Landals, passed away in 1994 at the age of 74.
Fontaine took photos of each of the graves in the Jasper Cemetery to send to Hart and she also made a copy of Hazel鈥檚 obituary, which was in the archives at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives.
Hart is especially interest in his great-grandfather鈥檚 history because Freeman has a striking resemblance to Hart鈥檚 own son.
Fontaine has hit a dead end in her search for information and is requesting that anyone who knows something about Freeman, even what house he lived in with his daughter, get in touch with her either by phone or email, 780-852-0676 or [email protected].
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
