Genealogy Chat

They emigrated to aquire land under the Dominion Lands Act. You had to be over 21and head of a family and you could buy land for $1 an acre and in some cases it was free provided you cleared a certain amount and lived for a legislated time on the land. Alberta is divided into Ranges, Townships and each Township divided into sections, each section divided into quarter sections (160 acres). You could register for a homestead on 160 acres for $10 (five pounds). If you failed to pay for the land ($160 was a LOT of money in those days) or failed to clear the right amount in the specified time it went back to the govenrnment. Except for land in Towns and cities the province is marked out still in Ranges,Townships, sections and quarters... and that is your address. ie: SE 16 T46 R5 W5 which would be the south easth quarter section of Section 16, Township 46, Range 5 west of the fifth Meridian. You can pinpoint where someone lives with a lot less trouble than looking for a street in a town. I live on an old homestead quarter (not the one I showed.) and many of the quarters around me went back years ago. It was hard work being a pioneer! There are not many folk nowadays who could hack it! Sorry - more than you wanted to know I'm sure!

I already have them on the 1911 canadian census, it was more a general question as to why people might have emmigrated to Canada.

Could this be the family on the 1911 canadian census?

Rapley Frederick 32 Hager Ave M Head M Sep 1887 24
Rapley Alice F Wife M Jul 1883 28
Rapley Mildred M F Daughter S Oct 1910 1
Rapley Pearl F Daughter S Feb 1910 1/2
Rapley George M Boarder S Mar 1892 19

It says that Fred & Alice were born England and emigrated 1909, Children were born Ontario.
For George it says boarder bit I think original could read brother. however it says born Ontario.

They were there in time for the 1911 census:
http://automatedgenealogy(.)com/census/index.html
Click on 1911 in top right first
Search will prob return multiple hits - click on likely ones to view a transcription of page - from there you can view the image - all for free.

You can read about the census, including the column headers at:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/1911/006003-100-e.html
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/1911/006003-100.04-e.html

For more on Canada, check:
http://www.cyndislist(.)com/
My local library also puts out useful info:
http://www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/his/Genealogy/Genealogy.html

If they wind up on the prairies, the 1916 prairie census (unindexed) will prob be avail 2010.

Remove parentheses from (.)com's

Yeh I guess that makes sense.. thanks for your help today Lisa.. youve been great (and every1 else too!)

If they went for the free land, they may have stopped in Toronto (waiting to go to the west) and found work with Toronto Hydro. Perhaps their wages were high enough that it made more sense to stay in Toronto.

Or, they may have known people who left England, who later wrote and told them of opportunities in Toronto. They could have even found them work.

Hiya, yep have all emmigration details.....

26 Feb 1907 Frederick Rapley - Liverpool to St Johns Newfoundland, travelled on Lake Erie

13 Aug 1909 John & William Rapley - Liverpool to Quebec - Travelled on Empress of Ireland

Hi Raych

Have you found the ship they travelled on on Find My Past?

Linda

Thats really good, however it seems to be regarding the West of Canada, my relatives went to Toronto... do you think it was as simple as that was as far as they got? Mum said it was a bit like when they evacuated people from cities in the war.. she remembers seeing trainloads full of people off to Liverpool to emmigrate.. wonder if it was just really good advertising??

Can view a poster here:
Canada, the country of opportunities, poster, ON, 1910
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/
MP-1987.34.7?Lang=1&accessnumber=MP-1987.34.7

Note: I added a line return after artifacts/

Hi Raych :)

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/immigrants/021017-1100-e.html
Re: Printed Advertisements
Part of it:
"...in the late 19th century, a massive advertising campaign to change people's perceptions of the West. Expanding their distribution of immigration literature from a few thousand pieces per year to over 1.25 million, they blitzed the four corners of the world with one simple message: "Canada West. The last best west."

I knew flyers were produced around 1875; didn't realize they did it again.

PS I didn't read enough of it to see if they went free.
Also, I believe land out west was free, but you had to do some paperwork beforehand. I could be wrong, though.

I have 3 relatives that left their home in Chatham kent in 1907 and 1909 and travelled by ship from Liverpool to Quebec and settled in Toronto. They all worked as labourers in Chatham before they left. I have just spoken to my mum, she says she saw a programme on telly and in the early 1900's England shipped a lot of people off for free to Canada to populate the area as it was part of the commonwealth. Does anyone else know anything about this? I have looked on google but cant find anything. Ta.