Hammers in British Columbia

[Gunnar Holm]

Conrad Leonard Hammer, born Oct 18, 1901 in Rödön parish, Jämtland county in Sweden, emigrated to Canada in 1928. He arrived at Quebec Sept 27 that year, and in 1946 he is found in Haney, B.C. He married Mabel Viola Halliday, born June 2, 1916 at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and dead July 2, 1969. At that time Conrad's and her address was 13473 8th Avenue, Haney.
If anyone could give me some more information about Conrad Hammer I would be very grateful. Especially I would like to know when he married, if he got any children, and when he died. But it would also be interresting to know where he has lived before he settled in Haney.
 
Gunnar Holm

[Thomas Vikander]

Hello Gunnar,
Perhaps he was heading to stay or settle with a relative or person from his 'hemort' who had emmigrated earlier. Check for his possibility.  
He arrived in Canada listed as Hammar but his eventual wife's death some forty-one years later is listed as Hammer. Both spellings ought to be entered into search engines.  
I take it you have proof that mabel Viola Halliday was his wife? Do you have her newspaper obituary? Did he write back to Sweden?  
Did she have relatives in Haney or nearby?
At present, both spellings of his/their last name occur in the phone book listings in the vicinity of Haney.
Best regards, Thomas V.

[Gunnar Holm]

Hello Thomas,
Yes, his name in Sweden was Hammar, but when he arrived in Canada he anglicized it to Hammer. In the Death Registration Act of Mabel Viola he has personally signed it with “Conrad Hammer”. There seems to be no other useful hits when searching Ancestry.com or Google. The only indication I have found in Sweden so far is a message from 1946, and at that time his address was “Gen. Del., Haney, B.C., Canada”.
 
According to his relatives he has an uncle, Eric Ersson Hammar, who emigrated 1905 with his family to Winnipeg. Perhaps he had a farm somewhere in Manitoba, but that statement is highly uncertain. In 1909 Eric’s father (and Conrad’s grandfather, born April 8, 1826), Eric Olsson Hammar, also emigrated to “North America”. He may be identical to the Swedish man Eric O. Hammer who died in Moyie, B.C. June 28 1910 at the age of 84 according to a Death Registration Act.
 
I suppose there could be some useful information in old city directories and obituaries, but I don’t know how to get access to them. They are obviously not on the Web. Another clue is that Mabel Viola har been buried in Maple Ridge Cemetery. There is an ongoing inventory project of that cemetary published on the Web, but so far her gravestone (and Conrad’s?) has not been included.
 
Best regards,
Gunnar Holm