Presented by Linda Corupe
60-Minute Presentation (All)
Enticed by our province’s government to take up free lots along colonization roads and in the Canadian Shield, many new emigrants had their hopes dashed. The governments of our province, and of Canada at times, offered free land grants to settlers to entice them to emigrate and to open up uncleared sections. Two of these, the colonization road scheme of the 1850s and the Free Grants and Homestead Act of 1868, were widely advertised throughout the British Isles and Europe. What they offered looked enticing to many. But the reality was that most of those immigrants had no real idea of the generally poor quality of their future lot, the growing conditions of their new home, nor any idea how to effectively fulfill the mandated requirements while supporting their families. This presentation will document the available resources for both schemes and how to access them.
