Minnie Moss probably never envisioned she would be a pioneer woman in Saskatchewan when she was growing up in Nebraska and Michigan.
And she probably never envisioned having to build and live in a log cabin with a sod roof and mud chinks between the logs.
She arrived in North Battleford, Saskatchewan in January of 1917 with her daughter Verna, grand-daughter Gretchen and Verna’s spouse John Aumack.
Minnie Moss and John Aumack both applied for homestead land and were granted adjoining parcels along the curving shoreline of Meeting Lake.
The purpose of the landgrants (as noted by the Saskatchewan Homestead Index) was:
To encourage settlement in the west the Dominion Government offered a free homestead of 160 acres for a $10 registration fee. In order to receive the patent for the land the settler had to be a male 21 years of age or a woman who was the sole support of her family. Before being granted a patent the applicant had to reside on the homestead for a period of time, usually six months of the year for three years, make improvements to the land by cultivating at least 30 acres of land, and erect a house worth at least $300.
John, Verna and Minnie went on to build a thriving summer resort on their homestead parcels at Meeting Lake.
My mother in law Yvonne Aumack Miller and I tell the story in the Women Pioneers of Saskatchewan Book 2, soon to be published by the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society.
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P.S. For the cousins reading this – The oldest girl in the picture is Gretchen and the girl clutching the doll is Minnie (jr.) who was born to John and Verna soon after they arrived in Sask.
Related links:
John Henry Aumack Western Land Grants Map (Meeting Lake is at the very top, a third of the way from the left).
Search Land Grants at Library and Archives Canada for your homesteader.