William and Agnes Cassel - Homesteaders

A previous post here about William and Agnes Snider Cassel gives some details about their lives but a recent trip to Winnipeg filled in some of the gaps with documents from the Manitoba Archives as well as the wonderful photos, taken around 1890 above from a their granddaughter Allie.  William's father John homesteaded the NW 1/4 of 14-13-28 W1 and this post will tell the story of the Southeast quarter.  

Sorry for the poor quality but the note from the homestead file above says:

Fleming NWT May 23 1902
Dear sir in replying to your letter of the 7th I learn that section 14 township 13 range 28 is for homesteading I apply for the SE 1/4 of 14.
Wm G Cassel Fleming NWT

In July of 1902, the Cassel family - John, William, Agnes, Gertie and Ernie - made their way to a piece of land which has been described having "Noah's Ark Hill" on it.  On a recent trip Randy and I knew we'd found it with its distinctive mound on road 74 north just east of highway 256 north of Elkhorn.  It must have been a landmark for miles around and was later called Cassel Hill!  The land was later owned by Americans who used it for dog trials (perhaps like these ones) and is currently pasture.

 

The family of five would have likely lived in a tent at first or perhaps with William's sister Lizzie Asselstine and her husband Warner, about 5 miles away. 

Siblings - Lizzie Asselstine and William Cassel about 1940

 Records would show their own home was built and they were living in it by September of 1902.  I have read that William was a carpenter as were other members of the family including his son Russell. By 1905, they had 30 acres of breaking done, a house worth $600, a stable worth $50, 15 acres of fencing worth $30 and 13 head of stock.  These details are found on the documents that were submitted to apply for the title to the quarter.  William requested the inspection with the letter below. 

April the 13, 1905
Dear sir
I now give notice that I have been living on my homestead since 1902 June the 5th  it is section 14 township 13 range 28 it is SE quarter Manitoba
I have all necessary improvements done I have lived on it my-self and family ever since I took it up I would like to have my reckmend (recommend?) as soon as possible
I am yours
William George Cassel
Burnbank Manitoba

Papers were then submitted from William as well as 2 witnesses (Peter Asselstine and George Jeffrey) to prove that he fulfilled his homestead obligations before he was granted the land.  He included the following note at the bottom of his declaration:  

I might have had more broken if I had of had a team of my own but I hired 20 acres broken the first 2 years and this year I have got a team of my own so I will be able to break a lot easier than hiring it done I will appear with witnesses how many and where and when can I get it done the nearest for me. May 16, 1905

After three years of hard work, watching the skies and praying, it all paid off.  Patent was issued for the SE quarter to William on the 8th of November in 1905.  The land was theirs.  

John Cassel's Homesteading Adventure

 John and Margaret Cassel farmed and had family in the Sharbot Lake area of Ontario as detailed in this blog post.  

Their daughter Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) was married to Sydney "Warner" Asselstine in Ontario in 1888 and they with a young daughter had moved west to homestead on 12-13-29 W1 in 1900. Leaving home must have been difficult but it held the promise of free land to those who broke the prairie soil and lived on it for three years.   Perhaps it is father or brother of Warner's, Peter Asselstine, who is mentioned on several of the homestead documents that I found in the Manitoba Archives in Winnipeg, so they were with family at least.  

Reports back home must have been positive since John, his son William, daughter-in-law Agnes and their children Gertie and Ernie made their way to Fleming, Saskatchewan (then Northwest Territory) and attempted to make entry on NE 24-13-29 W1, just east of Manson.  Records on microfilm show that men by the name of Switzer and Benson were ahead of John in line for this land so they continued to search for their own piece.  Not every quarter was available for the homestead grant, many would have had to be purchased for cash from the railway or Hudson's Bay or even the University of Manitoba.  

  John's letter above from May 21, 1902 says: 

Dear sir I learn that section 14 township 13 range 28 is to be homested I aply for the SW1/4
John Cassel
Fleming N W T

William, Agnes and John actually settled on the SE of 14-13-28 in 1903 and broke 8 acres that year.  In 1905, they applied for adjoining land in John's name, the NW quarter of the same section. Starting in May 1905, John states that he had a small frame house worth $120 to live in for 7 or 8 months of the year as the Memo below shows that was submitted with his request for the title in 1907. Presumably, he lived with William and Agnes in a more substantial home for the winter months. After three years of working this land, a total of 30 acres was broken and 20 was cropped.  Homestead patent was granted to John on March 2, 1908.

If this seems like a huge risk and undertaking for anyone, remember that we believe John was born in 1832 making him 75 years old in 1907. It seems safe to say that he was certainly not a man afraid of hard work. He died on March 16, 1909 and is buried in Elkhorn Cemetery.    

 

John and Margaret Cassel family

John Cassel (one "l" in his last name is the only way I've seen it written) was Randy's second great grandfather and was born February 11, 1932 in Sharbot Lake, Ontario.  He married Margaret Anne Briggs on the 21st of January in 1851 in South Sherbrooke Township in Lanark, Ontario and went on to have family of 4 daughters and 4 sons.  This area on the northeast tip of Lake Ontario was part of the Perth Military Settlement of 1815  which was created as a home for former British soldiers of the War of 1812 looking to move permanently to Canada. 

John Cassel declares himself to be of English origin on early census documents and his wife Margaret as Irish. On later homestead forms he declares himself to be Canadian however.  Thanks to the help of fellow Cassell researcher Sharon Etsell, this is my best guess to the family of John and Margaret:  

• Mary Jane (1851-1922) married John Paterson, farmed and had 3 children in the South Sherbrooke area.
• John E. Jr (1853-1931) married Sarah Ann Ferguson , had at least 9 children and was a carpenter in Watertown, New York for many years in the teens and twenties.  Their 15 year old youngest daughter Myrtle Belle can be found living with William and Agnes on the 1911 Manitoba census.
• Stanley (1856-1942) married Susan Fargo and later Ellen Cassels (they may have been first cousins - she was the daughter of Charles Cassels).  We think he had 3 children that survived infancy.  He was a small farmer at Wolfe Island. 
• James "Jim" (1859-1934) married Almeda Babcock and had a large family of eleven including Norman Stanley who died in WW1 in France.  They lived in Westport, ON where he was a labourer for the railway.
• Margaret Ann "Fannie" (1863-1885) married Louis Franklin Kiell had a family of four and farmed in the Township of Oso 
• Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" (1871-1958) married Sydney "Warner" Asselstine and moved west to homestead in Manson MB area in 1900 where they raised a family of three
• William George (1871-1958) and his wife Agnes Rebecca Snider are our branch of the tree
• Isabella "Bella" (1877-1901) married John Butts and had a family of 2 girls. She died at age 23 after the birth of the youngest.  They lived in the same area around Kingston. 

Margaret Ann Cassel, the mother died in March of 1898 at the age of 67.  Her husband John was the same age but decided rather than retire with family, he would move to Manitoba with William and Agnes and start over homesteading. Coming from the bush and trees of Ontario by the lakes, south west Manitoba must have looked like a flat treeless table.  Breaking the sod would have been hard work but not having trees and stumps to deal with would have made it seem easier. A paper trail of his adventures can be found at the Manitoba Archives in Winnipeg and that will be the subject of my next blog post! 

After a question from a family member, I've done some research on another John Cassell but have not found any connection between the two men.  That one was the head of a publishing company which began in Britain before becoming international.  The company published books and also a magazine in Britain (1867-1932) and America as well in the early years of the 1900's. You can even read an online version from 1875 here.  Some of their first edition printings appear to be quite valuable today.  We may be related way back but not our Cassells - sorry!

  

The Coburns from Maybole, Scotland

This post follows the family tree branch of Randy's maternal grandmother, Agnes Coburn Cassell. This post has been in the works for a while but thanks to Aunt Allie, some great pictures spurred me on to finish it!  

The Coburn Family in Maybole about 1904 - from left - William, (22 years old), Mary Cherry (16 yrs), James (19), Isabella (42) and little Agnes in front (about 1 year old).  It was likely taken due to plans of emigration to Canada and not knowing if it would be their last family photo.  I can't imagine that feeling...

William (Bill) Coburn grew up in Maybole, Scotland where he worked in a shoe factory from the age of 12. Maybole is known for its many shoe factories and a description of what William's day might have been like is at this link.   I have found that some of his cousins from Maybole on his mother's side, the Fishers, began to move to Canada in 1904 and they settled in the Kenora, Ontario area.  More about them in a future post!

Hearing glowing reports of Canada, Bill set out in April of 1905 and arrived in Virden, Manitoba with five dollars in his pocket. He earned a living and learned Canadian farming ways by working for farmers in the Lenore, MB area.  His brother James (1884-1963) emigrated as well the next year and then his widowed mother Isabella, 19 year old Mary and 4 year old Agnes made the journey across the Atlantic in June of 1907.

In order to have a home for his family, William rented the former Peter Murray farm just south of Crandall at NW 23-13-25. I think I found the abandoned yardsite on a recent road trip, not far from the CN mainline. I don't believe they ever owned this farm but it's where Agnes would have grown up.  The old house, barn and other outbuildings are still standing but slowly crumbling.  The 1916 Canadian census lists the household as 52 year old Isabella, 34 year old William, 13 year old Agnes along with 2 hired  labourers - 18 year old Frederick Greenland and 66 year old James Murray.  

Bill later bought and farmed the west half of 14-12-25 W1, northwest of Lenore.  My Google Maps App was suggesting I take some rather sketchy "turkey trails" to get to it and this being after a very heavy rainfall, I declined!  I do know that this half section of land was near Ravine School. He and Isabella left the farm and moved into Crandall in 1929, good timing in hindsight with the dirty thirties on the way.  Agnes' story during these years will be for another post. 

Bill's brother James Coburn continued west to Abbey, Saskatchewan in 1907 with a friend from Maybole, Duncan Shaw. They made a start homesteading and with hard work became successful farmers in Saskatchewan but returned to the Arrow River/Crandall area in the winter of 07-08.
 

  

The wonderful old photo above was taken on April 11, 1914 when Duncan Shaw (1885-1967) and Mary Coburn (1888-1977) were married. The couple returned to Abbey to begin their new life together. They went on to have 4 boys John, Jim, Matt and Don and a girl named Doris.  The local history book from the Our Roots website tells that Mary was a housekeeper for the Good family from Lenore for the intervening 7 years from her arrival up to her marriage.  A member of that family, Florrie Good is standing behind Mary in their wedding photo and the groomsman was Sid Fleming. The smaller photo is of Mary Shaw at home in Abbey on her 70th birthday in 1958.

The same history book details the history of James (Jim) Coburn. He briefly returned to Scotland to court Sarah Peebles (1887-1949), the widow of a friend from back home, and she came to Canada in 1924 and with her eight year old son Hugh.  They added to the family with 2 girls, Josephine (Jo) and Elizabeth (Betty) , and son William Alastair "Scotty".  Their homestead was the west half of 33-21-20 W3.  The picture below of Jim and Mary with her children was taken from the Bridging the Centuries history book and would have been taken about 1920.  The colour one is Jim in 1960.  

Back in Manitoba in October of 1929, Bill moved into Crandall with his mother Isabella an became a dealer for International Harvester implement and had an Imperial Oil dealership.  A recollection of him in a Crandall history book written in 2000 says he was a big winner at whist games and had his own set of curling rocks that were 5 pounds lighter than everyone else's! Bill was the owner of the garage on the east corner of Main Street.   Chronicles of Crandall says he delivered barrels of gas to the farmers, sold hail insurance and collected Hydro payment until 1958. Bill served as a Councillor for the Miniota Municipal Council ward 5 from 1938-45 and he was also on Crandall town council. He was caretaker of the rink for a time and a leader of the Pope Livestock Shipping Association.  A true jack-of-all-trades and an asset to his chosen community.  

    

Grannie Isabella Coburn raised a grandson Douglas Cassell in Crandall and apparently never lost her thick Scottish brogue. I have to admire her leaving her home and family in Scotland to start over in the new country until passing away at age 87 on June 16, 1949.   

Bill married Vera Lawrie Johnson on July 5,1950 and they continued to live in Crandall.  Bill died on May 22, 1960 and Vera in 2002.   The photo of the two of them above is courtesy of Ancestry contributor lmmcrafts.  They are buried in Crandall Cemetery next to his mother Isabella.