The Land of Milk and Honey

Immigrants were often lured to Canada by shipping agents who painted a picture of the land of milk and honey.

A family tree can wither if nobody tends it's roots

Unknown

Revised November 2016

This is fictional based on what I have learned and feel went on.

Agnes was looking over the railing of the S.S. Canada into the fridge, murky, grey water of the St Lawrence River. It was April 1907 and late the night before the steam ship had passed Anticosti Island then moved into the mouth of the St Lawrence.  Possibly tonight would be their last on the ship before reaching Montreal, the ship’s destination.*

 The SS Canada

 From there they had a three-day train ride to Regina Saskatchewan and another day’s journey to the homestead where Wilfred, her husband of two years, would be working.

 Agnes was alone on the deck; Wilfrid had gone off to play cards with some of the men headed to western Canada to settle on land they hoped to tame.

Jessie their 14-month-old daughter was sleeping in the tiny cramped cabin the three of them had been sharing during this eight day ocean crossing to their new country…

They’d left Liverpool England on a lovely March day with one trunk and a couple of large, bulging valises.  Most of their possessions had been auctioned off or sold to pay the expenses for this new life.

 When they got to Montreal Wilfred would prove to the authorities that they had enough cash to survive for at least one winter and then purchase train tickets for the next part of their journey. 

Supplies, such as sundries and perishables, would be bought in Regina to take with them to the Beaver Hills, north of Saskatoon, where the homestead was. Necessities such as blankets, pots, farm tools, had been brought with them from England. 

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Agnes was feeling another  bout of nausea. It was a familiar sickness something she had experienced for a period of time once before.  She was pregnant with their second child; this baby would be born in a new world far away from their relatives, friends and her beloved homeland.

The cold damp sea air made her feel a bit better but it didn’t calm her fears. “What had they done?” went through her mind.  “Bringing a young child into the unknown and a baby on the way?  Then again,” she thought, “that was not the plan when we had decided to leave England behind to come to Canada, the Land of Milk and Honey” as it had been promoted.

What had they given up? What price would they pay, seeking out their fortune in this cold, wet, grey miserable looking country?

 Agnes could not foresee what challenges truly lay ahead… for if she had she might have headed straight back to England.

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According to a book, Selling Canada  by Daniel Francis

there were three Propaganda Campaigns that Shaped the Nation (Canada)  first in the 1880’s, then in early 1900’s and after War World I. It would seem   my grandparents got caught up in the second one and were convince to pack up and come to the Land of Milk and Honey to farm in the fledgling province of Saskatchewan

Not sure why they left England as Granddad was the eldest son and the Harrison Family owned a nursery/green grocer business both he and Granny had worked in. Have tried to find a clue in history but no luck so far.

 * Not sure about the destination as the records show Halifax yet a trunk that was around for years was marked Montreal .Arrival in Halifax didn't start until later in the 1900's according to the Peer 21, in Halifax, records.