Collectie jhse-9 - Abe Cristall collection

Born in 1868 in the Russian province of Bessarabia, Abe Cristall immigrated to Canada in 1890. After landing in Montreal, Mr. Cristall traveled west and worked as a farm labourer near Brandon, Manitoba and then Oxbow, Saskatchewan. Soon after arriving in Saskatchewan, Mr. Cristall began working as a peddler, selling bolts of cloth door-to-door in rural Saskatchewan. In the course of visiting a customer, Mr. Cristall met the customer's daughter, Rebecca Leavitt, and they were married in 1893. The newlywed couple planned to move to Seattle, but Mr. Cristall, after visiting and being enticed by the economic possibilities present, elected to settle in the booming frontier town of Edmonton instead. The Cristalls were the first Jewish residents of Edmonton. Abe Cristall opened his own draying business before becoming a prominent member of the city's economic elite through his involvement in the city's active real estate market. In 1909, Mr. Cristall financed and built the Royal George hotel in the city's downtown. The Cristalls had five children; George, Max, Rose, Jessie and Ted. Abe Cristall died in 1944.