A Pioneering Spirit

A daughter celebrates her mom, who came to Canada almost a century ago, and still remembers the journey

- Leona Stocking

The sturdy Norwegian family of Peter and Signe Thompson, and their ten children, moved from Minnesota to central Oregon in early spring, 1916. By late summer of 1919, their eldest son Tom had ventured into Canada after learning of the federal government’s homesteading offer— ten dollars would get you started on a quarter-section of land in Alberta.

Upon telling his folks, they were enthusiastic, as they had five sons in their teens and early 20s who needed to build a future for themselves.

Peter, along with Tom and his eldest daughter Nora, travelled to central Alberta that fall and chose one quarter-section of land northwest of Edmonton, in the Barrhead area.

Tom stayed there over the winter, working in a local sawmill and building a house for the family on his homestead, while Peter and Nora went back home to prepare the family to move once again.

Jennie, their ninth child (and my mom), is now 110 years old. She still remembers the trip very well, though she was just 13 years old at the time.

Peter and Signe loaded the livestock and furniture on the train to come north, sending sons Henry and Gib along to look after the livestock.