The People
About 1800 people were sent to Canada by the scheme mostly from 1832 to 1837, although 170 went from 1838 to 1850 on ships of other agents. Young single men often went because employers and relief committees gave priority to married men with families. Arable workers on farms were only employed seasonally and were more likely to go than stockmen. Skilled artisans could look forward to new opportunities in a freer more equal country. Former soldiers often did not settle easily into life back home and had the incentive of being entitled to claim 100 acres (40 hectares) of uncleared land, while other migrants were given five acres (2 hectares).
Read more about this topic: Petworth Emigration Scheme
Famous quotes containing the word people:
“What if all the forces of society were bent upon developing [poor] children? What if society’s business were making people instead of profits? How much of their creative beauty of spirit would remain unquenched through the years? How much of this responsiveness would follow them through life?”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)
“There used to be a thing or a commodity we put great store by. It was called the People. Find out where the People have gone. I don’t mean the square-eyed toothpaste-and-hair-dye people or the new-car-or-bust people, or the success-and-coronary people. Maybe they never existed, but if there ever were the People, that’s the commodity the Declaration was talking about, and Mr. Lincoln.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)