Page 6 - October 2023 News On 7

HAZZARD'S HISTORY NOTES

by Grant Ketcheson
THE THOMPSONS.....WESTWARD HO!

Most of the early settlers of the Hazzard's Corners community established farms and made the area their permanent
home. However, for a variety of reasons, a few moved on. In some cases, like the Thompson family, it was the lure of
free or cheap farm land in western Canada. In the late 1800s and early twentieth century, advertisements were
everywhere, luring settlers with tales of a western Canada farming paradise. In the east, farms were measured by the
acre, in the west by the quarter-section (160 acres).

Thomas Archibald Thompson grew up with his parents, William and Mary Thompson, on a farm on what is now
Moorcroft Road. In 1893 Thomas married Margaret (Maggie) Edith Ketcheson, daughter of Hugh and Adeliza
Ketcheson. As neighbours, Thomas and Maggie would both have attended Hazzard's Corners Church.

While we do not know the exact date of their move west, we know that their third child was born in 1897 in Madoc
Township and their next child in 1898 in Manitoba. In all, Thomas and Maggie had nine children of whom eight were
boys. This included two sets of twins.

A 1906 agricultural survey from Dauphin, Manitoba lists
the Thompson family as “having seven children, eleven
cattle, four of which were milk cows, seven horses and
eight hogs.”

Like many migrants, the Thompson family lived in
several locations until they found a farming area that
really felt like home. There were disappointments along
the way. They had filed for a quarter-section in
Saskatchewan but, finding that it was not good land,
moved on. According to the 1921 census, they were
farming near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

The opening for settlement of virgin farmland in the
Peace River area of Alberta lured many farmers with the
prospect of land, free for the clearing. The Thompson
family packed their belongings, both home and farm,
and joined the 650-mile trek northwestward. Their
permanent home, and that of many of their family, was
near the tiny hamlet of Dixonville, Alberta.

Thomas and Maggie Thompson's 2600-mile pioneer odyssey ended when they went to their final rest in Central Grove
Cemetery, Dixonville, Slave Lake District, Alberta, Maggie in 1953 and Thomas in 1957. Their parents, William and Mary
(Remington Rhodes) Thompson and Hugh and Adeliza (Empey) Ketcheson are buried in Hazzard's Cemetery.