J11 I" III Iff I I 11111 I III r 111I11 II' 1111I11I II UIII II III. 1.111 I. 1111I111. 1111 'III ::: 1' 1 ,1 111 II II III IIII I1 II III I III III rm I II I II II: 11I 1 1 1111 I:hll III IIi' II IIII 11'11 1111 I III I III II I III III III 1111' II "111 II III II 1,"111 1 1 11I 1'1 I '1111 11I III "II III Ii 111 1 , I III II I 11"llII m 11I 11I III 111 11 111I1 ,III , 11I'11I I II IIII 11111 I" II' II I : I I 1111 I I 11:'1 I II I I III III 1 1 :1 1 11 I III II. I I . 111,IIhl III I 111I 111 I I I IIII II I I II I I 111I111 II 1111 ' I II 'I I I , 1111, II hili I I 111I1 III , I III III II I I /11I .I I. 'I" I ! :I III ....III .. I . 11I11I11 II 11I11 II 11I11I11 III' I II III tit , 1111 · 11I 11I 11I 11I III I/hl , IImllllll 1111 1111111.11 111I1.1111I1111I11' III Simcoe County Pioneer and Historical Society. PIONEER PAPERS--No. 1. IORt" YORK PUBUC lIBRAIf MAJN BARRIE: Published by the Society. 1908. CONTENTS. PAGE. Justices of the Peace.-JuDGE ARDAGH 5 Sunnidale Fifty Years Ago-GEO. SNEATH 7 Recollections of Moses Hayter, the First Jailer-S. L. SOULES 14 Early Days in Oro-LT.-COL. O'BRIEN 22 Notes of Barrie's First Residents before 1837- GEO. SNEATH, S. L. SOULES, W. H. HEWSON AND OTHERS 28 WHEN making this selection from the various manuscripts in the possession of the Society, the Committee adopted for publication mostly those by authors who have passed away; and in the three cases thus adopted, portraits of the au- thors appear with the articles. For the rest, their aim was to ma.ke the subjects spread over as wide a territory as the materials at hand would permit them to do. The papers are taken from the proceedings of the Society, but it is not meant that this should bc a rule or precedent to govern them in the issue of future publications. THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE. PIONEER PAPERS. 5 JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. COMPILED BY HIS HONOR, JUDGE ARDAGH. Names of Justices on a Commission of the Peace for the County of Simcoe, in "Our Home District," dated First, November, 1:831. (The original spellings have been preserved.) (Simcoe, 1831.) Wm. Wooden, Thos. Cumersell Anderson, James M. Hamil- ton, Edward O. Bairn, John E. White, Edward Fa vel Davis. :\Iakolm Ross, Arthur Carthew, Charles Stanley Monck, James Adam, Robert Oliver and William Petty (Betty) McVity. Simcoe, 1835. (Special.) Captain John Moberly, William Cayley, St. Andrew St. John. James Gardner, Thos. Workman, Charles Rankin, Michael Mc- Donell and Charles McVittie, "all of the County of Simcoe. Esquires," to keep the Peace in and throughout our Home Dist- rict. The Commissions for 1833 and 1837 respectively are in. cluded amongst the Justices for the entire Home District. But owing to the fact that the addresses of those named are not given- it is difficult to separate with precision the names of the Simcoe Justices. The first Commission of the Peace for the new District was issued on the 18th of March, 1843. Sir Charles Bagot was then Governor-General, the Hon. Robt. Baldwin, Attorney-General, and the Hon. Samuel Bealey Harrison, Provincial Secretary. The last named was the author of "Harrison's Digest." (at which time he was an English Barrister), and subsequently Judge of the County of York. This Commission contained only seven names; these were: James Robert Gowan (District Judge), James Adam, George Lount, Elmes Steele. John Moberly, James Dallas and JacoL Æmilius Irving (Warden of the new District). 6 PIONEER PAPERS. On the 8th of July in the same year a new Commis ion is- sued, appointing as Justices of the Peace the following: James R. Gowan (Judge), Edward O'Brien, James Adam, George Lount, John Dawson, Elmes Steele, John Thompson, Frederick Stephens, John Iober1y, Edmund Lally, James \Vickens, Sr., James Wilson, Gerald Alley, Jacob Æ. Irving, Andrew :M. J. Durnford, Frederick Dallas, Charles Thompson, Adam Goodfel- low, Wm. Charles Hume, John Austin, Patrick Patton, 'Vellesley Richey, William Martin, Matthew Coates, 'Villiam Campaigne, James Darling, Alex. Lewis, James Speers, Benjamin Ross, Thos. \Vest, Hugh Gilmour, John Robinson, John Craig, Richard Dru- ry, Andrew Moffatt, William Armson, John Carswell, Thomas Keenan, Wm. McLaughlin (Michael was intended), Edwin Slee, Peter White, Chas. Partridge, David Soles, John Garbutt, John Stewart, Michael Ryan, Donald Cameron, Joseph Hodgson, James Scott, Benjamin Hawke, Gustavus Hamilton, Benj. West, Andrew Cunningham, 'Vm. Thorpe, James Johnson and '\oVrn. Stephenson,-s6 in all. Of these we do not know that any suryive but the first nam- ed, the prescnt Sir James R. Gowan. PIONEE& PAPERS. 7 A FEW NOTES ON THE TOWNSHIP OF SUNNIDALE AS I FOUND IT FIFTY YEARS AGO, AND MY JOURNEY TO IT. OVritten in 1897.} By George Sneath, Esq. At that time it was uncert in how the Township came by its name. It was an inappropriate name, for the Township was so thickly wooded and the foliage so dense that it was impossible for the sun to penetrate through and make Sunny dales. There is a legend in connection with the naming of the Township: A short time before it was surveyed, (1831-2) a party of surveyors and sportsmen left Toronto early in October to explore and hunt over the tract of Country lying between Lake Simcoe and the Nottawasaga Bay. Arriving at the little Village of Barrie they took up quarters at the King's Arms, a small log hotel kept by the late John Bingham. and stayed there for a day or two laying in a stock of provisions and making arrangements for an extended stay in that hitherto unexplored tract of Country. Starting on their expedition, they had not long left Barrie until they found themselves in the solitude of the bush and in a sportsman's paradise. On the second morning after leaving Bar- rie, they considered it necessary that one of their number should return to that village and get assistance to take away the game they had killed, as wolves were numerous and following in their tracks and destroying it. A young gentleman lately from England, a visitor at Govern- ment House, who had joined the party at Toronto, volunteered to return to Barrie and get the required assistance. He did not expect to find any difficulty in retracing his way back to the viI lage. He was cautioned by his friends not to loose sight of the trees they had blazed as they went along. He expected to make Barrie easily before night, but he had not travelled long before ht" lost sight of the blazed trees. He tried in every direction to find them again but failed. He was lost in the bush and became be wildered. travelling at his greatest speed, he knew not whither, until night closed on him. Tired and hungry, he laid himself down; but he dared not sleep for fear of wild animals. His 8 PIONEER P A PEES. thoughts carrieJ him far away to loving friends, a dear mother, and one dearer still, if that could be, whom he would never see again, for there was no chance of him finding his way out; hi flesh would be eaten by wild animals and his bone:3 would lie and bleach in this dreadful wilderness. Welcome dayli6"ht came at last after the longest night he had ever spent, and with it renew- ed hopes that he might still find his way out. He commenced again his weary tramp but in what direction he knew not, as un- fortunately the sky was clouded over, obscuring the sun and he carried no compass. He travelled on and on through the ever- bewildering and unchanging woods until night overtook him again, despondent and worn out with fatigue and hunger. Not caring now what happened him, he lay down and slept until day- light. When he opened his eyes what met his view? Could it be real or was he dreaming? A beautiful young girl, a squaw. was standing over him viewing him in amazement. After siler..t- ly viewing each other in wonder for some time, he spoke to her but she did not understand him; 1Jeither did he understand what she said. He tried to make her understand that he was lost ar.d dying of hunger. She made signs to him to follow her. She led him to an Indian Village not far away where he was made wel- come and his wants attended to. He was the gupst of the Indians until he regained his strength again and was a general favorite with the tribe. The youn squaw who found him was the daughter of the chief. She be- came very friendly with him and gaye him to urècr tand th t she would like to become nlore than a friend to him. He begged the Indians to guide him to \yhere he could find his friends. But they were loath to part with him. They offer- ed that if he would only stay with them he should have the beaut- iful young squaw, the chief's daughter, for his wife and should eventually be made the chief of the tribe. He told them that could not be for he had already plighted his troth to a beautiful white squaw far away over the big waters and he must go and redeem his pledge. They finally agreed on the promi e of bi pay to take him in a canoe to Penetanguishene. He pacified the young squaw for her loss of him by placing on her finger a valu- able gold ring which he himself had 'Worn. Arriving at Penetanguishene he lost no time in making his way to Barrie and from there to Toronto to ease the minds of his friends as news had been sent to them that he was 10Ft in thf' bush. His friends received him with open arms. The lost one was found. In describing to his friends the Indian village where he had PIONEER P APEHB. been so well received and entertained, he told them "that it was beautifully situated in a sunny dale close to a big river and in sight of the lake." The Governor answered that that solved a question which had been bothering him. A Township was about to be surveyed there and he had been requested to give it a name. He had been at a loss to know what to call it; now that was settled; it would be called Sunnidale, after the sunny dale of the Indian village which would likely prove to be within the boundaries of the new Township. Half a century ago I became acquainted with Sunnidale and its people-25 families all told. My first journey to it I made on foot from Barrie, 26 miles. In travelling I had only Hobson's choice, for there were no railroads and no stage coaches; there were no horses to be hired, and unfortunately I did not own one. I left Barrie, then only a small village, on a fine June mor- ning (1847?) with a determination to reach the end of my jour- ney in a few hours. I prided myself on my locomotive ability, but I had no idea of the kind of road I had to travel over. The road had been opened out some years previously by Government from Barrie to the Nottawasaga Bay and called "The Sunnidale Road." A large part of the road was over swamps which had bee crosswayed with logs and was anything but easy and safe to travel over. Six miles on my way I reached Root's Tavern, then "Upper Settlement," Vespra. now "Grenfell," and was pleased with the opportunity oi gettin6" a rest and having a chat with the genial landlord, Dudley Root, who told me some very big wolf and bear stories, and wondered at my temerity in travelling alone through such a country and not even carrying a gun. "You may just as likely as not come across wolves and bears and then where will you be?" said he. I left the tavern, I must own, a little faint-hearted, from what I had heard, and proceeded on my way. It was mosquito time too and this road had the reputation of being infested with myriads of the largest and most blood-thirsty mosquitos in the country, and I found there was no exaggeration. After fifty years I have a most vivid recollection of that journey and of those mosquitos which accompanied me. After leaving Root's, I travelled some twelve miles. all woods, without meeting a single person, and not a little afraid that I might encounter wolves and bears, which I did not, but I had to fight the mosquitos for all I was worth, until I reached "Old Rachel's Tavern" on the outskirts of Sunnidale, tired and hungry. Rachel McNeill and her husband Alex. kept the tav- 10 PIONEER PAPERS. ern at Brentwood of the present day, at least she did and Alex. was her man to be ordered around. The surroundings forbade me resting long or eating at all. Rachel was a good old soul and many a weary traveller, not so fastidious as myself,was helped on his way, rested and refreshed by her. A few miles farther on my way I reached Conners' Tavern and a swarm of mosquitos along with me. The landlady forbade me the house with my company and would not allow her door to be opened. She called to me to run as fast as I could for a piece. dodge into the bush, then run for the house. I did so and left my tormenters bewildered in the bush. After rest and refreshment, I took the road again. I was here passed by Judge (afterward Senator) Gowan and the late John McWatt of Barrie on their way to Nottawasaga on horse- back. I had hard feelings against fate. What sins had I com- mitted? or what better were they than me? that they could ride and I had to walk. However I consoled myself with the thought that in walking over the dangerous road I was not running the risk of getting my neck broken. In a dismal swamp by the road side I saw a number of log huts which had the appearance of having been occupied and de- serted. On enquiry, I learned that the Government some years previously had cho en this beautiful swamp in which to found a Highland Scotch Village and had generously granted five acres of this swamp to each family of emigrants and provided them with huts to live in and provisions for the winter. When Spring came the emigrants left in a body for the 8th line of Nottawasaga and there founded a prosperous settlement at the present Village of Duntroon. On pursuing my journey from Conners' I found I was get- ting, if not into civilization, at any rate, out of solitude. Nearly opposite Conners' stood a small log shanty occupied by a Mr. Fisher, an old man, formerly a book publisher of Pater- noster row, London, England, his wife and grandson. How the gentleman and his wife, a delicate lady, could think of leaving society, comfort and luxury to come to such an out of the way place in the bush to suffer hardships and privations is past com- prehension. Mr. Fisher brought with him from London, a quantity of his publications, chiefly novels; failing to sell, he dis- tributed them among the settlers, with whom some of them can be still seen. The hardships of bush life were too much for the old gentleman and lady;they endured them but for a short time. The grandson they brought out with them is now one of the most prosperous farmers of the Township. PIONEEn PAPERS. 11 My destination was the · Corners' (Sunnidale Corners). On my way I passed a few scattered clearings with surroundings which looked anything but inviting. I met an old gentleman on the road who stopped me and kindly held out his hand to shake hands. After a number of en- quiries about my business, etc., he said to me: "You are no Scotch ?" "No, but I am half Scotch." "V our father will be a Scotchman." "No, my father and mother are not Scotch." "Then how can you be half Scotch?" "Well you see my wife comes from the Highlands of Scot- land which makes me more than half Scotch. II "Has she the gaelic?" was his next enquiry. I told him "no, she did not speak it, but she understood it pretty well as her father and mother spoke it." I then had to shake hands with him again. I afterwards found that being half Scotch gave met a welcome to all the Scotch families of the Settlement. At. th& post office, kept by Mr. Gillespie in his dwelling house, I h arned that the Township was served with a weekly mail. The: late John Hunter had the contract of carrying the mail from Barrie to Owen Sound, making one trip a week calling at all the nost offices on the route between the two places. He was on the. back of his old white charger from Monday morning until Saturday night. The postmaster informed me that once a week was quite often enough to get the mail ; even then the mail bag often came empty. Letter postage was expensive and newspapers were al- most out of the question. Seldom did outside news reach into this back settlemen t. Most of the settlers had a few years previously emigrated from the Island of Islay, Scotland-left their occupation as fishermen and came to Sunnidale to settle on free grants of land from Government. Bringing little or no means with them and being unacquainted with c1earing the bush and farming they made slow progress and suffered untold hardships. From the "Corners" to the River there were a few good farms occupied by good farmers. At the River was a sman farm and sawmill occupied and owned by the late George Cathey J. P. As well as being the only Justice of the Peace in the Town- ship, Mr. Cathey held a Captain's Commission in the militia, and every man of proper age in the Township was enrolled in his Company. On a 24th of June I had the privilege of seeing the company muster for drill. Their appearance did not strike me as being very soldier-like. Some were in shirt sleeves, some in 12 PIONEER P .APERB. smock frocks and others wore their coats. 1 pitied the comman- ding officer who had command of such .an awkward-looking squad. Capt. Cathey was a very popular and worthy man, ever ready to help the needy settlers, and was deserving of the honors he wore. Two miles farther on, by a road running nearly parallel with the River, is the Nottawasaga Bay. Between it and the river once stood the town of Hythe. A most beautiful site for a town, on the banks of the River and within a short distance of the bay. Some of the ruins of the buildings were then still to be seen. The town had been laid out by Government and build- ings erected for a military station. A company of the 30th in- fantry occupied the station for some time. When the barracks at Penetanguishene were ready for occupation the station was abandoned (1818). "\Vhen the first lines were run for the Northern Railroad (1836) it was generally expected that here would be the termin- us, the harbor being the best; but for reasons well known, Col- lingwood carried the day. There was one public building in the Township, at the 'Corn- ers'-a shanty, built with logs and roofed with basswood troughs. It was used for a s(;hool house, for a place of worship, and for all other public purposes. It was furnished with seats, made of boards nailed to logs. They were made low to accommodate the children,and when adults used them their knees were nearly in a line with their chins. It had one desk-a board fixed under the one small window of the building, and a chimney built of sticks and mud in the end opposite the door. There, in such primitive surroundings, the youth of the township were taught-under difficulties, not imagined now- the branches, at that time required to be taught in the public schools of the Country. And there in that miserable shanty, scarcely fit for a pig sty, every Sunday was preached the Gospel by a faithful Catechist to a devout people. The religious services were Presbyterian. The sermon was first preached in English then immediately afterward in Gaelic. The Psalms were first entoned two lines at a time by the precent- or, then in the same monotone sung by the congregation, but to what tune I could not make out. When I hear an English Church priest sing the service it brings vividly to my mind the precen tor and the singing in the Sunnidale old log shanty. Once in a white an ordained clergyman from outside would corne and administer the Sacrament and baptize the babies. GEORGE SNEATH, From a photograph in 1903, (b. Sept. 30,1819, d. July 13,1907.) PIONEK. PAPERS. l The nearest store was at Barrie. The nearest grist mill, "Oliver's Mills," now Midhurst. If a doctor was required- which happily was seldom the case-from Barrie he had to come. A non-resident had to represent the Township in the old District Council. The Councillors were paid neither fees nor expenses at that time. The settlers were too poor to loose time and go to Barrie for a week at their own expense. The late George Jackson, M.P. of Owen Sound, represented the Township at the Council for some years. After him a resident was persuad- ed to accept the position. He traveled on foot to and from Bar- rie, carried his grub with him and paid only for lodgings. He tired of it in one year. He came to the conclusion that he was paying very dear for all the honor he was getting. Sunnidale as I knew it in that long ago does not now exist. It has gone almost out of recollection, so have the long-suffering but sturdy pioneers who hewed out in the wilderness homes for themselves and families. And in its place now stands a fine farming Township inhabited by a thrifty and prosperous popu- lation and dotted over with fine residences, churches and school houses. 14 PIONEER rAPERS. RECOLLECTIONS OF MOSES HAYTER, THE FIRST JAILER OF SIMCOE COUNTY. By Samuel Lount Soules. In fulfilment of a promise I made you some time ago, I wil] write in regard to some events that are not generally known, which took place seventy years ago. It would not have taken me long providing I could have come across some of myoid manu- scripts treating of the subject; but I failed to light upon the right ones and had to do the best I could from memory. I have en- deavored to write nothing but facts, without enlarging or putting on any varnish. I shall begin with 1832, when the Township of Innisfil. had but a very few settlers. A man by the name of Moses Hayter came from the city of London, Eng., to Canada. His occupatiort in London was that of a grocer in a small way; but being of a ro- mantic turn of mind he came to the conclusion that he would strike out for Canada and see if he could better his fortune in some other way. So bidding his wife and two boys, Benjamin and Charles, goodbye, he set sail, and after a tedious voyage landed in New York, and from there he came to Toronto, and made en- quiry at the Crown Lands Office where he could obtain a lot of Government land. He was advised to seek information from some of the oldest settlers who had taken up land in some of the recently surveyed townships in the County of Simcoe. From Toronto he pushed on as far as the Holland Landing; and from there he came on as far as Myers' Corners, now the vil- lage of Stroud. Now at this time my father, David Soules, had settled upon lot 26 in the 14th concession of Innisfil, on the south shore of Kempenfeldt Bay, generally known as Big Bay Point, and had been there about ten years. At this time there was no road from there to Myers', only a very blind trail which was oc- casionally used to reach the Penetanguishene Road (which itself was scarcely fit to be called a road at the time). Myers advised Hayter to see Soules, who would advise him what was best for him to do, and the shortest way to reach Soules would be by this trail, seven miles through an unbroken forest where wolves and bears were very numerous. Now I make this statement to show the courage, perseverence, and determination of this new corner. PIONEER PAPERS. 15 The whole journey from Toronto had been accomplished on foot, and now, not daunted by what Myers had told him of the proba- bility of his getting lost in the woods and lying out all night, he boldly set out on this perilous jaunt and at dusk reached the de- sired destination. I shall never forget it, as I was lying in bed sick with the measles. The rash had broken on me that morn- ing, all over my whole body, and I remember the fright it gave my mother when Hayter said it was smallpox, but he thought it was a light type and that I would soon recover. But my father maintained it was measles which soon proved to be the ca e. Hayter gaye an account of what he had passed through and what his business was. And in those days when there was but little communication with the outside world, we were pleased to meet with strangers, especially one like Hayter who was to us a full encyclopaedia, and one that was always ready to impart to others such information as was most enjoyed. My father told him there was a 2oo-acre lot joining his, that belonged to the Clergy Reserves. It was ex.cellent land, and he had good reason to believe that it would soon be placed on the market for sale. And as preemption rights were then recognized, he would advise him to make application at once for the first right to purchase the lot. Hayter did so and received a favorable answer. He at once engaged a man to chop four acres. My father promised that they would make a bee and get it logged and burnt off as soon as pos- sible, so that he could build a house on it, (lot 25, concession 13). My father gave him the privilege of using in the meantime a good large room which he had recently erected in addition to the part we occupied, and his wife and family could live there as soon as they arrived, or until their own house was made ready for oc- cupancy. All this was done in a very short time, and the four acres were put in fall wheat. The family had now been here about seven months. Hay- ter's money, which was but little when he came, had all gone; and when he moved his family into his new house he had not one dollar left. and had been líving on what my father had furnished him until he (my father) had reduced his own stock of provisions so that he could do no more. This was a serious dilemma,sur- rounded as he was by strangers in a strange land. I shall never forget the night Hayter and my father held a serious consulta- tion as to what was best to do under such trying circumstances. My father at length suggested that Samuel Lount of Holland Landing should be approached, as it was a well known fact that he had, on several occasions, given aid to new settlers who had been placed in similar circumstances. Hayter looked quite sur- prised at such a suggestion, and made this reply:- U\Vhat 16 PIOJJEER P APEBS. would citizens of London think if I should have the audacity to appeal to a man I never saw, an entire stranger, for aid, with nothing in sight whereby I could repay him. But as I can see no way out of these trying circumstances unless Providence comes to my aid through some unforeseen channel, I will venture to write a letter to Mr. Lount." N ow as nearly as I can remember, the letter was in these words :- Mr. Samuel Lount, Holland Landing. Dear Sir:- As I am a very recent settler from the City of London, and now occupy a lot of land adjoining your brother-in-law, Dav- id Soules, who has given all he can spare in the way of furnishing myself and family with the necessities of life, and as I am quite destitute of money to carry me through until my little crop, which I have succeeded in putting in the ground, comes off, by the advice of Mr. Soules I have ventured to ask you as a great favor to advance me one barrel of flour which by strict economy may be the means of prolonging our lives until I can raise enough to live on and pay you. Nothing but straitened circumstanc- es impels me to approach you in this unusual manner. Hoping you will not be offended at my request and will grant my peti- tion, I shall ever remember you in my prayers to the Author of all gifts. I am, yours sincerely, MOSES HAYTER. P. S. The flour could be sent by the steamboat. About eight days after this letter had been sent, the steam- er's whistle was heard just opposite our place, and a signal for a boat to be sent out. Hayter and his son Charles (as my father was not at home at the time) took our boat, pulled out and drew up alongside of the steamer. When Captain Laughton came forward he said, "There is some flour on board for Mr. Hay- ter." This was good news. Two bags were lowered down into the boat. Hayter, with tears of gratitude running down his cheeks, was in the act of pushing off when the captain sang out: "Hold on; more flour," and two more bags were let down, with a note tied to one of the bags. On reaching the shore, Hayter opened the note, which read as follows:- "Mr. Hayter: I received your letter in which you very modestly ask me to advance you one barrel of flour. I fully real- ize your position and extend my deepest sympathy. Not think- ing one barrel would carry you through until your crop comes PIONEER P APERB. 17 off, I concluded to send you two barrels. Pay me when con- venien t. The price 1 paid for the flour was L, 2, 1 os. (or $ loin present currency). Wishing you may pull through all right, I am, yours very sincerely, SAMUEL LOUNT. Holland Landing. P. S. Should you chance to pass this way, call and see me. "Such an act of kindness," said Hayter, afterward, "coming from a man I had never seen, caused me to break down, and 1 was only relieved by a flood of tears. This was the beginning of a lasting friendship. I frequently did call on him, and the more 1 became acquainted with him, the more 1 learned of his hospital- ity and generous heart." And now I must hurry on to the tragic end. About this time there was much excitement throughout the country in re- gard to the manner in which the affairs of the country were con- ducted by the government then in power. It is not my inten- tion to enter into details in regard to the maladministration and corruption of the government, which caused the Rebellion of 1837. I will only refer to Lord Durham's Report to the Imperi- al Government, where he says:- "I was much surprised, after close enquiry, that the colonists suffered such abuse as long as they did without an open rupture." But it came; and Samuel Lount, being a very popular man, (having been once elected as a member of the provincial parliament for Simcoe county), was chosen to take charge of all the insurgents that could be collected from the northern townships. 1 t is well known how it ended; and a reward of several thousand dollars was offered for the cap- ture of the leaders, Lount among the rest. At this time Hayter's eldest son, Benjamin, was in the post office in Toronto as a junior clerk at a small salary. Hayter had just received word that he had better come down to Toronto and take Benjamin home as he was failing very fast with consumption. Hayter started im- mediately, making for the city on foot. When within four miles of Toronto, he found a strong guard across the road, but his friend Lount gave him a pass. The next day the battle was fought, the insurgents defeated, and the large hotel belonging to Mont- gomery was laid in ashes. On his return, while passing the ruins, he picked up a burnt lock and put it in his pocket as a memento of the battle. This, in a very short time after, was the cause of much trouble and annoyance to him. Pushing on, he at last reached the recently hospitable home of Samuel Lount in Hol- land Landing. Here he found Mrs. Lount in great trouble and grief,not only on account of her husband, who was then fleeing for life with four thousand dollars reward for his capture, dead 18 PIONEER PAPERS. or alive, but she had just received notice, from Col. Dewson, warning her to leave the house with her family, as it would be burned down that night over their heads if she did not take warning and fly for safety. Not knowing where to flee for re- fuge caused her great agony of mind. Unexpectedly at this juncture Hayter put in an appearance' leading his sick boy by the hand. After a short conference, he en- quired of the oldest boy at home if there was a gun in the house. Being answered in the affirmative, and that there was lots of powder but no bullets, yet plenty of lead and a bullet mould, Hayter set to work and cast a few balls. While in this act, seme spies saw him at it, which also cost him a trip to Toronto. He then loaded the old chief piece, and told Mrs. Lount and the family to go to bed, that he would guard the house. They did so, and Hayter took up his stand at the front door. About twelve o'clock he saw a numerous procession marching up th8 street, with various flambeaux and torches, shouting "Down with the d--d rebel's house," their shouts mingled with fearful imprecations. Hayter, standing on the platform in the front sang out in a loud, commanding voice,"halt," which was instinct- ively obeyed, as the command was quite unexpected. He thus addressed the mob:- "Do you call yourselves Englishmen? I am an Englishman from the city of London, was an usher to the Duke of Wellington, where I was taught to know no fear when in a just cause. I most sacredly declare that before you enter this house, with the intention of burning it down over the head of a defenceless woman and her children, you will have to walk over the dead body of an Englishman, but not before I will take good account of at least one of you. If you only knew the character of the man whom you are seeking for his life as well as I do, you would retire with shame. Once he saved me and my family from starvation when that fate stared us in the face. And hund- reds can testify that he has reached out a helping hand to those who were in"-great need." On hearing these words, every man threw down his torch and went slinking away down to the tavern. The next day he resumed his journey northward on the Penetanguishene Road ,and when he reached the Half-Way House, he met a band of tough looking old pensioners, and a rough lot of human beings on their way to Toronto for the purpose of fighting the rebels "8.nd saving the country from ruin. Hayter, being an outspoken man, and being accustomed to use full liberty of speech, endeavored to ex- plain the causes that led to the Rebellion, saying what they called rebels were not antagonistic to the British Government, but to PIONEER P APERB. 1 the oppressive Family Compact that was ruining the country; and that this Rebellion would eventually bring better times for Canada. He then pulled out the burnt lock, saying "the time will come when this lock will be called a relic of a glorious Rebel- lion." This expression along with some other minor ones helped soon afterward to send him to Toronto to answer to accusations brought against him. On the fourth day after leaving Toronto he reached home with his sick son, who rapidly sank, his end being hurried on pro- bably by exhaustion from the long walk. The very next day a press gang, having a warrant for Hayter's apprehension on the grounds that he had been seen running balls at Samuel Lount's house, and for treasonable expressions made at a country inn, and for otherwise aiding and abbetting the rebels, arrived at his house and forced him to appear in Toronto before a tribunal of judges expressly appointed to investigate and try all those who were suspected of disloyalty. David Soules was pressed with his team to caHY the culprit to the city. Those fancy bracelets generall y known as handcuffs were actually placed on his wrists for fear he might escape. He was arraigned before the bar of these commissioners, and was asked if he wanted a solicitor, to which he promptly said no. As I was not there, and only heard an account of his de- fence, as he made it, at second hand, I cannot venture to relate it. I was told by those who did hear it that his accusers were put to open shame. He was speedily acquitted, and he returned home to find his son in the last stage of the disease. This was not the last of Hayter's troubles over the Rebellion, nor yet of ours. Shortly after the rebels were defeated, a gang of drunken men, to the number of 35 or 40, were deputed and fully invested with authority to search Soules' and Hayter's houses and premises, as it had been reported that they, with a company of 18 or 20 des- perate men, had sworn that they would sell their lives dearly be- fore Lount should be taken. One cold night in December 3S or 40 men, dressed in blanket coats, burst in our door. Their blan- ket coats and cappotes drawn close over their heads made them appear like Indians. No one being up at the time but my moth- er, she was very much frightened and begged of them not to mur- der us. My father got up and demanded by what authority they broke into his house in such a manner. The warrant was shown him, and their further authority that should they be met with serious opposition they were to shoot down all but the wife and her son. After looting the place of all the light goods, such as socks, mittens, handkerchiefs, collars, shirts, and other similar things, and after partaking of a hearty meal of boiled pork, 20 PIONEER PAPERS. bread, cakes, pies, butter, preserves, and milk, they said they were quite satisfied that Lount was not there. Hayter suffered the same treatment with the same result. In the confusion I had been pricked with a bayonet because I would not turn over and satisfy a drunken fool that my uncle was not in bed behind me and I felt that if Ihad the strength of a Samson I would nnihilate everyone of them. I was told by my father to visit the barn, which I did, and I could see through a crack that they were thrus- ting their bayonets deep into the hay and straw, frequently re- peating, "I wonder if the d--d rebel might be here." And now for the last act. When Lount was sentenced to be executed, my father visited him in prison and asked him if he thought a numerously signed petition, presented to the Governor, praying for commutation of the sentence, would be of any use. Lount replied that it would only hasten his execution, which pro- ved to be true. However, a petition was circulated in great haste as there was only a very short time left for doing it. Hay- ter volunteered to canvass Oro. My father went south, and through Barrie and Vespra. Hayter, rather than lose any time in going around the head of Kempenfeldt Bay, determined to venture across the ice, which had broken up into large floes, and was in a frightfully dangerous condition for a horse or even a man to travel upon. But Hayter braved the danger, and made the old French-Canadian horse jump from floe to floe. The ride was like Eliza's struggle across the Ohio River, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, as we watched him from our shore expecting every mo- ment to see his horse go down. But he succeeded in reaching the Oro side, where he worked night and day with great success. There was not one that he asked who did not sign the petition. In other places many thousands signed similar petitions. But when it was presented to the Governor by Mrs. Lount on her knees, he cast his eyes over where the numbers were added up. and very abruptly said to her:- "this petition seals his death," verifying Lount's prophecy. "" , SAMUEL LOUNT SOULES, From a photograph by J. F. Jackson, Barrie, in 1895, (b. 1823, d. Jan. 5, 1904.) PIONEER PAPERS. 21 Note by the Secretary. When this county was organized in 1843 as a fully equipped judicial district, Moses Hayter, the subject of the foregoing nar- rative, became the first jailer, and held the office until 1852,-a period of about nine years. Before leaving Big Bay Point to re- side in Barrie, as jailer, his only remaining son, Charles, died of consumption, just as Benjamin had done at an earlier date. Dur- ing his term of office, a prisoner knocked Mrs. Hayter senseless. snatched the keys, and -escaped, leaving the woman in an insens- ible condition. She recovered, although she never fully regained her former strength. This circumstance may have had some- thing to do with his resignation from the jailership not long after- ward, coupled perhaps \vith growing ill health. For a few years he had a sawmill in Essa, near Utopia. He died at Barrie, Oct. 9, 18 6 4, and his gravestone in the Barrie Union Cemetery gives his age as 69 years. Mrs. Hayter died Feb. 8, 1865, aged 79 years. Joseph Hayter of Vespra Township is a nephew of our first jailer. 22 PIONEER PAPERS. -- EARLY DAYS IN ORO. By Lt. Col. W. E. O'Brien. The settlement of the Township of Oro began about the year 1830 when immigration was first directed to the country on the North shore of Lake Simcoe. It is true that before the date mentioned settlers had taken up land on the Penetanguishene Road, which was opened after the removal of the military sta- tion from the Nottawasaga River to Penetanguishene. Among these early settlers were many whose names are still well known amongst us, as for example, the Caldwells, Drurys, Craigs, Part- ridges, all more or less connected with this township. Another name which should not be omitted, though no family bearing it remains, is that of Thomas Mairs, who first introduced the breed of short-horn cattle into this country, thus doing more than any other individual of his time in promoting the development of agriculture. In the year 1830 my father, the late Edward George O'Brien, then living in the Township of Vaughan, at- tracted by the glowmg reports of the beauty of Lake Simcoe, re- solved to settle upon its shore, and was appointed by Sir John Colborne, then Governor of Upper Canada, to look after the Set- tlement of Oro. Grants of land in proportion to their rank were offered to half pay officers, both of the army and of the navy, who were willing to become actual settlers, and many took advantage of the offer. Few of them, however, were qualified to endure the laborious toil, and the many privations incidental to the life of a settler "in the bush," and by degrees they left the country till but very few remained. But though their enterprise proved of little or no benefit to themselves, it was of great benefit to the country. The money expended by them was of immense advantage in pro- viding work for the poorer immigrants, thus enabling them to live until produce of their own land became sufficient to maintain them. Many a family of now opulent farmers got its first start in life by the money earned in working for those who had something to spend, and generally were more willing to spend, than they were prudent in their outlay. It was an undoubted advantage that there were, among the early settlers, so many men and wo- men of education and refinement who, by precept and example, maintained a standard of manners and conduct which would not otherwise have existed, and which did not exist where these ele PIONEER PAPERS. 23 ments of civilization were absent, and though few settlers of this. class remained upon their lands they were not lost to the country. Of those who, in subsequent years, took a leading part in public affairs many were the sons 'Of men who, full of hope and enter- prise, spent the best of their years, and the chief of their sub- stance, as settlers in the back-woods. Let one example suffice. Capt. Steele of the Royal Navy, one of the settlers of this class, made a home in the Township of ledonte, then a trackless forest. He afterwards represented this County in the Assembly of Upper Canada. Of his sons one was for many years reeve of Oro, and afterwards warden of the County, and still lives amongst us esteemed and respected. Another son, after an honorable career in our own North \\Test, and more recently in South Africa, holds high rank in the Imperial Service. The first settlers in Oro were from the west of England, and from the Highlands of Scotland, chiefly from the Island of Islay. The former settled in the eastern part of the township where young and flourishing families of Shaws, Leighs, and Hodges, and others bearing Enb"lish names, are still to be found. The High- landers took up their land in the central and northern parts of the township where their descendants, bearing the names of many illustrious clans, still abound. Of the last named immi- grants, all were able to speak, and did speak among themselves. the Gaelic tongue. A few of the older people knew no other, and continued to speak it to the end of their days. Indeed it is not many years since the service in the Gaelic was discontinued in one of their churches. Many of these people landed at my fath- er's wharf at Shanty Bay, and worked for many years in the neighborhood, so that in my childhood I heard as much Gaelic spoken as English. There was a settlement of coloured people in the central part of the township, of which Wilberforce Street, named in memory of the great emancipator, and which will be found in the descrip- tion of many old deeds, is a reminder. These people were escap- ed slaves, and fine specimens of the negro race many of them were. Some here may remember the name of Jenny Jackson, an old lady of very rotund proportions, a true specimen of the care- less, merry hearted, laughter-loving African. It is of her that is told the story of a hand to hand, or rather hand to paw conflict with a bear over the body of a pig which Bruin was feloniously trying to extract from his sty. Of these people there is only one family that I know of, remaining. The formation of the township is somewhat peculiar. Close along the lake shore, all the way from Barrie to Orillia, there is a 24 PIONEER PAPERS. strip of cedar swamp of varying width in which cedars of enor- mous growth, a few scattered pine, and both spruce and balsam were to be found. North of this and sloping upwards is a bank of gravel and stone of every size from the smallest pebbles to gi- gantic boulders of many tons in weight, and closely correspond- ing to the stones on the shore of the lake. These stones are of the Laurentian formation and apparently have been brought by the action of ice in some early age from the rocky region to the north. Above this gravelly streak runs what we call the ridge, and north of that is a tract from three to four miles in width of excellent soil, growing lighter in character as it approaches the range of sand hills which occupy the northern part of the town- ship, where the soil is of poorer quality and water scarce. In this part of the township much pine formerly grew, all now con- verted into lumber. In the southern part, maple and beech, the different varieties of elm, some of enormous size, basswood and hemlock, were the prevailing timbers. Running east and west through the township are several cedar swamps, the water from which ultimately finds its way into Lake Simcoe. These swamps in which the water is never stagnant,and therefore not unhealthy, interfered very much with the opening of the roads going north and south, and for many years it was very difficult to have any communication between the settlers in the central and southern parts of the townshIp. The Penetanguishene Road formed the chief outlet for the settlers in the north and west of the township, and from it easter- ly the first roads were opened. Themail route to Ori1lia and that by which most of the travel passed was from Vlhite's Corn- ers, now Dalston, to the townline of Orillia Township. Along the lake shore the Ridge Road running along the gravelly ridge already spoken of, was a road opened by the settlers for their own convenience, fifty feet in width, and quite independent of the government road allowances. It was opened as far as what is now the Village of Hawkstone, but was for many years little bet- ter than a track through the bush. Later it was regularly sur- veyed, and established as at present, and by degrees was made one of the best roads in the township. The settlers within reach of the lake made use of the water in summer, and of the ice in winter, as a means of communication, and both were much more frequented in those early days than now, when boating is pursued solely for the purpose of recreation. In summer, water, and in winter, snow, gave the chief means of communication with the outer world, and also between the chief places of business, Barrie and Orillia. To reach Toronto the traveller in summer took the steamer at its various places of call, and was thence con- PIOXEER P APRES. 25 veyed to Holland Landing. A night was spent there, and some time in the following day, according to the state of the roads, the stage coach set him down in the metropolis of Upper Canada. The calling places for the steamer in this township were Shanty Bay and Hodges, now the flourishing Village of Hawkstone. In winter the ice formed the best road across the lake. Sleighs coming down the Penetanguishene Road crossed the Bay at Kempenfeldt, landing on the other side near Tollendal, and thence making a short cut through the woods to the Innisfil Road, the highway to the south. From any part of Oro this would be a two days' journey, but from Barrie, when the sleighing was good. the drive of ixty miles was often accomplished in one day. With the growth of population, some small villages, having the traditional foundation of a post office, store, and blacksmith's shop, came into existence-such as Edgar, Rugby, Hawkstone and Shanty Bay. According to the original plan, the site of the county town first laid out at Kempenfeldt would have been in Oro, instead of in Vespra. Kempenfeldt was the landing place for the Penetanguishene Road, and there was a store house and wharf at the point of which some remains may still be seen. There were landed the stores for the newly-founded naval and military establishment at Penetanguishene, and there landed Captain Franklin on one of his expeditions in search of the North- W est assage. The transference of the townsite to Barrie put an end to Kempenfeldt, but one incident in connection with it may be recorded. In the winter of 1841 occurred the general election which led to the establishment of responsible govern- ment in this country. The constituency of Simcoe embraced not only all the present county of that name, but several townships both to the east and to the west. The election was the last that took place under the old system, when the voting was open, and was continued for a week. It was not then illegal to convey voters to the poll,or to refresh them on the way. Open houses were kept in the interest of each candidate and conveyances were provided to carry the voters to the poll. The expense, of course, was considerable, and it was remarked as proof of the enormous cost of the election that the successful candidate spent .L7 0o . Considering that the contest lasted for a week, during which everything in the shape of meat and drink was free to those who chose to take advantage of the liberality of the candi- date they favoured, that the voters had all to come to Barrie by sleigh ,that they came from Beaverton on theeast,and from beyond what is now Collingwood on the west, from Holland Landing on the south, to Penetanguishene on the north, it must strike the mod- ern politician who, under present circumstances, will think he 26 PIONEER PAPERS. gets off easy with an equal expenditure in an election lasting one dav, in an area of four townships, that the science of political corruption had not much developed in tho e ancient days. Be that as it may, in this contest, as generally throughout the coun try, party feeling ran high; the memories of 1837 rankled in the hearts of many. and fears were apprehended that breaches of the peace might take place. Impressed with this feelìng, and especially with the idea that the Orangemen of what is now South Simcoe might come into conflict with the Reformers from the north, some timid magistrates in charge of affairs at Barrie made a requisition for military aid; and, in consequence of their representations, a detachment from the regiment then stationed in Toronto was Eent up. As by law no military force can be al- lowed within a certain distance of a polling place, the detach- ment was quartered at Kempenfeldt, in a house built and occu- ed by Mr. William Mann, the first settler there, who will be re- membered many years later as doing business in Barrie. How- ever, as it happened the ervices of the warriors were not requir- ed, and the election passed off quietly, and resulted in the return of the Reform candidate, Capt. Steele R. N., already mentioned as one of the first ettlers in the county. His opponent was the Hon. W. B. Robinson, brother of the late Chief Justice of Upper Canada, who for a long period represented the County of Simcoe in Parliament. For many years after the first settlement the progress of the township was slow; money was scarce,the small clearings pro- duced little more than sufficed for the actual needs of the sett- lers, roads were scarcely passable except in winter, wages were low, and there was no lumbering or other work going on to enable those who had leisure to find profitable employment. Gradual- ly, however, these conditions changed, and when improvement began its progress was rapid. With larger clearings, and fields freed from stumps, the aid of farm machinery became possible. The sickle gave place to the cradle, and the cradle to the reaper. For the scythe was substituted the mower, and the drill for the seed basket. Instead of the slowly moving yoke of oxen, labori- ously dragging the scanty surplus of the small farm to be dis- posed of Hin trade," carne the spanking, gaily harnessed team well loaded with grain, or other produce, to be readily sold "for cash." Substantial brick dwellings took the place of the frame or log house which in turn had supplanted the original shanty. Gardens were made, orchards planted, and a general aspect of tidiness and thrift prevailed. In short the Township of Oro, once regarded, in spite of its name, as one of the poorest and most backward in the county, has become second to none in regard to either the PIONI'ER PAPERS. 27 beauty of its situation, tbe fertility of its soil, tbe excellence of its cultivation, or the comfort and prosperity of its people. Among tbe early settlers there was an unruly element which gave some work to tbe magistrates. A good deal of drinking prevailed, especially among the older men, and the means of education for the young people were limited. In these respects, too, a great change bas taken place and there is not now in the Dominion of Canada a population more orderly, sober, well conducted, and better educated, than that of tpe Township of Oro. While thus the moral and material interests of the township have been promoted, the more distinctly spiritual needs of the people have not been neglected. In tbe soutbern part of the township where the Church of England had many adherents, a mission was established with the first settlement. Among the Highland settlers worship according to the Presbyterian form was early established, and, so long as necessary, the Gaelic tongue was used in the services. "\Vhere Methodists predominated, no time was lost in erecting places of worship, and holding services wherever a congregation could be assembled. In this brief sketch of the history of the township it will be noticed, unless sometbing remains untold, that while there was a great deal of hard work done, many privations endured, much patience exercised, and many difficulties overcome, there was little to be seen or heard that would appeal to the imagination, or take the life of the settlers out of the prosaic routine of every day existence. Yet in the minds of some, at least, of those entering upon a new life, under entirely new conditions, and amidst en- tirely new surroundings, there must have been a rising of new hopes and new aspirations, a new sense of freedom, a feeling that here was a life worth living, a goal worth striving for. In the years that followed many may bave been the disappointed hopes, the unfulfilled expectations, the un gratified desires, but, in the main, that success was achieved we have for testimony the happy bomes, the smiling fields, and the signs everywhere of life passed in the enjoyment of material comfort and mental activity. Such as first told was the Township of Oro in the early days, and such as now described is the Township of Oro to-day. 28 PIONEER PAPERS. NOTES OF BARRIE'S FIRST RESIDENTS. (At a meeting of the Society, May 11th, 1898, the first residents of Barrie , as they appear inWalton'sDirectoryforI837, were the subject for the day's discussion. The Society possesses a typewritten report of the meeting, the statements or comments about each resident having been taken down in shorthand. This report in a condensed form appears in these papers follow- ing the Notes by Mr. Sneath and Mr. Soules neither of whom was present at the meeting, but they afterward wrote what they knew of some of the persons named in the list, and their remarks follow.) Heads of families in Barrie, 1837, (Total 2S): Lucius Boy, ington, John Bingham, Dugald Campbell, James Campbell- Richard Carney, Richard Cobb, C. Cunningham, Jane Duggan, David Edgar, Andrew Graham, Francis Hewson, Francis Mar- tin, Francis Meighan, Thrift Meldrum, Richard McCoy, James Morrison, John McCausland, David McCausland, John McDon- ald, William Nesbitt, John Perry, D. S. Ross, Robert Ross, S. M. Sanford, Thomas Smith, George Stokes, William Strong, Alexander Walker. Notes by George Sneath, Esq. JOHN BINGHAM.-]ohn Bingham's wife got the name of the "smiling landlady." They had no family. Alfred Arnall was a nephew of Mrs. Bingham. The "King's Arms", later changed to the "Queen's Arms", was a small log building on the site of the present hotel with a large garden attached. Bingham had two sisters, Mrs. Dicker and Mrs. Lang. RICHARD CARNEY.-Richard Carney was a step-son of Joseph Crow, an old sailor from Portsmouth, England, of whom no mention was made at your meeting. He and his wife, Mrs. Carney, a son, Thomas Crow, and a daughter, Eliza Carney, lived in a shanty near the lake opposite Sanford's store. Crow found Carney money to build his tavern. When first opened it was called "Carney and Crow's Tavern". Major McKenzie's mother was a sister of Richard Carney. A brother, William Carney, was mixed up with the Rebellion of '37, was taken pris- oner and confined in Kingston jail for two years. PIO:s'EER PAPERS. 29 JOHN MUNRO.-In a shanty joining Crow's was another family not mentioned at your meeting. John Munro's. Mr. Munro was from Inverness, Scotlar.d, enlisted in the Foot Guards and was in London several yeûrs with his regiment. He was 3. millwright and carpenter by trade, and came to Canada in 18 3 2 . After working at the Government buildings then being erected at Penetanguisher.e for some time, he moved to Barrie and took the contract of bùildirg Mr. Sanford's store. It was r2Ísed on a Christmas day. The timbers put into it were EO heavy that it was generally believed they would not be put to- gether without some accident. For fear such would èe the case two doctors were brought from Toronto to be 011 hand if needed. Contrary to expectation the building was raised v.ith- out accident, and when firÜ:hed was cor..sidered to be the best building north of Toronto. James Smith, a merchr.nt of Toror-- to, and a brother-in-la,v of Mr. Sanford, found tr.e money for building and stocking the store. 1\1r. Sanford had been for some time a clerk in Mr. Smith's store. Mr. Munro also did the car- penter work at the Shanty Bay cturch, and later removed to his farm on the Seventh concession of Vespra where he was killed by the falling of a trec. JANE DUGGAN, called "The Scotch Widow", was not a widow. She subsequently married a \Yilliam Johnston, a plas- terer, and resided in a house close by Carney's tavern. FRAZER and B UCHA were journeymen of Mr. Munro. S. M. SANFORD.-This man left Barrie for Toronto and went into Smith's store agaip. l\lcWatt was made manager of the tore in Barrie ar.d was appointed postmaster which po- sition he held until Jonathan Lane succeeded him. Sanford had been the first postmaster; there were several applicants for the position. Sanford married "Steamboat" Thomson's sister and returned to Barrie where he remained until death. He came to Barrie in 1836. "TAILOR" McDONALD.-He lived in Barrie in 1836. In religion he was a Roman Catholic, but decked himself out with orange ribbons and was a prominent man at the first Orange gathering in Barrie on a Twelfth July. He was after- ward disciplined by the Priest. His excuse was that he wanted to have a good time. JOHN McWATT.-Sanford took l\Ic\Vatt as clerk into hi.. store, I think in 1837. He had previously been working for Capt. Oliver on his farm at Shanty Bay, and took for wages lot 25, 2nd concession, Vespra, now owned by James Russell. He 30 PIONEER PAPERS. built a shanty and made a small clearing on it before going to Sanford. JOHN McCAUSLAND.-He had one "motion" house about where the freight sheds stand now. He also had, where he liv- ed, where Dr. Well's house stands, what he called his mill where he prepared his timber for his "motion." It was worked by horse power, one horse, and to save expense of a driver he had a box of oats fixed in front of the horse just out of its reach, mov- ing as it moved, consequently never reaching it. FRANK MEIGHAN .-Or Main, as he was called, was a laboring man about town. PEARSON came to Barrie in 1838. ALEXANDER WALKER.-His house stood where Mr. Lee's house stands. He left Barrie in 1838. His wife Betsy spent his money as fast as he could earn it in entertaining her neighbors and in buying fine clothes. Notes by S. L. Soules. ALEXANDER WALKER was the first settler in Barrie. He was of Scotch descent, a very hardy, uneducated man, dar- ing and intrepid, vwith natural enterprise, which for want of better judgment frequently led him into serious financial losses. He was a sort of Jack of all Trades and Master of None. He bought 100 acres of land, and on the hill, near where Christopher Lee after- ward resided, built a log house, where he and his family lived for many years. When the Sunnidale Road was opened out, he contracted for a number of miles, but was so unacquainted with the nature of the work that he lost money where others made out well. When the contract was given out by the Government for cutting down the hill on Y onge Street near Holland Land- ing,- a very extensive work,-he took the whole job, and in this entirely failed, which reduced him to a state bordering on beggary. I must not omit to mention, to prove his want of in- genuity, that he at one time borrowed a pocket compass from David Soules when laying out the Sunnidale Road, and such was his ignorance of the working of the compass that he was guided by the letters denoting the various points, which confused him so much that he returned it saying he could do better with his head. DAVID EDGAR, was the next newcomer. He owned 100 or 200 acres oflandin the west part ofthetown which eventually be- came very valuable. He also owned 200 acres where Allandale is now situated. He was a Canadian by birth, corning from Nap- anee to Barrie with his family, whom he leftforsometime atDav- PIONEBa PAPERS. 31 id Soules', Big Bay Point ,until he could prepare a house for them. At that time there were but two log houses in Barrie, Walker's and a log house near the water which was built by the Govern- ment for a storehouse or arsenal in or about 1814. This house he got possession of, and moved his family into it, where they re- mained for a number of years. He was a very intelligent man, but reckless, and, as may be truly said, spendthrift, \vhich in the end drove him to poverty. He died in Toronto. He had dispos- ed of his properties in Barrie and Allandale for trifling sums, and sometime after his death those who had bought lots in his Barrie land came nearly being dispossessed of them by his eldest son af- ter coming of age, through some technicality in law in regard to the transfer. He was much given to sport; he introduced into the neighborhood the first fox hounds, game fowls, and boxing gloves, in all of which he seemed to take great delight. And here I cannot refrain from relating how one of his game cocks was nearly killed. After crossing Lake Simcoe on his way to Barrie from Toronto, he stopped at David Soules for dinner; and some farmers' boys, who owned a male bird that had carried off the plumes as a fighter for some years, resolved to try one of Ed- gar's noted game birds. They soon found a way to take one out of the box, and placed the two on the barn floor, when in a very short time Edgar's game bird was nearly killed. They then placed the bird back in its box, and Edgar knew nothing of the matter until he reached Barrie. He immediately offered a re- ward of $100 for the apprehension, or for information that would lead to the conviction, of the offender. Those birds led to maDY fights outside of cock fights, but were finally abandoned. The next new comers were JOHN BINGHAM and THRIFT MELDRUM. Meldrum bought a lot on Dunlop Street and en- gaged David Edgar to build a house on it which he did, but it was found to be two feet on the street. Meldrum refused to pay for it until it was put in the proper place. Edgar refused to do this and got an axe and swore he would cut it down. Meldrum was obliged (as his family was ready to occupy it) to pay Edgar an extra sum to move it. Meldrum kept tavern in it for many years. In politics he was a Liberal. At the election in 1841, Wm. B. Robinson opposed Captain Steele, who was successful through the indirect influence of the Governor-General, Lord Sydenham, but at an enormous expense to himself. All the ho- tels (with the exception of one) in Barrie were open houses for the accommodation of Steele supporters, and a committee was appointed who became responsible for all debts contracted. Meldrum's bill was Æçç, 19S, IIU d; Bingham's was over $1000; 32 PIONEER P APEHS. McCausland's, $500; but these amounts were very much re- duced by the committee. He was appointed Crier of the Court under Judge Gowan and held this position for a considerable time. Mr. Meldrum died Dec. 6th, 1860, aged 75 years, and was interred in the old Presby'n Cem'y, Barrie. ROBERT ROSS was another of the first settlers in Barrie; he was a provincial land surveyor, also a carpenter and builder; he did not follow his profession as a surveyor, but confined him- self to his trade, and accumulated considerable property. He was married the second time; had no children by his first wife, but several by the second, among whom were Dr. R. A. Ross who died some years ago, and VI allace, a printer. There are some daughters also; one became the wife of Mr. C. A. Per- kins, retired grocer here. DAVID S. ROSS.-A Scotchman who came to this country in company with his brother, Capt. Ross, who settled in Oro on the lakeshore near where Adams had taken up land. David soon after came to Barrie and was the second to start a store in the town in a log building which was afterward u ed as a schoolhouse. From Barrie he went to the states, but eventually came back to Canada, and after the Northern Railway was built he was ap- pointed station master at Holland Landing. One of the fir t settlers was JOHN McCAUSLAND who la- bored several years endeavoring to find out perpetual motion. He erected quite a number of buildings of very strange designs which caused passers by to gaze with wonder. Theywere filled with massive wooden wheels, which when put in motion would cause lookers on to shift their quarters to a considerable distance for fear the whole edifice might collapse as the creaking and un- earthly sounds, combined with the vibration of the huge mass, was enough to cause stout hearts to tremble. He built the Episcopal church at Shanty Bay, which stands to-day as a last- ing monument of John's early work. It was constructed, on the old Egyptian plan, of straw and mud made into huge bricks, somewhat of the style of the Egyptian pyramids on the banks of the Nile. His brother, DAVID McCAUSLAKD, kept a hotel in the west end of the town for many years. RICHARD CARNEY also kept a hotel for a long time. He was a very upright and straightforward man. He received an appointment as custom house officer at Owen Sound. One of his sons is Sheriff at Sault Ste. Marie. After he left the hotel it was conducted by Edward Marks who subsequently built the "Barrie Hotel." C. CUNNINGHAM was the first shoemaker in Barrie. He PIONRER PAPERS. 33 was patronized by the general community. In those days it was often remarked that shoemakers were not over conscious in re- uard to their promises, and Cunningham was no exception to the ;ule. He would frequently r..ave six or seven pairs of shoes part- ly made, all promised for a certain day; and parties calling for their shoes always found him pegging away at them and cou.ld not reasonably find fault. But no sooner had they left the shop and he would see another party coming than he would in an in- stant have the latter's shoes on his knees belting away; and in this way he tried to please everyone. He was in the habit of spreeing at times and when intoxicated was very turbulent and frequently was hauled up and fined. But after some citizens had made many fruitless attempts to reform the man, he was at length sentenced to jail, and as there was no such convenience in Barrie at the time he was ordered to Toronto. Two constab- les were deputed to take him there, but he refused to walk; a horse was procured and he was assisted to mount ;but no sooner was he on than he would throw himself off. An expedient was tried by tying his legs under the horse's belly; but even then he managed to turn the saddle. After many unsuccessful attempts he was finally liberated on trial for good behaviour. Notes by W. H. Hewson and others. At the meeting of the Society on May II, 1898, when Wal- ton's list of the first residents of Barrie, prior to 1837, was taken up, and each person discussed, the following members among others, were present and took part in the discussion, viz., Judge Ardagh, John Darby, Robert Grose, Wm. H. Hewson, Alex. Smith, and John L. Warnica, Mr. Hewson being the chief con- tributor, the recollections contributed by him being indicated throughout by his initials, (W. H.) LUCIUS BOYINGTON.-He was a native of Kentucky, and followed shingle-making at Kempenfeldt about the time this list was made. He had no family, and afterward lived in Stroud. The people usually shortened his name to Boynton. ('V. H.) JOHN BINGHAM.-He kept the "Queen's Arms" Hotel, where the Queen's Hotel is now. Before coming to Barrie he kept a hotel on Church Street, Toronto. He was a native of England; was married, but had no children. He was married before they came from England. !\Irs. Bingham was a stout, portly woman, a genuine English landlady, worthy and dignified, and they kept a good hotel. Besides John, there were the fol- lowing brothers:- Henry, Robert, Joseph, William and Ed- ward and two sisters, Iary and Martha. Henry was a butcher, 34 PIONEER PAPERS. and has descendants in town. Robert kept a hotel in Bradford. Joseph was a tanner; and Edward a butcher. William died in England. One sister, Mary, was married to a John \Vilkie, a blacksmith, who lived at Coldwater, later he worked with Mr. Butterfield in Bradford, and then in Barrie. Martha married a Mr. Laing, who built and lived in the house just east of the Clark- son House. LESLIE CALDWELL.-(Not named in Walton's list, as he had died before). This early resident had but a short career. He and David S. Ross came to Barrie from Toronto to open a store. Two carpenters, Buchanan and Fraser, came up from Toronto and built two houses exactly alike. One was where Mr. Hoar's hardware store stands and the other was on the north side of Dunlop Street, in front of Judge Ardagh's Conservatory. Then Caldwell and Ross came up from Toronto and in one of the hous- es opened a store. There was a big fire on a Sunday, and Cald- well exerted himself so much that he became over-heated, took inflammation of the lungs, and died. All this occurred before the Rebellion. He was a brother of Mrs. Richardson (Prudence Caldwell) who died Feb. II, 1879, aged 80 years, (Barrie Union Cemetery.) (W. H.) DUGALD CAMPBELL. He was a tailor, and moved into Barrie some time after 1834. The Government built quite a large log building at Lane's corner (Mulcaster Street), and also two or three shanties behind it for emigrants; and Dugald Camp- bell lived in one of those. He and his wife were natives of Scot- land. His wife, especially, was an enthusiastic Scot, and every Scotchman who came along was a connection of hers. She would say: "If he is no my cousin, he is my good man's cousin, for we are all cousins." He lived in Nottawasaga latterly when that township began to be settled extensively. (W. H.) JAMES CAMPBELL.-He was a native of Ireland, and a shoe-maker. He was living in Barrie in the summer of 1833 and had probably come that year. He owned the lot at the south- west corner of Dunlop and Sampson streets, and had a shop and a house on it, on the bank, where he lived for some years. Then he built a frame house on the lot immediately opposite, on Dun- lop Street, and succeeded pretty well for a time, but afterward "ran through everything." The elder Mr. Strathy afterward occupied the same house. (W. H.) RICHARD CARNEY kept a little inn on the north side of Dunlop Street, where the store at 46 Dunlop St. now stands. In 1832 he erected the log tavern here for the accommodation of PIONEER P APERB. 35 travellers and others, and continued in it until the setting apart of Grey County, when he was appointed Collector of Customs at Owen Sound; subsequently he became Sheriff of AIgoma and passed the remainder of his life at Sault Ste. Marie. His son w. H. Carney became his successor as Sheriff. WILLIAM CARSON.-(An early inhabitant not named in Walton's list). This was the father of William Carson of Vespra. He lived at the foot of Bayfield Street. There was a kind of knoll near the foot of the street, on which he built a shanty and lived there some time. (W. H.) RICHARD COBB.-This man's name was pronounced 'Cobe' by everyone, but the correct spelling is uncertain. Cobe and David McCausland carried the mail from Holland Landing to Coldwater, the first regular mail that was started. They did not run a stage; they only carried the mail. Edward and Miles McDonald had been the first regular mail carriers; before them there were only despatches from the Government carried by Indians. They used to carry it week about from Holland Lan- ding to Penetanguishene. Edward would start one Monday and Miles would start the next Monday; and they would go to the Landing and carry the mail on their backs to Penetanguishene. Cobe and McCausland carried the mail on horseback. Cobe was an Irishman, and Mrs. Cobe had the same native countrv. He liked "a drop of the cratur" and Mrs. Cobe likewise. (\v.H.) C. CUNNINGHAM. He was a shoemaker, and was a na- tive of Ireland. He lived in front of the present post office. There was a knoll there, and his house was on top of that knoll. Latterly, he lived about a mile south of Holland Landing sta- tion, on top of the hill, in the house where Samuel Lount had formerly lived. (W. H.) JANE DUGGAN.-(See Narrative by Mr. Sneath). DAVID EDGAR.-This man became the owner of the east part (So acres) of Lot 24 in the 5th Concession, Vespra, now wholly within the town, and lying just west of Bayfield Street. Soon after marriage, he and his wife came to Barrie to occupy the land just mentioned. The young couple took up their abode for at least three years or more in the deserted Government store- house. Then in 1832 he erected a house on his land. It was located on Toronto Street, of the present day, some distance south of Elizabeth Street. The family of Mr. Edgar consisted of three children. In the fall of 1840, when they were living in Toronto, he was found dead. His widow and family removed to Belleville, where they resided for many years. 36 PIO)jEER PAPERS. FIDEL. (Not named in vValton's list). He was the first blacksmith in Barrie. His shop was near the corner of Poyntz and Dunlop Streets, immediately in front of Dr. Morton's, on the shore where Dr. Pass afterward had his surgery. This shop was gone before 1842. Mr. Fidel, who lived four miles west of Cookstown, was a relatiye of this man. W.) H.) ANDREvV GRAHAM.-He was a r.ative of Co. Ferman- agh, Ireland, where he was born in 1806, and came to Canada in 1828. He lived for a few years in the neighl'orhood of Toronto, and in 1834 came to Barrie, where he sper t the rf:mair.der of his life. In 1835 he married Mi s Mary Noble. He begétn bu iness in Barrie as a tar.ner; he ah:o made boots at d fhoes, and later kept a ger.eral store. In 1843, or in the year precedir.g it, he was a strong advocate of Barrie for the Cour:.ty to n, ",hen the question was rife, ar.d it is said he canvassed the CGUIity on horseback in the town's interests. He was one of the founders of Methodism in Barrie, some of the early meetipgs havirg been held in his house. His membership in this church was of 76 years duration. His wife died in 1884. He died, April 4, 1898, at the ripe age of 92 years. THOMAS GRAHAM. This was a brother of the preceding. next in the family to Andrew. who was the eldest. His name is in the early Patentee List, but not in Walton's. He was a car- penter by trade, and resided in Barrie, though perhaps after the list was prepared. William and Alexander were younger bro- thers who arrived in Barrie, shortly afterward. TIMOTHY HAGGART.-As his name appears under Sunnidale in "\Valton's Directory for 1837, he w s probaLly living in that township at the time, or held land there, but was a resi- dent of early Barrie, both before the year name d and afterward for many years. His wife had been a Miss Perry, a daughter of John Perry, subsequently named in this list. Mr. Haggart was said to be an excellent hewer with the broadaxe. FRANCIS HEWSON .-He was a native of Ireland, came to Canada in 1817, and purchased 500 acres of land at Big Ba Point as soon as Innisfil Township was surveyed in 1820. In that year his family arrived from Ireland and he settled at once on the land. Soon after his settlement he was appointed Justice of the Peace, and it is said that, as a magistrate, he performed the first marriage ceremony that took place in Simcoe County. He came with his family from Big Bay Point to Barrie in the spring of 1834, (moved up on the ice of the Bay), and lived next to where Judge Ardagh's place is now situated. His sons - WILLIAM H. HEWSON, From a photograph, March, 1880, (b. Jan. 22, 1818, d. Jan. 10, 1903.) PIONEER PAPERS. 37 were Francis, who afterward resided in Nottawasaga, at Dun- troon; and William, who took part in the proceedings at this meeting. He also had three daughters. JONATHAN LANE.-As he lived at Kempenfeldt in 1836, he does not come in this list, but was usually reckoned one of Barrie's first settlers, having moved to town afterward. He lived above the hill at Kempenfeldt. He was a tailor, and after- ward was Postmaster and Clerk of the County Court. JOHN MACWATT.-In 1835 or 1836 John MacWatt came from Oliver's (the Raikes farm in Oro) and entered Sanford's store as a clerk. But at the time the list was prepared, he was not living here; he was across the Bay at Tollendal; which explains the omission of his name from the list. In 1840 he purchased Sanford's business, and secured the Post Office, which he kept in connection with the store. FRANCIS MARTIN.-He was a carpenter, or worked at this trade. He built a big wooden building south of Elizabeth Street, near John Street. He was a constable, or acted in this capacity now and then; Francis Hewson the magistrate used to employ him to act as constable sometimes. Mr. Martin was an Irishman. His son Thomas became a printer, and John, the second son, was a stationary engineer, or machinist. FRANCIS MEIGHEN. (See Mr. Sneath's recollections). THRIFT MELDRUM.-At an early period this man had, at Tollendal, a distillery, which was destroyed by fire. In Barrie he had a tavern near the northeast corner of Poyntz and Dunlop Streets, and was Crier of the Court for some years. He was a native of Fifeshire, Scotland, and died Dec. 6, 1860, aged 75 years, his remains now resting in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery, Barrie. (See Mr. Soules' Recollections for some further darticu- tars) . RICHARD McCOY.-(Mis-spel1ed "Molloy" in the original list). He was a native of Earnest-town, Co. Tyrone, Ireland, and a shoemaker. His wife was a daughter of John Perry, mention- ed further in this list. He built and lived in a small house on the west side of Bayfield Street, between Dunlop Street and the Bay. When Mr. Perry died, McCoy became the occupant of the Perry house further west near John Street. (W. H.) JAMES MORRISON.-He lived in Barrie at this time (1837) and afterward kept a hotel at Morrison's Corners, now Craighurst, which at one time bore his name. He was a nephew of Leslie- Caldwell and Mrs. Richardson (See "Caldwell" above), and by birth an Englishman, or rather, he was a native of the Island of Jersey, off the coast of France. (W. H.) 88 PIONEER P APERB. JOHN McCAUSLAND.-At first this man lived with his family in a shanty on the bank, on the south side of Dunlop street, just east of Mulcaster Street. Here he commenced to make a "Perpetual Motion" machine. He worked at this fad and kept adding to the shanty until he had built a pile of wood of very large size; so large, in fact, that at last Francis Hewson, who lived across the street, entered a complaint about it to the Council. Then he built another structure on the north side of Collier Street, just west of Clapperton St., but this did not be- come so extensive a building as the one on the shore. He drew all the stuff from the shore building to this one. The machinery, if such it can be called, seemed to have no proportion at all, and was chiefly of wood. In one part of it he would have pieces as much as two or three feet square, and then use a small piece no more than two or three inches square at the outside, on which to work the larger part. It is said by some that he spent a good deal of money in this work; but be this as it may, he spent years and years of time and labor. His brothers said he would never do anything but work at that fad; his family actually lacked the bare necessities of life, at times, because of this; and the owner of the shanty recovered no rent from hiin on the same account. He moved with his family, finally, to Nottawas ga; but continued to work at "Perpetual Motion" until he died. (W. H.) DAVID McCAUSLAND.-He and Richard Cobe kept a tavern at first on the southwest comer of Elizabeth and Bayfield Streets, and also carried the mail from Holland Landing to Cold- water. (See "Cobe" above.) Everybody, or almost every- bod y, kept a tavern in those days as there was no license act like the present one. Then David and Cobe dissolved partner- ship; David bought a lot across the street, where the Welling- ton Hotel now stands, built a houseonit, and kept a tavern there. Thomas and Alex. McCausland, brothers of the foregoing, carne to Barrie two or three years after them, and their names do not occur in Walton's list. Thomas drove the stage from Barrie to Holland Landing, at a later time. (W. H.) JOHN McDONALD.-This man was a tailor, one of the first of this trade in the town. He had a house on the north side of Dunlop Street, between Poyntz and Sampson Streets. He had come to Barrie early, and was probably gone before the Rebel- lion. The presence of so many taverns in the early years of the town gave a sinister turn to his character. (W. H.) P. McGUIRE.-(Not named in the list). This man, a tail- or, by trade, lived in Barrie before the Rebellion. He was here PIONEER P APBRS. 39 as early as 1834, but it appears he had no place of his own, and resembled McDonald in habits. When the settlers gathered up to go to Toronto at the Rebellion he followed them part of the wa y around the head of the Bay, singing war songs. For a time he lived a short way out in Vespra Township. His daughter married John Hamilton, a brother of Wm. B. Hamilton who af- terward kept the Collingwood post office, and moved to King- ston. (W. H.) WILLIAM NESBITT.-An Irishman, by birth, and a car- penter, by trade. His house, (a small log building) stood on the north side of Dunlop Street, between Poyntz and Sampson Streets. According to the best information to be had, he left no descendants. His brother Robert married a sister of Andrew Graham, Miss Isabella Graham, in or about 1834, but he did not remain in Barrie after he was married. (\V. H.) JOHN PERRY.-He was a native of Ireland. His house, which he built, was on the west side of John Street, a little way south of Elizabeth Street. Mr. Haggart and Mr. McCoy, men- tioned above, were married to daughters of Mr. Perry. Until his death four or five years after coming to Barrie, he lived in the house mentioned. He had moved here from Cookstown, which in those days was known as Perry's Corners. His eldest son John moved to Utopia, and his son George in later years kept the Wellington Hotel, some time before the Summersett family kept it. (W. H.) DAVID S. ROSS.-This man first came to Barrie in 1835 or 1836, probably in the latter year. He and Leslie Caldwell came and built a store on the west side of the present Queen's Hotel, where Mr. Graver afterward kept a hardware store. (See "Cald- well" above). A portrait of this Mr. Ross appeared in the Toron- to Globe of May 7, 1898, and it is stated in the text beside the portrait that he built the second house in Barrie. It was the second store he built; there were many houses in Barrie when he arrived, but only one store, and he added the second. At the time of the publication of this portrait, he was living in Toronto at 91 years of age, and it also appears that he was the sole surviv- or of the list of early residents of the place, at the date of this meeting. He has since pass d over to the majority. ROBERT ROSS.-He was an Irishman by birth, and a sur- veyor by occupation. He had also some skill as a carpenter. (See also the remarks by Mr. S. L. Soules). S. M. SANFORD.-He came to Barrie in 1832 and built the first store. His wife was a sister of the famous Charles Thomp- 40 PIOXEER PAPERS. son of Yonge Street, the man who owned the early steamboats. Mr. Thompson had the contract of building the jail, and at one time owned a share in every stage that was running in Ontario, so it is said. (W. H.) (See also Mr. Sneath's Recollections). THOMAS SMITH.-He was English by birth, and a black- smith by trade. He built the first brick house in Barrie, viz.: the Harper house on Dunlop Street. His blacksmith shop was on the opposite side of the street. Thos. Ambler succeeded Smith as blacksmith, and Solomon Bailey succeeded Ambler about 1843. GEORGE STOKES.-He was a carpenter by trade, and an Englishman by birth. He lived on Dunlop Street, a little west of Mr. Sanford's store, in a house in which Mr. Lane kept a store, some time after. (W. H.) WILLIAM STRONG.-He was an Irishman by birth. His wife was Christina Graham, a sister of Andrew Graham. Their son James in later years was a merchant here, of the firm of Strong & Donnell. (W. H.) ALEX. W ALKER.-He was a Scotchman by birth, and was the first settler on the site of the town, having come here some years before David Edgar, the second settler came. His house was on the top of the first hill northeast of the corner of Collier and Bayfield Streets. This hill has been much reduced in height, in subsequent years. (At the dose of the meeting, the chairman, Judge Ardagh, took occasion to thank Mr. Hewson, the chief contributor, for the interesting information furnished about the early settlers. Of the original list of 28 names, to which 8 have been added. making a total of 36, over one-half were natives of Ireland. PaiNTED BY THE EX,UIINEB. BABBlE, O:.'(UBJO. Simcoe County Pioneer AND Historical Society PIONEER PAPERS-No. 2 BARRIE Published by the Society 1908 1 - .... .\, t\ The Rev. Thomas Williams INTRODUCTION. These interesting sketches of pioneer life in Simcoe County in the twenties and early thirties of the nineteenth century, from the pen of the Rev. Thomas Williams, appeared in the ORILLIA PACKET some years ago-the first one in the issue of that journal for November 28th, 1890, and the rest at intervals for about a year. Mr. Williams was a native of London, England, and was a son of Richard Williams, who settled on lot 36 on the west, or Vespra, side of the Penetanguishene Road, near Craighurst, in the year 1822, when the subject of this sketch was not yet twdve years old. When Wellesley Richey was locating the original settlers of the Townships of Flos, Oro, Medonte, and Orillia, Thos. Williams was a member of his party, and he thus acquired a know- ledge of the country when acting as "guide to the pioneers," whom he took to their allotments. He afterwards taught school at Orillia and Craighurst. One of his pupils at the latter place was the Rev. George McDougall, the pioneer Methodist missionary in the \Vest. \Vhen he was nearly twenty-nine years of age he himself entered the Methodist ministry, in which he laboured indefatigably for fifty-five years, filling circuits from Am- herstburg to Sault Ste. Marie. When between sixty and seventy, he was Superintendent of Methodist Missions on Lake Superior, and in his yacht and on land performed labours which might have overwhelmed a much younger man. On accepting superannua- tion he returned to Orillia, where he spent the evening of his life, vigorous and respected to the last. He passed away on the 1St of February, 1899, in his ninetieth year. Possessed of a re- markably good memory, Mr. Williams retained to the last vivid and accurate impressions of the pioneer days, and was fond of re- lating his youthful experiences. The reminiscences preserved in the following pages were, however, as far as known, the only ones he committed to writing. On the 16th July, 1845, Mr. Williams married Deborah, second daughter of Robert Keays, of the Township of London. After spending upwards of fifty years of happy wedded life together, they passed away within a few days of one another, Mrs. Williams surviving her husband only four days. They had a family of ten children, of whom eight survived their parents. Memories of a Pioñeer BY THE REV. THOS. WILLIAMS I. The intention to fulfil my promise to write up some of my memories of the early times of this North Simcoe country has not been absent from my mind, though the writing has not made its appearance. A difficulty seemed to stand in the way-where should the beginning be made, and from what date should we start? That trouble was overcome and a happy suggestion made by the extract from the Barrie EXAMINER you gave your readers last week. That gatherer seems to be working backward, and in the article yeu gave us, had got back quite to the beginning and to the border!; of the region of myth. How much farther th thai direction he purpòses to travel, we shall see. I am àUti1öhished that my memories must begin at the beginning and work forward. The point first noticed, and from whence the first wC9tk pr--cc:!eeded, seems to be the proper starting point to make infelligent: work. To begin, then, I would say that settlement had been' made' south of Lake Simcoe, in North Gwillimbury, near and about Roàche's Point, in the early year's of thìs (19th) century, if riot a: little oofo're. In the early summer of 1822 there were large clearings, .\Vell-1mlti- vated farms, old-looking and full-bearing orchards, and many old weather...wòrn buildings; and I temember also meeting gh,wn--up young people òf both sexes who were born in the c.ounfryr. All the region north ðf the lake remained an unbroken wilde'tness-a real TERRA INCOGNITA to all the other settlements until the war of 1812, the fur-traders alone traversing it along the lint:!9 é5í Indian travel. The most frequented of these was the Portage. of ëarry. ing-place, from the head of Kempenfeldt Bay-where Earrie now stands-to a point where the waters of the Nmtawasaga River would carry canoes and boats. This was the shortest, easiest, and most direct route, and most used communication between the 10 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER two lakes-Simcoe and Huron-being only a short nine miles be- tween waters. It must have been used from very early times. There was one other route, with several carrying-places, and con- sidered more difficult for large canoes or boats-the route by the Severn River into Lake Couchiching, through the Narrows, on to the Talbot River; up it as far as it would carry their canoes; then to Balsam Lake, the chain of lakes of the Trent, to Bay of Quinte, and on to Kingston. This was a sort of covered way, used to carry intelligence from the rear to the military and naval head- quarters at Kingston. Two things, it is thought, led the author- ities to take up and occupy the strategical points on the eastern part of Lake Huron. It was this occupation which gave the initia- tive to the first settlement of the country. The first of these things was the fact that it was most important to keep open com- munication with Mackinaw, the Sault Ste. Marie, to Lake Super- ior. The route by the St. Clair might be more easily closed, be- ing nearer the centre of American power. The other thing was: our authorities had received intelligence that the Americans were preparing a force to attack the centre of our country from the narrowest point between Lakes Huron and Ontario. I t was to meet both of these things, and to put obstacles in their way, that these strategic points were sought out and occupied. It was com- paratively easy marching up Y onge-street and crossing Lake Sim- coe. Then the work began. A road for waggons was made on the old Indian carrying-way, bridged and crosswayed. Store- houses of logs, with their floors of flatted logs, and strong doors, were built at each end of the Portage, with one or two dwellings for the caretakers and for general accommodation. Most of these constructions were standing and in use in 1824-25, when I was familiar with them. The storehouses at the Nottawasaga end were quite large, as large as farmers' good-sized log barns. At the Barrie end they were not so large. One of them stood in Barrie till 1838 or 1839. It took fire from some lime which Mr. Carney had stored in it. The dwellings at the N ottawasaga were a mile south of the storehouses, on the high, dry ground, the shores of the stream being low and swampy. There never was any fortification here, not even a stockade. When I first knew the present site of Barrie, in 1824, there were two pretty good houses of logs, with a good chimney of brick in the centre of each. They were in a line from the wharf and storehouses, between fifty and a hundred yards from the Bay. One house was very good, and was occupied by Mr. Alexander Walker and his men, who did the teaming on the Portage. A Mr. Edgar lived in this house up to the time that the town site of Barrie was surveyed, in 1834. I think it was burned a little before that time. The other house: , MEMORIES OF A PIONEER II W21S not in so good condition, the windows and floor being some- what broken. I t was, however, sometimes occupied by persons using the Portage as giving better shelter in a storm than tents. There had been other houses here. I could then have pointed out several foundations on which they once stood. One I remem- ber in particular: one side wall of logs and part of both ends were still standing, and were used by Indians and others as firewood. I was told that the Indians had burned the others. At the time the work at the Portage was being carried on, another was begun, perhaps in conjunction with it. A small military post was established near the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, and, but for a grove of pretty tall pine trees, in full view of the bay of that name. Several strong log houses, loop-holed and stockaded, were constructed. Heavy guns, or artillery of any sort, were never there. The forts spoken of in the EXAMINER'S articles, names and all, must have come into existence long since that period. * I could guarantee that the denizens of that time never heard of them. And the taking of the sleeping crew of certain American warships must also be classed among recent growths, for the reason that it was in itself a very unlikely thing, and that the people who were there more than sixty years ago, and were familiar with all the country's traditions, never heard of them. Of the names mentioned a authority something must be said. First, Mr. David Soules was a gentleman whose word would be taken for any statement he would see fit to make, wherever he was known. That he aided in building boats and other work of that time, that he saw manacled men led away as prisoners, there is no need to doubt. But the manacles would lead us to suppose they were not prisoners of war, but men taken in crime. Mr. David Soules, and his brother James, with their families, were the first settlers in the township of Innisfil. Francis Hewson, Esq., an Irish gentleman, settled on the south side of Big Bay Point, the Soules brothers a little to the west of it. In 1822 they had good cleared farms, comfortable log houses, stocks of cattle, and good barns. All round them an unbroken forest; and they dealt hospitality to the pioneers beyund them with a kind and liberal hand. Many of these found more than shelter under the hospitable roofs of these first pioneers. Of Mr. Mc\Vatt, it is only right to say that he came to the country a young man of good antecedents and education, in 1832, and thft.t no one ac- quainted with him could suppose him capable of wishing to im- "Mr. \\ïlliamR here rcfcl"R to an article in tho Barric EXAMnnm of ovembor 6th. lR!lO, gÏ\ ing a trallitional account of thc 01\\ 11.1 a.tt<\( k upon the pO!it at Xotta\Va LloCa, by U. S. vo",,.;el... un Augu...t l:Jth. ISU. anù tho capture of t\\O AmcrÍCnn ,.;chooncl.... .. Tig-l'Cs,," I.\lld .. ::;COI'ViOll," by llriU",h forces noal' ::;t. Jo<..cph's I...:land, :O::cptcmbcr 3rd aud Gth. 12 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER pose an untrue tale on anybody, much less give it wide circula- tion by means of your much-read columns. It is clear that he did not originate the mythical in any of those wonderful stories. Some other fertile brain has been at work there, mixing up mat- ters, if not inventing them. I will give in my next writing the traditions of some of these matters as they existed on the ground where they took place, back in "the 20S." MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 13 II. It has occurred to me that just here I should try to give your readers some conception of what our country was like before its occupation for military purposes, or for settlement, in the period immediately before this occupation especially. Of one thing I am certain, that several points were occupied as trading posts, used for trade with the Indians, for their furs and pel tries. One such trading post, if not two, was established near the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, a little up the river from the military post. How long before is more than I can venture to say; I am led to think for some years. In the very early times of the fur trade, the traders planted their posts along- the front only. The Indians were encouraged to come long distances for the purposes of barter-once a year, in the summer. Those whose hunting grounds were less distant, twice 2!. year-at the close of what the traders calJed their "fall and spring hunts." The" fall hunt" began in September or October, and ended when the severe cold came on, a little before Christmas. Thos.e who had not far to travel came out, and either put in the severe months near the trading post or passed on farther to the front, into the settlements, and there remained until the snow would begin to harden towards spring. Then having made themselves very light and long hand- sleighs, pack on their household goods and smaller children and hie away to their hunting grounds, for the "spring hunt" and to make sugar. The best time for trapping the marten was in con- nection with their sugar-making. The snow being hard, travelling was easy, and the fur in its prime condition. The best time for getting the otter was when the streams, frequented by them, began to have open places. The beaver and muskrat were caught later on. When the freshet came with its overflowing waters, the beaver left his winter quarters, on the smaller streams, came down with the flood to the larger waters; here the sexes would meet and nature's purpose for the propagation of the species be served. While this excitement was on the beaver, they came to their meeting places in numbers, and were easily trapped and often shot, and their fur was in its best condition. The same thing applied to the muskrat and some other fur-bearing animals. It 14 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER was the harvest to the Indians, the trapper, and the fur trader. The streams at that time were running fuIl of fine fish which supplied them with abundance of food. It would not be easy in the present condition of the country to form a fuIl conception of the abundance of the fur-bearing animals, and especiaIly in the Nottawasaga VaIley, before the settlement or even in the early years of the settlement. I will give two facts to illustrate this condition, and they will at the same time serve to shew the import- ance of the fur trade at that period. A young man named Clark, the son of a military gentleman, settled on Y onge-street. He was commonly caIled " N at Clark." He had come under fascination of the fur traders and Indian life, so as to become very unsteady in his habits and to live a not very good life. But Nat was a good trapper and a good trader. Meeting me one day he invited me (I was also a trapper) to join him in a marten hunt in the month of November, 1828. in the country between what is now Orillia and Barrie. He said, "The country has not been hunted over for years, and is full of marten. I intend doing it myself, but would like you for a partner." He went alone, and in three weeks came out with eighty marten skins, a fisher or two, and a fox-furs worth at that time $100. The second case I give was in the fall of 1834. An Indian friend of mine called on us as he was going alone to his fall hunt and shewed me his equipment. His g-un, an old-fa- shioned single-barrelled shot-gun, called a Chief-Piece, two small rather lively steel traps, hi.. ammunition, powder, shot, bullets, caps, &c., about twenty-five pounds of flour, a piece of bacon. a small dish of butter (for Jonas had cultivated civilised habits and tastes) with a stock of tea and sugar, a load with his blankets of about fifty pounds. When he would reach the region of his operations he would construct a comfortable camp to which he would return after his work, from miles around, and in it pass his time when the weather was disagreeable or stormy, and his Sundays. He was a good Christian and strict Sabbatarian. In less than four weeks he came back carrying to us, in addition to his other load, the hindquarters of the last deer he had killed. He said he only killed deer when he needed meat, and for two skins to make his moccasins. He carried his furs to Toronto and sold them to Joseph Rogers for over "'ISO. I mention these two cases that your readers may form some true notion of the excite- mentand money in the fur trade in early times. These cases occurred just before the.country began to be filled with settlers. What must have been the abundance of these animals in these forests and along these rivers and streams in the still earlier days, before the greed of the fur trader had urged the Indian to wage upon the beautiful animals an exterminating warfare? In the last days of the fur MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 15 trade in these parts and in other places, many people went into it, called by the old firms" private traders." So eager were these that they and the agents of the old firms would follow the Indian into his hunting ground to get the first sight of his furs and urge him to sell, carrying to him the cursed firewater. There can be no doubt but the Indian people of these countries would be far more numerous, and have far more stamina of mind and body to-day but for the fur trade and the men engaged in it. I never heard that anyone of these men was ever suspected of being good men. Perhaps the Smith family, of Port Hope, and they operated in these parts, might be considered an exception. They had a good name, and this still lives. The others are scattered; also their wealth. They crazed the Indian with the firewater, took it to him everywhere, and when crazed they robbed him. They sent among the Indians bad men, who corrupted him and his family, and left him diseased in body as well as mind-a disease he could not help transmitting to following generations. It was thought, even long ago, that the money made in the fur trade with the Indians in this country was all blood-stained. In the foregoing I try to convey a conception of the transition period of our country between the old fur trade times and settlement. 16 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER III. I have not seen in writing, nor heard in statement, a descrip- tion of the Nottawasaga Portage, or carrying way, its importance, and the work done upon it in the early times. I wiII now try to give this, so as to produce some conception of it, as it appeared to me in the summer of 1824, as I put in between three and four months of that summer in work connected with it. It is my opinion, drawn from conversation with Indians, fur-traders and other people, and from personal observation of the surroundings, that this Portage was used by the Indians as a carrying way between waters from very early times; that the military authorities merely improved upon an old highway to suit their purposes connected with the war of 1812-15. The importance of the work may be judged of from the fact that an officer of the commissariat had his station at the N ottawasaga end of the road for some of the years of the war, and afterwards the name of one of these officers has come down to us, with some of the incidents of his life while there. These may be gathered up, with other things of like character, and given as addenda when we come towards the end of these " Memories. " At the time of which I write the position of guard to the storehouses was filled by a corporal (from the detachment of soldiers serving then at Penetanguishene) who with his wife and family lived there, of whom something more shall be said in the personal addenda promised. The teaming work of the Portage was done by Alexander Walker, a border Scotchman. To me;t seemed that he was the contractor with the commissariat and the " fur-traders for the work. To assist him there was a negro man called Ben, and myself, a lad of fourteen years. This was the portage family, and we lived in the best of the government houses then standing. There were three strong waggons with racks on them, such as a man would make with an axe, a drawing knife and a couple of augers, with two loose planks for a bottom, and a yoke of strong oxen to each waggon. The load was twelve barrels of flour or their equivalent in weight of other matter. It was never expected that all three teams should be on the road on the same day. Each team with its teamster had two days in succession on the road, then a day of rest for the team, while MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 17 the driver had charge and care of the premises and goods, received and receipted goods if any came by boats, and did the hospitalities besides keeping busy chiming up the barrels for next day's load. The portage being only a short nine miles over, the storehouses ample and secure, it was easy to make the journey, deliver the goods, and return, while a good portion of the afternoon remained. Mostly we took our lunch with the corporal-the oxen had theirs in the rich grass which grew abundantly in the openings at that end of the road. In the fine summer weather and long days, it was not an unpleasant service. For h' 0 or three months the teams were on the road nearly every day, when the forenoon was not raining. Mr. Walker would never start in the rain, nor would he "hitch up" on Sunday. He could not be made to do it under the heaviest pressure from people in a hurry to get their oods over. He was careful to tell people he did not regard the religious obligation; did not, in fact, believe in it. It was on the ground of economy-man and beast needed rest; must have it or break down. It was as well to take this rest on Sunday. As to Ben and myself, we both thought we had re1igious scruples. Walker professed to respect them, and left us to do pretty much as we liked. We would find our own pleasures, not working more than we could help. The goods were brought to us over Lake Simcoe in small sailing vessels, one of which was owned and commanded by Eli Beaman, a half-brother of the Honourable Robinsons-Chief-Justice John B., Peter, and W. B., all of whom held offices which entitled them to be designated honourable. The other vessels were owned and commanded by other parties. I cannot now recollect the names; but, no matter. Thes vessels gave the settlers their only means of getting out to the front in the summer. The ice of the winter gave them good sleigh roads, and was much used. The land road through West Gwillimbury and Innisfil was not opened until some years after. I am writing of 1824 and before. Besides the supplies for the "Naval and Military Establishment" at Penetanguishene going by this Portage, there were two great fur-trading companies which took much of their goods by this route. The firm name of one was "P. & \v. Robinson." Their monogram, or mark, was made like thÏ: - WR. The other company was called "Borland & Roe," and their mark was made in this way-gR. These large companies had absorbed m0st of the small traders, by employing them as branch-posts. About this time, and before, the Imperial authorities were carrying on a survey of the great upper lakes- Huron and Superior-under direction of Captain Bayfield, R. N., which survey extended over several years, and employed quite a large party ('If men. And just then, or the year afterwards, 18 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER Captain Franklin, R. N., afterwards Sir John Franklin, went this way to make his effort to reach the Pole by the land route. A lad of my acquaintance, as guide, took eighteen of his men, Canadian French voyageurs, up the Penetanguishene Road, to meet the party at Penetanguishene, the officers and goods going by the portage and water route. Other parties, not connected with either of the above, used the portage, some of them moving towards the north, others in the opposite direction. One party coming south took my attention particularly, the principal of which was an elderly gentleman, named Thompson, * who was said to have been a commissioner, in conjunction with an officer of Engineers of the United States army, who was with the party, after the commissioners had given over the Columbia River Territory (making now two States of their Union) to the Americans. I have heard that the British commissioners under- valued the territory because the salmon of the Pacific refused to take a fly. This party, passing us in 1824, it was said, had been agreeing upon, and marking out, particular points on the new boundary, made necessary by the surrender of territory. They travelled by their own beautiful bark canoes-two of them-one propelled by ten men, the other by eight, North West voyageurs. They had crossed the entire continent, from the Columbia River, as we saw them, and would go east from Lake Simcoe by the canoe route of the Trent and its chain of lakes to Kingston, and from thence by the Rideau to Montreal. I never in my life saw such complete outfit for comfort in travelling as with this party. Their tents, when set up, impressed me as luxurious-everything to contribute to comfort and taste in such a life. I was also much interested in the members of the party-the commissioner, his son and secretary, "the Colonel," along, lank American, but a very interesting gentleman, and their three servants, besides the eighteen canoe-men, or voyageurs. No party or doing of the whole season interested me so much. *David Thompson, Geographer to the late :North \Vest Company, waR engaged on this Commission, from 1816 to 1826(1), in surveying the Boundary Lme on the part of Great Britain. MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 19 IV. So far in my narrative of things on the old portage I have not mentioned the Indians, yet they were with us the whole season in greater or less numbers. They were far more numerous at that time than now in the whole country. Up to that time there had been no effort to civilise or to Christianise them, except in very rare and isolated cases, if we except the institution among the Mohawks on the Grand River, near Brantford, sustained by the New England Company, and in charge of the Anglican Church. In Lower Canada the Romanists had some very old missions. The Indians in these, parts had received no attention in that direction. They were following the ways of their fathers in everything of that nature, only perhaps in some things influenced unconsciously and without design by the habits, doings, and spirit of the people who were filling up their country and crowding them out of sight. I am tempted here to give a brief sketch of their religion, as I learned of it from well-informed people among them. They had a firm belief in the supernatural. In all my acquaintance with them I never met a person who had any difficulty in crediting things outside of natural processes. In my familiarity with them, all through my pretty long life, I never knew them reject a tale on account of it being marvellous or wonderful. The more so it seemed to be, the more it took their attention and excited their awe. I have heard people maintain that the Indian has no religion while in his old condition. We often meet such a declaration floating in the literature of the present day, and seeming to be very much credited. It has, however, no foundation in fact, but rises very naturally out of the ignorance of the persons making it, and their cherished sentiment towards them, as they mostly belong to the class who adopt the motto that "the only good Indian is the dead one." Instead of being without a religion it might be said of them as it was said by an Apostle of the cultured men of Athens, " they were too superstitious;" too much disposed to give worship to a multitude of deities, while unable to form a conception of the true God and his claim on their love and devotion. To the mind of the Indian the whole world, as he conceives of it, is inhabited everywhere by beings not seen by man. Many of them have the 20 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER power and disposition to interfere with him in his life and doings. Some are feared as evil disposed. These he endeavours to make favourable by offerings and other services. Indeed the Indian cannot suffer from sickness and other ills to which life is su bject, without seeing in them the agency of these spirits of evil. In his old condition he was in constant bondage to his fears of the interference of these invisible and capricious beings. But such a condition is not peculiar to the aborigines of this country. Such a state of things is found everywhere, in all countries outside of civilisation. It was a good thing when men, influenced by the spirit of Christ, took to the Indian the blessed Gospel, if it only saved him from the bondage of his old superstitions. After the above seeming digression, I must get back to what I am to say of the Indians and the portage. On some of the days, when it fell to my lot to be at home, I have often counted between twenty and thirty canoes coming stealthily up the north shore of the Bay -each canoe bearing an Indian f mily-and in a little, as many little blue smokes, under the spreading branches of the pine trees which stood somewhat wide apart where the houses of Barrie nl'w stand, would tell where each family had erected its temporary dwelling. And here we would soon have a little village, with its village noises-the voices of men and women, children and dogs, each employed as their wont led them; some at work-the women especially; some smoking, or otherwise idling with the children, and often playing. The men who intended leaving soon would be turning up their canoes to dry out, so they would be lighter for the portage. I have seen some immediately set up a temporary workshop and go to work either to build or to repair a canoe. The women would soon erect a frame of poles, cut in the woods, on which they would begin weaving mats with the rushes and flags they had gathered and seasoned at the mouth of the Holland and other rivers they had come along. The old women would be preparing the inner bark of the basswood, by boiling it in wood ashes and washing and beating it, spin it into twine, to weave in with the flags and rushes in making the mats to furnish the wigwam for the winter. Some of them would only stay long enough to dry out and gum the canoe, then pursue their leisurely journey. Others of them would stay a few days. Seldom any of them stayed for a week. It seemed just long enough to finish the work they had in hand, then go, and others would come. They were seldom wholly absent more than a day or so at a time, coming- and going in single families, or in groups of families. One reason I judged that they did not stay longer was that their natural supplies were never abundant in the vicinity. There were few berries and it was not a good place for fishing. I have MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 21 sometimes met them at their landing-place, and saw them throw out some fine fish speared on the journey-lake trout, suckers, and now and then a whitefish, caught on the lake or down the bay. There were places on the lakes and on the Nottawasaga River where fish could be got in quantities all through summer, and even through the ice in winter. To these places the Indians would resort when they wished to stay for a l ngth of time, their corn and potato gardens being mostly near these places. The Indians never used the teams on the portage to aid in their carrying. They used it merely as a road to pack over their own goods and canoes. The Indian carrying his canoe was a sight worth seeing-. In fixing for the carrying-, he would lash a piece of light but strong flat timber across the middle of the canoe, so that the hinder part was slightly the heaviest when balanced on this crosspiece; then the two paddles would he lashed to the crosspiece and one of the thwarts, with their blades towards the stern, with space between them for the bearer's head. When ready for the start the canoe would be tilted up, often against a tree or some other support, with the bottom up, and the Indian would insert his head between the paddle bladð, which would rest upon his shoulders, the crosspiece coming hehind his neck. With his hands on the gunwales he would raise it to a horizontal position, then start on a smart walk or slight trot. In warm weather his costume would be the very lightest possible, consisting of three articles besides his moccasins. First a shirt of some printed cotton stuff, in bright colours, scarcely reaching below his huttocks; the cloth of modesty, or as he would call it, his " awn-si-awn, " and his "metoss-sun," or leggings, coming just over the knee and gartered below it-a figure which would have delighted the sculptor or artist with its Apollo-like proportions. The Indians were at that time certainly factors in the interest of the portage, and contributed to its scenery the whole season. To me they were always an interesting people. I watched them and their doings with all the zest of a student. While here I pkked up a smattering of their language, and being in the playing period of my life, their boys were my playfellows when I could find time for play; and hearty, good-natured players they were-never coarse or quarrelsome, very lithe and active, and hard to beat in the plays known to them. Once, or perhaps twice, in the course of that summer there was some drinking and drunkenness among them, but I cannot recall a ingle instance of such wrong-doinK as would call for censure or punishment, while the example of the white people who associated with them could not be considered the best. I had the impression then, and was gi\'en to wondering very much o\'er it, and it hets been with me cver since, th< t, as a 22 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER people, the aborigines of our country were entitled to far more consideration than they ever received, either from the Government or the sentiment of the people who were coming into the possession of the beautiful country from which they bave very nearly faded away. MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 23 v In the last copy I sent you I had not completed my description of the portage and the people using it. One class of these have not yet been mentioned-the employees or assistants in the fur- trade. These were mostly French-Canadians, and were apparently of two classes. A number of them affected a little gentility, and were educated so as to be clerks and managers of the minor posts. The greater part were voyageurs, labourers, and servants of the first mentioned. I can recall several names-among them our late townsman, Mr. Athenies King-, and Mes.srs. Rousseau, Pneur, Bapp, Corbiene, Doucette, and others. Some of these employees had been in the service of the N orth- West and Hudson's Bay Companies. Some of them had come directly from the French settlements of Canada, west and east. It appeared as if the ability to speak French as well as Indian was a necessity of the service. I do not remember seeing a white woman among these people. I am quite sure that not one passed the portage that season in connection with trading people. Most of the men had Indian women as wives, or, as I might say of some of them, as concubines. With some, the poorer men mostly, they were wives. The relation seemed to be life-long; the men had sought the sanction of Christian marriage. \Vith others the unions were temporary, and even changeable. There are some things which may be considered as tending to produce, if not in some measure accounting for, this loose condition of social morals. The country where the traders operated was unorganised territory- " Indian country"-beyond law. The men engaged in it did not seek homes there and never affected high morals. Besides, the Indian notion, in his old condition, of marital obligations did not take in the idea of a life-long- union. The lack of agreement and choice was considered sufficient to limit it. It must, however, be said of th Indians that many couples among them finding strong mutual preference and affection growing towards each other, lived long and happily together into extreme old age. I have known several such. I n all such cases it brings g-reat respect to them from their own people, and they are pointed to as worthy examples to follow. With other families among them the history 24 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER was different. They made no objection to people contracting to live together for longer or shorter periods, unless the desertion of children followed. Even in that case the Indians cared for them. They grew up with their mother's people, and some coming to fill places of honour and influence as chiefs with them. \Vhen trade with the Indians grew slack and less remunerative, some of these men, of what might be considered the higher, if not the better, sort, seeking their living in other directions, did forsake the Indian women and their children, sought and took to them civilised wives in the settlements. Others, and the poorer men especially, remained attached to their families. With the breaking- up of this trade these men scattered and found homes and a living else- where. Some went east to Lower Canada; others found means of a living in the settlements of English-speaking people, where we at this time find here and there a family bearing a French name, while the family are wholly English-speaking Protestants, but Canadian, and often among the most enterprising and well- doing of their neighbourhood, such as the Fleurys, Thibaudos, Lavignes, and others. Others of them are found in different settlements around the lakes, as far north and farther than Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior, where a few years since I found acquaintances of my early days. And yet others of them remained attached to the different Indian bands with whom they once traded, as fishermen and trappers, their families becoming fully identified with the Indians. They are to be found in all the bands, and are in many cases their best people. With an item or two more I must cease writing of the old portage and the bustling people who made use of it. It did to me seem a pity that all the life once seen there should pass beyond n call into the oblivion of the past. I have done my utmost to impress the present with the shadÐwy memories of some of the life of those early days. In the later years of " the Twenties," say 1827-8 or '9, the old portage was forsaken for a better, though longer, road; I think first from the site of our good town (Orillia) to Hogg Bay, afterwards to Cold water as its northern terminus. In my earlier writing of the portage I introduced my readers to the Corporal. I did not say much of him, only that he stood guard over the storehouses, with their contents, at the northern terminus of the road. I must give him a fuller introduction. He was a member of, and a non-commissioned officer in, the 76th Regiment of the Line, which was then occupying the old garrison at York, now Toronto, a portion of which regiment did duty at "The Naval and Military Establishment" at Penetanguishene. The Corporal's name was Jas. Cannon. H was a very fine, soldierly-looking man of easy and pleas nt manners. He was MZMORIES OF A PIONEER 25 married and had several children-the eldest, a<; I remember, was say seven or eight years old. Mrs. Cannon, to me, seemed quite equal or above her order-an agreeable and inteIligent person. At the time of which I am thinking and writing, nearly the close of the season of 1824, she had left her home for Penetanguishene, to await there her accouchement, under the care of the military doctor and nurse. The Corporal had been alone with his children some weeks. They had not even a servant of any kind, but the Corporal himself, who seemed very comfortable and cheerful with his children, saying Mrs. Cannon is better where she is than she could be here, and the time will pass along, only a few weeks until she is home again. It was thought and said that the Corporal's position was a good one for money making. He was allowed to keep a sort of canteen to sell liquor-at that time thought to be an indispensable article of every man's use-to keep and sell provisions and other goods. And as he was a steady man, with a good and tidy wife, and paid good attention to his business, it was sometimes said that during the more than two years he had occupied the place he had saved and laid up some- where quite an amount of money. It was now late in the season, the latter end of September or the earlier days of October. The brightness of summer had gone; the douds and rains of autumn were with us. Only some tardy trader now used the road; business was slack; Walker was away on some business, and Ben had left. It was Sunday morning and raining. I was alone and had been aU night. Even the Indians had sought their fishing and hunting grounds. Just after eating my morning meal, I was surprised by the corning of a visitor, a young man, whose father and family lived only a short distance away, at Kempenfeldt. We shall caU him Lawrence, for that was the name his family had given him. He had with him his shot gun and began his talk to me by saying, II I am going over to visit the Corporal. Mrs. Cannon is away and is not expected back for some time. He and the children are very lonely and I am going to keep them company for a few Jays-as long as it seems he cares for my company. If it does not stop raining I will stay with you to-day and go over to-morrow." I must say just here that Lawrence was always thought to be good at helping people to wile away time when there was nothing much to do, especially if he had his fiddle. Very few excelled him in the use of that ins[rument. But he did not bring it. I told him he should have done so, to amuse the children. He merely laughed a short laugh. The rain ceased after noon and he left me, to go over. It was not quite noon on Monday when he was back, a very woeful look on his face, and a sad story to tell. When he had reached the stony 26 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER hill, a little short of a mile of the Corporal's dwelling, he heard two shots, one quite near, the other much farther away. He heard no more and, never thinking of the Corporal, walked on, reached the house and found the children alone. Their father, they said, had taken his gun and gone out to shoot partridges and had not come back. "Very soon," said he, "I felt uneasy, and, picking up my gun, I turned back to where I heard the shot-firing, and listening all the way as I went. I remained there some time, firing shot after shot. Then came to the house and tried to cheer the children, and seeing them in their beds began firing again and kept it up till after midnight, and never heard an answering shot, and this morning again I fired several. I came away to give warning and see what can be done to find the man and care for the children." That was Lawrence's story. Word of the loss was sent to Penetanguishene. A search party was organised and sent out; many of the people settled within some eight or ten miles joined it. Many of the others, quite conscious how useless they would be in such a search, did not come near it. There was very much bustle, much going backward and forward by parties of men for a few days. The Corporal's stock of provisions and whiskey disappeared very fast. The searchers (?) were lying about beastly drunk at both ends of the road. A few days only were spent in the search, when the good Corporal \\ as given up for lost. The family was removed to Penetanguishene by the military authorities there. Another non-commissioned officer, named Stratton, was sent to fill his place. It never came to me that any vestige of the Corporal was ever met with; if there has been, I have not known of them. Several singular and not very kind surmises were whispered to account for the disappearance. It was even suggested that Lawrence had an eye to the Corporal's money. Well, if he had, he never got it. That is most certain. I t was a cruel suggestion, to say the least of it. Some surmised that he was never lost, but that he deserted, taking his money with him, and having made his arrangements with his wife, that she and her family would follow him. No one has ever confessed to have helped him, and desertion at that period and from that place without help would have been an impossibility. True, a sergeant with his guard of nine men deserted from Mackinaw to Penetanguishene in an open boat a little after that time. But they had an Indian guide, and this Indian ever afterwards boasted of his exploit. I never thought that the search was anything more with those who led it than a sham, a humbug. Knowing these parties years afterwards, when I had acquired some knowledge of wood-lore, I do not think they ever penetrated the woods two hundred yards from trodden paths. MEMORIES OP A PIONEER 27 They were not to be blamed, only for pretending to have searched, for they could not do it without incurring risk of losing themselves. There was a mystery about the disappearance of the Corporal, which I have never been able to solve. 28 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER VI. It was in my plan to finish my memories of the Nottawasaga and its once famous portage with the story of the Corporal and his sudden and unaccountable disappearance. Certain other things have, however, stirred up thoughts which I am disposed to give just here. I will, then, if spared, resume the narrative of memories according to the original plan. First let me say to Mr. Soules, and to any other contributors to the history columns of the Barrie EXAMINER, that I have no rivalry or controversy with them, or either of them. A motive to make untrue or incorrect statements is very difficult to conceive of, as being with either of us. It would be difficult for us to describe things with which any two of us are personally familiar in the same terms or to give prominence to the same points. There would naturally be a difference in matters which come to us from others, unless we compared notes. Our descriptions of the same things must, of necessity, be different. I must just here v nture to say that your intelligent correspondent, Panoptes, has given us the real history of the armed American schooners, their doings and capture. The account he quotes from reads like a bit of sober history, and very unlike an old sailor's yarn which has been told very often and lost something and gained something in every telling. That these vessels, or some others like them, did come to the N ottawasaga and leave their mark, I have personally some Rood evidence. In 1833 I was one of Mr. Hawkins's, a Government surveyor's, party in running the Sunnidale Road through from the river to Lake Huron. About the time of starting at this work, a person who was familiar with the whole country from an early day s:'\id to me :-" You will see the gap the Yankee war-vessels made ill the grove of pines when they cannonaded the military post at the mouth of the river. If you could have a boat or cance and go out into the bay about a quarter of a mile or more the gap, with trees cut off in the middle, will be seen very plainly. It can be seen from a long way out in the bay." \VeIl, we were curious to see it and found it easily noticeable. It was not hard to find the charred ruins of the old blockhouse and the other buildings near it, and from that spot looking out into the bay the gap in the grove was MI!:\fORIES OF A PIONEER 29 then plainly seen. That was about twenty years after the trans- action. I crossed the bay in a steamer from Midland to Meaford in 1883 and I looked out for it with the ship's glass, but could not make it out. I supposed that even that strip of land had been denuded of its pines by the greedy lumbermen. There was another story of g-allant fighting in that country and about that time, which was quite rife among the old hands in my boyhood days, back in the "Twenties," which I have been waiting and watching for someone to revive, but it does not seem to come. Alas! the old men are gone long since, and the boys of that early day have foHowed them, white-headed and worn. They. too. are mostly with the majority-only a few left, soon to foHow. \VeH. the story. To me it never looked like a myth, and as no one else has g-iven it I will put it on record as it came to me from the old men of the old days. I have seen no writing in which it has been mentioned. My authority may be called tradition-old sailor yarns, if you like. It appears that when the smaH force occupying the blockhouse heard the thunder of the guns out in the bay, and saw the pine trees toppling over from the iron balls crashing- through their branches and whizzing- o\'er their heads, like wise men, having insufficient means of defence, they made a hasty retreat up the river; and, being at the same time well- trained, judicious soldiers, they provided for their rear by putting on a strong guard, composed, it was said, of from fifteen to twenty soldiers of the "Glengarry Fencibles," some boatmen and camp-followers and some Indian allies. who did the scouting. These had orders to keep at a safe distance in advance of the pursuers, should the enemy land and pursue them, to put every possible obstacle in the way of the pursuit. The enemy did land and having manned several boats sent them up the river as quickly as they could. The rearguard were ahead of them, through the rapids, up through the lake (afterwards caHed Jack's Lake-not Jacques Lake, as the EXAMINER has it. It got its name long after that time from an old Indian-who called himself John Jack; the people caHed him" Old J ack"-who had a solitary home there throug-h some years of the 30s.) This rearguard went on until the river struck the hard land. at the river's most eastern trend. The ri \'er was narrow here. On the east side the land rose in quite a ridge," abruptly from the water. On the west side it \Vas swampy, but timbered with black ash, water elm. &c.; and tree..; thrown from both sides would reach over the river. Here they could put obstructiOns. All that could be done before this time was for the Indian scouts to fire a few shots at long distances. .. At \\ hat I.. locnlly known as the" Big Dump," i. c, log-slhlc, Ith Ii,,,. rIlj,.. 3 0 MIIMORIES OP A PIONBER from safe hiding places. And this they did every now and then all the way up, no doubt retarding their progress. The rearguard pushed up the river a little farther and made their camp, then came back to the narrow place and felled the trees into the river, cleared away the undergrowth to give good range to their muskets, and waited for the pl1rsuers. About dusk they came along and got entangled in the branches of the fallen trees. While they were looking round quietly to discover what was next to be done, the guard, who had gathered every musket of the party to the one spot, taking deliberate aim, gave them a deadly volley, and another, and another. The enemy got out of the treetops and " put" down the river as soon as they could, taking their dead and wounded with them, as they had not landed nor left their boats. This was the last effort to penetrate the country from the north. The rearguard did not retreat farther. They remained a little time for orders. They soon learned from Indians that the armed vessels had taken themselves and men away. The Notta- wasaga was in quiet and peace. The place on the river where the brush took place was known for years after as the "Glengarry Camp," and their repulsion of the Yankees was spoken of as the "Glengarry Fight." My informant, an old soldier, who lived many years among the old settlers south of Penetanguishene, was named Dukes, and claimed to have been one of this famous Glengarry rearguard. He estimated the pursuers in the boats sent back at five hundred men. That was scarcely probable from two small armed vessels. It was a gallant affair, and well worthy of British soldiers, and the more so from the fact that they had no orders to fight, only to obstruct the pursuers as they could, and to keep well in advance of them; and besides, the officer in charge was no higher than a sergeant. It ended the invasion of our country from that direction. MEMORIES OF A PIO EER 3[ A LETTER. Editor of the Barrie Examiner: DEAR SIR,- You make frequent references to me and my "Memories" in the PAcKET-not always pleasing to me because not always correct. I want to say one or two things to you in this way, which cannot be so well said in any other. First, when I began my series of memories in the PACKET, at the desire of several friends, I had no knowledge of your collections in history. This knûwledg-e only came to me through yonr mention of me, quoted in the PACKET. Had I known of it, I should certainly have waited until you got through before giving- mine to the public. To me, it would seem better to have written independently of each other without comment or correction until each had finished; then to compare notes, if thought needful. But go on your own way now, as you like. I will not be influenced by your gatherings, even where I traverse the same ground. Secondly, about finding the "decayed body." I have this to say, that I was never far from that vicinity from [824 to [834. From 1834 to 1841 I lived in Barrie. During 1833 and until the fall of [834 I lived at the old ag-ency place at the bridge over the Nottawasaga River, on the Sunnidale Road, and was assistant to Mr. Richey in settling that country. The settlers called me "Guide." No man had better opportunities of knowing- all the events transpiring there in those years, and not many c\ better faculty of retaining the impression of those events. And I say that I never knew the md.n who saw a body taken to be the body of Corporal Cannon. Oh, yes! There were such stories, and about soldiers' buttons being brought out by Indians. And there were dead bodies found-not just there, but not very far away; and then it was well known whose bodies these were. I was as familiar with the Indians frequenting these parts in those times as with my most intimate neighbours, and have talked with and questioned them, but never found the Indian who knew anything- about this body-or the buttons. Somebody has got matters mixed. It is very hard to keep things from mixing up. Then the body you 3 2 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER mention in your copy for June 5th, 1890. That will be news to the old settlers. The body found by the road makers in July, 1833, was found about six miles out and west of " Root's" and was fully identified. It was that of Mr. Boothby, the surveyor's chain-bearer and student, deserted in the woods bv those who should have cared for him. When found, he was mer ly covered with a heap of earth and left in silence. There was no other body at that time or that year. That man was not out two weeks until the roadmakers in their work came up to him where he lay. He was known to be lost and NEVER LOOKED FOR. It was in the interest of certain managers to have that thing kept quiet. But how things get mixed ! Your informant has not a good faculty of separating chaff from wheat. You should wait until a few more of us old ones join the majority, then you will not be corrected; and it will do for historv when better is not known. I have heard of Sam. Thompson's b ok as a wonderfully correct portraiture of people and things of the early settlement. I have not read the book. If the paragraph you quote is to be taken as a fair sample of the whole then, I say, he wanted to make a book and drew very largely on his imagination. There must be some people left who remember Mr. and Mrs. Dudley Root. To them, as well as to me, the description must appear as a coarse caricature. Did they ever call their shanty a tavern? Their's was the last habi- tation on the way to the settlements and they were a kind couple, settled there before the road was opened by Walker and Drurys in the spring of 1833 (not 1825, as you have it.) Perhaps Mr. Thompson was writing for the English market. Yours, THOS. WILLIAMS. o rillia , March 28th, 1891. .MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 33 A LETTER. Editor of the Packet: SIR,-I have feared that n: y writin.R not appearing in your popular paper, may have gIven anxIety to some of your many readers, lest there should not be any more coming- from the same source. Perhaps I should explain the why of the long silence. Once, for a short time, I was not in my usually vig-orous health, and could not give attention to writing. It did not come easy to me; I gave up trying, and you were so kind as to say you did "not wish my contributions to your paper to bè burdensome to me." I have not since felt so strongly the obligation to put out effort, and have taken it easy when other things claimed my attention, such as making up my garden, attending to visitors, and visiting a little. I am glad and thankful that my health is very good, still I find that my mind cannot be spurred to effort as it could twenty years since. If spared I will recall my memories of the early times of this county, and put them on paper as fast as I can without much hurrying, and you and your readers shall have them as I put them into shape. This much I felt was due to you and to them after this rather long interval. You must have noticed the preface with which the EXA \fINER historian introduces his readers to my Memory No.6. I t is not wholly to his mind, does not chime with his thoughts of how thing-s should have been. If those people of :\Iinesing could but dig out something a little different it would seem quite desirable, give a better account of the occupants of those myster- ious graves, give a few more particulars of that Highland regiment-it might match better with later tradition. The people of Minesing are without doubt well qualified to give par- ticulars and details of matters occurring there since" the fifties," when their settlement was made. I do not pretend to know any- thing of the affairs of the country taking place since the last of " the thirties," nor of the myths which have grown into currency of the earli r times since then. I come down no farther into mod rn times. To my notion there was no Highland regiment 34 MZMORIES OF A PID NEER doing- duty in these parts until about 1830, when a company of the 79th Cameron Highlanders were stationed at Penetangnishene, the regimental headquarters being at Toronto. The regiment preceding them \\as the 7lst, called Glasgow Highlanders; they wore the plaid but not the kilt, and could not be called Highland soldiers. * I remember both these regiments well, and was intimate with members of each of them. I think it will be pretty hard to show by the records, and there must be records some- where, that anyone Highland regiment served in Canada during the war of 1812-1 s. The nearest thing to it was the Glengarry Fencibles, as they were called, and they were a corps of what was then called "incorporated provincial militia," formed on a com- pany of Highland militia raised in the Glengarry settlement in Eastern Ontario, added to by re-enlisted men from the reg-ular army and other corps until they became a regiment bearing the title of Glengarry Fencibles, and right good, brave service did they do wherever they appeared during the war, whether in greater or smaller numbers. I cannot see why the EXAMINER should be troubled about the correctness of my memories, or their agreement with matters coming from his own sources. I am not careful to have them harmonise with anybody's notions of the way things should be stated. I simply give them as the impression made on my mind of what I saw, heard, and knew, and which I now find retained in my I1lemory of the long ag-o which is fast passing- beyond recall. I say nothing of recent thing-so Persons coming into the country twenty or more years after the time of which I write cannot correct my narratives, nor do the newer traditions correct the older. In almost every community there is a noted character, often a mere supposition, but some- times a real person, spoken of as a sort of court of final appeal in regard to uncommon events. I am thinking of the oldest inhabi- tant-some person must occupy that honourahle position. It strikes m that there are not many persons standing between that distinction and your humble servant-one or two at most, if any. The late Mr. Edward Luck, who resided a little north of Crown Hill, had claim to it in the last years of his life of the settlers north of Lake Simcoe, but he was calIed to close a good and honourable life a little over a year since. I remember him in 1822 as a young man when I was only a lad just entering upon my 'teens. In making enquiry for the old people, I have been told that an aged person named John Lawrence, sometimes calling himself" Doctor Law- renee," lives a little north of Barrie, at or near the little lake. If so, he is the oldest inhabitant, though perhaps about my equal in "Highland Light Infantry. (71st Regimcnt.) MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 35 years. The Lawrence family were so èomfortably settled when we arrived that they could and did give very free and kind hospitality to the incoming settlers. They preceded us by several years. I know of some others who may be inclined to dispute the honour with me; if they do I shall yield to their claim when proved. I have mentioned the above that even the EXAMINER may see how absurd it is to call upon later arrivals to correct my statements. As an illusrration, I cannot see how my account of the Glengarry fight on the N ottawasaga River is going to chime with the sober details of real history found in the articles on "Bulger's Victory," which appeared in two numbers of your paper. I am not troubled about that; but must come to the conclusion that what came to me was merely an extended tradition woven upon some real events occurring at that time, and " dressed up a bit" by the imagination of those who "spun the yarn." I only professed to give it as I got it. I was careful to do that. It will be seen that up to this time I have (with the exception of my experience on the Portage) written mostly of things obtained from others. If I am spared to continue these memoirs I must come next to things observed by myself-mostly things and events being and occurring during "the twenties" and" the thirties," and then when I am through, let the EXAMINER or anybody else come out with a general review and criticism if they see fitting. To have it implied that my writings must be kept in tune with other writings, and other people',; notions, is, to say the least, not just as it should be. So much, Mr. Editor, it seemed I should be permitted to say. Truly yours, THOS. WILLIAMS. The Cottage, 3rd June, 1891. 3 6 MJlMORIES OF A PIONEER VII. As near as I can now ascertain, the first real settlers-those who took land with a view of making homes and deriving their living from the land-came to the country in the year 1819. Some may have come in 1818, but I can find no proof of such coming. Our family came in 1822. The land was "taken up," that is, ours was selected and a location ticket obtained from the Surveyor- General and Crown Lands Office, in the fall of 1821. When we did reach it and built our shanty, I can distinctly remember our neighbours (and the whole settlement for the first ten miles at least were neighbours). All knew each other and went in and out of each other's dwellings, and were interested in the affairs of each other j and most of them spoke of coming three years before. A few had been a shorter time. This applies to all the settlements along the Penetanguishene Road. At or in the vicinity of Penetanguishene there were some few families which were not of the military or naval forces stationed there. They were of the class which the soldiers there would have called civilians. Some might have been considered a sort of camp-followers, carrying on some sort of business or mechanic art, and deriving their living in that way from such works as were carried on in connection with the Naval and Military Establishment. One family of these, the M undys, still remain in the neighbourhood. There was another name-the family was employed much in the same way-but I have lost the name and am not able to recall it. But these were not settlers in the true sense of the term. They were business people. The Mundys afterwards settled in the vicini y. The mother of the Mundy family was a noted person. She lived to be more than a centenarian. She was a native of Quebec; a French woman, and began her married life there. One of her sons be- came a noted lawyer and rose to the rémk and position of Chief Justice of that Province. He called himself "Joseph Remi de St. Valliere." The name of her first family was Valliere. In the first years of the century she married Asher Mundy, an American, as her second husband, who was for many years a wen-known, quiet and respected man in the neighbourhood of Penetanguishene. MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 37 Their only son was Israel Mundy, * who, if he still survives, is a very aged man. When in my boyhood, among the first of my teens, I remember looking" up to him as al1 amiable and good young man. This family, with perhaps some others drawn there with the military and naval works, were settled with them, quite ahead of the design of a general settlement of the country. If you were in that country, on the Gloucester Bay, east of Penetanguishene, towards the eastern extremity of that water, to the place called by the Indians Mah-je-dushk-corrupted by us to Matchedash-back in the twenties, you would see on the shore a sort of pillar-like erection-old chimneys. The place was called for many years "The Chimneys." I am not sure but it is so called now. Those chimneys marked what had been the dwelling place of a family named Cowan. The head of the family was a Scotchman, who had taken to himself an Indian wife, and lived in that spot many years and brought up a family of severaI"sons and one daughter, who died early and unmarried. Mr. Cowan must have been a man of means and position. I judge this from the fact that his family were all educated and considered respectable people. Only one of the sons joined himself to the Indians by marriage. The name I think will be found now among those living on the Christian or Beausoliel Island. One of the Cowans was married to a daughter of Mrs. Mundy. A son of theirs, William Cowan, was one of my early associates, though some three or four years my senior; and his sister was a Mrs. Dickenson. This would show that the Cowans were early settlers, as the time of which I write was not later than 1826. Mr. Dickenson was foreman in Lount's axe factory for several years after that time. The Cowan sons died or went away; only my friend, W. Cowan, and those among the Indians, remained of the name in the country. When I was last at "The Chimneys, II I think in 1826, besides the chimneys and old house foundations, there were some old broken, abused- looking apple trees and plum trees, marking the place as once a civilised home. It comes to my mind that a country is of little consequence apart from the people who occupy it and find their homes in it, and whose children grow up to man and womanhood in it. Influenced by such a thought, I find my memory recalling one or t\\-o other families of civilised people, who made a home and found business in the eastern part of the Georgian Bay, either at Peuetanguishene, in its vicinity, or not very far distant from it, in the earlier years of the prC5ent century, before the fixing on the point of occupation as a military and naval post. A French family, named De La Morandiere, the members of which still live and fill "He died In December, II:\&!. 3 8 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER respectable positions. The head of this family is said to have been a French noble, who betook himself as early as the time of the French regime to a Jife in the wilds of Canada and amongst the Indians. The old gentleman was gone long before my earliest recollection. A son of the family is carrying on business at Killarney, Manitoulin Island. A daughter, a Madame ROllsseau, and her brother, Alexis, I remember meeting early in the twenties. She was the wife of the Mr. Rousseau after whom the Lake Rousseau is called, and the last I heard of her she was living a widow on St. Joseph Island. The young-er son, Fred. de Lamor- andiere, lives at Cape Croker, and is secretary to the Indians residing there and postmaster of Cape Croker post-office. A family named Smith were very extensive and wealthy traders and occupied a post at or near Penetanguishene. Mr. Smith died shortly before my coming to the country, and left, it was said, large wealth to his two elder sons, Cyrus and Sidney Smith. who, it was said, were not long in getting through it. I think they both died somewhere in the thirties. There will be people still living on both sides of Lake Simcoe who will remember these men. They were for the time in which they lived well educated and, when themselves, very genteel men. The late Samuel Richardson, Esq., of Barrie. said to me shortly after Sidney's death, "There was a time when I could have taken a wager that, meet Sidney Smith out alone at any time, you would not find him without a book, and no common book either. If English, an English classic-Milton, Shakespeare, or Addison-or one of the Latin classics." But they had formed habits which carried them to an early grave. The late Sheriff Walker Smith, of Barrie, was a younger branch of the same family, and there were other brothers equally respectable. MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 39 VIII. While looking over the Memories already put upon paper, it strikes me that I have not found the rig-ht plan of beginning. With the exception of what I wrote of the Portage and its associ- ations, I seem to have been conjuring up the shadows of things existing before what might be called more the settlement of the country. It came to me that the question might arise, What of the country prior to the settlement? I have given attention to this as far as I had knowledge-not very far back, it is true, into the misty traditions of the past. It is now pretty generally conceded by our students of Canadian history that less that two cen- turies since this part of the country was occupied by a very inter- esting aboriginal people in pretty considerable numbers, who did not live altogether by the chase, but in their own way cultivated the soil; of that early day, however, these Memories have no in- telJigence. The occupation of strategic points on Lake Huron by the naval and military authorities had certainly something to do with the settlement of the country lying between that lake and Simcoe. The settlements from the front had reached the south shores of the latter lake some years before the war of 1812- I 5, but pushed no farther northward. The people of these settlements were mostly from the States, old American settlers in origin, some of them United Empire Loyalists, and others whose affection for British institutions was perhaps unconfessed during the existence of war, but lingered in such a way that they were not comfortable in the land of the Stars and Stripes, but prompted to seek homes under the Union Jack. Canada owes much to this people, of whom I shall have something to say farther on. The s ttlers south of the lake were, many of them, employed by the military in work connected with the occupation of the points farther north, opening roads, building, teaming, and other work, but what might be thought strange, they wer not in a single instance among the first of the settlers, if we except the brothers James and David Soules, who located themselves early on the south side of Kempen- feldt Bay and near its eastern entrance. In most cases in our province, and perhaps in other countries, settlements are pushed back and back, as pieces of good land and desirable locations are 4 0 MEMORIES OF A PIONBER discovered; continuously farther, and yet farther, into the wilder- ness until some barrier is reached. In this case the lake became to these people an impassable barrier, seeming to forbid these people's farther progress. In 1822, when our family came, and we lingered awhile with these people, we encountered strong preju- dices against, and almost frightful descriptions of, the country to which we were proceeding. "Why should you go to that coun- try?" said a good man, among others. " You can certainly have no conception of its character." "The snow does not all go away there until in July." "They have six or seven months of dead winter, and then four months of cold weather." " You will not be able to live there." If we were now called upon to give a description of the countries bordering on Hudson Bay, it was such a description that we listened to of the country in which we were seeking to make a home. Such were some of the discour- agements the hardy pioneers of that early day were called upon to face in addition to the real hardships, which were indeed not few in number. I can think of only one thing which may have led to the forming of these prejudices, for they seemed to be real and felt. The work they did for the military was mostly, if not always, in the winter, and midwinter at that, for the lake seldom freezes over so as to make safe teaming until the New Year, and a tradition came to mp [hat the winters of the years of that war time were exceptionally severe, the snow falling to an unusual depth and remaining long in the spring. One result of the notions th y imbibed was that the country was not desired by them as a place for settlement. The people who did come were all from a dis- tance-from different parts of the old countri s, and from wan- derings in other countries. At first the government put before the world what seemed to them pretty strong inducements to settlers-each family was to have a two-hundred-acre lot as a homestead; each son of the family having reached man's estate a half lot, or one hundred acres. This policy prevailed for two or three years at most; the first families coming availed themselves of it ; that would have been during the years 1818 and '19, perhaps into '20. [n 1821. when my father and others made application for land, the policy had become straitened and narrowed; one hundred acres was the limit, and no recognition of the sons of the family, and what seemed very great difficulties were put in the way of intending settlers in getting the lands, whether by grants as British subjects seeking to locate themselves as settlers in a British province, or as purchasers. The land was nominally valued at one dollar per acre, to be paid for in four succeeding annual instalments, or cash at the time of purchase without discount, the patent to issue in MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 4 1 two years on proof of settlement duties being performed. In my boyhood I h ve listened to many sad tales by the old settlers of their difficulties in getting their land, the weariness and humilia- tion of their attendance upon the officers connected with the loca- tion of homes in the unclaimed domain of the province. First, there was to be a petition to Governor-in-Council, presenting the applicant's claim, his antecedents, his present purposes, etc., etc. This would go before the Executive Council, which was presided over by the Governor, and its members were the magnates of the land-clerical, military, and civil-and it was supposed to meet once a week. This it might do or it might not, as the whim or convenience of some of its leading members would determine. The petitioner must then wait, spend time and money, or go away and come again ; this is if his means, patience, and loyalty did not wear away in the meantime. If the prayer of the petition was granted, a document was given which he must carry to the office of the Honourable Commissioner of Crown Lands, from thence one to the Surveyor-General's office, until location ticket was ob- tained. I may say here that there arose men who acted with and for the intending settler as agents, or "go-betweens," among whom was the late Andrew Mercer, whose accumulated wealth was such a God-send to our Ontario government a few years since. With the aid of such men, and some by securing the interference of men of position, succeeded, after much effort, in their quest. How many failed and gave up it would be hard to say. Some I know did so and left in disgust, and we lost sight of them alto- gether. I t is quite likely mapy went to aid in the population of the great country to the south of us. Their loyalty to British in- stitutions was not sufficiently sturdy to pass unhurt through so severe an ordeal. It was in these years, and while this poJicy prevailed, and before the days of assisted emigration had come, while every intending settler was prompted by his own spirit of enterprise, that the newspaper called the COLONIAL ADVOCATE, published and edited by the famous William Lyon Mackenzie, made its appearance. I t was early in the thirties; J can remem- ber well the excitement it stirred up among its ettler and farmer readers. The means it used was a reiteration and rehash of these old grievances. Every man and every family carried bitter mem- ories of un5.ympathising and harsh treatment. These old sores were easily rubbed into painfulness. Furnishing, as they did, irritating- matter for lackenzie's paper, they had much to do in bringing about the rebellion of the latter years of the thirties. It was well for the country that a more liberal land policy had met the larger emigration which began with the first of the thirties, for that filled the country with a people who had never felt the 4 2 M.MORIES OF A PIONEER troubles of the earlier pioneers, and could not be made uncomfort- able by unpleasant remembrances of them. In my next paper I will give my impressions of the cause which led to the narrow and hard land policy complained of in this paper. MEMORIES OF A PIONEER. 43 IX. In my last I promised that in this I would consider the question why those to whom were committed the management of the country put such difficulties in the way of intending settlers coming at their land. Along with thi is to be considered also the fact that the immigrants of that period were a superior class- people who were inspired by an ambition to become the owners of land in order that themselves and children should reach a more independent condition. They were possessed of more or less means, had experience in business of some kind, or in farming; quite a large proportion of them had put in a few years in the States, and not finding things there quite to their mind, had come to seek a home under the Old Flag. They asked nothing from the government but the land, and sometimes, not often, a little aid in opening up a path to it. The people were of a class gen- erally who might be expected to make good and enterpri-;ing settlers. Assisted migrations had not begun to send people to our country, if we except two instances-first, the somewhat tur- bulent Paisley weavers, who were brought out and settled in several townships of the county of Lanark in the years 1819 and 1821 ; and second, the Irish settlers who came out a few years later under the care of the late Honourable Peter Robinson, and were placed in some townships back of Peterborough. But both of these cases had their orig-in and support from the Home Gov- ernmcnt-not from the Provincial-and are really no exception to the policy prevailing in the province. They were told to accept these people and provide for them, and the} must needs obey. I will now call attention to some facts which will throw lig-ht upon the narrow land policy complained of. First, French Canada had been settled by Seigniors, to whom alone the land was allottcd in large tracts of several thousand acres, who brought with them from France their dependants, an illiterate peasant class. fhis was the form of society in France at that time, nursed into that form for centuries by a despotic gov rnment, the n0bles, who were very numerous, and a powerful Church. It was quite natural, as they knew no other form of society, that they should seek to make a new France in the ncw world. To these peasants, 44 MBMORIES OF A PIONEER or habitants, they assigned homesteads, at a small price, but bound the habitant to themselves and to the estate by placing restrictions on his disposition of the land, holding him to certain service, requiring small periodical payments either in the fruit of the soil or in money, as rent. The land was also burdened with tithes for the maintenance of the clergy, and was subject to im- posts for the construction of ecclesiastical buildings. This was' the form of society prevailing in Eastern Canada when Western Canada began to be settled. This was the form which was nursed in all European countries from feudal time down to the times of great wars of Europe, which were either brought about by the system, the jealousies of despotic rulers of each other, or by Providence to uproot this system of semi-slavery. The Protest- antism springing- up in Europe three centuries since was no doubt a potent factor in its destruction, and yet there have been, and may still be, persons who are not French or Romanist, who sigh for such a form of society as being nearer paradise than anything else found in this world, and would gladly see it prevail. It has been suspected that those who influenced the narrow land policy of which we complain, would have produced it in Western Canada, could they have g"ot the power from Britain and the material to work with. In the earlier thirties the writer had access to the government maps of all the townships in the county of Simcoe, and to some other maps of townships in other parts of the pro- vince. These maps, I might say, were disfigured with peculiar marks, which indicated the allotment of land in them to certain purposes and persons-indeed a very large proportion of the land was shut away altogether from the use of actual settlers. There was first the Crown reserves-one-seventh of all the lands; these had a mark on them like a blur made with the end of a finger dipped in pale red ink. These were sold or granted about that time to the Canada Company, and were open for settlement by purchase. Then there was another seventh of the land, with a dusky blur on them, made as if with a finger-tip dipped in com- mon black ink. These were the clergy reserves, and at that time might be leased, but not bought. Besides the above, there w re in all the townships lots with the letter D written upon them, some in single two-hundred-acre lots, and sometimes in blocks of several hundred or a thousand acres. These, we were told, belonged to certain great estates of favoured persons in different parts of the country and deeded to them; and they were always the best lands, but they were "ta-boo" to the settler. There was not generally in that day enough land accessible to the actual settlers to make closely inhabited neighbourhoods. This tended to increase the hardships they had to meet, while their labours were every year MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 45 adding value to these lands. It was suspected that these large grants of the best lands (for in no case were they purchased from the Crown) were given to favourites, that by-and-by, when the other lands were settled on, the owners of the estates might find themselves occupying an elevated position, and that the foundation of a social order might be laid differing from what had been plant- ed by the United Empire Loyalists, their descendants, and other people, in the earlier settlements of the Upper Province. Society in tbese had taken a decidedly democratic shape \\ herever formed. In the extreme west, now the counties of Essex and Kent, the shores of Lake Erie, the Niagara frontier, along the shores of Lake Ontario, the Bay of Quinte country, along the St. Lawrence River and some distance up the Ottawa, settlements had been formed in considerable strength, and were giving character to the country. The large estates spoken of paid no taxes, contributed nothing to the progress of the country, but greatly retarded it in all instances. It was a great step in advance when our legisla- tures gave our townships and counties municipal powers enabling them to tax all lands for public improvement. This brought these lands into the market, and put settlers on them, and contributed very much to a change for the better over all the province. After the more liberal land policy which came in with the larger immi- gration in the early thirties had got well into operation, some things occurred which, now looking back upon, impress me to confirm the suc;picion that the form which society was taking throughout the country did not give unalloyed satisfaction to those who filled high places in our provincial government. That the idea of giving to Canadian society an aristocratic form was given up with great reluctance-if it wa even then wholly given up. Certain things were constantly operating against it. First, in- structions coming from the Home Government to receive the in- coming settlers with all needed encouragement. There is proof that such admonitions were received by the provincial authorities. And secondly, the settlements already planted had taken an alto- gether different form, and it would seem that no power could pre- vent them becoming models for all the future unless they should be wholly plucked up and planted over again, which nothing but a sweeping- war could accomplish. But the form society did take -whether the best or otherwise, I do not now stop to say-we owe to the United Empire Loyalists and the people who came in with and after them for several years from the now-repubJicanised old col0nies, who acted from inborn preference to what was British and monarchical. 4 6 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER x. I will now mention some things which would seem to justify my suspicion that in the hig-h places of our province there existed a strong- desire to give society a form very different from that which it was evidently taking, and tbat this idea was only given up when it was seen to be utterly impracticable; and the desire so to shape society was the chief cause of the troubles met by the ordinary settler in his endeavour to locate himself upon lands, unless that settler was a man of wealth and position, or a dependent on such men. Men of means or position were always received with open arms; the entire Crown domain was readily opened for their inspection and choice. - In the first of the thirties, as has already been mentioned, emigrants in considerable numbers began leaving the old countries and seeking our shores. I cannot now say who were the principal agents in promoting this increased emig-ration, nor can I venture to specify with exactness the causes which led to it. Different things may have contributed to produce it. There prevailed in the old countries at that time quite a spirit of discontent among the labouring classes generally; what was called the Chartist agitations were rife at the time, and the idea of emigration to new countries presented itself as a remedy for the prevailing evils. At that time, or a little before, the Canada Company was formed in England, to whom the government sold a large tract of the finest forest land in North America of nearly two millions of acres; what was then called the Huron Tract, together with all of what was called the Crown Reserves--one-seventh of the land in all the older surveyed town hips throughout the entire province, and it was said for a very small consideratio[1 in money. This corporation must needs sell their lands, and encourage the emigration of actual settlers. I can well remember that the emigrants of that time were mostly well furnished with the litera- ture and maps of the country put into circulatioq by the Canada Company. I desire that my readers may remember that this company had a British and not a Canadian origin, and that the impulse it may have g-iven with other ag-encies to the settlement of the country, had its inspiration from the old country rather than from the authorities of the province. Their action was MEMORIES OF A PIONEER. 47 simply a yielding to necessity. Part of their action to this end was to place agents in several parts of the province where any considerable quantities of unlocated lands remained. These agents opened offices, where the settlers could obtain information and other aid to find and choose their location. The first agent north of Lake Simcoe was the late Colonel E. G. O'Brien, of Shanty Bay, for the townships of Oro and South Orillia. This was in the year 1831, when many of the older families of Oro went upon their lands. Mr. O'Brien did not long retain the agency, and was succeeded by Welle5.ley Richey, who had experience in such work, having been an Aide de-Camp to the Honourable Peter Robinson, in placing settlers in townships northward of Peterboro'. Mr. Richey's office was located on the lake shore near the now vinage of Hawkestone during 1831 until tht: spring of 1832, when he was instructed to remove to a position more convenient to the vacant lands north and east. He located his office at the east end of Bass Lake, near the Coldwater road. I t was in connection with this removal that the writer became connected with the agency as one of the aides to the principal. By the settlers he was called a II guide." This agency embraced all the vacant lands in the northern part of Oro, all of Medonte, and the two Orillias. In the spring of 1833 we were again instructed to remove; this time to the Nottawasaga River, to where the boundary line between the townships of Vespra and Essa crosses the river. The government had early that spring caused a block of land still in their hands, at the head of Kempenfeldt Bay, to be laid out by their surveyor, \Villiam Hawkins, as the town of Barrie, and the same surveyor to layout a line of road from this plot to the river, a distance of eleven miles, and there to layout another town plot, which never became a to :n or scarcely a hamlet, and from thence to survey a road through the township of Sunnidale to Lake Huron. It was at the Nottawasag::l River that our agency was to be located as soon as we could get there and suitable buiIding-s could be erected. In the meantime the opening and making of a rough ,\ aggon road bdween the Barrie town plot and the river was contracted for by Alexander Walker and the Drury brothers, uncle and father of the Honourable C. Drury, of Crown Hill, and a large body of men put to work upon it. This agency had to deal with the still vacant lands of the old surveyed townships of Vespra,1 Essa, and Tossorontio, and the newly- surveyed townships of Sunnidale and Nottawasag-a. These latter townships were not encumbered with deeded lands or reserves of any kind. An the land in them was open for location and purchase by anyone who met the conditions of grant or of sale. I have written the foregoing in relation to the larg-e emigration 4 8 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER to the country and the way it was met by our authorities, not because it comes in here as its proper place in these memories, for I have yet to give some details of events remembered of an earlier settlement, that of the Penetanguishene road, made in the last years of the second and the first of the third decade of our century. In that connection we shall find that many interesting thing-s occurred quite worthy of our memory and record. ] have written what has just passed under my pen in this place, as it g-ives me here some incidents which serve to strengthen my conviction that in meeting the immigrants now coming in with a more liberal land policy, our authorities acted more from compulsion of some sort than from choice, as the most desirable thing to do. Two things which serve to press this conviction on me will now be given; afterwards, if spared, I hope to pass back over the events and incidents of the earlier settlements. ] mig-ht say the people who came to this country at that time could be considered as of three different classes. First, those who would call themselves gentry. They were composed in great part of old officers (not old men) ofthe army and navy, the naval officers all having their half-pay; the army officers in most cases had commuted their half-pay for ready money. That was their misfortune, for the money soon slipped away from them. Those who retained their half-pay were in much the best condition. There was also with them quite a mixture (If what might be called private gentry, some professional and some mercantile. There was not much trouble with these latter, they slipped into places in the towns'and v ill ag-es. \\Y e had no cities at that time. The army and navy men and their families were of good material, quite re pectable generally, and would have been desirable settlers if they had brought with them a better knmvledge of economy in living, and a determination to knuckle down 10 their changed condition. These people were, all of them, in some way enjoined to call upon the Governor, and to them he dispensed large hospitality. Every mark of consideration and kindness was shown them by him. Their talk was full of it when they came to the agency, and none of them came to the agent without strong- letters commending them to our utmost attention and care, and we always gave it to them. The agent not only fed them, but if he judged their tastes led that way, they were wined and brandied to their heart's content, and every aid g-iven them to select their lands, a thing which they knew nothing of themselves. The next class of settlers were mostly thrifty but poorer people, paying their own way and having more or less means. Very many of these had been in the army, some few in the navy, and a very large proportion of them had sold out their pensions; the MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 49 smallest number retained them, greatly to their comfort. There were with these some who had been small farmers, farm labourers, and some mechanics. These paid their own way, and as to the others they had more or less means to begin with. That which I wanted to say just here was that this last class met no hospitality at headquarters besides what they paid for themselves, nor did they seek an They brought no letters of introduction, and had given to them simply the aid needed to find their land and settle on it, which they did, and if they are not here to-day, after more than fifty years, their descendants are. The children of the first class mentioned are not so numerous, yet we have some of them with us, and filling f500d places, quite satisfied with society and racy of the soil. Of the second class mentioned I must give an ancedote illustrative of their progress, and leave the third class of settlers to be treated of in connection with the five acre allotments alluded to in the BARRIE EXAMINER as topic of my next paper. Some thirteen years since I met a gentleman on one of the Lake Huron steamers who was introduced to me as the Honourable John Northwood, of Chatham, Ontario, one of the Senators of our Dominion. I remarked to him, "I have a memory for names, Mr. N orthwood, and I never met your name but once in my life, and I will tell you the circumstances. I held a position as assist- ant to a government agent, settling emigrants on lands in 1832 north of Lake Simcoe. There came to us, among many others, a person of your name-Northwood, a very fine-looking, middle-aged man, I think from the West of I reland. He had been a sergeant in the army, was a pensioner then, and was entitled to draw two hundred acres of land. I was quite taken with the man, and thought him a very desirable settler, and after taking him to our best vacant land and asking him to choose so I could enter his name, he shook his head in great discouragement and said :- 'The trees, the trees; I never saw the likes of them. Oh, the trees, the trees, if they had been stones J would know what to do with them.'" "That was my father," said the Mr. Northwood, his son, then said to be a millionaire and an Honourable Senator. 50 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER A MEMORY OF 1832. Certain events recently occurring have put my memory into a condition of action, and as you and your readers seem to take it that what I recall is of sufficient worth to have a place in your columns, it has come to me that I should now pen these that are coming up, though not in the order I intended to follow. But I may get back to that. In the summer of 1832, while I was connected with the Government agency for settling this county, the headquarters of which was on the Coldwater road, at the east end of Bass Lake, it was my wont often to attend the Sunday morning religious services held in connection wich the Indian Mission, then occupying the site of our town. These, with the schools, were conducted in a frame schoolhouse, standing near the corner of what is now Peter and Coldwater streets, on what is now the grounds of the Anglican church. When my duties permitted, and the weather was favourable, Sunday morning found me taking this, to me, pleasant three-mile walk. First, at half-past nine A.M., came the Sunday-school. This was conducted by the two mission teachers, Mr. P. H. Swartz and Miss Brinke, and the pastor, the late Rev. Gilbert Miller, who only deceased a few years since at Picton. (Here, too, I met with some young- men just entering upon their ministry, some of them going on a little farther, and some of them staying for a time to aid Mr. Miller, whose health was not strong at the time. Among these young men beginning their life work was the late Dr. Samuel Rose, the Revs. John Baxter and Edwy M. Ryerson and James Currie. These all have, some years since, gone to meet their reward. They were all worthy men; and though I have associated with them in common work and ministry since, I find pleasure now in remembering that I met them here in that early day.) At a little before eleven o'clock the Sunday-school would be dismissed. Mr. Swartz, or the interpreter, Benjamin Crane, or some strong lunged Indian would take a long tin horn and produce from it trumpet-like sounds, which would seem to echo in all directions. Then look ! There would be a stir at the door of every Indian house as the people (Indians) began to move towards the central schoolhouse to take part in the holy worship. There were at the same time some IE fORIES OF A PIONEER SI families of white people living on the reserve (as it was then called), besides the members of the Mission. The Government had an agent, who acted for the Indians in business matters, and as instructor, who was supposed to give instruction and aid to them in their efforts to reach a civilized condition. And sometimes there was a doctor. These all, I think, had their support and pay from the Indian annuity funds, but they were considered as Government officers. Besides these there were persons engaged in trade, and others in the business of forwarding goods and emigrants, and teaming- goods over the Coldwater road portage, and the emigrants coming and going made a small community of white people. I do not at this day remember meeting representatives of these families uniting with the mission people and the Indians in their worship on the Sabbath. True, these services were designed and maintained mostly for the Indians, and the greater part of them was in their language; still, the reading of Scripture and the preaching was first in Eng-lish, then interpreted. Some of the prayers were in English. Persons of a religious spirit might find some good and helpful influence in them, though in the absence of that they would seem tedious and uninteresting. Once I remember that say a scor or more of these people were gathered at a Sunday afternoon service, designed especially for them, when the Rev. John Baxter officÏ4i1.ted and preached. I think I may venture to say that the prevailing disposition was not religious, and not in sympathy with missions and Indians. A strong and undisguised feeling- among them was a desire to have the Indians" out of that." If those who represented religion were other than Methodists I am not very sure it would have been better or different, but the others had not yet come, and not until some time later on. It was to enter upon mission work in this field, and with these influences round her, that the late Mrs. Moffatt, then :\1iss :\lanwaring, fifty-nine years ago in her tedious canoe voyage, came here to work for the world's good. The season of 1832 had nearly ended, the first or second Sunday in November had come, and I was on the road taking my Sunday morning walk of three miles to attend the mission services. I got in early and found my friend, Mr. Swartz" alone in the schoolhouse. It was yet twenty minutes before the Sunday-school would begin. I was glad of this, for I could spend that time in pleasant conversation with the teacher, for we had become attached to each other. He began by saying, Ie I cannot tell you how glad I am that you have come this morning, for I am to leave here this week. :Miss Brinke (the lady teacher) has already left. The teachers are both to leave and others to come. A :\Iiss Manwaring succeeds Miss Brinke. She has not yet come, but is on the way and is expected soon. My successor is already h re. 52 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER He is a Mr. Hannibal Mulkins. He desired me to keep charge of the school to-day. He will assume his duties in the school to-morrow. I am looking for him to be here any moment, and shall be glad to make you acquainted, and hope your associations may be as pleasant as ours have been. ,. At that moment the door opened. Mr. Mulkins came in and we were introduced. If I had been gifted with that prophetic foresight which would have given me an inkling of the prominent figure he was to become in after years, and the conspicuous position he was to reach, I should without doubt have studied him more closely. As it was he did not prepossess me favourably. I was not drawn to him. He was youthful in appearance. I should take it that he had not then reach- ed twenty years. There was something in his .. make up II which gave me the impression that he had come through some hard times. We did not form an intimacy. I went away with the agency to settle other places, and I think his stay at the mission was not a long one. I have heard that he very soon gave token of possessing more than common ability in the direction of preaching, and was taken to where he could improve in this by study and exercise. Four years afterwards, in 1836, I met him and heard him preach. His improvement was very marked. He was a fine-looking young man, a preacher of great pulpit power and pleasing manner. In 1840 he withdrew from the Methodist church and received orders in the Anglican church at the hands of the late Bishop Strachan. I have no call to follow his history further. T. W. MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 53 ANOTHER MEMORY OF J832. It was fully a month, or more, before the time spoken of in the "Memory" you gave your readers more than a week since, when the Agency at Bass Lake was visited by a very interesting company, looking at the country with a view to settlement. Whether we look at the men as they were at the time, or what they became to the country in after years, some of them at least, we were certainly not visited by a more important party in the whole season. When I mention the names, and a little of what I remember of each, this will be readily acknowledg-ed. They were emigrants from Ireland, from the city of Dublin. They were what we might well venture to call Irish gentlemen, and as it has been sometimes said that Irish gentlemen were the best of their class in culture and manners, the demeanour of these persons would go far to confirm that impression in those who met them. They were five in number. First, two clergymen, who had been ministers of the English Church in Ireland. The elder of the two was the Rev. Chas. Crosby Brough. If he had not reached middle age then he was certainly getting up towards it. He was tall and a well formed person, and would attract attention for a good appearance in any company. I think he professed to be retiring from the active work of his profession on account of throat ailment. He selected land in the tenth concession of Oro, near what is now called Jarratt's Corners, got his shanty put up there, made a pretty good clearing, then removed to a part of the Township farther south. I could not say how many years he remained in these. parts. I do not think very long. The Bishop of Toronto called him again into professional Jife and work. Though earnestly engaged in business, while living in this vicinity, farming and milling, and took no mission, he was ready to do the work of a gospel minister to some considerable distance from his home, as people would call for his services. He was a plain, practical, and powerful preacher. At one of these rural services he felt it his duty to caution the people not to go after the Methodists, who were the only religious organization actively at work here. At the close of this service an old gentleman, stepping up to the preacher, said to him, " I thank you, sir, for coming to us in our 54 MEMORIES OF A PIONEER destitution, and for your excellent discourse. I fear you will not consider it complimentary, but I must say had I not known otherwise, I should take you for a Methodist from your style, matter, and manner." He seemed a little taken aback at the old man's remarks, but shaking his hand cordially, expressed his pleasure. He was certainly useful in the country, giving baptism to such children as people would bring- to him, and marrying the young people of all creeds, who desired to enter that relation. He was first given a mission on Manitoulin Island. A few years afterwards we find him doing extensive mission work in the vicinity of London. A very well known and much respected clergyman for many years was Archdeacon Broug-h. The other and younger man was the Rev. Dominick Blake, uncle to our noted men of that name. I might say here that Mr. Brough stood in the same relation to them, for Mrs. Brough was a Blake. The Rev. .Mr. Blake did not choose to settle in these parts. We find him with others of the party settled in the Township of Adelaide, west of London. A few years after he received the appointment of Rector of Thornhill, on Y onge-street, and there passed his life. The next to be named was Mr. Hume Blake. To me he st:emed the most youthful of the party, thoug-h I believe then a family man. A very fine looking person-might be called handsome in fig-lire and delicate in complexion. I have been told that in Ireland he followed the profession of a surgeon. In this country he took up the profession of law, and is soon heard of as one of the leading lawyers of Toronto, and was the first appointed Chancellor when our Chancery court was instituted. The next to name of the party called himself by his signature- Skeffingtoa Connor. His profession in the old country was that of law. It was said to me that he had been a Counsellor, and that he was allied to the other members of the party by marriage. He did settle in these parts, choosing his location in North Oriilia, where is now the village of Marchmont. He had the misfortune, after some little time, to have his dwelling hurned. Then he left these parts, apparently discouraged, and did not return. It was not, however, many years until we find him a noted lawyer in Toronto, and mixing very much in public affairs. In the meantime he had obtained the degree of LL. D., and was spoken of as Doctor Connor. I cannot give from memory all the offices and honours to which he attained, as I have no record to which to refer. Some of your readers could do this more correctly than I am able to do. I simply know that when last I heard him spoken of he was the Honourable Justice Connor. The last to be named in this party was to me the most interesting person of all. He took my attention as none of the MEMORIES OF A PIONEER 55 others did. I was led to this, I have no doubt, by the deference paid to him by every member of the party, including- the clergymen. He was, I think, fully of middle age, if not a little over it. I think I had a little before been reading a transl