MANITOBA, A FAILURE?

The move West - WINNIPEG

     The Caswell’s, although recently settled in Palmerston, Ontario, looked to the vast expanse of land being given away as an opportunity to spread their wings and gain a decent sized piece of property to farm.  "Any person who was the head of a family, or a single man 21 years of age, would be entitled to enter for a quarter section of 160 acres." (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/landsettlement.shtml)
     The railway yards in Winnipeg were probably also a draw as a number of the siblings had worked for other railways.  The railroad jobs offered an income while trying to make a go of farming. 
    There were Caswell cousins already living in the Winnipeg area. Rob mentioned in his memoirs that cousin James Carswell and wife lived in the bush west of Winnipeg.  Also according to Rob, Andrew's sister Margaret Ann Caswell (who had married a Caswell cousin) had numerous children and grandchildren living in the Winnipeg area. 
     More from Rob's memoirs:  "While I was stationed at Stonewall my brothers John, David and Joseph and my brother-in-law, Hugh Donnan, my sister and their children arrived from California.  My brothers had been railroaders in California.  They got work on the CPR at Winnipeg; Joseph as an engine fireman and John as a car repair man in the car shops." 
     "My brother Andrew, who had taken a homestead the previous year, had put in his crop and came to Winnipeg to work as a carpenter and brought my tools which I had loaned him the previous year.  By that time the Operator at Telford had returned.  I then quit the railroad and went to Winnipeg and got work.  The highest wages at that time was $4.00 per day."

     "The rule of the contractors was $3 to $4, you go to work you will be paid according to your work.  That job suited me.  First pay night (two weeks later I got my cheque of $4 per day; and it was not long until I got $6 per day.  Andrew was my helper, he was a handy man and got fair wages.  I don’t remember what he was paid."
     Hugh Donnan also took up land in the Winnipeg area and was a fireman for the CPR.  His homestead requirements were never fulfilled and the homestead abandoned.

     The following is a letter written by Patience Caswell (wife of John) and describes a bit of their life in Winnipeg.  The balance of the letter is located in the chapter about Saskatchewan.

“Well to begin with, we were married 28 June, 1882, then started for Winnipeg the next morning. I was 21 in the fall of 1881.

We arrived in Winnipeg the first day of July and found the streets had all been flooded and part of Main Street was still under water.  A young fellow was in a row boat taking people from one side of the street to the other.

The next day was Sunday so we thought we ought to go to church. We had a very nice room in the "Rosin House" or so the hotel was called. Well we started out, I in my best bib and tucker, had only gone about a block when I slipped down and oh my!   An old gentleman just behind me exclaimed “Well Well” So everybody would be sure to notice. I had no sooner got to my feet than a man a little piece from us took his turn, so I did not care so much.

We did not stay at the Hotel very many days for we were paying 11 dollars per day for our room. We then took an apartment out on Notre Dame Street.  We got five rooms for $25.00 per month but we did not stay there long for it was too far from the Car Shops. We moved five times to get near to Johns work.  He had a good job in the Car Shops and did not want to quit, for he might not get any better place.

Finally some boys that worked with him came out in the evening and in about a week we had a little house of our own, a little piece from the Shops on the commons. We lived there the second year we were in Winnipeg.

Grandma Caswell came out from Ontario the August before to live with us.

We had brought our bedding, a few dishes, and an organ besides our trunks full of clothes, from Iowa.  We had quite a time getting the organ through the Customs.   The officer told us it was a luxury so we had to pay the duty.  He wanted $50.00 but finally let us have it for $17.50 as it had been used.” 

     The 1883 directory for Winnipeg shows Joseph, Robert & John all boarding at Gunnell Street, 4 The Commons South.  Joseph was listed as working for the CPR and Robert & John were listed as carpenters.  More interesting to me was that my maternal great great grandfather Samuel Oakley was the CPR shop foreman.
     In the 1884 Winnipeg directory the following family members were listed: 

• John J Caswell        CPR carpenter shop
• Hugh Donnan           Fireman CPR
• Isaac Oakley           CPR carpenter shop
• Robert Oakley         Machinist, CPR carpenter shop
• Samuel Oakley         Foreman, CPR carpenter shop

    I was looking through the directory for a different family (Powell) and was surprised with what I found when I started to compile the information I had collected.  When my parents Doreen Powell & Stanley Todhunter married their great uncles had all worked together in the CPR carpenter shops in Winnipeg and my mother's great grandfather was the shop foreman.  What a small world!
     More from Patience letter: "George Grant, agent for the Temperance Colony stopped to see us for he was well acquainted with the Caswells and persuaded us to take up land in the Colony."
     Was Winnipeg a failure? or was the draw of life in the temperance colony in Saskatchewan too much to pass up?  Whatever the reason, only Andrew remained in Manitoba.  Joseph & Robert were part of one of the first groups of settlers heading for the Saskatoon area.  John and Hugh Donnan and their family's - along with Grandma Caswell - were soon to follow.