Tenancy as a family strategy in mid-nineteenth century Ontario

Studies of tenancy usually focus on agricultural efficiency, economic development and class relations. Why and how individual farm families-both owners and tenants-might use tenancy for their own family related goals has been overlooked. By revealing how tenancy was used in the life course transitions of individuals and the collective needs of the family unit at different stages in its life cycle, a deeper understanding of the role of tenancy is revealed. This article examines the topic from three perspectives. First, it reveals how owners became landlords renting out their farm in order to weather family crises and hold the patrimony together for the succeeding generation. Second, it shows how tenant families used renting not only as a step on the agricultural ladder but also as a way of life that supported the current and successsive generations on the land. Finally, it examines how the landlord/tenant relationship was often an intergenerational arrangement existing outside the usual land market and playing a central role in father-son succession.