1

Due to financial difficulties Percy decided to uproot both families and bring them across the Atlantic to Canada.
He recorded in his diary:

"July 15th 1882

Having been forewarned to be at the dock before 8A.M. of course I was and presently stepped on board the Wisconsin, 2386 tons, sale and paddle boats in conjunction with a variety of all immigrants. All apparently poor and miserable. Sundry orange and lemon women doing a fair trade with them ere departure. Of course the ship was full of confusion and hunting for cabins, berths etc. and of course we found we need not have got on board till a couple of hours later. Emigrants are undoubtedly put to much needless discomfort as well. Had I preciously nasty lunch off junk and potatoes at about noon."

2

SS Wisconsin
1882
Atlantic Ocean

Credits:
Internet
Alistair Abell
Percy Criddle's Diary

3

This is a Silk Gown Alice Criddle wore on her Voyage from England
1882
Wawanesa, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Brenda Boyd

4

Alice Criddle wore this silk gown in 1882 on her voyage from England.

5

Poster Proclaiming Land in Manitoba
Late 19th Century
Wawanesa, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Alistair Abell
Sipiweske Museum

6

Upon docking at St. Thomas they continued traveling by foot and steam boat to Manitoba. His decision to settle in Manitoba was greatly influenced by the many posters proclaiming it as "The Great Fertile Belt". Immediately after his arrival in Brandon he hired a boy with a horse and went prospecting for two days around southwestern Manitoba. He brought many things with him on his first days of searching for land, which he describes in his diary.

From Percy Criddle's Diary regarding finding a suitable homestead:

Friday August 18, 1882

Had a tremendous rain storm with come thunder last night. No English one I fancy would ever equal it. Off prospecting township 8 and 9, range 14, 15 and 16. Buckboard and mare, $6 per day. Took gun, small hamper with canned meat, cheese, biscuits and apples, also a small flask of brandy and a stone jug of water in a box, wire, tin plates, cup, knife, spoons, forks, tin basin, soap, revolver, some tea, change of socks and shoes, reference map, book and paper. We (driver and I) had also some rope, a compass, a spade, two mackintoshes, great coat and a rug. Found by experience that half of the above was not wanted. While the tea burst its bag there was a horrid mess of everything.

7

Map illustrating the Location of the Criddle/Vane Homestead
Modern
Municipality of South Cypress, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
The Criddle/Vane Homestead Heritage Committee
Bill Galloway, mapping

8

The family homesteaded approximately 10 miles north east of Wawanesa. They called their homestead St. Albans.

9

In the Swamp
Circa 1910
Municipality of South Cypress, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Sipiweske Museum
Percy Criddle's Diary
Alistair Abell

10

Percy, having no farming experience, was having difficulties making decisions regarding which Ľ section to purchase. He wrote in his diary:

"Is it better to have poor land with lots of wood, good shooting and beautiful landmarks making one remotely happy - or rich land half drowned in wet weather; which makes one wish he was dead."

Their new prairie lifestyle began on August 25 1882 with Percy describing the families first night on the prairie.

August 24

A first night on the prairie being of course an unnecessarily anxious one. However the air was warm and pure, the ground clean, our supper good and the conditions altogether superior to the dirty loathsome rooms, infested with vermin, that we had been living, 'existing' in.

Later he commented:

"After no end of thought, resolved to take claim I saw last week -32-8-16- wish I'd had someone to be depended on to assist my judgment - but haven't - of course I shall same day find I've done wrong - but it can't be helped - I've been to the Land Office and done the trick, and there's an end of the matter."

11

Anemones
Circa 1917
South Cypress, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Alistair Abell
Sipiweske Museum

12

Throughout the initial months, Percy and the boys spent endless hours familiarizing themselves with the area and hunting fowl for dinner. Due to arriving late in the year they had no crops, no produce and no garden. Alice and some of the children developed scurvy due to a lack of fruit and vegetables. Percy wrote of the unbalanced diet:
'Hardly had any meat for some weeks past - as a result most of the children have lost weight considerably - only Evelyn gaining one pound.'
They survived in tents from August until Christmas the first year. Another thing that came about in the initial months was a sun dial of which Percy was quite proud and wrote about in his diary.

Percy Criddle's diary describing the construction and demolition of the sundial, and christening of his oxen:

"One of my earliest operations was to describe a rough sundial, a fortunate act for very son the last workable watch ceased to tick, the mark of time would have been immeasurable. Presently however my wretched oxen knocked the centre post down and ever since then we have had to guess the hour of the day, for I never found a moment to erect another post. The mention of my oxen reminds me that I christened them Billy and Lazy. The former because it was as good as name as any other. The second because it fitted the nature of the animal to whom I gave it."

13

Prairie Chicken
Early 20th Century
Municipality of South Cypress, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Sipiweske Museum

14

With the fast approaching winter Percy was in a rush to get a permanent house built to escape from the bitter night time winds. Percy enlisted the help of a neighbor to build and once finding that he himself was deeply unskilled with an axe he enlisted the help of a second neighbor to help the first.