From 1882-1905, when Saskatchewan became a Province, Yorkton's address was: Provisional District of Assiniboia, North West Territories.
Starting in 1882, the administration of York Colony was done by the officials of the York Farmers Colonization Company. Otherwise, legally and politically the colony was governed federally as was the whole of the West territory past Manitoba up to British Columbia and Northern Canada by The Legislative Assembly of the Government of the North West Territories. The North West Territories Act of 1875 provided for an appointed Council. Then, they made provisions to elect some members.
The headquarters were located at Fort Livingstone, in the Fort Pelly area for a brief time in 1874. Then, the government was located at Battleford, and in 1883 at Regina.
The York Farmers Colonization Company president, Nathaniel Clark Wallace, Member of Parliament for York West County in Ontario would have wanted representation in the federal government for the Company's new colony. While we do not hold records of any contact between Wallace and the Territorial Government, it only makes sense that he would want immediate recognition for the colony, a voice for the Company and the settlers.
It is not surprising that a York colonist was soon elected to the Territorial Government.
His name was Thomas Wesley Jackson who had filed for a homestead at York Colony in 1882, He was elected in 1883 for the new electoral district of Qu'Appelle, covering a huge area of Eastern Assiniboia, which included York Colony. They sat from August 20 to October 4. He was the representative for the 6th Legislative Session from July 3, 1884 to August 16th, 1884, as well as the the 7th Session from November 5 to December 18, 1885, when there were two representatives for the area, Jackson and William Dell Perley.
Not much was known about T.W. Jackson until recently. Fortunately, his granddaughter, Elizabeth Mclean and her husband Dr. John McLean of Barrie Ontario gave us some history upon their visit to the City of Yorkton Archives in July 2012. To quote Elizabeth: "Wesley was born in 1859 in Downsview, Ontario, eldest son of William and Margaret Ann Jackson. Wesley was second generation Canadian, as his great-grandparents Thomas and Jane (Francis) Jackson came with their family to York from County Sligo in Ireland. His grandfather William I and his father William II farmed in Downsview, along with numerous siblings and cousins, as well as a number of other families, including familiar names of early Yorkton; Duncan, Boake, and Bull, among whom there were several marriages. As the family farms came to be divided, the seemingly limitless space came to appear a little more limited. When the idea of opening up the west for colonization began to be talked of in Ontario there were a number of willing ears to hear, and adventure beckoned."
We know that in 1882, Jackson filed for homestead NE Section 4 Township 27 Range 2 West of the Second Meridian which is a few kilometers south west of Rhein today. He obtained title, meaning that he had at least taken up residence for 6 months of the year, for the mandatory 3 year period. However, his main residence was at Fort Qu'Appelle, where he had also purchased a portion of a quarter section for which he also obtained title. He was actively involved in life in the West, as in 1884 he was secretary treasurer of the Wood Mountain and Qu'Appelle Railway Company. He also had purchased part of a quarter section in the Calgary area. From a notice in the Winnipeg Free press of April 18, 1885, we learned that the North West Territories Gazette of the spring of 1885 showed that Thomas Wesley Jackson of Fort Qu'Appelle was appointed Justice of the Peace. Another Yorkton pioneer, Samuel N. Foster, of Foster Lake, Wallace Post Office was also appointed Justice of the Peace.
Jackson was on the Territorial Council during the North West Resistance of 1885. From the documents of this event we learn that he criticized the Dominion Government for their involvement: Title: The Views of a leading Conservative in the North-west on the late rebellion. -Jackson condemns the Conservative government, including John A. MacDonald and Hayter Reed and Edgar Dewdney as officials of Indian Affairs, for their treatment of the Indians. He maintains that the people were starving and desperate and official indifference to their plight forced them into rebellion. http://library.usask.ca/northwest/db/html_docs/j_a_mac.html
Thomas Wesley Jackson left to return to Ontario in 1886.
This is as good a time as any to introduce Thomas Wesley Jackson's eldest son, Howard Meredith Jackson, well-known citizen of Yorkton from 1919 until his death in 1979.
Howard was born in Weston, York Township, (near Toronto) Ontario, in 1888. His father Thomas Wesley Jackson had married a York colony woman, Ann Meredith in 1885. In 1887, the couple went to live in Weston, Ontario.
In 1890 the Jackson family moved back West, first settling in Melita, and then Reston, Manitoba. For some years, Howard worked with his father in a coal, wood and implement business. Next he went to work at the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. In 1919 he moved to Yorkton where he operated the J.I. Case agency from 1919 to 1928. In 1929 he became a city relief officer and appointed City Clerk in 1932, holding this position until his retirement in 1959. Jackson served on the Saskatchewan Assessment Board, the Saskatchewan Health Services Planning Commission and was active with the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association. He married Gwen McFarline.
In the late 1930s, Jackson became secretary of the Yorkton Historical Society. In the 1950s, a committee was formed to start collecting pictures of Yorkton's early days. With the help of Ken Mayhew of the Yorkton Enterprise, the Society advertised for photos and documents of the settlement days. The response was very good. In 1959 after retirement from the City Clerk position, with a grant and a corner in the Fire Hall for an office, Jackson began to research Yorkton's history and to write articles on pioneers, as well as arranging the photos in large albums.
He completed his work in 1967, presenting five albums to the City Council. The "Jackson Collection" as it became known was placed at the Yorkton Public Library History Room, and lodged there until 2003 when it was transferred to the City of Yorkton Archives.
Their children, Dr. Ronald Jackson, Dr. Jean Jackson and Michael Jackson live in Ontario.
The City of Yorkton Archives acknowledges the great importance of the work done by Howard Jackson on the pre-1967 history of Yorkton and area.
Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher
City of Yorkton Archives, City of Yorkton,
Box 400,
37 Third Avenue North,
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722 historian@yorkton.ca
