Homesteading in Canada
Come walk with us through a century of family history
Homesteading and Pioneering in Saskatchewan and Manitoba beginning in 1907 and continuing through the Century.
BETSY Muriel POYSER came from a farming background in Leek, Staffordshire, England. She was born on the 11th of July, 1883. The family consisted of four boys and five girls. Betsy left home early to work and was somewhat prepared for the life she would lead in Canada. She first came to Austin, Manitoba in 1904 to help her cousins who were well established in the farming community there.
In 1907 she joined her brother Jim who was homesteading in the Merridale area. Her other two brothers Reuben and Harry also settled there.
In 1909, Harold Belcher and Betsy Poyser were married.
The quarter section of their homestead was fenced in on three sides by forest reserve which provided unlimited grazing for cattle. They cleared their land of large poplars which were used to build a home. They grew grain and hay as feed for the cattle. Harold used an ox as well as horses in those early days. To finance his farming operation, Harold did custom work for more affluent neighbours, breaking land in summer, sawing and hauling stove wood in winter,using his veterinary skill on livestock, and at harvest going farther afield to work.
For the next 15 years their life centred around the homestead and the family. The couple must have been devastated when their first three children died in infancy. One, a twin girl they named Dora, lived for several months. The babies were buried on the hill at the Merridale farm. Harold and Betsy rejoiced in 1912 when a son, Jim, was born. He was the first of their family of 4 boys and 4 girls, born 2 years apart. All the children were born at home with the aid of a midwife. In later years Harold told the family that, because of the sad beginnings, it was very difficult for Betsy to leave Merridale when the family moved to Bield.
Betsy was an unassuming, courageous and caring person with a great deal of wisdom.
However by 1923 many of the settlers had to walk away from their farms because of water-logged unnutritious hay, high taxes, and high interest rates on borrowed money. As Phoebe wrote in a history prepared for the Merridale homecoming --"After all the joys and hard work building a home and developing a farm it must have been a great disappointment to lose it. In 1923 The Belchers rented a nearby farm for three years...Grahams had lost many of their horses and cattle in the "bad year" when there was so little feed and so little food value that the stock would get down and not have the strength to rise. Dad had hauled feed from farther afield so saved his herd. With the loss of stock and the debt of the "Rural Credit", Grahams left everything --horses, cattle, pigeons, organ, threshing separator, and went to Detroit. Dad got the farm with the understanding he would get a third of the increase of the stock for taking care of them. In a year or two or three the Bailiff took the Graham chattel to Roblin for an auction sale... The farm Grahams got, and the adjoining quarter, were mostly meadow. There was, though, this high ridge along the middle of the quarter where buildings were set in an east to west line facing south. Down below them was first, a fence, then a creek meandering through a rough pasture meadow. We delighted in the big buildings and new play areas. The horse barn was big with stack yards behind it. The cow barn, with stables at the sides, was just right for sliding down the roof until Dad stopped that. It was hard on pants and on the roofing!
Dad and Mother must have been really busy with their own stock, "the rural credit stock", and six to eight children. Two of the summers Dad had the job of Hillsburgh assessment so he travelled on horseback as far south as the new homesteads south of Shortdale. When the municipal secretary, Mr.Bain, was thrown into jail for using public funds, and when many people left the district unable to pay their "rural credit" debts, we lost our school vans and had to walk. One winter school did not open after Christmas until the end of April."
The family lived in the Merridale district of Manitoba until 1926 when Harold and Betsy bought a farm on the northern edge of the Bield district.By then there were eight children in the famiy.
In 1932 they bought an additional farm and the older children pitched in to keep both farms going. In 1937, although attempts made to find a good well were unsuccessful, construction of a house was begun. Each winter the quota of logs allowed were cut and lumber made to build additional farm buildings. John speaks of batching in a shack there while work was ongoing.
Harold was a sociable person, an excellent swimmer, who enjoyed ballgames and other outdoor activities with his family. With pipe in hand he seemed at times very much the English gentleman.
THE WILSON HOMESTEAD in SASKATCHEWAN
Harold's two remaining brothers soon immigrated to the same area. One of his seven sisters also joined her brothers after the war. The picture below shows teams and wagons used for harvest at Pense, Saskatchewan in 1908 CLICK THE THUMBNAIL TO VIEW THE LARGER PICTURE
*Early History of the Belcher family was written by Phoebe Murchison for the Roblin History book. Some additional information has been contributed by other family members. Please see Index of Pages, with clickable Links, on the next page of this History.
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Saskatchewan Homestead History continued
"After the school was built in 1909 the first teacher was Joseph Patton (until 1913). There were 14 pupils. In 1914 the school was moved to its present location and an additional room and a foyer were added. The bell donated by Mr. Patton was erected in the bell tower. Its daily ringing could be heard for quite a distance."
HAROLD WILSON was 19 years of age when he came to Canada from Garton on the Wolds, Yorkshire,England. He arrived in 1907. Two of his brothers had immigrated the year before. Harold and his brothers worked on a large farm at Pense that first summer. Then the three brothers filed on three quarters of land north of Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. The next year Harold pre-empted an additional quarter. The land was open treeless prairie. To meet residency requirements the brothers built a shack in the center of the four quarters where they lived and batched during the early years.
when Harold Wilson was part of the crew
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*Early History of the Wilson family has been summarized from stories written by Flo Thomson and George Wilson for the Carmichael and Hazlet History books, with a few additions by Irene Belcher.