History of the Calgary and District Beekeepers Association

Despite the best intentions, not all beekeepers keep detailed records of their colonies so it can hardly be expected that they would think to archive their association records. A recent investigation into the history of the Calgary and District Beekeepers Association suggests that the bee club is much older than originally thought.

W. G. LeMaistre, Provincial Apiarist of Alberta, 1939-1956

William Godfrey LeMaistre was  Alberta's second provincial apiarist. Born in England, his beekeeping education was obtained  at the Ontario Agricultural College. His predecessor as provincial apiarist, Mr. Hillerud, had also spent time learning bees in Central Canada. After LeMaistre's graduation in 1926, he farmed in Saskatchewan before returning to work for the College. He obtained the nickname "Tarz" during his college days, as he excelled at wrestling among other sports. The reference is presumably to his Tarzan-like moves on the mats?

Sylvan Oswald Hillerud: First Provincial Apiarist of Alberta

Sylvan Oswald Hillerud, the first Provincial Apiarist of Alberta, was a knowledgeable civil servant who learned of bees in Ontario and the United States, and continued his field education in the West. Alberta's chief bee guy from 1928, his life with bees took an abrupt end, but he was remembered with affection by beekeepers long after his retirement in 1939.

Born in Millsboro, North Dakota, to Norwegian Methodist parents on 19 December 1897, his family immigrated to Canada in 1904. In 1918, he listed Claresholm, Alberta, as home when he enlisted for the war. Arriving in England in July, he then served in France as a sapper with the 3 Canadian Engineers Reserve Battalion. Sadly, his service files have few details on his deployment.  In 1919, he worked for the Khaki College, a soldier-run school where he temporarily gained the rank of sergeant. The acting rank suggests he may have done some agricultural teaching there for demobilizing soldiers. He took the War Service Gratuity in 1919, and possibly used it to pay for schooling back in Canada's Prairie West.

After his graduation with a B.S.A. from the University of Alberta in 1920 [or 1921], he studied and mentored under prominent Ontario beekeepers J.L. Byers, F.W. Krouse, and G.L. Jarvis. In the interwar years, he also worked with bees in Montana and California. It was in 1928 that he was made the first provincial apiarist in Alberta. For a couple years he served as provincial inspector in the province and unfortunately as a part of his duties had to burn some diseased hives from time to time. In 1932, he continued his education, traveling to Cornell University to study.

Unfortunately, Hillerud's career in bees was cut short. In 1939, as another world war loomed, he developed an allergy which was said to have been aggravated by his previous gas poisoning during the First World War. He was succeeded as provincial apiarist by W.G. leMaistre. In 1958, Hillerud's memory helped to fill a historical tribute to beekeeping history in Alberta.

Photo: Bear Hugs

Sylvan Hillerud passed away in 1979, predeceased by his wife Isabel Janet Hillerud the year before.   Years after his time as the first chief bee man in Alberta, he was remembered with fondness by beekeepers of the province.

Sources:
Ancestry.ca documents
Alberta Beekeepers Association Anniversary Pamphlet
Military Service Files

Watch the Bee Go Get The Hun - Patriotic Sheet Music

Sheet music is a fascinating avenue into historical culture, and the patriotic jingles of the First World War are no exception.  Songs such as "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag", or "A Long Way Tipperary", immediately bring that conflict to mind.  The Sheridan Libraries Special Collections at Johns Hopkins University features a vast collection of digitized sheet music for research and enjoyment in  "The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection".  Clicking the World War I subject category yields 574 items, including popular soldiers' tunes such as "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo?", patriotic odes to President Wilson and General Pershing, and a number of titles featuring belligerent threats aimed at the German enemy.

One of these belligerent numbers is the oddly titled, "Watch the Bee Go Get the Hun" whose cover features the familiar mustachioed caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm, subject to on onslaught of American soldier-bees, guided by the lamp of lady liberty!  The song was penned by Walter Hawley, and published in New York in 1918.

http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:097.110

The lyrics of the song are as follows:

There's a beehive in America they call the U.S.A., And is far from 'over there'.
There's a hundred million busy bees a buzzing night and day, And they will soon be over there.
Uncle Sam is spending money so the bees can get the honey.
It's up to you to see them through the thickest of the fray.

Just watch the bee go get the Hun,
And bye and bye you'll see them run,
We're sending swarms and swarms of bees,
far across the deep blue seas,
To buzz around that big long distant gun.

So help the bee to get the Hun, Stamp U.S.A. on every one.,
And the Germans will be wiser when our Bees have stung the Kaiser,

Watch the bees go get the Hun.
Just Watch the Hun.

There are busy bees at Washington as busy as can be,
Preparing plans for 'over there'
And every bee throughout the land is watching anxiously
The bees who've landed over there.

The grand old Bell is ringing,
And our bees have started singing.
Their sting will win, good-bye Berlin,
it's all off Germany.

Just watch the bee go get the Hun,
And bye and bye you'll see them run,
We're sending swarms and swarms of bees far across the deep blue seas,
To buzz around that big long distant gun.

Our busy bees will get the Hun
With Kaiser Bill we'll have some fun,
To our bee-hive we will bring him so our little bees can sting him,

Watch the bees go get the hun.
Just Watch the hun.

It seems the bees here are variously ammunition, soldiers and civil servants.  It's a very busy metaphor! Why one would want to bring the Kaiser to the American bee-hive for a stinging when millions of bees are flying overseas is also a mystery.  Fortunately, Phonofile's youtube channel features a phonograph cylinder recording of "Watch the bee go get the Hun", so you can sing along at home.  All together now!