In the days of the Canada Company : the story of the settlement of the Huron Tract and a view of the social life of the period, 1825-1850

Front matter

ROBiNA AND KATHLEEN M. LiZARS iPresenteD to of tbc

namversit^ of ^Toronto

. - iff :

Introduction

Every monograph which throws light on the making of Canada should be heartily welcomed, and therefore I willingly write a brief preface for this one, entitled "In the Days of the Canada Company." Men have disputed, and will dispute, whether the Company was beneficial or hurtful to Canada, the fact being that it was both, and that the balance is likely to be struck according to their interests or preconceptions ; but no one disputes the claims to honour of John Gait, its founder, and of agents like Dunlop, Pryor and Strickland. With what is probably the last of the great Chartered Companies now on its trial before the bar of British opinion and a select committee of the Imperial House of Commons, we are slow to admit that a democratic Government is entitled to delegate any of its important functions to private individuals; but the Government of Canada, in 1824, was not responsible to the people, and it was a good thing that it consented to the formation of the Company. At any rate, as regards colonization, road and bridge-building, and the equitable partition or sale of the public domain, things for some time had been so bad, as poor Robert Gourlay, William Lyon Mackenzie and others proved to their own hurt, that they could hardly be worse. The arrival of Gait made them better, and had he been sustained by the directorate in London, who represented the shareholders, the Company would probably have won for itself as honourable a name, on its own smaller scale, as history accords to the Hudson's Bay and the East India Companies. But he was too big a man for his masters, and London was too far away from the Huron Tract to

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administer details satisfactorily. The London Board had to utilize Gait's services, but they were unwilling to trust him, even to the extent of permitting him to take a clerk from London, though the duty of dealing with a million sterling and of settling two and a half millions of acres of fertile lands all over Upper Canada had to be left to his sole management. Like most corporations of wealthy or of poor men, they demanded immediate returns on their invested capital, and it was poor satisfaction to them to have Gait point out that they could not expect rent for a house until it was built. They had undertaken to effect great public improvements, as a condition of getting their charter, and he would not let them forget it, his reputation as well as theirs being involved in keeping faith with the Crown. Perhaps the chief trouble with Gait, and the mainspring of their distrust, was that which constituted his happiness all through life. Man can have only one paradise on earth, but Gait aimed at having half a dozen simultaneously. He had so many irons in the fire that men doubted whether he could attend properly to the one in which they were interested. Besides, the average practical man is apt at all times to be sceptical of the business capacity of a novelist. Gait was poet, biographer, historian, critic, essayist, politician, as well as novelist. How could a man of letters, so full and free, be trusted as a man of affairs ? Of course, the reply is obvious, that unless the Company had made up their minds to trust him, they should not have appointed him Commissioner and sent him out to a new world as their agent and representative.

In justice to Gait, it should be added that even the immediate future verified his forecasts, and proved that what was freely called extravagance was really judicious investment. His chief apparent monuments are the City of Guelph, founded by him with feelings and ceremonial appropriate to a poet, and the road through the Huron Tract, the first overland communication between the sweet water seas of Ontario and Huron„ In these undertakings and in organizing the business of the Company, in attracting desirable immigrants to the Province, and in making thoughtful provision for their necessities, he proved that a literary man could be immeasurably superior to the average immigration agent who is obliged to work by the rule of thumb. His resources seemed to be as infinite

INTRODUCTION.

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;is his energy. He was as Protean in wrestling with nature as in his literary labours ; " now bent on the discovery of an indelible ink, now on the damming of a river, now on the construction of a bridge, now on the cutting of a canal, now on the felling of a forest, now on the draining of a swamp, now on the invention of a hydraulic machine, now on the endowment of an hospital, now on the formation of a Company, and now on the founding of a city." He was a man of ideas, and it is appointed unto all such men to suffer. To-day, we could afford to pay a good price for a John Gait to lead and guide the colonization of our North- West, but whether we would engage him if he were to be had is another question. The salary demanded might be obstacle enough. A railway willingly pays fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year for a first-class managing director. The Dominion, which spends millions annually on public works, grudges one-tenth of the sum to a responsible head, and ends by having no one responsible. A proposal to pay a competent head his market salary would destroy any Government. A High Commissioner in London is considered dear at $10,000, and a Governor-General ruinous at |50,000, though the one or the other is in a position to save or destroy not only millions but the honour of the country. What of that ! Scores of politicians are ready at a moment's notice to undertake the job for half the money.

Perhaps the best thing that Gait did for Canada was to bring to it settlers of the right stock. Immigrants, like other people or things, should be weighed rather than counted, though it is difiicult to do the weighing. Comparisons are always odious, and in this case time is needed for making tests or arriving at wellestablished conclusions. Gait had the ear of the educated classes in Britain, and in his day there were — for more reasons than one —numbers of people possessed of some capital who were eager to emigrate. They saw little hope of a future for their children in the old land, and Gait and Dunlop described Canada so as to touch their imaginations. Some of these, after enjoying the fishing and the shooting, became bitterly dissatisfied with their lot and with the men who had attracted them from the old easy ruts in which they had moved at home. Others struggled manfully, in some cases heroically, against the .difficulties of "the bush" and viii

INTRODUCTION.

the climate ; against wolves and bears, and the more terrible blackfly and mosquito. And, as one of them, Major Strickland, testifies, they had their reward. He, at any rate, accepted the conditions of the new life and soon learned to love the new land. Indeed, it took him captive from the first. When the inland ocean of Huron first burst on his sight, from the wooded heights which overhung the mouth of the Maitland, where the town of Goderich was planted, he says, "I thought Canada then — and I have never changed my opinion — the most beautiful country in the world." Elsewhere"^ he says, "A man of education will always possess an influence even in bush society; he may be poor, but his value will not be tested by the low standard of money, and he will be appealed to for his judgment in many matters, and will be inducted into several offices more honourable than lucrative." That is the style of man to lay the foundations and build the walls of a country. His testimony is abundantly confirmed by the lives of men widely different, like Philemon Wright in Hull township. Colonel Talbot on Lake Erie, the Highland Chief McNab on the Ottawa, and many a noble old Loyalist from the States.

It is interesting to find that even at the early stage in our history when the Canada Company began its reign, our fathers had grown into a distinct type of humanity. We do not wonder that our French-speaking fellow-countrymen — sometimes rather absurdly called French — should be Canadians pure and simple. They are the early core of the Canadian people. What do they know of France or of any other land but their own? For generations their forefathers have dwelt on the banks of the mighty St. Lawrence, and they love it as the Swiss love their mountains. But it was otherwise in Upper Canada. The various nationalities who settled it had — at the time I speak of — little more than one generation in which to become one people. Yet Gait's immigrants, in describing them — sometimes in sketches not flattering to our family pride — after the manner of outspoken Britons when sketching people who are not English, call attention to the singularly complete process of unification which had already taken place. " They deemed it somewhat remarkable that the Canadian popula-

*" Twenty Years' Experience in Canada West."

INTRODUCTION.

ix tion, at that time drawn from all Europe and every State in the Union, should exhibit such small variety in manners, customs, dress, or mode of life. Germans, Highlanders, French, English and Irish soon fused and became * Canadian.' "

Probably the war of 1812-15 is in good part the explanation of this ; not merely because gallant resistance to successive waves of invasion had awakened a national spirit, but also because the high prices then paid for produce of every kind had stimulated industry as far into the backwoods as population had extended. Men who knew nothing of the horrors of the war, and who had no dread of its penetrating to their remote hamlets or clearings, rejoiced to get three dollars a bushel for wheat. Mr. Philemon Wright, in giving to a committee of the House of Assembly a detailed account of his experiences, from 1800 to 1823, in settling Hull, refers only once to the war, and his reference is entirely along this strictly pecuniary line of personal advantage. Here it is : "1813 . . . At the finishing of threshing the wheat, we measured 3,000 bushels ; these 3,000 bushels cost me $2,000, for which I was offered $9,000, three dollars per bushel being at that time the common price, on account of the war. I must say it was the most advantageous undertaking I ever engaged in since I commenced the settlement. Having a clear profit of $7,000, I continued to expend upon the farm." Under such circumstances the average farmer understood that loyalty paid. No matter where he had been born, he was sure to be an enthusiastic Canadian, and sure to entertain a kindly feeling for the Old Mother Country that poured out her sovereigns freely as water. The war might be justifiable or very much the reverse, in his eyes, but it was quite clear that the good prices enabled him to pay his labourers and improve his property. Is it wonderful that, when word came of peace having been made, a loyal Englishman naively wrote of it as "appalling news'?"

Interesting, too, is it to learn that the founder of the Canada Company dreamed of that North -West Passage by land which Canada has at last made good. In the little office at York, he and his trio of trusted officers discussed plans for the present and dreamed dreams of the future. "There was an experimental farm; a way to utilize rapids for power ; and, most glorious dream of all, to go by canal from Quebec to Superior, pass the notches of the

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Rocky Mountains, and lock down the Columbia to the Pacific ; , . . and with a steam packet line between London and Quebec, we may come and go between China and Britain in about two months. . . . Can this be called a foolish prophecy, an idle dream By no means; it is perfectly practicable." We are reminded by this forecast that some idle dreams of yesterday are commonplace realities to-day. Already, the mails from Yokohama to London, via Vancouver and Montreal, have been delivered in twenty days, nine hours, or about one-third of the time prophesied.

I abstain from saying here all that I feel concerning the authors' work, because those who read the Preface are sure to read the book, and they will judge for themselves. Enough to say that to me it has been an unmixed delight to read the proof. Their racy descriptions give vivid glimpses of the good old times, and many Canadians will join with me in thanking them for allowing us to sit beside one of the cradles of our national life — incanabula nostrae gentis — and hear some of the first attempts at speech of the sturdy infant.

Kingston, September, 1896.

G. M. GRANT.

Preface

In this book there is no attempt made at historical writing ; that will be a matter for the future, after condensation of many similar works. If in the meantime it provides pleasant reading for those interested in the story of the Huron Tract, the wish and aim of the authors are gratified and justified. The book, with all its faults of omission and commission, is ofi'ered to that public which so constantly through the press demands historical data.

Professor Ramsay Wright, in his circular of 1893, sa3^s : " Histories of individual families should therefore be collected, and the accounts of various local enterprises carefully noted. Information should be obtained from individual recollection of events, traditions, private and public letters, manuscript letters and diaries, old newspapers and pamphlets, grants and commissions, printed or engraved."

In the subjoined letter of thanks and table of references will be found authorities for the matter herein contained.

Although history is the cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of men, recollections, like colours, fade, and these collops of literature, letters, journals, etc., being heritable and private property, are not always procurable. Difficulties, however, all reckoned, the mass acquired is so great that it would delight the German professor who died lamenting he had squandered his life upon the whole noun instead of confining himself to the dative case ; so great that the five hundred pages here allowed might as easily have been one thousand.

xii PREFACE.

Lack of proper sequence and statements seemingly contradictory are accounted for by, say, three old settlers, all eye-witnesses of some particular event, and all sure they know every detail, telling, in common with the event, some three distinct tales, until, impossible to find a casting vote, one exclaims with Beaconsfield, " What wonderful things are events ! "

"For since present things appear differently to different minds," observes George Ebers, "the same must be more strikingly true of those long past and forgotten."

If history be teaching by example, no Canadian can overestimate the value of heroic types ; for the shades of departed braves stand on the threshold of every deserted log cabin. Hard by, in corners of farm lots, in grass-grown churchyards, a silence as heavy as that of the forest they pierced lies above the dust of the sleeping pioneers, and the story of their struggles is about to be forgotten.

Stratford, October 1st, 1896.

LETTER OF THANKS.

The authors have been much indebted for reminiscences and anecdotal matter to friends and persons who have shown themselves interested in this recital. In particular to

The late Mr. Henry Cowper Hyndman, of Ayrshire, and the late Judge Lizars, of Stratford.

The late Hon. John Beverley Robinson, and the late Mr. Patrick Hyndman.

And to Mr. and Mrs. Raby Williams, Mrs. Bogie, Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Clark, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Young, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Morris, Mr. Doherty, Mrs. Ellis, Mr. Wm. Young, Mr. Alex. Young, Mr. Scarlet Williams, Mr. Robert Williams, and the late Mr. John Morris, of Colborne.

To Mr. D. Macdonald, Mr. Woodcock, Mr. Cox, Mr. Ira Lewis, Mrs. Matheson, Mr. McGillicuddy, Capt. Murray McGregor, Sheriff Gibbons, Mrs. Garrow, of Goderich ; Mr. Chas. Girvin, Wawanosh.

To Mr. and Mrs. McColl, Hensall; Dr. Hyndman, Exeter; Mrs. Rattenbury, Mrs. Wm. Ranee, Mr. Whitely, Mr. Andrew Stinson, Mr. Hanly, of Clinton ; and Mrs. Carlin, of Dublin.

To Mr. J. C. McCarthy, Mrs. Lizars, Judge Woods, Mr. S. R. Hesson, Mr. Hugh Nichol, the late Mr. Andrew Monteith, of Stratford.

To Professor Herbert Story, of Glasgow University, to Mr. Wm. Baby, Mrs. Alex. Wilkinson and Mr. Gow, of Windsor.

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LETTER OF THANKS.

To Mr. and Mrs. John Haldane, Mr. W. George Eakins, Librarian, Osgoode Hall ; Mr. George F. Shepley, Mr. Justice Robertson, Hon. A. M. Ross, Chief Justice Hagarty and Mr. James Bain, jr., Librarian, Reference Library, of Toronto.

For illustrations, the authors are indebted to the Hon. A. M. Ross, Mr. Clarence Young, of Brampton ; and Mr. Sallows, of Goderich. Mr. E. M. Chad wick (author and illustrator of "Ontarian Families") kindly furnished the drawings for the coats of arms.

The family portraits have been lent by their respective owners; and to Mr. Willson, Commissioner of the Canada Company, thanks are especially due for maps and innumerable documents of use and interest.

The chief works which have been consulted are :

" The Backwoodsman." Dunlop.

The various writings of Strickland and Bonnycastle.

McTaggart's " Three Years in Upper Canada."

"Western Wanderings." Kingston.

" Six Years in the Canadas." Talbot.

" Winter Studies." Mrs. Jameson.

McGrath's " Letters."

^' The Emigrant." Francis Bond Head.

Dent's " History of the Last Forty Years."

" Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald." Moore.

Gait's " Autobiography and Miscellany."

" Toronto of Old." Scadding.

Together with old numbers of Fraser^s and Blackivood's, and files of newspapers.

Stratford, October 1st, 1896.

The Bonnie Easthoi)es 400