WINNIPEG FOR A FEW YEARS

The Donnans move again - the west was opening up and homestead land was being offered to those willing to clear the land and settle.  By 1883[1], the Donnans were in Winnipeg and two more children were born – Joseph Hugh in 1883 and Ida in 1885.  Sadly Joseph Hugh survived only six months, another child soon to be left behind in a cemetery.

John Caswell & wife Patience had arrived in Winnipeg in July of 1882 and Grandma Caswell, probably with youngest brother, Robert, joined John J. and family a few months later.  John found work with the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) as a carpenter as did his brother Robert.  In a letter from Patience she said, “we moved into our own little house in Winnipeg.  Our house had two good bedrooms and a living room 16 x 16, and a wood shed.  We were comfortable indeed compared with some people.  Lots lived in tents all winter.”

      I would think that with Hugh’s experience working on the railway he would also jump at the chance of employment with the CPR.  In fact the directory for Winnipeg shows an interesting coincidence.  My father’s grandfather & great uncles worked with my mother’s great uncles and her great grandfather was the foreman of the CPR carpentry shop.

1883	Winnipeg	Carswell	Joseph	CPR	Dad's great uncle
		Carswell	Robert	carpenter	Dad's great uncle
		Carswell	John	carpenter	Dad's great uncle
		Oakley	Samuel	foreman CPR shops	Mom's great grandfather
1884	Winnipeg	Caswell	John J.	CPR Carpenter shop	Dad's great uncle
		Donnan	Hugh	fireman CPR	Dad's grandfather
		Oakley	Isaac	CPR Carpenter shop	Mom's great uncle
		Oakley	R.H.	machinist	Mom's great uncle
		Oakley	Robert	CPR Carpenter shop	Mom's great uncle
		Oakley	S.	carpenter	Mom's great uncle
		Oakley	Samuel	foreman CPR shops	Mom's great grandfather

  Hugh applied for a homestead but did not complete the requirements and I suspect this happened to the Caswells as well.  In a letter from Patience (John’s wife) Caswell she mentions that “George Grant, agent for the Temperance Colony stopped to see us for he was well acquainted with the Caswells (Grant was a Caswell neighbour in Granton) and persuaded us to take up land in the Colony.”  In short order the Caswell brothers and sisters followed Rob and Joseph Caswell, and George Grant to the Temperance Colony at Clark’s Crossing, near Saskatoon.

      Perhaps Winnipeg did not live up to what the family thought it would be.  Winnipeg seems to have been a bust for almost all the Caswell siblings.  Many of the Caswell brothers were railway workers as well as farmers and the growth of the railway – both for work and for travel, plus the lure of free homestead land enticed the Caswells to pull up stakes and make the move.  After a short time, almost all the Caswell families moved on to Saskatchewan. 

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[1] 1901 census – returned to Canada 1883