Dodge Family History: Cummins Rural Directory Maps

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'.)