For a few weeks we will feature some of the early settlers of York colony and area. We have to be thankful for the existence of Archives, newspapers and those persons who kept old photos, wrote stories, letters, postcards, recorded interviews.
Brownlie, Robert
Robert Brownlie came to Canada in 1882 from Falkirk, County Stirling, Scotland. His family followed him in 1883 to Winnipeg, where he worked as a plasterer. There he became acquainted with James Sharp, another York Colony pioneer who was also a mail clerk between Emerson and Winnipeg. Brownlie decided to come settle in York colony in 1883. It took several days from Whitewood to York City with a cart and oxen. He had a yoke of oxen and a calf that he left in care of James Sharp, while he put in the winter in Winnipeg. In the summer of 1884, he came to settle with his family. He took up land a few miles east of Yorkton, NW Section 16, Township 25 Range 3 West 2nd Meridian and NE Section 16 Township 25 Range 3 West of the 2nd Meridian. During the winter he went back to Winnipeg to earn money.
In 1885 when the Riel Rebellion broke out, he joined the Winnipeg Light Infantry under Colonel Smith, travelling to Calgary where they joined up with General Strange. They went to Edmonton and old Fort Alexander, from there to Frog Lake. The group ended up joining General Middleton at Fort Pitt. Soon after, General Middleton left Fort Pitt with three steam boats called The Marquis, The Princess, and The Northwest carrying members of the battalion to Winnipeg. After discharge in 1885, Brownlie came home to Yorkton. He received a quarter section of land for active service in the Rebellion. Brownlie and his wife spent the rest of their life in Yorkton. He died in May 1919.
In the prime of his life, William Cawood left Yorkshire, England and went to live in the middle western United States, which was at the time looked upon as the "far west." Later on, he heard about opportunities in the Canadian West, and moved to Manitoba. No dates are given, except that he obtained title to his first homestead south of Brandon in 1884.
Again, he had the notion to move on and came to York colony where he settled in Township 25 Range 3, but shortly afterwards moved to a farm in the Crescent Lake area. Reasons are not given, but probably he had been refused a second homestead by the York Farmers Colonization Company. You could not apply for two homesteads. He was well known by old timers of the locality, people liking to learn of his varied experiences. As a farmer no one had the reputation of being as good a plowman in the district. He was an expert in this department of agriculture and before old age kept him home, Mr. Cawood was frequently called upon to officiate as judge in plowing matches. His funeral took place at Crescent Lake Church on Christmas Day 1908.
The following information was obtained from Homestead documents.
Dr. Stevenson was Yorkton's first resident doctor. He made entry on homestead SE1/4 of Section 18, Township 26 Range 3 West of the Second Meridian in January of 1884 at the York Colony. When he applied for his homestead he gave the following information:
He had lived on Bolton Avenue in Toronto, the Township of Vaughan, County of York. He was 26 (36?)years old and unmarried. He was born in Ireland. He was a British subject.
Other records show that Dr. Stevenson seemed to travel fairly often to Kleinburg, Ontario. It would appear that he did not spend that much time in the Colony. We found this comment about why the Doctor was not around much--the York Colonists were a healthy bunch and therefore he did not have enough work to do. He did not work on proving his homestead either, and therefore he did not obtain title to it.
Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher
City of Yorkton Archives, City of Yorkton,
Box 400,
37 Third Avenue North,
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722 [email protected]
