Our Kudinsky forefathers, Herschel, Leib, Nisan and Raful were all millers in Ukraine. Their sister, Miriam married a miller, Isaac Bakalinsky. Several other men who married into our family were also millers including Berel Kreger, David Roitman, Eli Gershuny, and Benzion Rabinovitch. The Kudinsky mills processed primarily buckwheat. The finished product, kasha was a staple Ukraine in both Jewish and non-Jewish kitchens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After crossing the ocean, most of the millers in our family earned their livelihoods in other ways. But a few continued the milling tradition in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dominion Cereal Co. \u2013 Abraham Winrob, Herschel Coodin, Sam Bakalinsky and Berel Kreger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Herschel Coodin arrived in Winnipeg with his wife Elka and their two youngest children in 1913. His first venture there was a grocery at Dufferin and McGregor. However, as a Hasidic Jew he was uncomfortable with selling the pork products demanded by his Polish customers. He moved to a store on Stella Avenue where his customers were predominantly Jewish. But he remained unhappy and considered moving the family back to Ukraine. This possibility was extinguished by the outbreak of World War I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, in 1919 Herschel seized an opportunity to get back into the milling business. Abraham Winrob was a partner in Dominion Cereal Co., a buckwheat mill on Stella Avenue. But the partnership was not working out. Abraham Winrob was married to Herschel\u2019s niece, Bessie Bakalinsky. Herschel and his nephew Sam Bakalinsky bought the business in November 1919. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sam left the business in 1926. In the meantime, Herschel\u2019s son-in-law, Berel Kreger had begun working at the mill. Herschel died in 1942. He left the mill to Berel. When Herschel\u2019s will was probated, the \u201cmilling plant and equipment\u201d was said to have a value of $2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berel continued to operate the mill until he died in 1959. At that time the City of Winnipeg was planning the redevelopment of a chunk of the North End in order to build a massive low rent housing project. The City expropriated the mill property from Berel\u2019s widow, Chaykeh. The single storey wood frame building was demolished. The block on which the mill sat is no longer a street. It is now a walking path across a grassy patch of parkland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Western Buckwheat Milling Co. \u2013 Leib Coodin and Max Coodin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Max Coodin arrived in Canada in 1924 at the age of 28. Almost immediately, he went to work in a mill where he was paid $90 a month. But within a few years, he had given up that job and had become proprietor of Superior Fur Cap Mfg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1925 Max\u2019s parents Leib and Sarah Coodin arrived in Winnipeg. Leib found work at Harry Binsky\u2019s mill on King Street. Binsky\u2019s business was called Western Buckwheat Milling Co. By 1935, Leib had become a co-owner of the business with Binsky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leib\u2019s son Max eventually left the fur cap business and succeeded Leib as Harry Binsky\u2019s partner at the buckwheat mill. The business changed its name to Winnipeg Cereal Milling Ltd. and moved to Logan Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1967, Max fell out with his partner Abraham Binsky (who had succeeded his father Harry). Max bought out Binsky\u2019s 50% share for $37,000. Their disagreement was serious enough that it ended up in court over the issue of liability for corporate income tax in the year of the buy-out. Max lost the case at the Court of Appeal and had to bear the full brunt of that year\u2019s tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Max operated the mill until a few months before his death in 1982. He called himself the \u201cBuckwheat King of Western Canada\u201d because his was the last buckwheat mill in the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Max had an interesting and sometimes tragic domestic life. His younger sister Freda died in 1935 after contracting tuberculosis in prison. She had been jailed for her part in a strike. (see her story in this section) Only a month later, Max\u2019s wife, Bessie Dresher died in mysterious circumstances from injuries after falling off a moving train. She was only 25 years old. The next year Max married a widow, Lily Feldberg. Lily died in 1982, just three months before Max. Their children dedicated a drinking fountain to Lily in Kildonan Park. She is memorialized by a bronze plaque by the fountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Story by\u00a0Mark Kreger<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n