[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Immigrants to Manitoba

[Jerry Frank]

At 10:37 PM 11/01/2002 -0500, Dmarkaz at aol.com wrote:
>I noticed that many of the people from the list have ancestors who came to
>Manitoba.  Does anyone know if their was a specific reason?  Did Manitoba
>advertize in some manner in this region?  If so, what areas were targeted?
>I had heard that some Canadian Provinces had advertized land  in order to get
>people to populate Western Canada.  The greatest amount of immigrants seemed
>to come between 1908-1914.

The years you mention are correct for the peak of the general ethnic 
migration into western Canada.  The Toronto Star reported the peak month as 
May, 1911 when over 34,000 settlers were transported between the Quebec 
city port and Toronto (that's over 1,100 per day).  Other reports indicated 
over 1,760,000 immigrants to Canada between 1901 and 1911.

The German Volhynian migration started much earlier.  The Mennonites of 
course began their immigration in the mid 1870s.  They settled in 
"reserves" - pockets of land set aside for them by the government of 
Manitoba known as the East Reserve (Steinbach region) and the West Reserve 
(Altona / Gretna region) with the Red River being the frame of 
reference.  The Volhynian German migration started in the early 1890s 
though some had come a few years earlier.  Many were attracted by the 
homesteading act which allowed them to purchase an entire 1/4 section of 
land (160 acres) for only $10.  Others came to work for the already 
established Mennonite farmers both around Steinbach and Gretna where they 
established a stake that allowed them to purchase existing farms rather 
than proving up new land.  In Manitoba, much of the farm land had been 
homesteaded already but some was still available in the region along the 
Winnipeg River, north of Beausejour and in the Interlake Region.

By the mid 1890s, many Volhynian Germans were homesteading around Edmonton, 
Alberta in the areas of South Edmonton and Wetaskawin.   Similarly, 
numerous pockets of settlements were occurring throughout Saskatchewan 
where as late as 1905-1910 you could still find homestead land around Swift 
Current.

It was the Canadian government that advertised in Europe for settlers to 
populate the farm land of the Canadian west.  They had agents travelling 
throughout Europe to promote the homesteading.  They seemed especially to 
target the farmers of eastern Europe (all ethnic groups, not just German) 
who were known to be industrious hard workers, more likely to put up with 
the harsh conditions of breaking land than the well established farmers of 
western Europe.




Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
jkfrank at shaw.ca