Thanks Bette; I am thinking the same thing. I was hoping to cross reference with census info but John was not in Manitoba for the 1871 census and had moved to the City of Winnipeg by the 1901 census! Were any property assessments done in the west? In Ontario I was able to use the yearly property assessments to track one family. Alan Bette Kosmolak wrote: > Alan, > > If your John Colbert was a homesteader he might have received land > through the Domion Land Grants which you can search through Arhvicianet > at the National Archives of Canada site at: http://www.archives.ca > > There are several John Colberts listed in the Dominion Land Grants but > the one mostly likely, in my opinion, to be the land you are looking for > is NW-21-5-20-W1. However, I would suggest you check it out yourself. > > Bette >