Ancestry sent a note to advise today it will launch Alberta, Canada, Homestead Records, 1870-1930, a land record collection that includes the names of about 200,000 people who applied for homesteads in Alberta under the Dominion Lands Act – an 1872 law aimed to encourage the settlement of the Canadian Prairies.
Alberta Homesteaders, Wainwright. No. 28. Photographer: J.H. Cano. Image courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries. www.peel.library.ualberta.ca
Background
In order to encourage migration to the west, settlers were offered the chance to apply for a 160-acre homestead in areas of their choice in Alberta.
After paying a $10 filing fee and agreeing to build up their homestead to include items, such as a house and barn, fencing, breaking, and cropping a portion of the land, the homesteader could apply for the title to the land.
The Collection
The collection contains 1,622,218 images and 206,457 records showing basic biographical information, such applicants’ name, age, place of birth, former place of residence, date of entry on the land, and marital status.
You can find details of the early lives of Albertan settlers, including such notable individuals as:
- Born in Scotland, George Murdoch became the first Mayor of Calgary in 1884. He applied for a homestead in Calgary, Alberta in 1886.
- George Clift King was born in England, arriving in Alberta in 1875. He later become the second Mayor of Calgary in 1886 and applied for a homestead Calgary, Alberta in 1890.
- Adrian Albert Dick applied for a homestead in Springbank, Alberta 1899. He and his wife survived the Titanic sinking in 1912 while on their honeymoon, and returned to Alberta.
Ancestry subscribers will be able to access the collection through the following link: http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=60865. The link will likely work later in the day after the launch.
Hi Gail,
Interesting post, thanks! I wonder if it is the collection at the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/albertahomestead). When will the collection be available as the link you provided results in an error, “Please Search Again.The search request could not be completed because insufficient information was provided to Ancestry.ca. If the search request originated from another web site, please contact that site’s administrator to resolve the problem.”
I expect the collection will be available in a few hours. They usually run on Salt Lake City time. In the meantime, I will take a look at the collection on Internet Archive. Thanks.