James Ryan family in Saskatchewan

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In the 1907 court papers regarding Margaret Hill's estate, we saw that one her daughters, Bridget, claimed that her residency was Watson Canada.  Watson is located in Saskatchewan, and this page provides some historical items about this family's time in Canada.  The "unorganized territories" looked different then - modern day Saskatchewan was the combination of two territories: Saskatchewan in the north and Assinboia in the south. 

At some point, the family uprooted themselves and made their way to Cushing, Oklahoma.  Because the Ryans had to be in Saskatchewan for a minimum of three years, the earliest they would have made their way to Cushing would have been 1910.

See Edward and Margaret Hill to read additional history on the Hill family of Allamakee County.

We don't know exactly when the James Ryan family made their way to Canada, but it was sometime after they had homesteaded in South Dakota. See McDonalds and Hills.   By the time they moved to Canada, the "Territories" were being sub-divided into new provincial government units, and in one of these newly "re-formed" provinces, Saskatchewan, we find members of our family documented in the 1906 census.  There is also questions regarding when the Ryans left Canada, as Millie Ryan noted in a message several months ago: We think Dad Ryan's obituary was wrong, saying he had lived in Cushing since 1906.  John and Geraldine married in St. Rose de Lac, Manitoba on uly 26, 1911.  Their first child, Jim was born May 7, 1912 and they left Canada on his first birthday for Sweetgrass, Montana.  This information I just rec'd from Jim's son Mike. We still don't know the exact date that John and Geraldine joined the family in Cushing, but I'm still working on that...  On your right is a map of Canada recorded in 1905.

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The family bible lists the following births, and some deaths.  Bridget had nine births and eight survived.  For more information on their lives, refer to the Ryan Obituaries of Cushing:
Mary Bridget Ryan  Oct. 21, 1872  Union Prairie, Iowa	William D. Ryan, July 31, 1880
infant son  Jan. 03, 1875 Union Prairie, Iowa  died Feb 5, 1875	John Patrick Ryan, April 7, 1882, Waukon, Iowa
James Edward Ryan, May 05, 1876 Waukon, Iowa	Margaret Ann Ryan, June 27, 1884  Waukon, Iowa
Henry Edward Ryan, June 30, 1878, Waukon, Iowa	Joseph Francis Ryan, March 7, 1887,  Kimball, South Dakota
Winifred Ann Ryan, Nov. 27, 1889,  Waukon, Iowa	Click to Enlarge - Watson, Saskatchewan
Mary went by the nickname of "Mamie".  Married a Sheridan and died Jan. 20, 1947 in British Columbia
Margaret Ann was nicknamed "Peg"  married a man last name  Squibb. She lived in Canada but was visiting in Cushing when she died. and is buried in St. Leo's.
Winifred went by "Winnie"   Married William T. Powers Oct. 20, 1920. They moved to Michigan and Winnie was hit by a military truck while crossing the street in Flint, Michigan,  on Nov. 9, 1942

In the 1906 Canadian census, we find all of these Ryans included on the list.   What I found ironic was that James Ryan was 65 years of age, and settling in a new territory just as his father did some 40 years earlier in Allamakee County.  This would not be the last time that James Ryan would settle in a new area.

1906 Canadian CENSUS - Saskatchewan

Subdistrict Summary, SASKATCHEWAN, Humboldt District, Subdistrict 13

In addition to the James Ryan family, there were two other Ryans living in Humboldt: Percy Ryan (age 21, living in sub-district 26) and Peter Ryan (age  25, living in sub-district 4).  We doubt that there is any relationship, but we suspect that there were other relatives homesteading along with our families.  The document to your left is the actual page on the Canadian Census showing the James Ryan family and his family living in Saskatchewan in 1906.  We also know that they must have made their way to this province after the census of 1901, as only one Ryan is referenced in the territory: Last Name Given Province District Age Ryan Jarvis Saskatchewan Prince Albert not given Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge.   Top Picture:  Humboldt Township.  Ryans were located in section 13. Bottom Picture:  The areas in Blue show where the Ryan homestead was located.  The electoral district is defined offically as :Subdistrict Summary SASKATCHEWAN, Humboldt District, Subdistrict 13.  Townships 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 inclusive in ranges 18, 19, 20 and townships 31, 32 in range 17, all west of the 2nd Meridian. Click to Enlarge

The Ryan homestead was in section 13 of Humboldt township, which was west of the Quill Lakes. Humboldt township, while settled by many white settlers in the early 1900s, was surrounded by a number of Indian Reservations including:  One Arrow Indian Reserves, Day Star, Poor Man, Inistino and Muskoday Indian Reserves, Gordon and Muskow-eday Indian Reserves, and James Smith Indian Reserve. Humboldt township also has its borders defined by the Saskatchewan River on its western borders.  One of the more prominent areas today is Quill Lake (Little and Big Quill Lakes) which offers recreational activities for many citizens of Saskatchewan and surrounding provinces.  Historical photos of the landscape are included later in this document. Some of James Ryans neighbors included the following families in Section 13 (Mary Ryan Sheridan lived alongside her father in Humboldt township, but interestingly her husband is not mentioned in this census):   family in order of visitation Name of each person in family. Relation to head of family. Sex. Married, Age.   single,   widowed or   divorced.   1 2 3 4 5 6 1 81 Ryan James Head M M 65 2 81 Ryan Bridget Wife F M 54 3 81 Ryan Margret Daughter F S 21 4 81 Ryan Winfred Daughter F S 17 5 81 Ryan James E. Son M S 29 6 81 Ryan Henry E. Son M S 27 7 81 Ryan William Son M S 25 8 81 Ryan John Son M S 23 9 81 Ryan Joseph Son M S 19 10 82 Sheridan Mary B. Head F W 33 11 82 Sheridan Leuine (?) Daughter F S 6 12 82 Sheridan Paul Son M S 4 13 83 Krebs August Head M M 59 14 83 Krebs Anna K. Wife F M 61 15 84 Krebs Fred Head M M 29 16 84 Krebs Carrie Wife F M 27 17 84 Krebs Ogla Daughter M S 6 18 84 Krebs Amil Son M S 4 19 84 Krebs Lara Daughter M S 2 20 84 Sommer Frank Head M M 28 21 84 Sommer Emily Wife F M 28 22 84 Sommer Albert Son M S 4 23 84 Sommer Edward Son M S 3 24 84 Sommer Anna Daughter F S 1 25 85 Sommer William S.   M S 81 ( 26 86 Clogg William   M S 36 27 87 Gregory Sarrah Head F W 68 28 87 Gregory Alvin Son M S 24 29 87 Gregory Gordon Son M S 22 30 88 Johnston Martin Head M M 54 31 88 Johnston Mary Wife F S 44 32 88 Johnston Harry Son M S 18 33 88 Johnston George Son M S 20 34 88 Johnston Dora Daughter F S 16 35 88 Johnston Willie Son M S 15 36 88 Johnston Edna Daughter F S 10 37 88 Johnston Antone Son M S 12 38 88 Johnston Martha Daughter F S 7 39 88 Johnston Hillno (?) Daughter F S 4 40 88 Johnston Raymond Son M S 2

The following comes from the Library & Archives of Canada.  In order to receive a homestead grant, the recipient must have been either a naturalized citizen or citizen of England.  As James was born in Ireland, he could establish a homestead claim.  Because there are 18 sections of land in "subdistrict 13", it seems likely that James and his children all had homestead claims in the territory because the minimum qualification was you had to be 21 years of age.

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 be a British subject or a naturalized British subject, 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.

A homestead file may consist of the following documents:

Application for entry: which shows name and signature of the applicant, place of birth and the nationality of the applicant, place of residence and the date of entry. Later applications listed the ages of family members. Applications for entry were not retained in every file

Sworn statement in support of application for patent: this was signed by the homesteader providing proof that he had met the requirement of the Dominion Lands Act. The information provided includes the name, age and citizenship status of the homesteader, length of residence on the land and the number of family members residing with him, cultivation done on the land, stock held and the value of the applicants dwelling, buildings and other improvements. If the homesteader had been naturalized, the date of naturalization is usually written on the sworn statement. On the reverse side of the document are the sworn statements of two witnesses verifying the information provided by the homesteader.

Some early pictures of the general Saskatoon area are provided below.  They are from 1900 to 1905 and, like the Dakotas, used whatever materials they had to make homes for themselves and their families.  While these pictures show sod homes, many of the homes, on the prairies, were also purchased through Sears & Roebuck.  In addition, there are pictures of the aboriginal families (American Indians) who lived on the prairies west of Saskatoon.

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