Born Dec. 6, 1862 - Member for Wallace Constituency (which included Yorkton) in the Legislative Assembly of the North West Territorial Government from 1892-1897
While the Canadian government in the 1880s was mainly concentrating on settling western Canada with people from the eastern part of the country, especially Ontario, plus the British Isles and then the United States, the government also began looking in earnest to western Europe. We know that the government had published a pamphlet Manitoba and The Great North West of America in 1884. Some of these pamphlets found their way to a few European countries.
Around the same time, the Canadian Pacific Railway was advertising the "land of opportunity - free homesteads" at the World's Fair in Amsterdam. Frederik Robert Insinger, a bank employee of that city must have attended the fair and seen the literature on settlement of western Canada. He likely also knew of the opportunities for free land that Canada offered through the banking business.
We know that Insinger came to Canada in 1885, and it appears his most westerly point of arrival was at Indian Head, where he paid the Bell Farm $500 to teach him about farming. An article in The Yorkton Enterprise dated August 7, 1958 tells us that the manager of the Bell Farm did not give Insinger any work. He then sued the farm to recover his $500, but he lost. No reasons were given in the article. A record of the Department of the Interior #-RG15 -Series D-V-1 Vol. 1183 shows that he was making inquiries about grazing lands in 1886.
On May 5th, 1888 at the age of 26, he made entry on NW Section 32, Township 25, Range 6 West of the 2nd Meridian, which is situated west of Yorkton and west of Willowbrooke. Homestead documents show that he was naturalized as a British subject on August 4th, 1891, and that he obtained patent on this land July 13, 1892. He classified his occupation as "rancher." Also mentioned in the homestead papers is this detail: when away from his homestead he was working at Swan Lake doing ranching. According to the 1958 newspaper article, "In 1889 the rancher (Insinger) had to go 140 miles to Swan Lake to get hay." To the question regarding the number of livestock in his possession, his answer was "about 80 horses." The property at Swan Lake nearby the Duck Mountains would have been Dominion Government grazing leases.
An educated man, Insinger soon rose as a leader in the communities around Yorkton. His maternal language was Dutch, but he was fluent enough in English to speak in public. While he had not purchased any lands from the York Farmers' Colonization Company, he would certainly have known some of their officials because the Company was still doing business in the area in 1888 and for years to come. Following Joel Reaman's death in 1892, there was a rush to fill his seat in the territorial government. The election was bitterly contested by Thomas McNutt, but Insinger won by a majority of 140 votes.
One of the tasks that Insinger took on was to greet immigrants who were arriving in Winnipeg in April 1893. The group of 1,066 was made up of Dutch, German, English and Scandinavians. Some would settle in Winnipeg proper, rural Manitoba and some came to the Yorkton region.
We learn from author J. TH. J. Krijff who wrote about Dutch immigration in western Canada that Insinger could speak four languages-Dutch, German, French and English. He came from a well-to-do family in Amsterdam, and therefore one reason he had higher education. In those years, in many societies learning languages other than your maternal one was considered an asset, not something to be discouraged. In some countries of Europe it was encouraged in higher education and it was necessary if you worked in commerce with other countries, etc. Also, in those settlement years of western Canada, knowledge of several languages was an asset in dealing with the newly arrived from Europe.
On August 1st 1897, after he had resigned from the Territorial Assembly, Insinger moved to Spokane Washington to manage a bank.
In a pamphlet entitled History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country, Washington dated 1912, Insinger is classified as a pioneer entrepreneur: "The extensive banking, real estate and insurance interests of Robert Insinger place him in a prominent position among the successful and enterprising business men of this city."
A 1939 article in The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington honours, Robert Insinger, Senior Past President of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce of Spokane. He was being celebrated before his departure for La Jolla, California, where he and his wife Julia retired. He died there on July 26, 1946.
Insinger's motto: The accomplishment of any task is not a final end but rather the starting point for new accomplishments.
One can't help wondering what directions his life would have taken and how far he might have gone in government had Insinger stayed in western Canada. We can conclude from this biography that his leaving the Yorkton area was a benefit to Spokane and the state of Washington, and it was our loss in the Yorkton region and western Canada.
The Town of Insinger was named in his honour.
Contact:
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
