Beckett Family

Like most homestead stories, they had their beginnings on the prairies, hitched up to the "dirty thirties". George Beckett was farming in SE Saskatchewan near Gainsborough and because of the drought he was forced to vacate (no gov't to bail you out in those days).

In the fall of 1932, George and his son Alex and four other neighbors headed north to Prince Albert in a 1915 Ford, looking for land. It was a wild guess, but with a stroke of a pen and a $10 bill, he found himself in possession of a homestead north of Garrick SW 15-53-16-W2. They found this a very isolated quarter with much heavy timer but by hewing trees they managed to put up a shanty before heading home.

The following January loading up two hayracks with furniture, food and hay, they headed north some 400 miles. It was an adventure! The only communication back to the family was by mail. They arrived in early March. George, an experienced woodsman from Ontario set to work falling trees just to erect a house. In three months he had built a very nice log house, which later was plastered with mud outside and in, a barn for the horses and a good garden spot cleared and planted, also an acre in which he broadcast oats.

In June he hitchhiked south for the rest of the family. Two more hayracks were fixed up with furniture and food. They had 5 horses and 16 cattle. The boys took the cattle and horses north while the George and the girls went in the 1915 Ford.

George was happy and eager for work. With scythe and a lunch, off he went to the hay meadows to put up hay. He took off days to go berry picking with his daughters. Such abundant growth and abundance of rain, do we dare mention the mosquitoes and the bull flies? Bears! Oh yes, they went berry picking too, that's why the kids never went berry picking alone. We canned as many as 300 quarts of berries. Groceries were bought once a month from White Fox 16 miles away, by horses and a farm wagon. The list was short: flour, sugar, lard and tea. We used wild meat, it was plentiful. We had own dairy produce, eggs and garden.

We currently have over 100 Ancestors/descendants of George Beckett.