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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