|
CANADA - 1861
Yet even the appalling journey with all its death and suffering was a path to a new life in a land of promise. Behind them they left starvation, famine, corruption and revolution. They hoped for a chance at a new beginning on land they could call their own. Was it any wonder that many of them seldom spoke of the "old country"? The earliest record we have found in Canada is: Michael Haley leased Lot 5 on Concession 14 of Logan Townhip in January 1860. The 1861 Census reads:
Michael Healy - 50 - born in Ireland Mary 40 to John 19 " Margarita 11 Upper Canada Ellen 9 " Catherine 7 " Maria 4 " Though there is no record of the family on the 1851 Census it would appear they lived in Upper Canada as early as 1849 when Margarita was born. The County of Perth was put together from land formerly known as the Huron Tract of Upper Canada when the great land monopoly called The Canada Company, bought from His Majesty's Government, a block of land containing one million acres in "the territory recently purchased from the Indians", in the London and Western Districts. Logan was it's north-easterly township. One-third of the price was to be spent on public works and improvments, (roads, drainage, bridges etc.) and two-thirds be paid to the government over a period of sixteen years. The actual cost to the Canada Company was about 25 cents an acre of which one-third they kept for improvments. The Canada Company then re-sold the land at prices between $1.50 and $2.50 an acre to the settlers. Under a "lease system" the settlers made the improvments and paid a yearly rental equal to the interest on the value of the land unimproved, with sufficient added to amount to the price of the land in ten years. At the end of this time, if his payments were up to date, the settler received a Deed to his land. Michael Healy received the Deed to Lot 5 on the 14th Concession of Logan Township in March 1872, almost 12 years after the first Lease. The Perth Atlas of 1879 refers to the Canada Company as the original "land grabbers" of the area and goes on to say that the success of the settlement was due to the superior enterprise and hard work of the settlers as well as the natural advantages of the territory. As early as 1847 and prior to the roads being cleared, people came by boat up the Thames River (today called Northeast and Northwest Drains). By 1850 the Logan Road (now Highway 23) was being cleared. Up to that time there were only paths through the bush to Mitchell. (Next...)
|
Index
Previous: Ireland - 1850 Genealogy
Michael Healy
|