Charlie worked in Calgary as a tailor, later operating his own men's clothing store. He was a founder of the Peretz School and of the Polish Jewish Family Loan Association, and was active in B'nai B'rith.

      In 1920 Charlie Switzer married Ida Wolfe. They had three children, Jack Switzer (married Peal Hoffman);Morris Switzer (Alice Ostrovsky); and Frances (Mal Panar).

      Charlie is Calgary's oldest continuous Jewish resident, and is now mar- ired to Chana Davids. (Born in 1898, he was 97 in 1995)

      Next to emigrate to Calgary was the oldest son, Meyer (b.1889) who came with his wife Etta Bleviss, brother David Switzer, and younger sister Lily (Horodezky). The parents, Mendel and Bella Switzer, followed in 1923 with the youngest brother, Ralph Switzer.

      Meyer was in the furniture businesses;he ran Capitol Auction Rooms, and later Capitol Furniture. Meyer and Etta Swizer had six children. Meyer was very active with the Chevra Kadisha and was a founder of Shaarey Tzedec Synagogue.

      A daughter, Lily, died in 1931. Their daughter Betty married Max Yan in 1944 and had five children. Dinah married David Spindel in 1946;they have two children. William Switzer married Frances Regenstreif;they have a son and a daughter.

      Ann Switzer is married to Eddie Brodsky and has four children. The youngest daughter, Miriam, married Arnold Winston;there are five children.

      Lily Switzer, only daughter of Mendel and Bella, married Nate Horodezky shortly after her arrival in Calgary in 1923. Nate had been an early homesteader near Rumsey, starting to farm there as as boy in 1907. He became a merchant in Calgary, running Imperial Clothing.

      Lily was an active Peretz School and Pioneer Woman supporter, and for many years headed the Chevra Kadisha Women's Auxiliary. Nate died in 1986, Lily in 1990.

      Nate and Lily had one daughter, Bertha, who married Abe Gold. Dave Switzer (1906-1954) was also in the furniture business, first oper- ating Princess Furniture, and later Show Home Furniture. In 1928 he married Ruby Hanson. There are three children, Sema (Morris Belzberg); Patricia(Michael Bruser, Tom Rogers);and Samuel Switzer (Ida Shulder).

      Ralph Switzer (b.1908) was a men's clothier. After the war, he took over his brother Dave's business, Princess Furniture. He married Florence Gibbs;they have three children, Maynard Switzer, Eric Switzer and Linda (Isaac Rotstein).

      The well-known 1932 photo of the founders of the Polish Jewish Family Loan Association includes several members of the Mendel Switzer family. In the front row are seated brothers Ralph, Charlie and Meyer Switzer. Next to them is brother-in-law Nate Horodezky.

      In the back row is their white-bearded father, Mendel Switzer. He and Bella lived all their Calgary years with Lily and Nate Horodezky. Mendel died in 1943 and Bella in 1954.

      Wolf Baer Switzer is the progenitor of the Switzer family, Calgary's largest extended Jewish family. He died in 1924, shortly before he was scheduled to travel from the family home in Radom, Poland, to join the children and grandchildren already in Canada.

      He had eleven children, nine with his first wife, Leeba, who died in 1884, and two with his second spouse, Miriam Alzenman, who died in 1930.

      Seven of his sons and daughters moved to Calgary, as well as the chil- dren of two others. Only two families remained in Europe. Fifty-three of his grandchildren, many already married with families, emigrated to Calgary.

      There are now over 1,400 descendants of Wolf Baer Switzer;more than a thousand are rooted in Calgary, and about a third still live in the city.

      The first to reach Calgary was Bella Singer. Her husband Abraham Singer came to Toronto in 1905, to Calgary in 1907, and was followed by Bella and son Hymie Singer in 1910. Bella Singer soon brought to Calgary two nephews, Charlie Switzer and Saul Bleviss, in 1912.

      Each immigrant sponsored by Bella Singer was expected in turn to bring over other relatives.The huge family now here is in the fortuitous result of Bella Singer's resolve and sacrifice.

      Following is a very precise outline of Wolf Baer Switzer's family, listed from oldest to youngest, and covering just two generations:(Spouses are noted in brackets.)

      Mendel Switzer, oldest son of Wolf Baer, married Bella Rosenzweig. They emigrated to Canada in 1923. Their children were Meyer Switzer (Etta Bleviss), Charlie Switzer (Ida Wolfe, Chana Davids), Lily Switzer (Nate Horodezky), David Switzer (Ruby Hanson), and Ralph Switzer (Florence Gibbs). Mendel died in 1944, Bella in 1953, both in Calgary.

      A daughter, Mindell Switzer, married Zacharia Bleviss;they came to Calgary in 1927. Their children were Leeba Bleviss (Chana Kirshenbaum), Sol Bleviss (Mary Pullman), Max Bleviss (Chana Wolfe), Deena Bleviss (David Cooper), Yosel Bleviss (d.1922), and Anna Bleviss (Harry Davidman).

      Faiga Switzer married Myer Cyngiser and remained in Poland. There were three sons, Chaim, Mendel and Herschel Cyngiser. A grandson, Sucher (Sidney) Cyngiser, survived the Holocaust and came to Calgary. The remainder of the family perished.

      Rifka Switzer married Luzer Belzberg and came to Canada in 1929. Their children were Shloima Belzberg (a Holocaust victim), Leeba Belzberg (Choona Ryder), Baltcha Belzberg (Baruch), Avrum (Abraham) Belzberg (Hinda Fishman), Fradel Belzberg (Labish Belzberg), Mendel Belzberg (Lena Spier, Corrine Gutnik), Chana Belzberg (Abram Davids, Charlie Switzer), and Sarah Belzberg (Berl Bresler).

      The next daughter, Sarah Switzer, married Motle Aizenman;they had nine children, seven of whom came to Calgary. Their sons and daughters were Lily Aizenman (Mentke Cohen), David Aizenman, Fanny Aizenman (Leible Aizenman), Moishe Aizenman (Chana Fishman), Jack Aceman (Diane Singer), Joseph Aceman,(Rae Rosman), Yoel Aizenman, Rose Aizenman,(Max Jacobson), and Mildred Aizenman (Sam Nesbit).

      Jacob Switzer and Chaiya Aizenman had nine children: Mendel Switzer (Rifka Aizenman) and Dincha (Zisman Groner) were twins. The others were: Shaindle Switzer (Chiel Mittleman), Rivka (Rose) Switzer (Zysha Zysblat), Philip Switzer (Helen Joskowitz, Mania Goldman), Avrum Switzer(Sadie Morris), Frances Switzer (Morris Huberman) and Harry Switzer (Sari Rosenbaum).

      All lived in Calgary, Dincha Groner's family coming after surviving World War II in France. Jacob Switzer died in Calgary in 1936.

      Four of the five children of Jessie Switzer and Moishe Fishman came to Calgary. They were Sam Fishman (Ethel Singer), Percy Fishman (Sophie Rosenthal, Bessie Shapiro), Jack Fishman (Lily Switzer) and Lily Fishman (Max Katz, Morris Manusewitz). Father Moishe and oldest son Mendel were lost in the Holocaust.

      The pioneering Calgarian, Bella Switzer, married Abraham (Osher) Singer in 1905, and came to Calgary in 1910. They had four children: Hymie Singer (Estelle Lebelle, Ruth Cohen), Diane Singer (Jack Aceman), Rosalie Singer (Lou Geller, Monte Franks) and Jack Singer (Shirley Cohen). Abraham Singer died in 1942, Bella Singer in 1984, at the age of 103.