1926 Canada Census for Clara Belle (Dodge) Morgan

The 1926 Canadian Census for the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta is now released and available for public search. I just finished searching the census database and was only able to find Clara Belle Morgan and her daughter Mary Anne Morgan. Below is the image of the 1926 Canada Census that I found.

The 1926 Census shows where Clara lived after their homestead was foreclosed on in 1922. At that time, they were living near the town of Wilkie, where they had resided since 1911. The exact location of their homestead was the Southwest corner of Section 10, Township 41 North, Range 18 West of the 3rd Meridian.

At the time William John Morgan was served with notice of the foreclosure proceedings in 1922, he was located at Section 34, Township 39 North, Range 16 West of the 3rd Meridian, near the hamlet of Cando, approximately 30 miles southeast of Wilkie. In the 1926 Census, Clara and her daughter Mary were living near the hamlet of Red Pheasant, which is 7 miles north of Cando and 20 miles east of Wilkie.

I was only able to find Clara and her daughter, Mary, in the 1926 Census. Clara and Mary were living with the family of Arthur Amor. The exact location of their residence is Section 22, Township 40 North, Range 16 West of the 3rd Meridian. Clara is listed as a lodger and Mary was working as a Domestic. One discrepancy in this census is that Clara's age was listed as 38 years old (she would have been 42 years old - born in 1884) and Mary was 16. Another discrepancy is their year of immigration to Canada. Clara's year of immigration is listed as 1910 and Mary's year of immigration is listed as 1909 (one year before she was born!). They, along with her son William Hiram, immigrated to Canada in June of 1911. Although certainly still of school age, Mary did not attend school during the previous year.

I was not able to find William John Morgan, Clara's husband, or their son, William Hiram Morgan, in this census.

Below is a map showing the locations of where Clara and her family lived in Saskatchewan during the 1910's & 1920's. This comes from the Cummins Rural Map Directory (my previous post looks at these maps). I have outlined where their homestead was (which was still owned by the mortgage company as of 1930) and where Clara and Mary are found in the 1926 Census. It makes me wonder where they will be found when the next Census (1931 National Census) will be released in five years.

Cummins Rural Directory Maps - Saskatchewan, Canada

Here is an interesting find I came across last night. Rural Directory Maps for the province of Saskatchewan that were published by the Cummins Map Company during the 1910's, 1920's and 1930's. (http://www.saskgenealogy.com/databases/cummins/Cummins_Rural_Director_Map.htm). 

These maps are landowner maps that show who owned which parcel of land. I was able to find the maps for William John Morgan in 1917, 1920 and 1922. He owned a 160-acre homestead in western Saskatchewan, not far from the town of Wilkie. (Section 10, Township 41, Range 18, West of the 3rd Meridian), which he applied for in 1910 and obtained in 1913. He and his family lived on the homestead until 1922, by which time the homestead appears to have been abandoned and was foreclosed on. William John Morgan took out an $800 mortgage on the homestead in 1917 and failed to pay back the mortgage. (I have detailed the homestead application and foreclosure in earlier blogs). I also found a rural directory map for 1930 and found that the foreclosed homestead was still owned by the mortgage company. 

(Just a brief review, William John Morgan came to the United States in the early 1890's and went to Colorado. He married by great-great aunt, Clara Belle Dodge, in 1906 in Buena Vista, Colorado. Following a few years in Silver City, New Mexico, William returned to Canada in 1910. Clara and their children followed in June of 1911).

On a related note, I am anticipating (as are many others) the release of the 1926 Census for the Canadian Prairie Provinces. According to Library and Archives Canada, this census should be available sometime in March (fingers crossed). I am hoping to find William John Morgan and his family in this Census, as I am not sure where they moved to or were living at after their homestead was foreclosed on several years earlier. Perhaps after I find them in the 1926 Census, I will look for them in the later directory maps as well.

Below are the Cummins Rural Directory Maps that I have found. I have outlined their property to make it easier to find. (To get a closer look at each map, click on the map, and then right click and select 'open image in new tab'.)

1917 Cummins Rural Directory Map

1920 Cummins Rural Directory Map

1922 Cummins Rural Directory Map

1930 Cummins Rural Directory Map 

Even after several years, the land was still owned by the mortgage company