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| Homestead Quarter Section Near Kinsella, AB |
Taking a break from trip preparations to contemplate travel plans - While in Alberta we hope to visit what was the family homestead near Kinsella, a small village located at a crossroad in Alberta. In 1910 Grandpa Henry Candy and his brothers Richard and Thomas immigrated to Canada from Cornwall, England. Each obtained a quarter section near Kinsella. Ken's mother Eileen was born on the homestead in 1916. The family eventually migrated to Los Angeles when Eileen was six years old.
Thanks to the kind assistance of Heather Northcott, Reference Archivist of the Provincial Archives of Alberta, we were able to locate the specific quarter section of the Henry Candy homestead and access archive records using the
Alberta Genealogical Society's homestead database and
Library and Archives Canada's Western Land Grants Database.
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| Recent Satellite Image of the Henry Candy Homestead Property |
Read on to learn more details.
Below is an image of the application filed by Henry Candy in August 1910.
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| Application Dated August 11, 1910 |
Henry Candy was a carpenter and cabinet maker and reportedly built the first wood frame house in the area. Other homestead houses were made of sod up to that point. We have been told that one of the two houses that were on the property was moved to a new location at some point. It would be an exciting discovery if we were able to locate this house, if it still survives. Below is a photo taken in 1955 of the first house built on the property. For some reason it was not used as the family residence. Apparently a second house was constructed nearby that the Candy family actually lived in. Perhaps the first structure was used for storage. It may remain a mystery why Grandpa Candy felt it necessary to build another house on a different site on the property.
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| First Wood Frame House in Area c. 1910-14 - Built by Henry Candy |
Hey Ken, I'm excited for you to get to experience family history like this, hands on. The land looks pretty undeveloped in the satellite image. Do you have any ideas who owns it now? I'm hoping you'll be able to walk all over it. I'm not sure how many pictures exist of the old home but it'd be awesome to pin-point some locations. Take lots of pics! -Brian Shryock
ReplyDeleteHey Brian. Not sure who resides there now, but plan to find out. I think there is a house in the NW corner of the property. We have been told in the past by the daughter of the family in the SW Quarter of the same Section (she was present when your grandmother and my mother were born and passed away several years ago in Poway),that the original house built by Grandpa Candy, which was the first wood frame house in the area was moved from the property. Homestead history seems to be a big thing here in AB and all of the local towns have recently had there centennials. I think the railroads opened up the area for settlement around 1910 and our family rode the wave. Anyway, there is a town not too far from Sedgewick and Kinsella that has several preserved historical buildings. We are on the lookout for the Candy house. If it is not in Stettler then maybe they will know of the house. If the house survived and we can discover its location it obviously would be a big deal for all of us and the pilgrimages would begin.
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