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Chapter 3

OWN ING THE FARM

The map on the preceding page shows the names and locations of householders in the five communities in 1863] Although the boundaries of these communities are not identified on the map, using present boundaries the number of households per community can be approximated as follows:2

Kinkora-Shamrock —- 62 Maple Plains — 25 Middleton — 23 Newton -— 26

Total 135

Detailed information is available on 114 of these households from the 1861 Census of P.E.I.3 The average size of household was 6.5; this would suggest a total popula- tion for the 135 households of about 875 people. This represents a significant increase over 1841. Although statistics are only available on four of the communities in 1841, it appears the population more than doubled.

Almost all householders were farmers; the following had non—farming occupations:

James Doyle, Shamrock — blacksmith

John Gallagher, Kinkora — teacher

John Hacket, Kinkora — carpenter

Thomas McBride, Middleton — wheelwright Frances Murphy, Kinkora — carpenter

John Murphy, Kinkora — carpenter

25

Simon Nolan, Kinkora — blacksmith John Wright, Middleton —— miller.

Most farmers were leasing; their farms; only eight of them owned their farms. Several farmers were identified as “squatters? Farms varied in size from a few acres to 400 acres. The largest farms were in the Middleton area of Lot 27, averaging 101 acres, each; this contrasts with 76 acres in the other communities. The principal crops were oats and potatoes, but wheat, buckwheat, hay and turnips were also grown in all communities.

Householders varied in the number of animals they own— ed; in the amount of land being cultivated; and in crop out- put. While most farmers owned some cattle, and one horse; some owned three, and up to seven horses. Both oxen and horses were used for traction at this time. More horses would indicate ability to produce more, as well as being a symbol of wealth. As was the casein 1841, the farmers in Middleton were still in a better economic position vis—a-vis the others. Most households throughout the five com— munities made their own butter and cloth. Many of the per— sons identified as receiving relief money in the previous decades continued to do so in the 1860S; so a picture of con— siderable economic differences among these communities emerges. Some were living in poverty, and some might even be considered wealthy. Because so few owned their farms it is not possible to determine exactly to what extent, if at all, being tenants was an economic disadvantage. A small comparison of four farms, two leased and two owned, that were similar in size, quality of land, and numbers in household, found no greater productivity in the one over the other.4

At the hearings of a Royal Commission into the con— troversy between tenants and proprietors, held in 1860, a tenant from Newton told the commissioners that tenants