The golden question. Sometimes I can’t find any information about a property. Other times, I struggle to figure out who settled on the land and who constructed the house! This property is one of those homesteads. And if we are being honest, this was a drive-by. Open the window, take a few shots and move on to something more decrepit and appealing.
The first recorded homesteader bought this land but farmed it only. He later rented to another well-known local who came to Canada, stayed briefly, moved to Saskatchewan and came back. He only lived on this land until 1922.
Family number 3 lived on this land for 25 years. They raised four children but I do not know if it was on this land alone.
Back to that day when Christian and I went out, one of the first houses we stopped at on our venture was this one.
Visible from the road, this was an easy stop. After fiddling around with my camera for a bit we got ourselves on the other side of the trees.
This big old two story house with the missing door upstairs wouldn’t want to be something I came across at night time. I wasn’t at all freaked out here but with the dead trees in the front, I could see how one would be.
The history I found on this homestead is not of the original homesteaders. That is of course somewhat disappointing to me but its better than nothing. That being said, here we go. The second homesteader of this land immigrated to Canada in 1903. Born in 1881 in Country Cork, Ireland, he moved to the area and married in 1908. Having worked for many farmers in the area and renting land to farm, he moved from the land he originally lived on and in 1921 eventually moved to Neepawa. In 1927, Mrs. passed away and he came back to the area.
In April, 1928 to be exact, the family moved back to Elgin, Manitoba but he again rented land. It wasn’t until 1942 that him and his children moved to this homestead.
Mr. retired from farming in 1951 at the age of 70 and moved to Brandon where he lived until he passed away in 1964. Mr. and his wife raised 6 children on various farms in the area as well as in Neepawa. Upon Mr.’s retirement, his youngest son and his wife took over this farm and raised their family here.
CRUMBLING MEMORIES 