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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 A partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 5 6 THE HISTORY S OF THE COUNTY OF HUNTINGDON AND OF THE SI^IGNIORIES OF CHATEAUGAY AND BEAUHARNOIS I FROM THEIR ^«l FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE YEAR 1838 BY ROBERT SELLAR m HUNTINGDON, Q. THE CANADIAN GLEANER 1888 'UoLH't H-Hii n/ i^i I I I t i . '- Entered according to the act of parliament of Canada, in the year 1888, by Robert Sellar, at the Department 0/ Agriculture. PREFACE, The following work was undertaken with reluctance and solely from a sense of duty. Soon after coming to Hunting- don I perceived that the first-settlers were fast passing away and I considered it would be deeply deplored by future gene- rations that no narrative of when and how they redeemed the wilderness, no sketch of the kind of men and women they were, should have been preserved. Feeling thus I repeatedly suggested to different friends, qualified by education and long- resideijce in the district, that they ought to prepare a local history. Not one would listen to my representations. As time passed on I perceived that soon the preparation of such a work would be impossible, and if it was to be done at all I must needs do it myself. My occupation was a serious hindrance to its prosecution. The publisher of a country newspaper so indifferently supported that its punctual ap- pearance weekly depended as much on my lalx)r as a printer as its editor, I could not leave my office to gather information except at rare intervals and for short periods, and this circum- stance has materially affected the completeness of the work. As the value of a history, however humble, depends upon its authenticity, the reader has a right to know the sources from which I drew my information. When I began to prepare for the work, I counted on finding much documentary material. My hopes were quenched in a very short time. Not a letter, diary, or memorandum could I obtain. Repeatedly have I gone with confidence to the families of clergymen and other educated men to ask to be permitted to examine the papers they had left, only to be disappointed. Documents which, to me, would have been of the last consequence I could not ob- tain. Speaking frdm my experience, I would saj' the idea entertained by Mr Brymner, the keeper of the archives at Ottawa, and others, tliat there is much documentary material lying hid in families similar to that of the myniment-chests of Great Britain, is a delusion. The destruction of the pipers of the seigniory-office was an irreparable loss to me, which would have been avoided hAd I assumed the task ten years sooner. Mr Browning did his best to assist me, and his kind- ness I here acknowledge. VI PREFACE. Failing to secure documentary sources of information, I had to depenti almost entirely upon what I could glean in conver; Hations with early settlers, and if there ever was a histoiy written as taken from the lipf of actors in or eye-witnesses of the scenes depicted, it is that now submitted, I visited jvery old settler I could learn of, and thus listened to what over 300 had to say. There is such a difference among men and women in accurocy of observation and power of memory, that information of this nature has to be carefully dealt with, and the narratives I obtained I compared and sifted, and when I found serious discrepancies or had doubts as to the correctness of what had been told me, I paid more than one visit to the same person; in a few instances, as many as four or five. The work of interviewing was not only labori- ous, but too often disagreeable, for my reception was not always gracious. That a sane man should neglect his busi- ness and spend his substance on horse-hire to collect old-world stories, and, above all, do so from disinterested motives, was beyond the compi'ehension of many, and curt answers, sus- picious questions, and downright refusals were sometimes my reward for a cold and fatiguing drive over bad roads. In the majority of instances, however, I was kindly received and all the information desired readily conveyed to me. The defects of the book, (and despite all my efforts, I know they are numerous) aiise largely from those unavoidable in verbal sources of information, such as inaccuracy in details and in the sequence of events, and the omission of important par- ticulars. Those who note errors or the absence of facts which ought to find a place in its pages, will oblige me by communi- cating them, so that, should a second edition l^e called for, the necessary changes may be made. I have scrupulously avoided genealogical details or anything approaching to family his- tories, seeking to supply a narrative of the settlement of the district and nothing else. To the general reader it will be too minute; to the inhabitants of the several concessions it will not Ije minute enough. To hit a medium that would satisfy both was impossible, and I have sought rather to meet the expectations of the residents, without including so many details as to make it tiresome to those who know of Hunting- don and her sister-counties only by name. On the lists of old settlei-s much labor has been spent, and yet I know they are de- fective. The man who cleared a lot seldom had the patent issued in his name, so that in the books of the ci'own lands department I found little information as to Huntingdon, and the destruction of the seigniory books left no other recourse PREFACE. vii as to the other two counties than the memories of oM resi- clentH. The lists for Franklin and Havelock that I compiled were so incomplete that I could not print them. Of Hcming- ford I could obtain none. In speaking of that township, I would express my obligations to Mr Scriver, M. P., for the great trouble he took in obtaining for me all the information that lay in his power regarding it. No one, with the exception of my friend Mr Younie, did as much to a.ssist me. Touching the sources from which I have drawn my ma- terial for the chapters relating to the war of 1812 and the rebellion, I would .state that I supplemented what oral infor- mation I obtained, by a conscientious examination of all the histories and documents I could obtain access to in Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec. Because my narrative of the campaign of Hampton and of the encounters at Odelltown differ widely from those previously printed, the reader is not to conclude I am in error. My investigations into the campaign on the Cha- teaugay gave as great a shock to my own preconceptions of it as the account in these pages can to any of its readers. My duty was to follow the best authorities I could find, and I could not reject the despatches and statements of those en- gaged on both sides in the campaign and accept the figments that have passed current in Canadian histories. In this, as in other parts of the work, I have reproduced to the best of my ability a true picture of what actually occurred, without considering who would be pleased or offended thereby. In the chapter on the rebellion I have drawn largely from the eviilence given in the State Trials. The book is a realization of only part of my design, for I had in view a history of the district to the close of the second Fenian raid. That would have brought in the transition- period in its history, the stage between that of bush -farming and modern culture, the volunteer movement of 1838 and the establishment of the Huntingdon Troop; the introduction of the principle of self-government into scholastic and municipal affairs, a most important yet unwritten chapter in Canadian history; the forming of congregations, and over half came into being after 1838; the building of the Beauharnois canal, with its riots and the creation of Valleyfield ; the drift in political events, from Dunscotnb's stormy return to the first election under Confederation ; the rebellion losses ; the social ' changes wrought in those years; in short, have completed my picture of wh^ I consider to be the formative-period in the life of Canada. I was unable to do so, however, not from want ot will or material, but of means, for in publishing the VIU PUEFACE. book as it stands, I had tivnchcd so fjir upon my rosoiirces that I dared uoi go faitluT. Although disappoint«Ml in hcing prevented from carrying out my design, I have the satisfac- tion of knowing tha" the narrative is complete as an account (jf the settlement of the tlu'ce counties. I helieve that the hook will be of more than local value, and found my belief on these reasons ; 1. That it is the first to give a full account, prepared* from original sources, of the events of the war of 1812 in this pro- vince, for the operations in the first county of Huntingdon comprise all that happened in Quebec during these- three eventful years, excepting Wilkinson's I'epulse at Lacolle mill, 2. That it is original in giving a minute yet cojnprehensive picture of how Canada was made : of how its ]U()neers sub- dued the wilderness and left the country what we find it. There are numberless narratives of life in the bush, there arc many county histories ; but this is the first attempt to give the experience not of one or two settlers, but of scores, not colored to make a fascinating book, or told by persons of a romantic disposition, but the unvarnished narratives of men and women whose hanils were stiffened and backs bent by the toils and sufferings they relate, and not one of whom would have reduced their stories to writing. How Hunting- dpn and its sister counties wt.'re made is a sample of how Ontario and Canada were maile, and the making of Canada must form at the base of all true histories of our country. 3. It gives an almost comph^te history of the rebellion of 1838, for the head and front of the rising of that year was in the district that falls within its .scope, while it takes up a subject which other histories have ignored, the relations of the two races. That the book will be of permanent value I am somewhat doubtful, and while engaged in its preparation I often asked myself. Is the play worth the candle ? and considered whether I should not abandon it. After debating the matter the con- clusion I always reached was, that though the present genera- tion might possibly regard a record of the settlement of the district of Beauharnois as trite and commonplace and dismiss it with disdain, a tinte would come when some future Buckle or Macaulay would turn to its pages for information on sub- jects pi-eserved nowhere else, and the thought (possibly a foolish one) that I was working for future generations, en- couraged me to persevere and complete my task, when I had naught else to cheer me. ^ To THE Youth of the District of Beauharxois I Dedicate This Book, in the Hope that the Record it Preserves of the Sacrifices its First Settlers Made, of the Privations they Endured IN Redeeming It from the Wilderness, and in Defending It against Invasion and Rebellion, MAY Incite them to Emulate their Self-denyino Thrift and Persevering Industry, and Deepen IN THEIR Hearts the Sentiment of Loyalty to The Mother Land and of Devotion to The Land of their Birth. Robt. Sellab. HISTORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF BEAUHARNOIS. CHAPTER I. THE CREATION OF THE SEIGN' V.IES. At th«> Ixjginning of the present century the '^ordy emi- grant, as lie toiled upon his wearj' way frotn iaVo Champlain b) the west, on looking dov,-n from one of th< .' spurs of the Adirondacks which nearest approach Canada, could see a great plain, stretching northward until ended by a range of hills similar to that on which he stood, whose isolated peaks alone indicate their presence. In the centre of this vast plain, the gleam of the St Lawrence would catch his eye, and the thought could hardly fail to occur to him, that, at some distant period in the past, the forest-covered flat which stretched beneath him, umst have- been the IxkI of a great inland sea, with the Adirondacks on the south and the Laurentian range on the north as its shores, and that the mighty river before him is merely its residuum. With that portion of the plain that lies south of the St Lawrence, and is formed into a triangle by the international boundarj'- line, the hhse starting at Chateaugay Basin and the apex at St Regis, I have to deal, and my pui-pose is to tell how this section which, at the opening of the century, was a howling- wilderness, impenetitible st/e to the Indian as he sought the wild-beast in his lair, has l^ecome transformed into one of the most highly cultivated districts in the Do- minion. And not alone the interest that must ever attach to narratives of early settlement belongs to the story I THE INDIANS. have to tei!, for it will comprise the history of a community distinct from every other in the province vi. Quebec. With the Eastern Tovn.ships, with wliich they ai'c often erroneous- ly classed, the English-speaking settlements of the district of Beauharnois have no affinity. The firet settles of the Eastern Townships were Americans, and between the customs and habits of their descendants and those of the people who live to th(.' .south of them there is no material ditference, but tliey who dwell by the Chateaugay and its tributaries are oi; Did Country stock, and in character, ways of life, and speech present nearly as striking a contrast to the Amer- icans, who are divided from them by an imaginary boundary- line, :is they do to the French Canadians who are found among them and who hem them in to the north and east. Thus it comes that my narrative deals not only with an isolated and peculiarly situated portion of the Dominion, but with a connnunity distinct from the neighboring popu- lations and possessing a marked individuality. My story is that of the chief settlement in Quebec of Old Country im- migrants, of their sti'Uggles, their trials, and their triumphs in subduing an inhospitable tract of country, and of their relations with the French-Canadian people, amidst whom they exist like a sand bank in the sea, always threatened with overflow and extinction, yet unchanged and unmoved by the surrounding wateiu . ,* Of the history previous to the year 1800 of that portion of Canada which lies between the mouths of the Chateaugay and of the St Regis little can be said, and it is a satisfaction to the enquiring mind to kno\y, that this is not only because little has been preserved but that there was little to tell. The country was in a state of nature, and its chief inhabitants were wandering bands of Indians. There had, indeed, been a time when a race superior to Huron or Iroquois possessed the land, for the striking eminence on Nuns* island, and the smaller one on the mainland to the south of it, tell of the presence of that singular people, the Mound Builders. The mound on the island is in admirable preservation and the largest in the Dominion. No attempt at excavation has yet THE SEIGNIORY OF CnATEAUrUY. been made. Considering that the district was a favorite hunting-ground, the fewness of the Indian relics preserved is singular, and attributable, probably, to the heedlessness of the settlei*s, who cast aside the fragments the plow turned up. Along the river-banks, stone arrow-heads, toma- hawks, and pottery have been frequently found. On the point on the north V)ank of the Chateaugay. where the English river unites with it, was a considerable clearing, which the first settlers believed had been made bv the Indians and which they named Indian point. From the quantity of stone weapons and implements which were un- earthed, their surmise that the cleai-ance had Vieeii thi- site of an Indian village was a reasonable one. They discovered no iron relic of thet;" times with the exception of a pronged spear, which must have required a handle two inches thick. The traces of the presence of the French during what may be termed the romantic period — the nge of exploration and missionary joumeyings — are equally dim. While pass- ing over lake St Francis, nightfall overtook C^amplaiu off the mouth (jf- the Laguerre, and drawing up his canoes on the shingly beach he kindled his camp fire. From a xery early date there must have been a portage-trail along the bank from Hunijrv bav to Melocheville, for the soutli chjninel was used by the voyageui-s. Although the great ri\^er that lx)uuded it was thus r. liigh- way, the French obtained uo foothold in the district until long after their-taking possession of the couutr\\ This arose from the insecunty oaused by hostile Indians, and it v.as not until the subjugaticm of the tribes l>y Frontenac, after the massacre at Lachine, that it became safe to attempt a foot- hold on the south bank. Isle Perrot anA'as a large buyer of the land scrip ottered by militia- men and others. Francis Winter, an American, -vvas engaged to act as local agent, and William Waller to make a general survey of the seigniory and lay out in lots a portion of th? lands bordering the St Lawrence and the Chateaugay, and this task he seems to have fulfilled in the summer of 1800. In laying out the seigniory he divided it into sections, giving them the names they still bear — Catherinestown, Helenstown, Marystown, Annstown, North and South Geoi-getoAvn, Orms- town, Jamestown, Williamstown, Edwardstpwn, and Russel- town, being the Christian names of Mr EUice's children. The seigniory itself Avas named Annfield, after Mrs Ellice, and the chef lieu Annstown (now the town of Beauhamois), which had been selected on account of its being the only bay between Chateaugay Basin and the foot of the rapids, and the only place having water-power, which, even at that date, was utilized, for there was a small sawmill at the mouth of the St Louis, which apparently as early as 1780 began chang- ing the noble pine-trees that overhung its waters into boards, which were sold to the habitants on the north shore and rafted to the city. Bej^ond surveying it, Mr Ellice did nothing towards settling his great estate. He died in 1804. From several old deeds I have examined, I am disposed to believe that he intended each of his children should inherit the portions to which he gave their names. CHAPTER II 11:1 Ml THE FORMING OF THE TOWNSHIPS. 'With the overthrow of French rule ceased, of course, the creating of seigniories, so that, after the American revo- lution, when the southern boundaiy of Canada was estab- lished, there lay a vast tract of territory between the seigniories and the fi'ontier, which was called "waste lands/* As the seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois occupied the greater part of the wedge-shaped piece of land west of Caughnawaga, there was only a ragged fringe of waste land between them and the United States. The necessity of pro- viding for the soldiei*s who had served in the American war apparently first suggested the propriety of surveying this tract and dividing it into townships. This was done by Mr Chewett, deputy-surveyor-genei-al, in 1788-9, when he defined the boundaries of the non-fief land west of the Richelieu, and which constitutes the present county of Huntingdon, its singular shape arising from its being formed of the gores left after forming the seigniories. Before Mr Chewett sent in his report, the political status of the province underwent a change. Up to 1791 it had been under military rule, which suited the requirements of the country very well. The Canada act ended this, and substituted a modified consti- tutional system. The sole territorial division heretofore had been that of the seigniories, but now the English plan of counties, and. where they did not interfere with the seign- iories, of townships, was introduced. In May 1792 a procla- mation was issued dividing the province into 21 counties, all of them, with six exceptions, bearing such English names as Devon, Hertford, Kent, and York. Out of the district lying west o^ the Richelieu a large county was formed and named Huntingdon. The choice of name governed the sub- divisions, and Mr Chewett, who did not file his report until I I f THE COUNTY OF HUNTINGDOX. tf by Mr [eiined jhelieu, ion, its gores ;t sent lerwent which The consti- »re had (Ian of seign- Iprocla- [)untie8, names Idistrict led and He sub- L-t until 1795, took from old Huntingdon the names Heniingford,* Godraanchester, Hinchingbrook for three of his townships. Each county was allotted the right to send two members to the legislative assembly then constituted. The election was held in June, the month following the issue of the proc- lamation, when Hypolite St George Dupre and C. C. Larimier were returned for Huntingdon. The poll was opened at St PhilUpe and probably the two members were from that neigliborhood. The thus forcing constitutional government upon the habitants was a great absurdity, for they had no conception of it and were unfitted for self-government. They took what was meant by the Imperial authorities to be a privilege as a deep-laid plot to tax them, and regarded t)ie poll as a place to be tabooed, and whoever voted as an enemy of the country. So strong was this ignorant delusion, that twenty years after the electoral system was introduced; there were large parishes whose inhabitants boasted that a vote had never been given by them. The consequence was, that, outside the towns, for many years, the holding of elections was nominal, and the members returned went in by acclamation. These members were, with few exceptions, so ignorant that they could not read or write. The intention of dividing the land surveyed by Mr Chewett among the veterans of the American war was carried out to a limited extent only. A large portion of Godmanchester (which then included St Anicet) was so ceded and a small part of Hinchinbi-ook. The recipients sold their claims, which were bought up mainly for Mr EUice at trifling cost, with the exception of a party of them who formed a settle- ment on the 2nd range of St Anicet, and which dotted the ridge from Ogilvie's hill to the Laguerre. When that settle- ment was- formed, who belonged to it, and what its experience was, I liave been unable to ascertain. This alone is known, * The additional m seems to have crept in from an idea that the township was named after a person by the name of Hemming. The dropping of the g in Hinchinbrook fol- lowed its ordinary pronunciation. I :■ 12 PLANS OF SETfLEMENT. i:: !i! illl ill;: that, at the outbreak of the war in 1812, it was abandoned, and when the first immigrants came, they found a row of some ten roofless shanties and of clearings covered with saplings. What was to be done with the wild lands outside the seigniories perplexed the executive very much. The simple plan of throwing them open to actual settlers does not seem to have occurred to those who then governed the province. Being deeply imbued with aristocratic ideas, they sought after the creation of a territorial gentry, and proposed to grant the townships to cadets of English houses, who, they expected, would get the land settled by a class of farmers who would pay them rent. Nay more, one-seventh of the land was to be reserved for the support of a clergyman of the Church of England, so that each township would have its rector as well as its magnate. Had the plan worked, we would liave had in the townships the Old Country system of tenants and landlords — of a hun- dred farmers paying rent to a little autocrat. They might as well have proposed to establish the Highland clan system. It was impracticable, and the only result of the attempt was that a number of favorites got large grants of wild lands which they did nothing whatever to improve. The plan w^as subsequently moditied by granting each tov/nship to a leader and associates, the former paying the survey and patent-fees and selling the lots at what he could to his associates and others. It is pitiful to see how, in these critical years, the rulers of the province were trammelled by antiquated and impracticable idea^, when, under a common- sense policy of selling to whoever would clear the land, the townships might have been thickly settled by Old Country- men. In 1792 Walter Dibblee of St Johns was instructed to survey Hemingford, and was followed the next year by Joseph Kilburn, who was directed to lay it out into farms, excepting the portions reserved for the clergy and for the crown. He completed his field-work that fall, and drew his plans at his home at Longueuil, transmitting them to Quebec LAND GRANTS. 18 lands plan [p to a ly and to his these led by nmon- id, the [untry- Ited to jar by farms, tor the few his )uebec in March, 1794. In his report, he stated that he had made the lots as unifonnly 200 acres in extent as possible, with an allowance of 5 per cent, for roads, and that he Imd left two blocks undivided, one of 8,075 acres for the clergy and one of 7,220 for the crown. The total acreage he had divided into lots was 58,600, and of it he wrote : "The land is very good, and fit for the cultivation of any kind of grain peculiar to this country. Timbered chiefly with birch, bass- wood, maple, hemlock, some pine, butternut and elm, except the swamps, which are cedar and spruce. The land is well- watered, and there ai'c some falls in the diflferent rivers which will admit of good mill seats." In 1793 W. Walker was sent to begin the survey of Hinchinbrook and was followed by Henry Holland the same season. They did not complete their task, however, for in 1801 J. Rankin finished what they had left undone. Hemingford and Hinchinbrook were erected into townships by proclamation of Governor Sir A. Clarke. The first large grant in the Huntingdon townships is dated January 3, 1779, when General Prescott deeded over 7000 «,cres in Hinchinbrook to Gilbert Miller, and in March follow- ing nearly 40,000 acres to Robert Miller. Of these persons, I can learn nothing, and they were probably given these gi'ants as being favorites of the government. They and others, to whom like grants were subsequently made, never visited their domains nor did anything towards settling them. Of all to whom grants were made, probably Robert EUice and the other heirs of Alexander EUice, alone realized any- thing. In 1811 they got a grant of 25,592 acres in God- manchester and of 3719 in Hinchinbrook, in settlement of the land claims their father had bought from old soldiers. These lands were held, some as long as 70 years, by the EUice family until sold to actual settlei's at high prices. While the government was moving thus bunglingly in the matter of settlijig the townships, a movement sot in which resulted in a portion of them being taken up. The agitation of the American colonists to throw off their d^Uegiance to Great Britain was not the unanimous one that is generally 14 THE UNITED EMl'IRE LOYALISTS. ■'ill supposed. There was no inconsiderable number who held that so extreme a step was unjustifial)le and who exerted themselves in opposition to it. When hostilities began, many who thought thus left their homes and joined the king's troops. Those who remained on their farms, where the in- surgents had control, were subjected to cruel persecutions by their neighbors. The legislatures of several states passed acts confiscating the property of all who refused to swear fealty to the new republic; that of Ma^achusctts went further, it ordered them into banishment. Wherever de- prived of the protection of the British army, those who remained true to the king, had neither liberty of speech nor pen. It became the fashion to organize mobs to visit the houses of people whose only crime was devotion to the gov- ernment of their fathers, and outrages, often too disgraceful to detail, were perpetrated upon them and their families. When a man like John Adams reconnnended "to fine, im- prison, and hang all inimical to the cause " of sepamtion from Great Britain, it may be i'nagined to what excesses the lower classes would proceed. Many loyalists from terix)r, for the sake of their children, or to save their property, took the oath of allegiance to the republic, but there was a noble remnant, who would not do violence to their principles, and, abandoning all their hard earnings, fled to some place where they could enjoy peace and liberty under the British flag. Of the tens of thousands who, at the end of the war, thus left the United States for conscience' sake, a number sailed to Great Britain, many to the West Indian islands, but the greater part emigrated to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada Many of the latter number came by way of lake Champlain, and of those who did, not a few took up land on the banks of the Richelieu. As the families of these loyalists grew up, the sons had to find homes for themselves, and naturally did so by moving back into the bush, and so became the first settlers of Hemingford. Another, and much more powerful agency in settling the townships came into being about the same time. The sterile New England States had become overpopulated, and as the THE INFLUX FROM NEW EXfJLAXD. 15 manufacturing intorest was then in its infancy, the rising gvneration wjis forced to l(X)k for other lands to till. In reading the chronicles of these times, it is curious to note how the country west of lake Chaniplain was regarded in the same light as the people of our day look upon the North- west — as a field for immigi'ation. The talk of the gi'oups who kets and carrying a small mm yxit and some peas, they traver.sed the shores of thu Bay of Fundy, and after a journey of many privations and which lasted 9 >Neeks, they walked into Boston, when?, owing to word coming of WoUe .s victory on the plains of Abraham, they staj'ed. Events j.ioved fast The downfall of French rule on this continent removed tho ;;veat ol>stacle to the American colonies leaving the protection of the Mother Country, and the revolution lx>gan. As was generally the case, our four Acadians sided with Britain, and, after a stay of some 8 or 9 years 'n Boston, made for Canada. One Ijrother found a home at L'Acadie in Laprairie, where his descendants, a numeixjus host, still are, another settled at Jaci^ues Cartier, and a third went to the Northwest. The fourth, Eustache, found a wife at LaPierre river, opposite the Sault, and stayed there some time, leaving it for Chateaugay Basin, where two of his sons, Benjamin and Norbert, were baptized. A proclama- tion being issued, declaring Godftianchester open for American refugees, and offering all who would go 3 years' provisions,, Eustache, who had no land of his own, accepted the offer. In 1795 he moved his young family, the oldest Ijeing six, to lots 48 and 49, 1st range. When he came, there was no settler west of where Valleyfield now stands, though then, or soon after. Knight, of Dutch origin, built a shanty on what is now known as Knight's point. East of Knight, opposite 'Grande isle, lived Dunn, of like descent Hungiy bay and ^all west of it was a desolation, the only frequenters being Uhe Indians, whose occasional wigwams were seen, where they [pitched them for fishing or hunting, and, in winter tha Ishanties of lumbermen, as they plundered the woods. Dupuis, limself a lumberman, attacked the giant pines, that grew 3 18 FRENCH SQUATTERS ON THE LAKESHORE. thick behind his humble shanty on the lakeshore, and by the «ale of inasis maintained his family. His third son, Ncrbert Benjamin, was an infant when he came, and he was baptized at the churcli at the Cedai"s. The nearest mill was at Corn- wall, and to it he went until that of Fort Covington was 4)uilt, and that at St Timothy. To reach the latter Wt*s dangerous, and skill was needed to savxj the flour from being wetted by the foaming waters of the rapids. Dupuis had no neighbor for a year or so, when Genier, a retired officer, who had been granted lot 26 for his services, came, and was followed by Chretien, on lot 2H, and by Delonne dit LeMay on No. 32. The Cazas came next, and being a large family •of stout young men, they made their mark, all taking up lots, •except Baptiste, who lumbered along the Loguerre. L'Ecuyer took up lot 27. All these men were Acadian.s. Cascagnette squatted on lot 50, and so became neighbor to Dupuis. On the point of Cascagnette 's lot were buried those who died in the infant settlement, but so great was Dupuis' repugnance to using unconsecrated ground, that, when his wife died in 1828, he placed the coffin in a canoe and paddled it to the church- yard of St Regis. He was a famous builder of large canoes, which were called in those days peeros, a corruption of pi- Togue. These canoes were hollowed out of the largest pines obtainable and were blunt at both ends. For common use the smaller and speedier canoes of Indian model superseded them. In 1835 the old pioneer sank to his rest at the good old age of 84, and was placed beside his wife. Up to the last, though most anxious to hear of their fate, he never learned aught of the parents he left so sadly in Acadia. In addition to those enumerated, J. B. Cartier took up his abode at a very early date on the site of St Anicet village, a little west oof Massoh's store. He lived to see his 101st year. Bercier, H^uenneville, Saucier, and Desvoyans were on the shore west of him. Dupuis and the other settlers named were, in the K3yes of the law, squatters, for, whether entitled or not to •their lots, they neglected to draw patents for them, and held 'them, when their titles were questioned, by prescription. Dupuis' claim to the lots he lumbered on was disputed by «n JAMES FISHER. 1» the bert ized orn- )eing id no , who I was eMay amily p lota, icuyer «ynette I Oix iicd in Mice to n 1828. ;hurch- canocs, of pi- |t pines ion use lerseded 10 good the last, I learned Iddition lie at a [tie west [Bercier, [)re west L', in the not to Ind held cription. luted by Ell ice, but unsuccessfully. His son Antoine, for services during the war of 1812, in canyiug despatches from Chat- eaugay Basin to Coteau and Cornwall, was rewarded by a graut of 200 acres and the title of major. Ho died at St Aniceb village when 94 years old. He was wont to relate the dangers he ran of being captured and shot when the AmeiT- ean flotilla under Wilkinson blocked the river below Cornwall. Meanwhile a settlement was growing up at the other extremity of the county. At an early period, possibly 1795, a Dutch American, Jonathan Wettson, took up land op the front range of Hemingford and others squatted near him. None of them remained long. The first influx of permanenfc settlers was in 1800, when several families of U. E, Loyjilista moved from Lacolle and neighborh(X)d into Hemingford. The first to go was a Scotchman, James Fisher. He -was a native of Killin, Perthshire, could speak Gaelic, and his parents emi- grated to the United States when ho was 12 years of age. Following the fortunes of the British arms, he left all and sought a new home at the head of lake Champlain, near Alburgh. On the to- vnships being surveyed it was found that th(5 boundary-lino, established in 1771-2, was wnmgly located in places, and that Fisher was actually in the United States and not in Canada as he supposed. Determined to make sure tliis time, he sought and obtained a lot in Heming- ford, receiv'ng the patent for No. 4, 1st range, in March, 1799. While at Alburgh lie had married. Before sleighing went, in t1ic spring of 1800, he m(>ved his family, all yourg, on to his new possession. He haught jame, trticu- ' bush- table. )cks o£ r them, iter. ts thus 1 on the gun by ative of ,ngland. ylvania, (reaking \i High- ,he war Afttr to him, ih April, [d beasts caused [eturning ilders, a front of object of »t neigh- ;as Sweet of Ver- le revolu- |nnington, oath olt allegiance to King George and enlisted in tlie British service* AS a drummer. At the peace he got his discharge, returned home, and married. Having a hankei-ing for Canada, lie •letermined to make it his home, and with two brothers-in- law, Grouse and Oliver, started northward about 1798, and sjjuatted on the three lirat lots of Havelock, their inducement in choosing them being the bonus of $200 off'ered by Wool- rich to those who would clear 30 acres on any of his lots.. At tho same time as Sweet and his relatives came, a family,, probably Scotch and loyalist refugees from the States, moved in from Sorel, the father, Rach Gordon, taking up lot 17 and the son IG. The very day they arrived, the old man lifted his gun and a small keg of liquor they had brought^ saying he would look around and see if theie was anything- to shoot, his purpose being to hide the keg for his own use^ He did not return and all search proved futile. Half a> century after, when the family had gone, a rusty musket barrel, with the rings that bound it to the stock, and a few scraps of hoop-iron, were found in the woods towards tho Flats, and those who had heard their parents talk of the lasted on (Hilloden Moor. He was brought up to the business of inaltman and brewer, which, in those days, when milk was Lsparce and tea almost imknown, was a good one, every town jnnd village in Scotland having its brewer of tal)le-beer. Inch was the only beverage u^ed at meals by the middle L'lassos. A certificate, as to his good character and standings from the parish minister of Dunblane, shows he had been a. resident of that place for 12 years in 1784, the year when »e emigrated to America On reaching the United States 24 THE SWEET SETTLEMENT. he got employment at his calling in New Jersey, where he lived several years and where he married again (for he was a widower when he left the Old Country), his choice being Anne Yale of Connecticut, a member of the well-known New Haven family. They moved to Vermont, where in Charlotte, a small village on Lake Champlain, he found employment at liis business, which he afterwards left upon purchasing a, farm of 50 acres some distance from it. Cherishing a deep love for the mother land, the abuse of Great Bntain and her institutions, epidemic among our neighbors during the French Kcvolution, and which they carried to a great length, was distasteful to him and he wanted to get back under the old flag, to wliich he was the more urged by the heavy taxes that then pressed upon the republic. Packing up his effects, he moved, as stated, into Hemingford, and occupied lot 19. Opposite to him, on 70, was Dady, on 69 was James Gilfillan, a Highlander, and adjoining were Oliver Hubbell, William Brisbin, and Samuel Covey, all Americans. The little com- munity lived in great harmony and in a state of mutual helpfulness. When Sweet had earned the bonus, he bought lot 20 from Captain Ephraim Sanford, who was on half-pay, for SI 50, and which he designed as a homestead. He moved on to it in 1805, which was a memorable year from a cyclcne visiting the seitlement. It was in June, while he was logging on his new lot, assisted by neighbors, that Sweet observed a feai-ful looking cloud suddenly loom up in the north-west, and move in their direction with incredible speed. The men • fled for shelter, and in the rush the oxen got abeam of a big rock (still to be seen on the south side of the road), when the yoke snapped and they ran ditFerent ways. The men got into Gentle's shanty, but the first blast lifted off the roof, when they rushed out and flung themselves on the ground, amid the roar of the storm and the crashing of falling trees. The blast soon passed to the southeast, and the men looked with awe on the destruction it had wrought. For about 1 h miles in width it had mown a clear track through the forest, the trees being levelled. One of the oxen was found killed, the other could not be seen, and it was only after searching THE CYCLONE. 25 ore he \G was being iiNew avlotte, >yinent chasing ; a deep and her French rth, was • the okl ry taxes 9 effects, i lot 19. Gilfillan. William ttle com- £ mutual ,e bought half-pay, e moved a cycle nc .8 logging Ibserved a »rth-west, The men • •earn of a >ad), when The men the roof, ;e ground, iling trees. jien looked about Ij the forest, tnd killed, searching 'I a day or two that it was found pinned in a hollow by a fallen tree, and with its back worn bare in the effort to escape. The poor beast was released and did good service after that. Several cows were killed, and a man, who hap- pened to be passing over the hill at tlie time, had a narrow escape. Sweet had sown two acres witli wheat, and it was so covered with debris that it was lost The calamity was so discouraging, that the settlers were for abandoning their homes, believing that to clear up the land, encumbered witli the fallen trees, was impossible for them. The year after, Covey moved to 33, beside O'Neill, and although he was not the first settler upon it, for O'Neill was 9 years before him, the hill came to be known by his name. With his life on Covey hill I will deal presently. Up to 1812 a number of Americans came in and there was quite a settlement from Covey's down to Sweet's. A school was opened in the bam of one of Sweet's brothers-in-law, who lived on the Havelock line, and there was preaching occasionally by itinerant minis- ters from across the frontier. Sweet had brought with him from Vermont a mare, and, by-and-by, had a team, which, as the only horses in the settlement, were in request when a couple had decided to face life together, and wanted to go to Mooers, N.Y., to find a justice to make them one. After a prosperous cai*eer of eight years or so, the settle- ment began to decay, the cause being the inability of the settlers to buy their lots out and out. A wealthy Montreal merchant, James Woolrich, believing that wild lands would prove a good investment, began, as Mr EUice was doing in the western end of the county, to buy up the claims and patents of those to whom land had been granted in Heming- ford, and few of whom had gone to see them. In this way, for a nominal sum, he acquired, between the years 1798 and 181G, about 12,000 aci*es. He purposed to hold the land in his own name, renting to tenants on terms somewhat similar to those of the seigniories. To actual settlers he would sell for a nominal price, subject to a perpetual low yearly rental, payable to him and his successors. His design was to create, as near as might be, a seigniory out of township land. He 26 DECLINE OF THE SETTLEMENT. ! lilh: (lid little to facilitate the settlement of the blocks of land he acquired beyond bui) " ""if a small grist and sawmill on the English river, on lot i*7, about 1808. It had a run of stones for wheat and another for com, and the miller was a Scotchman, Archibald Muir, who subsequently settled in Franklin. When the settler's (several of whom had taken up lots under the belief that they belonged to the crown) came to understand that Mr Woolrich would not give them absolute possession of the land, but that, on getting over their first difficulties, they would have to begin and pay him rent, they were much annoyed and contemplated abandoning their improvements and taking up land of which they would be unconditional owners. They were the more disposed to do so, from their knowledge that, west of them, lay a country superior to that in which they were. Every season families went past their doors to settle in what was then called Russeltown, now Franklin, and sevei-al of them, among them Mr Gentle, resolved to do likewise. The finishing-blow to the settlement came in the summer of 1812, when a procla- mation was issued requiring all foreign-bom residents to take the oath of allegiance or leave the country. With a few exceptions, the Ameiicans declined to become British subjects, and left. Covey was among those who left at the outbreaking of the war, and his life during his stay on Covey hill was so peculiar that it deserves describing. His father, Samuel (^ovey, was reputed to be of Irish descent, and moved from New York state at the close of the revolution and settled at Alburgh with the other loyalists. In recognition of his .sacrifice.'- for the British cause, ho received a grant of lot 38, on the 1st range of Hemingford, and not caring to live upon it himself, he gave it to his oldest son, Samuel, on his mar- riage with the daughter of a neighbor-loyalist, and they went through the wilderness to take possession. They stayed (as has been related) for some time in the Sweet settlement, and then moved upwards to their lot. While building a shanty, they lodged in Gilfillan's, which had for a door a large piece of elm-bark. Gilfillan was among tliose who had moved oflT SAMUEL COVEY. JT Woolricli's land and had squatted on 134. '"'ovey was a cooper and he raised beside his shanty a log-shop, where he mode the wooden-dishes, called keelers, used in the dairy before tin-pans were known, and tubs and pails and potash barrels. .Small as was his custom he did not attend to it, for he was a bom-hunter, and gloried in the wilderness in which he was placed. He shot moose and trapped beaver, being, probably, the Tast to do so in Huntingdon, together with innumerable deer and smaller game. The spoil he thus obtained mainly furnished his table, and Mrs Covey found the flesh of the moose to more nearly resemble beef than anything he brought, and the bones to be full of marrow. During his frequent absences, she passed the nights in terror of wild beasts, but her fear of Indians was still greater. These denizens of the forest roamed the slopes of Covey hill and the wilderness to the south of it in search of game, and keenly resented the intrusion of white men in their pursuits, holding that all wild animals pertained to them and carrying out their doctrine by confiscating any skins they found in their possession. Knowing this, when she saw Indians ap- proach, Mrs Covey hid any furs there might be in the house. Her greatest fright was caused by the sudden appeai-unce of two Indians and four squaws, who coolly appropriated the cooper-shop as their place of abode. The untutored savages had no more conception of the rights of property than of the proprieties, and with stolid unconsciousness that they were doing anything wrong, plucked the ears of the com on the scanty patch and searched over the little shanty as if it were their own. Only one place they failed to explore, the bed, and under it Mrs Covey had concealed the fui*s then on hand. She had raised some flax the summer before, had spun it, and got it woven at some distant settlement, and was now cutting the cloth so obtained into garments. She missed a sleeve and other portions, and managed to make known her loss to an Indian, who could speak a few words of English. He said nothing, but, when leaving, a young sijuaw, who had piirloined the cloth, at his instance, restored it, with a pair of moccasins and some toys for the infant. 28 LIFE ON THE HILL, showinjj that the sense of right survives in the human breast even when the conscience is unenliglitened. To Mrs Covey's great relief, her unwelcome visitors then left Mention has been marlc of an infant. When it was about to be born, she had gone on a visit to her father's, where she was delivered, and returned again to her lonely home on the hill-top, clasp- ing the little Rachel to her bosom. Necessarily a close intimacy grew between her and her nearest neighbor, the O'Neills, so much so that when either she or Mrs O'Neill had occasion to leave home, they entrusted to one another the care of their children. Before she left the hill, four children were born to Mrs Covey. To fill their little mouths. Covey still, with the carelessness of a hunter, relied more on his gun than on enlarging and cultivating his clearance, and moose meat was more common than bread. When he had a grist, or had money, obtained by selling furs, to pur- chase flour, he went to Chateaugay. At first he made the journey on foot, carrying the bag, but latterly he got a pony to bear it, and he would start out with a hatchet in his belt to blaze the trees and his gun over his shoulder. When the pony had to be fed, he fastened a rope to its neck and wrapping the other end round his wrist he slept while it grazed. For this rude life Covey was adapted by nature, for though under the average stature, he was thiek.set and of great strength. He was wont to relate that he was only once in peril of his life. He fired at a large bull moose and wounded it, when the infuriated animal dashed at him before he could reload His presence of mind did not desert him, and as the brute neared him he stepped behind a small tree. With lowered head the animal did not see him move, and ran against the tree, its horns branching on either side. Before it could recover from the stun. Covey had killed it Tlie lake and gulf were part of his trapping-ground, and he stated, when he first saw the latter, its sides were so thickly covered with large trees, that their tops almost met Several years afterwards, in 1825, when the HucklebeiTy rock was swept bare by fire, these trees were destroyed. The food of the little household consisted of the fruits of the LEVI STOCK WELL. 29 chnso, boiled corn, and occasionally wheat-bread. The wheat he raised was so affected by smut, that it had to be washed Itefore taking to mill. The cause of his not going to Wool- rich's mill, was that the intervening countrj' was sn) wet that he could seldom reach it with a horse. ' When war broke out in 1812, he listened at last to the entreaties of his wife, who had loner desired to leave the hill, and, selling his lot to W(K)lrich, he retired to La Tortue^ so far inland as to bo out of reach of the coming storm, having lived on the hill 7 years. At La Tortue he stayed a year and moved to Clarenceville, when he entered the army, and was one of tliti guides in Prevost's expedition to Plattsburgli, during which he was threatened with death on suspicion of misleading a column of the army. About 1830 he moved into Fi*anklin and settled down with his brothers, James, Enos, and Archi- bald, on 51 of the 1st range. -His love of the chase cluuij to him and, like all hunters, he v.-as poor. While on a visit to his son John at Gananoque, Ont., he died, at the age of 86, and the following year his faithful partner, who had accom- I>anied him to their son's, was laid beside hira. I have l>een minute in describing the fortunes of Samuel Covey, because no ordinary interest attaches to him, fi"om his name being associated for all time with the only hill in the district. North of Covey hill, on^ Russeltown Flats, a settlement sprung up at the beginning of the ccntuiy. I do not here speak of it, reserving what little I have been able to recover of its early days for the chapter on Havelock, and pass oh to note the successive steps by which the settlers pushed westward from Covey's shanty on the brow of the liill, where the road, or, more properly speaking, ti-ack, Ijent northwards and passed over the shoulder of the hill and came out at the line between 134 and 136, where lived Levi Stockwell and his son David, whose name has been perpetuated in that of the postoffice. Stockwell had served on the American side in the war of the revolution and to qualify him to draw his pension lived part of the year on the American side of the line. He was much addicted to drink, and the surprise was common that one so dissipated should live so long. 30 JACOB MANNINO. 'I' ii The road from Stockwell's west foUowdl, with slight varia- tions, its present coui*se, and grew out of the track made by those journeying into Franklin to take up land. The first shanties encountered were those of Jacob Manning, lots 15 and 16, and his brother-in-law, Gilbert Mayne, lots 13 and 14. Maniring's father, though a loyalist, was several times drafted, and escaped serving in the American army by sup- plying substitutes. When the Royalist cause became hopeless he left Poughkeepsie and settled at the head of lake Cham- plain. His son Jacob, when old enough to be doing for himself, went to Monti*eal and worked with Mayne on several contracts, one of which was macadamizing St Paul-stroct, about the iirst, if not the first, attempt of the kind in Canada. Resolving to have homesteads of their own, they visited Huntingdon, and decided on Franklin. They moved in the spring of 1804, going by way of lake Cham plain. At that time there was no road, merely a rude track through the woods. Having some money, they both brought con- siderable stock and made a good start. Their choice of lots was guided by the splendid timber for ashes that covered them, and they did not see that the land was as sUmy as it proved. The potash they made, they hauled on sled.** by a bush-track to a point on the Chateaugay a little below the blockhouse, whence it went by canoe to the Basin. At the same time, or the year before, a German, Jacob Mifcchel, who had long I rton resident in the United States and where he had got aii Ii.sh wife, peneti-ated deeper into Franklin and squatted o^ 4j of the second range. His name has been preserved by being associated with the brook whose erystal waters danced swiftly by his lonesome hut He was followed by a large number of Americans, who came in both by Chateaugay, N.Y., and the Covey hill road. Strange to say, Franklin was of high repute among the land-hunters of these days. The grass was greener and more abundant than in Hemingford, abounding with springs and brooks there were no swamps, and the seasons were deemed earlier and milder. The magnificent growth of hardwood that clad the pleasant slopes was looked upon not merely as valuable AXDREW GENTLE, 31 for prs kept streaming in, so that when the war I loke out in 1812, Franklin was more thickly populated than Havelock or Hemingford. Of those who came in during this period, few pnjved pc>rmanent settlers. The chief of them was Andrew Gentle, who, moved by the reports of tho superiority of Franklin, visited it in 1808 with the view to pick out a lot, when he selected No H on the 2nd ran^e. His choice was decided by a spring whicli poured forth aa abundant stream of the purest water, and beside which he built a shanty, which stood where the road now runs. It was somewhat better than common, for it had 3 windows of 5 panes each, the tiooring was basswood slabs, and for the loft tliere were sawn boards, drawn laboriously from Woolrich's mill and which were the only ones in the settlement. These boards had a singular destiny, for they were taken one by one to make coffins as deaths occurred. Having got a place ready, he moved his family in the folUiw- ing March, the household goods being packed in two sleds, each drawn by an ox, the sleighs being made narrow to pass between the trees on the rude tmck that led to his new home. He also brought four cows with him. That spring he got a good piece of ground cleared and planted with com. He was not a handy man for a bush fann and never became expert with the axe, so that he had to manage to get along by exchanging day's work, he going with his oxen to log or drag for some neighbor who would chop or do other service for him. Though sometimes short lie was never bare of food in those early years, which was more than some of his less provident neighbors could say, for there were instances of their having to go to Rouses Point, returning with a bag of cornmeal, which cost S3, borne by horse or ox, but by not a few of them on their own backs. The seignior, who claimed the surrounding territory though he did not attempt to collect rent, had built a small gristmill on the Outarde, and which stood on the north side of the bridge. It w^as a most primitive affair, having a wheel like a 82 PROGRESS OF FRANKLIX, tub, the water striking an arm, and one run of stones, which ground coarsely. There was a sort of a bolt on an upper story, which was turned by hand. The first miller was an American, Sherman, and his death, in 1809, was the first in the settlement; he was buried in the graveyard to the west of Mr Gentle's, being its first occupant. The mill in summer was often stopped from want of water, when an old malt- mill, which" Mr Gentle had brought with him, was of service, for it could grind corn roughly. In 1809 the immigration into Franklin was large, and what had been an untrodden forest was fast becoming a lively conimunit , The inclination was to settle along the track which in time came to be the main road, and very few were out of sight of it. Among tlie few was Soper, who lived where the villaofe of St Antoine now is. The magnificent growth of hardwood the settlers coined into cash, by making potash, which was in eager demand then at high prices. The labor in getting it to market was very great however, for in summer the only means of doing so was to drag it on oxsleds by way of St Remi to Laprairie and thence by batteaux to Montreal. Each settler genemlly made two trips in the year, and Ijrought back flour aud groceries. The land, as cleared in the making of ashes, was planted with corn and potatoes and some fall wheat was sown, all of which yielded abundantly. The conveniences of the settlement in- creased. A phy.sician came to it in person of an American, Dr Bu'jk, who, 1 is practice being limited, filled ip his spare time by keeping school, and in 1811 another American, Ketchum, opened a small store alongside the gristmill. There were ti'adesmen of different kinds, among them being a Scotchman, Dewar, a blacksmith, who had his shop on lot 4, 1st ranjje of Russeltown. The want of lumber was so severely felt by the settlers that thej'^ clubbed together to secure a sawmill. The. machinery was brought from the States, and the mill set agoing on lot 6 of the ninth range. It was run by Joseph Towns, an American. CHAPTER IV. nps and, corn vhicU Irangt'. THE FIRST SETTLERS ON THE CHATEAUOAY AND TROUT RIVER. At the time its eastern frontier was being fnnged with the petty clearings of iirst settlers, the district was penetrated by the Chateaugay by a considerable body of men in search of land. Those who first traversed its waters with the view of establishing homes upon its banks were Americans, and, unlike those who moved in by Homingford. without admix ture of United Empire Loyalists. In 1790 the New York ledslature had voted a sum to make a road westward fi-oni lake Chauiplain to the St Lawi'ence, and in 1796 a ti'ail was cut out from Plattsburgh to what ultimately became the village of Four Comers, now known as Chateaugay, N.Y. In the ijarly spring of that year Benjamin Roberts moved from Vermont with his family and established himself on &> lot abf/ut a mile north of the present village. To get there, during the latter part of his journey, he had to drag his household goods on handsleds over the snow, the brush being too thick for ox or horse, Ms wife walking with an infant in her arms and he himself earxying his youngest boy. He was the first settler in Fraiiklin county, and when Nathan 7^ man followed in the summer, his wife was the Cist won. u 'frs Roberts had seen for three months. These two families were the advance-guard of the great body of immigrants which, from that year, began to pour into Franklin and St I^wrence counties. As they settled down, they naturally turned to exploring the country in their vicinity, and those in the neighborhood of Chateaugay very speedily followed the course of the river that bounded northward in d succession of impetuous rapids, and found, rfter dei; •cuilug the hills, that its turbulent waters expanded int^ a Aohke and pk^^i'd river, which, with many a curve, wound through a wide- m 34 AMERICANS SQfJAT ALONG THE CHATEAUGAY. ,: ,:r wl\ II. If. • spreading plain of fertile soil. The advantages pi*esented by the country they thus explored over the sandhills on which they had built their shanties, they were quick to perceive: the land was better and the river afforded an easy mode of access to' Montreal, which then was the only possible mar^'et for the entire country south of the St Lawrence as far west as Ogdensburg. The great objection to their moving on to this new land was the fact that it was in Canada and that the more desirable portions were within the seigniories, where, in time, they would have to pay rent. Despite those hind- rances, (of the latter the first-comers were ignorant, for no attempt was made to collect rent until after 1806), many ventured, and soon the smoke from the shanties of Ameii(^Rn settlers curled over the M'aters of the Chateaugay. When , the first ventured in is not known, but there were few, if any, before 1800, in which year a number began to make clearancee on the north bank from where the village of : Ormstown now is to Logan's Point. They made a so\^. of road from Chateaugay, N.Y., to what they called "The Cove," being the pool on lot 16, 3rd range of Hinchinbrook, where the shallow j-apids end. From there, they drove on the ice in wintor or proceeded by canoe in summer. At a very early . date, probably in 1802, a road was brushed across the country from the settlement to Chateaugay N.Y., which could be used in sleighing-time. These settlers were, without exception, •from the New England states, very many of them from Massachusetts, and, as became their ancestiy, w ere industrious and handy. During winter they lumbered or made cord wood, so that every settjer, when the ice broke up| had a raft of «'ither square timber or cord wood to take to Montreal, and the rest of the year they spent in clearing and cultivating the land and making potash. They were thrifty and became comfortable much sooner than had- they remained on the - sandy knolls of Franklin county. Though they labored under •the disadvantages always attendant upon living in a wilder ness, yet, as they expressed it in a song that was popularj i^mong them, they were independent, having no U^xes to pay and being free from judge and bailiff. Ihc same immunit}' tlie I3t| .\'<-ar, 5 lion, ^'"vc the ^'» propi ''ich de ' 't^ he Inn'ld no F""W ta THE SEIGNlOIl DEALS WITH THEM. 35 dby vhich ceive : )de oi c west on to tcl that where, } hind- £or no I, man\' When '. few, ii bo mak«' illa^e of I sovt. of fie Cove," ^k, where [,he ice in ;ry early e country Id be useil [jxception, Lcm from idustrious jcordvs'ood, a raft of d, and the ating the id became ^ed on the jred untlei a wilder- populai ,xes to pay immunity t'loin social restraint which has such a fascination for the ])ioncers of the territories, charmed those early dwellers by the Chateaugay, and, also like the population of the terri- tories, they bad anjong them not a few who were refugees from justice. It is either a peculiar or a very small community which has not a Scotchman. As has been seen, there was one in Hem- ingford, and this infant settlement on the Chateaugay had also a representative of the onmipresent race. In 1800 one (Joudy took up the lot west of Georgetown church. He did not f^tay long, and seeing he could do better in Montreal, ho <;ave his place to his relative, William Ogilvie, who came from Scotland in 1802. Goudy was the forerunner of that body of Scotch emigrants who, before other 80 years, were to possess; the land between the St Louis river and the Beech Ridge. . The unlooked for influx of settlers from the United States, fnmpelled the agents for Mr Ellice to make arrangements for granting them lots. They would sooner the Ameiicans had not come, but as they were taking po.'=session of the banks of the Chateaugay in spite of them, the best that could be done was to induce them to accept deeds, which were based on double the rental that the other seigniories were exacting. Other- wise the terms were considerate. The settlers were to be all<'v,'( d to sit free of rent for the first two years, and at the (oqiiviitiovi ol:' iue third were charged SI, and for each of the •!« -!i lo'^^'cJing years ^1.50. In the eighth year the rent rose t<>' ?^2.?'0. and increased one shilling (20 cents) per year until the \tti\ yea., when ^3 was exacted for it and the 13th. After the 13th year, the roit was ti5, and at the end of the 15th' year, 5 bushels of merchantable wheat was exacted in addi- tion. The principle upon which the rent was based, was to give the settler time to make his clearance and to exact rent. i:i proportion as his holding increased in productiveness, 'ach deed was coupled with such galling rt ^»*ves as that the If vMor had no right to the minerals or the stone on his lot,. ■i'' he could utilize no water-power that might b*> upon it,, {build no mill, not even one driven by wind, while the seignior It" mid take off whatever Limber he might sec fit. The seignior 86 TERMS OF DEEDS. i i also exacted that the settler should build a house within a year and have, within five years, 4 arpents under grain or pasture, while, under a penalty of double toll, he bound him- self to carry all his grain to be ground at the Seigniory mills, for which a toll of one-tenth would be exacted. If the lot was left without a tenant for a year and a day, the seignior could resume possession, or if the settler sold his lot, he had to pay a ^ne to the seignior of one-twelfth of tlie purchase- price, Wi '*' ^e saw fit, could take possession of the lot on paying tin : the intending purchaser had offered. Such were the resu.ictions of the seigniory system, differing only from the feudalism of France in thai personal service in the field was not required. As stated, the rent exacted was in excess of what had Ijeen customary for the few to whom lots were ceded, during deLotbiniere's tenure, paid 5 cents per arpent only and that is all their lots are still liable for. As will be seen subsequently, Ellice's exaction of 10 cents per arpent was disputed as unauthorized by the French law, which governed seigniories. On the terms named, a number of lots between Dewittville and the forks of the English river were taken up by settlers between 1800 and 1812. The agent who negotiated the majority of these deeds, Francis Winter, died about the year 1808, and was buried by the roadside, where some poplars still grow, on the farm he had occupied, west of Baker's (lot 1). That was the first burying-ground, and for many years was surrounded bythfi midst oi a boundless forest. One fine evening in summer, returning from the field with his loaded gun on his shoulder, he saw before him, through the trees, a deer running. He fired, and though it war, 3 acres and 3 rods distant from him, he succeeded in bringing it down with the one shot. One evening towards the end 'of winter, returning from the forest, with no other weapon than his axe, he heard his dog barking at a little distance, and saw it scratching around a hole in the trunk of a tree. He cut into the hole, and in so doing cut the nose ofl" a young bear cub, which at once set up a howl. Then he saw the trunk of the tree shakings, and an enormous she-bear descending upon him. He waited till she was just going to seize him, and then struck her a blow on the head with his axe that caused her to fall. Another well-aimed blow finished her. My father was a, great bear-hunter; he killed no fewer than nine in one fall." The increase in the number of settlei-s made the erection I by the seignior 6f a gristmill a necessity, and Mr EUice sent lout (probably in 1800, if not the year before) John Simpson, la Scotch millwright, who. built a small mill at Beauhamois, jwell out in the channel of the St Louis, containing two Irun of stones. It had not been many months in operation, mtil it was found to be of little use from the insufficiency [)f the power, "i* summer the St Louis dwindled to a brook ; winter the current was choked by ice. If the mill, which i&d cost a considerable sum, was to be of any value, a better |upply of water had to be got. This the agent, Francis i^inter, proposed to do by cutting a feeder from the St 38 TIiE ST LOUIS FEEDER. Lawrence to tlie head-waters of the St Louis, and in 180f) a contract was made with Thomas Fingland, a lumberer wlio lived at Lachine, to do the work. He dug the feeder suffi- ciently deep where the ground was soft, but owing to his nierel}' making a shallow channel across the ridge that lies north of the St Louis, the water did not run over except when the St Lawrence happened to be high. The seignior was reluctant to bear the cost of making a sufficient cut across this stony ridge, with the result that the mill was so little to be depended upon, that the settlers continued to go to the mills at the Basin and La Tortue. Aftei- finishing the Beauharnois gristmill, Simpson, by order of the seigniory, built a smaller one at Howick, a sawmill at DewitU'illft for Daigneault & Moreau, and a sawmill for himself at r,K; modtii of the Outarde. The seigniory-house at Beauharnois, burned in McCord's time, was rephvced by a commodious one, which still stands, and beside it, in 1810, Milne opened a small store, which was of great convenience not only to those in its neighbor- hood but also to the settlers on' the Chateaugay, for by ithis time the Beauce road had been cut out. Besides keep- ing some drugs, Milne made pretensions to a knowledge of medicine, so that he was ofteii consulted and sent for, which Itecame risky latterly, when he was seldom free from the influence of drink. On one settler asking for medicine for a sick boy, Milne declared he knew his complaint, and lifted a bottle to fill a small vial. In doing so his shaky hands let a few drops fall on the brass buttons of his vest. The settler had not been gone long, when Milne ran shout- ing after him. He said he had noticed the liquid had turned his buttons green, and concluded he had filled the vial out of the wrong bottle ! His .sense of humor was of a mis- chie.vous cast, as when he got a bundle of old almanacs and, neatly changing the date with the pen, sold them to the settlers at a yorker (an English sixpence, 12|c) apiece, and his encouraging them to clear up a bit of land for turnips with the promise of free seed, and giving them what turned out t^ be poppy-seed. The s soon th( Ste Mar was Wil Avhich t (called I had a sr thickest the exec and inh north bi that the being cc side wer that the that the which tl an increj not one in. Ale: settled the coun William- journey time, ho Tobermc same ye^ him, on a hind Bums, w He had gaged in adjoining In 18( Wright, I worked very low and so n FIRST SETTLER ON ENGLISH RIVER. 80 The settlement on the Chatcauofay extended rapidly, and soon there was a Isuccession of clearings that reaehed from Ste Martine to Dewittville. Opposite the first named village was William Reed, whose name was given to the rapids, by which they are known to this day. On the rapids above (called by the habitants "la rouge") an American, John Perry, had a small sawmill on the south bank. The shanties were thickest between Logan's point and Ormstown, and, with the exceptions I am about to note, were on the north bank and inhabited by Americans. The causes for keeping to the north bank were palpable, for apart from the circumstance that the land was better on that bank, as evidenced by its being covered with hardwood, while the trees on the south side were mainly tamarac and soft wood, it was only natural that the settlers should seek to be close to the only road, and that they should shun the difficulty of crossing the river, which they had no means of bridging. While ^ach year saw an increase in the nun\ber of settlers from the United States, not one passed without a Scotch family also finding its way in. Alexander Hassack arrived from Cromarty in 1801 and settled on lot 17, North Georgetown. Being pleased with the country, he sent for his nisce and her husband, James Williamson, who arrived at Montreal in August, 1803, the journey having taken them over four months, half of which time, however, was lost in sailing round from Cromarty to Tobermory, from whence the good ship finally sailed. The same year that Hassack came, there settled to the west of him, on lot 21, John Ralston, also a bachelor, who had been a hind in Ayrshire and boasted of his acquaintance with Bums, with whom, he said, he had worked at making roads. He had a strange peculiarity of eating earth, and while en- gaged in conversation would nibble at the mortar of the wall adjoining of the clay at hk> feet. In 1802 the English river received its first settler, James Wright, a Cupar shoemaker, who left Scotland in 1801, and worked at his trade in Montreal for a year. Wages being very low, he considered he could do better by taking up land, and so moved with his wife and two infant sons to a lot on 4» HOWICK ORI8T MILL. the south bank of the English river, about half way between its mouth and Howick. Mr Wright lived there for sevend years, but from the isolated situation he had chosen, no neigh- bor came. Up to (apparently) 1808 settlers, both on the Chateaugay and at Beauhamois, had to go to the Basin with their grist, which they did in canoes, involving an absence from home of, at least, two days and much hard work, for in addition to paddling, the recurring rapids made it necessary to get out and carry both canoe and grist around them. About that time, the seignior erected a small gristmill very nearly on the same spot where the Howick mills now stand. Like the nuns' mill, it only ground the wheat, and the bran had to be sifted out by hand on reaching home. A sad acci- dent attended the opening of the mill. The dam having sprung a leak, a Frenchman and his boy were engaged to draw gravel to repair it, and, in doing so, the canoe upset and both were drowned, for those who saw the accident could not swim and there was no other canoe. The miller was a Scotchman by the name of Somerville, a bachelor, an in- veterate snuffer, much given to drink, and rather useless generally, much to the annoyance of the settlers, for, on the erection of the new mill, according to seigniorial law, they could no longer go to the Basin. The lot opposite the mill was held by Somerville, who managed to make a considerable clearance along the river. A track was bushed from the mill to the Chateaugay, and was difficult to struggle through, for the intervening country was then a swamp. West of the mill, and north of Ogilvie's creek, another Scotchman, An- drews, settled in course of time, and proved great society to the Wrights, for, though some distance apart, they almost daily saw each other. . One night, when Wright was on his way to see them, he heard what sounded like a human cry, and was going towards whence it proceeded, when a second shriek convinced him it was a wolf. He fled back to his home, and being swift of foot outstripped the pack. Some time afterwards, Mr Wright had another narrow escape. While chopping, his axe glanced and cut a terrible gash in his leg above the foot. He struggled to the house and Som- ENGLISH RIVER ABANDONED. « erville, as the nearest neighbor, was sent for. He came, but did nothing but stand and glower at the spouting blood, with his mull in hand, from which he, ever and anon, mechanically took a pinch. Knowing he would soon bleed to death, the sufferer exerted himself, and asked to have his shoemaker's bench drawn near him. With great composure he made a very strong and long wax-end, which he wound around his leg above the wound and, then using his pawl, twisted the thread until the blood was stopped. There was a doctor by this time in the settlement at Russeltown, and being sent for, he dressed the wound, which soon healed. This accident, in connection with another, which happened a little while after- ^ wards, decided him on moving to the Chateaugay. He want- ed a cow but could not find a neighbor who had one to sell One day, Mr Ogilvie told them he was going to Montreal, and if Mrs Wright would go with him he would help her to buy one and drive it back. This was done, and a. weary journey the faithful wife had. To feed this cow during the winter, there being neither hay nor straw, Wright cut saplings on the north side of the river for her to browse upon. As spring d^w on, the ice grew rotten, and to keep poor bossie from following him, for she ran after him like a dog whenever she saw him go out with his axe, he put up a rough en- closure. One day she managed to break through this and went on to the ice to reach the spot where the browse was generally got for her. When half way over the river, the ice broke under her. Mr Wright fortunately happened to be near, and, with the help of his wife, he took the loose boards that formed the ceiling of the shanty and laid them on the crumbling ice. Standing on these they, with great difficulty, dragged crummie out, but, no sooner was she on her feet than she broke through again, and a second effort had to be made to get her to land. While working to save the cow, Wright saw his three infant children standing on the bank watching the rescue, when the thought struck him, if he and his wife were drowned in their exertions, what would become of them. This consideration determined him to leave the English river and go where he would have neighbors. He f 42 PROGRESS OF CHATEAUGAY SETTLEMENT. accin'dingly bought a lot east of Williamson's, No 15, which was occupied by an American named Finch, to whom lu- paid $100 for his betterments. The Andrews, also left, going to the States, where the sons became clockmakers, and, long after, one of them revisited the district peddling wooden clocks of their own manufacture. With their departure an«ugjiy. To the north, as already stated, the settlers had a rvwid (a very bad one, to be sure) by the Beauce to Beauhar- nois, and another along the west bank to the B&sin. Caits and hoi-ses came into use and other facilities enjoyed rarely known to settlers at so eaidy a date. The rapid progress thus made was lai-gely to be attri])utefl to the Americans, and their presence was of vital consetiuence to the Scotch, for they showed them how to handle the axe, how to fell trees, to build log-houses, to make potash, to plant com, and a thousand other arts peculiar to the American backwoods. If handy and full of resources, the Americans, in the long run, began to fall behind the Old Countrj'men. The former did not like prolonged hard work and were ever ready to do a little trading or speculating among themselves or by going to Montreal, while the latter plodded on, day after day, laboriously clearing the land of its covering of trees and bringing it into cultivation. The Americans teased the Scotch about their broad speech, their clumsiness, their want of sharpness, and the Scotch retorted as to the shallow character and the questionable morality of the "cuteness" on which their critics prided themselves. They were very friendly, however, and so freely intermixed that marriages took place. The American wives w^ere of equal benefit t-^ the Scotch women. They taught them those houseb ' economies unknown save in the backwoods; to make maple sngar, to bake, to cure meat, to make cloth. One new-come out Scotch woman, on paying a visit to her American neigh- bor, was struck with amazement to see how she took d quantity of Indian corn, gi'ound it, sifted the meal, made it into a savory cake, and then served it up steaming hot at the supper-table with honey. The presence of the Americans was as that of schoolmasters to teach the Old Country folk how to farm in the backwoods, their lessons smoothed the t #" 44 LOGAN, REEVES, AMD DAWEa S way and hastened their progress, and what they taught became a common inheritance for all who came thereafter to settle, for what the first new-comers learned they taught to thase who afterwards joined them. Of the Old. Countrymen who lived on the Chateaug , before the war it is impossible now to obtain the names, for there were a number who came, and, after a brief trial, went away. Of those who remained over the war the following is a complete list: On the point, at the junction of the English river, wJEis Al6x.' Logan, a Rossshire Highlander, who had lived some time in the States. On coming to the Cha- teaugay he first settled on No 34, South Georgetown, after- wards mo\nng to the point ' He was a hardy, energetic man, retaining to the last many of the characteristics of his native hills. In person, he was short and muscular, and in winter wore a buckskin coat, which had a fringe similar to tha^ of the Indians. His fanning* was rough and careless, yet ' generally managed to keep a quantity of wheat for i.. spring, when he would give it to any newly-come settler on the condition that it be repaid in the fall at the rate of two bushels for one. He kept a lai^e fiock of sheep, for which the point was favorable in requiring little fencing, and wool, which was very scarce, he sold at 50 cents a pound. He lumbered a good deal and had the facuUy of getting a great deal of work out of his men. Tlie money he made he entrusted to no bank. Changing it into Mexican doIllEirs or gold he buried it in the earth on his farm. He lived to a good age and was drowned in 1853 while crossing one night from Reeves' tavern to his own house. Alexander Reeves was a London tailor who came but in 1811, in a ship that had 4 guns in apprehension of the im- pending war. Among her passengers was Thomas Dawes, and a strong intimacy sprang up between the two. After remaining at Montreal for 9 months, they resolved to take up land and try farming, and, in the spring of 1812, moved to the Chateaugay and raised a joint shanty on lot 10, S.Geo. Reeves followed his trade and farming, for, though lame, he was active, and his wife was of singular energy and strength. A TRAOKDY. 43 XJt. After a brief partnership and not agreeing very well, Dawes gold his share to Reeves, and going to Montreal got work in Chapman's brewery. Marrying a widow with some money, he started for himself in 1826 at Lachine, and largely sup- plied the district with the beer it consumed. In his tours of collecting and taking orders, Dawes, who was a rugged and energetic man, scorned both horse and vehicle, and made his rounds on foot. Finding living on the south side of the river inconvenient, Reeves bought lot 6, N.Geo., from a Ca- nadian and moved across in 1816, when he began storekeep- ing in a small way and gradually fell into the habit of entertaining travellers. Of him frequent mention will be made in subsequent chapters. To Ogilvie, Williamson, Has- sack, and Ralston allusion has already been made. On 22 settled John Harvie, and on 26 Captain Mo' ison, and on the lot on the opposite side of the river his brother Neil, both natives of Lochgilphead, Scotland. Neil was by trade a mason, but had taken to the sea, shipping under his brother. In 1801 their ship, ©f which the one was mate and the other captain, visited Montreal when they determined, before leav- ing, to find homesteads, for they had become tired of the sea and Neil wished a home so far inland that his boys would not know of it Hearing of land being- open for settlement on (he Chateaugay, they walked up, when the captain selected the lot mentioned and Neil the one opposite, 30, South QeorgetoTCn,.w;hereq^ he ibuilt a shanty large enough to serve also as a store, which he opened with a small stock of grocer- ies. On the death of the captain, in Scotland, who never lived on his lot, Neil bought it and moved over on to it, as more convenient. Near Morrison lived John Stewart, who removed to the Statea The only other Scotch settler on the South side of the river besides Neil Morrison, was one named Thomson, who built his shanty on 23, which became the scene of a tragical event. On one of his visits to Montreal, Got)dy had engaged a young carpenter, fresh from Ayrshire, named James McClatchie, to work for him. He developed a taste for hunting, and one day, when out scouring the woods, entered Thomson's house, and, before doing so, left his gun at t %. 4G NAHUM BAKER. the door. While conversing with Mrs Thomson, the cliildren spied the gun, and the oldest boy, Archie, 8 years of age, took it and said he would slioot the rooster. He inadvertently pulled the trigger in handling it, when the bullet pierced his itiother. She died that night, her last entreaty being to spare her boy. The event cast a gloom over the settlement, and its inhabitants attended her funeral in a body. . She was buried in the Georgetown graveyard, and was the first conmiitted to its dust. Tiiis was probably in .1800. Thomson left some time afterwards. The foundation of his siianty can still be traced. A long way up the river, on 14. Ormstown, settled Thomas Marratt, an Englishman. Of OKI Courtrymen who did not stay long, may be men- tioned an enterprising man named Rankin, Avho built a two- storv house on the line between Annstown and N.Geo., intend- ing to Iceep tavern. It was built of sawed lumber, with board partitions, and well~fi«ished for the times, being accounted, a remarkable stru';ture by the seijtlers. Rankin built beyond his means, and in 1804 was glad to sell house and lot for S^GOO to Nahum Baker, a New Englander, and who, as his son after him, became the most noted of the Americans (m the Cho.teaugay. He had served in the war of the Revolution, lijjhtinji' on the insurorent side at J jxirigton and Bunker's hill. What is of more interest, is the circumstance that he was one of the guard over Major Andre, the night before his execution. Baker was wont- to tell, that wlien the guard was detailed, a quiet hint was given them that if they allowed their prisoner to escape no fault would be found with theni. They accordingly gave him every chance, pretending to fall asleep, while the door was left unwatched. Baker perceived tlie gallant soldier get up more than once as if to leave, but each time honor conquered the desire for Wii, and he heard him nuitter 'No I shall not!" and resume his hard bed. When he saw. hin led out next morning to the gallows. Baker wept. Baker removed io Burlington, Vt, where he suffered heavy losses from the rascality of a partner, which eauseffliim to leave. Reaching Franklin county he penetrated into Cana<]a by following the bajjks of the Chateaugay. <««• ^K\ SCHOOL AND CHURCH, 47 The settlement progressed slowlj', owing to the land IxMiig hard to bring in. The stumps being hardwood rotted slowly, which was a great hindrance. Na fall wheat was sown, and the main crops were spring wheat, oat^l'MliA potatoes, which crew remarkably, for the land was strong. For many years after it was cleared, from three to four hundred bushels of potatoes per acre was conunon. The Americans raised much corn. Be nv Round Point little potash was made, the bush not suiting, but above there was much fine elm, which in- duced many to settle. From the same motive, several Amen- cans went into the bush on the 2nd concession of North ( Jeoi'isetown and to the ridges on the; south lots on the lower concession of Ormstown. The Americans were careless alike of religion and educa- tion, and Sunday was poorly observed. An itinerant preacher visited the settlement, Dr Rogers, who made pretensions to lie a physician. He stayed with Root, who lived on 25. preaching in what was at once his kitchen and sitting-room. On Rogers removing to the States, he wrote Root, telling liini he had found a home at last, and as he observed people were mf)re ready to pay to save their bodies than their soulii, he had given up preaching and devoted himself entirely ta inedicine. The first attempt at education was made in the shanty of another American, Beech, near the mouth of Eng- lish river, where a man named Haldane acted as schoolmaster, i\nd was apt eno'gh with the strap at least. Afu-r that school was kept in a settler's house farther up the river, by a Scotchman named Renshaw, who was well-liked. Beech^ al)ove-mentioned, moved to tho Basin, where there were two (»• three American families at the outbreak of the war, but no Scotch. • All the .Americans were hunters, but a few of them made the shooting.jind trapping of wild animals a regular business, taking the skins and furs to Montreal to sell. The Scotch lads acquired a taste for the chase, and made it their recrea- tion. One of them, Sandy Willianison, had an exciting lul- venture with a bear. While chopping, he struck a hollow tree, and the crash of the axe speedily aroused a huge bear m THE SCOTCH SETTLEMENT. ,|l 1.1 within it, which rushed out, felling the dog that was with Williamson with a blow from a forepaw and eluding the stroke of the axe. Going for Henry Wright to assist, they tracked the animal until they lost the trail On returning they told their story, and the following day a French-Cana- dian hunter started. He traced the brute to a new lair it had formed under a tree in an inaccessl -.*e position. Sending in his dog to start it out, he sfovxl ready and -^'^ the bear's appeai-ing fired. Unhappily the dog got be een at that moment and received the charge, falling dead while the bear scampered off After skinning his faithful friend, the hunter followed the bear's tracks, came up with it, shot it, and brought back both skins. There were not many bears, but deer were exceedingly plentiful. Leaving for a while the settlement I have been endeavor- ing to depict, I would lead the reader up the stagnant waters of the Bean river, from where it sluggishly unites with the Chateaugay, through the dense forest that enveloped it, across the ridges in whose recesses lie the springs that form its source, to a settlement of Highlanders who, by a series of singular events, had been led to plant themselves in the midst of an untracked wilderness. Among the grants of land with which the Imperial gov- ernment rewarded Sir John Johnson for his sacrifices and services a aring the American war, was a property in Cham- ^- bly, which he endeavored to settle with emigrants from the Mother-country. In the summer of 1802 the Nephton ar- rived at Quebec with 700 Highlanders, mostly from Qlenelg, Bossshire. Of these a considerable portion were induced to proceed to Sir John's property. Those who got lots on the slopes of Mount Johnson (now called Chambly mountain) did tolerably well, but the surrounding land was so wet tha^< the. Highlanders could make nothing of it, and, after enduring much privation, determined on looking out another place for their abode. Three of the shrewdest of their number, John Boy McLennan, John Finlayson, and Finlay McCuaig, were selected in the spring of 1812 to go out and spy the land to the west On reaching St Remi, which was occupied by SPYING OUT THE LAND. 49 <|uite a little colony of Americans, one of theui, Abram Welch,, liearing of their errand, came to them, and told them there Avas a fine tract of land near by of which they could take possession. They went with him and were satisfied, for they saw that though the flat land was wet there were many creeks by which it could be drained and that the ridges were extensive. On consulting with tiie notary at St Remi, they were told that they would be quite safe in settling on the land, that it was part of the seigniory of Beauharnois, and that once located upon it the seignior would have to recog- nize them as tenants. Tliey engaged Welch (who though a farmer knew something of surveying) to run a ba/ie-line,. which he did, and which after-surveys showed to be correct. The messengers, wearied with their journey, for they had walked the whole distance, gladly turned their faces home- ward and I'eported to their brethren their success. That fall,. k'd by the three explorers named, several movyd over and founded what came to be known as the Scotch settle- ment. Others followed, until, by 181G, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd concessions of Williamstowii were fairly occupied. The Am- erican squatters at St Remi and along the Norton creek, were very kind, helped them to put up shanties and showed them how to make potash. Those who did not come to Williams- town, went to Glengarry, so that not a single Highlander was left on Mount Johnson. Altogether 60 families took up tlieir abode in Williamstown. They prospered exceedingly. In the forest they had an apparently inexhaustible bank, and, besides making potash, which sold high, they made en- ormous quantities of oak staves for shipment to the West Indies. The flats were covered with magniflcent oaks, many trees yielding 18 iih foot staves before a knot was reached. Both potash and staves were hauled to Laprairie on ox-sleds, . and thence ferried to Montreal ; the return-load being pro- visions. TliBy had no facilities as to mills, and when they had v^heat to grind they had to haul it all the way to the King's mills on the La Tortue. To the Basin there was only a blazed track, and to Stc Martine not even that much. Boards for their houses they obtained by making saw-pits 50 SETTLEIIS ABOVE ROUND POINT, and cutting; them with whip-saws, for among their num- ber were several who had been sawyers in Scotland. At Mount Johnson they had been joined by Norman McLeod, a schoolmaster, sent out by the Royal Institution, which allowed him £00 a-year, and whose services Sir John had obtained for them. On the breaking up of the settlement at the Mount, he elected to go with the division that had selected Williamstown, and choosing a lot in the Scotch settlement, he continued to hold school in his own house, so that the rising generation was more favored in this than in any other of tlie early settlements. On Sundays he gathered the people together and held divine service in Gaelic, which was the language of the settlement. So remote was the settlement that the seignior left them undisturbed for 8 years, after which rents were exacted, but no deeds were given until Manuel surveyed the settlement in 1821. Along both sides of the Norton creek there were a con- siderable number of Americans, who had come from Connecti- cut, the only exception being William Struthers, who was Scotch by liis father's side and German by his mother's, and who had moved over from Caldwell's manor. The most friendly relations existed between the Americans and the Highlanders. Returning to the Chateaugay, I resume the description of the settlements along its banks, ascending its waters from the point I heretofore treated of. There were at least 20 American families from the mouth of the English river to Morrison's rapids,* above which the bush solidly presented *As possibly a matter of interest to a few I give tlie names of the American families so far as I have been able to recover them and the number of their lots : Hall, probably 93, Anns- town; Nahum Baker, 94; George Perry, who from being weatherwise was known best as Old Almanac, on No 1 North Georgetowii, where he was buried; opposite him Beech seems to have lived. Nathan Baxter, No 10; Baxter, jnr., 17; Bill and Ike Davis on 19 and 20; Auldjo probably on 25; Root on 26 ; Goodwin, a turner by trade, who made furniture and moved to Montreal, on 26; William Dunsmuir, commonly styled Doctor, on 29, who came very early. In 1807 he sold UPPER ORMSTOWN CONCESSION. 51 itself with few breaks until Round Point was reached. From there the country was uncleared save the flats along tlie river, which had been brushed and raised large crops of natural hay, which was cut and stacked and drawn away on the ice by the settlers who lived farther down. Where the village of Ormstown now stands, lived Jones, whose house was a little to the east of the grist-mill, and next to him, WPS one Spears, who was a leading man among the settlers, and who gave a piece of land for a burial-place, which long afterwards was adopted by the Presbyterians and adjoins their church. Above Spears was another family of Shui-tleffs, and at the mouth of the Outarde lived the Scotch- man, John Simpson, already referred to as having been en- gaged by the seignior to build mills. Here he had thrown a dam across the Outarde and raised a sawmill, which he managed himself, and which was of great value to the settlers both above and below it, The dam led to the rivc^ changing its outlet, it breaking out a new channel a little farther west, so that where the mill stood is now dry land.* At McClintock's creek was a path that led back to a settle- ment that had been formed on the upper Ormstown con- cession. Attracted by the fine cut of timb'ir for potash- making, they had gone in until no fewer than .) families were gathered together. They cleared a road, fit for ox-sleds, along the banks of the creek to the Chateaugay, and the to his friend and neighbor Ebenezer Rodgers, who tuni^d it over to the care of Isaac Davis. Where Allan's Corners now stands lived an American family named Bullen, and two chil- dren of it are buried in the island that is near. On lot 42 was Cummings, a blacksmith, and on No 1, Ormstown, John- son. Two families of the same name, Philips, were on No 5, on 19 one Sylvester, and on the point of No 12 lived Shurtlefl', who gave his name to the point. At the mouth of Stony ereek lived Poulin. *In the great freshet in April, 1886, the ice choked the mouth of the Outarde, when its heaped up waters sought escape by the channel it had deserted some 60 years before. In rushing through it, trees of ample girth, the growth of the intervening period, were snapped like pipestalks. BEGINNING OF DEWITTVILLE. m ..i i' i' in 1)vidges they built over the runlets were serviceable when the lii"st Scotch settlers moved in a quarter of a century after- w^ards. Of these 9 families, who left on the breaking out of the war, all record has perished. When the Scotch came they found great heaps of ashes on the lower end of 29, where they had been leached, a succession of small patches of clearances, bearing traces of potato-hills and corn-drills, and on 27 a well: these were all that remained to tell of their years of toil, tliat there men and '.vomen once lived and loved and children romped and grew. From McClintock's creek to Dewittville shanties peeped out from the bush at irregular intervals. Their inmates were all Americans, and had come in much later than those east of Ormstown, so that when they left, on the breaking out of the war, their clearances were small and soon lapsed into the forest again. At Dewittville there were several families, and it may be here noted that there is a tendency among pioneers to prefer settling beside lapids, the advantage of a ford being an inducement, while there is the prospect of the power being applied to run mills, and the unacknowledged liking even the roughest have for the motion and foaming sparkle of broken water. On the north side lived two Scotchmen, McCallum, from Odelltown, and James McClatehie (page 45) who lived first at the mouth of the creek on lot 3, but finding it wet, moved to a few rods east of where the church now stands. McClatehie was a carpenter by trade and a native of Ayr, where he was born in 1780. In 1801 he emigrated and had for fellow-passenger John Ralston (page 39) and was brought, as already narrated, l)y Goudy to the Chateaugay settlement, and in one of the humble homes of which he found a wife, in the person of Lucinda, daughter of William Reed (page 39). The difficulty they had in getting the marriage ceremony performed, will show how isolated the settlement was. They had their choice of going to Montreal, where there was a solitary Protestant minister, the Rev Mr Esson, or to Chateaugay, N.Y. They chose the latter, because there would be no delay from banns, and drove all the way from Georgetown to that village in a traineau, where they were married, on the TROUT RIVER. 58 6th January, 1803, by Judge (in reality only a justice of the peace) Baillie, there being no minister. . The young couple began life as stated at Dewittville, and remained for 7 or S years, making potash, lumbering, hunting and fishing. Hero their first child was born, Charles, probably the first of Saxon parentage in Godmanchester, and his earliest recollection was Svjeing his father kill an otter in the Chateaugay. On the Hinchinbrook side was Monica, part German and part French, and who had something to do with a small sawmi!l, probably put up by the seignior about 1810, and there were one or two French-Canadians besides. Between Dewittville and Huntingdon there was only one clearance, on the river bank of No 9 Hinchinbrook, made by two Englishmen named Hall, who af<-er putting up a good shanty with a cedar-lined cellar, and making a small clear- ance, at the outbreak of the war left for Montreal, where tliey entered into business and became well-known merchants. Where Huntingdon now stands the pinmevnl forest still waved undisturbed, but at the head of the rapids, on Somer- ville's point, there stood a half finished shanty, put up by an American of the name of Sutherland, who, for some reason, gave up his intention of settling there. '' '^ Of the settlement on the Trout River, made by the Ameri- cans, no satisfactory account can be given, because, unlike that on the Chateaugay, there were no Old Countrymen among them, and, therefore, no recollections of the settlement previous to 1818 are to be got. It is possible there may have been a few American squatters on its banks as early as the beginning of the century, but of that there is no certainty, and the likelihood is that, until the war broke out, no settle- ment worth speaking of was to be found. While the wai* was in progress a number found refuge on the banks of Trout River from the dmft, and eked out a living by lumbering and making potash. Reed squatted on lot 38 in 1810 or 1811, and it is highly probable that, about the same time, a small sawmill was put up at the mouth of Beaver creek. In St Anicet there were no settlers beyond those mentioned in chapter .i Dundee (then known as "Indian Lands"), was 04 ATHELSTAN. in the possession of the Indians, apart from an occasional American squatter along the Salmon river and Brunson on the lake. But to return to the Chateaugay. Its solitude continued unbroken until a little above the forks, where on the bank of lot 24, Hinchinbrook, was the shanty of an American, Zebulon Baxter, the forest closing in again until 28, where, in about 1S09, a drunken, thriftless Ameri- can, Jonathan Elliot, drifted in with the tide from across tlie lines, and raised a shanty below Seely's bridge. He had two sons and a number of daughters, one of whom matried a Dutch shoemaker, Daniel Vosburgh, who had come from the States and built a shanty on the Chateaugay at the Cove above Athelstan. A short time before ho did so, an American, Truesdell, built a small sawmill on the Hinchin- brook, and was thus the founder of Athelstan. From that place the road followed pretty nearly its present course to nigh the frontier, where a blazed track branched off, leading eastward, and which led, by many crooks and turns, to Russeltown and Hemingf ord. On this road there were several settlers. The first was William Reed, already mentioned as living near Ste Martine, and who afterwards moved up to lot 32, N, Geo., but wheu he came to understand the nature of the seigniorial tenure and that he would have to pay rent, determined to have land of his own, and in 1807 he moved up to the first concession of Hinchinbrook and settled on the Bumbrae farm (lot 25). His departure was regretted by the settlers of the Chateaugay settlement on account of losing the society of his wife, who was a clever and very eccentric woman, and who spent a good deal of her time in visiting, being welcome at every house, for she supplied the place of a newspaper and had an inexhaustible flow of caustic and humorous small talk, which she varied by songs. Her visits she generally made on the back of a bull, whose horns were ornamented with ribbons, and with which she even made trips to Montreal. She was, despite her birth, a loyal British subject. It is related of her that she fearlessly visited relatives in Vermont during the war, and on return- ing found no canoe wherewith to cross the Richelieu to the .1. CAITAIN BARRON. sti Canadian side. Presently the British sentry saw something- white waving on the opposite shore, and taking it to l)e & flag of truce reported, when the guard turned out, and a canoe was sent off, to find Mother Reed standing, alone, and chuckling at the success of her ruse. James Wright said: When I was a boy, she came in late one evening, w^hen we were all in bed, and told my father she had made a song on the war. He asked to hear it, when she replied he would have to get up. He retorted he could listen as well in bed. We boys, who had risen on hearing her, sat beside her at the glowing chimney-nook, and she began, snapping her toothless jaws, to bawl out her ballad, of which I do not rememlier a word, but it amused us highly. On a subsequent visit, my father hailed her as Mother Reed, when she sharply re- sponded that was no longer her name; she was Mrs Turner. Turner was a shiftless, drunken Englishman and she was, when she married him, of the mature age of 72 ! Three years after Reed had made a home for himself in Hinchinbrook, two Old Countrymen took up their abode some distance to the east of him. One of them was Captain Barron the other John Nichols, Garret Barron was an Irish Protestant, fx'ora the county Wexford, and had served in the army. During the American war he rose to be quarter- master's sergeant of his regiment, and, at the close of the struggle, got his discharge and a gr8,nt of land in Cald^^'el^s manor, where he became very comfortable. One of his neigh- bors was John Nichols, from the English side of the Borders, and his daughter he married as his second wife. When father and son-in-law sold their places on the Champlain and moved into Hinchinbrook Barron (called captain f vom his rank in militia) when asked why he moved, gave as his reason that he wanted to be again in the woods. Barren squattc^l on 33 and Nichols on 34, Mrs Barron felt very lonesome in her new home, when her husband remarked that with 5 gallons of rum she had all the company needed. Like all old soldiers of that time, he was fond of his dram, but never gofc intoxicated. He was tall, over 6 feet, and in his prime must have been a powerful man. He was rough-spoken, and fond 56 JAMES MCCLATCHIE. of contradiction, nnrl ospoeially prone to controversy with Presbyterians (he was an Episcopalian) and Catholics. Ther- were two larj^e stones, one on each side of his door, on one or other «>f which he was jrenerallv to be found in fin-- weather, ready for a talk with the first passer-by. He left . work to his sons, and they lived poorly, as was indicated by his remark to a stranger whom he had invited to share their dinner, "Eat away; it will be long before j^ou get as good a meal ajmin," the bill of fare bejjinninjj and ending with potatoes and milk. Despite his provoking mode of speech. lie was at heart a kindly man, and ready to share his la<=t ■ loaf with a neighbor. He was a Freemason and regularly attended the lodge at Chateaugay, N.Y., which he continued to call by its old name of Seventh town. Dying at a great age, he was buried on his own lot. At his funeral, old Mr dentle got annoyed at the long continued hammering, for there were no screws then, in putting on the coffin-lid, and exclaimed, "That will do." "Abundance of law is no break- ing of it," retorted the carpenter, a bachelor named Fisher, as |he drove in another nail. None of Barron's descendants remain in the county. In the fall of 1810 r "other settler came, in the per.son of James McClatchie, who iiad i-esolved to follow his father-in- law, Wm. Reed. It was in September that he was ready t • move from where he was living at the time in North George- town. He borrowed the largest canoe in the settlement, which had been formed by hollowing out the trunk of a gigantic pine, and in it he put his wife, their four children, and all his household etiects, placing it in ch .rge of his wife's uncle, John Cantello, while he himself kept to the road and •drove his live stock, — a yoke of oxen and 4 cows. That year lumbering had been unusually active, there being a great demand for oak and masts for the royal navy. Of the mag- nificent character of the trees that then covered the district some idea may be formed from the fact that when the littK- party got near Ormstown they found a mast, which had got adrift from a raft, lying across the river, at least 100 feet wide, from bank to bank. The only way to make a passage LIFE IN" HINX'HINimouK. 57 for the canoe was to chop it in two, wliich Cantc-ll'i «li«l. He WJV5 a hig man, and propcdh'd the heavy-hulen canoe l>y oars in deep water and by a pc^le in shallow, the oxen Ix'ing- !«P)Ught into service to tow it up tlie rapids. On reaching- the Cove, the canoe had to be left, and the rest of the journey made on foot. McClatchie lost no time in putting up a chanty on lot 29, where a s.T«all clearance had Ix'eu matle by ;ui American, Peter Comstock, who had moved next to Reed, and cut find stacked some marsh hay along tlie Walker bnwk for lii.s cattle. It ran short, however, for the snow of that winter was of unprecedented depth and continuance, being 4 foet on the level, and with a crust on it. The year following, the snowfall was equally great. To keep his beasts alive, he had every day to fell trees for them to l)rowse upon, which he tlid very unwillingly on Sundays, for he was a strict Presbyterian, as was also Ids wife. The crops the following <ken for 4 miles, there being no clearance Ijetween that •i-f Xiehols and Jacob Mitchel (page 30) so that my descrip- tion of the settlements previous to the outbreak of the war is complete, having led the reader back to the point where the precetling chapter closed. ti m i 1. J, *.„;.*> ; CHAPTER V. THE WAU — THE FIRST YEAR, The War of the Revolution left, as a bod legacy, to the Americans a most intense hatred of Great Britain. Thig hatred, in time, came to be regarded as an essential element > >i American patriotism, and the rising-generation, from their childhood, ^y schoolbooks and othen^-ise, had their minds inflamed against the Mother Country. When misfoi'tune befell her, the tidings were hailed with delight at Boston and New York, and whoever assailed her was welcomed as a friend. This senseless and wicked feeling received an im- petus from the French revolution, for the Americans sympa- thized warmly with the effort to establish a republic in France, and as warmly resented Great Britain's opposition. When the republic failed and Napoleon rose from its ruins as dictator, public sentiment changed but little, for the dictator, though the most absolute of military tyrants, was seeking the de- struction of Great Britain, and that purpose covered a multi- tude of sins in the eyes of the Americans. Among the most ardent of his admirers was President Madison, who persist- ently endeavored to git the United States to assist him by declaring war against Great Britain. Justification for doing so was found in two causes. One of Napoleon's devices to ruin Great Britain was the issuing of decrees frn'bidding all countries occupied by his armies, which was.tlv wIt le Ct tinent, from having any connnereial deali'^ ' Great Britain and lier colonies, and ordering thi u^cation of all goods, ships, and other property owned r>riti ' sub- jects. The effect of these decrees was to ruin Jjriti.'- trade, for it closed her best markets, and, in self-defence, her gov- ernment issued a retaliatory decree, declaring every country occupied by the armies of Napoleon to be in a state of I blockade, and, consequently, that any ships caught endea- WAR DECLAUEI). 59 voring to enter or leave their ports woiiM be seized and confiscated by her cruisers. The Americans exulted over the promulgation of Napoleon's decrees, but when Great Britain Imitated them as a measure of self-' efence, there was a great outcry that the rights of neutrals were violated, which was true, but the complaint came ill from a nation that had approved of and loudly applauded the principle when used by Napoleon against Britain, and who only realized its enormity when it was going to alfect themselves. This was the first reason given by President Madison for asking the United States to declai'c war against Great Britain — that, by her orders-in-council, she was infringing on the rights of free trade. His second reason was, that Great Britain, when any sailoi-s deserted from her men-of-war in foreign ports, claimed the riglit to follow them on board United States' ships and take them back. The captains of too many American ships liad habitually made it a practice, when they anchored near a British man-of-war, to entice her sailors to desert, offering them higher wages and better berths, and so recruiting their crews at the expense of Great Britain. To put a > end to such a course, the outi*aged captains took the only efFectual means, namely, to follow the deserters and bring them back. This right of search was no new proceeding, it was universal among the navies of Europe; captains giving every facility to one another to put down the great evil of the service, desertion. It was not until the American navy came into existence, that a body of officers w^as known who encouz-aged desertion and took deserters under their protection. On these two grounds, the British orders-in-council and tlic exercise of the i-ight-of -search, the United States declared war against Great Britain. These, however, were only pre- tended reasons, the real ones being a desire to assist Napoleon ^to crush Great Britain and to take possession of Canada. IThe declaration of war was not endorsed by tlie great body ■ oi respef'table people in the United States, and even in con- Igi'ess tl ere was a large minority who opposed it. The |ininority in the house of representatives, which formed one- third, issued a protest, in which they solemnly disavowed the 60 rilKlV\»ATl(»\S Fon 1»KFK\CK. ini^jnity of siding with Napoleon and chartvcti'iizod tlio con- teniplaU'd scizuro ol' Canada as unjust. Th»> doolaration of war was signed hy Prosidciit Madison j on tlu! lJ)tK Juno, 1«SI2, and it shows lu)w iiiipcrfoct wcro tin inrans of connnunication in those days, that news so im- portant did not r«'a(!h Quobi'c until G days afterwards. 'W' province was literally d(;fenceless. The sore straits to wliidi the M'>therltJ.nd had Iteen reduced in ln'r gigantic struggL Rgair.At the nll-conun." These Indians were given muskets, organized into muds to act as scouts, and, so far as possible, a white was UMit with each liand to take control. On tlui 12th July the first invasiites and flew arms. Led by Gen. Brock, and supported l)y a small body regulars, they attacked Gen. Hull, when the braggart and is whole army surrendered. This discomfiture, followed tterwards by i\u- victory of Queenstown Heights, had the i'ect of delaying the invasion of Quebec, which was «>f tsontial consecpjence, as it enabled Governor Prevost to com- lete his arrangements for its defence. On receiving word of the di'daration of war, h(; issued a poclanuition notifying all American citizens", who declined to ikv the oath of allegiance, to leave the Provitice bv the 14tb July. This proclamation Avas carried into the settlements the county of Huntingdon by special messengers, and the kws fell like a thunderbolt. Of the Americans, few had any sire to leave. Their mingling with Old Countrymen ha*\ jbed off their absurd prejudices, and it was their intention become subjects of the Crown. They were assured that ey would not be meddled with nor re(]uired to l)ear arm.s, a vague panic seized them. They perceived that thus G2 PANIC OF THE AMERICAN SETTLERS. f I part of the frontier must necessarily be the scene of conflict, while they were filled with terror of the Indians, with whose acts in the Revolutionary War they were acquainted, and the rumor was that a strong body of them were on their way from Caughnawaga to rob and destroy. Their fields gave pro- mise of an unusually abundant harvest, but the Americans would not wait to reap them. Packing what they could of their movables, they fled across the lines. So precipitate was their flight that there were instances where they left bread in the oven. A few on leaving said they would soon be back, that the American armies would speedily conquer Can- ada, but the majority at once made for Western New York, a great many taking up land in the Genessee valley, which was then being opened. From Georgetown all left save three families — the two Baxters and Baker. The latter stayed because the father was too old and the son too young to move. At Ormstown a few remained, among them Horace Hibbard, who entered the British service and was made a captain in the 1st battalion of militia, which was (juickly organized. In Franklin the exodus was equally complete, one or two Old Countrymen, alarmed at the prospect of the Indians coming, joining in it. Two days after the proclamation was received all had left except the two Mannings, Mayne, Calkins, Gentle, Pettis, and Adams. In Hemingford fully half of the fami- lies left, among those who remained being Scriver, Belong, Fisher, Norton and Brayton. None of those who remained were in the slightest degree molested, and the statements in American histories, that those who left were driven away and despoiled of their property, have no foundation. Urged by * Subjoined are the "regulations respecting American sub- jects now residing in the province of Lower Canada" : First — That all American subjects who shall refuse to take I the oath of allegiance, and also refuse to take up arms, must leave the country, unless they shall obtain the permission of I His Excellency the Governor, to remain for a limited time.j for the purpose of settling their affairs. Secondl}^ — That all American subjects, having visible propl ei-ty and of good character, and who will take the oath oil allegiance, with the exception of not being obliged to bearl THE BLOCKADE. G3 nflict, whose ad the ir way vo pro- ericans )uld of jipitate ley left soon be er Can- York, a lich was ve throe f stayed to move. aptain in rganized two Olii coming received Gentle, the f ami- Delong, remained sments in away and Urged by rlcan sub- se to tatoi ,rms, must mission of ited time.| sible prop oath oil id to beati IS, baseless fears they fled of their own freewill, and against tlie advice of tlieir Old Country neighbors. The best proof of the truth of this lies in the fact that many who fled thus precipitately, on afterwards seeing that they had nothing to fear, returned to their farms in Franklin and on the Chateau- gay, and in the former place still live many of their descend- i ants. John Manning of Hemingford was appointed commis- ieioner to administer the oath of allegiance.* A proclamation advised settlers on the frontier to go to [Montreal or to the "blockade" formed east of where the vil- llafe of St Chrysostome now stands, on the Norton Creek, If or protection. That blockade consisted of a slash of timber, ibout half a mile long and 50 rods wide. The idea was, that inns against the United States of America, be allowed to ?main without being compellable to bear arms against the United States; but subject to leave the province whenever government shall deem it necessary. Thirdly — That all Americans, being immediate grantees of the Crown, be allowed to remain, but to take the general ith of allegiance to His Majesty, and consequently must ear arms. Fourthly — That all Americans, subjects of good character, kplding lands from grantees of the crown, or from seigneurs, approved of by a committee, consisting of not less than 3 iembei's of His Majesty's executive council, may remain on iking the general oath of allegiance to His Majesty, and Jnsenting to bear arms; but tnis oath must be taken in lebec, Montreal, or Three Rivers, before the police magis- ites. Fifthly — Any American subjects of good character may, if jproved by a committee of the executive council as afore- id, be allowed to remain on taking the oath of allegiance id consenting to bear arms ; the oath to l)e taken before the lice magistrate as aforesaid. '^ixtldy — That the foregoing regulations shall take eflbct, withstanding the proclamation of the 30th June last. Jovemment House, July 10, 1812. George Prevost. •^A copy of the private instructions sent to him are before They, in eftect, tell him not to insist upon American ^lers taking the oath of allegiance unless he has reason to 3ect them of being spies. 64 THE INDIAN GUARD. the felled trees would be an insuperable obstacle to the ad- vance of the American army and that the settlers would be safe behind it. A very few of the families in Russeltown did go, but on Jacob Manning's anxiety about his ci'ops leading him to steal back to his farm, and finding everything as he left it, he felt convinced that nothing was to be feared, while everybody, except the English officers, perceived how sorry a defence the blockade would be against boi*n-axemen like the Americans. After a stay of a fortnight the blockade was abandoned, though it long remained a monument of the troublous times and proved for years afterwards a great ob- stacle to travellers on the road to St Remi. The Indians, of whom such apprehensions were entertained, soon appeared, the first band being (me of about a hundred braves, commanded by a French-Canadian, Capt. Versailles. Their appearance was terrifying enough, for beyond a girdle they were naked, their bodies and faces streaked with the war paint, and feathers stuck in their hair. Among them was a Flathead Indian, who had strayed from the Pacific coast, and whose English consisted of "Good George," "Much war." They were very civil to the settlers, much more courteous, indeed, than the regular soldiers proved to be, and would touch not even an apple tree without permission. One good woman who regarded a band of them, who came to her house one evening, with terror, had all her apprehensions set at rest when, on looking into the shed where they were to pass the night, she witnessed several on their knees in prayer. They were divided into bands of 40, and were constantly on the move along the frontier from Lake Champlain to 8t Regis, doing service as scouts and patrols which was simply invaluable, for while they watched the enemy like the hawk, they were as stealthy in their movements and as difficult to catch as the snake. Though the Americans repeatedly en- deavored to surprise these Indians bands, and though they were constantly hovering around their lines, it is a curious fact, illustrative of their consummate craft, that not a single Indian was captured during the war. Of the captains in command of them, besides Vei*sailles, there were Lamothe and A RAID INTO FRANKLIN. 65. Perrigo ; the latter afterwards married a squaw. When they became acquainted with them, the settlers rather liked to have a visit from an Indian patrol, as it gave them a sense of security. These children of the forest carried their food in small haversacks, and, except when the weather was cold or wet, rarely vrent near a house save to buy provisions. On the American side the alarm, on receipt of the news of war being declared, was hardly less than on the Canadian side. The settlers believed that the Indians would be let loose by the British government and, expecting that they would appear at any moment, they became panic-stricken and most of them fled West or into the interior of the country. In some cases so great w^as their trepidation, that they took none of their efi*ects and even left the tables spread for the meal of which they were about to partake. The settlers who remained in the town of Chateaugay clubbed together and built a blockhouse by voluntary labor on the hill above the river, opposite the graveyard, about 3 miles northwest of the village. The State afterwards allowed them SlOO towards its cost. The intention was that it would prove a defence against any invading party, as it commanded the only road that then led from Canada. Cols. Wool and Snelling soon appeared with a body of troops. They were heartily welcomed by the settlers, and a detachment of them was placed in the blockhouse. In October 100 of them were sent to make an incursion into Canada. Mr Gentle and his son Hiram were at the Centre when they were surprised to meet them. The commanding officer told Mr Gentle he had been sent, at the instance of the settlers who had fled, for the property they had left behind them, but could only find old barrels and like lumber about their deserted shanties. Placing father and son under arrest, they marched to their house, Avhere they halted all night. The rank-and-file camped . 1 out-of-doors. Seizing all Mrs Gentle's poultry they wrung L their necks, and making a roaring fire they swung a cooler [over it, and cooked the poultry and potatoes together. In [the morning, they left the family without doing any further liRolestation than devouring their little store of food, and for •66 THE REGULARS ARRIVE. wliich they did not pay. They wore a light l)hie uniform. In addition to the Indians sent to patrol the Huntingdon frontier, Governor Prevost, on the arrival of a few regulars from England in the fall, sent a company of the (Sth regiment, under the charge of Captain Mundy, to form a depot of pro- visions at the junction of the English river with the Chateau- gay. The headquarters were on the south bank, opposite Dumochelle's rapids, and the men were quartered upon the habitants. Capt. Mu.idy, a Scotchman of excellent character •and who was much liked by the settlers, showed great energy in the task entrusted to him. He built a small ])lockhouse, which he filled with all the wheat and oats he 'Could buy, and made arrangements for the supply of pork, beef, and fodder, if needed. The following letter from him shows how ho carried on his operations : Gth November, 1812. Sir, — I am- directed by his excellency the governor-in- chief, to order you to use every method possible for immedi- jitely sending down the grain, potash, cattle, &c., the property of any settler who may have q.uitted his land. You will also cause, with all exertion in your power, grain of everj'^ descrip- tion, as well as cattle, to be brought below the mouth of the English river, the property of the present settlers, to prevent its falling into the hands of the Americans, who are abo^t to invade this country. I will endeavor to cause a lodgement for it, and, if necessary, a guard to be stationed for its pro- tection. The consequence of non-compliance with this order, v.'ill my being obliged to resort to a very painful measure, to wit, that of destroying it on your farms, to prevent the enemy reaping the benefit thereof. You will make this known to any settlei's in your neighborhood. I remain, your most obedient servant, '. J. Mundy, Capt. commanding To Andrew Gentle, Russeltown. Posts of Chateaugay. The plan devised by Prevost for the defence of the province, was that as large an army as possible should be assembled at Montreal, and that depots of provisions should be estab- lished at intervals along the frontier. When word should be received from the scouting parties of the likelihood of an invasion, this army would march to the point threatened, wlien tl horn in he assei iiig Can Capt. i/, could nc settlers, cross at sequence the Briti plenty ol hesitatioi night of j began en McKay, v a desultoi two colun Disheartei very bad, tention of Mr Gen in the mil the order there was He, howev post, and farms and and drew illness, whi On applica Powell of He never r of the hous With the for tiiat set Mundy and houses of t tlie subaltei AN ABORTIVE INVASION, 07 wlien tlie depots of provisions would be of service. Gen. Dear- l)orn in October took up his (juarters in Plattsburgh, where he assembled a large army, with which he designed invad- ing Canada. It was the knowledge of this fact that caused Capt. Mundy to order the destruction of all supplies that could not be moved to his post, and the falling-back of the settlers, for it was possible that General Dearborn might cross at the Huntingdon frontier, when it would be of con- sequence that he should encoiAiter a wasted country and that the British troops, who would come to meet him, should find plenty of provisions at the English river forks. After long hesitation, Gen. Dearborn approached the frontier, and on the night of the 29';h November, his advance left Champlain and began crossing the Lacolle river before daylight. Captain McKay, who was in chai'ge of the post, gave the alai*m, when a desultory musketry tire was opened, and in the darkness two columns of the enemy fii'ed into each other by mistake. Disheartened by this misadventure and finding tho roada very bad, the Americans retreated to Champlain, and all in- tention of invading tiiat season was given up. Mr Gentle (who had received a commission as lieutenant in the militia) knew that there was no reason for obeying the order in the latter part of Captain Mundy 's letter, for there was no prospect of an invasion by way of Franklin. He, however, did what he could to send provisions to his post, and took the grain that had been cut on the deserted farms and threshed it, and Captain Mundy sent up ox-sleds and drew it away. That winter Mr Gentle had a serious illness, which ended in a large gathering on his right arm. On application, Capt. Mundy sent a pass, and Drs. Moss and Powell of Malone attended him until he was convalescent. He never recovered his former strength, and the whole burden of the household fell on his only son, Hiram. With the advent of cold weather, all fears of an invasion for that season passed away, and during the winter Captain Mundy and 'lieutenant Boyd were frequent visitors to the houses of the Old Countrymen on the Chateaugay. One of the subalterns, Sergeant Henderson, was a pious man who C8 THE MILITIA ENROLLED. tried to do all the good in his power. Seeing that the chil- dren cf the settlers were growing up in ignorance, he organ- ized a Class, which he taught in the intervals of his military duties, aid from the lips of that honest soldier not a few of the second generation of settlers received about all the school- ing they ever got. In the spring Capt. Mundy and his company got orders to return to Montreal, from whence they were sent to Upper Canada. In the carnage of Little York they suffered so fearfully that the only one who escaped unwounded was Sergt. Henderson. When, at the close of the war, the survivors were on their way to England, a few of the settlers made a journey to Montreal with the express purpose of seeing them once more and bidding them farewell The defence of the frontier, however, was not left to depend upon the regulars alone. Every settler, capable of bearing arms, was enrolled by a draft. Those of the district of Beau- harnois were formed into battalions, of which the captains of the first were Isaac Wilsie for Hemingford ; Ai-chibald Ogilvie for Georgetown and lower end of Ormstown ; Horace Hibbaxd for upper Ormstown ; Garret Barron for Hinchin- brook, and Louis Demers and A. Dumochelle for the Basin The 2nd battalion was an exclusively French one, and in- cluded all the inhabitants between the Chateaugay and the St Lawrence. It was commanded by Charles Grant, lieut.-coL, E. Henry, major ; M. O. Sullivan, adjutant. The names of two of the captains were Ed. Hainault and A. Valle. An incident of the formation of the 1st battalion is worth re- calling. When Ezra Baxter of N. Georgetown was drafted, his father, Nathan, an old veteran of Washington's army, presented himself in his stead, telling the officer he knew a i great deal more about soldiering than his son and could be i much better spared on the farm. While the first year of the war passed without an encounter I on the Hinchinbrook and Hemingford frontier, a gallant affair took place at French Mills, as Fort Covington was then called. Its settlement dates back to 1793, in which year the Indians, at a nominal rent, leased to William Gray a tract [ of land on the Salmon river, on condition that he would ST. REGIS. 69 build a sawmill. In 1798 the property passed into the hands of James Robertson of Montreal, who added a gristmill, and both mills were in operation until 1804 when a great freshet swept them away. Mr Robertson at once began to rebuild but died before the mills were finished, when his heirs leased them to the millwright, Robert Buchanan, who had built them. There were three of the Buchanans, Walter and Duncan being the names of the other brothers, and they came from Stirlingshire, Scotland. They were, in many respects, worthy men, and were the founders of the settlement on the Salmon river. No Americans came in until after the begin- ning of the century, and for a long time the main part of the inhabitants were the half dozen French Canadian families who got work about the sawmill, and from whose presence the name French Mills arose. When war was declared, how- ever, the Americans were largely in the majority and the place had begun to assume the aspect of a village, there being a store or two and at least two taverns. On the Canadian side there were a few settlers, French or American, along the lake-shore and on the Salmon river; with these trifling exceptions Dundee was still a wilderness, and the silence of it voods disturbed alone by the hunter and lumberer. The magnificent timber tliat fringed the Salmon river was the great attraction, for oaks 5 feet across, and pines unequalled i in quality elsewhere, grew upon the knolls that bordered it. Dundee was then known as the Indian Lands, and consti- tuted part of the St Regis reservation. The story of the origin of St Regis is romantic. During the interminable Iwars between the French Canadians and the New Englanders, la miding party set otit in 1G76 which penetrated as fa,r as jGorton, Massachusetts. Among the prisoners taken by tlie [Indians were two boys, whom they brought back to Caugh- aawaga and adopted into their tribe. When they became len the difference in intellect and taste showed itself, and the luperiority they affected was resented by the chiefs. The iisagreements rose to such a height that they determined on eaving, and, with their wives and children and a few fol- Dwers, ascended the St Lawrence and raised their wigwams 70 A MIDNIGHT ASSAULT. at the mouth of the St Regis river. Half a century later, a Jesuit, Father Gordon, joined them with a body of Mohawks, and he named the village St Regi.s, after the great French Jesuit, who had not long before been canonized by the Pope. In 1812 the place differed little from what it is to-day, being a collection of mean, dirty shanties with a squalid population. On the breaking out of the war, a division took place, part of tilt' Indians siding with Britain, part with the Americans, and a still larger number remaining neutral. They quar- relled and even fought among themselves as to the respective flags they should follow. Those who cast in their lot for King George, at once enlisted into the bands that were formed for the patrolling of the fi*ontier, so that the village was left entirely at the mercy of the neutrals and of the American partizans. In order to prevent its being occupied. Colonel McGillivray of Glengarry got together and sent over 48 voyageurs — French Canadian canoemen and lumbermen — commanded by captain McDowell. This was on the 16th of October. On the 18tli lieutenant Hall learned that the Americans contemplated an assault upon the picket, and advised his captain to withdraw to the small island that lies opposite the village, where they would be safe from surprise. Both he and De Montigny, the interpreter, treated the in- formation and advice with disdain. On the 22nd a loval Indian came with like information, declaring he had seen the preparations for the attack. His advice to retire to the island was also disregarded. The night that followed was intensely dark and favorable for a surprise, so that the sentinels were on the alert. No cause for alarm occurred and as it drew towards the hour of dawn, their apprehensions grew less. About 5 o'clock the two officers of the guard, lieutenant Hall and ensign Rottot, were seated with sei^eani McGillivray around the camp-fire, that blazed in front of tht- house where the captain and the men not on duty were fast asleep. The subject of conversation of the trio was the danger of their situation, and the ensign had just said : "Is it possible that the obstinacy of our captain exposes us thus !<• death without profit or glory !" when a volley was suddenly A KIT OF SPREAD EAOLEISM. u tiretl from the busli, and he fell dead and the sergeant- mortally wounded. Lieutenant Hall sprang into the house when a second volley was poured forth, which killed a French C'auadian private and wounded several others, who had hardly l«een fairly aroused from their night s sleep. Not a shot was tired by the Canadians, who at once surrendereiL One of the missionaries was caught and told to .shrive the woundeiV and hury the dead ; the other escaped by hiy a volunteer conii>any from Moira, and, owing to many of them having served in the Revolutionary War, modestly assumed- the name of "Silver Greys." They were •destined to bear the brunt of the act of retribution the British had in store for the devastation of St Regis. Col. McMillan was entrusted with the expedition. He assembled at Corn- wall a small but motley force of 250 men. It included a •detachment of Royal Artillery and of the 49th regt,, com- panies of the Cornwall and Glengarry militia and 30 Indians from Oka. At 11 o'clock at night of the 22nd November they silently embarked at Glengarry House, rowed across the St Lawrence, and landed at a point where the road from St Regis comes out on the southern bank of the St Lawrence. Here 100 men under Colonel McLean were left to protect the line of communication, and the remainder of the force ad- vanced on French Mills. Though the distance was not great the road was execrable and it was 5 o'clock before the bridge across the Little Salmon was reached, which was crossed without discovery, there being no sentry. About half way to the bridge across the Big Salmon, however, a sentry was met, who fired his musket, to give the alarm. The advance dis- charged their guns, and the faithful sentinel fell, pierced with 3 balls. A rush was made for the village, and at the end of the bridge another sentiy was found posted, who fired at the advancing force and turned to flee, when he also was killed. A few shots from the dwelling-houses, evoked the order to fire a volley, when one man, who stood at the door, fell dead, and resistance ceased. It was now learned that the surprise had not been so complete as anticipated ; that scouts had brought in word of their approach 3 hours before, and that the garrison had all withdraw^n into the blockhouse, to which the British now marched. Drawing up in front, prepared to storm it, a messenger was sent demanding their surrender, coupled wuth a threat to destroy the village. The Revolutionary veterans at once marched out and gave up their arms. They -comprised 1 captain, 2 subalterns, and 41 men. Besides, 4 EXCHANGE OF PKISOXEUS. Ti hatteaux and 57 stftnd of arms wore taken. Col. McMillan leturnod with deliberation, bearing his spoil and prisoners, to Cornwall, from whence the latter were sent to Montreal, where they were, in the following month, exchanged for the Canadians captured at St Regis. Col. McMillan did not de- 8troy the blockhouse, probably because too green to burn, and to hold it 2 companies were at once detached by the American fjeneral from the force at Chateaugay, who stayed there until Mai-ch, when a Constable company, under Capt. Erwin, f/ook their place. V i CHAPTER VI. THE SECOND YEAR OF THE WAR. The winter passed quietly, the only alarm bei ig caused by a sensational report in February that the enemy had gathered 2000 men at French Mills with the inteiition of crossing on the ice to Cornwall and so cutting communication between the provinces. The fact is, neither side cared for a winter campaign, and both were engrossed in getting ready for the summer. The Americans had great difficulty in getting men, and after trying volunteering had to resort to drafting. Among their contrivances to fill their ranks was that of be- stov; lug commissions on sheriffs deputies and constables, who raised companies by imprisoning debtors who would not enlist. A bounty of $40 was offered, and the pay of a private in the regulars was $8 a month. In June Cuvillier, a resident of the Cedars, was sent disguised as a French merchant, to re- connoitre French Mills, and he reported that the soldiers consisted of waiters, servants, journeyman shoemakers and a tanner.* He found the garrison so inefficient that he recom- mended an attack upon it, to which Col, Lethbridge, who commanded the fort at Coteau, •would not consent, as the * Cuvillier's report goes on to say that of this noble host "not more than 10 or 12 sleep in the blockhouse, the others staying in the village. Thecaptain lodges at Stutson's tavern, the ensign at another, and the lieutenant in the blockhouse. There are 5 or (> Frencii families in the village, the men of which serve in the militia, z*eceiving $10 and $11 a month with rfltions. These families were there before the war, with the exception of that of Lorraine, who was a leader in the Pointe Claire party. (See page 60). The sentries had no annnunition in their pouches." Cuvillier was politely treated and being a French Canadian and known as a travellir.g merchant no suspicioTi of his being a spy was taitertained. His report, apparently written by hhnself, is couched in ex- cellent English. TREATMENT OF DESERTERS. 7« Captain had found no Bi-itish desertei's at the Mills. Up to this time, desertion had caused much annoyance to the British officers, and they had resorted to extreme measures to stop it In illustration of this, one incident will be sufficient. An American settler lived on what was called Mai'sh island, Dun- dee, and one day two deserters entered his house and asked if they were yet in the States. A deceptive answer was given, when, feeling safe, they ate what was set before them and then lay down to rest thei- exhausted bodies. Brunson went out and, getting the assj;*\,nce of a neighbor, seized and bound the two poor men, and took them in his canoe to the fort at Coteau, where they were at once shot. The reward, $20 for each, was placed on their coffins, from which their captor had to pick it up. This shooting of captured deserters was invariable, and knowing the danger to which they were exposed, the Americans generally sent them on to Albany. The captors were not always so success- ful as in the case mentioned. In the east end of the county, a settlor named Moore, greedy uf the reward, seized a deserter, placed him on horseback behind him, and started for Lacolle. On the way, the deserter managed to get his hands free, and pulling out a knife, suddenly plunged it into the lx)wels of his captor, and escaped across the lines. As the war pi*ogressed there was less desertion, for the hard usage to whicli the American soldiers w^n^ subjected became widely known. Beyond the continual excitement and apprehension in- separable froU' a -tat« of war, the settlers along the Hunt- ingdon frontier had little to complain of Those living east of Hemingford, near the lake, were plundered of provisions without conscience by the American sohliers and once had their horses taken awa}', on the pretence that they had been used for di'awing supplies to the British garrisons, V)Ut he settlers in the west had no such wrongs ojid 'ndignities to undergo. The only instance of plundering by soldiers was experienced in Franklin. One day three American soldiers suddenly emerged from the woods and entering the open door of Andw. Gentle's shanty one of them discharge 1 his musket into the log wall, apparently to frighten the inmates. Placing 76 PETTY RAIDS, one of their number to stand as sentinel at the door, the others ransacked the liouse for plunder. From a pedlar, who Lappened to be in the house, they took his pack of dry goods and ^50. On opening a trunk, one was for appropriating its contents, when the other protested against taking "the old iiian's clothes." Making up wliat tliey had stolen from the pedlar, into three bundles, each lifted one on his back, and departed. A more serious attempt at plundering was made by throe French Canadians who had been employed in making ashes on the St Antoine Abbe road, and who, on the outbreak of the war, had fled to Plattsburgh. One night they returned and stole Jacob Manning and Andrew Gentle's oxen and cows, leaving not a trace behind. During the day X messenger caine from Chateaugay, N.Y., stating that early that morning, Mr Douglas, the miller, had seen three French- men pass with a drove of cattle, among them a yoke of oxen which he recognized as having often been at the mill with Mr Gentle. Believing the men were thieves, he and his neighbors seized the cattle, the Frenchmen flying on per- ceiving that they were suspected. The cattle were restored to their ownei's, with the exception of one of Mr Manning's (SOWS, which had died from being overdriven. The most friendly relations subsisted between the people on both sides, and despite the patrols from Ghateaugay, N.Y., there was an interchange of neighborly favors. The war had deprived the American settlers of a market for their potash, and they now, at night-time, drew the barrels over to their British neighbors, who sold them on their behalf in Montreal Then there was considerable smuggling done in the way of spirits, which the Avar had made scarce and very dear in the United States. In this infamous trade Milne, the seigniory agent, ©ngaged largely and made much money. He brought the liquor, in 10-gallon kegs, from Montreal to Franklin, by the way of the Chateaugay and the track that led southwards from the Georgetown settlement, and it ^ was drawn across ti\c lines in handsleds by a number of men he employed. A more peculiar contraband traffic was that in cattle. The country on the Canadian side of the lines was almost a DROVING EXTRAORDINARY. 77 in its, ited ent, the the ards ross The st a wilderness and, necessarily, could supply few cattle, while the habitants of the old parishes had none to spai'e. The consequence was, that the government found the greatest difficulty in providing beef for the troops. Their perplexity was relieved to a large extent by a set of daring men wha„ knowing that there was no lack of cattle on the American side, and that their owners Avere eager to exchange them for the Spanish dollars which the British commissariat so lavishly spent, engaged in making the transfer. At a pre-arranged time and place, invariably in some lonely part of the woods, the American farmers were in waiting with their beasta. when the Canadian drovers appeared, paid their price, and drove them into Canada. The American military authorities were perfectly cognizant of the traffic, and did their best to end it, and so anxious were they to cut ofi' all supplies from their opponents, that they announced whoever was caught "igaged in it would be hanged on the spot. This proved no deterrent and it is additional proof of the good understand- ing that subsisted between the settlers along the HuntingdoB frontier, that no instance occurred of either betraying the other to the respective governments in the dealings they had. A track was made through the woods by the cattle smufffjlers from the Hinchinbrook frontier to the St Law- rence, g<^)ing by Cazaville, across the Scotch ridge, fording the Laguerre at what came to be known as la traverse aux vaches, a little north of the fourche a bruler, and thence to Chretien's point, where they were ferried across to supply the troops at Coteau and Cornwall. Those engaged in the traffic made enormous protits.* The omnipresence and unceasing watchfulness of the In- dian bands, which prevented the American officers from guarding the frontier sufficiently to stop the illicit inter- course that was going on under their noses, exasperated *A leading spirit in the traffic was an American who lived on the lake shore, Josiah H. Classon. On tar running short for the gunboats then being built at Coteau for cruising on the lake, he contrived to distill a sufficient quantity from pine knots, secured on the pine plains of St Anicet. 78 AN INDIAN HUNT. them greatly, and they made repeated attempts to break them up. Their efforts to catch them resembled those of u turtle in pursuing a lizard. When a detachment of a hun- dred men or so had laboriously marched to the point Avhen' the Indians had been seen, they had vanished to assail the enemy at some other point. Time and again when the Am- erican commanders thought they had cornered a portion of their (Jetested foe beyond all possibility of escape, they found they had slipped away. In one instance they were nearly successful. Sam Hatch, an American, who had lived until the war broke out on lot -V.) of the 1st range of Hinchinbrook, became a spy for the American camp and haunted the woods in the vicinity of his old home. One day he took word to Four Corners that a patrol was staying at James McClatchie's. .•}00 men were detailed, and sent in ha,ste, guided by Hatch, through the bush. They silently surrounded the house, when, hearing a slight rustle, Mrs McClatchie looked out of the window, when an American officer made a cut at her with his sword, which she narrowly escaped. He afterwards apologized for his cowardly act by declaring he had mistaken her head of black hair for that of an Indian. They were much provoked to find the patrol had left and that they had lost their journey. The evening had turned out cold and wet, and, not daring to risk a night march through the busli back to their barracks, they encamped until daylight shoukl return. They were clad in blue swallow-tailed coats, and had neither blankets nor overcoats, so that they spent an un- comfortable night, the only shelter for the rank-and-file being what they could secure by breaking down the corn. The officers were very civil and, on departing in the morning, offered to pay Mr McClatchie for the provisions they had taken, which he refused. - ■ The suunncr passed in constant apprehension of invasion by the enemy, who had gathered a considerable force ojri the New York frontier, styled The Army of the North. It did not at any time exceed 18,000, but in those days that was » great number to concentrate on so remote and wild a frontier. It is to be remembered that in 1813 there were uo rail- THE AMERICAN'S ABOl'T TO IXVADE. 79 ways and that steamboats were only beginning to be in- troducefl. The consequence was, that the regiments had, •renerallj', to march every mile oi: the distance from where they were recruited to the field of action. A lai'ge proportion of the regiments composing The Army of the North had been raised in the Southern States, so that to rt^ch lake Cham- plain or the foot of lake Ontario (both hcadcpiarters of the army) they liad to undergo fatiguing and prolonged marches. The intention was to have invaded Canada early in June, but it was well on. in August before a sufficient force was concentrated. The chief command was given to Wilkinson, who had been bred a physician, but having entered the army and served through the Revolutionary war was looked upon as an invincible soldier. Hampton, who was a Southern planter, had also served in the Revolutionary war, and was likewise held in popular esteem as a veteran hero. The most extravagant estimates were indulged in by the American papers as to what they would effect, and it was regarded as certain that they would gain possession of Montreal by the 4th of July. A false report having reached New York that the army had crossed the frontier, one leading journal an- nounced the news thus, "Our armies have enteregan to fall hack Had they perse vt' rod, after snrt'ei'int,' some loss, they wouM. iin(|Uestional)ly, have p«Mietrated the woods, when the}' wouM have emerged on the cleaned country wliich then oxtemkMl as now, from Lacolle to the St Lawrence. Fortunately for Canada, they knew neither of this nor of the insigniticance of the force in their front. On hearing the x'eport of the offiivr^ in command of the advance, Hampton fell hack next day t. I'hamplain, and sent a despatch to Washington, stating tli.it he found the route to Montreal by Odelltown impracticahlt owing to the great dryness of the season and the absence ni rivers along it!* On the 22nd the army took the n)ad fo Chateaugay Four Corners, where it encamped on the 24tli The tents were pitched in the tield south and west of tli. present railway station ; log houses being put up for tli officers. Gen. Hampton and his staff boarded at Smith > tavern, which stood on the ground now covered by Bemau - brick-block. His haughty nuinners repulsed and disgustc. the settlers around, who, fov the first time, saw a Soutlitii planter and the commander of no mean army. Of the laain thousands of slaves he was reputed to have in the Carol i n a^ i he had a number waiting upon him as servants. One inci' •ent of his residence at Chateaugay, N.Y., is still reniemben-.i I The proud old man had a magnificent black charger, which 1 1 reckless fellow, named Hamilton, determined to steal. H coolly entered the stable while the hostlers were in the tiivrn. led out the horse, mounted, dashed past the sentinel, took tii road for Athelstan, and was soon beyond pursuit. As lai | would have it, when some distance ofi", he saw a patrol retun; ing to Four Corners, when, the road being narrow^ and ili I bush impenetrable for a horse, he sprung from its back an; escaped into the woods, and the charger was recovered. * The drouth of the summer of 1813 was unparalleled. Al an instance of its effects, the English river ceased to flow aiif the pools became too shallow for big fish. On going to frr'l a pail of water on the morning of tlie 26th SeptemTx*r, Bt m Roberts found one floundering about. He jumped int<»t!:| water, caught the fish in his arms, and flung it upon the bai4 I)K WA'ITEVILLE. «5 Pay after day slipped l»y in inaction, appanntly In'oauso Htutiptttn was afraid to venture into Canada with the f.>R"e at his conniuind. Tiie i-egidars were mainly Soiithern- I rs. and t)n their march northwards had suHen-d much from xk-kness, which rather increased while in camp, owinjjf to the o4dnes=s of the nights and the insufiiciency of their cU>thing. One regiment which had left Virginia with 1000 men could n«>t muster 500 fit for a march, and there were othei-s nearly ;i> Wd. To make up for his disabled men, Hampton sent to Pkttshiugh and other points for militia, hut as they had lieen i-n!ist»'.l t'or defence only, they refused to join an expedition intended to invade Canada. While wasting time at Chateou- i^TAV. Hamptim kept a number of men improving tlie road tcv Pbttsburgii, the turnpiking of which was completed on the -tth October. On the afternoon of the same day a scouting j^nrty of Indians and French Canadians crept up to the out- skirts of the American cam}), killing Lieut. Nash and a private • I the .S8rd regt. and taking 2 prisoners, and then retreated iu safety. One of the prisoners escaped and the other was iiiHt'we*! to follow him. Tliis incident greatly tannoyed the Auericans and caused them to use increased vigilance, and jmtensitied the dread of the average soldier of the Indians, lisrhohe knew were continually lurking in the woods to the [E«>rth of the camp. • hivvord reaching Montreal that Hampton was at Chateau- [gay. N.Y.. his design of penetrating into Canofia by following^ jlL*.- windings of the river of that name was appai-ent, and prxparations made to defeat ic. Every available man was^ larried to Baker's, and the additions to the barracks on the river-point were so numerous, that the place looke«l like a tfwn. General DeWatteville, one of the numerous foreign Dtifo-rs then in the British service, was sent to take command of &\i the forces west of the Richelieu. He was a soldier of fexpnerience, having seen much service on the Continent, been bkt-u prisoner by Napoleon and exchanged on condition of I serving against the French. He was accompanied by everal staff"- officers who, like himself, had l>elongeoiit 600 men ; their uniform was a grey blouse. Another noted regiment of emlwdicd militia was the 5th battalion, whose memlx'rs had green coats with red facings, and who were commonly called "the Devil's Own," owing to their thieving and disorderly propensities. They had been enlisted in Montreal and Quebec, and were largely composed of the offscourings of those cities. They were en- camped in the ravine on lot 14, already referred to, and the second son of James Wright, then a boy of 13, was sent daily to sell potatoes to them, when he was cautioned to stand on the bridge and, on a yorker being handed up, to give back the measure of potatoes, but on no account to give the potatoes without first receiving the coin. There were no regulai*s except a battery of field artillery, under charge of Captain McKay. Such was the force gathered on the north bank of the Chateaugay to repulse the threatened invasion — small in number and crude in material. Whatever its commander's perplexity may have been as to its inadequacy, it was ex- celled by the uncertainty as to the direction from which the assault would come. The common conjecture was that Hamp- ton would go to, St Regis, and there unite with Wilkinson, sailing down the St Lawrence in company to Montreal. Then there were those who held that it was Hampton's intention to strike across the country and meet Wilkinson where Valleyfield now stands, while others, who knew the country better, held it to be plain he would have to keep along the Chateaugay to its mouth, or striking off at Ste Martine, go by St Phillip to Laprairie. These doubts caused the small British force to be divided, in order to cover the exposed points, and DeWatteville ordered Major Stovin, who con- tinued to hold the conanand at Baker's, to be in readiness to march to any one of them. The vigilant watch that had been maintained along the frontier was redoubled, and, in addition to the Indian guard, a body of spies was formed ANOTHER RAID. 89 from among the settlers in Hemingfonl and Hinchinlirook, who, from their situation and the intimjite n-hitions they kept up with the neighlxiring settlers on the south side of the line, had great facilities in finding out what wjus going on in tjie camp at Chateaugaj', N. Y., and without exciting the slightest suspicion on the part of the enemy. Among the most active of these secret-service agents wjis David Manning, and from the few of his reports still preserved it can be seen that he was a man of education and great shrewdness. An- other of the agents, Morris Simpson, from Lacolle, was detected by the enemy, who made arrangements to capture him. Receiving word from a spy that he was staying at (Jentle's in Franklin, a detachment was sent from Smith's, and surrounding the house at night found him asleep in bed and took him prisoner without resistance. On their return march, they halted on the flat rock south of Rockburn for lireakfast, when Simpson seized his opportunity and made a rush for the bush, escaping unscathed amid a volley of bullets, and made his way back to Gentle's. This was fol- lowed by an equally daring descent in the night-time (m the house of Jacob Manning, when they arrested him and David Manning and Sam. Place, who were together in bed They were ordered to dress and then hurried away, amid the entreaties of a distracted household. Neither of the Man- nings had any apprehension of danger, but they knew that Place would be recognized at Chateaugay as a spy, and would be punished as such, .''o they whispered to him to try and escape, and they would assist him. The detachment halted on lot 48, of the 2nd range of Hinchinbrook, when Place affected to be taken suddenly ill and going apart to where a large log lay, suddenly rolled over it and fled. The Ameri- cans started in pursuit when the Mannings shouted if they did not come back they would run too, a consideration which, added to their fear of the Indians, caused them to return and hurry forward with their prisoners to Qhateaugay, when they were consigned for safe keeping to a log-stable, where they were kept for 18 days. At the end of that time they were unexpectedly led out and conducted to Smith's hotel m A BRAVE LOYALIST. and brought into the general's room. Addressing Jacob, Hampton asked if he would not take his best horse and go to Montreal and bring back word of the strength of the army he would have to meet. There was no danger, he would not be suspected, and if he did his errand faithfully he would be richly rewarded. Manning refused. "Are you not an Ameri- can ?" demanded Hampton. "Yes," said the sturdy settler, "I was born on the American side, and have many relations .still there, but I am true to the British flag." Annoyed at the bold bearing of the U.E. Loyalist, Hampton got angry and spoke roughly. He told Manning he was in his power and he would send them to Green Bush, which was the name of the military prison near Albany. The undaunted back- wowlsman said they would be glad to go, that they were sick of being confined in a filthy stable, and would, at least, be treated like human beings at Gi'een Bush. Seeing he was not to be frightened, Hampton took another tack, and asked if there was a fort at Montreal and when Manning told him there was not, he would not believe him. Taking him to the window, Hampton showed him his army encamped on Roberts' farm, a scene full of life, for its thousands were striking tent and getting under arms, Manning particularly admiring the cavalry and the fine physique of the infantry. Waiting until he thought the magnificent spectacle had made a due impression, Hampton asked proudly, "How far an army like that would go?" "If it has good luck, it may get to Halifax," Manning at once replied, meaning that they would be taken captive and sent to Halifax, which was the* place where all prisoners-of-war were sent. Seeing he could make nothing of the loyal men, Hampton ended the interview,, by ordering Hollenback, who was officer of the guard, to take them back to their wretched quarters and keep them there for 3 days, so as to prevent them carrying information of the army's moving to the British camp. Hollenback who, as a resident of Chateaugay, was acquainted with them, was either more merciful or desired to get rid of the charge of them. "Do you want anything* to eat?" he asked. "No," Jacob answered. "Well, then, put for home." Advice of THE INVASION. which they gladly availed themselves,* That afternoon, the 21st October, the American army marched into Canada. The decisive step was taken after long hesitation, and after more than one abortive start. One Sunday, the 10th October, H(t>Mpton went so far as to send out detachments to press into service all the farmers' teams for miles around, and when gathered, changed \\\a mind. The fact is, he hesitated be- tween contending passions — that of fear, which caused him to shrink from the dangers he would encounter in Canada, and that of jealousy of Wilkinson, which urged him to risk all and snatch the laurels that might fall to his rival. It was under the stimulus of the latter motive that he moved at last. Word reached him that Wilkinson was about to take to his boats and sail down the St Lawrence, when he re- solved to inarch at once upon Montreal and achieve its capture before his competitor could reach it. So far as regards provisions and transport, Hrmpton had nothing to complain of, for both were ample. The great lack was that of winter clothing. After a hot, dry summer, the fall had set in early, and so cold and wet that late com did not lipen. The soldiers, particularly those from the South, suffered extremfdy, and were more anxious to get into winter-quarters than to undertake a campaign. The few winter garments that had been received had been divided by lot, and the over- coats were reserved for those who stood guard The army which ci-ossed the line numbered about 5000, of whom 400 were cavalry, and 100 artillery-men with 8 six-pounders, 1 twelve-pounder, and a howitzer. Before leaving Chateau- gay, whei*o he had dallied 26 days, Hampton sent a despatch to Washington, in which he pompously declared : "The Rubicon is now passed, and all that remains is to push for- ward to the capital" — Montrealf * Jacob Manning lost no time on his return in becoming a Free Mason, for he said, while held a prisoner, he saw a number brought in like himself, discharged at once, because of their connection with the mystic tie. f The American people had formed extravagant expecta- tions of what The Army of the North would accomplish. A 02 IZARD S BOLD DASH. I'- I The first column to move was tl.at commamlcd l»y Brig.- Gen. Izard, wlio was ordered by Hampton to move easterly from camp Douglas, familiarly known as Fort Hickory, and possess the country at the junction of the Outarde with the Chatcaugay, and so protect the main army on its march on the east flank, the only one that, from the nature of the country, would be exposed, and to clear the way for its advance. On the morning of the 21st October, Izard, who was an active and skilful soldier, guided by Judge Smith, who knew the country, struck boldly into the woods, near to or on lot 30 of the 1st concession of Hinchinbrook, and made straight for the mouth of the Outarde, by way of Black's church and the Gore.* Preceded by a band of axemen, a tolerable path was easily made for the passage of his corps and the few waggons he had with him, for he went in light marching order, and carried only 5 days' rations. Without misadventure they struck the Outarde on the west side of lot 40, which they crossed by the ford that exists there, and then, turning east^ passed down the island of Jamestown. While the rank and file fell to, in order to form a camp, which extended from lot 3 to 1, an advance guard waded the Chateaugay, and, at 4 p.m., surprised the British outpost that Congressman (Gardiner of N. Y.), although not in sym- pathy with the war-party, was so infected by the popular sentiment that he was constrained to write: "Wilkinson sounded his bugle: Hampton rose in his strength. From east to west was nothing heard but the dreadful note of pi-eparation. From both armies came letters teeming with assurances of victoiy. Victory ! was the cry of a thousand trumpets." * The only remains of this road are a few logs near Black's church — the survivors of those that formed a corduroy across the beaver meiidow swamp that existed there. For many years the road was used as a means of connnunication be- tween the 1st and 2nd concessions. The road from Rennie's to the Chateaugay was little used, owing to the British authorities, after the retreat of the Americans, closing it by frequent slashes. One of the Mathers (Mrs Lewis McKay) said about 1830 she travelled the road, her companions help- ing her to surmount, the heaps of logs. SPEAIUS CAMP. 93 haJ been cstablislicd a few days before at Ornistown, and who Hed, astounded at the unexpected appearance of tlie enemy. They carried tlie tidings to the camp at Baker's, of M'liich Major Henry happened to be in conuiiand. Gen. DeWatteville had just arrived on a tour of inspection of the posts under his char<^e, and he at once detached about .*J00 men as a corps of observation, wlio reachel'^i beds for themselves at the botfoni of ravines varying from 10 to 25 feet Ixdow the surroundi/ig level and in ijreadth from 20 to 100 yards. General DeWatteville's plan was to convert these ravines into rude lines of fortification. The road that ran parallel with the Chateaugay, the only possible avenue by which the Americans could advance, crossed, between Allan's Corners and Neil Morrison's, no fewer than six of these gullies. Firat < tearing up the bridges, he ordered that the trees be felled on the east bank of each ravine, so as to form a barricade, behind which he would post his men. By such a plan it was . plain the Americans would be at a great disadvantage, that as they came to each successive ravine, they would have to - rush down and struggle through the watera of the creek, all the time exposed to the lire of a foe safely ensconced behind an impenetrable slash of felled trees, and which they could ' leave in time and fall back to the next ravine to repeat the same opposition with perfect safety to themselves. The entrenching of the three first i-avines on lots 34, 29 and 28 he entrusted to Colonel deSalaberry, who, at once, set his men to work in felling trees, though they did not make much speed from scarcity of axes. The second line, which included the ford at Morrison's, the key of his defensive plan, he left 98 THE TWO FORDS. * f. I in tlie hands of Cv^lonel Macdonell. Tlie main body he con- centrated at Gardner's ere«.'k, where the artillery was posted. Of this he I'etained connnand, ready to make a final stand should his front lines be forced. The weak point in the plan was the possibility of the enemy j^oing round the entrenchments, and this General DeWatteville foresaw. On the north side there was no possi- bility of flanking, for the barricades were carried into the bush a short distance, and through the bush, so swampy was it, no troops eovtld move. Where the danger lay, was in the Americans moving dow^n the south side of the Chateaugay, and crossing it, at either of the two fords, taking the fortified ravines in the rear. The ford at Grant's rapids was, at that tihie, so ol)structed by large stones, that it was rarely used and only at low water, but to make sufO a body of militia was stationed behind a rude breastwork facing it, and 150 Indians placed in the raxTTib above it. The other ford (Morri- son's) perfectly practicable and ea^y of pa=isage, was entrusted to Col. Macdonell, who quickly threw up an entrenchment which fully commanded it. . In all these wojfks, Col. Hughes took little part, for, despite his position, ho was far from being respected, and he and Col. deSalaberry had a quarrel on his intei'fering. On the afternoon of the 25th, DeWatte- ville inspected the works, and approved lii- all thnt had been done. Although he did not know it, at that very time the Americans were preparing for the attack, and the gloomy Octobu- day, now darkening in its clo3e by; the rain clouds that swept the sky, wa^ the eve before the battle. Geiieral Hampton was fully informed of the preparations made to resist his farther progress, and lesolved that ho would not force his way but endeavor to turn the British line of defence by a bold flank movement. The south side of the Chateaugjly was an unbroken fore^st, and he ccmceived that it woulH bj possible for a detachment of light troops to ci-oas at Rapid Croshfe (Ormstown) and mai-ch downwards to the ford at Morrison's, where, regaining the north bank, they would take the 7 tol^tlfitjd ravines with their defenders in rear and easily capture them, when the main army wouM HAMJTUN TIUES A FLANK MOVEMENT. 99 move down unopposed. Without encjuiring into the feasihility of a brigade penetrating G miles of thick woo;b, interspersed with liendoi'k swamps, he at once set about carrying his phvn into operation. The flower of his army, comprising the best conditioned of the infantry, t ) tlie numb^H- of 1500, were got in readiness and, at sunset, on the evening of the 25tli Oct., thej"^ werj marched to the river side and w.ide 1 tlircjugh the rapids to the southern ]»ank. Before tiiey had ad\anced III vny hundred yards, it became appare:it that it was im- p >ssible to proceed. The guides, two in number, had assured Hampton before starting that tliey were iiat very well con- versant with the country on the south bank, an 1 S')>n proved t » Parly that they were incompetent. The niglit was ilark an 1 old anl i-ain begin to fall, while the advance was thrown into confusion l)y une.Kpectedly iinding tiiemselve.s W )U.i lering in the water.s of a creek, which, in tlie darkness, they hal mt perceived. Gen. Purdy wai compelle 1 t.) call a, halt and wait for daylight. The long night wore wearily on fur the American", in their wretclie 1 condit!(m,for they dared not light camp-tires to warm and dry themselves, and their only food the little in their haversacks. Clad in their s'.nmner uniforms, tliey feU the cold and wet very much. At tile first .'^;treak of day the expedition silen'dy lesumed its. inarcli, but its prv)gress was ni'cessarily slow, for, apart from tlie guides not having a competent knowledge of the ground, their route was over what wa; little lietter than a hemlock swamp, througli wdiich they could (mly advance as a body of axemen in front of the column brushed a road. Had the ^aiides kept closer to the river all might yet have gone well, hut instead of seeking th(! comparatively dry ground that skirted tlie Ciiatoaugay, they led the army into the intri- cacies of the creek that empties near Morrison's rapids. Informed of the nature of the Imsh on the r.outhtrri .tide of the Chateaugay, Colontd , deoalaberry, who had been en- trusted with the picket service, had sent no scouts across the river, .so that tlie Americans ctmtinue.l their advance unob- served until several l.ours after daylight, wlien the guards at dcS daberry's position near Allan's Corners were astonished 100 THE FIRST SKIRMISH. to sec several American soldiers, who ha 1 strasfsfled out to- wards the river, when the alarm was sent to Col. Macdonell, who. as already stated, had been assigned the guarding of the ford at Morrison's, which was evidently the point aimed at. He at once ordered Captains Daly and Bruyere to cross the ford with their companies and reconnoitre, while a body of the sedentary militia, composed of habitants from the adjoin- ing pai-ishes, followed in support. Capt. Daly, threading his way quickly through the woods, chme upon a party of the enemy, consisting of about 100 men of the advance, who had made their way through the bush in single file, until they liad nearly reached the river bank on lot No 36, when a brisk engajjement ensued. At the sound of the first shot, the sedentary militia, reluctantly following behind, were seized with panic and fled wildly back to the ford, their blue tuques streaming behind. So provoked were the spectators on the north bank, who saw them plainly, that they were strongly inclined to open fire upon them. The Fencibles were of other stuff' and aided by a few Indians, kept up a skirmish- ing fire, during which several on both sides were hit. The Americans behaved badly, for after feebly returning the fire of the Fencibles, and not seeing their supports, they broke and fled,* one portion rushing backwards over the route they Jiad come and another taking the more solid footing that led out to tlie river. The fii-st squad had not run far, when they came in sight of the companies behind, hurrying to reach the place from whence they heard the sound of musketry. Never dreaming that the men they saw running towards them were their countrymen, and supposing them to be British troops rushing to assault them, they began to fire, and sevei-al were killed before the mistake was discovered.f The second squad, * Colonel King, who was with the detachment, said his "countrymen behaved in the most cowardly manner and disgraced themselves." f Edward Wilkins, a U. S. private who was taken prisoner, *iaid, "I saw one man dead, and there was 1 captain, 1 lieu- tenant, and several privates wounded; shot by ourselves in mistake." PURDV SUSPENDS OPEKATHtXS. 101 on coming out on the nver's edLre on lot 48, found, the uionient they exposed themselves, that they were under the fire of a corps on the opposite hank and surrendered, when 5 French Canadians* swam across, and making the Ameri- cans h(>ld on to a pole, hrought them over. With the retujn of the men of his advance companies, who, as they came straggling in, brought exaggerated reports of the strength of the foe and the difficulties of the country to justify their ignominious rout. Colonel Purdy gave up al! intention of further aggressive movement. It was true that, his force was practically intact, V>ut they were exhausted and dispirited and filled with nervous apprehensions of the In- dians, whom they l>elieved to i>e watching behind every tree. The design had been that he should surprise the guard and carry the ford with a rush at daybreak, and here it was wearing on to the afteni(x>n, and he :^11 two miles distant from the ford, and the British fully apprised of his presence and intent, and filling the woods in ''ront of him. He re- solved to await where he was until he received further orders, and prt)ceeded to post his men on the angle of land that lies between Roun, while his eastern ann the hollow, and saw the redmen stretched in slumWr aixmnd a small fire. They pounced upon them, killed two or three, and captured the others, which was fortunate for the enemy, as it prevented * Their names have lieen preserved: Vincent, Pelletier, Ver- vais, and Caron — all privates in the Voltigeurs regt 102 HAMITO:: ADVANCES. word iKMug carrieil to duSahibony of their approach, and who, not hearing from the Indian scouts, supposed all was well and was unaw.tre of the Americans being near liini until late in the f')llowin_i^ forenooji. Long l»trar's was astii', and aft«r a hurried l)reakfast the. anny tiled on to the road, and began their niircii for Allan's Corners. Hampton's dtsigni, as already stated, was to attrtck the Biitish lines in front as scjon as the sound of mu.skotry toll that Purdy was assail- ing the defender.^ of the ford at Morrison's. As he advanced, and the sluggish dawn of that dull October morning broad- ened into day, signs were noted that indicated that Purdy was still far from the point of attiick and though glimpses of part of his fore.; could be caught in the openings of the bush, it was impossible, owing to the British .scouts who lurked on both banks, to hold connnunication. This advance of tlu^main army had been unanticipated by the British. The day previous, deSalaberry had set his Avorking party, on completing thj inside lines, to strengthen the fi'ont orie at Allan's Corners bv tliickenino' the al;atis, cutting down trees ;;o that their tops fell outwai'ds and inter- laced. Pus.hing rapidly forward, Hampton's skirmi.shers came .sud.denly upon a party of Fivnch Canadians engaged upon this work and guarded by 20 men, wdiom deSalaberry speaks contemptuously of as "Iiabitant chasseurs." The guard, dis- charging their muskets at raudo^a, promptly ran v.'ith tlie axeman, and did not draw brer.th until tliey passed th.' line of defence on lot 87 At sij-ht of the ileeino' men, the Anieri- can . cheered, and pushed on fastei-, but were speedily brought to ii lialt, for wlien they came up to tlie abatis at Allan's Colliers, which Ava; flanked on the river's luink by a small blockhouse, the guard, composed of Voltigeurs imder com- maad of Lieut. Johnson, tiu-ned out and opened lire, whicli the Americans returned, and skirmishing was kept up .for over half an hour. . DeSalaberry, unconscious; of the jipproach of the Americans in front, had gone a short distance down the river, but, on I* H-l H ^0 1 *- S-S i oon aks B 2. -T i:^ c/2 H M > dis- til L" line ^ ^ 3 >■ 3 3 ct C 5^3 3 > •< Li-i- ig-lit , ~ 3 c c 2 *-" li —'3 au's • -^ 2-'-1 ^--^ — c iiall -^ — ■ C- » S^ '(iin- 10 1 it'll r '^- 3 ^ .for mns 1 B-:^ c :, on i S 3 f- 7: NS CcfiftCRs ■r )RRISONS 104 THE PAUSE BEFORE THE ONSET, M hearing the shots hurried to his post,* accompanied by Capt. Ferguson with a company of the Gle'^tgarry Fencibles and .S companies of the regiment Canadien, to reinforce the Volti- geurs and militia. When he arrived the American skirmish- ers had ceased firing and fallen back upon their supports. Satisfied that an attack in force was to be made, deSala- berry prepared for it. The abatis, or timber-slash, began at the point on Bry son's creek where the clearance ended, and then bent westward and southward, following the windings of the creek, and describing a quarter circle, until the other end rested on the small blockhouse on the river-bank. At the upper end of the abatis deSalaberry posted 22 Indians, while the Voltigeurs and the companies of the regiment Canadien occupied the rest of the line, and waited in silence for the approach of the foe. In order to see him, deSalaberry went a short distance in front of the abatis, to where a largo hemlock lay that had been overturned by the wind (about a ixxl west of the existing church), and mounting it, concealed by a couple of trees in front, he rapidly took in the situation. He could see the Americans slowly moving along the road until they came to a clearance on lot 42, where they halted, and where a temporary camp had been formed, and prepara- tions made to give the men something to eat. After a short interval, the roll of drums was heard and a brigade fell in for the attack, the main-body aAvaiting the result. This brigade was commanded by Gen. Izard, and consisted of 1500 men, covered on the left flank by a troop of cavalry, who, however, from the soft nature of the ground, could not help him. The American column advanced along the road witii the precision of well-drilled soldiers, and on coming within * Had the Americans proved successful, deSalaberry would have had to justify his absence before a court-martial; An official report, dated May 13, 1814, states Lt.Col. deSalaberry "was culpable in a high degree in neglecting to report to his commanding- officer (Maj.-Gen. DeWatteville) the approach of the enemy, which must have originated either in being sur- prised or from a wilful neglect, in either case highly cenitur- able." i^Tf THE ATTACK. 105 range of the abatis, the order to halt was given, when a tall officer rode forward a few yards and cried out in French, "Brave Canmlians, suiTcnder yourselves : we wish you no liann !" Before he could say more, deSalal>eny fired point- blank, when he dropped from his horse. DeSalabarry shouted to the bugler, standing l^hind him, to sound the call to begin tiring, and instantly puff's of smoke from discharged muskets issued from the circle of fallen trees, while the yells of the Indians, who filled the woods to the north, mingled with their reports. As if undecided which part of the line to assail, the 'Americans held their fire, and silently the column Avheeled on to the clearance into line, and when the order to fire was given, and several volleys belched forth. At this the skir- mishers, thrown out by deSalaberry along the road, jumped up and ran for cover, causing the Americans to burst into cheering, under the idea that the British were giving way. Their shouts were returned with interest, and as the Ameri- cans pressed forward to improve their supposed advantage wore checked by the increasingly rapid fire of a foe they could not see. Halting within musket-range, the Americans poured in volley after volley. The rattle of musketry was now incessant. The fire of the companies • behind the fallen trees was that of half-disciplined men — sputtering and irregu- lar, while that of the Americans was delivered in the form of regular volleys, tliey firing by battalion. The parties kept bhxzing at one another for fully an hour, and with slight result. The British force were bad shots under the best of circumstances, and at long range, as now, were mere wasters of anmiunition, for only 1 American fell under their fire and 4 were wounded. On the other hand the American volleys were almost as ineffective. At first they supposed their antagonists were posted -in the woods to the north of them, and blazed in that direction until they discovered their error. Their bullets were harmless to those behind the abatis, the greater proportion lodging in the tree-tops that rose behind it With the sound of this noisy but harmless contest in his .ears, Colonel Purdy resolved to co-operate with the column, whose movements he could partially trace from where he was i ti lOG PUIIDY TRIES AOAFN entrenched. Encouraged l>y liis success in the niorninjjf, Capt. Daly had proceeded to feel his way cautit)usly forward, until he ascertained where the American niainljody was posted, when he halted on lot 42 to watch its movements. Colonel Purdy was aware of Daly's proximity, and he resolvetl to capture him, and, after that, it mi<^ht be, to advance even yet on the ford. DalyV. .south-Hank being unapproacliable from the swampy iiature of the ground, Purdy detached a boily ot' his troops to move down the river-bank and hem him in from the north. The Americans advanced .so (piickly that Daly had not tinrj to extricate himself from hia dangerous position, and ordered his men to defend it. The exchange of nhots was lively fo;- a minute or so, resulting in the woundini;' of both Dal}'^ and Bruyore. To find solid ground, in their effort to get round to where the boset Britisli stood, the Americans, who were cheering lu ;tily in anticipation of rout- ing them, had to come out clo.;.e to the edge of the riwr. The moment they left cover, the Bi'itish on the opposite bank (lot -SS), which is higlier, opened iire, which so disconcerted the Ann ricans th;it they gave up their project, at the very moment Italy's men were hurrying away, bearing him and his wounded brother-officer. This failure, coupled with the fact that the tiring in front showed that Macdonell held tlu' woods with a rtrong .skiimish line on lot 80, caused Coloiul Punly tt) conclude that it would not be prudent to push farther, and he gave the order t(j retire, when the men whom he had detached moved back to the position they iiad left near the river on U)t 47, and there he awaited instructions from General Hampton. It was still in .the power of that officer to redeem t!u' fortunes of the day. Experience having convinced him that firing volleys into the abatis was 4is useless as sliooting in the air, he had issued the order to cease tiring when Purdy beaan to move, awaiting the result of his adNance to decide what he rhould do next himself. For an hour, there was not a shot fired between the two armies facing each other on tlio north bank, save when two skirmishers happened to get into line. When it became apparent Purdy had failed, two courses ! i THE AMEIIICAN'S KKTIRE. 107 were open to Hiiinpton, fii"st, to order an asHault on tlio jilmtis, and he luvl men enough to liave carried it at the point of the hayonet; or, second, to liave his lield-pieees laought up and dear a hine through it. He did neither. Apparently lie (ksired nothing more than an excu.s(> for retiring to the United States, and, Hnding that Pr.rdy Avas unable to make any progress, and tliab Izard's volleys were futile, he sent \\ov(\ to the latter officer to fall hack on tlie main-hody, wliieh he did slowly and in gv)od order, deSalaLerry not fdllowing him, and th.e only annoyance siistained being from thr Indi^lus who lay hid in tlie edge v)f the Ijush. By night- fall the army had reached lot 7, where the Ijagga'a'-ti-ain had liei'U ordered forward, and where they encaniped for the night. To Purdy no order was :;ent,'a-id on that officer despatch- ing a ine;;:;onger to aA\. General iiamptou for a regiment to cover the crossinij of his men on rafts, he was astonished to learu that the main armv iiad fallen back two aiiles, while Hniupton's command to him wa ; to march his men to rapid Croche and rejoin liim.* As Purdy did not choor.e that his men sliould undergo tiie sufferings of another niglit march, and this time to be tra?ko 1 by a vicborlouj foj, he ventured to disobey his superior hy deferring to nu>ve until daylight, and issued the order to his troop.", to encamp where they were until morning. His men were in a miserable plight, exliav.stcd by fatigue' and suffering from cold and hungjr, to wliich was added anxiety as to their safety. Thev knew the (!U'U\y was watching them from every p,)int in the surround- ing bush and from the opposite bank, and that an attack was p(;ssi1)le at any moment. Their .sentries ha 1 instructions to 111' extra vigilant, which they scarcely needed, for the appre- liension anum.q: the rank and file of the Indian.i was sucli that it a.iiinnited almost to a panic. Towards midnight, the sen- ; tries on watch on t\\2 river-bank fancied they saw a m )ve- hnent of troops on the opposite, or ntn'th, bank. At once * In a letter Purdy indicates that Hampton consoled him- fself for the day s di.sc(mititures with the bottle, and was in |an uniit condition to take Qare of the army. 108 A MI.'STAKE OF THE NIGHT. supposing; a nv^t-Jitifurk was ftlnnit to ))o made, they dis- charged their uio^kxrts, and in n few minutes their coniitides Fprang fn)n» tl^-ir cirvrnfortless places of repose, and slumbers made umaKv by nlDad of the Indian knife and tomahawk. A moment liefort- a!l was silence, l)Ut now the air was filled with shouts etifl eriif'*. and under the trees the men responded to the coumi«jiK!* *if the officers and got into some sort of order. The offiar, canying alarm alike to Hampton's camp and the Kliusmtiti>* of the .settlei's, who believed the enemy to be again sulvsum^in^. No response came from the north- bank, save a <^.ng deliberation the council returned the answer, "It in mar ananimous opinion, that it is necessary, HAMITDN DECIDES TO UETKEAT. 100 for the pit'servation of this army mid the fulHhnent of the ostensible views of the govormneiit, that we inuuediatuly riturn by orderly inarclies to such a position as Chateaugay (Four Corners) which will preserve our coniinunieatiouH >vith the United States, either to retire into winter-quarters or to be ready to strike below." This decision gave great satis- faction to the army, which began to prepare for its return to Chateaugay by immediately marching to its old camp at Sizars', Ormstown. The Indians, under Lamothe, were watch- insr their every move, and caused their sentries much uneafii- ness. On the 28th they surprise Haviiij;' now jfivfn n, (Usci'iption of wluit is popularly known as Itattlc of tlio Chatt'auy the Americans to forco the British position, needlessly ahandoned after some skirmishing;, I will };ive (letails of the enccaniter which wotild have oh- scured the precedinjr narrative, necessarily somewhat con- fused, as it involved the m was emptied and placed at their dispo.sal. (M the v.ounded '2 ilied, and their bodies were buried by the river's edge, close to the ford. Others of the wounded, especially those from (leSalaberry's position, were placed in canoes and taken down to the camp at Baker's, the groans, of the^ior men, as they ilonted past, sinking deep into the hearts *«^tl 'the compas.sionate dwellers by the trancpiil river. Among those most active in thus conveying the wounded, was Handy Williamson. The surireon at Baker'.^ was mugh and harshly ti'eated the poor tViiows, which evoked the compa.ssion of Mrs Baker, who slipped in, while he was absent, to ease theiv pain or to give theia fome dainty. The doctor suspectcnV'this, and once asked "If that woman had been giving- fhMn anything '<" to which the orderly replied evrsively. Their groans at first were terrible but they all eventually recovei*ed. Sixteen pnsoners were taken in all, an'd of thc^c the first three that were captured were brought to (icn. DeWatteville's headquarters at Wright's, where they were examined. One of them was so ravenously liungry that he paid more atten- tion to the piece of bread that had Lccn given him than to THE GOVERNOR ARRIVES. iin the general's questions, when an officer renmrkecl, "Let h eat first and then he will speak." On word reaching him that the Americans had attacked in force, General DeWatteville despatched every man that could be spared to reinforce deSalaberry and hurried forward sup- plies of aunnunition, while he superintended the preparations for a final stand on Gardner's creek, should the advance-lines be abandoned. In the course of the afternoon, while all were busy, the governor. Sir George Prevost, arrived from Montreal accompanied by Colonel Baynes, adjutant-general. After a short conference with DeWatteville, that officer and Lieut.- Colonel Hughes rode with the governor to the front. When they reached Allan's Corners, the enemy had desisted from the attack, and deSalaberry made his report of the engage- ment in pei'son, on hearing which Prevost said, "The action which you have performed does you and your countrymen great honor, the whole of you being Canadians." DeSala- berry, who reports this speech of the governor, adds, "I hope he is satisfied, though he appeared cold." The vice- regal party remained until dark, when it became evident fighting was over for the day, when the governor rode back. The story has been preserved that, on his way, he halted to speak to Macdonell, who, had moved forward with his men to reinforce deSalaberry if required and lay in waiting at the second ravine. After some conversation, the governor, who recalled his parting with Macdonell at Kingston six days before, asked, "And where are your men?" "There, air," replied the hardy Highlander, pointing to the sleeping forms that coveied the sides of the ravine, and then he added significantly, "there is not one man absent." The governor stayed at Baker's overnight and returned to Montreal next morning, where his presence was necessary owing to t'(ie uncertainty regarding Wilkinson's movements. His last command to DeWatteville was to stand on the de- fensive, which was, as we will see, too liteiully obeyed. When the firing had ceased and it was known there would be no more fighting that day, the belief was that the Americans had merely suspended the struggle until next DE SALABERRY's REPORT. 113 morning. General DeWatteville, whose instmctions were to keep on the defensive, and whose plan was to fall back on Montreal as pressed by the enemy, stubbornly contesting every inch of the way and laying waste the country, sent his orderlies round to the shanties of the settlers, to tell them to pack up their movables and to be ready to leave with their families as the army fell back, setting fire to their buildings and all property they could not carry, so that the Americans would find nothing in the shape of subsistence. The order brought consternation into every household. Carts were hurriedly packed with what was deemed most valuable, and stood at the door, while the horses munched their hay in harness ready to be hitched. Children were dressed for the journey and on every hearth there was u fiercer blaze than usual, so that the supply of brands should not f^il when the moment came to apply the torch to hay-stack and roof tree. If the invader came, the loyal settler., by the Chateaugay were 'determined he should find neither shelter for himself nor fodder for his horses, and resolute men sat by their glowing chimneys awaiting the command to sacrifice all they had aci^iumulated by years of painful labor. The anxiety at the front was scarcely less, for a night attack was looked for. The Indians were thrown out on both sides of the river as scouts, and the troops slept with their guns in hand around the camp-fires. At one of them, probably Chat which blazed in front of the small blockhouse on lot 38, deSalaberry wrote tae following account of the part borne by his command during the day : On the Chateauqay River, . 26th October, 8 p.m. Sir, — In ijKe action of this day, which began by the enemy attacking our advanced pickets, in great stren;jth, on both sides of the river, the enemy has been obliged to abandon his plan. Our pickets, supported in time by the Canadian Light company, 2 companies m Voltigeurs, and the light company of the 3rd Embodied Militia, behaved in the bravest manner. After the action, we remained in quiet possession of the abatis and posts \/e occupied previously. The enemy's forte appeared to ix^o to have been at least 114 THE ENEMY FALLING BACK. \m . 1500 men, with 250 dragoons and 1 piece of cannon. Three of our men, who saw the American army passing at best part (place) make it out amount to more. There were about 30 cannon with them. I cannot conclude without expressing the obligations I owe to Capt. Ferguson, for his cool and determined conduct and his extreme readiness in executing of orders, Capt. Daily, of the 3rd Batt., in gallantry cannot oe surpassed ; he contended with 50 men against a force ten times in number. Captain Daily is wounded in three places. Capt. Bruy^re behaved with gallanii-y and was wounded. Capt. J. Robertson dnd Jochereau Duchesnay have evinced great gallantry, and so, indeed, have many officers employed, particularly aide Major Sullivan, whose bravery has been so conspicuous. Capt. La- mothe, with a few Indians, exposed himself very much, and so did Capt. Hebden of the Voltigeurs. '•^ By correct information there appears no doubt the enemy have returned to the Outarde. This report is made by woodfire light. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedt. servt., DeSalaberry. "■^ To Major-Genl. DeWatteville. Two officers woundedl Light company, Canadian regiment, 3 killed and 4 privates wounded. Voltigeurs, 4 wounded. 3rd Batt., light company, 2 killed, 6 wounded, 4 missing. DeSalaberry, Lt.-Col. This letter, like all the others preserved, is in English, and written neatly and correctly ; indeed, to judge from his letters, nobody would suspect "the nationality of the gallant colonel. The seal is apparently a bit of moistened biscuit, wax not being available at his outpost. The night wore away arnd painful apprehensions, intensi-j fied for a time by an outburst of musketry, and much relief was felt among the settlers, when the news came in the mo.ning that no Americans were visible from the British lines, and that tiie report of the scouts was that they were falling back to their old camp gi^ound at Ormstown. Witli| this welcome news, came fresh reinforcements from Montreal, chief among which was 250 men under Captain deRouville, i A RECONNAISSANCE. 115 if a brother-in-law of deSalaberry's, At the same time Mac- tlonell moved up with his command to Allan's Corners, where as strong a force was coucenti-ated as possible, in antici- pation of a second attack. In compliance with the oixler of his general, deSalaberry detached Capt. Ducharme with 150 men to reconnoitre in front, which he proceeded to do with all caution. Feeling their way up the river bank, they came upon the scene of Purdy's night-mistake, the river- edge being strewn with dead. Continuing their stealthy couise, they surprised several pickets, whom they made pi-Lsonei-s, and finally came in sight J^^ of Hampton's camp on lot 7, winch they carefully prospected. Satisfied that the enemy had a1)aniloned the country between their new camp and Allan's Corners, Ducharme returned, and as he did so ordered a party to dig two trenches on lot 41, in which were laid the deail of the night-mistake, and among whom were two officei-s. Two elms mark their last resting- place by the river-edge. Swimming the river to the other '/ank, Purdy's late camp was explored, and a large quantity of guns, haversacks, provi.sions, and the like, were picked up. The bodies of two dead hoi-ses were also found. Ducharme's report did not shake the l»elief of DeWatteville and his officers that the Americans intended to renew the attack ; that they would go back to their own country without making a second trial does not seem to have been conceivable by them. The day was spent in preparation, and the mys- tery as to the enemy's intentions was deepened when, towards night, word was brought in by the scouts that they \\'ei'e falling back to the camp at Speai-s'. Next morning, the 28th, Lamothe with his Indians was ordered forward to watch the enemy and during the day a party of militia went up the road for a couple of miles to destroy the bridges built by* the Americans across the creeks and so hinder their anticipated return. On that day, when the first detachment took the route for Chateaugay, the astounding fact that the American army, substantially intact, had abandoned its purpose of marching to Montreal and was in full retreat to whence it came, flashed upon the minds of the handful of soldiers now 116 THE AMERICANS NOT FOLLOWED. concentrated at Allan's Comers, and their rejoicing was in proportion to their astonishment. The greatness of the re- sult, revealed to them the importance of the encounters in which they had been engaged, and, thenceforth, for all time, what would otherwise have been passed over by the histo- rian as skirmishes incident to every campaign and unworthy of narration, came to be regarded by him among those con- flicts which decide the fate of peoples and nations. Had the American army been less cowardly, they could have captured j Montreal, and the fall of Montreal would have resulted in the forcible annexation of Canada to the United States. | Never did consequences of greater moment result from so in- significant operations. Those engaged in them were rewarded I in proportion to their issues and not their severity, and it ij unfortunate that those, like Macdonell and DeWatf villej when rewards were being bestowed by the pTOvincial authori- ties, weie beyond the Atlantic and had no representatives in I Canada to urge their claims, although it is possible neither of these war-worn veterans attached any importance to the skirmishing in which they took part on the banks of the I Chateaugay. Owing to Prevost's injunction, on no account to assume the I offensive, the Americans were not assailed in their retreat On the 28th, Neil Morrison was given SI 6 to induce him toj go as a spy on the enemy's movements. He penetrated as I far as McClatchie's, on the 1st concession of HinchinbrookJ and ascertained beyond all doubt that Hampton was falling | back to his old quarters at Chateaugay. Despite this posi- tive information, not the slightest attempt was made to molest the retreating army, which moved safely back through 20 1 miles of bush, where 60 men could have seriously harassedl them and a few hundred might have routed thv<)m. Muchl to their surprise, the Americans had not a single shot fired atl them from the moment they broke iip camp at Ormstowii,| and reached Chateaugay with the loss of a few waggons, that j broke down or for which the horses died. In all the coursel of the war no better opportunity of inflicting a heavy blow! on the enemy was allowed to slip. After they had gone, anl THE KILLED AND WOUNDED. 117 officer indeed arrived capable of such exploit, the gallant Gordon Drummond, who must have chafed when he learned of the invader escaping with impunity.* The curiosity felt by the settlers in the fighting, led them to visit the scenes of it the day after, and they examined everything minutely. The slight execution done by the American volleys was explained by the appearance of the trees under which the British had lurked, for their branches were lopped off and their trunks high up studded with bullets, so that, in after days, the youth of the settlement when in need of ball, would go to the scene of encounter and fell a tree,, in order to pick the lead out of it The equal harmlessness of the fire of the British was explained by their lack of practice and the steadiness which drill can alone give. James Wright relates that, when deSalaberry and his regi- ment, returning to the camp at Baker's, halted at his father's [house, "the men amused themselves during their rest by setting up a mark and discharging their guns of the loads i they had put in on the day of the fight. DeSalaberry, who had a beautiful double-barrelled piece, joined in, but he and all his men made such very bad shooting, that I no longer i wondered that so few Americans had been killed." Of the enemy's los» nothing certain can be said. DeSaln- [berry, in a letter to his wife, puts it down at 100, but that is U gross overestimate. A contemporary American account [puts it at 06, and Gen. Hampton himself at under 50. The LBritish loss is given in the general-orders at 5 killed, IG jwounded, and 4 missing. It is a curious commentary on tlio Ipopular impression which ascribes to the Voltigeurs the sole *One ofiicer, Major Perrault, who had charge of the post lat Locolle, realizing the opportunity that had been missed, iwos for pui-suing the enemy across the frontier. Writing on the 9th November, he states that the scout, Simpson, had just |come in and informed him that Hampton's force was retreat- ling ill divisions to Plattsburgh at the rate of 10 miles a day, ind were in a wretched state. He proposed to his com- aiander, Colonel Williams, that they should Imj cut otl* but pothing was done. In a few days more they were bej'onil reach. 118 TWO ANECDOTES. [•' ' ' r, ■ I i credit of the engagement that their only loss was 4 wounded.* The settlei-s of those days believed that not all who died were so fortunate as to get graves. They had stories of stragglers who lost themselves in the woods and perished, and from the cries of the wolves, which were unwontedly loud, they suspected they nightly banquetted on their re- mains. A relief to these dismal surmises, is this authentic incident. After it was well assured that the Americans had gone, the soldiers in front were either withdrawn to the camp at Baker's, or despatched to meet Wilkinson. A ser- geant with 12 of the Voltigeurs, however, were left as an outpost in the blockhouse at Allan's Corners. This block- house, which has been so frequently mentioned, was a small log building, intended for a guardhouse. For many yeai-s after the war it was used as a barn and stable. One night they came rushing tumultuously into James Wright's house, declaring ghosts were abroad. Mr Wright got up and went back to ascertain the cause of their fright. They had been scared by the unearthly cries of a catamount ! A counterpart to this, as showing a woman's courage, was an incident at Baker's. Some time after the fight, 3 Indians entered the kitchen, when all were out save Mrs Baker and her husband, who was lying near the fire unfit to move from rheumatism. They demanded rum, knowing it was from there that the daily ration was served to the troops. Mrs Baker answered it w^as locked up. Crazy for drink, an Indian seized an axe and swung it over her head, without chanorinfj her determination. He then advanced towards her husband and declared he would split open his head unless she showed them where the rum was. On the stove stood a * The general-order is that of the 27th October, 1813, and gives the details of loss thus : Killed. Wounded. Missing. Glengarry Light Infantry . . 3 . . 4 . . . Voltigeurs 4 . . . 3rd Batt., flank co'y(Capt. Daly's) 2 . . 7 ... 4 ^ Chatoaugay Chasseurs 1 . . . IG A BOLD SCOUT. 119 cooler of boiling water. Stepping up to it, Mi*8 Baker quickly scooped up a dipperful, and told them quietly if they did not go out, she would scald them to death. They left and on the officers returning she told them of her adventure, when they caused search to be made for the Indians, who were punished by being confined for a while in the guardhouse. ' The ration of rum here alluded to had a disastrous effect upon the morals of the whole country. The physiciians of those days believed spirits were an essential to the main- tenance of health, so that each soldier got his dally glass of Jamaica rum. The militia-men being treated in like manner, habitants, who had hardly known the taste of liquor before, became habituated to it, while intemperance among the Old Country settlers got a fatal stimulus. It was apparently the second week in November before any reconnaissance of the frontier was made, when Lieut. ' Powell was sent by Gen. DeWatteville with a strong patrol. Lieutenant Powell found the coui^try clear and penetrated into the United States as far as the blockhouse, 2 miles from Cliateaugay, which he burned.* He reported that he would have gone farther, but had no guide. When Powell returned to Wright's from his excursion, which was on the 13fch November, he found that Gen. Gordon Drummond had arrived, who, being* DeWatteville 's superior, assumed command. He had come to complete preparations for disputing Wilkinson's passage down the St Lawrence and to prevent Hampton's co-operating with him. To effect the fii*st purpose, he sent. over the two 3-poundei's which they had at Baker's to strengthen the batteries that had been erected along the river above Melocheville, and personally inspected the positions taken up there by Col. Deschambault, who was in command. To eflfect the second, the checkmating of Hampton, he ordered DeWatteville with his force to march *In all U.S. local histories, the burning of the blockhouse is represented to have been done by tlie Americans them- selves. The official correspondence preserved at Ottawa settles the point, it being perfectly explicit. It was burned in the afternoon. 120 THE FRONTIER EXAMINED. i i- to Lacollc, where, with other detachments posted there, he intended, aided by the fleet, to have attacked Hampton. This design was frustrated by that general falling back from Chazy to Plattsbui^h, and wr happily rendered superfluous by the tidings of Wilkinson:, defeat at Crystler's Farm. Gen. Drummond appears to have stayed at Wright's until the end of November, when the troops went back to Mont- real for winter-quarters. Their discomfort on the Cha- teaugay had been extreme — wretched accommodation, scant rations, cold wet weather, and marches over roads deep with mire. One French officer wrote that his experience at Baker's and Allan's Comei*s had led him to "believe that a man is capable of enduring, without breaking down, more misery than a good dog." Before all left a reconnaisance was made of the frontier, apparently with a view to ascertaining whether it was pos- sible to attack the enemy's position at Chateaugay Four Comers, and to obtain information of the situation there the seigniory -agent, Milne, was engaged. His connection with the illicit traffic that was going on (page 76) had made him familiar with the frontier and brought into his employ a number of reckless Americans who would not hesitate to act the spy on their countrymen. Accompanied by Milne, deSalaberry marched with his force from Allan's Corners after dinner on the 23rd November, having, in addition to the infantry, a detachment of the 19th Dragoons. Next morning, he sent forward Milne and Barron, who ha4 been sent as a guide, to secure intelligence. Milne's letter is so interesting in its details, that it would not be well to relegate it to the appendix : ^Avis House, Chateaugay, 26th November, 1813. Sir, — In obedience to your orders, I proceeded, in advance of your party, at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 24th, with Capt. Barron, by the road followed by Gen. Hampton's army in their retreat, and, from near the Lines, went eastward to the first house, from whence I sent a man, under pretext of business, towards Four Corners, to ascertain, as far as pos- sible, the strength of the enemy's force, the position of the MILNE S LETTER. 121 pickets, &c., and to return to me at Capt. Barron's. From thence, I proceeded to Capt. Barron's, where we got at 4 o'clock p.m. He sent his wife across the Lines / niles, for one Hollenback (from whom he has occasionally received intelligence), in order that he might affirm before me on oath his losses by the Indians, for which Colonel Boucherville promised remuneration. Mrs Barron returned at 8 o'clock, saying that Hollenback having killed a heifer, had baked it, and was gone to the camp to sell it in pieces, and that on his return, which was hourly expected, his father would send him forward. The night becoming exceedingly dark and rainy, so much so that he could not have found his way (having only a footpath through the woods) I, for the same reason, was obliged to remain till morning to wait him. At 9 o'clock a.m. of the 25th his father came to Barron's. He stated that the weather having been so bad, his son had not returned, but that he had brought the account to which he would swear. This I put off, by saying that the pei-son who had produced the account must qualify it, and desired him to send down his son directly. The old man, who had no knowledge of the force at Four Cornell, said that 4 days before there was no guard at Major Smith's, but there was one between that and Four Comei-s. Leaving Capt. Barron to collect intelligence from the son, I went to Reed's, where, after waiting about an hour, he arrived. Reid had been at several houses on the main road leading from Four Comers to Salmon river, where he had an opportunity of seeing several people who had been lately at Four Corners, some of whom state the foree there at 1000 men, others at 800, and 600 men, with 2 pieces of heavy ordnance, at or near the camp in the S. E. section of Four Corners. Small parties were marching and countermarching from Four Corners to Salmon river, numbers of waggons were passing towards Salmon river with provisions, &c., for Gen. Wilkinson's army. It is said the men at Four Comers compose one regiment and a small party of Gen. Hampton's army left in charge of his sick and wounded. A sergeant of the regiment informed him that they were 1000 strong, and expected to winter there. He was informed that they were lodged in huts and branch tents on the edge of the w^oods, at the S. E. section of Cornel's, on an eminence. He cannot state what n^mbti of dragoons there are, but that they ride much in patrols during the night, and he has seen their tracks. On his way up, he saw, at about 100 rods from the blockhouse, towards the Comers, a small patrol of men about twilight. ♦ * * 122 PBCPARIXG FOR WILKINSON. Capt. Barron wa* to have followed me down aa soon as Hollenback cumi to his house. I presume he will be here to-day, and I will report to you the information he has got from Hollenbaek. Apprehensiv*- thai yoar men would be short of provisions, I caused Capt Barroa to send his son and another with 3 head of cattle. I f^f^mn they have come as far as Ti'out river forks last night, wliHeTir they have been benighted. I ai-rived at (Xefl) Morrison's last night, an hour after midnight, aiid from the horrible state in which you found the roads y\rith teamsters having loads of stores for the army at Platts- buiwh, and who were wiling away the time until their horses had finished their oats. Suddenly the door was ilung open and a tall soldier-like man entered, who, in a tone of com- mand, said he made them his prisoners in the name of King George. The sight of a company of soldiers, drawn up behind him, showed resistance was futile, and the astonished team- sters surrendered. Hearing that a messenger had been sent to Plattsburgh with news of the raid, a party was sent in pursuit and overtook iiim near the bridge across Marble river. At daylight, the captured teamsters had to harness up and turn back to Malone, with the addition of a great quantity of other stores that were found in Chateaugay. The farmers' houses* along the road were searched for government ■rf3 great lage w Scott raent s would mad fr aimed fellow only on to bum and ga' spoils, t 'i^cr.i., ai J quant iresh tei 27 miles habitant while a barrels o of rouske sleighs c( abandone loud in t scrupulou they reqt and \' ^ and belti-i they resle •The late Wolcott Thayer of Burke, N.Y., told aa h- •.*>4 us SUCCESS. 129 »posi- brief edon lOurs, tach- that was wded llatts- orses open corn- King hind in- sent t in rble Irness reat The ent great excitement, the citizens being terrified that their vil- lage would be given up to be sacked by the Indians. Colonel Scott assured them that if they would deliver the govem- laent stores concealed in their houses and bams, no violence would be done, and he was as good as his word. One Indian, uiad from drink, and angry at not being permitted to plunder, aimed his musket at the colonel, who coolly knocked the fellow down. A large building used as an «,rsenal and the only one owned by the government, the colonel gave ordtjrs to burn, but, at the request of the inhabitants, he spared it and gave it to them for a schoolhouse. Gathering up their spoils, the British returned to Fort Covington in the after- ^.; r.s and halted. Colonel Scott receiving information that ; quantity of stores were lying at fiopkintown, he secured iresh teams for a small detachment, who drove the distance, 27 miles, that night, and reached the village while its in- habitants were sleeping. Sentinels were posted at each door, while a searching party went from house to house. . 300 barrels of flour was found in a bern and a number of cases of muskets scattered amonf^ the houses. All was taken that sleighs could be got for, and the provisions that had to be abandoned were distributed among the inhabitants, who were loud in their praises of the conduct of the redcoats, who scrupulouaV,' respected private property and paid for what they req^TiiXni He expedition then returned to the Fort and \'d joai%ey across the St Lawrence was set about and before a;."«»tfall Summerstown was safely reached, where they resieu, auu butered Cornwall in triumphal procession on assisted lis father, whoVas captain of a militia company, to hide a number of muskets he had been served with under the pig-pen. A government teamster had eased his load by leavmg 500 lb of cheese in their house to take away again on a second trip. "It was put in the cellar and before the British search r --party came in, my mother placed her chal over the trap-df?':, and sat down, and the soldiers did not ask hor to stir. Wi : priviite property was taken, it was restored on complaiji to the officers, who said they did not wish to harxa the people. When they passed our house, they had a long string of loaded waji^ns." 130 CLOSE OF THE WAR. the 22ncl, amid great rejoicings. Immense quantities of pork, beef, flour, and whisky were thus captured, with not a few muskets. The farmers were dismissed to their homes, after being paid $4 a da}' for their teams, and those Americans who had been pressed into service with their horses were now given permission to return. The only casualty that at- tended the raid was the loss of a team in the ice on the return journey. Considering that the enemy's country was penetrated for 25 miles and held for 2 days, a more gallant and better managed raid is not on record, and its success indicates what Colonel Scott would have done had he been permitted, as L -sked, to attack French Mills two months sooner. The onj t>king feature of the war of 1812, is tl^at the cautious ant; acillating policy of Sir George Prevost should have stifled the genius of such officers, \yhen too late, the Americans from Plattsburgh detached a force to meet the raiders. This was the last overt act of war on the Huntingdon frontier, for although peace was not proclaimed until a year afterwards, the tide of battle did not again touch our borders. Reviewing the circumstances that caused the discomfiture of the two large and well-appointed armies who invaded this district, and who ought to have, so weak was the opposition, conquered all before tiiom, it is impossible to escape the con- clusion that God was on the side of our forefathers, and co- operated with them in their eflorts to preserve our country's independence. That the fate of Hampton and Wilkinson may overtake each invading army tl^at may dare to put a foot on our soil, must be the prayer of every Canadian patriot. Note. — On page 118 the name James Wright was inad- vertently printea instead of Neil Morrison. It was Mr Morrison who went back with the scared guard. His oldest son, Robert, is the last survivor of those who took part in these critical days, and his kindness and patience in answer- ing my questions, I gladly take this opportunity of ac- knowledging. CHAPTER VIL FROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR TO 1820. When peace was declared, a number of Americons came back to resume possession of the lots they had left when the war broke out. Fresh ivom a struggle in which national emotions had been aroused, and foreseeing the danger of an American population along the frontier should that struggle be resumed, the feeling was against perraittirtg them to re- possess the properties they had abandoned, and to which they had only the claim of squatters, for they had not received patents for their lots. In Hemingford a number were turned back, biit west of that there was no impediment placed in their way until the Chateaugay was reached, and scores crowded into their old clearances in Russeltown Flats and Franklin. Milne, the seigniory agent, strenuously resisted the Americans getting back to their old homesteads on the Chateaugay. He burned their shanties, obstructed the road by tearing up the rude bridges that spanned the creeks, and threatened to set the Indians upon them. His motive was a purely selfish one, he designing to appropriate their lots for his own benefit To EUiee's agents in Montreal, Forsythe, Richardson & Co., he represented that he had bought the claims of those people, none of whom had received concession of the lots they had lived upon, and got himself so registered in the seigniory books. When the actual facts came to the knowledge of the firm, it was too late to obtain either full proof against Milne or to afford redress to the claimants, who had disappeared. Unable to diisprove Milne's title Ui all he claimed, a compromise wjis made with him, by which he got a block of 600 acres near Omistown on sur- rendering all the rest. A few of the Americans did get their 132 THE TWO COLD SUMMERS. lots nnfl lived upon thea for several years, selling out to the Old Countrymen when they began to come. The years 1815 and 1810 were peculiarly trying, owing to their extraordinary coldness. In 1815 snow fell on the 14th vJune and the settlere planted. com in tight-buttoned over- coats. Little more of the corn matured than served for seed. The next year was worse, there being a continuance of bleak, dry weather, with uteady north winds, which blasted vege- tation and prevailed all summer. On the 8th of June there "was a fall of 6 inches of snow, followed by frost at night, and it snowed again on the 16th, while there was frost every month of the year. Com was a complete failure and starvation stared not a few families in the face. Indeed, the settlements would have been depleted had it not been for ashes and lum- ber, the money so obtained enabling them to buy pi-ovisions, and, as it seemed to tliem, providentially the price of potash bounded up at ..Ite close of the wai; until, in the summer of 1816, it brought from $10 to S12 per hundred-weight, a price it never afterwards appix)ached. The settlers east of Hinchinbi-ook had to tramp as far as Rouses Point for Indian meal, a bag of which they carried home on their shoulders and which cost them $3 a bushel. One household had eaten the last mouthful of food before the husband and father had returned. The children went hungry to bed and when, at daybreak, the honest man returned exhausted from his long tramp, they all eagerly rose and clustered impatiently round their mother as she mixed a jonny-cake, which she cut, •on turning, into as many portions as there were mouths. With hungry eyes the little ones watched what seemed to them the slow-cooking of the cake, until one boy, unable to resist, snatched the hot, half-baked moi"sel that would have fallen to him and, rushing out of doors to escape punishment, devoured it. Fodder was as scarce as grain, and that winter Sandy Williamson went as far as the Richelieu for a load of hay, which cost him $40 a ton. Poorer neighbors kept their cattle alive by felling trees and feeding them browse. The greed of Milne intensified to the settlers on the Chateaugay the general distress. At that time half the rent was payable m cas the ol was, i I'annfo. BUILDING OF THE BLOCKHOUSE. 133 in cash, the other in wheat. This arrangement, devised by the old French law to press more lightly on the censitaires^ was, in years of scarcity, made a means of extortion by un- just seigniora, and was taken advantage of by Milne, who demanded the wheat or S>5 for each bushel. As hardly one- of the settlers on the Chateaugay had a bushel to spare, they had to pay the monej'. That winter, flour sold in Montreal for SI 5 a barrel. There being a prospect of a continuance of the scarcity from want of seed, the legislature voted $80,000 for that pui'pose. None of the help was accepted by the English-speaking settlers of this district, many of whom, in the spring of 1817, paid a dollar a bushel for sted-potatoes. It was in the year of scarcity that a few of the English settlers went for the first time to vote. The poll was held then at St Phillipe, and one of the candidates took the ti'ouble to send a messenger to ask the settlers tti come and vote for him. There being good sleighing at the time, .nany went. Owing to their distance from the polling-place little or no- interest was then felt in politics. The most important event on the Chateaugay was the con- struction of a fortification on its south bank by the Imperial government. Experience had made plain the value of rally- ing-points on the frontier, and the military-authorities de- cided on erecting a fortalice that would be at once a point of observation, a storehouse of supplies, and command the Cha- teaugay route to Montreal. The nature of the countrj'', level and wooded, suggested a blockhouse, and, in the spring of 1815 the construction of what proved to be the finest speci- men in Canada of that species of fortification, peculiar to North America, was begun. The spot chosen was a dry portion of the river bank a little east of Allan's Corners. Baxter was engaged to fell the trees for a space of several acres, so tiiat no enemy would find shelter within musket- rango. The blockhouse was placed near the edije of tho south bank, and the drawing, given in the frontispiece, gives a good idea of its appearance. An excavation 4 feet deep was made, and a wall begun 5 feet 8 inches wide. This thickness was continued for G feet above the ground, or to ) •! K-^-L- 134 IT IS SOLD. the first floor, from thence it was 5 feet, the wall sloping in. until an additional height of 14^ feet was completed, when the second floor was reached. The building was an exact square, the masonry measuring at the level 40 feet and at the top 38. The wooden portion of the structure was wider and hung over the walls of masonry like a cap. The wood-work was 45J feet square, 10 feet high, and 4 feet thick. It was framed of a double tier of 11 -inch pine-logs, and the hollow of 2 feet between was packed with* rubbish, to make it per- fectly bullet-proof. There were no windows in the masonry, the only apertures being 6 slits on three faces and 8 on the side looking up the river, for muskets, with the addition of a door, high up, in the wall that looked down the river. The basement was divided into 4 rooms, intended for storing am- munition and provisions. The flat above the cellar formed a single apartment, with platforms below the portholes for the marksmen to stand on. The top-flat, which comprised the portion built of logs, was a roomy apartment, 10 feet high. On each side of it was a long slit, for the defenders to fire through, with two square holes, 22 x 22 inches, at the side of each corner for a small cannon, and which, in after years, were changed into windows. The roof was pavilion-shaped and cove}'ed with sheet-iron. A member of the Royal En- gineer corps, Capt. Jebb, superintended the. work, for which a mason of the name of Dupuis had the contract. There being no stone in the vicinity, it had to be floated down on lafts from the Outarde aiul the lime was brought from the Basin. It was mounted with two small cannon and was ready for occupation in the fall of 1815, when a company was detached to garrison it under command of Oapt. Christie, the future historian. He did not stay with his men, pre- ferring to board at Morrison's. On peace being assured, a sergeant's guard was considered suflficient, and, eventually, it also was dispensed with and the building locked up. In 1822 Hendry Craige bought the lot upon which it is situated from the seignior, when he occupied it as a house. Strange to say, the Imperial government had never got a deed for the site, and, when danger had passed, had aban- THE FORTUNES OP THE BLOCKHOUSE, 135 1 Avas ipany ristie, it is louse. Igot a labau- cloned what must have cost them several thousand dollars. Ci-aige continued to live in the stronghold until 1838, when, on the rebels gathering at Baker's, it was made the point ot* assembly for the loyalists, when Craige and his family moved out and lived in the bakehouse. On the suppression of the rebellion, the goverament deemed it prudent to retain the blockhouse, and Injught it from Craige along with 4 acres of land for $800. During the winter of 1838 the company of Captain John Tate, which had been organized into a volun- teer corps, kept guard, and on their being disbanded in the spring, the government gave the blockhouse a thorough over- hauling, the floors being relaid, windows placed in the port- holes, and the roof covered anew with iron. Thus made more habitable, Sergt. James Thomson of the Huntingdon, volunteers was placed in charge, and he had a guard of 4 men, who were relieved monthly. In May, 1842, even this guavd was dispensed with, and an old pensioner. Sergeant Dalton, sent as caretaker. He was relieved by another pen- sionex", Sergt. John Riddell, a Waterloo veteran, who, with his family, proved to be the last occupant of the blockhouse. Besides his pension, he had 50 cents a day as its governor, . ^ with fuel and light, and the use of its 4 acres. On his death in May, 1858, the imperial authorities sold the movables and locked up the now historic building. As time wore on and the memories of past events on the Chateaugay grew dim, the old building became associated in the popular mind as the centre of deSalaberry's imagined exploit, until even those in authority fell into the same belief, and on the report of the officer of ordnance-lands, in 1859, Sir Geo. E. Cartier announced, amid gi-eat applause, to the legislature that an ordcr-in-council had been passed, reserving the blockhouse and the lot on which it stood as "a monument commemorative of that distinguished feat of arms, the battle of Chateaugay." No precaution w^as taken to preserve the building, and neighboring fanners helped themselves to the flooring and partitions and even to ^tone where the mason- work crumbled. Despite all this, the outer-frame stood good, and the blockhouse remained the most picturesque object 186 THE BLOCKHOUSE DESTROYED. from Dundee to McmtreaT, &n<\ bid good to withstand the tooth of time for many generations. In 1881, John Hastie, owner of the Cann on which the blockhouse was situated, applied to iha Cfown lands department to purchase it, and, with no demur, it was sold to him, with the 4 acres of land, for S70 ! No aokkkt did he receive the patent, than he pro- ceeded to reoJto\'e the roof and demolish the woodwork. His cupidity was nolt rewarded, for little of the timber was of value, being full of spikes and affected with rot. The walls were afterwajxis k;Telk*l. The dismantling of this old land- mark was m-Ufch nkplorerl, and there was general surprise that Sir John Jfaadcjoald should have consented to such an act of dislovaJ %'«iiidaliwn. But I have gicut beyond the period to which this chapter is devoted- To tidtaim to the settlement. on the Chateaugay, we find that the la»(ls along the river, abandoned by the Ameri- cans, from below the village of Ormstown to Allan's Corners, grew up in grass, and came to be known as "the meadows." In 1817 Milne tngagftifi David Bryson, who had shortly before arrived from VeriimhiTe, His duty was to cut the hay that grew in great Imxrariance on these meadows, stack it, and feed to stock which Milne sent up. The cattle were kept out all winter, and fed by pnllxng down the fence that surrounded a new stack of haj a« they finished one, they being allowed to help themselves. They throve well and when fat were sold at a profit. Besides the cattle were several horses, bought by Milne from the gwvenaEftent when the war ended. The hay, as might be expected in a country covered by forest, was coveted by the settlers and lumbermen, and they endeavored to help themfteiviesv stealing a stack at a time, and requiring vigilant watch on tbe part of Bryson and his sons. What meadov.'s Milae did not require, he sold to Canadians, who cut and stacked the hay on them, and removed in the winter. Daring the iaterregnam that followed the disappearance of George Elliee thejiewas an entire cessation of lumbering in the seigniory aaad Milne s duties wer6 more those of a forest- ranger than q( anjthing else. On Robert being declared heir, tliis inactkan was ended, and the timber along the Cha- THE FIRST ASHERIEa 137 teaugay and its tributaries was sold to Macaulay, a Glengarry lumberman, who was given ten yeai-s to remove it He sub- let portions of his limits to Thomas Fingland, Moreau, and others, while keeping large gangs at work himself. Several winters he sent no fewer than 200 men into the woods, and when the ice broke up, covered the Chateaugay with rafts of the finest cut of oak and pine. This industry furnished welcome work to the scttlere and their grown-up sons during the winter, but did not help their market for oats, of which they had then little to sell. Macaulay brought his supplies from Montreal, where oats were generally 20 cents a bushel and only in one or tv/o years rose as high as 30. The wages paid axemen was $8 to SI a month. About the time lumbering revived it became obvious that the making of potash could be canned on more profitably to all concerned as a separate business than otherwise, and asheries were started. The first to establish one was Reeves, who carried on the manufacture of salts on the' river-bank beside his house, buying the ashes at 10 cents a bushel from the settlers. The next step was the building of an oven and the manufiawituring of pearl-ash. Reeves soon had opposition in the person of James Perrigo, who was destined to play a prominent part in the affairs of the locality he joined. He was born at Burlington, Vt. His father was an Italian, and on his death the mother removed to Montreal, where she re- married and young Perrigo was given to Dr Pomeroy to bring up. When old enough to do for himself, he set up a small store at Caughnawaga, which, before the Lachine canal was made, was a stirring-place, as the Durham boats touched there before running the rapids and had often to wa,it in scores when the wind was unfavorable. Perrigo kept 8 bat- teaux for taking part of the cargo of boats that drew too much water for running the rapids. Fond of hunting he, accompanied by an Indian, frequently visited the Chateaugay and, on the death of his wife, who was a French Canadian, and with the prospect of the destruction of his trade by the opening of the canal, he bought the river- point from Baker and opened a store and ashery. He did not do well, and, 198 JOHN TODD. becoming insolvent, gave up business and assumed the mle of physician, obtaining much repute among the habitants, and his tall figure, heightened by a hat and draped by a long cloak, was a conspicuous and frequent object on the road as he made his rounds. His lack of knowledge of the medical art being tempered by caution, he did little harm. Appointed a J. P. while at Caughnawaga, he was the first magistrate on the Chateaugay and continued to be such for a number of years. Froni his iii'st appearing on the river, he was a keen politician, espousing extreme republican views. Up to 1820 the population gained slowly. In 1817 Willitua Brown, who had arrived from Neilston, Scotland, the year before, rented a farm at the eastern end of the Grand Marais, and afterwards moved to the western end of it, becoming its fii'st and only Old Country inhabitant, for the seigniory-ofRce designed this concession for the French. The stone-tavern at the corner of the Beauce road was the first tavern; it was erected by a French Canadian, and was a place ot call for all who were journeying either by way of Beauharnois or the Basin, In 1(S1() there v/as an addition made to the settlement in North Georgetown, of four families of Highlanders, who came out together in the brijj Favorite, of which the father of Sir Hugh Allan was captain. They were Duncan Mc- Cormick, Peter McKellar, and two Archibald Campbells. They had been old neighbors of Neil Morrison in Aigyle- shirc, and were induced to leave Scotland by him. They took up lots near him. Moving up the river, the country between Ormstown and Dewittvillc Avas a solitude, the old American clearances being unoccupied. At Dewittville there was some stir, caused by the sawmill, which did a good business. One of its owners, Moreau, happene'd, in the summer of 1817, to fall in with a newly-landed immigrant, John Todd, a native of Monaghan, Ireland, and being in want of a man to manage it, engaged him, and he proceeded with his family to his new home. Finding that Daigneault & Moreau wanted to sell, he per- suaded an old neighbor in Ireland, Lyttle, who had come out, GEORGE ELDER. 139 to join him in buying it. After two years' possession Lyttlo died while on a visit to Quebec, whereupon Todd nssuined possession, paying the debts and undertaking the contracts of Lyttle. He did a large business. From Dewittville upwards the solitude was unbroken until Huntingdon was reached, where there was a solitary settler. Apparently in 1817 Benjamin Palmer, a native of Vermont, found it necessary to leave Franklin county for an infraction of the law, and de- termined on squatting on the north-bank at the liead of the rapids. Using the logs of Sutherland's old shanty and the loijs the Americans had laid down as a road for their wag- gons and artillery from the ion} to the top of the bank, he erected a comfortable house, the cellar of which could be traced as late as 1870. Palmer proceeded to clear the point, but rested content when he had a patch large • iough for corn and potatoes, for he was no farmer, and depended more on hunting and lishing. He trapped and shot a large number of wolves, whose heads were bought by Americans, who used them in obtaining the bounty paid by the towns, which gradually rose to §20 a head, when the frauds to obtain it grew to such a magnitude that the law was repealed in 1821. Palmer was of kindly disposition and was blessed with chil- dren who turned out well. Soon after he came, three broth ? s of the name of Percy erected a small sawmill on the south hank and about a hundred yards above the upper bridge, obtaining power by throwing a low dam across the river. They came from Chateaugay, N.Y.,- where, in Brighton Hol- low, their father had a small grist and saw-mill, which David assisted to work, occasionally visiting the Huntingdon mill, which was managed by James and Rolx'rt, of neither of whom can much good be said. Their dwelling-house they built of planks on the river-bank at the east side of the bridge, and made a clearance which ran back across the concession road. About 4 miles above the forks, the beginning of the settle- ment on Trout river w^as encountered, and which was almost exclusively composed of Americans, who were a poor lot, indolent and shiftless, and earning a precarious living by idi.. 140 JOHN MASSAM. pot,ash-making and lumbering. The first Old Countryman to take up his abode on Trout river was George Elder, a cooper by trade, who came from Glasgow in 1817, and stayed the winter of that year >vith David Bryson, getting out oak staves. When summei* came, he w^ent up the river, and arranged with one of the American squatters on Trout ilver, Abram Sutton, who lived on 48, to stay with him and make staves, which he did until 1810, when he bought the better- ments of a squatter named Brc wster on lot 50, Godm inch ester, and his family arrived from Scotland. At)out the same time, James Terry, an Englishman, and who had served i'l the navy, came in and squatted on the Elgin side, building a shanty, 10x12, a little to the east of where the Holbrook bridge stands. Ho was undoubtedly the first Old Country settler iu Elgin. As a stout Englishman, Terry kept up Christn»as, inviting Elder to his least, which was prin)itive enough, ard when New Year's day came Elder reciprocated. Besides, these isolated representatives of the two nationalities cele- brated the respective auDivorsaries of their country, in 1821 Brewster got into trv)uble. Gjing to Iilontreal and repre- senting his circumstances as good, he had purchased largely on credit from Mor an & Daigneault, who, on discovering the truth, sent a bailiff to take him prisoner. Getting wind of t'iiis, he fled across the Lines, when tlie ''jfrauded linn seized his betterments on lot 1, 3rd range of Elgin, consisting of a clearance along tlie river, and sold them to George Elder, who did not like the lot he was on, for S200. Moving across the river he put up a shanty and now began in earnest to make some clearance, \\ hieh he had not attempted on his old lot, and wiiich he sold to John Massam,an English Catholic and un- married, who lived for several years alone, his sole companion being a dog. His sou Robert, a cabinet-maker, he sent for from Quebec, but a short ti.:n -'•; (>:cperietfce disgusted him with tlie privations of bush-life, and he fled by night to Quebec, where he stayed antil he married, when he came to Trout river and lived Avith his father, who, until a very old inan, was the only wheelwright from Huntingdon to Fort Covington, and made all the ox and horse carts needed. ARAM MOE. 141 Beyond a few additional American families, there was ni> change in the settlements in Hinchiabrook, and except the isolated clearances on the Chateaugaj between Huntingdon and Athelstan and on the first concession, it remained in a state of natui'e. On the 1st concession, John Campbell settled on 600 acres which had been gi-anted to his father, a U.E. Loyalist who lived at Caldwell's Manor, for having served in the militia during the war. With the dbv-lamtion of peace Frauklin gained largely in population. Doubtful of the seignior's title to the lands, Milne dared not prevent their former occupiers returning to them, while the locality was too remote for any agent of the crown to knov/ of Avhat was being done, for the decision had been come to, that lo pei-son who declined taking the oath of allejiiance should be eligible to own land in Canada. Among the new-comers was Jonathan Priest, a native of Massa- chusetts, who moved on to a part of Jacob Mitchel's lot in 1816, and who was the first to introduce a wheeled vehicle, for he brought a waggon and team. He was instrumental in making the road to Montreal somewhat more passable, for, at his solicitation, several settlers went with him in 1818 and helped to corduroy the woi-st of the sloughs near Sfc Chrysostome. Up to that time, the ssttlers had dragged their barrels of potash on sleds to St Remi, where they hired cai-ts. In 1817 Aram Moe left Caldwell's Manor and bought the lot opposite Mr Gentle's. His wife, who lived to ove^* 90 yjars of age, in speaking of their moving intp Franklin, said: We bought from an American named Masting, paying him S200 for his improvements. Before the sleighing was over, we drove to it, following the bush-track that led over Covey Hill and down to Stockwell's. We carried an axe to remove any tree that might have fallen on the track. , We stayed to rest in Giltillan's and when I saw the hens roosting in one end of it, I thought they would get their eggs han Louis X Eshten Derwazh 14 James Cross 1 Eward Simson 2 Daniel Henna^n 2 Samuel B. Hudson 2 John Lindsay 2 David H. Hennigan 1 Joseph Lindsay . 1 John Henegin S. Sewell 16 John Wallis 6 Aaron Smith 10 Zekiel Dewey 10 Freeman Sweet 6 Rolleat Snickall Richard Lindsay 2- Joseph Brisbcn 2 William Wallace 3 Isaac Wilsey 5 James Woolrich 6 X>ay* Work. 5 Judgment on the same by me, Joseph Churchill, J.P. for the town of Mooei'fr paid 4 4 6 4 6 4 3 4 2 5 4 4 paid paid paid paid paid paid paid in wood paid in shingles paid. The names being evidently all autographs, I print them as; written. The enterprise, thus spiritedly begun, dragged from want of means, and it was not until 1820 that the schoolhouse, which also serveer the swamp on 66 was t^rosswayed and floated. There was no house between that of Frederick Scriver and of his son John. The road that passed my lot (150) followed the ridge to Nesbit's mill, whence there was a bush-track to Russeltown, that was little used. The roads thus referred to were mere sled-trtwks, and Hem- ingford's lack of means of communication was the great ob- stacle to its progress. Its isolated situation can hardly be exaggerated. Cut off by great swamps to tlie north, bounded by the United States to the south, and without navigable rivers, the settlers underwent the most exhausting toil in getting their potash to market When the water was high enough, they floated the barrels down the Little Montreal river, having frequently to plunge into the current to lift the canoes over shallows, or to drag them on ox-sleds to Cham- plain, and send them by the Chazy to Montreal During the season of sleighing, they were driven to the city by Laprairie. It is 30 miles to Laprairie from Hemingford, and St Edward is half-way. As far as the latter place the country was in a £itate of nature, forest and swamp, the one so rugged and the other so deep, that to traverse the 15 miles with an ox-sled was a day's journey when everything was most favorable. Colonel Scriver perceived that if the township was to be peopled, an outlet must be secured, and his opportunity soon came. In 1817 the legislature passed an act to provide for better communications in the county of Huntingdon (that is, the old county, which stretched eastwards to the Richelieu) and Colonel Scriver urged, upon the commissioners appointed under it, the claims of Hemingford. They' 'Examined the GRANTS TO MILITIAMEN. 147 lam- the wne. ■ ward 1 in a 1 Ithe 1 -sled 1 able. 1 o be I I soon lefor it is, klieu) Inted the ground, and decided on opening two roads, for which they gave out contracts. The first was from the farm of William Stmthers, near St Remi, to the farm of James Allen, Russel- town Flats, which was taken by William Brisbin for $1600, but owing to the governor's declining to ratify it, the work was not done. The second contract was for cutting out a road from LaTortue to the Hemingford line, which was taken by Colonel Scriver for $2000. It was 9 miles long and crossed three swamps which had to be crosswayed. The work was of a most difficult nature but by October, 1819, the contract was fulfilled and the amount paid. The new road was exceedingly rough and one or two seasons passed before wheeled vehicles could go over it with ease. The swamps so difficult to span then, now comprise the finest land in the province. From the opening of this road, the prosperity of Hemingford dates. It will now be perceived that during the interval between the close of the war and the setting-in of immigration, the English-speaking settlements made little progi^ss, and, apart from that of Franklin, barely held their own. The lands thrown open in Western New York and in Ohio were more attractive to the New Englanders, and they no longer came to Canada in any numbers, while to the British immigrants, who were being landed by the shipload at Quebec, this dis- trict up to 1821 was barred, for the representatives of the seignior could not concede lots and the crown would not sell There were divided opinions among military men as to what was best to be done with Huntingdon. Believing that a renewal of war with the United States was probable, a number contended that leaving the country along the frontier a wilderness was the best defence for the settlements behind, while others held that an invading-anny would meet with more serious hindrances were it peopled with loyal settlers. That was General Drummond's view, and he advised the Iir^perial government to divide up the county of Huntingdon among such of the regulars as had served under Macdimell, Meuron, and DeWatteville as world consent to stay in Canada and become farmers. The government did nothing. 148 TBE FIRST CENSUS. Spine time after, the provincial legislature parsed an act to rewiardaU who had served in the militia with grants of wild land, and to which the Imperial consent was obtained. Under this act the laiger portion of St Anicet, was. drawn by ofiBcersof. the French battalions, and part of Qodman- chester and Hinchinbrook. The grant to a lieutenant-colonel was 120Q acres aud ranged downwards to 100 to a private. Owing to the number of formalities and the amount of fees exacted by each official, few of the rank-and-file proved their claims, and j^hey sold their, rights for mere trifles to the land- sharks who haunted taverns and market-places, and Ellice and Woolrieh obtained tlie larger share of the grants made in Huntipgdon. The officers, however, drew their land and then didviiothing with it, complying with none of the con- ditions upon, which the grants were made, and waiting until thoy became valuable from the labors of settlers on adjoining lots. About 165,000 acres were thus granted of the town- ship land in the province, and, in subsequent years, these militia grants caused no end. of wrong and hardship to actual settlers, who unwittingly went on improving lots, believing them to be crown lands, which they discovered in course of time were claimed, by French gentlemen or their heirs who lived in Quebec and more remote parts of the province. The seignior's agent declining to concede lots did not deter the habiiants of the north shore and of Longueuil from pressing into Beauhamoia, and the settlements near Ste Martine and the town of Beauhamois increased rapidly after the peace. On the census being taken in 1820 it was found there were 2205 people living in the seigniory of Beauharnois, of whom fmlly half were French. Of the 433 families who lived. by fanning, none (whether French or English-speaking) had received titles f nun the seignior. The population of the seigniory of Chateaugay was more dense than it is to-day, for it numbered 353Q, accounted for by the number who lived by lumbering and boating. ' CHAPTER Vnt THE FIRST PARTY OF IMMIGRANTS. On the 2l8t April, 1820, there beat down the Firth o^ Clyde a small barque, named the Alexander. Her passengers were not numerous and came chiefly from Lanarkshire : weavers, shepherds, and farm-laborers who determined ^ improve their condition by emigrating to Canada. They proved to be so congenial in disposition that, before a week was over, they were as one family, and before anchor was dropped at Quebec, after a weary voyage of 45 days, they had become so attached to one another that thosie who in- tended taking up land resolved not to separate, but endeavor to settle together. Taking the steamei; for Montreal, the Lady Sherbrooke, they landed thete after a passage of 36 hours. Enquiring for lodgings, they found that a brother Scotchman, Shields, who had been out a year,' had rented a house which was too large for him, and they bargained with him for several rooms, into which they crowded, a,nd lived, of course, as befitted tHeir means, very economically. Having thus provided for their' wives and children, the heads went to search for land, which, strange to say, though the j)ro- vince, with the exception of narrow strips along the St Lawrence, was in a state of nature, was not easy to get. There was land, fHey were told, to be had in Terrebonne and to the south of Chambly, and on examination it was found to be of fAir quality, but they were surprised to learh that they could not obtain ah absolute title, and would have to pay a small perpetual rent. ' Still greater was the astonishment of the Scotchmeii when informed that the priests levied tithes and the large churches they saw were biiilt by taxes h vied by law. Ardent Radicals dnie and all, and, as such, deibesl«rs 150 nXKISG FOR LAND. of all anion between dtnrch and state, such a condition of affairs on Amerieu aoil and under British rule, shocked them, and after dthaUng the matter over they resolved that, on no oonditkHi, vonld they settle upon parish-land, and they turned their attcntaon to the townships, where, they were told, British and noi French law prevailed. One of their number, who had rdataTes in Vermont, went to see the land there, and otben railed the Eastern Townships. When they came back and e u i paf e d notes, they decided that no place they had visited voaki da Vermont was hilly and stony and the desirable buds in the Eastern Townships were held by companies wfaoadrtd extortionate prices for them. When despairing of finding homes in this province and about to set out for Upper Canada, which in those days, when even the Lachine canal was not boilt, was a terrible journey, they learned that the gavenaaent was giving out lots in Dundee. A delegation of tluce- was despatched to report, the others agreeing to wait imtO they returned. They walked all the way up to ComwaflL While resting in the inn at Beaudette they met sun^eyor-geneial Bouchette, who, on learning their errand, directed than hcyw to proceed, and told them if they were not satisfied with Dundee, they would be sure to get free township land in CSodmancfaester, for his errand had been to prepare tor cfouDg it and Hi ^hinbrook for settlement. They asked whfen lots would be given out, and on his answer- ing in a year, tlicj and that would not do, they must get homes for their faariKe* at once. Pointing across lake St Francis, to whes« tlie wooded shores of the county of Hunt- ingdon swam in the distance, Mr Bouchette told them they could go and sqoat there, and he would see that the lots would be secured to ihem winoi the surveys were made. They parted ; Mr Boochetfte going to Quebec and the prospectors holding on their wnj to Dundee. Crossing to St Regis they saw the agent, and he had no sooner told them that the lands he had to give odt woe sah)ect to Indian-rent, than they gave up all thought of Hncai, and started to make their way back to Montxval by the Blanm With two Indians as guides, they had their first experknee of travelling through the bush. THE LANDINO. 15t One of them, in relating wliat happened, said while they were struggling with the branches, which scratched their faces and tore their clothes, the Indians glided through the thickest' bush like fish in water. On reaching what seemed to them civilization at Fort Covington, though the settlement was primitive enough, they were able to find their own way, and striking Trout river at the lines walked on to Huntingdon,, resting at Palmer's, who, from his own door, shot a duck for their entertainment Next day, ^s they trudged along the west bank of the Chateaugay and had passed the meadows,, they were surprised and delighted to encounter a settlement of their own countrymen, who hailed them with rapturous - welcome, and, learning their story, urged them to come and live with them. They would gladly* have consented, had it not been that the words parish and seigniory terrified them.. They would not become subject to French law and they would not pay rent Ferried from the Basin to Lachine,, they rejoined Uieir companions in Montreal and related all they had seen and heard. The immigrants had been 3 weeks now in Montreal, and it was necessary they should come to a ■ decision as to what they should do. After long consultation they resolved that they would trust Bouchette's word and go* to Huntingdon. It was, they argued, township land, was free from rent and French law, and therefore equal in privi- lege to any they could get in Upper Canada A bateau wa» hired, and a portion of the party, for a number of the women and children were to follow, sore wearied by delay and strangers in a strange land, walked out to Lfushine and em- barked upon it ; in all, representatives of 17 families. On the Ist of August they were landed on a point on lot 17,. close to the line of 16. The point, which would have been the Plymouth rock of Huntingdon, was afterwards washed away by the rising waters of the lake. Standing on the- bank was a negro, Henry Bullard, who came running from, his cabin, which stood on lot 20, now Port Lewis, on seeing- the bateau steer for the shore. The day was rainy and com- fortless, and a sort of shelter was made for the women and children by piling up chests and boxes and forming a roof 162 ROUOHINQ IT. with blankets and brush, laid on poles. They had l)arcly finished it and crowded under its shelter to escape a thunder- shower, when the rain penetrated the frail covering and left them soaking wet. Despite their discomfort, the poor people M'ere pleased with what they saw. The noble trees, that thickly covered the ground, were their admiration, and they did not know enough to bo aware that the location was hardly one that an agriculturalist wbuld have chosen, for while there was much good land it was broken by low ridges, and had great stretches of marsh both in front and rear. The latter feature, however, was not ^so prominent as it is now, for when iiry landed the lake was exceptionally low, and continued to be so f o • several years. Whether the soil was ;good or bad gave them no concern, for, singiilar to day, among the 17 there was not a single farmer. Two or three had done farm-work in their capacity as day-laborers, but the only one among them who had ever held a plow was David Anderson, and he was a shepherd.* Their notion was that whoever got to be proprietor of 100 acres became a laird, And passing rich. The first duty was to get up shanties, and here they were at a disadvantage, for, excepting the negro, ihey had no neighbors to direct them, and none of them knew how to raise a shanty in Canadian fashion. Several of ihem were tradesmen, however, and rigging up a whip-saw turned the trees into boards. So slow \fras their progress, that it was six weeks before enough houses were up and the tents abandoned, greatly to the joy of the women, who long remembered what they suffered until the shanties were feady.. Bullard's wife was a Frcnch Canadiian and she was forward in showing the Scotch gudewives how to cook biish-fashion, making rum an indispensable ingredient, even in' baking. ^ they soon found where the liquor went, they dispensed ber tuition. She subsequently deserted Bullard, who d. peared soon after. He had moved over from Glengarry tliul *He left Scotland in 1819 for Miramichi, but not liking Ne,w -Brunswick had moved west. In Montreal he fell in --' with the Alexander party and decided to go with them. , THE SETTLBMKXT. isa spring, and when the party arrived was eking out a miserable living by fishing and hunting. After they had taken possession, one of their number, James Brown, was sent to Quebec to 8e« are titles to the lots. He had an interview with the governor, Lord Dathousie, who listened with deep interest to the narrative he hod to tell and assured him of his aid. In the fall, Mr Bouchette visited them, and arranged for laying out the lots. He was exceed- ingly friendly and gave many hints as to bush-life and farming. He had much difficulty in understanding the broad Scotch of the settlers, and mad^ himself popular with some of them by making a present of snuff. There was no order in the locating of the settlers, who, indeed, worked very much in common. The most western shanty was that of Thomas Marshall on 19, and they straggled along the lake shore eastward to 14, where James Paul and Robert Barrie lived together in a low caboose. As shelter was provided, word was sent to Montreal for their families, who came as opportunity presented itself. The captain of the bateau which brought the first party, took a kindly interest in the settlement, and stopped whenever he passed. On one occasion he sold them a quantity of flour at S3 a barrel, for it was cheap that fall. Of the experience of one family I can give^ a few details. Marshall, having got everything ready, went to the city to bring up his family. Early in November, they left in a Durham-boat, and in three days reached Coteau^ where, frost having set in, she could not get into the lake for ice. A canoe being expected, the wayfarers made beds of their wraps and lay down by the water's edge to be in readi- nrss, the mother having for her pillow th6 weaver's stone, for the loom formed part of their baggage. The canoe at last cttTie, and was that of the negro, Bullard. When Mrs Mar- sh... i stepped into the humble shanty her husband had pro- vided, she said she considered it a palace, so proud was she of the first house she could call their own property, though she complain I of the floor being "shoogly," owing to tho uneven sawing of the boards. The Durham-boat continuing fast, the canoe had to mlake several trips for their eflects. 154 NEW YEAR S DAY IN THE BUSH. Tho fall was a remarkably fine one, and the leaves being perfectly dry. the children were set to gathering and packing them into bolster-slips for the beds. December, though colder, was equally tine, and no severe weather w(t,s experienced until near Its close, after which there were heavy falls of snow. The settlers found the cold very trying, owing to their ignor- ance in choosing fire-wood. Not knowing the difference in trees, and naturally inclining to those easiest to chop, they cut all sorts, and it was hard tc keep up a blaze with swamp- elm and green bass wood. Their houses, too, except the few that had been buiit shanty-fashion, were very cold, and they huddled around the great open fire-places when the west wind came screeching across the lake. In the mornings, they noted often that the blankets were frozen stiff with their breath. None of the women hfvl ever baked bread in Scotland, and Mrs BuUard's lessons were not first-class. They had no hops, and preserved leaven hy covering it in a chaudron, for there was not a stove in the settlement, so the bread was soar and heavy. With the advent of the ice, their communication was re- stored with Montreal, and they had many visitors to view the country and see about joining them. That winter, Peter McFarlane, a book-keeper fresh from & Glasgow counting- house, with his worldly goods stowed in a tiaineau, drove up the Chateaugay from the Basin to above Huntingdon, where there was a lumber-read to the Laguerre, and thence made his way to the settlement, of which he became an active member. Every one w^as welcomed'-and the settlement grew until the string of shanties reached from Port Lewis to Hungry bay, when it was considered worthy of a name, and was duly called "DalhouJaie Settlement," -in honor of the governor. On New Year's morning its inhabitants were aroused at daybreak by Black Bullard firing a shot before each door, when he was rewarded by a glass ifrom the care- fully hoarded bottle. The day so ushered in, their first New Year in Canada, the settlers observed with the hearty cus- toms of their mother-land and that night, from the shanties where they held their merry-mi^ing, rose in the frosty air MONTREAL FRIENDS. 155 the sound of Scotland's songs and many an old story was re- told of the land their heartstrings were knit to. I may note that the settlers retained not only the social but the moral cus- toms of their native land. Of their number, Hart and Dick had been prepared as secession preachers, and they, on alter- nate Sundays, preached in the house of Thomas Brown, which happened to be the largest Neither was adapted for the toils of the bush, and both left the following summer, but after their departure, though no public services were held, Sunday was rigidly observed, and there was none of the hunting, fishing and card-playing that was too common in other settlements. Of Hart's unfitness for the bush, it is enough to relate that, on going out, he would wrap the edge of his axe with rags, to prevent its cutting him should it fall The Scotch citizens of Montreal, then few in number and bound together by closest bonds, took a deep interest in the new settlement, the first of its kind in Lower Canada, and did what they could to assist it Two active promoters were Alexander Shaw and John Hunter. Sandy Shaw kept a tavern on the comer of Commissioners and Grey Nun streets, which had been a place of resort for the immigrants while in the city. He died of the cholera in 1834. Hunter had been a ship-chandler in Leith, and emigrated in 1819, opening a grocery-store on Bleury-street During the early winter of 1820, he heard of & young Scotchman Ipng ill of the jaundice, and went to see him. Finding he was poorly attended, he induced his wife to take liim into their houne, and where he speedily recovered. The young man was James Brown, on his way back from seeing the governor at Quebec The topic uppermost in his mind, and of which he was never tired talking, was the settlement on the shore of lake St Francis. Hunter, who was of a singularly sanguine temperament, caught his guest's enthusiasm, and recommended all whom he could influence to throw in their lot with the party in Huntingdon. While hopeful as to their future, the settlers were uneasy as to the delay in securing deeds for their land, and had sent James Brown to Quebec to see about them« when he took ill on the journey as stated. He brought with 156 TEAFttLb. him no patents, but his report was favorable. He had seen Lord Dalhousie, who told the settlers not to be discouraged, and the head of the crown lands department led him to believe he (Brown) would be appointed agent. A stone- mason by trade, his father had given him an education to fit him to be an architect, and his knowledge of civil engineering he now turned to account He defined the limits of the lots of the settlers, and, on the occasion of a visit from his friend Hunter, after the New Year, he explored with him the eoiT»itry to the south, and determined on opening a road to the Chateaugay. Accordingly in February r"i the settlers who could be spared from home followed him to brush the line as he defined it. His object was to open the road left between 16 and 17, and considering that his only instrument was a make-shift theodolite he had contrived out of a field- compass, he ran it with singular straightness, for he came out on the Chateaugay within an acre or two of the true line. One evening, after a hard day's work running the line, the party made preparations to camp. The snow was trodden down, a fire lit, and branches cut for sleeping upon. While the two chain-boys were fplling a dry pine to replenish the fire, it, proving hollow, suddenly fell, and nearly killed Mr Brown, grazing one of his legs. While sitting round the camp-fire after supper, singing songs, and all grateful for the narrow escape, one of the party proposed that the swamp should be named in memory of the event, when it was agreed that it should be known as Teafield — from their having par- taken of their supper upon it. On the line thus run, a road was finally brushed out by 7 of the young sons of the settlers, so that it Was possible to pass from the lake to the Chateau- gay. In the middle of March, Hunter made a second visit, examined the land, and accepted from Brown the lot at the outlet of the road, 17, range 5, on which he at once erected a shanty, and left his eldest son, John, and a Canadian in charge. There were other visitors ; among them several who had been passengers on the Alexander. As the lake-front was taken up. Brown proposed they should settle on the new line, TH£ SECOND SUMHSR. 157 which he designed as a concession, the farms to run east and west Peter and Parian McFarlane were given the first lot and the next lot fell to William Caldwell. To get to them, it was necessary to do some brushing and to blaze a track, which done, Caldwell moved in during April, taking the McFarlane brothers, who were unmarried, as bgarders. John and William Hamilton had to go farther to get lots, for the .Teafield spread its dreary waste to the south of Caldwell's, and they settled on 17, 4th range. As spring approached, Thomas Brown crossed the lake to secure a cow. There were several old. country families along the river front, and back of the stage-road. From one of these he bought a cow and calf. On reaching the lake, he found that the frost which had followed the thaw hod covered it with glare-ice. Borrowing a horse and traineau, he tied the cow on the sled, and it being too small for the calf also, he swung her round his neck, and holding her legs drove safely across. W^hen spring came, there was no gross for bossy nearer than the point on 20, which had been chopped some years before by lumbermen in getting out masts. The neighbors wondered what Mrs Brown would do with a cow, for she had been city-bred. She soon showed that where there is a will there is a way, for she not only found out how to milk but to make excellent butter, as much OS 7 lb a week Tiie calf was a heifer. The cow's two subse- quent calves were steers, and those came to be the first yoke of oxen in the settlement, for, like most Scotchmen, the fii'st effort of the settlers was to get horses, though they soon found they were not adapted for the work they had for them to do. That spring, the trees were tapped, and the first maple-sugar made ; several families managed to secure enough sap to make 601b. With the reappearance of bare ground, began preparations for getting in the crop on the small patches they had chopped around their shanties. Potatoes were planted and a little wheat sown. Ignorant of the use of the hoe, the settlers spaded the soil around the stumps. They had a long wait until harvest, and it needed all their courage to sustain them. Provisions could be only obtained by going 158 THEIR LAND IS CLAIMED to Coteau or Fort Covingion, long distances to sail in the canoes they managed to buy or make, and often they were in sore need. One family lived on peas alone, and the diet of othei^, who had some money left, was not much more varied. Every day saw the bush driven farther back, for, despite heat and mosquitoes, the settlers did not relax their exertions in chopping. The trees that were suitable they burned, and converted into ashes, which they paddled in canoes up to the newly-opened store of Alex. Ogilvie on the Laguerre, and sold them for 12^c a bushel, which was a perfect godsend. An honest penny was also earned by making cordwood, which was sent on rafts to Montreal. During the summer two of the settlers left, Barrie and Rorison, for Scotland, the former for his wife the latter to see to some business. They were wrecked on the coast of Ireland, and reached Glasgow in a destitute condition. Barrie safely returned, but Rorison, whose craze for bush-life had not been satisfied, started to resume it, was again wrecked, and this time was lost with the ship. A number of settlers came in during the summer and took up land beside the Caldwells in what is now known as Newfoundout. The harvest proved a bountiful one, the yield of potatoes being marvellous in the eyes of those whose experience had been confined to Scotland, and of wheat one settler could boaiit of having 20 bushels from one he had sown. This ended all fears of scarcity, and the winter wm faced with good spirits and much better preparations to resist the cold. Their great anxiety was the delay in issuing patents for their land. They had now ascertained that the lots they occupied had been granted many years before to militiamen and to officers who had taken part in the war of the American revolution, and of the purchasers of the claims of these men or their representatives, Edward Ellice was the most un- compromising. His agents in Montreal told the settlers they had either to buy or leave, and laughed on being asked if, choosing the latter alternative, they would pay for the better- ments. Piatt and McDonell, who held from 16 to 19, were equally firm, but asked more moderate prices. The settlers AND THEY HAVE TO MOVE. 150 contended that as the conditions upon which the grants had been made had hot been complied with, as no settlement duties had been done and no patents issued, the lands had reverted to the crOWri'; that they had gone on them in good faith, at the recommehcjation of the surveyor-general and on assurances from the governor, and therefore they should be conceded to them. The settlers had both equity and law on their side ; Ellice and his co-proprietors had political in- fluence, and the latter prevailed. Lord Dalhousie was much annoyed at the situation in which they were placed, and assured James Brown, who went to see him, that the best that could be done was to give them lots in other parts of the county. The settlers would gladly have paid for their land and remained where they were, but they had no money, 80, perforce, had to accept the new lots, which were mainly in Elgin. Adam Patterson was the first to move, and the entire settlement turned out in the spring of 1822 to tramp the road to the Chateaugay to permit of his going to his new lot, which was on the 1st concession of Elgin. While troubled with the prospect of being compelled to abandon the improvements they had made by so much pain- ful self-denial, two incidents occurred to them of a trivial nature, but which are deserving of record as they served to distract the minds of the settlers from the seriousness of their situation. Thomas Marshall, despite his being a weaver by trade, was the most handy man in the settlement with tools, and was never at a loss to provide a makeshift on meeting difficulties. He had brought the works of a clock with him from Scotland, and made a case wherein to set them, which was of shape and material so strange that Barrie declared it might be worshipped without breaking the commandment, for it was like nothing on the eai'th and he was positive there could be nothing like it in heaven. Marshall grew most ex- pert with the axe, and when a boasting Yankee lumberman chanced their way and declared he had never seen the man who would chop with him, he took him up. The American chopped 5 cords in two days, Marshall 5^, and would have done more but for well-meani interruptions by his neighbors 160 WILD BEASTS. who, at, first, considered him foolish to have accepted the wager. The other incident was less pleasant A straggling American named Cunningham had been given shelter for the winter by Paul and Barrie in return for his work. One Saturday night Wylie gave a merry-making, at which every soul in the settlement was there. Cunningham and Paul were the fiddlers. During the evening Cunningham left, saying he needed a new string and shortly after returned. On Thomaf; Brown and his wife returning to their shanty, they found the dog, which had been^ left outside, inside, and knew it had been entered. Flying to the chest where they kept their money, they found the lid open and their own little stock of cash safe, but a sum of money entrusted to their safe-keeping by Barrie, stowed at the other end, had been taken away. The deed caused the greatest excitement, and it was agreed that every house and individual should l:)e searched. Next morning (Sunday) Paul who had his suspicions of him, saw Cunningham go towards the bush and watched him. He cut some cedar and in gathering it up, made a motion as if thrust- ing something into the snow. On coming in Paul reproached him for cutting brush on such a day, the more so as their broom was good enough, when he replied that the bush was such a nice one he could not resist lopping its branches. Watching his chance, Paul went, to the spot, and underneath the snow found Barrie's money. Afraid of the consequences if he told Barrie, who was an exceedingly strong man and who he knew would be very angry, he did not tell him, but re- proached the thief privately, who confessed all, and accepting a few coins to carry him back to the States, disappeared. That winter the first death took place, an infant of 13 months, the daughter of Thomas Brown. She was buried in an island that lay near his 'house, and, by common consent, it was used for many years as the burial-ground of the settle- ment. The settlers were in no way troubled by wild beasts. There were bears in the Teafield, but they never strayed their way, and wolves were equally unknown. Deer were abundant, however, and venison in its scabpn wos a welcoine variety to mmm GOING TO MILL. 161 their monotonous diet Of fish they had a fair supply, the lake at that period abounding in them. Black Bullard would come in with his canoe filled, i^nd let tlie settlers help them- selves without price. There was no Indian camp near them, and the. only redman seen by them, was when one would pass on a hunting-expedition. A queer encounter with one was that of two of the settlers, who, while far down towards Valleyfield in search of a horse that a Canadian had stolen, came suddenly upon an Indian in full costume*, with rifle and tomahawk — "a perfect picture" as they described him. They were abashed and somewhat terrified by the imposing ap- pearance of the savage, and one of the canny Scots sought to propitiate him by ofiering "the piece" he had brought with him. The Indian graciously accepted the bread, and though he could not speak English showed his good-will by signs. The hopes of fhe settlers as to a favorable solution of their land difficulties were revived in the summer by Bowix)n, who, by political influence, had got the appointment as land-agent which had been promised to James Brown, and who now left for Quebec, where he was engaged to build lighthouses oa the island of Anticosti, and spent the remainder of his life in building and overseeing such structures on the St Lawrence, dying at Quebec about 1845. Bowron sent for the settlers to meet him at Hunter's house, when he made a plausible speech, promising to faithfully fulfil to them all the assurances the governor had made to Brown. Soon^after they dis- covered that their ostensible friend was in treaty to buy up the claims of the gentlemen who held grants for their land. This decided them to leave at once for the lots for which they held location-tickets. To the idea of moving they had become more reconciled on finding out many of the draw- backs of their present situation, the greatest of which wa»' distance from mill. They had to go to Fort Covington, Williamstown, Coteau, or St Timothy, all of them involving long and dangerous voyages in frail canoes, which they were awkward in managing. Often were they overtaken by those sudden squalls characteristic of lake St Francis, and not only had their bags of flour soaked by water but had hairbreadth 162 PREPARING TO LEAVB. escapes with their lives. Thomas Brown with a neighbor on one occasion went to St Timothy, mill. In returning, a storm arose and they had to make for the shore of Hungry bay. There was no house near and the marsh on every side was full of water. By chance, a hunter passed the second day and gave them a light, so that they had a iire. For two days and nights they were compelled by the storm to remain, their only food a tish thrown up wounded by the gale. Another settler who had gone to Williamstown to buy a bag of flour, was detained 3 days by the wind. So great was the difl!- culty in conveying boards from Fort Covington, that they found it easier to saw them by hand. On a boat that went to the Fort for supplies, the settler who held the paddle gave much uneasiness to the others by steering boldly across from headland to headland, instead of coasting along shore, and one of them repeatedly called out to him "Keep close to Crete; keep close to Crete." They brought back in their boat a young pig or two and other supplier It was true the lake had also its advantages, as it gave them water communication in summer and formed the best of roads in winter, but, on the other hand, the Teafield behind isolated them, except during sleighing, from the interior of the country, and by this time they had learned the soil was better along the Chateaugay and Trout river. Ellice's agent threatening to eject them unless they would buy their lots, the settlers almost unanimously determined upon leaving. The only concession they could wring from him was leave to return and cut the hay that might grow on their clearings until such time as new owners went into possession. The privilege was of no value, as their new lots were at too great a distance to allow of hauling it. In the fall (1823) they set out to see the lots provided for them in Elgin, and found a guide to them in a negro, Black William, who was an escaped slave and deformed from a timber having fallen upon him at a raising. He was unmarried and lived alone on 3, 1st concession, maintaining himself by hunting.* Be- * The poor man died in Malone poorhouse at an advanced ; age. THE SEQUEL. 163 side him' there was only one other resident in the interior of the township, an American of the name of Palmer, who hod temporarily left his own place in Constable in order to make potash in the Canadian woods. He had a shanty and a smalt clearance where the Presbyterian church now stands. On ascertdiining their lots, the settlers put up shanties, and re- turned to their homes by the lake. All that winter was spent in preparations for Moving, and early in the spring, while the sleighing v/as still good, they abandoned forever the clearings and betterments they had made with such in- credible self-sacriiice. All did not leave that spring, a few remaining in the hope that the threat to eject them would not be acted upon, but they also, before other two years, had to follow, and only three remained and paid the claimants of their lots, and they did so because by this time they had live- stock for which they could not get hay in Elgin. Thus ended in disaster Dalhousie settlement, whose early days were so promising, furnishing an early warning, often since repeated, but of little influence upon public men, for the same mistake has been made in the Northwest, of allow' 'g crown lands to pass into the hands of other than actual settlers. While the dispersion of the Old Countiymen led to the more rapid settlement of Elgin and the southern side of Godmanchester, it had a decided effect upon the future prospects of St Anicet, for had they been allowed to remain, they would have spread over the municipality, which would have become, like the others in the county, the seat of an English, instead of a French-speaking population. The subsequent history of the settlement is so strikingly illustrative of the political changes in the province, that I give it, although it extends beyond the period to which this narrative is designed to be confined. The lots wrested from their first settlers found, in course of time, purchasers, and again the land along the lake was occupied by about a dozen Irish and Scotch families, who plodded on quietly, redeeming the wilderness and converting it into desirable farms. They lived in peace for over half a century and might have gone on in the even tenor of their ways had not Mr Ellice, in 1867, 164 DTTISIOX OF TOWNSHIP RIGHTS. sold the seignkny mad with it the land he owned, in the county of Houtingvloti. The company that bought his rights was active in mJizing every dollar possible, and the portion of Teafield tbej had acquired, they sold, for a trifling sum, to the late Mr Demners o€ Vallejrfield. After taking off" the scrub bush that eovert*! it, sawing what was large enough and selling the retaaiivkr as cordwood, he conceived the idea of disposing of it for cultivation. The proposal seemed to be preposterous. The land is lower than the St Lawrence and subject to freK|f good land, which rise above its dreary expanse like ifelai»4s, would relapse into desolation. As they increased in laniiiijitjers, it was suggested to the new-comers that they shosiM hm.vt a church of their own, and there was an opportunity <£ }mymg a discarded wooden one in an adjoining parish which had erected a large stone edifice. The habitants fell in with tbe proijosal and petitioned bishop Fabre to form them into a patidi. The church was got cheap, was removed in pieces and vt-erecied on a knoll at the eastern extremity of the swamp. On tLe 6th February, 1882, the bishop issued his decree con«titoiiBg all that portion of the county of Hunt- THE OLD SETTLERS OVERBORNE. 165 Ingdon that lies east of the plank-road and north of Oodman-: Chester, a parish under the name of Ste Barbe. He referred his decree to the commissioners of his diocese, who niade their report, when the lieutenant-governor issued his proclamation, dated 12 June, 1882, declaring Ste Barbe to be a parish with civil powers. Of these movements the Old Countrymen knew nothing whatever, and when they did hear of their Fi-ench neighbors in the Teafield getting a church of thotr own, they did not perceive that it was going to affect them. They were rudely awakened to the fact that it was otherwise. In the seigniories, when a new parish is formed as the Catho- lic bishop of Montreal constituted Ste Barbe, it is not only a parish for ecclesiastical pui'poses but for municipal also, and the dwellers in Teafield, all natives of seigniories, considered they could do in Huntingdon what they could in Beauharnt is, and not only elect a fabrique and church-wardens, collect tithes and levy assessments to pay for their church, but organize a municipal council. A council was formed and imposed a rate. The Old Countrymen were thundersti'uck. They knew that in seigniorial territory the Catholic bishops can initiate the proceedings that result in the formation of municipalities, but their belief, which had been shared in by the entire English-speaking population since the conquest, was, that outside the seigniories they had no such power and that in township or non-fief land the legislature and the county councils alone had the right to erect municipalities. They asked if French law was to prevail in the county of Huntingdon, and the Catholic bishop cut it up into munici- palities at his pleasure ? They appealed to the courts and to the legislature to pi-otect what they believed to be their rights, and met with the reception to be expected from men dominated by clerical influence. While the case is not finally decided at the time this is written, the prospect is that the descendants and successors of the men who chose the lake-shore as a place of residence, because they believed in Huntingdon they would be clear of seigniorial and parish law, will be driven from their homes by the operation of the very laws they sought to escape. 166 NAMES OF FIRST SETTLERS. Note : An absolutely correct list of the settlers at the lake- shore it was impossible to compile when I began to collect information. The annexed is substantially correct. An as- terisk indicates those who were passengers by the Alexander. All were natives of Scotland. Knowing nothing of the pro- cedure in settlement, they fancied thev could live together and have their farms adjacent, so the front on the lake was laid out so as to give each family 5 acres and the shanties were put in a line, forming a little village. For this reason, any attempt to give their location wouul be misleading. I should have liked to have given the names of those who landed on the Ist August, but failed to recover them : •Robert All^n, only stayed a few weeks, and afterwards settled on the Chateaugay ; Dovid Anderson, shepherd, Dum- fries-shire ; * Robert Barrie, mason, New Monklands ; David Brown, plasterer, Bcith ; •James Bi-own, mason, Glasgow ; •Thomas Brown, weaver, Campsie ; •Thomas Brown, carpen- ter, who kept with his brother James a grocery on the Spout- mouth, Glasgow ; William Caldwell, weaver, Pollokshaws ; Dick, who had studied for the ministi^) entered into business at Glasgow and failed ; *Archd. Fleming, carpenter, Paisley ; *John Gillies, laborer, Ayrshire ; *John Harper, Paisley ; •Dr Fortune, Paisley ; • Wm. Hamilton, baker, and •James Hamilton, helper on farm, brothei-s, from Motherwell ; Jacob Hart, divinity-student, Hamilton ; •Robert Higgins, carpenter. Paisley; * Peter Horn, weaver, Campsie; •Thomas , Marshall, weaver, Wishaw ; •James McArthur, weaver, and •William Mc Arthur, weaver, brothers, from Paisley; Gilbert MacBeth, weaver, and James MacBeth, mason, brothers, from Beith; Parian McFarlane, carpenter, and Peter McFarlane, book-keeper, brothers, from Glasgow ; James McNair, farm- helper, Inverary; Robert Nelson; 'Adam Patterson, plasterer, Glasgow ; *James Paul, mason. New Monklands ; John Potty, sailor ; • Rorison, merchant, Glasgow ; *James Tannahill, mason, Tinnock ; • Hugh Wiley and 'John Wiley, masons, brothers, from Paisley. CHAPTER IX. DUNDEE. From 1760 the western extremity of the county of Hunt- ingdon was regarded by the government as an Indian reserve. The Indians clustered at the point, named St Regis, and did not occupy the country east of Salmon river, but when the townships carie ib he laid out, it was deeuied. desirable that sufficient territory should be kept for them to supply their prospective needs, and Chewett, the surveyor, left a length of ten miles of territoiy before running the line for Godman- chester. Bouchctte, who visited St Regis at the close of the war, says about 50 dirty hovels, with enclosures attached, wherein potatoes and corn were raised, composed the village, and that its inhabitants were indolent and shiftless. A large church, 100x40 feet, had been erected in 1795 and there was a resident priest, who, however, ;nade no eflbrt to improve the temporal condition of his Hock, and in 1S20 the govern- ment agent reported that not half of the inhabitants derived any part of their living- from tillage, they depending upon hunting and lishing alone, eking out a livelihood with the pensions, or presents, allowed by government, which, for a number of years after the close of the war, were much larger than they are now. As the Indians were making no use of their land and therc being no prospect of their doing so, it was deemed better that they sliould be permitted to lease it to settlers, as had been done 50 years before with the lands they had held in Glengarry and Stormont Repeated efforts had been made by the government to elevate the Indians, with no success. The agent, Chesley, told a parliamentary committee in 1846 that during his connection of 32 yeai-s with the tribe "several attempts had been made to establish schools at St Regis but they have been invariably opposed 1G8 AN EARLY MISSIONARY. and put down by tJie priests." A philanthropic soldier, Major Penderleith Christie, took G Indian boy.s and placed iheni in the school, erected at Chateaugay, in 1829 at his own expen-so. On hearinj^ of it the governor, Lord Sydenhaui, doubled the number and paid the expense out of the public funds, but from the inefficiency of the teacher the experiment \'as not successful. Not discouraged, on Major Christie's finding the right man for .such work in the Rev. E. Williams, a Caughna- Avaga Indian who had become a Protestant and been educatek an interest in them, and the llossb, Wi.o were then the leading business firm, told them they b'j^T'i.ed land could be had on the .south side of the St Law r nee by lease from the Indians, and a Larffain was eventually struck with the chiefs for a i-anm; of lots startinfj from the Godmanchester line. Duriny; the ^Nnnter of 1817 small clearings were made and .slianties erected ; the Glengarry farmers making several bees to do the work, and being aided by Ross the lumberer, who had men getting out masts, and who indicated the lines of the lots. These Ghmgarry men worked with a will all day and at niglit gathered in one of the new shanties and .sang and danced and drank until a late hour, yet rose t») lenew their good-hearted task next morning with unimpaind vigor. Seven sh^nties in all were completed and, while the crossing 170 SPEARING FISH. was still good, l/heir future occupants moved over and took sion. Starting at the east the order was Wm, Campbell, Ang- us McGillis, John Tolmie, Ronald, Angusand Norman McDonald and William McPhee. Except Tolmie all were from the Isle of Skye, and had come in the same ship, and they named the settlement New Skye, Imt in course of time it came to be known as the Isle of Skye. They brought over sufficient seed with them and the season proved favorable, for after that harvest they never knew want. Their Glengarry neigh- bors continued to take an interest in them, and often came over to help by bees. On one occasion the evening jollifica- tion was so prolonged that the keg ran dry, when the hosts, realous for Highland hospitality, while their guests were sleeping, sent two or their number across the lake to get it refilled, and they were back long before the morning dram was needed. The liquor used at that time was Jamaica ruin. Once started, the settlement grew. William McPhee,- who was the most comforttibly situated of the band, having brought over with him two cows and a yearling, got for his neighbor a very decent Irish couple, John Seaton and his wife. They had no family and left early. West of them was Roderick Murchison. To the liast, the settlement extended rapidly down tlie lake shore, Duncan Stewart, Duncan McNicol, and -S McMillans settling in 1820. The lake at that time was much lower than it is now, so low that there was a fine .sandy beach, on which the young lads raced up and down on their horses, for they ne\er troubled with oxen. The St Lawrence was tlien well-stocked with fish, which so ♦; warmed in the bays that the habitants came from far and near to fish in them during the season, so that at night 40 or 60 canoes could be counted. The mode of fishing then was wholly by the .'^pear, which was practised during the day as well as by night. The Highlanders, almost all of whom had fi.shed at home, entered into the sport with gusto. The marshes were also valuable for more than the hay which they alforded, for they were visited by such flocks of geese and ducks that, when they rose, they darkened the air like a cloud. When the flocks of pigeons were seen coining from EDUCATION. 171 the Glengarry side, the men and boys hastened to the water's edge, each armed with a long pole. A peculiarity of the pigeon is that, while crossing water, it skims its surface, and rises as it reaches land. Noticing this, the settlers struck them down with their poles just as they rose from the water's surface to wing a higher flight, and those who were dexterous sometimes killed 4 at one blow. Wild swan were occasionally met with, but the king of American edible birds, the wild turkey, never, so far as I have been able to learn, visited Huntingdon. Deer came trotting daily in the dry season to drink at the lake. The great river furnished a road to the settlement which was all ^hey could desire, for, with one or two exceptions, they had all come from the Highland coast and boating to them was second nature. If the weather was fine, they crossed on Sundays to attend the services conducted by the y V ,r )hn McKenzie at Williamstown, and to them he was pastor for many years. On sacramental Sundays the whole settlement was deserted. If any were sick, Dr McLeod of Williamstown was sent for, and his services were gladly given. To build a big boat, that would do to go to mill or market, was a joint undertaking, and it was duly launched and moored in the creek, named in old maps Sherwood. When salts were made, the settlers cari-ied them through tlie woods in bags upon their backs to the creek, and when the big canoe was loaded, started for Salmon river, generally taking at the same time a gi-ist. The round trip Uxjk two (lays and one night. For 10 years thei-e was no road, except the footpath that connected shanty with shanty. The first road was that to Laguerre. In winter the custom was for each settler to make at lea.st one trip to Montreal in a trainoau with his surplus butter and pork. The road taken was by Laguen-e to Huntingdon, and thence to the Basin. In nearly every family Gaelic was the connnon language, but a reasonable desire was shown by the older people that their children should learn English, and a teacher was secured in Patrick McGregt»r, who continued to follow his profession in the neighborhood for many years. He was so cruel as to 172 THE INDIAN LEASES. disgust his scholars with learning, and all the more so that he had little to impart. He was a spar6, gaunt man, and his favorite mode of punishment, striking with the back of his han(|s, was so severe that the blow often drew blood. As his scholars declared, they might as well get a slap from a skeleton. He taught at first from house to house. The second teacher was Alexander Crawford, sadly given to drink, who gnve place to Duncan Campbell, a lame weaver, who taught in a shanty on McDonald's point. Afterwards a school was erected farther west, at the creek, where a burial- place by common consent had been chosen. In 1821 the settlement got a blacksmith in Jas. Fraser,on Gardiner's point. He conducted business in primitive style. If the job was a small one, he told his customer to take up whatever task he was engaged upon on the farm, while he went to his shop and lit his forge. Customers complained that he kept them longer in the field than he ought, and that the change of work was not altogether to his disadvantage. The clearances were confined for many years to the knolls, but gradually the swamps, which were covex-ed with a splen- did growth of black ash, were cleared and drained and fine farms formed. The fires of 1825 left Dundee untouched, and, alone in the county, it has never suffered to any extent from burned soil. From the year 1820 the settlement of the township pro- ceeded actively, the Indians in that year granting about 40 leases. The terms were liberal, $5 a year for 100 acres, the leases being for 99 years, and then renewable until 999 years elapsed. A few leases were for 1000 years, or so long as grass grew or water ran. The leases issued after 1822 were all for 30 years, unless the occupants could show they had a promise for a longer period. A condition was inserted in a majority of the leases inflicting a fine of 8 per cent, on the sum received when the land changed hands (lods et ventes), but was never exacted. The leases were negotiated for the Indians by Isaac LaClair, their agent, and signed by a majority of the chiefs — who were all men of mark. In all of these old leases, the reserve is styled " the Indian reservation JOHN DAVIDSON. 173 of Kintail." Tlie rents were made payable on the 1st of February in each year. The scarcity of money and tlie necessities of the Indians caused the amount generally to bo taken in kind, and the Indian hfiui often unhealthy pork or an undesirable h6ifer palmed upon him. For three days at the beginning of February the Indian chiefs attended at Dundee lines with their agent, and squared accounts with the settlers. Even with the privilege of paying in provisions, many settlers were most negligent in settling the rent, and as the agents were supine, arrears were allowed to accumulate for 20 years and over. From the first, the Indians were good , neighbors, keeping to their reservation, and i-arely seen east of the Salmon river unless hunting or seeking timber for making baskets, w^hich they tra^ded with the farmers. No objection was made by any settler to their felling trees suitable for their petty manufactures. The free issue of leases stimulated the influx of immi- grants. On leaving shipboard, Highlanders naturally gravi- tated towards Glengarry, the great settlement of their kindred, and where nearly all had relatives, more or less remote. Even those destined for the West made Glengarry their halfway stopping-place, to renew those old friendships which are so precious to the sons of the heather. Thus it came, that in those days there was always during the summer a floating population of immigrants in search of homes, and on Dundee being thrown open tbey naturally moveH into it, the dividing line being only the St Lawrence. The abondonetash was too profitable a trade to allow the storfktieptTS of Fort Covington to monopolise it, so, shortly after lai* «r>ining, Mr Davidson added an ashery with pearling-ovem if* YCia estaVjlishment, and Charles Marsh who had opened »(tio»«^ ^jeside him, did likewise. He was an American aAther early storekeepers were McCutchcon and Wells ^ Oieveland. The first-named committed suicide from despair ©t«t losses in lumbering, when his clerk, Nor- man McDoiiaiH* e»atinued the business, and some time after- wards Patrick Boehanan added another store to the number, taking, in 1 K4^,. bw brother-in-law, David Baker, as partner. Up to 1848, dll tliiese stfjres did a large and profitable busi- ness, whida «"«,* \)y no means confined to trading with the settlers of Dmnmnk*^. In those days tea, tobacco, whisky, and a few lines <£ .'lrjr-gnli«l»t*l a Vjook in New York in 1827 entitled "Moral MaxiM*^ *rbl Refiections," which I have not seen. He was a man <^f ti'Ssaattion and talent. He prospered so well in business that. «t looe time, he was the largest shareholder in the City Lauk. POTATO WHISKY. 179 petus and they discovered the art of making mash from potatoes. By 1817 the country was overspread with small tlistilleries making potato-whisky and the use of their pro- duct became general in Upper Canada. The people of the lower province continued to prefer Jamaica rum and did not l)egin to look at whisky until it l)ccame so very chenp that the more ardent and palatable spirit had no chance. From 1S22 whisky gradually superseded rum, until it finally sup- planted it. St Lawrence county early became famous for its whisky, and Franklin county, at one period, had no fewer than 17 distilleries. The chief distiller was one Parish, who hod a village named after him, and Parishville whisky was known far and wide. The importation of spirits from the States, under any conditions, was then illegal, but there was no serious attempt made to enfijrce the law, and, on sunniier nights, barrels were rolled by the dozen from the Dundee .storehouses into boats that conveyed them tt) dealers on the north side of the St Lawrence, and in winter long strings of teams came from Glengany and Stormont to exchange grain and pork for whisky, tobacco, and tea. By the bari'el, Parishville whisky was .^old as low as 18 cents a gallon. It is a striking fact, that not one of the merchants engage % w' m^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 'i» I 32 2.5 12,2 c I.I 1^ m^ 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 J4 -< 6" - ► ^ <^ /}. ^"^3 '/^^ / o 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO (716) 872-4503 \ f/j :\ \ 6^ :<^ 1 180 DURHAM BOATS. vas an open boat of about 20 feet in length, 6 wide, and 3 deep, shai^-pointed at both ends, propelled by 4 a^-ramen and steered by the captain with a long oar. When the wind favored, a square sail was set. On the downward trip they could carry 15 tons; on the upward, less than 5. Being open the freight was exposed to damage by wet, and the crew tied up the boat and went ashore to cook, and frequeiitly did so at night to sleep. The French Canadians who manned these boats endured great hardship and wei*e often in peril in running the rapids. The Durham-boat was in every way superior to the bateau. It was fmm GO to 80 feet long and 12 to 15 feet wide, and decked, giving a roomy and diy hold. Flat l>ottomed, its cargo capacity was great, from 50 to 70 tons. There ran along each side, n broad plank with cleats, on which the men stood to pole the boat along in shallow water. In deep, a centre-board was let down and sail set, a large spread being made; the boat being sloop-rigged. Oai-s were only used when i-equired in the rapids. « The crew con- sisted of 8 men and a captain. Such were the boats that, for over quarter a century, maintained communication between Montreal and the country west of it. Their navigation re- quired skill, boldness, and superhuman exertion. On getting into swift- water, the crew ranged themselves at the bow of the boat. One stepped on to the plank that ran along the side, dropped his long ash-pole into the water until i^struck bottom, then placing the head of the pole against his shoulder-blade, pushed with all his might, walking, as the boat slowly stemmed the current, to the stern, when he i-e- turned to the bow and so on. As he passed down, another boatman stepped out with his pole, until all 8 would be so engaged. The work was most exhausting, and caused the skin on the forebreast and shoulder to become callused. Where the rapid was too swift to be thus overcome, or when the boat was heavily laden, oxen or horses were hitched on, as many, if the boat was large and the water low, as 9 span, and painful accidents were of occasional occurrence, from their being unable to overcome the rush of water, and the boat being swept backwards and dragging them to a watery grave. STEMMING THE RAPIDS. 181 To prevent such a calamity, each of the crew hung a small hatchet at his waist when the rapids were reached, so as to be ready to cut the tow-rope. Rounding the points was the critical operation, and at Split Rock there was a windlass to supplement the strength of the crew and tow-horses. In this slow and painful manner not only goo. ith a crusi Althoufi^h the settlers were poor, there was no actual privation among them. There were very I'dw Irish in the neighborhood of St Agnes when we came to live here; they moved in gradually, buying out the Highlanders. The building of a church was begun in 1839 on lot 8, 2nd concession. It was a plain, frame building, and all the con> gregation'was able to do was to enclose it The seats were slabs laid on four water-beech legs, and the only one that had a back was the pew for the minister's family. The pulpit, which was high, had a canopy after the old-fashion in Scot- land, and the precentcfr's box was s«it in front In the forenoon the service was in Claclic, the English in the afternoon, and both extremely long, which was rather trying where the seats were so contrived that they neither supported the back nor rendered a few winks possible. Books being scarce, the pre- centor read the psalms two lines at a time, which he did in a droning tone, so as to retain the run of the tune. The sacra- ment was administered once a year and wasti season of great importance and solemnity. The services, in which Mr Moody was assisted by neighboring ministers, began on Thursday and did not close until Tuesday. Family worship was com- mon in the township and on the catechising of the children great stress was laid. Before Mr Moody's death a sufficient sum was raised to plaster the church and put in pews. To the last he was no burden to his people, who gave little beyond presents of produce and aiding in bee& His modest wants were met by his farm and the small allowance from the clergy reservea He died in 1855, and it can be said of him, that he did more to recommend the gospel to his people by his daily life than by his preaching. Long before it had a minister, Dundee had a physician, and a well-educated one, in Dr John McGibbon. He was a graduate of Glasgow college, had made several voyages in a whaler, came to Canada, resided some time at Cornwall, and in 1824 moved over to lot 16, 6. F., adding afterward several adjoining lots. The land he selected was wet and hard to manage, and in redeeming it he underwent much hardship. 186 LIMT OF LEASEH. His practice yielded him next to nothing. He was early ap- pointed a justice of peace and agent for the lands owned by Ellice, and, as will be recorded in its place, took a prominent part in suppressing the rebellion of 1837-8. As showing the value of land when he came, it may be stated he bought a lot from Dupuis for a cow. Note. — The following is a list of leases granted up to 1838. The date of lease does not always correspond witn that of settlement, many lessees having lived on their lots some time before getting deeds and others delaying going on them after receiving leases, while a few resold without doing settlement duties. Where lots are passed the record has l)een lost or the leases are i*ecent. Remarkable to say the government has not a complete list of the leases granted : Lot. ht Concession. 3 Angus McGillis 1819 5 Ronald McDonald 1819 6 Angus McDonald 1819 7 Norman McDonald 1819 8 William McPllee 1819 9 John Seaton 1819 10 Louis & Norbert Dupuis 1819 1 1 Antoine & Joseph Dupuis 1819 12 Benjamin Phillips 1819 14 Farquhar McLennan 1819 15 Farquhar McRae 1819 16 Alexander McRae 1819 19 Alexander Gardiner 1821 20 Jacob Aubrey 1819 24 Aaron Foster 1821 25 Henry C. Bagley 1821 3rd Concession. 5 & 8 Donald & Dougald Mc- Kinnon 1819 9 Finley McRae 1819 14 Murdoch MeRae 1819 13, 14 & lu ivobert Colquhoun , » f Patrick Timmons (. loin 1821 *^ 1 Patrick Garrity j^^^^ 16 kn JohnMcGibbon 1819 16 Donald McFarlane 1819 18 & 19 John Handley 1819 17 John Seaton 1819 20&21 Horatio Branson 1819 19 Hiram Stockweather 1823 27 Richard Fitzpatrick 1819 20,21 ii 22 James Curran 1821 28 Henry Jackson 1819 4th Concession. 30 Jonas Schryer 1819 3 John Cameron 1821 30 Nicholas Farlinger 1819 5 Thomas Cross 1821 32 & 33 Henry C.Rigley 1821 6 & 7 Allan Cameron 1824 34 Jolin Moore 1818 8 Daniel O'Bafe 1819 2Hd Condeuion. 9 John Deny 1819 3 Doncin McMillan 1821 10 Francis Ldgaa 1819 4 Donald MoiKiwioQ 181^ 11 John MiUor 1821 5 Dpugald McJCinnon 1819 12 DttQcan Moody 7 Wiliiain fnixar 1820 13 WDliam Miller 1$19 d Murdoch McAiiley 1819' 14' SaiiDilel' llilldr 1821 LEASES. 187 15 Samuel Miller 1887 16 do do 1822 17 John McRae 1821 18 Rufus Campbell 1819 19 & 20 James O'Brien 1821 5th Concession. 6 Oliver Classen 1821 7 William Aubrey 1819 11 Malcolm Smith 1821 12 Moses Miller 1821 7lh and 8th Concession. 5 & 6 David Thompson 1819 Broken Front. 2G Patrick Benson 1819 27 John Ashbum 1819 29 Jonas Schryer 1819 B, C, D & N John Davidson 1819 A John Silver 1823 2 marsh lots, Lucy Branson 1821 Sucker Island, Jacob Hollen- beck 1821 L Angus Plamondon 1821 I William Ross 1825 Bittern Island. 1 Hyp. E. dit Perikier Utley fann, Henry Utley 1825 2 Duncan Gillis 1820 3 Alexander Campbell 1820 7 Robert Colquhoun 1819 8 George Traax 1819 P&tite Chenail. 4 John Lamasney 1819 5 George Truax 1819 Patrick Gallagher 1819 8 Isaac Leclair 1818 10 William Empey 1820 II James Summers 1820 12 Donald Grant 1820 13 John Grant 1820 Village qf Dundee. 1 George B. R. Gove 1821 2 Patrick Buchanan 1828 Gardiner's Island, Angus Campbell 1819 Marsh Island, Amable Casinet 3 James Peck 1821 1819 5 & G John Silver 1821 fi, CHAPTER X. ST. ANICET. i Ill ■1 -m |ijii!|i Until the hapless Dalhousic settlement came into exist- ence, the only habitations in that portion of Qodmanchester township now known as the parish of St Anicet, were those of some dozen French Canadians on the lakeshore. The most easterly was Qenier, and from his shanty j)altry clearances occurred at intervals until Moquin's bay was reached. None of them paid attention to farming, their dependence l)eing placed upon lumbering, so that their clearances were simply patches for com and potatoes.* St Amour, by trade a black- smith, came alone and squatted where the Catholic church stands. He kept two large black dogs and was suspicious of strangera. It was understood that he had fled from his native place, near Quebec, on committing some crime, and lived in dread of those he had injured coming to take ven- geance upon him. After leading the life of a hermit for a number of yeai*8 he went back to his native-place on lemming that it was safe for him to do so. Out of sight of the lake there was only one settler, Antoine Bouthillier, who had re- ceived a grant of the land west of the Laguerre, and who lived in a house on the high bank of that river a short dis- tance >above its mouth. The record of the first English-speaking settlement has been given in chapter 8. The second was .begun in the fall of 1820, when Duncan McNicol crossetl from Glengarry, where he had landed the year l^>efore, and squatted on 56, * Their order, as near as I can ascertain, was, Genier lot 26, L'Ecuyer 27, Chretien 28, Delorme 32, J. Bpte. Caza 36, St Amour and Cartier on point where St Anicet village is built, Bercier 39, Quenneville 41, Saucier 42, Desvoyans 47, Dupuis 48, Coscagnette 50, Moquin 51, and Joseph Caza 52. TORKAlfORE. 189 supposing it io le crown land, but afterwards learned it was part of a thousand-acre grant to deSalaberry. He soon hatl for neighbor Duncan Stewart, and the following spring, while the ice was good, three brothers of the name of McMillan, who had emigrated from Lochaber in 1819. Duncan, the last survivor of those who came out, and who was known better as "Torramore," said : My father was working as gardener for Sir John Johnston at St Andrews when we heard of government land being thrown open in Huntingdon, and we crossed on the ice, bringing 3 cows with us, tor which we found plenty of feed in the marsh hay, which then grew high enough to hide an ox. Wo put up a shanty, roofed with split basswood slabs, and hoed in potatoes and corn among the ashes of the little clearance we made, which yielded wonderfully, so that after that fall we had to buy little provisions. There was a lumber-road to Trout river, but no settlers off the lake. Lumbering was in full blast and the finest cedars I ever saw were taken out of the Beaver, as we called the swamp east of Dupuis' comera, many being 2^ feet thick at the butt and straight as an arrow. The oak was all gone, but the pine was no more than touched. We all went into lumV»ering, which was an injuiy to us, and wc would have done better to have stuck to our land. We i-afted a good deal of cord- wood to Montreal, and I have stayed there a fortnight with a raft before I got it all sold. The price ranged from 32.50 to $4 per cord for maple, according to the supplj\ It cost so iimch for help to run the rapids and took so much time, that it seldom paid us. The only produce that brought money was potash. For the best, we got half money and half trade. For inferior, the storekeeper would pay only in goods. Our grist we took by canoe to Williamstown, or by canoe or on our backs to Fort Covington. In going by water to the Fort, we were subject to oe detained by storms, and often had, in the spring and fall, to put in to some island and wait for one or two days for the lake to go down. P have known settlers to be thus caught without food and sleeping in the wet grass. Very often the grist got injured by the waves. Mrs Alex.Grant (lot ll)was the fii-st to be buried on lot 12 and Benjamin Phillips was the second. The bit of land belonged to the Broken Front and the Indians gave a deed of it for a burial-place. The great fires of 1825 did not do damage west of the plank-road. All the land we and our neighbors had squatted on, proved to have been granted, mostly to French V^' ! 100 LAaUERRE. m CanodiaiiH who hod Hcrved as officers in 1812, and wc had to pay theih for it, which wc found hard, although they gave us easy terms. In 1822 this settlement got an important addition in Donald Rankin, who came from Ai-gyleshire with a large family of sons, who have many descendants. One of the sons opened a store, but the situation was not favorable for business. Like Dundee, the nature of the country was such that to make roads was beyond the ability of the settlers and the government would give no assistance. The chief means of communication was the lake with its numerous creeks, up which canoes penetrated distances which their present dimen- sions make incredible. Of the early settlers of St Anicet and Dundee it may be truly said the canoe was their waggon. As the largest of its streams, and with branches which traversed the country cast and west, the Lagucrro naturally became the centre of trade. Near the mouth of it, on the east bank, a French Canadian, Fortier, set up a blacksmith shop, and to reach him from the other side customers had to swim their horses. Alexander McBain, whose people livc<.I on the north side of the lake, visited the Laguerre in search of timber limits, and in 1820 took out several rafts, and con- tinued to lumber each winter thereafter. The canal-like reaches of the river, which with its branches penetrated a tract of country that could not otherwise be reached save when winter hardened the swamps they drained, were so many roads provided by nature, and McBain ^ *x;eived Uie ad- vantages they offered not only for lumbering but for trading. The lands along Trout river were tilling up fast, and the Laguerre was the natui'al outlet for the back country to the south of it. Colonel Davidson also perceived the encourage- ment there %'as to commence business on the Laguerre and assisted his brother-in-law, Alexander Ogilvie, to open a store on its banks. The land along the west bank was owned by Bouthillier, who had inherited it from his father, who had received it for military service. A lot was bought from him where the west branch flows into the paront stream, and here Ogilvie built his store. He was the son of a Dundee manu- P»' JOHN MCPHERNON. 101 focturer, had left Scotland in 1820, and clerked with Colonel Davidson, so aajuiring a knowledf^ of stoi'ckeeping. Shaw, an American, who had squatted on the Ridge-road, agreed to pilt up the necessary buildings, and raisc'd a store, dwelling- 4)ou8e, and ashery, with a wharf, part of which can still lie traced. He was a handy man and did the work without a single bee, his only help being his son and a yoke of oxen. When Ogilvie took possession, the place was solitary enough, there being only one neighbor, a French Canadian, who hmi squatted on the opposite l)ank, named Monix)i. Bouthillier's shanty was near the mouth of the river, where the site of hi-; garden is marked by aged apple-trees. Thei'e was a foot- track to Huntingdon and a sort of a road that angled alon;^ the ridges to Dundee, over which oxen could struggle '• a dry season, but which w^as little used, communication by water being so muc.i ..: ore easy. Recognizing that connec tion with Tr "t river was essential to his p»*osperity. he engaged Shaw to cut out an ox-track to the Ridge, where it connected with the one that led to Trout river. The first immigrants to settle near him were John Harvey and William Brodie, Lowland Scotchmen, who went on to 42 and 43, 2nd range, which they reached by blazed tracks fi-om his stoiu Both were industrious men, and Brodie was the first in the township to have a field entirely clear of stumps. In 1823 Lalanne laid out the south end of lot 35, facing the concession-line, into a village, which he named Godman- chester. The lots were issued in 1824 to whoever would pay $2.70 per half aci'e lot Part of these McBain had pre-empted, and in the fall of 1823 built a store. Immigrants were now arriving weekly, seeking by the Laguerre a way across to Trout river and Elgin, but, so far, none had sought homes near its banks. McBain was now the means of inducing several to come, and the best description I can give is in the words of John McPherson : We belonged to Strathspey and with a num'oer of neigh- bors left in the spring of 1823. We embarked on the Monarch at Fort William, which sailed round to Tobennory and lay there for a fortnight, for the remainder of those Who 192 THE SCOTCH RIDOE. ■#f|i had engaged petsaage. Tlie price of tickets was $25, and the ship provided rations. In other 6 ^veeks we arrived at Quebec. Our intention was to settle in Glengarry, and we made our way to Lew;hinc, where there was a great nuniber of Durham boats, loading and unloading. Our baggage was carefully weighed, and the charge was 50 cents the hundred- weight. It took the boat 10 days to reach Lancaster. We were detained off He Perrot by a head wind, but the length of the passage was mainly due to the difficulty in poling and towing the boat up the rapids. There were 8 men and the captain, four to each side with poles, and as the boat was overcrowded, it was a wonder none of the children were knocked overboard. At the foot of the first I'apid, a number of us got out, we lieing told we could get in at the village above, which, they said, was only two or three miles away. But we found it a weary journey, and when we got there, not a sign of the boat, and it wsls next day before she ar- rived, the rapids having been extra difficult to overcome. We bought bread from the habitants, and I recollect one of the pasaengei-s on coming out with a black loaf being asked what it was, answering, "They told me it was bread." Ill-looking as it was, we were glad of it. Well, we were landed at lost at Lancaster and my father, whose first name was Donald, and others went out to look for land and were disappointed, for the lots that were not taken up were^ither very wet or stony. Hearing there was land at Beaudette,* he walked to that place but found that all the vacant lots were swimming in water. While there he met McBain, who suggested to him to cross the lake to Huntingdon, and, on his persuasion, got into his wherry, for he was about starting for Laguerre. He led him to the land west of where he was erecting his store, and advised him to squat on it, saying he believed it was still owned by the crown. He did so, and began to raise a shanty on 37, second range of Ist concession, and that fall, when the ice was forming, the family moved over, and we were not alone, for four others of our fellow- passengers came also and settled beside us, namely, Williaui Campbell, who was a shoemaker and who was going to work for McBain, on lot 36, John Grant, also a blacksmith, on 38, and another blacksmith, Angus Mcintosh, on the west half of *In an old map, this is given as Baudet, the French word for donkey. It is curious if that is the original word and that it came to be corrupted into Beaudette, which signifies nothing, so far as I am aware. DIFFICULTIES. 193 38, and with Wm. Campbell stayed Aloz. McDonald, a shoe- maker, who took up the other half of lot 39. There were no roads and the pathus that led from the landing-place on the river to our shanties we biased with the axe; during the first year, we often lost ourselves. It was a hard winter for all of us, beiiig new to the country and having to carry all our pre- visions from the Glengarry side. One day, towards spring, my father with McDonald and Mcintosh went over for potatoes, and on returning found the crack had so widened that they could not jump it with the bags on their back. Mcintosh pitched his ovm and father's to the other side and offered to do the same with McDonald's, who, hov/ever, thought he could fling it himself ; h^ did so, and it landed partly in the water. Well, they fished it out, and before they got to their journey's end, that bagful was frozen. So little did any of us know about chopping, that a tree my father felled came crashing down on oui shanty, and had the bass- wood scoops that formed the roof not been strong, it would have done damage. Because it was so easy to chop and split, we preferred basswood for firewood, leaving the beech and mapie, and had poor fires in consequence. By spring we had a good clearance, and got in com and potatoes with some wheat That summer we bought a cow from McBain. It was curious how animals were brought across the lake in canoea Two canoes were lashed together, and the forelegs were in one and the hindlegs in the other. If it came on to blow, cattle would not baUuice themselves, but horses would. I only know of one instance of a cow being brought over in a single canoe. One of the Cozas did it, and chained a dollar. Any of the habitants on the lakeshore would ^riy a pas- senger over for 60 cents. We cut hay for the cow on the Beavor, and carried it two miles in bundles on our backa We had a good crop that fall, and never wanted for food there- after, and the only time of scarcity was in 1836, when early frosts prevented the grain ripening, so that, the following summer, oatmeal was not to be had, and I travelled to Huntingdon and Dewitt't'ille and as far as several miles below Ormstown before I could find anybody who had a quintal to sell We got William Breaky, who had settled on part of lot 28, 2nd con., and the cnly one near us who had a yoke of oxen, to come occasionally to help to log and break up the ground, and I may tell you that oxen will not drag more land in a day Uian a bushel will sow. The country was so wet between oi t place and Breaky's that it was a day's journey for him to reach us, and he had himself to carry 194 ANOTHER NARRATIVE. #111 the yoke in crossing the swamp between the hill and the river. By-and-by we managed to get a pair of steers, and "v^hen they grew to be oxen we counted ourselves rich, for then we maae great progress in clearing the land. We made a good deal of blacksalts, and that was our only way of getting money. We went to mill bv cuioe to Fort Covington, and u the weather^was not favoraole, it would be a week before we got back; sleeping on the islands and bringing back the bags wet on the outside f rcnn the spray of the waves. Old Kerr, the baker, used to say we left with flour and brought back dough. With our neighbors we had a share in a large canoe, which would carry ten hundredweight The bush was so t^ick and high that we never knew when there was a storm except by the sound in the tree-tops, and often we have gone down the river anticipating no trouble, to find, when we left the mouth, that the waves were chasing each other on the lake. Our first school was in Grant's house, Mrs Grant being the teacher. After that we managed to get a schoolliouse built, when Robert K King, who. had been a clerk with McBain and was well qualified in every way except his habits, taught The Rev John McKenzie of Glengarry visited our settlement, baptizing and marrying as was required. It turned out that the land we had settled upon had been con- ceded to the Hon Mr deBoucherville, and we had to pay him for it The nationality of the first settlers determined' the char- acter of the settlement, which became an almost exclusively Highland one. Angus McPherson adds many intei-esting (details: My father belonged to Invemessshire, and sailed for Ca- nada in 1826. He took up lot 39, for which he paid $2.50 an acre to Colonel deRouville, who claimed a large tract Like our neighboi*s we built our shanty on the front of the lot, but finding it wet and unpleasant my father raised another on the ridge, and, in course of time, his neighbors to the east of him did likewise, and it came to be known as the Scotch or Highland ridge. There was a good deal of fever and ague in those days and the storekeepers sold quite a quantity of quinine. There was. much in Canada that struck the settiers with surprise, and they, coming from where game-laws were strictly enfprced, wondered to see m^i freely fishing, and shooting deer and partridge at pleasure. My mother had never seen a snake until she came here and the first warm night, when the air was filled with sparks, she was greatly A POET. 195 alarmed, thinking it was raining fire, and could not believe the spectacle was due to flies. Knowing no better, my father, on cutting up the trees, dragged the pieces with a rope to the house, and continued to do so until a neighbor showed him how tti construct a handsled. It was a IcMig while before my father got a yoke of oxen, and until he did, Breaky would come with his, receiving payment in day's work in return on his own farm. During the first winter, my father had occa- sion to be away one night and before leaving forgot to show my mother how to heap the ashes and keep a gathering-coal for the morning. She thought she left it as usual, but, on rising on the morning, found the fire had burned out There were no matches in those days and there was no flint and steel in the house, and it was too far to go through the snow to the next house. So she went back to bed to keep warm and remained in it until father came. He took down the musket he had brought with him from Scotland, and pouring some powder on the pan and placing a bit of punk in it, drew the trigger, and secured thd means of resto-^ng the fire. To take our first grist to mill, my father gave a blanket to a Cana- dian, who hauled it in his traineau through the. woods to Fort Covington and back again. Our shanty was so buried in the bush, that in chopping a tree in front of it, it fell diflcrently from the direction my father expected, and crashed against the door, which it forced open and the tree-top lodged on the shanty-floor, giving my mother a fright. There were wild beasts around us, and we lost a 3-year old heifer, which was found dead, with the marks of a bear's claws in its torn Ijack. There was a clearing on the top of a knoll on our lot, in which, on hoeing in com and potatoes, we found bits of pottery, shells, and arrowheads, leading us to suppose that Indians hod once had a camp there. As no bones were found, it could not have been a burial-place. Among the settlers we had a poet, Wm, McEdward, who lived a little west of us, and who came in 1830. He had been a shepherd in Scotland and his education w^as limited to the ability to read print, so he composed his verses mentally and then dictated them to some- one who could write Gaelic. In 1^30 he went to Montreal to have the poems of Peter Qiimt and Dougald Buchanan, copies of which he had brought with him, reprinted, and added 17 hymns of his own, one of which has Canada for its subject, and is devoted mainly to reproving the laxity with which its people keep the Sabbath and the Tike. When he came back with the book he was thin and pale, and his friends believed he h«d denied himself in the city to make ends meet. The * 106 THE VILLAGE OF OODMANCHESTER. iilliiih^ 'S.ISmKi Muit m Hi •book was printed by J. Starke & Co. in 1836, and the edition was disposed of by the poet's travelling far and neai* among his kindred Celts, he i-ealinng sufficient to pay off the balance due on his farm. McEIdwani sang his own hymns, and as he had a soft, sweet voice, it was pleasant to hear him. He always wore, winter and summer, a Scotch bonnet, and a hoop was slipped into the crown to extend it to shade hi^ «yes in summer. When the weather requii^ it, he enveloped himself in a large Rob Roy plaid. He never worked much but went about among the neighbors a good deal, aud was a 'Capital story-teller, delighting to relate ghost and fairy tales. When, at the end of one, he would be asked "Is it true?" he would reply, " Weel, weel, I don't know; I just tell it you the way I heard it." His visits were other than social however. He was a Baptist and of a pious spirit, and never failed to visit those who suffered under sickness or other trial, and his prayers were devout and earnest. His ideas of Sabbath ob- servance were very strict. Thus one day he saw a settler come into church with a line new blue bonnet of genuine Scotch shape. To have asked him where he had bought his cap would have been to violate the Sabbath, so he refrained, and next day walked 5 miles to get the desired infoimation, which resulted in his renewing his headgear. His daughter married John Campbell, who had been a fisherman in Scot- land, and who lived on lot 60, 1st range, who was also a Baptist and travelled about a good deal, preaching when he found opportunity. He went as far in his trips as Heming- ford. His sermons were very tiresome. McEdward one day was complaining of the laziness of his son-in-law, re- marking that fishermen were always lazy. "Ay, and shep- herds too," caustically rejoined his neighbor. The poet died in 1856 when 80 years of age and is buried in Laguerre churchyard. Campbell moved to Michigan three years after- wards. , The hamlet at Laguerre, which was the centre of this and the other settlements adjoining, promised during its early years to become a village. Ogilvie and McBain employed many men in their asheries and in lumbering, and black- smiths, coopers, shoemakers and other tradesmen gathered around them. All winter the country presented a busy acene from the teams hauling timber and cordwood to the river-bank and the oxsleds of settlers, many of whou came from a considerable distance, with black salts and potash to MAS78 AND MAST ROAD8. 197 exchan^ for store gooda When the ice left, the river was- so full of rafts that canoes had difficulty in pickin^jr thcir- way, and bateaux came in from Montreal with goods and later on in the season, with immigrants. ' The trade in ashes was large and remunerative, as may be judged when Ogilvie- averaged 250 barrals each season, and pearled 50 barrels.. McBain did as large a business in ashes, although he directecF his attention mainly to lumbering. On the flats along the* river lie cut a great quantity of oak and pine, immense lot9- of masts, oars, and flatted timber of all sorts. The bateaux could not take full loads from the wharves owing to the- sandbar at the mouth, so the balance of their lading was sent- off to them in another boat The freight to Montreal was $1 the barrel of potash. An interesting subject connected with the early days oT the district, is that of prices. Up to 18fil5, when the supply began to be exhausted, the great article of export was timber. What was most sought for was masts and oars, and as the- woods were plundered of these, square timber grew in im- portance. The mast-trade was exceedingly profitable, and as the price was in proportion to the length, exertions were- made to get them out of the woods without trimming. To this; end, mast-roads were formed, and of these there were two of such length that they led from the lake to the 4th range. The oldest ran back by where Cazaville now is, and after it had ceased to be needed for lumbering, was used as an ordi- nary road, so that when the side-line between 48 and 49 was opened, Castagenet had difficulty in getting people, who pre- ferred the old to the new road, to cease trespassing on bis lot. A little to the east of this road, Bagg & Waite cut out an- other which angled across the country to the west-branch of the Laguerre. It passed over several hills, one so steep that a rope was attached to the mast and given aium round a beech tree, and two men paid it off to let the mast go down gradually. One day the rope snapped, when the nigh team Were rendered unfit for further service. After that a chain was used. The sled that bore up the head oi these masts,, was so massive that, by itself, it was as mu^h as a yoke of § 198 ATTEMPT TO BUILD A CHURCH. oxen could draw. With 20 horses, or as m^oy oxen, attached to a mast, and with many men, the noise made the woods ring, and they could bo heard long before they hove in sight. Of one white-pine mast, got out for McBain, a memorandum has been preserved It was 84 feet long, 25 inches at the butt and 18 at the small end. The average price settlers received for delivering pine at the stump was $20, and rock elm $25, paid in goods. It was worth as much more if de- livered on the rafting-ground. White-ash oars, fi-om 15 to 19 feet long, 4^ inches square at one end and 2 at the other, and 6 inches wide at the blade, averaged 80 cents a pair. Cordwood was almost given away. The most of the maple on the Scotch-ridge was sold standing at 12^ cents a cord to French Canadians, who rafted it to the city, and as late as 1834 it was only worth 15c. Delivered at Laguerre it was worth $1 a cord. Ashes seldom went below 12J^c the bushel. The growth of the place suggested the building of a church and a knoll on the east side of the river was selected. Ogilvie offered to give the lumber on condition that the others paid him in ashes and farm-produce for the labor. He put up the frame and piled beside it ihe boards he had bi*ought from Dundee, but the settlers were inert and nothing more was done, the frame standing until blown down. . The knoll, how- ever, was utilized as a place of burial. A negix), known by the name of Cyrus, on returning in a canoe with John Bartly from Dundee, was drowned near the place of landing and was buried there. Soon after a Mrs McManus died, it was sup- posed of ship-fever, and the woman who had attended her, Mrs Duh^me, had the body hurriedly committed to the^ same place. Some time after, Mrs DuhSme alleged that on going to milk her cow in the pasture one evening, the ghost of Mrs McManus appeared and repi'oached her for placing her body in unconsecrated ground. Next day, Mrs DuhSme got men to exhume the body and placing the coffin in her canoe took it to the burial-plac^ at Caza's point The third body to find a resting-place was that of William, father of Angus Mc- Pherson, who passed away at a good age, in May, 1828. The change that came over the place ere long postponed the pro- mcbain's death. 199 ject of building a church, and it was not until 1847 that work was begun on the church that now stands, and which was completed about 1850. The school alluded to by John McPherson as the first built, was ei'ected in the village during the summer of 1829, and that winter, Robert King, who had been a clerk with McBain for a number of years, engaged as master, the rate of fees to be 25c per, month for reading, 12^c extra each for writing and ciphering; 'grammar and book-keeping to be paid for as may be agreed for with the schoolmaster." The trustees, the three leading men of the place, Ogilvie, McBain, and L. Duheme, undertook to see that the agreed number of scholars attended, that the fees were collected, and fuel provided. Doubtless they had to advance the fees and take them out in trade from the parents, for money was not in circulation. Thus in 1835 we find Ogilvie arranging with the farmers to pay at the i*ate of a bushel of com per scholar for a winter's schooling of 155 days, the com being valued at 70c a busheL This reduction in fees is accounted for by the government's then contributing a grant of $80. The second signature to this list is that of John Kerr, a Greenock baker, who had to flee from his connection with the radicals, and was a passen- ger on th6 Alexander in her memorable voyage of 1320. After working a short time at St Johns, he took up lot 37, 2nd range. An irreparable blow was dealt the place in July, 1830, by the death of McBain. He had gone to Quebec with timber, which he had sold well, and on his way back bought a boat- load of goods for his store, which he accompanied. Leaving the boat at Coteau he was rowed home by his brothers, and joined his family in great spirits. It being Sunday, business was suspei^ded, and after dinner, on his father and brothers preparing to go back, it was proposed that the family should accompany them as far aa the lake. The day had been sultry and they had not gone far until it was seen a Uiunderstorm was approaehing. Th»y haaled up at Dr Fortune's, who was living in Bouthillier's old house, to waii until it passed over. While gathered in the sitting-room, MeBain's father, who had T c.^ i m m Mil m, ||ii(|:- 200 JOHN MACDONALD. been sitting at the window, rose and asked his son to take his chair. He did so, and drew his eldest daughter on to his knee. A minute or so after, there was a vivid flash, followed by a stunning crash of thunder. When the occupants of the room recovered their sight after the dazzling light, they saw McBain and his daughter stretched on the floor. Their first impression was that he had fallen in a faint, but on loosening his clothes it was seen that the bolt had traversed his body, which quickly turned black. A steel watch-chain that he wore was conjectured to have conducted the fatal bolt His daughter was prostrated for some time, but ultimately re- covered. The sudden and entire suspension of his business and the removal of its leading-spirit, gave a blow to the embryo village from which it never rallied. After an in- terval of some two years, his widow married John MacDonald, who had come to Canada shoi'tly before. He was a native of Alvie, Invernessshire, had seen much of the world, and was an excellent man of business. With indomitable energy and good management he did much to restore the prosperity of the place, and would have succeeded but for circumstances over which he had no control, and which will be noted pre- sently. ' He lumbered and made both pot and pearl ashes on a large scale, shipping between four and five hundred barrels yearly on his own Durham boats. He had opposition in John Gibson, Baker & Buchanan, Alex. McDonald, J. R Charlebois, and John Graham. Associated with his father- in-law, Colonel Davidson, he assisted in getting the road made from Huntingdon to Dundee, towards which a grant was made by government in 1831, on the report of grand- voyer deLery, who visited the county in October of that^year. The con- tract for forming a crossway over Uie swamp on lot 32 was taken by David Hunter, and was long known as the Hunter road. The constructing of this road was ot great consequence to the settlement that had grown up to the east of it, and to which one of its first settlers, John Higgins, gave the ap- propriate name of Newfoundout, for it was, indeed, a new discovery in the labyrinth of swamps that surrounded it I liiil:' i' NEWFOUNDOUT. 201 James Higgins was the first to move into it He came from Limerick in 1826 and went to work on the Rideau cana], leaving his family in Qlengarry. The second spring he took np part of lot 36 on the drd range of Oodmanchestcr, which he soon left on finding it was claimed, and went on to 39, second range, where he was joined by several of his country- men, who, like himself, had a hard time of it One spring there was great shortness of provisions, the boats being de- layed in making their first trip to the Laguerre from Mon- treal. One day, when there was not a mouthful of solid food in one of their houses, two Americans came who desired to cross the lake. Higgins conducted them to the lake-shore and ferried them over, and with the money they paid him he bought peas, which he shared on his return, and before they were done supplies had arrived. The record of the settlers m Newfoundout is simply a repetition of that of other portions of St Anicet — a contest with low-lying gronnd, hard to clear and worse to drain, with the added drawback of fever and ague. That affliction was almost unknown in other parts of the district, but in the Newfoundout settlement no family escaped. It was, however,- of the mildest type, the tertiary, and yielded readily to treatment As the land was brought into cultivation it disappeared. The shanties clustered closely on the ridge that runs across the lots, and the road naturally grew out of the track that was made from one door to the next, which accounts for its crookedness. On the ridge they grew com and potatoes and depended on selling ashes and timber for money to buy other necessaries and pay for their lots, many of which were claimed by Ellice. The eastern end of the settlement was mainly occupied by Highlanders ; the western by Irish Catholics ; all living in a state of harmony and mutual helpfulness. The extreme eastern end of the concession was occupied in the days of Dalhousie settlement (page 158) and two brothers, John and Malcolm Currie from Cantyre, settled on lot 20 as early as 1824. They were followed by Archibald McMillan, Andrew McFarlane, John Sterling, Malcolm McLellan, Hugh Mclntyre, Duncan Living- stone, and in 1880, by Peter McNaughtoa In 1827 an event fill! 202 THE DECLINE OF LAOUERRE. mil happened in the aeiUeuient which shocked the neighborhood. James Feeny, an Irish Catholic, well-known subsequently as a bailiff, had come in 1826. He had a bee, which was well attended, and towards the close of which, as the drink took effect, there was some quarreling. The day had been warm, and after all had left a thunderstorm, of unusual violence and continuance, burst. The night was so dark and wild, that few were able to reach their homes. James Macarthur (page 166) never reached his. Search was made in vain. Not a ti-ace could be discovered and his disappearance was a mys- tery until, a number of years afterwards, a skeleton was found in the bush at the I'ear of the lake lots. From the brass buttons among the shreds of clothing there was no doubt about the remains being those of the missing man. Whether lie had been murdered by a neighbor, whose violence was notorious and with whom he had words at the bee, or been killed by a tree falling upon him, was ne . er ascertained. The change which steam was working in the modes of transport, was quietly superseding the Laguerre as a port. Steamers began calling at St Anicet village and wharves near it, and trade w^as diverted to them, and Laguerre decayed with the Durham boat and the bateau, which alone could navigate its waters. The final blow to its prospects was dealt in 1849, when the dam at Valleylield w^os completed. Low-lying at the best, the additional heiglit of water over- spread the flat on which the streets and square of Oodman- chester had been laid out, and, one by one, the owners left, selling out to Mr MacDonald, until, from the road to the lake there was not a house left, and where once stood stores and dwellings, asheries and wharves, there now remains hardly a vestige, and what 'from 1822 to 1850 was a scene of activity and tlie chief business-centre of the county, is now pervaded by rural calmness and the river drifts sluggishly to the St Lawrence unf retted by the keels of the bateaux that once toaversed it in quick succession and of the rafts that con- cealed it , The village of St Andeet had no existence until the diureh was built and no trade until the Beauhiaimois cmal was ST. ANICET VILLAGE. 203 opened. Itg site and the laud in rear of it were hold by deBoQcherville. In 1823 he sold lot 37 to James Leslie, a mason, and his brothers and father joined him two years afterwarda They were from Barlenoch, Scotland. The year after Leslie sat down by the lake, a hive of habitants was thrown off by the overcrowded seigniory of Berthier, who bought the land in Qodmanchcster owned by gentlemen in that vicinity. The newcomers sent back such good reports, that a furore arose, and French Canadians from Berthier and De risle came crowding in, so that by 1826 all the unoccupied lots in the front ranges were taken up. With their advent. Father Lavall6, the missionary of St Regis, began to make regular Visits, and held service in the houses of Dupuis, Caza, and others on the lakeshore, for in 1820 the bishop formed the western end of Huntingdon into the mission of St Anicet Fathci*s Dufresne, Blyth, and Marceau kept these services up. On Caza's point were a few graves, where were buried those who died at a season when it was impossible to convey the bodies to a cemetery, for well on to 1830 it . was the custom of both Irish and French Catholics to take their dead in canoes to Flanaghan's point, near Summerstown, or to St Regis. To remedy this, during a 40 hours' devotion, when several priests were in at- tendance, the bunal-place at Caza s point, lot 35, was blessed and a large cross erected, and it was used until the church was built In the spring of 1827 the bishop of Montreal issued a decree constituting Godmanchester a parish under the name of St Anicet, but no steps towards getting a chureh were taken until 1835, when subscriptioii-lists were passed round and the contract given to John Mcintosh and Baptiste Caza, who began to build it in 1837. The site chosen was the point on which the village now stands, although it had then only one resident, Bouthillier, who had removed from the Laguerre. In 1838 Edward Dupuis put up a house near liim. The building of the church proceeded slowly and was not fini^ed until 1840, when it stood a commodious and sub- stantial stone-edifice of the ordinary design of those day& The priest appointed, and who came in 1835, Father Poirier, ! ;; ■ \i \ - \ '■ ; 1 204 PATRICK CURRAN. <'iil Kved in the vestry until 184.3, when a presbytere was pro- vided. - It deserves to be carefully noted, that no pretension was made at that time to the Church of Rome having power to levy either fabrique taxes or tithes in township lands. The pai'ish constituted by the bishop in Oodmanchester was merely a canonical parish, the church was built by voluntary contributions, and the salary of the priest was met in the same way, by sul>scription. When, in 1845, St Anicet was set off from Oodmanchester, and constituted a distinct muni- cipality, the proceedings were civil and wholly independent of ecclesiastical authority ; indeed the limits of the munici- pality and of the parish were not the same. It was not until after 1850 that the hierarchy felt themselves in a position to extend French law to the free townships, and claim the power to tithe and tax in them and to initiate pi-oceedings to cut them up and create parish-municipalities. — Once the 8t Anicet church was up, houses began to cluster round it. Dr Fortune built the third house and ended there his days. Joseph Parent opened the first store where the present church stands, and in 1841 Dr Masson came beside him. Parent built a wharf, and induced the Porcupine to call on her round trip, for she went from Montreal to Ottawa, thence by the Rideau canal to Kingston, and then back to Montreal by the St Lawrence. She was a small vessel with a high-pressure engine, and called regularly for two seasons. She was supplanted by the Rob Roy, which, plying between Montreal and Cornwall, made more frequent visits. Before Parent built his wharf, Delorme on lot 32 hae;c, shot one that had killed a number of sheep. There was a gocVsized beaver-meadow on my lot, with the dams still remaining, but the beavers had gone before I came. The merxiow yielded hay, which was of great service. I was ^,he first settler to get a yoke of oxen, which was in 1822, and their services being in great demand I hod to change work with my neighljors very often. It was a long while before hones were of any use to us. The settlers were often bare enough, but I never knew of anylaing like want They had always enough to eat You may say the land was at first cleared by whisky. It was bee after bee to log and burn, and there was no bee without whisky, and after the work was done, they would sttiy to talk and drink. The bane of these times was whisky. It was about 1829 that the tirst school was opened. The goverumcnt gave a small grant, with which an old log-house that stood o;> lot 31, 1st range, was bought from James Higgins and anoth'^r was pnf up on lot 41, 3rd range, at the same time. The &mt ti^rcher in Higgins' school was a Scotchman named King, who 'vas very 208 FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. capable. He lived in the attic above the sdioolroora, and there he died the first winter. He was succeeded by Finlay McPherson. il Note. — ^The following is a list of the first occupants of lots. Like the lists that will be appended to other chapters, it is only approximately correct, fc* it is compiled from the recol- lections of old settlers, there roing no written data available. The omission of the names of French settlers is not through design. Repeats att«mpt8 in St Anicet and other parishes, demonstrated that, from the frequent changes and other causes, it was impossible to obtain of them the required in- formation with anything like fulness or accuracy. I gra.i^- fully acknowledge the assistance given me by Mr John D. MacDonald of L^uerre in preparing this chapter. He is one of those who take a patriotic pride in the history of the country of their birth. 3rd Range. 20 Matthew Mathieson Neil Mathieson 21 John Rankin 22 Thomas O'Leary 23 Terrence Quinn, jr. 37 38 William O'Leary Martin Curran Patrick Finnigan James Finnigan 39 Edward Walsh Michael Griffin 24 Henry Thomson, a negro 40 Maurice Leehy 25 Heny Jackson, a negro 26 Thomas R. Higgins Peter Beauch^ne, jr. 27 Michael Oaynor 28 Patrick Reardon Timothy O'Ready 29 Dennis O'Connor James O'Connor 30 James Higgins John Mulverhill 31 James B. O'Connor James Clyde 32 James O'Connor Charles O'Connor 33 Murdoch McPherson 34 Thomas Glynn 34 Maurice O'Connor 35 Thomas O'Rielly John Moriarty 36 Richard Savage William Kelly Thomas Leehy 41 Thomas Shane Patrick Barrett 42 Thomas McGinnis Bernard Cosgrove 43 W. & J. McGinnis Thomas Gilassy 44 David McCarty Allen Watson 45 William Watson John Harvey 46 Jean B. Hart Xavier Quenneville 47 Jere. Stowell, who sold to Hugh Curran and Samuel Clark • 43 Samuel MoNarland William Hassan 49 John Dovls Michael Moore 50 Moses Clark FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. 209 2nd Range. 44 William Brodie 20 John Bartly John Harvey Malcolm Currie 45 Edward Smyth 21 Bernard Bartly William Alsopp Richard Finn 46 John Stewart 22 Patrick Ferris 49 Duncan Mcintosh Thomas Quinn 52 James Black 23 Arehd McMillan 53 Andrew Thompson Peter Qinn James Black 24 Andrew McFarlane 54 Alex. McLachlan Dennis Sullivan 55 Angus McDonald Nefl McGillis 25 Peter McNaugliton John Sterling 56 Duncan McNicol 26 Malcolm McLellan 57 Donald McLean John Currie 58 John McLean 27 Peter Cun-ie 59 Dongald McTinrChlan Hugh Mclntyre John Loney 28 Duncan Livingstone 60 James D, Stewart John Breaky Peter Stewart 29 Michael Quinn 61 Alex. Stewart Terrence Quinn 1st Range. — Dundee Road. 30 Michael Kerby 36 Wm. Campbell James Leslie Lawrence Sullivan 37 John Mcpherson 31 John Higgins 38 John Grant James Higgins Angus Mcintosh 32 Richard Higgins 39 Alex. McDonald 33 Leandre Duliemc Angus McPhorson Patrick CuiTan 40 Alex. & Donald McGregor Amable Charlebois 41 William McEclward 34 M. & P. Beauchene George Dupuis 35 Theodore Caza 42 Harvey Stowell Alexis Bray Alex. Stewart 3G John MacDouald & Colin Mcintosh Wm. and Thos. Gold 44 Josiah Classon 37 John Kerr Evven Cattanach Patrick Finnigan 45 Amable & Francois Qucsnel 40 Heniy Thomas, a negro 56 Duncan McNicol James McGauly 57 Donald McLean William Smyth 58 Hugh McLean 41 John Sinclair Alex. Camei-on • William Sullivan 59 Neil Ferguson 42 John Murpliy Cornelius Daly Malcolm McLean 60 Hector McLean 43 P. Shaughnessy. Neil Chisholm Joseph Adams 61 Duncan Stewart If 210 FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. < iliii i 1 THE LAKE FRONT. As i*egards the lots east of 20, the names given are those who succeeded the occupiers during the days of the Dal- housie settlement, (chap. 8). In a few instances, the lots west of 20 were held, by squatters or tenants before those whose names are given, who were the first to make improvements as proprietors. 8 David Dourie 12 Wm. H. & Thomas Evatt* 13 James Feeny 14 William Macarthurf Thomas Brown 15 John Wiley IG James Cluif 17 John McDonell Id Malcolm Campbell 19 Finlav Campbell Donald Campbell 20 Thomas Kennedy 21 Donald McKillop 23 Archd. Cameron 24 Malcolm Stalker James McGowan 25 Duncan Rankin Dennis Martin 26 Honore Genier 27 David L'Ecuyer 28 John Ross Hugh Rankin Patrick Curran 31 32 29 The Chretien family 30 James Curran Donald McKenzie Donald Livingstone Antoine Quesnel, who sold to Edward Chapman, who opened a tavern. Amable Lemay,dit Delorme John Sinclair 33 John Mcintosh 34 and 35 J. Bte. Caza Antoine Bouthillier and son Michu*^! John MacDonald Peter Leslie John Leslie 38 Bouthilliers 39 Benj. Nprbert Dupuis 40 Registe Belanger Benj. Bercier 41 Frs. Lajeunesse J. Bte. Paride dit Aubin 52 John Black 53 Donald Rankin 54 Alex. Roy Cameron 55 Peter McNicol 56 Donald McNicol 67 John, Peter, and Angus McMillan 58 Hugh McLean Alex. Cameron 59 John Ferguson John Campbell 60 Neil Chisholm Duncan Stewart 36 37 *They were the sons of an officer who sent them to Canada to make homes for themselves, and were intelligent and well- educated. They put up a sawmill driven by wind, and sold to James Tully, who came from Griffintown. He put an engine into the mill, which did not pay. f By a slip of the pen, his name is given on page 202 as James, whicn was that of his brother, who succeeded him. CHAPTER XL BEAUHARNOIS. Until the canal was opened, Beauhamois was the only village on the river-bank between Caughnawa^ and St Regis. St Timothy consisted of a mill and a few houses ; Valleyfield had no existence. The traffic was all on the north bank, along which there was a continuous settlement, with several villages, larger and more prosperous then than they ai"e now. The building of the canal and the growth of Valleyfield I will treat of further on. Beauhamois as a village may be said to date from 1820, when the bishop formed that portion of the seigniory that lies between the St Lawrence and the Chateaugay into a mission, named St Clement, and a church was begun. How meagi-ely populated the country was is evidenced by the register, for in the wide extent of it com- prisod in the mission there were only in 1820 - - 142 baptisms - - 26 marriages - - 63 deaths 1821 - 148 " - 24 " - 112 " 1822 - - 142 " - - 16 " - - 57 " The cause of the large number of deaths in 1821 I have been unable to ascertain; probably it was due to smallpox, which periodically visited the parishes. The agent for the seigniory, Milne, made no effort to induce people to settle, and it does not appear that any lots were conceded in his time. Those who desired were allowed to take up lots and paid rent, but received no deeds. This was partly due to a legal doubt as to who had authority to act for the seigniory. One of the heirs, George, sailed in a ship for South America, which was never heard of, and a certain number of years had to pass before his estate could be administered. The other reason was the desire of the 3rd son, Edward, to have the tenure of the seigniory changed to free and common soccage, so that he 212 THE OLD MILL. ■11 • could give purchasers absolute possession. The Imperial government in 1822 had passed an act giving power to seigniors to so commute the tenure, and Mr Ellice tried twice, in 1823 and 1826, to take advantage of the new law, but was baffled by the officials at Quebec, the whole sentiment in that city being against the destruction of the seigniorial system, and who raised all manner of technical objections. The grist- mill having fallen into a state of disrepair, Milne, in 1820, employed two immigrants, newly arrived from Scotland, to refit it, and those two men, Peter Macarthur and William Donaldson, became prominent in the district. They had in- tended going to Ontario and it illustrates the then travelling facilities, to state that Macarthur, as the quickest mode at the season when the roads were deep with mud, walked fi*om Montreal to Kingston. While resting at Cornwall, he called to his companions to look out of the tavern window and see the mail, an ox-team yoked with beech- withe traces to a cart. Disappointed with the stony character of the country on the route, he returned to Montreal, where his two younger brothel's, Daniel and Alexander, had hired out as shearers until he came back with his report. His employment by Milne decided their destination, they taking up farms on the Chateaugay. The fall (1820) was an exceedingly dry one, and on Mocarthur's hurrying to Milne's house to inform him the mill was in danger of catching fire from the adjoining bush, he was told it would be no great loss, as it was about worn out and was insured. The machinery of the mill was very primitive, the power being derived from a wheel set in a chamber that had been hollowed out of the rock at the itipids and driven by the force of the current. After renew- ing the machinery, Macarthur built several mills for the seignior, putting up no fewer than four in the following eight years — Ste Martine, Howick, St Timothy, and Norton Cicek. The renewal of the Beauharnois mill wns Milne's last official net He had been detected by Richardson, Forsythe & ('o. in misappropriating funds, and retired to Ste Martine, where he led a disreputable and secluded life, losing the esteem even of his poorest neighbors, and on his death there was buried in li'ii ;i-Bii.;: ARRIVAL OF THE NEW AGENT. 213 Oeoi^etown churchyard, where he fills an unmarked grave. In June,, 1821, the new agent, Lawrence George Brown, arrived. He was a member of a respectable Aberdeen- shire family and was of good education. When he visited Beauhamois, he found only two houses besides the manor- house and a church in course of construction, where the present stone-edifice rears its front. Arrangements were made* with Richardson, Forsythe & Co. to give up their agency, so that the entire management w^as vested in Brown. To assist him.f Robert H. Norval, who belonged to Fifeshire, arrived during the fall, and he was to keep the books, a set of which were opened with the year 1822. Brown's in- structions were to develop the resources of the seigniory and render it a source of profit. The first step in the new policy was to induce immigrants to settle, and to do this the land had to be surveyed. Cha;:les Archambault was employed to conduct the new survey. He began on the Chateaugay, running anew the old lines and changed the numbers of the lots. Although deeds were refused, immigrants were readily granted pennission to take up lots, a privilege of which a number freely availed themselves. Despairing of getting the tenure changed, Mr Ellice, in 1826, ordered Brown to grant deeds of concession, and by the end of 1827 20,000 acres had been conceded to 228 different persons. The terms differed slightly from those of the former deeds (page 36) in that there was no sliding-scale as to rent during the first yeai*s. The settler paid SIO for a location-ticket, sat rent free for three years, and ^ter that paid $10 a year rent. The inability of Mr Ellice to sell the land was against its being taken up, for the immigrants had been mainly induced to cross the ocean in the hope of becoming owners of places of their own, and recoiled from the proposal to become • It is probable that Mr Ellice made the transfer in person. He visited the province twice before his well-known visit in 1832. f Brown had need of a secretary, for he wrote so vile a hand that he could not read his own manuscript when he forgot its subject. ill 11 Wm m 214 THE MODEL FARM. tenuits eten on easy terAg and with security of tenure. If the immigrants were shy about anting censitaires, the habitants had no hesitation, and after some experience Brown preferred to deal with them, and he filled whole concessions with French which Ellice desired should be peopled with his own countrymen, for he looked forward to the time when one of his sons should go and live upon the seigniory. The new policy, combined with the equally impprtant in- novation of steam navigation, caused Beauhamois to grow into a village. The iirst steamboat was the Perseverance, which plied between Lachine and Cascades, calling at Beau- hamois or any other way-port when required. When she started I have been unable to ascertain, but she was certainly on the route in 1820, her chief business the conveyance of military stores for the fort at the Coteau and the passenger traffic with Ontario. With the exception of the roatl to Ste Martine and another that had been cut out from the Basin to St Timothy, there were no roads. In 1825 there were not over a scoi*e of houses, to which there were large additions made in that year. John Ross and William Becket came from Montreal and began business, and for the next score of years the only store worth speaking of was Ross's. A commodious manor-house was built on the east bank of the St Louis where it enters the lake, and an office alongside of it. The lot attached was reserved and in 1827 was used as a model- farm. Brown represented that the habitants succeeded poorly because of their ignorance of farming and contended that all they needed was to be shown how to do better. Operations were began on an extravagant scale and conducted in a still more wasteful manner, so that during the 14 years it was maintained it cost the seignior over $20,000. That it did some good is unquestionable, for there was a yearly distribu- tion of young stock and seed-grain among the farmers. When Edward Ellice, the younger, visited Beauhamois in 1838 he pointed out that the farm could be of no advantage to the habitants ; that the example it set was one to be shunned rather than imitated. In February, 1828, an agri- cultural society was organized, the inducement being a THE CHOLERA. 115 government grant of $200. Bix)wn was appointed president, but the moving-spirit wa.s the secretary, Mr Norval, who was an enthusiast in agricultural improvements, and who really carried on the work of the society for the next 20 ycai*s. Two shows were held, the fii-st at Huntingdon, where $72 in prizes were awarded, and the second at the stone-tavern, Ste Martine, with $123 in prizes. On 12th October, 1829, a plowing-match took place on the farm of Jacques Forand, west of Ste Martine, when 7 Old Countrymen and 5 French Canadians entered. As the country became more thickly settled and the funds increased, the number of places where the shows were held were added to. Alx)ut 1829 a weekly mail was secured, coming from Montreal by way of the Basin. Henry Bogue was postmaster. In that year St Clement ceased to be a mission and became a parish. So slowly did the village grow, that, in 1882, it had only 300 inhabitants That sximmer was made memorable by the manner in which the cholera scourged it A steamer toucho»ith butter as a treat. The everyday clothing was all home- made, but from the opening of stores, with the advent of the British, the latent tast« for finer}*^ l)egan to be developed, and the wasteful expenditure in personal and domestic habits came to be a frequent topic of the cure's discourses. Famine overt x>k the habitant, as can be seen bv the numerous pltii'.^! reports made by parish-priests and others between !"^?H amd IS'iO, but three circumstances prevented its becomin ' mtiUi.. as in Ireland, and tending to his extinc- tion: 1st his waiLH^ ^)€'ng so simple, it was long before the Soil failed to 'upply them; 2nd, the boundless extent of virgin land that sunounded him, and to which he moved when driven by necessity; 3rd, the advent of the Old Countrymen. Altho regarded with such jealousy, his presence resented as an in- trusion, the advent of the British farmed* was an unmixed blessing lo the habitant. He introduced new methods of culture, br I'*'- the conservatism of ages, and practically demon- strated ho;?^ tl.v exhausted lands of the province could be restored to fertility. Whoever doubts this, may compare the state of agriculture in counties like Beauhamois, where there 224 THE SCOTCH BEGIN TO SETTLE. mi ?! |! Ill illlitt ill I mBf has been an admixture of the English element, with those counties on the lower St Lawrence where those who do not speak French may be counted on the fingers. But even in these counties the force of British example has been of saving efficacy. The implements they used have disappeared and better methods have been adopted. Counties in which, so late as 1845, the habitants were reported to be on the verge of want, are now thriving, and there is a slow but steady improvement and a gradual accumulation of w^ealth. The preservation of the habitant is due to the stranger he is too often taught, as the '-. t article of his patriotism, to distrust and dislike. The unfortunate condu ■. of the hfi,bitant, at the period of which I treat, had been aggravated by storekeepei's and moneylenders. The rapacity of these men cannot be ex- aggei-ated. The want of forethought, which enables the habitant to be happy by his not clouding the present with care for the future, rendered him an easy prey to the ex- tortioner. When pinched for food, he would, for example, sell his oxen to the storekeeper, and then pay him rent for their use, or borrow a few dollara on his bon, at what seemed to be a ti-ifle, for a month, not perceiving that he would be unable to pay then, and that the yearly interest ranged from 50 to 100 per cent. In every parish there were a few men grown rich by such methods, and who held the habitants by the score at their mercy. When the inevitable came, when the habitant could no longer get credit, his fai'm passed into the hands of the usurer and its occupant drifted to the city or into a new settlement. It was at the juncture when the Basin was thus being abandoned, that the English appeared. In the desei-ted farms, in the fields overgrown by weeds and brush, the Scotch immi- grants perceived the possibility of making comfortable homes with less' labor than by going into the bush. The lots were offered cheap, and before many yeare there were a number in their hands, and being transformed by ditching, fencing, pix)per cultivation, and rotation of crops into a state of pro- ductiveness. The habitant watched them with astonishment. THE INDIAN CORN YEAR. 225 and it came to be a proverb with them, that an Anglais would get rich on a farm where a French-Canadian would starve.* The Scotch farmers were as so many unpaid instructors in their midst, and although they were slow to abandon the methods of their fathers and prejudiced against adopting in- novations, example had its effect in the course of years; the old implements disappeared, better buildings were erected, grass-seed, beans and barley were introduced, potatoes grown as a regular crop, and stock fairly cared for, with the result of changing the condition of the habitants of the Basin Irom one of hopeless poverty to comparative comfort and indepen- dence. Among the first to come in were Robert Finlay, John Dale, George Burrell, who opened a tavern, and Charles Dewitt, who were quickly followed by James Holmes, Daniel Craig, Robert Elliot, James Clark, Joshua Walton, George McFadden, John Aitken, George Niven, William Watt, Robert Lang, Thomas Taylor, Thomas Duncan, John Cooper, Matt. McLean, and many others. The movement began about 1827, and continued until 1840, when, notwithstanding a number had left, there were over a score of families established along the banks of the Chateaugay for 5 miles above its mouth. The year in which the Scotch farmers began to settle, 1827, was known among the habitants as "the Indian com year." Wheat being a total failure, starvation stared them in the face, and to get food they loaded their traineaux with cord- wood, and drew it on the ice to Montreal. As they could only take a third of a cord on their one-horse rigs, they rarely got over a dollar a load, which bought 3 bushels of salt. Returning home, and completing a journey of 30 miles, * Patrick Shirreff, the famous East Lothian farmer, who visited the parishes along the south side of the St Lawrence in 1833, in his book of travels, remarks : "In many instances, soil of the best quality did not yield more than two seeds of wheat, while the crops were intermingled with truly luxuriant indigenous tares, thistles, and sweet-clover. I had often heard of tbe French Canad'.r^^ clinging to their farins until starved fro.n them — that is, until the soil did not yield them food to subsist on, and I had here evidence of the process and result ui such &n agricultural system." 226 THE HORSE-BOAT they next morning starter up the Chateaugay for the lines, where they traded the salt for com, at the rate of 2 bushels for one of salt. On gettipg back to the Basin, they got the com ground and managed to bake bread by sifting the meal and mixing the finer with the coarser after boiling it. Salt was then in great demand in Franklin county, for, from its isolated situation as regards New York, it was scarce and dear. Until the railway was built, it paid well to haul salt to Malone and adjacent villages, and Macdonald made much of his money by sending there trains of teams in winter with salt, and smuggling back tea, whisky, and tobacco. The Basin in those days was a place of considerable traffic, for until the Beauharnois canal was opened, the ChatCaugay was the main outlet of the district ; the highway, both sum- mer and winter, for immigrants and their supplies and the export of potash rnd lumber. When the stream of immigra- tion fairly set in, a. reguiar ferry between Lachine and the Basin became a crying necessity. The steamer that plied to the Cascades would occasionally, when a large load offered, as a favor take the channel inside Nuns' island, but she was no more to be relied upon than getting a bateau to hire when wanted. The loss and inconvenience immigrants sustained in getting across the river was veiy great. Gregory Dunning, an American who lived at the Basin, was the first to supply the want, and he endeavored, so far as Wind and waves would permit, to make a trip each day, and jn this he was aided by the Cascades steamer, which would give him a tow up the lake, casting his boat loose opposite the island. This was a great convenience, and he ferried over many hundreds of im- migrants every summer, and, on the return trips, transported much potash. A sailboat, however, soon ceased to meet the requirements of the public, and on a boat propelled by horses proving a failure on the La Tortue ferry, from insufficiency of custom, it was proposed to her owners to move her up to the Lachine and Basin route, and, as an inducement, a number of Uie storekeepers along the Chateaugay took shares, which were pleicied at $20 each. The boat was placed on the route about 1828, and her captain and chief owner weis Silos Dick- THE FIRST STEAMER. 227 enson, an American. She was propelled by 6 horses, which transmitted the power by their feet, they thrusting the treads on which they stood away from them. Peter Sinclair (after- wards a settler on the Ormstown concession) stood in the centre with a whip and kept them going, earning the whim- sical titld'of "engineer of the horse-boat." It was found that the route was too long for the same team to come, and go, so it was arranged that the landing-place should be 1 \ miles above Lachiiie. She could take a large load, the habitants driving on to her with their carts, and paying 50 cents. The charge for passengers was 20c, and for them the accommoda- tion was not good. A railing protected passersbj; from the horses, but one afternoon a pensioner, returning from Mon- treal, where he had been drawing his allowance, fell upon the moving track and was trampled to deai/h. Both he and his companion were drunk. She was of great convenience and made the Basin the outlet for a large extent of country. Her wharf was close to the present steamboat-landing, and was built by a Canadian, Pierre Reid, the horses being stabled at Dalton's. On John Smith's, an American and relative of Gregory Dunning's, beside whoni he lived, building a wharf opposite his tavern, the boat ran up to it, which was about a mile farther, and he stabled the horses. This annoyed the residents near the old landing, who did not like the boat's passing them, and G of them clubbed together to purchase a rival in the shape of a steamboat. When steamboats were first introduced on the St I^awrence, it was the popular belief that one, sufficiently powerful, could not be built to stem the current above Montreal, and when an enterprising American was building one as a ferry to Laprairie his project was laughed at. One summer day in 1819 he demonstrated, in the presence of a great assemblage, that it could be done. Ilis vessel, the Montreal, was small, and had a high-pressure engine, so weak that it took her from 2 to 3 hours to make her up-trip. This boat, superseded by a larger and much more powerftil vessel, was for sale, and the malcontents got het- for $1500. She proved & failure. Unless under full way, she wiks hard to st^er, and her boiler being weak she lacked i>- •■•, -^B* 228 TRADE LEAVE.) THE BASIN. in power, and was constantly running aground. This gave her a bad name, while, at the same time, the horse-boat service was improved. By doubling the number of horses, and having a fresh team for each trip, she was able to run to Lachine and to pay less regard to the wind when it blew fresh. Both, however, were running without profit, and Dickenson offered to either buy or sell, when the Montreal fell to him. While she ran, she used a wharf erected by Michael Connolly alongside of Reid's, and who had left his farm in Ormstown to begin tavern-keeping at the Basin, and did not succeed. His property, after passing through several hands, was bought by John Jack, a Greenock blacksmith, and a man of genuine worth. The house he kept in connection with his smithy, was a true place of rest for the weary -traveller, and was in such high repute, that many made it a point, even at a sacrifice, to push on and spend the night there. Perceiving that the horse-boat could not cope with steam and renewed competition being threatened, Dickenson was anxious to change, and on his relative, Horace Dick6nson, of the Transportation company, replacing his boat on lake St Francis by a larger, he bought the discarded boat, named the ent, that, up to the opening of the Beauhamois canal, the Ohateaugay made two trips a day to Lachine, and generally, with a barge lashed on either side of her. The fate of Dundee and Laguerre eventually overtook the trade of the Basin, which left it for new channels. When the district began to be settled, Liaprairie was its outport, and -thither, through the woods from the southwards or along the 1 I CHARLES FOREST. 229' I gave e-boat horses, run to t blew t, and ontreal ted by eft his in, and several ith, and inection weary ade it a le night pe with ckenson jkfenson, lake St med the I's death, bought Passen- leavored tts pre- t profits ih John ig their i, on the an ex- mai, the [enerallyt Dkthe When )rt, and long the river-road that passed by Caughnawaga, wended strings of carts and traineaux according to the season. Laprairie was deserted for Chateaugay, which, in turn, was left for Caugh- nawaga and Beauhamois, until the time came when the St Lawrence rout'd was superseded by the railway. While it was the h^hway to Montreal, tavern-keeping flourished at the Basin, and no fewer than IG came into existence. Of their owners, the statement that can be made of all those in other parts of the district stands true, the money they got- by liquor-selling did no good to them or to their families. When a bridge was placed across the Chateaugay I have- been unable to fix definitely, but it is doubtful if thei'e was: anything better than a temporary one before 1830. The ice^ in 1843 carried it away, when the government gave a grant- to replace it by a more substantial structure. The old grist- mill (page 7) was now obsolete, with its two run of stones,, and its bolts upstairs, to which the habitant had to carry them, and pay a penny (2c) a bag for the privilege of passing^ his grist through them. It was rebuilt about 1833, and the dam was raised. From the heightening of this dam, dates the ceasing of the Chateaugay as a fishing-stream. It was too high to jump for the multitudes of fish which had there- tofore resorted to the upper waters to spawn. The nuns at the some time built a sawmill. The existing gristmill was built in 1856. The old mill was used for some time as an • axe-factory and is now a ruin. The spiritual needs of the settlement atti-acted attention, and in 1831 one of several catechists and lay-readers, Charles Forest^ sent out by a Church of England missionary associa- tion, took up his abode at the Basin. He taught school, but his field otherwise was limited, the families, with a few exceptions, being Presbyterians. He visited the country farth^^^' up the river, and was gratified to find a number of families belonging to the denomination in whose interests he had come, and arranged for a fortnightly service in Orms- town. Archdeacon (afterwards Bishop) Mountain visited him in February, 1832, and was told by Mr Forest there were 46 unbaptised children in Ormstown. The Archdeacon could ^!3SP \m Eh r 'I' III 230 A CHURCH IS BUILT. not go there, ao, after baptizing 3 children, lie kit, arrangiiirr with Dr Bethune, in passing Montreal, that he should pay Ormstown a pastoral visit. In that year the Rev Alex. Gale, Presbyterian minister at Laehine, began to visit the settle- ment. Services were conducted in the house of James Lang, a man of sterling character and of singleness of purpose, who came from Scotland in 1831. In the summer of the following year the Rev Walter Roach (see page 21G) visited the settle- ment with a view to a call. A congregation was formed, and he was inducted in Mr Lang's house on the 1st December, 1833, when 14 heads of families gave in their names, repre- senting 36 adults and 39 children. Mr Lang^ and his father, who was living with him, had been elders of the West Kirk of their native place, Greenock, and they were chosen for the same office in the newly-organized congregation, and to the duties of elder the son added those of precentor, and until he reached his three-score and ten led the psalmody of the little body of worshippers. Mr Roach worked assiduously to estab- lish 'the conorejjation with which he had been entrusted There being pressing need for a place of meeting and a grave- yard, in February, 183G, a lot was bought above the bridge. Mi's Jack's mother died while the transaction was ponding, and her body Avas kept 10 days until the deed was passed, when the first grave was opened to receive it. Before that • the Protestants had buried on the Dewitt farm. Prepara- tions for building were begun that summer, but the work went on slowly from want of means. Besides the work they did, the people conti'ibuted 8000, and Mr Roach collected a like sum by visiting Quebec and Montreal, and a brick church, 40 X 36 feet, was raised and opened for use in 1840. Means were lacking to seat the church, and benches were formed with boxes and planks, which sometimes gave way. Whether to lessen the chances of such catastrophes, or from the volunteers sitting together, the custom sprang up of tlie women occupying one side and the men the other, which survived until its demolition in 1881. Eventually Mrs Mac- donald and Mrs Caldwell were instrumental in getting seats, Avhicli, rude as they were, added to the comfort of the people. It REV. J. BOWLES DUOWNED. 231 T^e settlement at the Basin diHTered from all the others in the district, in that the English-speaking farmers who joined it bought their lots ready for the plow, so that they experi- enced none of the privations or vicissitudes attendant on re- deeming land from the bush, and of which it is the purpose of these pages to preserve some record. In course of time the disadvantages of being planted^ in the midst of a population who had little in common with theui became manifest, and it began to dwindle, when the French reassumed the lots they had sold, and the Englisli population came to be represented' by a few families clustered between the bridge and the mouth of the river. B.efore leaving this settlement, a painful inci- dent in its history has to be noted. The minister of the Con- gregational church established at Russeltown Flats, anxious to extend his connection, in 1840 established a preaching- station at English river, and gradually working down, as he became acquainted, held occasional services at the Basin. The connection thus formed seemed to be so encouraging, that it was severed from the Flats congregation, and in 1843 Cha- teaugay Basin and English river were constituted into a separate charge, with the Rev J. Bowles as minister. One Sunday evening in January, 1848, while driving homo after preaching, he came down upon the ice. When near the bridge, the horse broke through, and dragged the cutter with its occupants, Mr Bowles and a lady, into the water. Pie was swept under the ice and lost. Buoyed up by her clothing, the lady was drifted by the current against firm ice, and, shouting for help, was rescued. T CHAPTER XIIL OTK MARTINE AND THE COUNTRY SOUTH OF IT. mm^^^. yiMm M' Passing up the Chateaugay, habitants clustered as thickly on its banks, as far as the junction vrith the English river, in 1820 as they do to-day. The road on the west bank was the one used for reaching the upper settlements, owing to its having fewer hills and from the absence of bridges. Ste Martine from its situation, at the end of the Beauce road and a convenient stage-length from the Basin, naturally became a village. At first, it looked as if the village would be on the west bank, that it would spring up around the stone-tavern, but the erecting of the church and mil on the opposite side caused a change. The first house in the upper-village, and which stood not far from Bean-river, was that of Frs. Vallo, who built it before 1812. In 1820 the bishop divided the seigniory into two missions, the portion north of the Cha- teaugay constituting one, and that south of it ^'le other. The first he named St Clement, the other Ste Martine. The names were chosen arbitrarily, and had no local significance, as some pretend. In 1823 a small chapel was built, the site of which was next to the existing edifice. The same year the seignior built a grist-mill, the work being entrusted to Peter and Daniel Macarthur. No dam was needed, a log being bolted to the rock to direct the water to the wheel, which was very high, some 16 feet, and narrow, on the under- shot principle. Macarthur continued to build all his wheels thus until he saw the American plan of making them low and broad enough to take in the whole current of a narrow stream. The building still exists and is utilized as a carding- mill. The stones, two in number, were brought out from Scotland, and there were no bolts, the fanners getting back the stuff entire. It did an immense business for its capacity ill M. A. PRIMEAU. 233 and paid the seignior its cost several times over. The first miller was Qranbois. The village received a great impetus from the exertions of a man remarkable in his sphere, Marc Antony Primenu, who opened a store, started an asheiy, and carric>nt was a dead loss to all who put money into it, the habittvnts using a hundred subterfuges to escape paying toll, while the perishable nature of the plank soon made it no better than a clay road. An able and successful business man, Primeau was unscrupulous and harsh towards those who fell under his power. The business he built up disap- peared at his death, and the name Primeauville was forgotten, and the place came to be known as the lower village. Be- sides Primeau, Trottier has to be mentioned as a prominent storekeeper, and Dominick McGowan, an Irishman, who established himself in the upper village in 1833. The old name of the rapids at Ste Martine — rapides pcche aux saumons — indicates how plentiful the king of fishes once was in a river where he has been unknown for sixty years. On "W^ ■ ^v^ ' 234 THE BEAN RIVER. the rnpids above, known by tho English as Reed's or Canxp- bell's mid by tho French a? '" Par-rouye," an American, James Pej-ry, had a small saw-mill previous to 1820. Of the priests Avho ministerec in the parish, the name of Father Power deserves to bo preserved. Ho succeeded Father Chartier, who went to the Grando Brulo and bow) a prominent part in leading the rebels in 1837. Father Power was of Irish descent and had been educated by Father Mdc- donell of Glengarry and first Bishop of Kingstv.ii. ' Ho spoke Fi'onch fluently, but was always glad to fall in with those who spoke English, and cultivated the actjuaintance of tho Scotch settlers on the Bean river and elsewhere in his neigh- borhood, impressing all as a man who sought to do what was right, and considerate, in speech and act, of those who differed from him in creed. One instance Avili suffice to illustrate the upright character of this noble Irislunan. In tho spring of 1835 wheat was scarce. Two Americans, calculating upon a rise in price, waited upon Father Power and offered him ^2 a bushel for tho tithe- wheat he had on. hand, which was above the current price. He refused, and kept it to sell to the habitants on reasouJiWe terms for seed. Ho came about 1833 and left at the close of tlie rebellion for Or.tario, whore he ros"^ to be bishop of Toronto, and died through his devotion to his people during the visitation of cholera in 1849. West of Ste Martine tho habitants gradually extended, and began to creep up the Bean-ri\ er, where they were followed by the Scotch. Archibald Cameron, now of Tullochgorum, says : My fj.thor (Donald) was a native of Strontian, Argyleshire, and a blaek^^mith by trado. Wo sailed for Canada ni 1832, but arrived in Montreal too late in the season to permit of our goivig to tho part of tho upper Ottawa we had in view. While waiting in the spring for the opening of navigation, my fatlier paid a visit to tbe Rev Mr Colquhoun at George- town, and who had come ov.t in the same sh.ip with us. He was urged to settle in Chaicaugay, and, after examining the country, he bought lot 14, east concession of Bean river, which was held by a Canadian, who had a clearance of several acres on the river-bank. There were about 20 French fanilies on th(! ]-iver, none of whom had been settled THE SCOTCH SETTLEMKNT. 235 over 12 yoars. There were two English-speaking families, Hugh Henderson, a shojmaker, on lot 13, and Robert Pringlo on lot 21, on the soutli-wcst concessioii. They had come tno year before. The road from the Chatcaugay had been opened on our side of tlu% Bean river as ''ar as lot 20, and on the other side from lot 3 to lot 22. Both roads were passable for carts. There was a bush-track to the Norton Creek, another on lot 21 leading to tin; Wdliainstown concessions, and a like track on lot 2C The country to the east of us was covered by bush without a bicak. The settlemcsnt grew rapidly during the 3 years after wo arrived, and of the families that came the following remained : that of John Lowry lot 3, north-east concession ; David Brown lot 15, John McLennan 41, and John McRac 44. On the soMth-east side of the river, James Ritchie lot 3, who made beer on a small scah; up to the year of the rel)ellioM ; James Cameron iot.2, Peter Henderson J), and John Taylor and Edward Haisted on 22. My father set up a forge and got all the work ho could do, while the other settlers did fairly well. A great fjuantity of potash was made, and nei'ddiorin!? settlers sold their ashes to those who dwelt on the Bean river, from their facilities for leaching. The river was not the shallow, stagnant creek it now is, but had water enough to float largo timber down, and I remember one white pine log that was 4 feet aeros.s at the butt. A good denl of chai-coal was made, and drawn tu Montreal. The school wo went to wa;> that on the Irish concession, whose settlers were honorably distinguished by maintaining a good one from their first coming, and wliich we reached by a path tiiroagh the woods. The prospect for several years was that the Bean river would be an Old Country settlement. After the rebellion, however, t'e French came crowding in from St Isidore, Laprairie, and Longueuil, until they occupied all the vacant lots. After that the Scotch began to sell out, so that now (1H8(5) only two families remain. The St Urbain con- cession was an unbroken bush when we came, but in 1835 there were two houses, which stood where the church now is, and beyond them there w is not another f(jr a mile and a half/ So wide a lielt of bush separated us from the Scotch Settlement (page 49) that there was no intercoui*se, but my father was told of it, and that they had Ckielic .service on Sabbath, and he made up his mind he would try and reach them. So one fine Sabbath in Juno he followed the track that led southwards and, in due time, got through the bush and struck what is novv' known as the St Urbaia road. After he had gone along it for about 2 miles, he began to see groups 236 THE DEECHRIDGE of people, in twos and threes, ahead of him, and all going the same way. He followed slowly until the schoolhouse was reached, and into which the people passed. When my father entered the services had begun, and he was much struck by the appearance of Norman McLeod (page 50) who conducted them. Ho was short in stature, and thin, with dark piercing eyes, and lo:ig flowing grey hair. His text was I. Kings xix: 5 and 6, and my father considered it as good a sermon as he ever heard. When the benediction was pronoun' > 1, an old man stepped up to him and taking him by the hand asked in Gaelic, "You are a stranger here ?" and m lather answer ^ that he was, in the same language. The old man, on findi. ; my father was a Highlander, took him by the arm and intro- duced him to the preacher and all the people, and insisted on his going home with him for dinner. The friendship begun that day between Finlay McCuaig and us was of long con- tinuance. In the spring of 1835 I was sent to stay with him and attend Mr McLeod's sch(x>l, for he still taught, though over 80 years of age. I liked him well. He was very kind to the scholars if good and just as severe with them if they did not do what was right If ever there were two good men. it was he and Finlay McCuaig, McLeod was a relative of Dr McLeod of the Barony, Glasgow, and was an excellent English as well as Gaelic scholar and, when it became necessary, preached in both languages. He died, I think, the following spring. The schooliiou.se was on lot 27, a mile east of Blackburn's comei-s, which were so called from the name of the man who kept tavern there. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd concessions .were fairly settled, and the people were comfortable and contented. The 4th and 5th were surveyed by Livingstone and "^hrown open for settlement in 1830 and rapidly taken up, and, unlike the Scotch settlement, the popu- lation was varied. The land looked well, being covered by a tine growth of hardwoog' seven children. For a long while afterward, he was in frequent ^uest for the same duty, for there were families with men and women grown who had not observed the first gospel ordinance. He Avas a good preacher and so many attended to hear him, that it became necessary to have a larger place of assembly than the settlers' houses, and the proposal of building a church was at once entertained. It was agreed to put up a church ;at Howick and another at Allan's comers, when the seignior stepped in, and oiFered lot 15, South Georgetown, as a glebe, -the choice of that lot being made because of the burying- place that had been establishe" upon its river-front. The brothers, Henry and James Wright, framed the building, which was about 40 X 60, and designed to answer both as church and manse, a partition dividing it in the centre. The settlers assisted heartily by bees, and the church was speedily completed. He, however, did not confine himself to it, but preached on the English river and at Rutherford's, near Ormstown. A life of usefulness was now open to McWattie, but in vain; his old habit of self-indulgence overcame him, and his dissipation became odious in a community by no means squeamish about drinking. An intelligent and agree- able companion while sober, he was a fool when drunk, and he drank to such excess that he became helpless. In his cups he abused his patient wife, for whose sake he was tolerated. So great was his craving for drink, that on visiting a neighbor who was laid up by a sore leg, on seeing him apply aqua iortis to it, he insisted on getting a drink, and took it diluted j MCWATTIE 8 DEATH. 245. J were \ ante- khome he be- fftmily) )ntreal, red for 3 entry n. For for the women ice. He lim, that bly than i church a church 6 seignior » a glebe, burying- nt. The building, ■ both as ire. The speedily |to it, but 's, near :cWattie, [ame him, [ty by no ^nd agree- ink, and _ his cnps tolerated, neighbor >ply a: befallen hiin. It was supposed he had gone to bed after drinking heavily, and awakening during the night rose to light his pipe, for he was a heavy smoker ; thai in gatliering' a coal at the open tire-place to put in his pipe, he had fallen on the burning logs and received the fatal injuries. A day or so after the New- Year he was buried beside his wife in Georgetown church-yard, where, though often proposed, no headstone marks the' lost resting-place of the first Protestant minister of the district His register of births and marnages (he kept ncrt of deaths) was irregularly tilled, airtd on his death disappeared. As only marriages by ministers of the Episcopal church, Kirk of Scotland, or church of Rome were then legal, many whom McWattie married settled all dotibts by being remarried. On the legitimacy of an heir to a farm ' on English river being called in question, the missing register was hunted up, copied by Robert Robertson, the schoolmaster, and a bill passed by the Queljec legislature making authentic all its entries. In personal appearance, McWattie was, as the people expressed it, a decent-like man, of a fresh complexion, j,nd with a good voice and manner. He would be about 50 years of age at the time of his death. The tirst year or two of his stay by the Chateaugay, Mc- Wattie eked out a living by keeping school in a shanty at the end of Brodie's house, and until a more capable school- master came, who arrived in the person of a young man named Robert Robertson. He had been a fellow -passenger with Brodie on the True Britop and subsequently manying a young woman whom he met on board, was content to assume the school McWattie was mismanaging. He was an excellent scholar and had been tutor in a gentleman's fami' in Scotland. Although he had no experience in managi school, he speedily established a reputation that was ^ extended and attracted a large attendance. On the govcu ment making the otier of $40 to any school that might be built, the settlers agreed to erect one on Peter Macarthur's farm- Before it was raised, a quarrel arose as to the location, which ended in the dividing of the lumber and the building of two schoolhouses, one on lot 14 and the other on lot 32. THE CANOK-LIXE. 247 isenger fcri7ing nt to as an ^g' roveii' kght be Uthur's cation, luUding lot 32. Bobertson selected the former, and as he ffrew older his habits and disposition changed, and he left behind him, on his death in 1855, the memory of a useful and pioui man. The other school, Grant's, had Adam Patton for teacher, who took up a lot in South Georgetown. The first teacher the settlers west of Allan's Comers had was Alex. Shepherd (or Stewart), who was supposed to have left Scotland for his extreme Radical- ism, and who taught in Robert Lindsay's shanty. Then came David Lind, well-educated but addicted to drink, for whom George Rutherford fitted up an old log-house on lot 17 as a temporary school. Prepaititions were made in the winter of 1826 for building a school for him, but before it was finished he died. The school, that of Stoney creek, was meant to be a warm building and had two layers of slabs for the ceiling with turf on top, and, after all, the first teacher, Adam Patton, complained of his heels being frozen. He was succeeded by (Squire) Harrison, who taught a few weeks, and by James Shields, a young Irishman of talent, who suljsequently entered the U.S. army, served with distinction in the Mekican anc. civil wars, and was jretired with the rank of general. After him came James Darby, a one-armed Englishman, a good teacher but unmerciful in his punishments. As immigrants pressed in, the need of providing means for conveying them into the interior of the country became urgent, and Reeves gradually made their transportation a business. Immigrants found no difficulty in hiring carters to convey them from the Basin to his house, but farther they did not care to go, often could not go, for the road was not pa hh\e for over 5 miles .beyond his house. Reeves supplied cauou.s, which went as far as Huntingdon. These canoes, like all the ^^thers used on the Chateaugay in those times, were of the pu. .em of Robinson Crusoe's. The largest available pine- tree was sought out, felled, and had the top cut off, when the trunk was shaped and hollowed. The canoes averaged 3 feet wide by 30 1 .ig,,and were generally managed by 3 men, two to row and one to hold the steering-paddle. When rapids were reached, the men jumped into the water, and thrusting a stick through holes at bow and stem, worked the canoe up, £48 BERTES'S STON^ TAVERN. hftlf-iifting, half-pushing it zig-zag among the boulders where the wftter was deepest The work was severe and slavish and told on the strongest constitution. Each rapid had its name. Thus the rapid at Ormsvown was rapide croche, the one above it, blotted out by the dam, rapide coteau, and the next, a mile farther on, rapide savage. That at Dewittville was emphati- cally named the portage, for it was too shallow and rapid for the canoes to be pu.'thed, and they and their loading had to be carried, the help of a yoke of oxen being called in. The rapids at Huntingdon were too long to be passed (they v/ere named the long rapids) and the canoes ended their journey at their foot. From Reeves' to Huntingdon, nearly 30 miles fol- lowing the windings of the river, was a long day's journey and, strange to say, the up-^*rip did not take much longer than the down-trip, the current making Httlc difference in summer-time, when the water was low, and the men pre- ferred low-water, as then the danger of striking boulders and upsetting was less. The loading in ascending was immi- grants and their baggage and provisions, and in descending potash. Tiie load was 2 barrels (9501b.) but there were canoes large enough to take 3. The charge for conveying a barrel from Huntingiion to Reeves's was a dollar, and thence to the Basin was as much more for cartage. So large was the trade, that Reeves started 3 ct 4 canoes daily and the entire upper country depended upon them for maintaining communication with the outer world. When a settler wanted anything, he hailed one of Reeves's canoes as it Wias passing and gave his message, and was sure to receive, on its return, what he ordered, for both Mr and Mrs Reeves v/ere punctual and honest Dumochel, envying the profit of the trade, started a line of cant>es from his tavern above Ste Martine, but did not succeed. As travel increased, Reeves enlarged his house, until it consisted of three lengths of logs, when he built a large stone-house, which stands now, changed in use, a monument of early times on the Chateaugay. Its walls were raised by John Metcalf of English river, in the summer of 1834. He left his work on Saturday in apparent good health smd did not return, dying of cholera. DS. STUB. 249 Connected with canoeing on the river, a sad accident oc- curred in 1825. It was the spring time, just at the break-up when a canoe, having in it Wiilard, an American hunter, and two squaws with a papoose, came down and touched the bank at Sandy Williamson's, where Wiilard was advised to stay all night He answered. "No; I have a shilling burning a hole in my pocket, and will go on to Reeves's tavern." He was a hard drinker. Resuming their voyage, the canoe got safely to Wright's when it was nipped between two cakes of ice and sank. The papoose floated ashore and crowed when brought into Wright's house, and the squaws were rescued with some difficulty, but Wiilard never rose, and had probebly been stunned by a blow from the ice. Frost setting in after- wards» Williamson on going carefully ovet the ice saw the gleam of the drowned man's powder-horn at the bottom of the river, and so got the body, for which his poor wife, who had come up from the Basin, where was their home, was in waiting. A few years before that a French-Canadian known as Mackinaw, perished by the river. He was sent by Reeves with another Canadian in a canoe to Dewittville. They had a bottle with them, and overcome by drink Mackinaw insisted on lying down to sleep at Milloy's rapids. The night was cold, and on his companion returning for him next morning, he found the body f roasen. East of Reeves, William Greig, a Scotch blacksmith, bought 91 and 92, Annstown, and his farm became the place for drilling the militia companies. On the opposite side of the river from Reeves, came to live, some time before 1830, a young man fresh from college and some se^^vicc as a sea- surgeon. Dr Syme was a native of Fifetiiire and, despite his falling into the social habits then pre\'alent, obtained a high reput&tion, in this not belying the size of his head, which was remarkable. An advice he gave a friend would put an end to the use of patent-medicines and much self- prescribing, "fie quite sum you are sick before you take medicine." He met a premature death in 1851 by falling from the bridge which ccmnected Reeves' tavern with the opposite bank. He was followed by Dr Harkness, also a "^ S50 STORES. I .'.• graduate of a Scotch colbge, who settled on lot 18, Ormstown, afterwards moving'to Godmanche^ter. Until the settlers cleared land sufficient to supply their wants, they depended upon provisions brought from Montreal, and to supply them a number of stores came into existence' along the river. The first was that of Alexr. Rutherford, whose father, George, went to live on lot 16, Ormstown, in 1823. The m^tons of communication with Montreal were so imperfect that both Reeves and Rutherford were often out of the commonest necessaries, and a settler would often make a< long joumty to them and be unable to get a pouni of either, meal or flour, and he deemed himself fortunate if he could borrow a loaf from the good- wife. Rutherford was an honest, considerate man, and, in a scarce time, when he got a quintal of oatmeal, would divide it among his customers according to the number of their families, giving this one two quarts and another 4 or 6. After him Crowley kept his store, with a good assortineht of gootls. Douglas & Wilkinson began busi- ness on lot 25, N.G., and did a thriving trade, adding an ashery, a blacksmith shop, and a tannery, the last beside the creek. Injl830, Robert Sutherland gave them competition on lot 27.. An old account gives an idea of the prices then current. A scythe cost $1.10 and a handle for it 50c. Calico was 20c a yard, sugar 10c a pound, and shingle-nails 8c a pound. In 1827 Widow Cross, with a numerous family, and accompanied by her brothers, the Selkirks, bought lot 2, Ormstown, from O'Mullin, and kept a small store, which grew into a profitable business under her sons John and Robert, who added an ashery about 1833, and who gave in exchange for ashes, then worth 10c a bushel, peas and pork. The number of stores along the river bore no comparison with the drinking-places that sprang up, for taverns the majority of them could not be called, having no accommodation for travellers. • They were an unmitigated curse to the settlers, and the caUse of untold misery. At- first the general drink was rum, sold at 60 to 75c a gallon, but soon superseded by Yankee whisky. On the opening of a passable cart-road to the lines in 1830, pedlers pEkssed down from the States, calling at every house, selling WILLIAM CAIRNS. 251 tea at 25c which previously cost 75c« tobaccc( at 10c, and whisky at 25 to 40c a gallon. When from bad roads or weather thp^ failed to appear in time toi refill the jars, the gnuabling was general. T|iis abiindant supply of a cheap spirit proved the ruin of hundreds of industiious menir><^<^ of those days most painful tales could be told of the resulto of its consumption— of sudden deaths, accidetits, fights, and even homicides. One night three men left a drihking-place on the river, where they had beeh quari-elling. One failed to reach his home. A fortnight afterwards his body was found in the Chateaugay, bearing plain marks that he had been: killed. His two c6nipanions were arrfested, taken to Montreal, and tried, but were acquitted from want of proof. ' Long after- wards, on his deathbed a fanner told how, kept awake by the quarrelling of the three men, he watched them, in the^ clear moonlight, pass down to the water's edge and saw only two go over.' On stealing down'td. see what had become of the third, he found the body, stark and stiff, hid Jn the Wheat that grew luxuriantly. Next night he watched, saw one of the men return, lift the body, and throw it into the river. Fear, of incurring the vengeance of relatives, caused hihi to hold his peace. The instigator of the crime, for his companion was overawed by him, died miserably some years afterwards. The drinking-habit 16d to many 'misunderstandings aggra- vated by Old Country antipathies, for, in those days, the feud of Biffhlander and Lowlander was revived on the Chateau- gay, and neighbors' quarrelled when the sense was obscured by drink, giving rise to numerous petty lawsuits, which were tried by Squires Graham and Brodie, who held their courts at Douglas & Wilkinson's, Sutherland's, or David Bryson's taverns, or the schoolhouse. Their clerk was the school- master, Robert Robertson. Of the state of the country when the immigrants began to crowd in, Mrs William Cunningham gives a good idea : My father, William Cairns, belonged to county Berry, and we sailed for Canada in 1823. On landing at Montreal my father fell ill with an Englishman who had a small contract on the Lachine canal, and who said he had bought a lot on ;'«r-j- ▲LEX. STIEL AND PETER REID. the Chfttcaugay the summer before, and offered it for £50. Mv father bought it, and we drove to Lachine on our way to take possession. The eaptain of the steamer agreed to leave us at the Basin, 1)ut on tne way something went wrong with the engine and she returned to Lachine. The freight-house was full of rough men, so we camped on the wharf, and had to stay there two days before the steamer was repaired. On reaching the Basin, Gregory Dunning agreed to cart our baggage, and we started aiter it on loot, grandmother, nigh a hundred years old, on top of the load, for she had insisted on accompanying father. When we got to Reeves's, we found the road to be unfit for wheels, and so stayed there all night and left next morning in two canoes, which landed us on our lot, on which was a small meadow, made by the Ainericans, and on the river-bank was a shanty the Englishman ^ad started to build and which was ready for tlie roof. He had sown that spring some peas and turnips. We got the &hanty*finnthed and AS we had brotight a cow with us from Montreal and a good stock of provisions, we were not poorly off. Grandmother died 3 weeks after our arrival. David Bryson was our nearest neighbor. Robert Williams came the following year, and settlers came crowding in after that The year of the Miramichi fire, it was so dark that we had candles burning, and even the pigs were like to die from the smoke. One woman came to our house in terror of being burned, and said she would "dook in the river gin the fire came up." Several who went on to lots had to abandon them, from being too wet or from want of means, the absence of timber suitable for making ashes being a great lack in tiding over the interval until the clearing yielded enough to maintain the settler's family. This was partially supplied by rafting cordwood to Montreal, where it brought $2 to $2.50 a cord. While a number of the immigrants had some means, there were many who had nothing beyond an axe. On the best lots on the north bank being occupied, the immigrants quickly took up those on the south sid<;. Probably the first to do so was Alex. Steel, a carpenter, from Forfarshire, who went on, in 1820, to the lot that had been abandoned by Logan (page 44) many years before. Above him, about a year later, an Aber- donian, Peter Reid, selected 20 of Jamestown, being induced to do so by its having 2 acres of an old American clearance. THE OATMBAL MILL. 253 o so )n,m 44) Vber- uced iuce. The shanty he raised was considered a large one, yet in threshing grain in the loft, as he had to do until he got a bam, he had to half -kneel to find room for the sweep of his flail. On the extreme east, William Miller, from near Glas- gow, took up lot 3, S. O., and a number of years afterwards his son James opened a tavern below Reeves's, which was a well-known halting-place for the stage. The seignior re- quired the settlers to make the road across their lots, and, about 1827, employed Thomas Barlow to construct the necessary bridges. One settler, Michael Connolly, suffered by the straightening of the road. He had erected a laige building on 5, Ormstown, designed for a tavern, when the alteration of the road left it in the middle of a iield. He went away and on the lot coming to be sold by the sheriff in 1830, an old soldier, Sergeant Younie, bought it and became one of the best-known settlers on the river. With very few exceptions, the settlers from Reeves's to Ormstown were Scotch, and they missed nothing more in their new homes than oatmeal. To mush and jonny-cake they did not take kin^My, and wearied for the substantial parritch and toothsome oatcake of their native-land. Oats they raised, but there were no means of converting them into meal, and what oatmeal was to be had was brought from Montreal, and was consequently difficult to get and very dear. On one of his visits to Montreal Peter Macarthur saw a farmer, nfimed Evans, erecting near Lachine a small mill to make oatmeal, placing it at the end of his bam and to be driven by horses. It struck Macarthur he couid make one too. Hearing of a pair of stones being for sale at St Johns, he went for them with his cart, and then proceeded to make the gearing. The mill was started in 1828 and was hailed with satisfaction, there being instances of old men tramping 30 miles with a bag of oats to get the long-wished-frr meal. The mill required 6 horses to drive it, though 4 sufficiently heavy to do so were eventually secured. It ground from 75 to 85 bushels a day, and was kept busy, save a short time in summer. The charge was 10 cents a bushel or the fifth quintal of meal, and the offal, and the seeds kept the horses ■^ 254 THE NORTH OEOBOETOWN CHURCH. fat On hearing of what Macarthur was doing, Brown warned him ihiit he was infringing upon the seignior's rights and would be prosecuted. Macarthur defied him:to stop hi^ mill, pointing out that it was not driven by steam^ w:ater, or wind as specified in the deed, but .by horses, which was not pro- hibited; further that it was no injury to the seignior as it did not grind wheat, and none of the seigniorial-mills made oatmeal. To this Brown replied that ,the law gave the seignior the exclusive right of grinding grain, irrespective of how it was done, and that if Macarthur hod no oatmeal mill, the fai-mers would grow more wheat. That the law was not clear on the point, as indeed it could not be, for oatmeal was unknown to the f ramers of the ordinances that regulated the seigniories, was shown by Brow^n's not taking legal proceed- ings to siA^p the mill, but he ha4. Macarthur otherwise in his power. For work done by him in building the Norton- creek and other gristmills, the seigniory was due Macarthur a balance of $3000, and from this Brown deducted $100 b, year as the value of the mouture, and, altogether, kept him out of $800 that was justly due him by EUice. In building the Howick gristmill an oatmeal mill was added, and in time all the seigniorial mills were so fitted, when the horse-mill became obsolete, but in its day it did good work, and was the means of forcing the seignior to provide for the mauufacture of oatmeal as well as flour. Before he broke with the seigniory, Macarthur built, at Norval's request, a threshing- mill for the model-farm. Its principle was that of beating the straw and then shaking it, and was driven by a sweep attached to a crown wheel. With two horses it would thresh as much as any modem mill, but it did not clean the grain. William Donaldson, on a neighboring farm, thought if Mac- arthur could grind with horses, he might saw with them, and put up a sawmill to be so operated, which did not pay. The difl[iculty and danger found in crossing the river to go to church, suggested the erection of one on the north bank, which was set about in 1837, and by the fall of the following year a neat building was completed on lot 26, N.Geo. It was not long used until necessity for it w^as done away by the JFIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. .265 people turning out in bees and erecting a trestle-bridge, which they handed over to Turcot on condition that he should allow those going to church pass toll-free. The new church found use after the disruption, when Mr Fettes organized a highly respectable congregation within its walls. Henry Wright, on whose place it was l^uilt, was a stirring man, who engaged in many different occupations before, the close of a long life. Before he left farming, he competed one fall, at the show held at Reeves's, with potatoes, which had a paper attached de- claring the arpent of which they were part had yielded 410 bushels, 1 peck, and 7 lb. 31 Daniel Morrison 1 2 3 NORTH GEORGETOWN RIVER FRONT. Francois Valla" Louis Leclere Jules Daudieti 4 John Sirapsoa 6 Alex. Reeves 10 Nahum Baxter 14 William Gardner 15 James Wright 16 William Donaldson 17 Alex. Williamson 18 Vachon & Lachapelle 19 Peter Macarthur 20 Robert Bi-odie 21 Jofin Ralston 22 John Harvey 23 Archd. Campbell 24 Zebulon Baxter 25 Henry Wright James Ogilvie . 32 William Grant 33 Alex. Mcintosh James Cowan 34 John McConachie 35 Blyth 36 James Bryson 37 Alex. Bryson \ 38 John Bryson 39, 40, and 41 David Bryson 42 Neil Campbell 43 Alex. Mcintosh W. McWhinnie ' FIRST CON. OF ORMSTOWN. 1 Patrick O'Mullin 2 John Buckley Widow Cross 3 William Cairns 4 John Carlyle Douglas & Wilkinson's store 5 Michael Connolly Denio's tannery Dan. Kinghom's black- smith-shop Presbyterian church 26 Capt. Morrison Robert Sutherland 27 Peter McKellar 28 John (i^jimpson J. Reid 29 Robert Morrison 30 Alex. Gi-ahari Alex. Younie 6 Robert Williams 7 John Cunningham 8 John Williamson 9 Robert Lindsay 10 Samuel Cottingham 11 Robert Allan 12 William Brvson ■ 13 Alex. Mills" 14 Thomas Marratt 15 John Sangster 256 FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. 16 David Rutherford 17 Alex. Rutherford 18 Dr Harkness 10 Robert Nichol 20 John Carmiohael 21 Thomas Sadler 22 Edward Jones SOUTH OEOROBTOWN, RIVER FRONT. 1 Alex. Logan 2 James Logan 3 William Miller Robert Robertson 4 William Carruthers 8 Robert Henderson 9 Dr Syme 10 Robert Henderson 11 Rev A. McWattie 12 Andrew Brown 13 William Reeves 14 Capt. Ogilvie 15 Glebe 16 Archd. Ogilvie 17 John Muir \S John Boyd 19 William Anderson 20 James Williamson Craig Brown 21 John Cunningham 22 Daniel McArthur ►^23 Thomson, followed by David Baxter 24 Robert Robertson 25 John Taylor 26 William Greig 27 William Hamilton 28 Andrew Glen 29 Archd. Campbell 30 Duncan McCormick 31 Duncan Campbell 32 John Graham 33 John Morrison 34 Alex. Steel 35 Thomas Steel 36 Alex. Finlayson 37 Duncan McCallum William Gilchrist 38 Hugh Morrison 39 and 40 Hendry Craig 41 John Wilson Adam Paxton 42 James Cullen 43 Henry Craig Robert Greig 44 Jiunes Gilbert 45 Adam Patton 46 Rose Lily Archd. McCormick 47 David Bryson JAMESTOWN — RIVER FRONT. 1 Michael Connolly 2 John Harvey 3 Wm. and Andrew Porter 4 John Scully 5 Robert Cairns 6 James Cairns 7 Donald McCormick 8 William McEwen 9 John Munro 10 William Bryson 11 William Smellie 12 Matt. & Patk. ELavanagh 13 Robert Allan 14 Samuel Baird 15 James McKegan 16 Robert Johnston James Mills 17 Thomas Thomson 18 Samuel Crutchfield 19 David Bryson 20 Peter Raid 21 John Sadler ^ 22 Nolan 23 Reserve. ' / CHAPTER XV. THE ENGLISH RIVER. The same year (1821) that the settlement on the Chateau- gay received so great an impetus from the setting in of the tide of immigrants, a beginning was made on the English river. From its mouth to Duncan's at St Chrysostoni it re- mained in a state of nature. Reeves had bought Somervillo's lot at Howick, but no person lived on it, and he sent men each summer to cut the hay that covered the clearing. On coming, one bright summer day, to begin this task', they found a brood of snakes sunning themselves on the roof of the log-barn that stood on the lot, and, attacking them, suc- ceeded in killing 18, not one of which was less than 2 feet and a number nearly 3 feet long. Of the coming of the first settlere into this desolation, where so shy a reptile as the snake of this province flourished unmolested, William McKell tells the Lory thus : My father (Matthew) was a shepherd, and we belonged to Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire. We sailed fiom Scotland in the spring of 1821 and stayed about Monti'eal during the sum- mer. It would be in September that my father, accompanied by David Wilson and Arthur Ritchie, hearing there was land to be had on the Chateaugay, started on foot to see it. They stayed overnight at Reeves', where Milne happened to be, and he told them the seignior would assign no lots that year, but next spring would open a large stretch of territory for settle- ment, and urged them to wait. On my father asking what he would do with his family until then, Milne offered the use of the blockhouse. Being told there was good land on the English river and anxious to get homes at once, my father and his companions accepted the offer of Brown of the Grand Marais to pilot them through the woods, and, joined on the way by Captain Ogilvio, they walked over next day and examined the land along the east bank, where they picked out lots. A tine flat on the river edge, a natural meadow, decided Wilson in his choice; the other two selected lots on 258 NARRATIVE OF WILLIAM McKELL. All which there was a good deal of oak. The prevailing timber was black hemlock, and the oak was considered, apart from its own value, to indicate better soil. They set to work at once, Captain Ogilvie trying to establish the bounds of the lots by measuring, for the survey was not completed. They knew nothing al)out chopping, and in felling the hemlock trees they lodged. On Mrs Wm. Ogilvie's walking over to see the new settlers, she took up an axe and showed them how to do. Poor bits of shanties were raised, the boards for the ceilings being supplied by Baxter, and brought round in a borrowed <;anoe by Logan's point. In October the families came from Montreal to take possession. Poor as were their habitations they proved wann, being embedded in the bush. That winter William Gardner and Stephen Patterson came in and joined There was not a track of a road to be seen. It was said us. there had been a bush-road that led to the States, but that, during the M-ar, the British authorities had ordered to be closed by felling trees across it. There was a fair track half way across from where Howick now stands to the Chateau- gay. At the mouth of Norton creek there was a small clear- ance with traces of a house and a few apple-trees, but no other sign of anybody having been before us until you rreached Duncan's at St Chrysostom. The winter was spent in chopping and the spring came in favorably, so that the first potatoes we planted were ready for use in six weeks. The other crops did well. Our nearest mill was at Beauhar- nois, but as it could not be depended upon, we went to the La Tortue mill, near Caughnawaga, which took 3 days, the journey being made in a canoe. Soon after we came, how- ever, the Ste Martine mill was built. The bush being almost entirely hemlock, there was no chance for making ashes, which was a great drawback, and the settlers for the first years depended on goin^ to the States or lumbering nearer home to earn enough to pay the seigniorial rent, which, small as it may seem, w^as a great burden to people who had noth- ing for many yeara to sell. It was a common saying, that the settler who got in arrears for 3 years' rent (S30) might as well leave. Many went to work on the Lachine canal to earn a little. During the summer of 1822 the lots were laid off by Livingstone, and the seigniory fined us $20 each for having taken possession without leave. The survey showed that my father and Ritchie were- on the same lot, when we moved to lot 97. That season settlers came in thick, and before very long every lot was taken up. Alex. McArthur and Alex. 'Taylor squatted on the west bank, which had not been sur- enough wild me| cession. needed, Dieadow sumed. WANT OF FODDER. 259 veyed, but they were compelled to leave l>y the seigniory- agent, and got lots on the other side. Until the dam was built the Norton creek was as large as the English river. There were no trout or salmon in the last-named, but it abounded when we came with large pike. Both bears and wolves were numerous, having their dens ift the sw.mps and ridges on both sides of the river. My father had 3 sheep killed by bears, and a dead horse we left out was picked clean to the bones by wolves. This reference by Mr McKell to wild beasts, recalls a strik- ing incident. While the Ste Martine mill was building, David Wilson and his son were employed in blasting out the tail-race. One Saturday afternoon a younger son, Robert, left in a canoe to bring them home for the Sunday. On the return journey, they got out at the rapids opposite where Howick now stands to carry the canoe to the head of them. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and while doing so, sounds were heard from the top of the bank where Mr Gebbie's house was long afterwards erected. The sounds were so varied and human, that the boy took them for those of men calling them to come up the bank to them, and was about to do so, when his father told him it was a pack of wolves. The settlers were, with a few exceptions, Lowland Scotch, in politics liberals to the verge of radicalism and, in religion, largely dissenters. They were an intelligent and industrious class of men, and comparatively few had been farmers, being shepherds or tradesmen. Among the exceptions was Dennis McNulty, an Irish Catholic, who came in among the iirst. They were long in getting into stock from the difficulty in providing feed. Trees grew to the water's edge, so that there were no natural meadows along the English river, and those who got a cow or a yoke of oxen had, until they cleared enough to seed down, to draw hay from a great expanse of wild meadow on lots 14, 15, and 16 on the Australia con- cession. One year, after the settlers had cut what they needed, by the carelessness of some smokers who visited the meadow in the fall, it took fire, and the stacks were con- sumed, causing much hardship that winter. In choosing 260 THE SCOTCH CONCESSION. their lots on the river, these early-comers were guided solely by their comparative dryness, selecting those that had a high site for their shanty and first clearance. In this way, the most stony and undesirable lots were first occupied, but for many years their owners did best, as the ridgy land was brought under crop, while those who had low-lying lots had to work out half the time to cam money to buy provisions. For a long time lumbering gave employment during the winter, and great quantities of oak and pine were taken out. Of the size of the pine that grew, a canoe made by the Indians, 4 feet wide by nearly GO long, is proof. Daniel Craig in 1823 tried to erect a sawmill at Aubrey. Knowing from the case of Duncan at St Chrysostom, that if he got the mill running he could defy the seignior, he endeavored to raise the building rapidly, cutting the tops off the trees on the site he selected high enough up to make the posts. Before he got the machinery in place, word was conveyed to Beauharnois of what he was doing, and a stop put to his pro- ceedings. Craig, an ingenious man, ended his days at the Basin. Back from the river, on the east side, the bush improved, hemlock being replaced by a splendid growth of elm, black ash, and hardwood. This attracted several and in 1822 James Davies and John Neal ventured into the first con- cession, which ultimately came to be known as Ci-aig's, or the Scotch concession. They intended to live together and built a shanty on Daviess lot. When it was ready, all the expedients they tried to light a fire failed, and they started for the nearest shanty, that of Henry Bennie and Wm. Smyth, two young Scotchmen who had just settled on 92 and 93, and carried back a small pot filled with embers, a distance of 2 miles. The bush was remarkably thick and they did not dare to go far without blazing the trees. Their house- hold goods and provisions they had to carry on their backs from the river. Thoy were joined by Robert Hunter, John Craig, and John Metcalfe, and the first birth on the concession was that of a son to the first-named. William Miller says : Hearing of the new lands that had been opened, I visited ITS FIRST-COMERS 261 with my father the district in Iho summer of 1823. As we passed Ste Martino we saw the men at work on the first j^istmill and the first church. There was no road on the English river, simply a foot-rith on the cast bank. The west bank had not even a track and was unsurveyed. There were very few settlers, and they were poor, having just come in. I did not fancy the river lots, and chose the one I did on the Scotch concession on account of the fine bush upon it, hickory being especially plentiful. We returned home by Beauhamois in order to see the agent. We asked first for lots on the Grande Marais, which Brown refused, saying that he meant to keep that concession for the French. We went to take possession in the fall, going in a canoe to Capt. Ogilvie's, whence we carried our goods on a handbarrow through the bush to the English river, where we placed them in another canoe that we borrowed. We got along smoothly until we reached Goundry's rapids, when the canoe stuck fast in the rocks. It was now late in the day with appearance of rain. I said I would go and look for help and started up the river bank, until I came to Allan Caldwell's (lot 90), where I met a number of men returning from a bee. I told our situation when one said, looking at the gathering darkness and the rain that had begun, that he "wadna gae down the creek for a dollar." I made iny way back with difficulty, running into the logs that strewed the banks, and found my father pre- paring to pass the night in the canoe. 1 said it would not do for us to stay there on such a night, and just then I saw a light at a distance, and we started for it. Although it did not seem to be far off", I thought we would never get to it, for they had been knocking down trees and it was hard to get through them. The shanty was that of Charles McNulty, who made us welcome, ami we found Dickson there like ourselves, finding temporary shelter. In the morning, they would not let us leave until we had breakfast, when we took another canoe to the head of the rapids and carried to it the loading of the other, when we sailed up to Houston's (94) wii'^re was the footpad that led into the Scotch concession. The tiees stood very thick and the only guide was the blaze. We stayed with a neighbor until we got a shanty of our own and that fall brushed on our lot. The winter was a very snowy one, and on going back for the remainder of our effects and a cow, we had to leave the latter with Robert Brodie. We woi-ked hard all winter and made quit6 a clearance across the ridge. We had a good burn, and planted it in the spring. The yield was wonderful, for we dug 200 bushels of 262 THE IRISH CONCESSION. potatoes, besides the corn we cut. We never had any scarcity. Settlers came in so slowly that it was often difficult to get hands enough to raise a shanty. The first road we cut out w^as along the base-line, which was done in 1825. That was the year of the Miramichi fire. The country was full of stifling smoke, which caused a feeling of sickness, and it was so dark that we had to stay indooi-s. There was fire here and there around, which, besides destroying much timber, burned holes in the soil and obstructed passage in the bu.sh by toppling over large trees. My father was both a weaver and a shoemaker, and we came from Kilmarnock. There were only three shanties in the concession wlien we went in — Robert Hunter, a carpenter, and afterwards engineer on the boats to the Basin, who came from Lochwinnoch, James Da vies, from Kilbirnie and John Neal from Kilbarchan, who lived to- f ether, and John Metcalfe, a mason, from the north of England 'or many years we were troubled with wild beasts and at night in winter, in going from shanty to shanty, women would carry a fierv stick to scare the wolves. One night, when her husband was away at work, Mrs Metcalfe was aroused by a pack ai'ound her sha aty, and looking out of its sole window, a square of four panes, she counted 12. The wooden -latch on the door was all that stood between her and them. One of the settlers, William Linus, went out hunting, lost his way, and when found his feet were frozen, which caused his death. For a long time, and until the roads got anyway good, we went to mill in a canoe or carried the grist. The concession in front of the Scotch, that of the Norton creek, although thrown open at the same time, was filled very slowly. At the mouth of the creek was John Lang, from Beith, who settled in 1822 and to the east of him was James Wylie. The first to move into the concession were William Airston, Alex. Currie, and Owen and Martin Dunn. At the same time the third, or Irish, concession was settled, and of it I cannot do better than give what was told me by the last survivor of its first-settlers, Mrs David McClen£;;han : We belonged to county Derry and sailed from Lough Foyle in the Harrison, which had 300 passengers, in May, 1824. We had a calm passage of 6 weeks. My husband, who was a gardener, got work about Montreal, where J. remained until July, 1826. Before that he had been up the Chateaugay w^ith his brother George and taken up lots on this concession, built a shanty and made a clearance. There were several HOWICK. 26a before them. The fii-st to move in was Samuel McKillin and his son David, three brothers, William, John, ami Charles Abbott, and Nathanael Lannan, and, I tliink, an American,. George Beach. The Abbotts and Lannan were related, and came from county Cork, and, like some of the others who took up land, had worked in making the Lachine canal. All the first settlers, except Beach and William Thompson, who was English, were Irish Protestants, which gave the con- cession its name. When I came, the sight was disheartening; the bush was mostly tamarac and the land wnr swimming in water. When you left the knolls you had a step from log- to log. A good deal of the land had been bnined over, and some of it was covered with bushes, which we called aldei'- land, and a good part with brule glass, which we cut in September and made into hay. There being no tind)er fit for making potash, the settlers had a hard time of it until- discharges were made to drain the land, and enable them to grow grain. It was 5 years before we were able to raise wheat, but before that we had splendid crops of potatoes and com. Most of the settlers worked out when they had a chance. My husband acted as gardener to Colonel Brown at Beauharnois for 11 summers, getting a dollar a day, and but for that w6 could not have lived until the land was brought in. There was no road when I came, and the outlet was across lots to the Bean river and so on to Ste Martine. The settlers were cheerful nnd hopeful and hcdped one another in a way people don't do now-a-days. We were long in getting a school, and the one first built was on the same place as the present, only on the o|>pjc^^ te side of the road. I think it was in 1884 it was opeu'^'d and the first master was Suther- land, who only stayed 4 u" :'l was rather a primitive affair with a high and narrow wliei :, x\f'i, suited to streams that dwindle in volume during the summer. The power was so weak that David Wilson, reputed the strongest man in the district, undertook to hold it, and actually did so. His father managed the mill. The erection of the dam, necessarily high to suit the wheel, raised the level of the river, flooding the low lands for quite a dis- tance above. Wilson's own flab was drowned, and fur his •lamage and those of others the seignior refused indemnity. The mill ran until July, 1830, when it was accidentally burn(;d. Tlie seignior let to two Americans, Raymond and Lyman, the building of a sawmill and gristmill, which was to include a ran of stones for oatmeal. They made a splendid job, and completed what was tlien the best mill in the province. They introduced the broad wheel of small diameter, by which all the water is made use of. Th(;y had trouble in procuring a settlement with Brown, and kept possession for several months after their completion, during which time they operated tiie mills. In the summer of 1832 they handed them o\ er, when Robert King was instialled as miller, and the verdict of the settlers was, that if ever there was an honest and just man it was him. Two Americans, Sears and Thomson, rented the sawmill. The buildinfj of a Qristmill assured the future of the place as a village, and Artl.ur Ritchie, who had been Selling grog in his siianty, determined to cross, and built, in lH.33, a tavern or. the north-west corner of the road whore it 266 THOMAS G^BBIE. crosses mill-street. He did not live long to occupy it. He was a weaver by trade, very intelligent, and much given to theological discussions, his views tending towards those of free-thinking, and he occasionally lectured or preached to the settlers. He had gone to church on the first Sunday of 1834 and while walking home with 2 friends, and criticizing what Colquhoun had said, he dropped dead. That year John Wil- son, whose father had come from Scotland in 1816 and been very successful at Buckingham on the Ottawa, opened a store and tavern on the opposite corner (the east) to Ritchie's, and still (1887) lives there. John Gordon, a shoemaker, who had left East Lothian two years before, lived in Ritchie's house until it was bought by Peter Coutts in 1836, who kept store for 45 years, and was highly esteemed. Mr Gebbie, several years afterwards, bought a lot adjoining from Mr Gordon and put up a long, low building into which he moved and succeeded well. Before this, however, a bridge was built. The customers of the gristmill mostly lived on the east bank, and had to carry their grists across by walking the boom, which all could not do, so a bridge was a necessity. The seignior engaged Sears & Thomson to build one, the settlers on the east side of the river assisting; my father gave $25. A substantial bridge was raised. Like Raymond, they had trouble with Brown in obtaining what was due them, but they brought him to time, for on his driving the governor, Lord Gosford, while on a visit to him, up to Fort Covington, to see that place, they had Brown arrested, and would not release him until he gave security to cover their claim. Brown was extremely mortified at the indignity, and shunned the States thereafter. In the fall of 1848, on the ice on the river taking, 3 Canadians strrted to cross from Lavade's to David Wilson's and were drowned. When Mr Gebbie took up his abode in Howick, about 1840, there were only three hohses, apart from the mills. Mr Gebbie, who had been a grocer in Galston, emigrated in 1833, and came directly to Williamstown, from his ob- liging disposition and uprightness of character obtained the confidence of the people and l)ecame the leading man of busi- ness and largest property-holder in Howick, as the village was named after Lord Howick, at that time a member of the cabinet. In July, 1833, the seignior ceded in trust to John Stewart, David Wilson, and Charles Stewart a lot for a school- house, which was built and John Clark placed in charge. The eventfu of prese curlinjr. THE FIRST CURLING MATCH. 267 The west bank of the English river remained unsettled long after every lot on the opposite side was occupied. In 1827 Manuel was employed to make a survey of it, and that fall two brothers named Carson drew lots. One of them, Robert, said : We landed in Montreal from Belfast in the summer of 1827. We belonged to county Armagh. A friend told us about the lots to be given out on the English river and we drew 17 and 18, both being ^covered with the finest timber. My brother, who had a familj", had to go at once to have a home for them, but I waited in Montreal to earn a little money, and followed him in 1830. The road had then been cut out as far as Norton creek but was very bad and not lit for wheels except in a very dry time. At Elliot's (lot 74) the cart we had hired stuck, and we had to borrow a yoke of oxen to pull it out of the hole. There were only two horses on the river when I came, and there was no road past the creek for several years afterwards, for it was I who took the job from the seignior to open the road upwards across the unconceded lots. When George Atkinson, an Irish Catholic, and who settled the same year as my brother, died, there was no road to take the body from his lot, and it was put in a canoe and conveyed to Ste Martine, That would be about 1835. We had a hard time until we could raise enough to keep us. We had food enough, but the money for boots and clothes was hard to come by. I have shouldered a bushel and a half of wheat to Ste Martine mill. My brother started a small ashery and he allowed others to use the kettles on paj-ing $2.50 per barrel of potash. We brought a cow but there was no pas- ture nearer than a meadow a mile above us, and my wife, with the baby., paddled up morning and night to milk her. We cut fodder for winter on the beaver meadows west of us. The Indians then came in great numbers to pick ben-ies on the rock, and they drew up their canoes on my lot. The water from the unconceded lands troubled all the settlers along our side of the river, coming pouring down on us and drowning the crops. It was not until a dozen years after I came, that the seignior agreed to dig a discharge, which gave us relief. The early days of the English-river settlements were un- eventful, yet there are a few occurrences which are worthy of preservation. Not^d for the enthusiasm of its farmers in curling, it is interesting t*t know that this dates from the time fr ■M 268 THE SMALL STILLS. of shanties with roofs of basswood scoops. In the winter of 1825 the ice was in such prime order that James Davies, a keen curler in Scotland, thought it a pity it should be allowed to pass unused and proposed to William Miller that they should have a game. They made blocks of wood, and going on to the creek had the first "gemm" played in the district, and of which Miller was the winner. The happy thought of substituting wood for stone removed the obstacle to the roaring game, and thenceforth curling was the recreation of the English river district. About two years after the intro- duction of curling, the first plowing-match was held. At one of the change-houses that had sprung up, William Airston and David Wilson, senr., got bantering as to which was the better plowman, and decided to have a trial. There being no land suflficiently cleared on the English-river or the creek, they had to go over to the Chateaugay, when the match took place on Captain Ogilvie's farm. A great crowd gathered to witness the match, of which Airston was dcidared to be the winner.* Allusion has been made to the drinking -places which existed, and which were not peculiar to the English-river. The cheapness of whisky and the non-enforcement of the license law caused them to multiply, and they sprang up all over the district and in most vinlikely places between 1825 and 1845, and vrerc the cause of untold misery. Wherever an innuigrant who had been a smuggler in the Old Country found a home, he erected a still, and of such persons the Englisli-river had several. The most famous of its small stills was that of Daniel Gruer, who had learned the art of usquebagh-making in his native hills. His product obtained so wide a reputation that he could not supply the demand, though he cliarged more than double, 75 to ISO cents per * The English river plowing association is the oldest in tiic district and one of the oldest in the province. It was organ- ized in 1851, in the fall of wliich year it held a match on the farm of Moses Douglas, Avhen the highest prize was $2.50 and the lowest 50c. William Woods was chairman of the association and Alex. Ross secretary. A SCHOOL IS RAISED. 269 !r of BS, a >wed they roing trict, )Ught 3 the on of mtro- , At irston x3 the ing no creek, h took irod to bo the which river, of the up all 1825 \erever ountry l)ns the small art of btained emand, ints per n It in the organ- on the ts $2.50 of the gallon, what ordinary whisky could then be got for. His spirits he distilled from barley malt "To switch the bowies" (to prevent the fermentation running over the tubs by beat- ing it) was the occupation of the neighboring boys. Despite the excise laws, Gruer continued to make more or less until his death. To change to matters more worthy of record, the settlers on the English river exerted themselves soon after they had established themselves to secure the means of education. William McGregor, a son of John McGregor, lot 14, S.G., and often called Doctor McGregor, from his affecting knowledge of medicine, opened the first school in a log-barn belonging to Henry Bennie. Previous to that, whatever education any of the children on the river received was by going over to the school kept by McWattie, which necessitated their living with friends on the Chateaugay, so that few were sent. On the 28th January, 1828, a meeting was held in the house of Stephen Patterson, when it v/ici agreed they should erect a school to qualify the children of the settlement "to be useful either in church or state," that "no particular religious creed be taught the children" with their tasks, but "that a Sabbath- school may be opened" and the schoolhouse be open as a place of meeting for any religious denomination. It was agreed to buy from John Wilson 2 acres of tlie front of 91, and a com- mittee was appointed, with Neill Primrose as chairman and James Craig as secretary, to carry the proposals into execu- tion. Those present subscribed Is 6d apiece (30 cents) to pay for the land. The work wa.s vigorously commenced, bees being held to clear the site and roll the legs into the river, and on the 9th December the walls were raised. At the close of that day's work, a meeting was held, when the settlers organized themselves into a scholastic association ami chose Henry Bennie, John Metcalfe and Barney Duigan as trustees, with Robert Hunter as chairman iiiid Arthur Ritchie secre- tary. On iearning the legislature had passed an act offering to pay one-half of the cost of schoolhouses that complied with certain requirements, it was resolved to put up a larger and better building, which would also accommodate ilf 270 RIVERFIELD. the teacher and his family. In the fall of 1829 the settlers again held bees but the project dragged for want of means, so that in June, 1830, the committee bound themselves personally for a loan of £10 ($40) at 6 per cent, from Lewis Lamont to finish the building, and it was completed that fall and William McGregor installed as teacher. The building was an excellent one, a frame, clapboarded, and the people of the English-river section were proud of it. Its total cost was S300. A strange incident attending its opening, was the refusal of its use to McWattie to preach in, and a decision that it be only open to those "licensed by government to perform all the functions of a regular clergyman." With the first Sunday of 1831 a S, S. was opened by Mr McGregor "for the purpose of in- stilling a principle of morality in the young and and rising generation in this settlement," nothing in the proceedings, however, was to be tolerated of a nature "to cause divisions amongst the people, on account of the many different prin- ciples of religion held by the community." The collections at the meetings on Sunday it was resolved should be applied to buying a school library, but they were so trifling, seldom going over 20c, that this had to be dropped. Great difficulty was found in maintaining the school, from the inability of parents to pay the fees, 20 cents a month, and the managers having no power to levy a general tax. In October, 1831, it was agreed that those who were not members of the associa- tion in building the school should not be allowed to send their children to it unless they paid $1 entry. A government grant, averaging $40 a year, greatly assisted, but the school, which was attended by from 40 to 60, was maintained at no small sacrifice on the part of those upon whom the burden fell. McGregor continued to teach until the end of 1832, when James Easton succeeded him and was followed in 1835 by Wm. Smyth, an excellent teacher. Adjoining the school- house there came to live, about 1830, an old pensioner, Sergeant James Ferguson, who added to his income by working at his trade, that of a shoemaker. There were a number of old soldiers among the* first settlers. On the west bank three lived, side-by-side, Murray, Johnson, and THE CHOLERA. 271 Primrose, all sergeants who had seen service under Welling- ton. Mrs Murray had followed the regiment for 30 years, and had been previously married to a sergeant who was killed in action. On giving up school, McGregor, in com- pany with Lewis Lamont, opened a store at the same place, now known as Riverfield, and occupied by Robert McLeod. In securing so large a lot for the schoolhouse, the settlers had in view the using of part for a burying-ground, for which the need was felt, the custcn* being to convey in canoes the dead round Logan's point to the Georgetown churchyard or carry them across from >Howick. The portion cleared in the winter of 1828 was apportioned in lots to the 36 subscribers to the purchase of the land, and when a second bee was held in 1830 to clear more of the lot, there was a grave, a death having happened in the Scotch concession. In the spring of 1831 a good fence was erected. It was well a place of burial had been provided, for there was soon sad need of it. In the beginning of August, 1832, a Canadian died in the sawmill after a brief illness. Nobody knew what ailed him, but before the week was out word came from Montreal of cholera, with a description of its symptoms, which were those of the poor man. The Canadians around Ste Martine were decimated, 40 dying within a mile of Reeves's. In the village, every member of one family perished, when the house w^as burned as the easiest mode of disinfection. Among the Old Country- men there were only sporadic cases. The wife of Matthew McKell milked the cows in the morning, was dead before night, and buried with her daughtei* next day. McKell him- self died while rallying from an attack. The wife of tailor Coutts died unattended and was coffined in a rude box as she died. The Scotch concession lost two of its pioneers, John Metcalfe and John Neal. The saddest incident of all was on the Chateaugay in the family of Duncan McCoig, newly landed from Scotland. In the morning the sons rudely coffined the remains of their father and took them in a canoe to the Georgetown graveyard. On returning from their sad errand, they found their mother had died, and had to repeat the same melancholy duty, for no neighbor would come near the 272 CHURCHES. house. The prevailing belief that to give a drink was to ensure death caused much suflering among the sick and, doubtless, several deaths. To the entreaties of one poor wo- man her daughter yielded, seeing that hope was past, and brought her a cupful of spring-water. It revived her, she got more, and recovered. The first religioufi services held on English river were those by McWattie in John Lang's house. The providing of a schoolhouse did away with the necessity of going to pri\ate houses, and any preacher who came along held service in it. Colquh^un and Muir both regarded the English-river as a regular station. The majority of the settlers had been seceders in Scotland and their relations with them were not harmonious, so that they encouraged the visits of ministers of other denominations, at one time having services con- ducted by a Methodist. About 1840 the minister of the Congregational church at Russeltown was induced to hold a fortnightly service at the schoolhouse, and the attendance was deemed sufficient to justify raising a church, and a small building was erected by the roadside, near Wylie's creek, and was fairly attended. After the drowning of Mr Bowles (page 231) no successor was available, and the congregation united with the Free church. In 1838 a number of settlers offered sufficient inducement to the Associate Presbyterian Synod of the U. S., commonly known as the Covenanters, to secure regular visits from a minister, and in 1843 were formally organized, electing elders and constituting a kirk-session. A frame church was constructed on Houston's, lot 94, and a call extended to James Law, which he declined. Work on the church stopped for want of funds, and it remained in an unfinished state (available for use during summer alone) until the Rev James Fettes arrived in November, 184G, as a delegate from Scotland in the interests of the Free church. He passed the w^inter among them, and aroused intense sympathy for his denomination, so that the requisite funds were subscribed, the church was moved down to beside the burying-ground at Riveirfield, and completed, and a strong and earnest congregation formed. TULLOCHGOUUM, 273 as to ami, r wo- t, and r, she those ; of a rivate ! in it, • as a I been jre not nisters 8 con- o£ the .0 hold indancc a small ik, and '.s (page united ofiered Synod secure ii-mally ion. A d a call on the in an alone) ^84G, as church, intense |e funds side the strong The lots between Howick and tlie mouth of the English river were secured by the French, who were so slow in taking possession that James Brown, who went on to lot 58 in 1832, found there was not a house between his and Caldwell's. The land between the English river lots and those on the Chateaugay remained in a state of nature until about 1850. For this there were several reasons, the frequent changes in the ownership of the seigniory, the desire to convert the land into free and common soccage tenure, and the expense of opening discharges to make the flats habitable. When it was decided to throw open the land contained in the penin- sula formed by the two rivers for settlement, the work went on quickly. The surveys were made by William Barrett, assisted by William Edwards, between 1845 and 1848, and as soon as they filed their plans, the lots were taken up, largely by the sons of neighboring farmers. They were double ranges and were better known by the names given to them than by their numbers: — Tuli'^chgorum. Fertile Creek, Australia, Cali- fornia, Milwaukee, and Chicago. The first name was derived from an incident in its settlement. In 1848 Neil McEwan bought 38 and celebrated the completion of his house with a jollification, during which the giving of a name to the new settlement came up, when McEwan, who was in a convivial mood, suggested Tullochgorum, and Tullochgorum it was, and the party danced, as only Highlanders can, the reel of that name. Nobody suspected the extraordinary fertility of the land on" this concession. Some time before 1830 a party of fanners from the Chateaugay had occasion to journey across it, which they did by jumping from logs and tree-roots, and while resting on a dead tree on No 1, S. Geo., and viewing the water that lay around, one of them exclaimed, "This will never be land," in which the others agreed. In those days it was flooded by the water from the Flat Rock and converted into a shallow lake, covered with cattails and scrub poplar. Its wetness saved its fertility, for the fires that periodically swept among the trees left the soil untouched. The lower end of the concession was settled in 1851, when the road was extended frora Howick, and th« year following Thomas It IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Hi IIIM illH 112 1^ 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► SciKices Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ,\ o.^ 4i>^ :\ \ iS^ ^ .v^ "O'^*. <-' ^> ^^ 6^ .l not foreseen that it was so wet a lot, and soon became convinced I could do nothing with it, for there was no outlet and the water would have to lie until dried by the July sun. I hurried to Beauhamois, and asked Brown to change the lot He said he did not expect me to live on land that was under water, and gave me a ticket for lot 33, which was the one I asked for, because it had a ridge on it I set to work on it with a will to make up for lost time Having no help, I could not log, so I just brushed the trees as I felled them, and, dibbling round the fallen trunks, planted potatoes and some com. The track to the river being very bad at that time, I did not go to Brodie's for Sunday, so that for II days I did not see a human being. One windy da^ I was chopping a large rock-elm, and from the wind blowing on the top was uncertain which Way it would fall. I was watching it intently, ready to move out of the way when it would TO^n to topple over, when a voice behind me said in French, ''It is not going." I jumped in astonishment, and saw a French Canadian. For years after, when he would meet me; he would laugh as he recollected my surprise. The «con9tBnt clutching ol the axe affected the sinews of my hands, which were unused to such a strain, and the fingers remained bent for tiie rest of my life. Of the desolation^ the countiy south of me I had soon experience. I thought it would be a Ct advantage to have a direct road to the Ohateaugay imylbt, and I determined to see if I could nbt get one. I staxied dne warm afternoon, scrambling over log8«na some- timM ffoiioff on my knees under ^em, and flpery now and, then tuAibing up a trunk to find out where Twas going. 1 1 NEIQHBOftS. 279 always found I was surrounded by the trunks of blackened trees, and the ground covered by fallen ones, water, and cat- tails. So desolate was the scene and hopeless-looking the prospect of finding a way out, that the very dowg that was with me sat down at the foot of a tree and yowled. Ni^i came on as I got a sight of a clump of green spruces, which stood where the Ormstown concession now is, and as I pressed on towards them it grew quite dark. I came to a creek, and to find the direction of its current, put mv hand in its water. Just when I felt that I could struggle no longer, and might as well prepare to pass the night wn«re I was, I heard a noise. My first thought was — a bear. I shouted, and, to my astonish- ment, got an answer. It was people on their way to their homes in the Ormstown concession, and I speedily joined them, and found the way to the Chateaugay. There were wild beasts in the forest, but they never gave me any annoy- ance. I only met a bear once. I was on my way to Brodie's one Sunday morning, when I suddenly heard the trampling of feet on the dry litter, and shortly saw two bears approach- ing me. The advice Sisindy Williamson gave me for such a contingency, flashed upon me, and I bent my head until I could look between my legs and began dancing and capering. The brutes looked at me for a moment or two, and then« affrighted by the strange spectacle, turned and fled. Another time, John McC!onachie was helping me to chop, and on his having to go over a pile of logs, stepped up them, and was astounded, on raising his head over the top log, to find him- self looking in the face of a bear, which was scrambling up the other side. With a yell, he jumped down, and came running to me, but the bear did not follow. I got up a' shanty on my lot, but before I had it ready, my mistress and the family arrived, and they had to stay in the old one for a while. I got two neighbors about the same time, William Patton, who had been a faimer in Scotland, and James Stewart ; they sat down on either side of me. I had been saving my asnes all along, keeping them covered with elm- bark, and was most anxiouis to get a kettle and begin making potash. I had not a dollar and my neighbors were little better ofi*. Stewart had enough to pay a French Canadian for sawing trees and making Teaches and that was all, so I went to see if I could not get a kettle on credit On entering Douglas & Wilkinson's store, I foand Sandy Qraham and Mr Broaie sitting tha:«, and they burst out lauffhing at me, for I had no boots on and my trousers were rolled up above my knee«, for I^ had to wade a great part of Ihe way, and waa ♦ ■ w^rj^ 'tii.u| irii' 280 FIRST WHEAT. dirty, ragged, and wet I told Douglas my eiTand and said, as an old clerk of Richardson, Forsythe &; Co.'s I thought he might be able to oblige me. firodie cried out he would be my surety for the payment, and Douglas agreed to get me a Three Rivers kettle, which were the best, for they are thickest at the bottom. It arrived the week after, when I baivained with McConachie, who had a yoke of small oxen, to drag it into my lot for $4. He started in the morning and it was growing dark when the oxen stuck within sight of my lot, being fairly beat Next morning they were tackled to it afresh, and the kettle was placed on the line between Stewart and myself, for wo were partners. That kettle was the saving of the fourth concession, for it brought to us the only money we could get for several years wherewith to buy pro- visions and pay our rent. Each settler could make two barrels, sometimes three, in a year, and as it was worth from $30 to $40 a barrel, the amount was of great consequence. We let neighbors have the use of the kettle and other ap- paratus for $2 a barrel, and, at least, 120 barrels were made in it. My potatoes turned out a remarkable crop, but the corn, from being planted late, did not ripen. Before winter set in, there were several lots taken up, and we could now have bees to log. The wetness of tiie land was the great drawback. James Dryden auJ James Hunter placed their shanties back on the bank of the creek to have a diy place, and a sort of a road began to be formed along it out to the St Louis. James Benning, an excellent farmer, who took my old lot, had to make a sort of a raft to get at his work in the spx'ing. Several came and, after a short trial, loft There was Herring, a first-rate farmer, who was fairly starved out. He went and took up land near Ottawa, and became prosper- ous. George Steel boarded with me while trying to clear the lot he had taken up. One hot day, he came in from where he had been brushing, up to the ankles in water and with the mosquitoes very bad, and, putting on his coat, said he would not take it off again. He left all and, after several changes in life, died a wealthy banker in Chicago. The land was fairly drowned and we kept dinging at Bi-own to open dis- charges. He resisted, thinking he could force us into doing the work alone, but we set the ri^ht way about it, and the seignior was compelled to assist in making sufficient dis- chargea It would be the second fall, I think, when I sowed my Irat wheat I went across the brule to the Onnstown concession, and bought from Hood half a bushel of fall wheat, which I carried home on my back. I was afraid it would be BUTTERED PEAS. S81 too late for sowing if I waited until my potatoes (which were iu hills) were ready to dig, so I pulled up the shaws and raked the ground, sowing my wheat When I dug the pota- toes, I hoed back the soil with the seed wheat in it, as well as I could, and the next season I had a wonderful crop. I was a poor thresher, having had no experience, yet I had ] 6 bushels to take to Beauhamois mill, and had the straw been right threshed would have had 20. That was the first wheat grown on the fourth concession, and all my neighbors had to f^et a pickle of the flour. Some of us had got cows and sheep, )ut none were able to buy a yoke of oxen, and for want of them we suffered much. The French Canadian carters charged us $1.50 a barrel to haul our potash from where Bougie is, about a mile east of the church, to Beauhamois, and a dollar more if they came up to the kettle for it, and of t^n could not get them even at these pricea On an occasion when there were 13 ban'els ready, I determined we should haul it our- selves. None of the others being willing to run the risk of foing in debt for a yoke, I started out to the river, calling i-st on Williamson, who had no money on hand. I walked to Captain Ogilvie's, where I got the loan, and bought the oxen. They did all the hauling, I charging half a dollar to take a barrel to the mouth of the creek, or a day's work, which was generally given in preference. It would be about that time we got our first teacher, an elderly man who had been in a good way in Scotland, named Graves. I gave a spare buildmg for a schoolhouse, and as there were only nine scholars to go to it, the fees had to be high, and were fixed at 4s 6d (90 cents) a month. It was well spent money, though hard for us to get, for he brought on the children wonder- fully. He was an odd man, and would often, instead of rising in the morning, have the children stand round his bed, while he would hear them with his head on the pillow, and oti fine days would leave the schoolhouse and take them out for a walk and teach them as they went along. Our food was coarse, chiefly potatoes, and often diflicult to get, but there never was anything like want. We shared with one another, and if a family ran short, they borrowed until they got a fresh supply. Everything had to be carried on the back from Beauhamois or the Chateaugay. One neighbor, who was going to have a bee, started to get -a supply. The day w\as very hot and he tradsed along wearily with his bag on his shoulder. On reaching nome, he told his wife what he had been able to get, a quantity of peas and 2 pounds of butter. She opened the bag, but there was no butter, simply ml 282 THK OTHER CONCESSIONS. a greasy paper. We had great joking as wo supped the peas, that the butter was in them though we could not see it, for it had soaked into them. The settling of the 3rd concession followed on that of the 4th, Robert Sinton and Archibald McEwen going into it in 1830, when lots were first given out, and James Howden finding a home on the 2nd the same year. In 1831 David Tait, an intelligent and worthy man, who lived to the patri- archal age of 90, arrived from his native parish of Cockpen, and joined them. Like the 4th concession, the 3rd was a mere frog-pond during the early part of the season and to find dry spots for their shanties the settlers had to go to the rear of their lots, which brought them close to the 2nd. The saving feature in the land was the splendid bush that covered it, more especially on the 2nd concession, and which, turned into potash, maintained the settlers until discharges were opened and crops could be raised. How thick the bush was, melancholy proof was supplied by a painful incident. Two daughters of Neil Conley, both girls in years, went out to gather sap, for it was sugar-time. They could not find their way back to their father's shanty. In their wanderings they separated. The youngest was discovered by the searching parties that were speedily at work, but of the older not a trace could be found. There were all manner of surmises to account for her disappearance; the most favored, that she had been kidnapped by Indians. Years rolled by, the land became cleared, and on 23; 2nd con., the fragile skeleton of the little maid was found. So dense was the forest, that the searchers had failed to see her, although within hail, almost, of the home she sought in vain to find. I could fill a page or two with the experiences of the settlers on these concessions, but they would be bat a repetition of those given in Mr Symons' narrative. They, in time, reaped a rich reward, for the soil was of the best In 1837 the settlers of the two concessions joined in raising a school, of which the first master was Thomas Cross. The lots on the 1st concession were passed by the Old Countiymen, wbo judged, from the timber on th^a, that the soil was light In- thia tb^'were CHARLES LAROC!QUE. 283 mistaken, for the hemlock that abounded on Utis concession was second-growth, and the land equal to any in the district The few Scotch families now on it, went in after 1840. The "New Lands," as the concessions in the neighborhood of the St Louis were called, came to have a great name among those seeking homes, and were taken up aa quickly as surveyed. At the lower end of the 5th range Ormstown, about 1835, a settlement of Old Countrymen was formed, including four brothers of the name of Selkirk and Cliarles Robertson. Some yeare afterwards they were joined by a few others. They had much difficulty in sending their potash to market, having to float the barrels down a great discharge that had been dug out to Bryson's creek, and thence to the Chateaugay, until the 4th concession road was opened, which was not for many years, for a great swamp stretched between lots 4 and 10, dividing th^ concession and rendering communication between the two ends, except on foot, impracticable. When it became probable the tenure would be changed, the seignior stopped conceding lots, which' checked the settling of the New Lands for several years. When deeds of free and common soocage oould be given, the concessions were speedily filled ; tho 5th range mainly by habitants from Ste Martine and the Basin, who paid $4 an acre. Along the St Louis the French Canadians kept qreeping upwards from Beauhamois, but* it was not until about 1834 that the first house was built on the site of tho present village of St Louis de Qonzague. It was a small store, and stood on the southwest comer of the 4th coneessioa road, owned by Charles Laroeque, in many regards on& of the most remarkable men the province has produced. His mother was a Highland woman, and he combined the best" qualities of both races. After spending a number of years in the North- west, he returned to his native province and entered business, opening stores at different points and carrying on a large trade in lumbering and contracting. Wholly uneducated, he had to rely on his prodigious memory for records of his transactions, and it rarely failed him even in trifling details^ His store at St Louis he placed in charge of his nephew 'l f 284 TITHES VS. PROGRESS. Isidore Larocque, afterwards the keeper of the first tavern in Valley field. When, in 1835, Gilbert Cook and his brothers, natives of Cantyre, took up lotf* Larocque's was the only house in St Louia Many Scotchmen followed the example of the Cooks, until they formed quite a settlement along the road that divides the 6th and 7th ranp^s, and, slowly and with many hardships, redeemed a section of countiy now almost exclusively held by French Canadians. Below St Louis village, few Scotch settled along the river, due in part to Brown's being desirous to give the lots to the French and to his demanding $15 for the survey, instead of $10. Habi- tants on the St Lawrence front drew them, and occasionally worked at making clearances for several years before sending their sons to occupy them. The bringing into close contact of the two races in the St Louis district, had a peculiar result. Watching the Old Country farmers, the habitants began to imitate them, by raising coarse grains and roots, by going in more for live-stock, and even seeding down an occasional field. The priests were alarmed for the effect upon their tithes, and exhorted their hearers t<^ ohun the innovations of the Anglais and to do as their fathers had done, continue to raise wheat. When Father Saya came he took a disinterested view of the matter, and told his Hock they would benefit themselves by copying the farming of the Scotch. A decision of the courts, which finally established that pease is grain and therefore liable to tithe, removed in great part this singular objection . * the priesthood to a change in culture. So few roots did they raise, that hardly a habitant had more potatoes than would last over New Year, and the Scotch settlers added largely to their incomes by selling to them in Uie spring. Mr Symons, finding in his qeighbor at the comers, Charles Larocque, a congenial spirit, became intimate with' him, and on his proposing he should join him as partner, he left his farm and took up his iabode in St Louis about 1841, which, even then, was only a place of two or three houses. Mr Symons entered into his new sphere of life with the same ardor as> he had shown in subduing the wilderness and was, SAWMILL AT ST. LOUIS. 285 before long, engrossed in many projects. After WAkcfield's election ho was at dinner with that gentleman, along with Daly, known as "the everlasting secretary," and Derbishire, the Queen's printer. In the course of conversation, the nuh- ject of seigniorial-tenure came up, and Daly abruptly asked Symons what he had against the rule of the seigniors that he wished it ended. " Where I find most fault is," answered Symons, "that the seigniors are like the dog in the manger: what they will not use themselves, they will not let others get" He went on to explain that the settlement in which he lived suffered much from want uf a sawmill, yet the seignior would neither build one on ii. rapids at St Louis nor allow anybody else to do so. Wakotiuld, en hearing this, said ho was not aware that such ws the case, ur^ he would u<^e to it that whatevei powers we. j not wanV d by the seignior would be sold to private persons. H'i ^N'as as good as his word, and singular to suy, on the nigu» 'ollowing the day on which intimation was given to Mr Symons that he could have the power, Colbome's sawmill, built a few yoars before farther down the river, was burned by two habitants who alleged that its dam was drowning their land. Setting to work Mr Symons built a mill at the foot of the rapid, not being allovv od to run a dam near the head of it, on account of the land that would thereby be drowned. The country above was still in a state of nature, and only two proprietors had to be settled with, one being Cot4, who owned the present show-groi^nd. The mill did famously until July, when the water failed, with a great stock of logs uncut. In casting about for a remedy, the report that lingered among old settlers, that a cut bed been made from the St Lawrence as a feeder early in the century, came to Mr Symons's mind and he applied to Mr Korval for information. He knew nothing of the circum- stance and disbelieved in it, and, when asked to do so, iearched in vain amld soldier, who had a pension, who went on to lot 2, 2nd concession, and with him James Brown, who had drawn Ko.1, stayed until his family arrived from Glasgow. He was a iokey, clever man, and a Deist He came to a miserable end. Widow Hood, who came from AllOa, and had several grown-up sons, went on to lot 1, 2d con., uid being strong in helpftwb of her sons were ship-builders), had a house finished before any of ua Rice was an Englishman and an old soldier, lacking a thumb that was shot off, and had been in the country some A HARD STRUOOLE. 293 time, living at St Laurent; he did not move on to his lots, but sent up a man to chop and make ready. We spent the winter in enlamng our clearance and were eager about it. At the sound of every tree that fell, we would give a youp, and I would stfirt it, so glad was I that q. bit more opening in the woods was made. I went out and helped, brushing the tops of the trees, so that the men would have room to work. It was very lonesome and so difficult to get provisions in, having to walk sometimes through two feet of snow on the river to Reeves's to buy what we wanted. I have often walked "there myself. Rice had sent a cow to his man, and on it proving farrow, he wanted to sell it, and. we boiight it, and a grand milker she afterwards proved to be. we got some hay from David Bryson that kept her living until the spring, and then I went over to the ridge and cut the yellow flowers (mayflowers) and brought them over to her by the basketful, for we had her tethered to a stump, being afraid we would lose her in the bush. We had a gooid bit of clear- ance ready when seed-time came, and I helped to log it. The potatoes we got to plant, we had to carry in from the river. Besides the potatoes, we planted some com, and both did extraordinarily well When the potatoes were dug, we hoed in some fall-wheat, which yielded abundantly. To cany it to the bam, my husband made a barrow of light cedars, and a heavy lift it was. We made no potash for several years, being unable to buy a kettle and coolers, so we saved our ashes, storing them under cover and digging a hole in the centre to put in the new hot ashes, so uiat they kept weU, and at the first snow sleighs came in, from as far as Boyd's at Dunn's mill, and bought them, the price ininning from 14 to 20 cents the bushel Our mill was at Huntingdon, and we carried out and in the bags to some house on tne front, the bags going by Reeves' canoes. The wetness of the land was our great vexation. The water came down upon us from the lands of the 4th and 6th concessions in strei^ms, and in sum- mer lay about us in green pools. It was a wonder there was no fever and ague, but there was not There being no proces- verbals in those days, it seemed impossible to get discharges opened For two years running our crops of grain were drowned out, and we liad to buy wheat to pay the seignior. The settlers were poor enough, but never wanted for foo^, there being aye enough of potatoes and joeny-cake, and we were as lienrty and contented a lot of people as you would want to know. We missed oatmeal more than anything, the old folks rspecially, but after a while we alwayA managed to 294 FILLING UP OF THE LOTS. ill; '• ',}«■. 4r.,k ;■;•.".• I f:n fPB' buy enough for them. My husband was often for giving up and going to a city» but I urged him to hold on, telling niin his pay as a carpenter would not keep us all, and that the land was our own and would be a home so long as we needed one. We never got oxen. Several years after we came we bought a mare from James Sadler. Once discharges w&re cut and the land dried, the settlement got on fast I cannot tell the year the road was cut out to Paddy Mullin's; it was a good while after we came. It was not of much use, from the water running into it The road mentioned by Mra Barr came out a little below Point Round and was the only outlet in that direction for a number of years, and until the concession-line was continued out to the 4th concession, which was effected with difficulty. Farther west, there was a path that followed the creek that empties below Ormstown. The side-line to that village was not suitable for travel until about 1840. The bulk of the settlei-s came in 1830, when John Cook, the Tates, William Elliot, Lei tch, O vans and others came in. The Tates were brothers and highly respectable Englishmen. Thomas opened a store on 12, the first on the concession, subsequently moving to the comers, when the road was opened to the village. That road ought to have been on the allowance left for it 4 acres farther east, but was placed where it is to suit the grist- mill, then planned. The worst lot on the concession was 15, which James Sangster describes as having been covered with hemlock and having no hardwood, and so wet that nothing would grow until it was ditched, and to do that they had to wait for the tree roots to rot Until then the family lived by the father's labors, who was a shoeniaker, and the young men made potash elsewhere. On the opposite side of the road were the McGerrigles and Robert McClenaghan, Pro- testants from the North of Ireland, and John Campbell, who came in 1827. Waddell, a brewer by trade, started a small brewery behind his shanty, which was the ruin of not a few. On the lots secured by Rice, was a ridge covered with a fine maple bush, to which, qp to a late date, the Indians came every spring to make sugar. In 1832 a schoolhouse was raised on the comer of 13, of which Logan was appointed ^ UPPER ORM8TOWN CONCESSION. 295 teacher. He t6ok up a \6t, but was a poor hand at clearing. It was said of him, that, to avoid the fatigue of working in the sun, he would go to felling trees in the summer-nights by the light of the moon, and in his nightshirt! Once the settlers got a start, the concession advanced rapidly, and there are now no finer farms in the province. There were not the same drawbacks to contend with in the upper end of the concession as in the lower, for the land west of the side-line road was more easily drained and more, generally covered by hardwood bush. The first to take up lots were William Graham, David Drummond, John Russell, Jas. Leggatt, Archd. McDougall, and Jas. Kennedy, who moved on lots towards the close of the season of 1827 or in the year following. These families were all from Scotland, and we:ife followed . by a fresh accession from the same country, 'John McDougall, Robt. Wetherston, and James Cavers. The road by which, they got in was the path made by the American squatters (page 51) before the war, along the east bank of McClintopk's (tlien called Smith's) creek, and the bridges they had made across the smaller streams that flowed into it were still standing. The first-comers, of course, selected the lots with these old clearances, which gave them quite a start, for they got some crop in at once, and they fared much better than their neighbors. All the settlers were poor, Russell being the only one that had brought money with him, and the first few years yras a struggle for existence, the land being so wet that no seed could be put in Until June. Had it not been for potash, "they could not have stayed. As it was, it was potatoes three times a day 'liirith the most of them. Russell, a worthy man, opened' a store on his lot, and did a fair business for a number of years. James Whithall, an Englishman, who came out in 1832, gives this account of the state of the settlement : I landed at Montreal on the 22nd May and left at once to see my brother, William. I crossed from the Chateaugay road at Cain's, and came out oh the Ormstown road-line At Williaiii Watson's. The land was simmering in water and I had to walk mostly oh Jogs. In crossing a creek, a rotten ' < t96 RIV. JAJOES MILLEB. piece of wood gave way, and vp I waa to my middle. I asked if there wag no better road, and aaid if there was not, it was the last time I would travel ii When my brother's lot was reached, we found he was not at home, having gone to pat tip aaotiier honse on a more favorable snot mirtcm, who was with me, had been along wiUi my Mother as a coal- hawker in London, and as we got on tap of a hill and my brother's new house came in sight, with himself on top shing- ling, Burton put his bands to his mouth and save the cola- hawker's cry, when my brother sprang up and cried, "thtA is Burton." He was overjoyed to see OS. Stoimy Carruthers was helping my brother to finish his house and proposed I tMiH buy his lot, Na 45. I wanted to go to Upper Canada, t finally was persuaded to buy. It cost me $1(X), and for 5 or 6 years I could not raise enpugh off it to keep my family. My brother was poorly off and glad to get the small l^pacy I brought him. The timber had been plundered off my lot, and tlie hemlocks would not make ashes. I burned a neap once, iwd after I had done so, a lad told me it was no iise to leach aueh a^es, which sickened me with potash-making, and I turned to clear my land. To get my grain ground, I had often to pot a bag on my head, arranged something like a nighi-eap, and walk along the logs that crossed the swampy bits to Dewittville. The year before James Whiihall came in, the eonoession- road had been chopped its entire length, but was not made {Mssable for vehicles. A better road to the river than the trail along the creek being a necessity, the choppipg out of the side-line road to Ormstown was begun in 1831, and was finished ihe following year, thou^ it was not until ihe grist- inill was opened at Ormstown thai it was stumped and made fiturly passable. The jog of 4 acres between the upper and iower ends of the concession was done by the surveyor, in order to accommodate the line to the bend of the river, so thc^ die lots might average 100 arpents each. Amid all their (Struggles, the settlers of the upper end of the conoenion were not unmindful of the need of education for tiieir children, and in IdSO they put up a schoolhouse on Uie kite oi the ipresent, luring ome Hall, Who tautght for a year, an^. was succeeded by the &ev James Killer, who during his stay of less than a y^r preached alternate Sundays at Ormstown THE RIVSR FBONT. 297 and Hantingdon. He was succeeded by John Donaldson, who became closely identified with the concessioa On leav- ing, Mr Miller taught a while in a new schoolhouse on Moore's lot The Moores wore Irish Protestants, and industrious and substantiaL From the upper Ormstown concession to the St Lawrence there were no settlements, the country being a tamarac swale, with clumps of pine on the ridges. The 4th and 5th ranges were surveyed by Livingstone in 1936 and 1837, and Edward Sproul was the first to move into the upper end of it, which he did in April, 1838. He was an Irish Protestant and had been for several years a resident of Hemmingford. He made a straight track through the bush on lot 38, 3rd con., to his lot, 37, and which was the outlet until the road was mode by the yellow hpuse 10 years later. Archibald, a son of Hugh McKellar's, followed, and took up 38. Others pressed in, and the few desirable lots were secured. They were sold in free and common soccage. The block flats had no attraction for English-speaking farmers, and were overspread by Canadians. Much of the tamerar, before the lots were sold, was cut into railway-ties luid sent to England. On the north bank of the Chateaugay, between Qrmstowa and Dewittville, the lots were slow in being cleared. James Sadler, who went on to lot 45 so late as 1835, says: "When I moved on tiie lot was early in the spring and I put up a log shanty with a sheet for the door, and nuuuiged to chop enough to get in a lock of wheat, oats, com, and potatoes, and after that we had enough to eat The stony ridges were best then. There was quite an old clearing pn Furlong's point, and it small one in front of No. 44, both said to have been made by the Americans before the war, but the only opening on my lot was on the creek, where the deer had made « lick in coming to drink. The country back of my lot was fttU pf deer and wolves." McEwen and Pace were among the finrt on the river and were followed by Michael Furlong, who OMBM in 1894 and was joined the year after by James Finn, mho, like him, $ame f rom Wexford, and whose presence led to ^ forming of a considerable Irish Catholic settlement ;i: i '• i^HBW'i '■ 298 CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILT. 40 & 41, bought by the Finns, had been taken up by 2 brothers, Scotchmen of the name of Anderson, who after doing somu work, gave up the idea of being farmera and went to Mon- treal. Before them, however, had been Americans, for there were small clearances and a well upon them. That fall or in the following summer, they were joined by Patrick Mullin, John Murphy, John Scully, Patrick and Mathew Kavanagh, William Milloy, and Frank Hughes, who all settled within a communicable distance of one another. They were drawn together accidentally, for none had been neighbors in Ireland Their struggles for the first five years were painful, owing to there being no timber on their lots fit for making *potash. There were occasions when, for three months at a time, they had no bread, und lived mainly on potatoes. Poor as they were, they manifested a laudable anxiety to have a place of worship, and in 1827 they took thefii-st step by fencing in a graveyard on lot 40, given by James Finn, the first to be buried being a child of James Keegan's. In the following year the contract was given to the brothers Wright to frame and put up a church, which was finished so far as to permit of being occupied for occasional service. The ten families who had erected the church were not content. They must have a resident priest, and they put up a log house to the south of the church and on the river bank. The first priest left under a cloud, and was succeeded in 1832 by Father Moure, a South of Ireland man, who remained many years and commanded the respect of the Protestants by his moder- ation and his efibrts to promote the best interests of his people. He was a well-read man and delighted in gardening and other pursu'ts which were novel in the backwoods. In front of his house his name bloomed during the suJnmer in flowers. In 1832 a belfry was added to the church, arid &t the raising of the bell Father Moore indulged in a practical joke. All the male portion of the congregation gathered to hoist the bell, which, with their imperfect appliances, had to be done by main strength. When about 5 feet clear of the ground, the priest, who was standing behind the group, took out of his pocket a sun-glass end concentrated with it the THE OUTARDE CONCESSION. 299 sun's rays on a piece of punk upon the rim of the bell, when it burst into flame. One of the men conceived it to bo a miracle, and exclaiming "Qloiy be to Qod !" sank upon his knees. Kis example was infectious, and the good father had difficulty in controlling his features. In 1835 the church was plastered and finished, and for a long series of years it was the only place of worship west of Ste Martine, and was attended by the settlers of Huntingdon as well as those of Chatcaugay, It continued in use until 1861, when, on the 13th of October, the new church was opened at Ormstown. The old one was then levelled and the only indication of its site, are the tombstones in the disused graveyard. " The settlement of the concessions on the Jamestown side of the Chateaugay, above Ormstown, began in 1825, when a number of immigi-ants, mainly North of Ireland men, took up lots and placed their families upon them while they worked on the Lachine canal. Of these Francis Smith, a Tyrone Catholic, was the first to make much of a clearance, having several sons. He was led to select the lot he secured from a fine intervale of 10 acres, which is now a stony field. James Ross, who had chosen number 3, but did riv^t intend to live upon it until the Lachine cahal was finished, allowed Smith ^he use of it and he raised his shanty on the bank at the mouth of the Outarde. The rapids being too deep £o ford, he built a scow. The difficulty of communication with the north side of the river was a gi'cat drawback to Smith and his brother settlers, for there was no bridge at Ormstown until 1842. THie Outarde flowed through solid woods, un- tenanted save by wild boasts, and wolves were so plentiful and bold that they came at night to Smith's door to snatch up the scraps that might be strewn around it Matthew W. Harrison, a schoolmaster from near Dublin, took up two lots the same year as Smith, and when the population increased sufficiently opened school in his shanty, where he taught with success. He was "a character" — that is, his individuality was strongly marked. Among his peculiar habits was draw- ing in his firewood in the shape of a log long enough to afford him a seat at one end while the blaze of the other warmed 800 SQUIRE HARBISON. '■■' '■ ; m •'nwBBKW ,1 i « ■;; .; ' ^^H 'aff^^r '1 .^Wm is now villli^ge lot 283. In 1834 he sold to a Montreal bailift; Robert Lovell, who eht need that way on a legal errand, and left a lot he had done almost nothing to improve. Lot 23 the seignior would not sell, reserving it as a mill-site and for the prospective village. The clearance on its front, made by the American squatters, Was in charge of David Bryson, who raised an occasional Crop of oats off it A level bit, west of the side-line road, was used for many years as the place of assembly for the militia, when the farmers turned out on the King's birthdayj answered the roll-call, and were treated by their captains. In the old burial-place of the Americans a grave was ppened early in the winter oi 1829 to receive the body of Andrew Fostev, who was killed by a tree falling upon him while woi^ing on his lot, 34, 1st con. Omistown. Word was sent to a son of the lumberman Moreau, who was studying medicine and anxious to get subjects. Accompanied by his broUier, who was studying law, they drove up from Montreal, resurrected the body with difficulty, from the ground being frozen, and started for their father's camp, near Dewittville, on their way to the city. They had been observpd at their unhallowed deed, and the alarm being given, their traineau was pursued.' 3eing hard pressed, they flur^]^ the body over Finn's bridge. Their pursuers passed it. unobserved, and kept right on. Near Dewittville they missed their prey, but after a while got again on the scent, and, on arriving at Moreau's camp, found the two youths innocently engaged in cooking a late Ikv. ■" CHURCH MATTERa 305 I supper. They denied all knowledge of the deed, until, on searching the stable, their horse was seen to be covered with foam. Forcing the youths to go back with them, the sturdy backwoodsmen compelled them to carry to the sleigh the ' body from where they had flung it, to recoffin and bury it. On the west side of 23 lived the brothers McNeil and Leish- man, who came in 1822. The first movement towards creating a village on 23 was an effort, in 1829, to build a church, a log- building, 20x26, that stood at the north-west end of the present church. The intention of the farmers was that ' McWattie should use it instead of going to Rutherford's, but he became so discredited that it was left unfinished, and in the summer of 1831 the Ormstown settlers joined with those of Georgetown in endeavoring to secure the services of a reputable clergyman and one whose official acts would be legal. In August, 1831, a memorial was signed by the settlers of the English river and the Chateaugay, praying the Glas- gow Colonial isociety to send them a minister. They stated ' that "in the various settlements the lands are mostly occupied ' by Presbyterians, and a very great majority are by birth,' principle and education, attached to the doctrine and discip- line of the Church of ScotUmd." In furthering this memorial Dr Mathieson was the sole agent, and during the summer be- ' fore McWattie's death he frequently visited the Chateaugay, preaching, baptizing, and even re-marrying several couples who had grown dubious as to the legality of the knot Mc- Wattie had tied. The Gla^w society favorably considei^d the request, and induced the Rev Archd. Colquhoun, a young ' man newly married, to accept the charge, they guaranteeing him $500 a-year for a limited period and assisting him in paying the expense of going to Canada. A short time after his ordination* by the presbytery of Lochcarron, July 14, he, sailed for Quebec, where he landed in October. He was favorably received by ^e people of his new charge, into which he was formally inducted on the 14th November, and took possession of a small house that had been provided until a manse could be built In anticipation of his coming, the Ormstown and Jamestown people united in providing a better $ >&i 306 REV. ARCED. COLQUHOVN. church than the log-building, which ultimately fell to William Cross, who used it as a shoe-shop. The body of a good-sized frame-building was raised beside the site of the present, and after it had been partially boarded work was suspended from want of means. When Mr Colquhoun arrived it was rendered fit for occasional use, but it was not floored until 1835. Until then, the sleepers in front were covered with loose boards. In rear the people sat upon them, with their feet on the ground. Of an ardent temperament, and finding the state of society and his surroundings otherwise very different from what he had anticipated, Mr Colquhoun applied himself to work a change by pulpit denunciations, and before many months he had come to look upon the leading members of the Geoi^town congregation as his enemies and the enemies of the Gospel, and described their conduct and the consequences it would entail with such force and plainness that they nick- named him "Brimstone Colquhoun" and favored the proposal to give a call to another minister who would preach in the new church that was begun on lot 25, North Georgetown, but, owing to subsequent events, was not completed until a num- ber of years afterwards Mr Colquhoun's position in George- town grew so unpleasant that he decided on leaving it and on going to Ormstown, which was now formed into a separate charge. Misunderstandings, chiefly financial, arose in time between him and the Ormstown people, followed by painful recriminations, which were ended, just before an examination by the presbytery was about to be made, by his accepting a call in Ontario. He left Ormstown in the spring of 1835. From the time he withdrew, the adherents of the Geoi^town congregation were without religious ministrations other than those supplied by the Montreal ministers and Mr Roach; Dr Mathieson, especially, conttnoing to take a deep interest in them, and again he was Um moan; of getting them a minister. In the beginning tof April, l^K, he welcomed on his arrival in Montreal James Creighton Muir, who had been sent to Canada by the Glasgow Colonial Missionary society. Mr Muir was bom in Dumfries, in 1799, was educated at Edin- burgh, and was licensed as a minister of the Kirtc of Scotland OR. MUIR. 3or in 1832. After acting as tutor for a short time in the family of Justin McCarthy (father of the historian) he obtained em- ■ ployment in his proper calling as city missionary at Port- Glasgow, which he followed for two years, when he decided on going to Canada, for which he sailed, by way of New York, in February, 1836. Dr Mathieson. advised him to choose u'.ther Qeoi^etown or Beechridge, both of which were anxiously waiting for ministers. As the sleighing was about ^ done, no time was to be lost if he desired to recross the St Lawrence, and on the first Monday in April he started for Beauhamois. Dr Muir noted how cautiously the driver led. his horse on the ice at Point Claire, and the rapidity with . which he cro{^e > Mr Roach gave him a most hospitable reception, and drove him that week to Georgetown, the first house he stayed at • being that of Robert Brodie, who was an elder of the church. . Mr Roach then took him to Huntingdon, in order to intro- duce him to the Rev Mr Walker. To reach the house of the^ latter (now occupied by Dr Cameron, No. 190) they had to- pick their way among stumps, while back of it was the virgin forest As one of the sights of the place. Mr Walker took : his guest to the bapk of the river, where, in a clump of trees stood the wigwam of one of those Indians who made a prac^ tice of coming to the u'pper waters of the Chateaugay to camp during the winter, returning to Caughnawaga, when the ice broke up, wHH a canoe-loud of furs and skins. The Indian they found engaged in skinning a rouskrat for dinner. Having preached sevmd times in the Georgetown church and in the English-river schoolhouse, a call was presented to him i !< 308 REV. JAMES ANDERSON. in the end of June, but from the presbytery in those days meeting seldom he was not ordained and inducted until the 29th September itito a charge which he retained until death released . 45 years afterwards — a continuous pastorate without precedent in Quebec, and all the more remarkable that, from his fragile appearance, his people anticipated he would die young. His first duty was to visit and prepare a list of his congregation, when he found he had 110 families under his care, of whom only 10 had children over 14 years of age, showing that the overwhelming majority were young couples, recently come out, who had only infant families. Of the 110 families, 66 lived on the English-river. To meet the wants of the rising generation, he organized four Sunday- schools in different parts of his charge, which were attended by above a hundred children, and formed a coi^pregational library. He preached regularly at South Georgetown, in the £kiglish-river schoolhouse, and in the church at Brodie's. In July, 1838, a session was formed and the sacrament was dis- pensed for the first time on the 5th August, when there were 180 communicants. The call presented to him was accom- panied by a guarantee that he would receive a yiearly salary of £90 (S360) payable in advance. Col. Brown, the seigniory agent, had subscribed £10 of the amount, and that was the first money he got. Of the total stipend promised he, for a ^ long term of years, never got over- £50, and he used to say that had it not been for the £10 from the seigniory (after- wards increased to £20) and the £30 he got from the dei^ reserves, he could not have lived. The Sunday-school drgan- iaied was not the first on the Chateaugay, foi* John Harvey (page 45) who was a ccmscientious man, had been in the habit of gathering the children of his neigfaboors in his house and hearing them read the Scriptures, which he explained. Resuming the narrative of church affiiirs at Ormstown, peace was restored to the infant congregation by the induc- tion, on the 14th July. 1835; of the Rev James Anderson, who was bom at Cromarty in 1797, and was sent to Canada by the Glasgow Colonial Missimiary sc«iety. After reserving a sufficient portion in front for the expected village, the seignior THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 309 ays the ath rate »ble 1 he pare tilies rears oung 0£ tithe nday- ended tional in the 8. In as dis- e vrere jccom- salary gniory as the for a* to say (after- organ- arvey le habit se and stown, induc- ^derson, ladaby Irving a lieignior divided the rear of lot 23 between the Presbyterian and Epis- copalian congregations, ti.. latter receiving the eastern half. The congregation, not being able to build a manse, Mr Anderson bought a village lot and built, in 1838, a house at his own expense. He was a good man and an excellent preacher and served his people disinterestedly, for up to his death, in 1861, he received little from them. , For a longtime the annual subscription was $2, and the few who gave $4 were considered liberal. From his flock he never got more than $200 in any one year, and could not have lived had be not received an equal amount from the clergy reserves and the seignior. On his being settled over them, the congrega- tion were desirous of completing the church, but it was 1839 before it was lathed, plastered, and otherwise finished, and* until then there were no proper seats, except those a few of the farmers had made for themselvea When John Donaldson, the schoolmaster of the upper Ormstown con- cession, got married in 1838, a friend told him, as a favor, to take the bride to his seat, which had a back ! Most of the work on the church was done by the farmers holding bees ; the finishing was paid by a subscription, largely paid in wheat. Long before that time, however, the Episcopalians had a church. The missionary, Charles Forest, urged the adherents of the church he so zealously served to secure a place of worship and obtained some outside aid towards its cost. In 1831 the comer-stone of the foundation of a small church was laid by a son of Colonel Brown's, and on it was raised a good frame building, with a gallery at one end. It was built by Hugh McKinnon, a Highlandman, who also did the carpenter work . of the Presbyterian church and of the one at Brodie's. Want of means delayed its completion, .and it was not until early in 1834 that it was formally opened by Archdeacon Mountain. It stood at t^e west corner of the side-line road, and in its rear was a burying- ground, in which Robert Williams was the first to be laid. In 1836 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel gave a grant of $2500 a year for providing missionaries in Lower Canada, when the Rev. William Brethour, an Irishman, and ^10 THE GRISTMILL. who hod been laboring for some time in Leeds, was sent, and when in March, 1837, Dr Mountain, now bishop, visited the congregation, over 70 were presented to him for the rite of confirmation, at which He expressed great surprise. The concessions back from the river had a large proportion of Irish Protestants, mainly Episcopalians, and of Englishmen, so that the new church started vrith equally good prospects as the Presbyterian. When the old church had to be re- placed, the new one was erected on the high ground north ' of the creek, and the site of the old church and graveyard is now covered with the houses of the village. There were now two churches in the place and nothing more, until, in 1837, the sei^ior finally decided to erect a grist-mill, for which there had been long a crying-need. On this becoming known, a tavern was opened by Robt. Beatty in a log-house that had been erected by Lovetl. David Ruth- erford in 1834 built what was at the time and for years after- ' wards the largest tavern in the district. He was told by his • neighbors that he was making- a mistake by building it on . his own fann, for there would be* a village yet on 23. He i scouted the idea of trade ever passing his door, and the new tavern, named the "yellow house" from the color it was ' painted, did a large business. In 1836 he rented the place to • John McEochem, but when the building of the mill was determined on, he gave up his lease and rented from Lovell Jones's old log-house until he could get a tavern of his own built, which was to be of brick. A substantial two story house was raised, which is still used «s an hotel. The brick were made near to it, at the side of the creek. ■ McEochern boarded the men who bdilt the mill and for the . next 40 years no house was better known than McEachern's, it being the usual place for all district ftieetings. The build- ing of the mill V^as marked by the exercise of one of the extraordinary privileges vested in the seignior. Alexander Mills, a carpenter by trade, carefully preserved the pine •'and oak on bis lot for future use. Brown ordered the 4M)ntractor to go to his lot and take what he saW fit, which he did, and Mills had no power to prevent him. The com- PROGRESS OF ORMSTOWN. 311 pleiion of 'the mill was delayed by the rebellion and was not ready to do work until the crop of 1839 was harvested, when one McDonald was miller for a short time, followed by Needier, an Englishman, who became popular and made money. With the building of the mill, Wm. and Bobi Cross opened a store and did a large trade. On the registrar of Huntingdon, D. K. Lighthall, being notiified to remove to Ormstown, or rather Durham, as the infant village was then named after Lord Durham, a warm friend of the Ellices, he secured the room above Mr Cross's store as an office, and opened his books there on the first of January, 1842. An innocent pun amused the neighborhood. Sergeant Younie called to see the new premises, and glancing round the room the old soldier exclaimed, " This is a light-hall." William McNaughton, a carpenter, who had been in the district since 1831, decided on taking up house in the new village, and on its completion it was the fourth. A blacksmith came in, ' Thomas Porter, who set up his shop in 1841 By this time roads were being opened out to the back concessions and in 1842 a fine bridge was built, giving the people of Jamestown ready access, and leading to the building, in the year follow- ing, of a sawmill at the south end of the dam by Enos Mills, the American who had built the bridge, and William Cross, with whom the seignior made the same arrangement as with the Thomsons on Evident creek, granting a lease for 7 years, at the end of which period he had the privilege of taking possession at a fixed valuation. In 1844 John Gibson arrived and erected a tannery, which was greatly needed and did well. David Rutherford, finding that business passed his door to the new village, moved into it himself, building a large frame tavern, which hastened his financial ruin. The yellow-house was rented by the government as a court-house, and there Judge Guay held one or two terms until Justice McCord was appointed for the district, and it was used on several occasions as tlie polling-place for the county. Con- vinced by his own experience and what he saw around him of the sin of using intoxicating liquors, Wm. McNaughtoUj in conjunction with Jas. Lockerby, Edward Sadler, J. W. Bryson, 812 EIB8T OOCUPASm OF LOXa mi i William Lindsay, and many others, oi||»Bized a temperance- society, and some time afterwards built a place for its meet- ings, at his own expense, which were encouraging in their nature, and led to similar societies being organized in the surrounding country. The hall was used by the Methodists, who began to hold meetings about 1844 ; the first preachers were Charles Qage and John Lowrey. When a congregation was organized Ormstown was included in the Huntingdon circuit and served by its ministers until 1855, when it got a clergyman of its own. The church was built the year before. JAMESTOWN, OUTARDE CONCESSION. 23 JohnO'Mara '24 Fmlay McMartin 25 Richard Hamilton George Sparling 26 William Patterson 27 Edward Murphy 28 Patrick Murphy 80 Robert N. Walsh 81 George Wilkinson 32 S.Wilkin8on2JohnSkillen 33 Patrick Smith 34 Francis Smith 85 Nich. Smith 2 Hugh Smith d6&37 Matt W.Harrison 38 Andrew Stewart 89 Thomas Stewart 40 Robert Woodrow 41 JohnMcCaffery 42 Hugh Boyle 2 Jno. Gorman 43 John H»*r ilton 44 Franuis Hughes 45 Jai/^cs McKee 46 James Carley 47 Andrew Cowan 48 Wm. Hamilton 2 J.Hughes Robt. Sadler 49 Jno.&Ab. Sadler T. Murphy THE ISLAND 1 Donald Abercrombie 2 Terry Smith 3 James Ross 4 Andrew Strachan 5 Alexander Strachan 6 John Stewart 7 John Rodgers 8 Wm.Brown 2 OwenCollum 9 James McCartney 10 Thoa Taylor 2 John Tassie 11 Peter Robidoux 12 Wm.Finn 2Ptk.McMahon 13 James & George Murphy 14 Jacob Monique Henry Whitkker 15 Louis Monique 16 Joseph Lapointe ormstown. 1st concession. 23 Village of Ormstown 24 Archd. and James McNeil 25 A Leishman 2 ADickman 26 AStruthers 2 Jas.Crother8 27 Daniel McNeil 28 John McClintock 29 William Smith 30 William Tremblay John Smellie 31 Matthew Furlong 32 Maurice & Jc^n Murphy 33 Peter McEwen 34 Hugh Morgan 35 Andrew Foster 36 James McNown Hugh McNown 37 Donald McEwen FIBOT OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. 818 1 2 3 88 John Pace 89 John Todd 40 James f inn 41 John Finn 42 William Milloy 48 Patrick Finn 44 Matt W. Harrison 45 William Nolan Thomas Sadler James Sadler 46 Alex. Stevenson 47 John McDougall 48 Paul Monique 49 William Nolan 2nd concession. James Brown Robert Beatty Rose lAly James Har^e^y 4 David Sinclair 5,6 & 7 William Rice 8 Thomas Barrington 9 Robert Lindsay 10 Thomas Barrington 11 William Smellie Thomas Hood 12 Thomas Tate 13 John Tate 14 Henry Tate 15 James and Qeo. Sangster 16 Charles Robertson 17 George Elliot 18 Edwurd Sadler 19 Thos. and David Broderick 20 William Leach 21 John Campbell 22 John Clark 23 Robert Rember, senr. 24 Robert Rember, jnnr. 25 Richard Crothers 26 John McDougall, 27 John McDougall 28 Robert Wetherstone 29 Qeorge Douglas 30 James Cavers 31 William Cavers 32 John Young 33 Samuel Greer 34 William Dodds 35 Arthur Moore 36 John RusmU 37 John McGregor 38 John Panton 39 Thomas Chambers 40 George Turner 41 Patrick Richard 42 James Liggett 43 David Corkindale 44 Hugh McConville 45 Mathew and Wm. Young 46 John McKee ^ 47 Archd. McDougall 48 James Kennedy 3rd concession. 1 William Hood 2 Francis Hood 3 John Wylie 4 David Ovans 5 Peter Lindsay 6 Robert Ban* 7 John Lockerby 8 Adam Lynch 9 Alex. Waddell 10 William Knox 11 James Both well 12 James Grant John and Francis Cain 13 John Rollo 14 Thomas Harley 15 & 16 John Miller John &; James McGerrigle 17 & 18 Alex. Fisher 17 John Cook 19 & 20 Robt McClenaghan 21 William SprouU 22 Peter McEwan 23 John Brown 24 William Patterson 25 John Haig 26 George Brock 4 biiU'ri .. f -,* \i 'WK 314 FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. 27 Andrew Brock 28 Joseph Hodgin 29 JohnSinton 30 Michael Tumbull 31 John Brydon 32 David Drummond 33 Thomas Beaitio 34 William Graham 35 James Hall ' 36 Ai-chd. Muir 37 Isaac Philipson 38 John Fletcher 39 William Hodgin 40 John Liffgett 41 Neil McLachtan 42 Hugh McKellar 9 George Ainalie lO&ll George Brock 13&14 Robt McMillan John Rankin, senr. Patrick Kelly Charies Kelly John Campbell Dennis Campbell James Whittal 6th concession. 1 Archd. McGill 2 Neil Cbok 3 Gilbert Cook 4 Donald Cook 5&6 Neil Mcintosh 11 Robt Rodger 43 Joseph and John Delorme 12 John Cowan 1 2 3 18 19 44 John Whittal 45 Samuel Crothers 46 Benjamin Burton 47 Irwm Armstrong 48 David McGill 4th concession. Robert Selkirk James Brady John Simpson 10 George Ainslie 14 James Bacom Walter Bryden William Cavers William Traverse John Beattie Francis Beattie 38 Edward SprouU 39 Archd. McKellar Martin Caveny 5th concession. 1 & 2 Wm., John, and James 1 13 & 14 Wm. Haire 15 Mrs Cowan 16 Robi Murray 17 Anthony Wood Wm. Johnston William Thomson 7th concession. Archd. McCoD^ick 6 Duncan McCoig 7 Alexander McCoig 8 Edward Thomson 9 David McCoig 11 & 12 Chas. Archambault 13 James Sangster 14 Nicol Porteous 15 John McKay 17 William Grieve 19& 20 Robt Rodger Lurasden i?TH CONCEaSION. John McEwen Selkirk & Wm. Bothwell 2 John McCracken 3 Charles Robertson 14 Daniel Murray 4 James Ainslie 15 John Russell 5 John Lanff 16 John S&wyer 7 Dougbid McNeil 17 John Sawyer, jr. 8 John Carruthers Taylor iiii> CHAPTER XVIII. HUNTINGDON In 1820 the sole indications of life on the site of the future village, were tho sawmill of the Percy brothers at the upper bridge and the house of Palmer at tho head of the rapids (page 139). These were the only openings in the forest, and beneath its shade the Chateaugay flowed in silence, unfretted save, at long intervals, by the ripple of the canoe of some lonely dweller on its banks as he journeyed to visit a neigh- bor equally isolated, or broken by a raft that glided, ghostlike, with its current to the St Lawrence. The end of the days of desolation were at hand ; the dark curtain of the woods was to be rolled aside and life and activity break the silence and stagnation of ages. The Chateaugay, where it sparkled over limestone-ledges for nearly a half-mile, marked out the site of a village as a distributing-centre for the settlements that immigration now assured would spring into l)eing, and it so happened that it pi'eceded them. Huntingdon was an out- growth from Dalh^usie settlement, one of its visitors, John Hunter, becoming its founder. His eldest son, John, told mc thus how it came to pass : In January, 1821, I accompanied my father from Montreal to Daihcusie settlement, the purpose of our journey being to sc'cct a lot. We put up at Davirl Brown's house, where I stayed, my father and James Bn n, who professed to act •for ih^ government, going across chc country to the Chateau- to see tho land there, and where he 8ele';ted lot 17 (Major hy fco's), and reltumed to the city. I stayed with the Browns until March, when my father came back with two 1/rain loads, comprising the outfit and provisions needed for settlement. Along with him, was a French Canadian, Joe, whom he had hired to help in clearing the land. Starting through the bush, we reached the Chatsaigfiy, and the 6 of us, (for tho teamsters helped, and we -id had axes) set to work at onte in felling treei:, li wt^-j n»i..i* 3 o'clock in the afternoon when 316 hunteh's follt. » u f*f' we began, and soon after dark we had the frame of a shanty pp, 12 X 14 feet, and piling into it hemlock boughs for beds, slept sound all night, warmed by a fire, which had a big back- log to prevent its setting fire to the wall. Next morning ray father went up to .the sawmill owned by the Percy brothers (James, Robert, and David) and bought a load of boards, so that when we completed the walls of the shanty, we closed it in an4 made it comfortable. The foUowmg day, father left, with the two traineaux for Montreal, and Joe and I had to shift for ourselves. Our only neighbors, beside the Percys, were Palmer and Pollica. Three weeks after, William Allan came up from Montreal, by way of Dalhousie settlement, and finding his way out to us by the Teafield, he stayed all that summer. He was a hearty man and a good singer of Scotch songs, and we enjoyed oureelves very much, the novelty of our situation not having worn away. Mrs FoUico, baked our bread, and we managed the rest of the co'ikiiig. L/uis Pollica came the same spring as we did, and with, ar old man, Du- mourier, lived in a shanty beside the mouth oi: Cowan creek. They were poor and lived by day's work. After a while, when immigrants came thick, Pollica kept a sort of a tavern, though whisky was all he could give tnem. Late in April father paid us a visit, walking alon^ th< Chateaugay from the Basin, and by which time Joe and I had a piece chopped. Father was a great walker, and thought nothing' of going to the city in a day, his only rest that while crossing the St Lawrence. After I'emaining a week, he went back to Mon- treal, taking Joe with him, who was to return, but he did not, so Mr Allan and I passed the summer alone. We missed Joe, who was a good fellow and sppke fair English. While high water Itisted, the river was full of rafts, and durivig that time we had no lack of company. In May fa ; f tci^Ajd from Montreal to Lachine with 2Q bushels of potai x^s yiu! 2 of wheat, which he placed on a bateau for Laguerre. v/hvre he hired an old Yankee, Hosea Shaw, to draw thetu to o ^i- shanty, which he did on a sled, draped, over mere tr^icks that wound through the forest, by a yoke of oxen. The potatoes and wheat we put in the groumi we had cleared. Father had brought witli him the plan of a house, and from looking at it had no idea of what it would be, or he never would have used it. He gave out tlio job to Bob Barter, a*«d saw his mistake when the frame was ready to bo raisecK "^herc not being men enough at hand to raise it, a messeLg yns sent up Trout river, and two or three came from eve" \ \^ roaa the lanes. When the frame was r.p. the men all got dead drunk. THE JOURNEY TO HUNTINGDON IN 1821. 317 The house was 30 X 40 feet, and two and a half stories high. My father called it "Hunter's Folly/' and the name stuck to . it To complete it, lime had to be burned and a kiln of bricks ' for the chimneya Its cost was not the worst part, for it , proved to be so cold that it was uninhabitable, and we had to partition off a part for living in during- the winter. When . we came, there was no house between Dewittville and Hunt- ingdon, except the. shanty of a German, Jacob Suttle, on the poiixt of lot 10. He waa seldom at home, however, for he and his son Henry were genendly in the woods, either hunting or , making potash. At Dewittville John Todd had a sawmill, and when the emigrants began to come in thick kept a house . of entertainment, such as it was. Macaulay of Glengarry was lumbering on a large scale, getting most of his pine on Trout river from Ford's rapids to Barfow's. Much was also taken from the ridge that extends from Beggar's to New .. Ireland. Oak was getting scarce, and what were was, was manufactured into staves for the West Indian market, and were worth from $38 to $40 a thousand. Much white ash was split for ship's oars. There were a number besides Ma- ^ caulay, who lumbered, of whom two, Thomas Fingland and ' Kent Wright, had good lai^e shanties. Judge Brown, an. American, contracted with the British government to get out masts, and I have seen them taken out 90 feet long. Opposite Dr ShirriflTs place, where the bank is cut down, (cadastral Na 235) there was a small clearance made by lumbermen to , form, their rafts. It was hard work, for the men had often , to work up to the wai&t in icecold water, but thev liked it, on acooujat of the excitement and high wages. The custom was to have a bucket of whisky, on the bank, to which a raftsman, when inclined, would go, dip up a tinf ul, and return to his work. Of the removal to Huntingdon a daughter of Hunter's (Mrs McNee) relates— ■\ Miy fftthfr Laving woond up his business in Montreal, the family move>i up in October, when the big house was habit- able thoufl^ not finished, for carpenters worked inside all ' winter. The fsmHy drove out toLachine. There was no' ferry at thai time to the Basin, so father arranged with the captaiu of ilie ateamer Uiat went to the Cascades to touch at a wharf there, waa about 8 miles west of the Chateaugay. It was raining heavily when before it wm ftoiahed^ (hat he was again unwittingly a trespasser, for one day a Fretah Canadian, BILL QOUDOE. 319 Nse were Ducharme, dressed in an old red coat, showed it had been granted to him for services in the war of 1812. But I am anticipating. During the fall, while Hunter was busy with his big house, there came tramping along an old salt, who gave his name as Bill Ooudge, and who, as was afterwards ascertained, was a deserter fi^m the Newcastle, the frigate which brought Lord Dalhousiei, and on board which he had rated as carpenter's mate. Professing to be competent to teach, a shanty, or out- . house, 12'feet long, which stood near where the mouth of the canal now is, was converted into a schoolroom, and 10 scholars gathered — 4 Percys, 3 Palm^^rs, and 3 Hunters — ^who however, learned little, for Bill Tvas unable to teach them much. His want of learning he made up by the severity of his discipline, and the scholars retaliated by playing truant, and, when they could with safety, mocking his appearance, which was some- what singular, from his having lost an eye by a drop of hot pitch while repairing a ship. Often Bill was on hand in the morning, and not. a single boy would appear. He remained 10 months, when he made for Quebec, and went to sea again. A few weeks after Bill Goudge's unexpected appearance, a physician paid the infant settlement a visit. Dr Fortune, a Glasgow licentiate, bad come out in 1820, and was staying with old Mr Torrance of Montreal, for they had been school- mates. One winter's day, a fellow-passenger, Jas. Tannahill, called on him, told him of Dalhousie settlement, and the pros- pect of the country's fast filling up, and asked him to go and see them. Having little to do and no encumbrance what> ever, the doctor accepted the invitation, and started off with Tannahill in his traineau. Hie settlers pressed upon him to stay, which he did, for their hikbits suited hin.*. He passed from hotite to hoQse, living with each a while. Naturally he vii^ed Hmttingdon, and found the few settlers there as congenUJ, and lived among them, lounging a good deal in McFwtJmm's store when it came to be built In the way of prsfetiee he got little to do, for the settlers were mainly peopU in tiie prime of lile and enjoyed rugged health, and his vwourow in the way ol medicine wete limited raiough, as ''wr 'til 310 ARRIVAL OP WM. BOWRON. may be judged by this incident Hugh Cameron (probably in the summer of 1823) was taken seriously ill with dysentery, when Dr Fortune, having no medicine, prescribed brandy ' with eggs beaten in it Neither were to be had nearer than Fort Covington, and thither Cameron sent one of his men with a $10 bill, the smallest he had. Not returning, Cameron was in imminent danger, when Palmer visited him, and told him to fill a bag with flour and boil it until he came back, which he did not until evening, when he brought a jug of new milk, which he mixed with the boiled flour, and made Cameron eat as much as he could, at the same time washing his body with vinegar. The treatment was successful, and was probably prescribed by Mrs Palmer, who had a wide reputation for skill in curing. The erring messenger, re- turned in a week, without a cent, having spent the $10 in earousing with a party of Highlanders from Glengarry he had met at Dundee Lines. After staying some time in Hun- tingdon and vicinity, Dr Fortune went to Glengarry for a few years, eventually marrying and settling down at St ' Anicet village, where he acquired a ^turge practice and a high reputation. In the summer of the year (18f2) succeeding that Hunter settled, there came walking from Lacolle, by way of Russel- town, a stout man past middle life. It was evening when he reached the river at the head of the rapids, aod hailing the • Palmers, a canoe went over and took him across, and he made his supper of com boiled in milk. This was William Bowron, who had been promised the appointment ^ crown lands agent He was a native of Crotherston, Torkihire, England, where he was bom in 178S. The family eqiigrated to America and took up their abode at Champlain, N.Y. On war being de- clared, Bowron moved across into Canada and lived in Mon- treal and Caldwell's Manor. Dvring thei war he, in company with Robert Hoyle, a fellow-Torkshire tnan, secured the con- tract for supplying the British troops at He aux Noiz with beef, and made a fortune out of it, buying th6 cattle from the American farmers along the line at a tithe for what their contract allowed and smuggling them across. Going into HE VISITS THE COUNTY. 321 s men. ger re- $10 in very he o Hun- y for a at St a high I Hunter Bossel- rhen he ing the . le made iwron, Is agent , where ica and ling de* in Mon- >mpany le con- ixwith >m the kt their [ng into business in Montreal as a clothier he lost all, and left for Peru, N.Y., eventually drifting to Lacolle, where the Hoyles had settled. This was not his first visit to the site of Hun- tingdon, nor to the county. He had traversed its frontier during the war and had visited Elgin and Huntingdon the previous summer. Of that visit George Sayer gives this account : In 1821 I was in Lacolle and found our old friend, for we came from the same place in Yorkshire, Mr Bowron, there. He told me he had the offer for an old song of 400 acres in Elgin from a Mr Whatman, and he meant to go and see what it was like, for Lord Dalhousie had issued a proclamation declaring the county of Huntingdon open for settlers, anci warning all who held grants to make the requisite settlement duties within sis months or their lands would be forfeited. In August *we left Lacolle in a buggy, going south to Cham- plain, then west to Mooers-town, and crossed back into Canada somewhere near Sweet's, but darkness overtook us, and we slept in a log-house on the American side. Next dav we called, in passing, at £ meet's, Stafford's, and Widow Qif- fillan's. On bending down Covey Hill, there was a place where we came over the rocks like a wall. The entire road was overshadowed by second-growth. Halting at Gentle's, where we cot a drink of sugar and vinegar mixed with water, we learned he had gone for the cows, and overtook him on the road. He was a rough, active, determined-looking man, and carried a long stick. Or. Mr Bowron telling him of the government's change of policy, in no longer trying to keep the frontier in bush, Mr Gentle struck his stick on the ground and exclaimed he was "Glad to hear it, for what better de- fence can there be than a loyal farmer with a gun in his hand !" We drove on to Squire Manning's, where we put up for the night, and he agreed to go with u& As the road would not farther allow of wheels, we started next morning on horseback. The first house we came to was Frosty Camp- bell's, so called from his white hair, and to distinguish him from Uncle Campbell. Here we had dinner. Squire Manning had put a big hunk of salt pork in one end of his ^.i4dle-ba^ and a loaf of bread in the other; Campbell supplied good hot tea. BpWron could not go the raw pork, but I did. We crossed Htfnipton's road, (the track cut by Izard, page 92) which was not much changed. We called at one or two houses on the 1st concession, of Hinchinbrook, among them that of Granny Beed's, but she was not at home. At rowers* ■ [B 322 ELGIN IN 1821. ' 'I' court there was a new log-house up to the square. On riding down the river-bank, I noticed docKs and nettles where Sandi- lands now lives and said it was the first good land I had seen since leaving Lacolle. There was a bridge across the Hin- chinbrook and the frame of the old sawmill was standing; it was near the site of the present gristmill. We rode on to Jaiek Elliot's, who lived on Peter Munro's place (lot 28, 6th con.) and stayed all night Elliot said he was uuable to guide us to the lots we had come to see, and went tor Zeb. Baxter, who lived farther down the river (lot 25), who being a hunter and familiar with the whole country, would likely be able to serve us. On Baxter's coming, he readily agreed to guide us. We started early in the morning, and followed Oak creek, which we crossed by my felling a tree. After passing k good deal of wet land, we reached the 400 acres, the posts of which Baxter readily discovered. We saw it was .splendid land, and Bowron determined to close the bargain for it Returning to Elliot's, we stayed with him a second night, and before starting for home, rode down to see Percy's sawmill, where Huntingdon now is. JameiS lived where Boyd does, and his brother Robert's house stood where the road now runa We went back to Lacolle the way we came. J. quote this narrative not merely to show how Bowron came to be connected with the county, but its state — that of a wilderness with a few Americans, or descendants of Ameri- cans, scattered aloUg its frontier. On his acquiring the 400 acres from Whatman, Bowron applied for the appointment of crown lands' agent, and in that capacity came, as stated, in the summer of 1822. He boarded with James Hamilton and at the Hunter's, bringing some pork as his contribution to the larder, until he got a shanty up on the river-bank on the Hinchinbrook side, lot 16 (John E wart's) having bought th^ block of land from Hamilton's line up to the present side- foad, 7 three-acre lots, from Scheifalitsky, a Pole, seignior of Chambly, for 75 cents an acre, and the 2 lots west of it from a Mr Gray of Montreal at $2 an acre, and the third at 75c. These people sold believing the lan4 to ht, comparatively worthless, and because they did not wish to Jo the settlement duties. Bowron saw that the rapids naturally marked the site for a village, and resolved to have it laid out as one. Soon after he came, a surveyor arrived, authorissed -by the PETER MCFJkRLANE. 323 lent of ited, in >n ink on Lnt side- I it from at 75c. led the as one. •by the government to remark the conces.<}ions of Hinchinbrook and Uy out the lots.. This was Thomas Carlisle, who had for an assistant, Duncan McCallum, who afterwards studied medi- cine, and became eminent as a physician in Montreal. He was then newly out from Scotland. Carlisle made a survey of concessions 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Hinchinbrook between the 26th of August and the 12th of October, when he had to desist. William Lalanne was entrusted the following year with the laying out of Godmanchester. There were several other arrivals during the summer of 1823. Charles McHardy and his wife came and he worked for some time at his trade, that of blacksmith, before moving on to a farm in Hinchinbrook. Then there was Peter Mc- Farlane, a blacksmith by trade, and who had been in business in Glasgow for many years. He had come over in the Re- becca on her spring trip, and on going to see his brother in Glengarry was strongly recommended to cross the St Law- rence and join the new settlement at Huntingdon. Mr Bowron by this time hi^l taken up his residence in James Percy's old house, having bought it and the sawmill, Percy moving into a house he had built that summer on the river- bank (No. 306) and which he had made large enough for a tavern. That winter he went heavily into lumbering in partnership with Bowron, and came out a beggared man. Bowron received McFarlane cordially and rented to him a room c^ his dwelling-house for the purpose of opening a store. That winter McFarlane got a shanty raised on Cha- teaugay street, a short distance east of Lake street, whithei* he moved his stock of goods, which was very small though their priees were not. His stock was so limited that he was often ottt of Uke commonest necessaries, though rarely out of whisky, of which he sold enormous quantities. He viras a good man for the settlers, being ready to trade with them, taking poiash and their services in assisting him to lumber, in pftymmit of goods. In th^ foUowi&g summer a former apprentiee of MeFariftne^s in Glasgow, Duncan McNee, arrived and h« placed him in which the vil- lagers hauled many a load of Cordwood and pastured their cows That winter (1825-6) a young man, Fisher Ames, came driving up the ^ce on the Ohateaugay, and announced his intention of opening store. He had served in John Hoyle's store at Lacolle, and hearing much from him of the new settlement at Huntingdon, had agreed with his fellow ap- prentice, Benjamin Lewis, that they would start in business there. Acquainted with Bowron, and recommended to him by his relative, Hoyle, he rented a small building from him opposite the mill,* and opened out ; Lew is, whose apprentice- ship did not expire until then, joining him in June. They subsequently moved to a larger house on r,he opposite side of •The building is incorporated in that of C. S. "^nrrows* bakery. n DAYS OF SCARCITY. 331 ere had rd, two on, who vhich is ady for se, when ind, and len they quarter, •n on his vras con- tle broke }d to his couraged land, and arose, in when he nail store, I up in the fire did was brulc lots were h the vil- ired their nes, came unced his in Hoyle's the new fellow ap- bttsiness led to him from him Lpprentice- fne. They tite side of ■^nrrows' the river, and finally, on Lewis'.s acquiring Lalanne's lot at the nortii-west end of the village, built a large stOx.e. BenJ. Lewis was regarded as the cleverest man in the settlement, and with his partner Ames, and ,l>is brother Joshua, who came in 1827, did the largest business for a number of years. Except what little money the new-comers brought, there was none in circulation, so having to give long credits and making many bad debts, they took heavy profits on what they sold. For the first 6 or 8 years the entire settlement depended more or less for its supply of food upon Montreal, it being long before even pork enough could be raised. By the line of canoes started by Reeves, which ran first to Dewittville and eventually to Huntingdon, the settlers not only sent their potalsh but received flour and pork as well as groceries. One time the canoe failed to come, and day after day passed with- out her anxiously looked for appearance, and scarcity, if not starvation, threatened the settlers. Neighbor shared with neighbor, and it may be guessed how low the stock had come, when it is stated that Mr Bowron's family lived for 3 days on milk and vegetables. McFarlane, at last, went down the river to find out what had happened, and learned that the ferry-boat from Lachine to the Basin had been wrecked. To illustrate the scarcity of money and show how Lewis came into possession of the lot (W| of 20) on which he built his store as stated, this story was told by John Hunter : William Lalanne, the surveyor, bought lot 20, paying $4 an acre, and erected a house and large shed, which subsequently came to be Thomson's tavern. He and Benjamin Lewis went to Montreal, part of their business being to buy cooking- stoves. They got them at S5 apiece, Lalanne giving his note, which Lewis endorsed. When the note came due, Lalanne gave a bond promising to pay Lewis on a certain day or, in default, give him up his farm. The bond was deposited with my father. When the day came, Lalanne found he was un- able to raise the money, and Lewis called on my father at 10 o'clock in the foreno of snow, and arranged that on his return he would preach, so word was forwarded to the most remote settlements. The place appointed was James Percy's bar-room; it being the largest room in the village, and it was crowded. McWattie was long in coming, and when he did appear it was plain he was only getting over the previous night's escess, and trembled so much that he frightened his little congregation by letting his Bible fall. He got through the ser^•ice creditably, however, preaching from John 6:40, and baptized several children. No soo-ier had he pronounced the benediction, than he asked for a gl&st^ of rum and water. Of a very different type was the service held by Bishop Stewart.* * He was a younger son of the Earl of Galloway and from his devout temperament was led to study for the ministry. Offering his services to the S. P. C. K., he was sent to this 1)rovince early in the century and appointed missionary at ^'relighsburg, then called Slabtown, and whose inhabitants were so coarse and irreligious that they resented his settling among them, and he could not find a boarding-place. 11^" found shelter with a widow a few miles distant, overcame the prejudices of, the people, and built 2 churches. *l'hough rich he spent nc^thing on himself, and lived in so plain a manner that when more than two called upon him, he had to draw the box which held his books fix)m under his bed for a seat. In presence he was v^ry plain, having protruding front teeth. His remarkable success was due to his earnestness and deep spirituality. He traversed the Eastern Townships regularly, but does not appear to have again visited Huntingdon. He died in 1837. He never mamed. I I Kfe;: DAVID FITCH. 333 here to re held, btled on f Jabet btie was Biined at that on cl to the ]S James lage, and when he previous [)ened his ) through 6:40, and inced the ber. Of a Stewart.* and from ministry, it to this ionary at ihftbitants 3 settling lace. II"" rcame the ough rich a manner " to draw 1 for a ^ont teeth. and deep I regularly, rdon. He In the coui*se of one of those tours which he took every winter to the new settlements, he came to Huntingdon, And stayed with Mr Bowron,* when word was sent round that he would preach. Percy's bar-room was again crowded by the .settlers, who listened with reverence to the prayers and sermon uttered by this pure-hearted servant of God. After his visit, Doctor Townsend of St Johns came occasionally, generally during sleighing. On one occasion, after baptizing 8^ a mother came in with her infant, when he declined to repeat the ceremony, with the remark that she ought to have been in time. While the village rarely saw a clergyman of any denomination, it was now and then visited by wandering lay-preachers from the American side, who, on their arrival, sent round word that they would preach in the schoolhouse on such a day and hour, when everybody would go, more from the event being a break in the daily monotony than any other reason. One American notified the villagers personally, and after making his announcement in a shoemaker's shop was asked who was to preach, when he oracularly replied "Come and see." There were only two residents who attempted preach- ing: Whadby, whose attempts were marr«. J by his practice, for he was not a i>ober man, and James Gordon, who had a farm on the ridge and kept, on 215, a cooper's shop where Dalgliesh's store stands. He was well-meaning but ignorant, being unable even to read, and his sermons were tedious vnd incoherent. In 1827 the village took a decided start. In March of that yeir David Fitch entered with his worldly effects on several sleighs and accompanied by 4 cows and 40 head of sheep. He was a tanner and shoemaker from Mooers, N.Y., and a man of some means. The appearance of the village on his arrival he thus described. Entering it by the Athelstan-road the first shanty was a little west of the mouth of the canal, * Mr " Bowron, when he came, was not a church-member. His parents and connections were Quakers, and while being visited by the latter they held two or three meetings in the schoolroom. On the Episcopal church being built, he at- tended it. 334 THE VILLAGE IN 1827. and occupied by Richard Rice, aa Irish Catholic, then work- ing as a laborer, but who afterwards got a lot on Victoria, settlement. The next house was Claud Burrows, a shoemaker, and in Castle Clouts was another shoemaker, an American named Nutting. Near to it, was the schoolhouse and then came Bowron's house, a long wooden edifice, with the saw and grist mills; between the latter and the road stood the miller's house, where Robert Taylor was installed. On the opposite side of the road was the tavern, kept by James Percy, and north of it Lewis & Ames' store. Crossing the river, and beginning at the extreme western limit, stood Palmer's shanty, then, after- a long; interval, a house and shed put up by William Lalanne, but not occupied. Next came McFarlane's store, near the eastern comer of Lake-st., left in the charge of McNee and Cairns, and his house to the east of it. His store was the better-stocked of the two, and the profits charged may be judged from the fact that for white and blue calico 50 cents a yard was the price. On the river-side, in front of McFarlane's, stood Best's blacksmith shop, and an ashery, and on the east side of the road, leading to the bridge, the shanty where Stinson, the saw-miller, lived. Old Mr Hunter built his house nearly opposite where St Andrew's now is, and then there was no shanty until 219 was reached, where Bumside dwelt. Farther east, on 183,. was the dwelling of Da vies the teacher, and then solid bush until the extreme east limit of the village, wfiere, on 287, dwelt Suttle. At the river-bank, opposite the end of the island, the canoes landed their cargoes, for, until the lower dam was built, the current was too strong for them to ascend farther. Fitch had not come with the intention of remaining per- manently, as he had Upper Canada in view as his destination, and meant to rent a house and work up the leather he had brought with him. No suitable place was to be htnA, and he bought from Bumside the frame of a building, large for those days, which he meant to erect on the field west oi the old Methodist church. On the snow going away, he saw the field was low and wet-, and determined not to build there. He DR. BELL. 335 bought lot 181 and hauling the timbers to it, proceeded to build. To do so, he had first to chop down the trees on the site. Ke t^tarted a shoe-shop at once, and also took steps to open a tannery, employing some half-dozen men altogether, and giving quite an impetus to the village. His best cus- tomers for many years were the farmers on the Meadows, who drove or walked up to deal with him. From them he got hay for his cattle, which they hauled up on the ice. His sheep he had to let out to James Gordon, then living on the Ridge That same summer, David Hall, a waggon-maker, and Sweeny, a tailor, both Irish Catholics, arrived, and built at the lower end of the village, and David Hunter put up a house at the comer of Chateaugay and Bouchette streets. Hall had acquired from his brother, a Dublin doctor, whom he had assisted in hospital, some knowledge of physic, and as the settlers had a profound belief in the benefits of being bled regularly every spring and fall, he was always ready to oblige them in opening a vein, and also prescribed, the medicine haying to be procured from Fort Covington or Malone. He also pulled teeth and attended any call for his skill He made no charge, and his patients, if they chose, could leave at his door a bushel of wheat or peas. He was a decent, liberal- minded man, and was much respected. The growth of the village was sustained the following year by the advent of several new settlers, chief of whom was Dr Bell, a Scotchman. He had travelled much, been in both Indies and visited the chief cities of the United States, and came to Huntingdon a stranger, expecting to find an opening in it from its being a new settlement He boarded at firtst with Fitch, and it was 3 months before he developed the reason of why a man of his talent should have sought the backwoods. He was subject to periodical sprees, drinking so long as he could have liquor brought to him, for he would not go for it or drink outside his own room. While under the influence of drink he invariably refused to exercise his skill, and the answer of his housekeeper (he was unmarried) to callers was, "that he was not at home." The removal of the store of Lewis & Ames to the north-west i! ' - 336 SMUOGLINO. comer of the village led to the establishing of an American colony around them, of whom the chief and best was Orson French, a shoemaker, who added a tannery to his business, placing it on the river-bank of 325. Besides him, there were some half a dozen others, constituting an anti-British element, and dividing the village into two factions, the head of the other being, for a time, Bowron. The jealousy grew with the years. A rival school was built on 251 (Oney's); indeed, the rivalry extended through every relation, even to religion, for the Americans favored Universalism. A curious mode of giving it expression was by writing insulting or satirical communications, and fastening them to the front fence or slipping below the door under cover of night Ames was the leading spirit in this mode of expressing the feelings of the American party and defending their reputation, and to Dr Bell the other side entrusted their replies. The missives of both were coarse and grossly personal. Tea and tobacco were the chief commodities on which the Canadian government raised revenue, and as they were cheap in the United States and dear in Canada, there was a great deal of smuggling, men making it a regular business to supply from the Champlain district the retailers of Montreal. Owing to the wret«3hed roads of Huntingdon, little was done in this in*egular trade, save in winter, previous to 1830. In 1825 Capt March, the customs officer at Lacolle, was instructed to extend his sup'ervision over Huntingdon, and paid two or three visits yearly thereafter. On hearing of liis approach the store- keeper would hide whatever tea or tobacco he had, and on the captain's entering would cordially greet him, and, pro- ducing the bottle, engage him in a chat Rising to go, he would ask if there were any dutiable goods on the premises, and being invited to look for himself, would remount his horse and leave. . Remonstrated with on one occasion for his easy mode of dealing with the storekeepers, he > said his in- structions were to keep in check the wholesale trade of sup- plying the city and not to interfere with small storekeepers who smuggled in., a .petty .way. Several times he chased smugglers whom he found on the road with loads for the DROWNING OF MCFAKLANE. 337 erican Orson sinosa, e were ement, of the V with indeed, eligion, node of latirical ence or les was lings of and to missives hich the •e cheap a great supply Owing in this i26Capt extend •ee visits le store- |, and on ^nd, pro- go, he iremises, )unt his for his his in- of sup- lekeepers ]e chased for the Basin, but without suocesa A noted smuggler, Qill Dickie, thus detected, he pursued down the Trout river road. On reaching the door of Thomson's tavern, Gill shouted for the best horse in the stable to change for his own blown beast, and dashed off as the officer came in sight, and was cloBely pursued to Dewittville where he whe'^Iv^ into a byroad that led to the back settlements, and over which March was afraid to follow. Tlie few who followed this desperate trade always drove poor horses, so that, if caught, their loss would be slight. The inducements to smuggle were great Tea that ionld be bought across the lines for 25c cost $1 if brought from Mon- treal, and there was a considerable, though less disproportion, in the prices of dry goods. Parishville whisky could be had at 20 to 25 cents a gallon, while in Montreal rum was 50 to 60 cents. Men made a business of peddling American whisky and tea and waited at every settler's door without conceal- ment, and, without, in a single instance, being molested by the Crown. Major Hingston was appointed a sort of deputy to March, but did not care to exercise his powers. In the spring of 1829 an accident happened which caused a deep sensation and proved a sad blow to the infant settle- ment. McFarlane, the storekeeper, had engaged during the winter in lumbering to a greater extent than ever before, having about 40 men employed. When the ice moved, he started his rafts, and followed them to Dewittville, being most anxious to get them to market. He stayed during the night with Hugh Cameron, and, early in the morning, crossed the milloond between the two dams to see his men and give them their dram. He got into a canoe to return for break- fetst, having along with him a uegcro, Charley Freeman, and a tailor who had recently come out from Scotland, McCallum by name. The negro alone understood the management of a canoe, and owing to the carelessness of one of the others, it upset above the pitch of the lower dam. The negro and McCallum swam back to the north bank, but McFarlane was swept over the dam, in sight of over a hundred raftsmen, who were powerless to save him. His body was not recovered for some 6 weeks, and was found 1^ miles below where he was m f 338 THE FIRST CATTLE SHOW. If'-' lii drowned. It was buried beside his house, near the sidewalk on 243, chains being placed round the coffin, with the inten- tion of lifting it to send it to Glengarry, b«t his relatives took no interest in the matter, and there his dust still lies under one of Huntingdon's stores. He left no will, and his clerk, Duncan McNee, was engaged by the creditors to collect the assets, and ultimately they made over the business to him. : The monotony of life in a hamlet buried deep in the woods >Vas broken in the fall of 1828 by the arrival of Col. Brown and Mr Nerval, who had come to hold an agricultural show. It was held on "the green," the open space between Bowron's house and the canal and mill — a place where children played and on summer evenings housewives gathered for social gossip. It was a meagre affair, of course, a few horses and more oxen ; a group of cows and an odd sheep or two. $72 was paid out by Mr Nerval in prizes and then the day was celebrated by a carouse. With the exception of 1830, when the funds would not permit, shows were held yearly there- after, generally during the last week in September, and were of increasing interest. Of the one in 1832, the report states that the turn-out "manifested the great improvement going forward in a country that ten years ago was little less than an impenetrable bush." The attendance grew more quickly than t' "^ exhibits, show-day coming to be regarded as the harvest holiday, and, noting this, one report declares that the. shows "promote cordiality and good-will, amalgamate persons of different races, and spread information." The '* relaxation and festivity" that chai-acterised thus early one of Huntingdon's peculiar institutions has increased with time and lost its grosser features. As funds grew more plentiful, oompetition ifi' crops was added, which were judged in the field ; in the case of roots, a square patch was measured off and dug in the presence of the judges, the yield being weighed. The prizes were good, $6, $5, and $4 fdr horses, and 84, $3, and $2 for cow«i. After a while, the shows were held on Prinoe Arthur square, and began to partake of the natiuve >ol fairs, the settlers coming in to buy and seH. Of 1iuj|»M> from a distance, two MeShaues (father and cousin of A MAIL IS ESTABLISHED. 339 ewalk inten- latives ill lies nd his collect bo him. woods Brown I show. jwron's played : social ses and o. $72 lay was 0, when y there- nd were :t states it going jss than quickly as the Ires that Llgamato The kriy one tith time rlentiful, in the lured off Id being hordes, fwa were :e of the Of ^Qsin of James McShane, M.P.P. for Montreal West) were prominent, and came up with rolls of bills in the pockets of their long coats and leather breeches. The evening was given up to drinking, and the taverns and stores were scenes of disorder. When James Percy left the village there was pressing need for a house of entertainment On acquiring Lalanno's lot, Lewis converted the stable into a good-sized tavern, joining Lalannu's log-house to one end of it for a bar-room, and it was the f.rst house where decent accommodation could be had. It was kept successively by Beiij. Lewis, James Love, Charles Hibbai-d, Orson French, King, Thos. Crawford, and John and Harrison Thomson — all Americans or of Am- encan descent — none of whom, except the Thomsons, kept it long. Mr Fitch adapted his dwelling-house for a hotel on his raising another, and rented it to John Thomson in 1882, who did not keep it long, moving up to opposite the bridge, and finally renting Lewis's hotel. In 1835 Mr Fitch moved in and kept hotel himself, and continued to do so until he handed over the business to his son-in-law, William Barrett. David Milne, who had a farm on Trout river, sold it to Robt. Murray, and opened a tavern which stood east of the Metho- dist church, on 245. The securing of a tavern had become a necessity to Lewis from his having taken the contract to carry the mail. Up to 1829 there was no postoffice in the district, and settlers depended upon Montreal or the U.S. offices for their mail-matter, and losing one or two days to send a letter or find if there was one for them. When a settler visited Montreal, he would ask at tlui postoffice for letters for all his neighbors. A letter to Great Britain cost $1, and seldom took less than 6 weeks to go. On the 6th April, 1629, Q, wail-route was established, having Laprairie, Cba- teaugay and Beauharnois as officea On the Gth July, 1830, Francis Maurice Lepallieur of Chateaugay started in fulfil- lment of a contract he had entered into to convey the mail < to Dundee, with liberty to cross to Fort Coyington. He made one trip « week, performing the journey on the back of a sorrel popy when the roads were bad and in » French cart when they permitted ; the only offices on the route, 340 THE 8TA0E. Reeves' and Huntingdon ; and his remuneration $240 a-year. The rate of postage was 18 cents a letter for any distance not greater than Quebec. There were not half a dozen nowspnpci's in the bag. They were dear, the annual sub- scription l>eing $4, and, in addition, there was 80 «etats postage. The postmaster at Huntingdon was Dowio Kettle Lighthall, who came through the Hoyles. His habit, when he had sorted the mail, was to read out aloud to the crowd that never failed to assemble when Lepallieur hove in sight, the address of each letter. The plan had the advantage, if the person was not present, of some neighbor who was, tolling him. When St Andrew's opened, he put the package of undelivered lettera in his pocket and after service hand- ed them to their owners. Lepallieur had been making his rounds a considerable while, when there came to Huntingdon an American named Campbell, who had fled from his credi- tors. Among other property he brought with him were a number of horses and a stage-waggon. A long-mooted pro- ject had been the establishing of a stage between Ogdensburg and Montreal, and Campbell undertook to perform the duty on the Canadian side. The experiment proved that it could be made a success in competent hands, and a company com- posed of Lewis, Schuyler, Ames, and Love bought him out. Sending to Albany for two of the best stage-coaches then made, they opened in the summer of 1832, making two trips a week, and when Lepallieur transferred to them his contract of carrying the mail. The route was well-patronized by Am- ericans and was a popular means of communication between Northern N^w York and Montreal until the canals were opened. Leaving Ogdensburg in the morning. Fort Coving- ton was reached in the evening, when a ^ew hours of rest were allowed. At 2 in the mo nnr i>he ixom was sounded and the journey was renewe . Canadian stage, which, drawn by 4 horses, drove (i Griggs str< to the lines and then reached Huntingdon y th Ridge-road in time for an early breakfast. The horses were pulled up along- side the ferry-boat at the Basin in the afternoon, and or the boat's Rearing Lachine another stage was seen to be in wait- GEORGE PRINGLE. 341 ing, which landed the passengers by nightfall at the dour of the Ottawa hotel, then kept by Hall on St James street The fare fh)m Fort Covington to Montreal was $3.50, and from Huntingdon $2.50, with half a dollar additional in winter, when the stage drove straight across the ice to the city. The management of the line was bad and the company became insolvent, when Joshua Lewis got solo control. Fall- ing under suspicion of being in sympathy with the rebels, the postoffice department, then managed by the Imperial authorities, withdrew the contract ($1000 a-year) of caiTyinjr the mail from him, and gave it to George Pringle in 18S9, who took the stage from Lewis and ran it tri-weekly for 14 years, using 3 horses instead of 4. In 1842 the steamer agreed to take the stage on board, which saved the transfer of baggage. The establishing of the stage led to additional postofiices being opened, and bags were made up for Ste Martine, where Primeau was postmaster ; for Widow Cross's at Point Round; for Durham (Ormstown) Wm. Cross postmaster; and Dewitt- ville, James Davidson. The starting of the stfl^-line, as important an event in thob^ i/imes as the opening of a rail- way in ours, ended the prosperous days of the canoes, which, thereafter, were resorted to only for conveying h.^vy goods. Reeves deplored this, for he had brought his canoe-line into fine working order. "Before the stage began," he said, "people looking for land had to stay overnight and the same going back, but now they go right on and all they leave is three coppers for a dram." The starting of the stage-line was rendered possible by the improvement of the roads by grahts from government. After years of persistent refusal to aid in improving the communi- cations of the country, it dawned suddenly upon French mem- bers that if they gave $5 to open up roads in the townships they could take $20 to improve those in the parishea The revenue, then raised by custom-duties levied at Quebec and Montreal, was advancing by leaps, owing to the rapid in- flux of immigrants into the Townships and Upper Canada, so thai there was: no lack of money. In 1829 the first grania were made, and for the next four sessions the chief rsM 342 GRANTS FOR ROADS. business of members was tiie promotion of petitions for grants to make roads and bridges in their counties, and j^nts were made by the liundred, and the expenditure of most was attended by bare-fsMsed misappropriation. In this distribution of public fr;nds, a part fell to the district of Beauhamois. $4000 was given to improve the road from Caughnawaga to Beauhamois, half of which was spent in btiilding a bridge at the Basin. A like sum was ^ven to cut out a road from St Timothy to St Regis. Col. Davidson was given a part to build the Dundee end, and during 1830 cut a track 6^ miles long through the woods and corduroyed 560 rods between Salmon river and Lagiierre. Dr McGibbon anci lijir Bowron were entrusted with $2000 to mAke a road from Laguerre to Huntingdon, and thence to Dewittville. The work was iinished in 1832. The contract for the bit of road from Huntingdon to Dewittville was taken by Thos. Barlow and Peter Gutterson in 1831, when it was straightened somewhat. The roads, where they passed through the woods, were cut 36 ft. wide and measured 20 ft. between the ditches. Subsequently, on the grant for the road from St Timothy proving insufficient, $4800 more was granted, when the exist- ing road along the lakeshore of Ste Barbe and St Anicet was made. Grants were also secured for roads and bridges in the seignioiy, the chief one being a road from Beauhamois up the St Louis, high ti-estle bridges spanning the creeks, and to the road from St Remi to Huntingdon. While it was an inestimable boon to the settlers to have roads where there were none before, they were execrably made, and in spring' and fall were impassable for wheels. During the tirst 10 years of its existence the stage had more than once to be suspended, and the mail-bag forwarded on horseback. During such a time, the carrier was Jound dead in a ditch near Helena, from his horse having stumbled in the dark. The opening of w^aggon-roads to the frontier revolutionized the trade of the district, which, instead of depending upon Montreal, now drew its supply of store-goods from the United States and continued to do so with impunity unul the union of the provinces, wheb the fiscal laws were more strictly enforeed. COURTS £STABLI^HEP« 34a Indeed, no attempt was made to uphold any of • the laws in the early days of the village. In 1826 Mr Bowron was made a commissk>ner for the trial of small causes but seldom exercised his powers from having no means of carrying themi into effect The inhabitants included a good many roughs^ one of whom, an Irishman named William McCoy, kept the place in terror when drunk. He lived by fishing and huntn ing, and habitually carried a double-barrelled rifle. One day he quarrelled with another notorious figh^>er, a Welshman named «Da vis, who threw him, and would have kicked him: to death but for the interference of bystanders. Both after-> wards went West, and Davis was hung in Ohio for murder, confessing before he was executed that )io had killed 2 men previously while drunk. When sober he was civil and active^ and was well educated. Drink, indeed, was the curse of the young village. On Saturday men came straggling into tha village, spent the day in idling and drinking, and by nightfall were drunk and quarrelsome. It was a common occurrence to see 30 or 40 men in front of McNee's struggling and fight- ing a la Donnybrook fair, from no other cause than that thei whisky they had drank had remo\ed all restraint. from theiri strong, passionate natures. The consumption of liquor was enormous, and to meet the demand Mr Bowron raised a build-; ing on the south-side of the river, opposite 267, for a distillery ,i but abandoned his project before the machinery was required^ The want of courts to settle disputes and enforce the collec- tion of claims was much felt, and an act having I "^en passed to reconstitute the magistracy in 1832, a petition w iS got up„ and carried round by John Gilmore asking that Huntingdon be included, when William Lamb and Charles Dewitt were appointed. They held a monthly court, at which not only, offenders were tried, but proces-verbaux were hpmolx^teii^ and much of the work that now falls to municipal councils was done by them. They held their first court in French's house; Orson French being clerk. Shortly after. a com-^ missioners' court was organized, which had sufficient business to require a mpnihly session, the court sitting in a log-house at the upper end of the village. I'hese courts developed two 'r.o'T — iM 344 VISITS FROM GOVERNORS. I pettifoggers, Sam Pelton and Tom Barlow, who made a double profit, for they also acted as bailiiis, and served their own papers, which they carried in the crown of their tall hats. The mode of dealing in those days was conducive to the dis- putes that lead to the law-courts. There being hardly any money in circulation, business was done by trading, and the dickers or tumings-in led to misunderstandings which necessi- tated suing. Of more benefit than the courts, was the estab- lishing of a registrar's office in 1830, John Munro being the first registrar, and who, from an accident in childhood, was dwarfish and deformed. He kept his office in the store of Ljghthall, who was appointed his successor, on his death, and in 1841 was ordered to move the office to Ormstown, where it remained 13 years. < Primitive and difficult of access as it was, Huntingdon re- ceived visits from two governor-generals. In 1829 Sir James Kempt, desirous of seeing the settlement, drove up in com- pany with Colonel Brown. While visiting Lewis's store, half-a-dozen petitions were handed to him by settlers who had grievances regarding their lands, when he testily ex- claimed, "Damn it; do you think I have come here to bold a court of justice?" and pitched them aside. They were taken in charge by an attendant, however, and justice was subsequently done to all by the department Dissatisfaction with the management of the local-agent was of long standing, for as early as the fall of 1823 a petition was sent to the governor by the settlers asking that he be relieved. The ivecond governor who came was Lord Qosford in 1836. ,The village had sufficiently progressed to justify its entertaining him to a dinner, for which a shed was erected in front of Milne's hotel, whence it was supplied, the dishes being handed ' out at the window. The governor, who lodged wilAi Mr Light- hall, stayed overnight While crossing the upper bridge he recognised Henry Turner, who had been brought up on his father's estate, and cordially shook hands with him. For the rest of his life Turner was known as Lord Gosford. The vice-regal party, which included Sir Qeorge Simpson, visited Fort Covington and there Brown Wki arrested (page 266) REMOVAL OF THE MILL-DAM. 345 ouble own hats, le dis- Y any id the Bcessi- estah- ng the d, was bore of bh, and here it don re- • James in com- s store, prs who bily ex- to hold !y were jce was The population of the village up to 1830 was exceedingly fluctuating, partly owing to lumbering being its main de- pendence and partly to many coming who left disappointed in their expectations of the place. In 1829 Bouchette found 'its population to be only 125, which was less than it had been, owing to the depression in lumbering. A striking proof of the paramount importance of the lumbering industry in those days and how everything else was made to defer to it was shown in an agitation that stirred the village for several years. The placing of the bridge by Mr Bowron where they suited his mills, led eventually to their removal. Raftsmen complained that it was so close to the dam, that it was diffi- cult, after shooting it, to steer between the piers of the bridge. Point was given to these complaints by the drowning of one man, William Wilson of the Gq;*e, and the numerous narrow escapes the bridge had from being wrecked. A raft of boards caught on a pier and hung there all summer. Masts were constantly beii^g caught Hugh Cameron, not forgetful of his wrongs, urged the lumbermen to compel the removal of the dam, which was 5 feet high, as an obstruction, and the farmers above the rapids joined, they declaring the back- water flooded their land. To avoid a legal decision, Bowron lowered his dam and engaged Barlow to dig a canal from the head of the rapids, thereby hoping to secure all the power he required. In this he wai disappointed for in summer there was not head enough and in winter the canal choked with anchor-ice. To remedy the one he first tried bolting a boom to the flat rock and then ena^v6red to meet the other by deepening and widening the mouth of the canal. The stone that was blasted in the operation, which was prosecuted in 1831, was sold at 12^ cents a load to McNee, who used them in building a store and dwelling-house in front of the lot on which now stands the Methodist church. It was the first stone building in the village, which up to then was com- posed of mean-looking frame and log-housea The improve- ment in the canal bad little eflect on the anchor-ice, and Mr Bowron decided to get out of the difficulty by rebuilding his milh on another site, and was the more inclined to do so X 11 . > J ill i j. " ' : ^m»>mmmammimmm y f 346 A FLOOD. 1 u 'i 1 li m IP from the fact that, by this time, both his mills were ncarly wom out-^the sawmill no longer cutting evenly and the gristmill liable to get out of order and making such poor flour that the settlers often preferred to go to Fort Coving- ton or to the Trout river mill. To satisfy both raftsmen and farmers, and secure ample head, Bowron chose a site for the new dam near the foot of the rapids, and preparations for building a mill were begun in 1831. The summer of that year was long remembered for its July freshet. It rained for six days with little cessation, filling the swamps and swelling every stream. In the spring the water had been so low that many rafts had been unable to reach the St Lawrence, and they lay stranded along Trout and Cha- teaugay rivers. With their withes warped and shrivelled by long exposure the flood easily lore them from their fastenings, and swept them tllong, unmanned and unguided, until broken up, covering the swollen waters with boards and logs. The flood was at its height on Sunday, and, there hap- pening to be service that day, the villagers had just left the schoolhouse, when the bridge yielded to the pressure and went with a crash. A man had barely stepped off" it when it began to move. It was replaced by another trestle bridge, the piers of the present one not being built until 1843. The backwater stopped the gristmills all over the district, so that many families were without b^ad for a fortnight. All the low lands were flooded, ruining both the hay, which it filled with sand, and the grain growing upon them, but for the poor settlers worse was to come. When the clouds passed, the fierce heat of the July sun evoked malaria from the soaked soil, and, for the first time, fever and ague visited the settlement Many, when struck down, knew not what ailed them, so unknown was the disease. Dr Bell was kept busy, and, to add to the distress, he had little of either quinine or the bark. The winter proved one of scarcity, and had it not been for the village storekeepers giving credit, many settlers would have suflered from hunger. The succeeding summer brought no improvement, for cholera broke out at Quebec in the first week of Jane, and spread at once to Montreal, THE CHOLERA. 347 learly i the . poor aving- !tsmen ite for rations mer of let. It iwamps icr had Bwjh the id Cha- rivelled ax their nguided, ards and lere hap- , left the mre and it when bridge, *3. The b, so that All the it filled tfe poor the fierce iked soil, ittlement them, so , and, to le or the it not ly settlers summer tt Quebec [Montreal, e \ causing a complete stagnation of business. For a long time it seemed as though Huntingdon was to escape altogether, so much so that when Benjamin Lewis was starting with the stage one morning, he was asked where he was going, he replied that he was proceeding to Montreal to bring back the cholera to kill off some of the poor people about Huntingdon. He did his business in Montreal and started for home apparently well. At Miller's tavern the stage halted for dinner, of which he partook, but afterwards be- came suddenly ill, determined to go no farther, and died that night. He was buried in Georgetown graveyard. After that there were scattered cases along the river, but the disease never became epidemic. It was worse at Dewittville than anywhere else, n number of French Canadians dyii^ and several Indians, who happened to be encamped ther^. One aftenioon the stage dropped a passenger at Dewittville who had taken ill, and drove rapidly to Huntingdon to send back Dr Bell, who succeeded in curing the patient. Whil6 in the East Indies Dr Bell had seen the disease, and affirmed if sent for in time he could cure it, but was not disposed to undertake any case that had advanced beyond the first stage. To Jairfes Davidson, son of Colonel John Davidson of Dundee, who hod by this time established himself at Dewittville, in chai-ge of a sawmill, the Doctor entrusted a quantity of medicine to be administered on the first appear- ance of illness, and after that there were no deaths. In B6yd Settlement, John Telford died of the disease and in Huntingdon there was another victim, Wallis Green's daugh- ter. Benjamin Lalanne, who w as subject to epileptic fits and was greatly disfigured In the fn te by having fallen into the fire while attacked by one, was taken ill at Athelstan, and died at Munro's. At the time of his death, he was preparing to build a store on 148, of which the foundation is still to be seen. His brother tlie surveyor had left by this time, and" died, about I860, in Hemingford. They were natives of the Eastern Townships ; English by their mother's side, and' Protestants. The snmmer following the visitc.tion of cholera, two young men alighted from the stage oue evening, who 348 Da SHIRRIFF. irili ;.'f; 1 III became prominent among the villagera One was Francis W. Shirriff, who had graduated a few months before as a phy- sician at Edinburgh. Dr Bell sent for him, and said he had learned he had decided on remaining and as there was not practice for two, if Dr ShirrifF would give him $100 he would leave. The money was paid, and Dr Bell left for near Allan's comers, where he died soon after from an over- dose of morphine. Dr Shirriff, notwithstanding, did have opposition. The American party induced a Dr Misisoom to come, who endeavored to eke out a living by keeping a small drug-store. The people, who could not catch his name, called him Dr Methusalah, and by that appellation he was best known. The young man who accompanied Dr Shirriff and who came from the same part of Haddingtonshire, was John Somerville, who alternated between farming and business. His brother, Robert B., arrived the same year and became the leading public man of the village and ultimately of the county. The new gristmill was opened in the fall of 1832 and the frame of a sawmill erected a few rods above it The new mill had 5 run of stones, driven by turbine wheels, and cost $6000, one-half of which was advanced by Archd. Henderson, who now became a partner with Bowron in his milling busi- ness. Walker Needier, who had been for some time in the old mill, was placed in charge of the new one. After the New Year, there was a great thaw, when the ice broke and left the river, carrying the frame of the new sawmill down the stream several hundred feet and breaking a comer of the gristmill. The village wags one night took down the sign of a storekeeper and nailed it to the mill, informing passers- by they could get groceries and dry goods on the ice. The sawmill was afterwards drawn back to its place by a sweep, and bolted down. The old gristmill was not long without a ienani In 1832 one Daniel Gorton of Malone rented it to make paper, sup- posing that from rags being cheap and nearness to Montreal he would do well. These were the days before machinery had come into general use for paper-making, and Gorton fol- BURNING OF THE CARDINO-MILL. 349 lowed the old method, dipping the pulp up by hand. He was a decent man and persevered for some time, making printing- paper only, which he sent to Montreal by means of a canoe of his own that plied to the Basin. The difficulties of trans- portation, especially in winter, caused him to abandon the enterprise, and the next tenant was another American, Stevens, when the old mill was fitted up " for carding and fulling cloth, something which had long been wanted, and which enabled farmers to turn their wool into cloth. The old mill met its fate in the Fall of 1836 and was the cause of the death of four of its occupants. One day Stevens left to visit Fort Covington. The weather was cold, and to prevent the oil from congealing about the machinery during the night, a pan of hot ashes was placed under the carding-mill. When all were asleep, it was conjectured the dripping oil caught fire from the ashes, and the whole building was al- most instantly wrapped in flames. The occupants slept in the second story, and as the boards curled off from the heat, they were seen lying in their beds, apparently having been smothered to death long before the flames reached them. The victims were, Mrs Stevens and her child, and the two mill-girls, Emmons and Stone. Stevens firmly believed the building had been set on fire* by thieves, who had stolen webs, measuring about 1000 yards, which were in readiness to be taken to Fort Covington to be dressed and finished, he not having the machinery for doing so. The only circumstance that supported his supposition was the absence of any charred remains of the cloth where it was piled. As may be imagined, this tragedy caused a deep sensation, and, like the drowning of McFarlane, formed a waymark in the his- tory of the village. The mill was rebuilt by Hoyle, who had owned the property for some time, and in 1839 was rented to Briggs, an American, who made very good cloth. Almost as unlooked for an industry as paper-making, was tried to be established in the village and about the same time. An American, Shirley Norton, got a building con- venient to the new sawmill, which he fitted up as a foundry, his fan being driven by the sawmill wheel, and the blsust I 350 SCHOOLS. conveyed across the mill-yard by a leather hose. He made such small castings as the settlers then needed, especially moulds for baking johnny cakes, but attempted nothing large. The cartage of the raw material was so expensive that he had to desist, and the building was applied to other use. Mr Bowron, in building his new mills where he did, had in view the moving of the village over to the east bank, which he had a surveyor lay out in streets and lots, but, from some cause, abandoned his intention. On completing the mills, he built a two-story residence for himself, the second stone-building in the village, now the property of the Hendersons (296). At the same time Andrew Smith, a saddler, engaged his brother-in-law, Killaly, to build a stone- house for him on 265. R. B. Soraerville, who owned the property on the opposite side of the road, did all he could to prevent it but to no purpose. The house was built and an example set of infringing upon the common, which was readily ^imitated by othei's, to the destruction of the beauty of the village, for had the front street been built only on one side as designed it would have been as spacious as picturesque. The refusal of its squattei*s to do road-labor or pay assess- ments, led to application to the government to survey the commpn and make it part of the village proper. In his "Tour Through North America" Patrick Shirreif tells how he drove up the Chateaugay to see his friends at Huntingdon, and says of it: "The village of Huntingdon consists of 30 or 40 wooden houses, with grist and .saw mills; paper and hat factory and a postoffice. There is a school, and a church is soon to be erected." The school alluded to Mfos that near the canal ; there was, however, another. The leading* villagers, strange to say, were strongly imbued with the notion that boys and girls ought to be taught separately, and as early &s 1829 opened a girls' school, which Miss 3(vdgely of Fort Covington kept in Percy's old tavern. She was succeeded by Miss Dowd of He aux Mott, and the school was maintained, with occasional intervals when a teacher could not be got, for over 25 years, when the people became reconciled to mixed schools. When the government began CHURCH MATTERS. 351 e made Decially aothing pensive o other he did, it bank, )ts, but, ipleting lelf, the jjerty of Smith, a a stonc- ned tiie could to t and an lich was e beauty y on one turesque. ,y assess- rvey the Shirreff riends at tingdon iw mills i school, luded to er. The acd with mratelj', ch Miss rn. She le school toacher e became nt began making grants to assist in building schoolhouses, the leading men of the village united in an attempt to erect an academy, and petitioned, in 1834, the legislature for a giunt of $1000, which was not given. The church alluded to by Mr ShirrefF as being in prospect was St Andrew's, and to trace how it came to be built needs a slight retrospect. Huntingdon was unfortunate in not having among its founders any who exerted an active influence for good, they being careless and worldly. For the first ten years there was no religious life to speak of ; no organized effort in spiritual things. Sunday was spent in idleness, in visiting and gossip, the day passing heavily; the more youthful went fishing or hunting, or, if the weather did not permit, played cards. As already stated, religious services were rare and irregular, and conducted by persons who commanded no respect. McWattie paid a few Visits, but only came when sent for to perform some minis- terial duty. A few staunch Presbyterians walked to Orms- town on the days he preached there, and until disgusted by his habits. The first Presbyterian minister from Montreal to visit Huntingdon was Dr Mathiesoii, who, in 1828, came to see Peter Horn of Elgin, who had been an old schoolmate. He rested at Huntingdon, staying with Hunter, who insisted on sending round word that he would conduct a service. "Being a paper-reader, (the Doctor tells this himself) I had to erect a pulpit by the fireside, which was easily extempo- rized by 2 chairs, back to back, and a four-legged stool laid across and covered over by a piece of carpet." He repeatedl}'' visited the settlement after that and so did Dr Bltkck. None of the Montreal ministers attempted to establish a congrega- tion, and their visits were regarded chiefly as being useful in furnishing an opportunity for baptisms and marriages. The first resident minister, was an Englishman, Rev Mr Xings- ford, a Baptist, who came to Canada in 1831, with a letter of introduction to Col. Davidson, who referred him to Bowron, Renting his old house, for he had gone to live near his new mills, Mr Kingsfofd and his wife remained for over a year, he preaching in the schooihouse and baptizing in the ihill-pond three converts. Mrs Kingsford, a most estimable ■i ' 352 EFFORTS TO GET A MINISTER. :"■% lady, assisted by engaging as mistress of the day-school for girls, and on Sundays had a Bible class in her house, which was largely attended. The field not being encouraging, this worthy couple, who had no family, left, and eventually settled in Pennsylvania. Apparently a year or so before the Kingsfords came, a Sunday-i^hool was opened by Joshua Lewis in the schoolhouse, assisted by his future wife, Eliza Ames. It was attended by the young people for miles around, many of them barefoot. Learning that the Methodist Epis- copal conference was to meet at Fort Covington in 1827, Wni. Dalgliesh, a Scotchman, who had then a farm on Trout river, and John Ingles, an American squatter on the Ridge, walked all the way to attend it, represented the spiritual destitution of Huntingdon, and urged that it be taken under its care. The utmost the conference's resources permitted, was to order that the minister of Fort Covington should include Hunting- don in his circuit, and make appointments so far as compat- ible with his duties on the American side. This meant very little, for the Fort Covington minister had little time to spare after attending to his own people, and the bush-tracks into Canada were bad beyond belief. The best he could do was to include the schoolhouse at Kensington in his preaching- stations, several years elapsing before regular appointments were made for Huntingdon. Before that, the arrival of the Rev James Miller (page 296) led to the organisation of a Presbyterian congregation. He was born at Polmont, Stir- lingshire, in 1791 and received his elementary education at the parish school and o.t that of Falkirk. He entered Glasgow college, in 1810, and read theology under Doctor Lawson of Selkirk. On completing his studies, he united with the Congregational church at Falkirk, and by it was licensed to preach. Unable to find a charge, he became a schoolmaster and followed that honorable occupation for 16 years, preaching as occasion ofiered. In 1828 he joined the U. P. Presbytery of Falkirk and Stirling, when he was ap- pointed a city missionary in Tradeston, Glasgow, and labored for 2 years, when, at the instance of Dr Wardlaw, he consent- ed to go to Canada under the auspij^s of the Glasgow Mis- TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. 353 ol for which g, this itually )re the Joshua ), Eliza iround, . ii Epis- 27,Wm. it river, ■walked ititution its care, to order lunting- compat- »ant very 1 to spare ftcks into i do was reaching- intments al of the ion of a ►nt, Stir- iducation entered ir Doctor le united it was tame a « for 16 tined the was ap- labored consent- igow Mis- sionary Society. He arrived, by way of New York, in Montreal in December 1830, when, by the direction of a friend, he went west by Dundee, driving up the Chateaugay to Hunt- ingdon, and proceeded as far as Brockville. Finding no better opening, he returned to Ormstown, and engaged as teaclicr until there was a vacancy for him as a settled minister. With that in view, he seized an early opportunity to revisit Huntingdon, when he stayed with Hunter, who, on learning that he was a minister, made him promise to come back on Sunday and preach. Word being circulated, he had a large congregation in the schoolhouse.'and so well pleased were his hearers that they asked him to come and be their minister, promising to build a house for him, which was raised on 232 by bees in the spring, of 1832, and was the first house on Hunter-street. He was installed in the schoolhouse, teaching in it during the week and preaching on Sunday. He dis- charged both duties excellently, the school being crowded to excess and his congregations large and interested. In the winter he had no less than 120 scholars on the roll, many of them men-grown. The American school (page 336) was then at its best and no good feeling existed between the scholars, there being skirmishes on the ice during recess, ending usually in the Yankee boys being chased to their own door. A man of decided views and with the courage of his convictions, Mr Miller set his face against the drinking- customs that prevailed, and organized a temperance society in the spring of 1832. The pledge was merely against dis- tilled liquors, but it did much good, by preparing the way for a more sweeping covenant and by directing people's minds towards considering the sin of using intoxicating liquors. The time was favorable, for many farmers had become un- easy in conscience regarding the drinking at bees, yet none had the courage to set the example of banishing the keg. The temperance reform supplied the required countenance and motive for their new departure, and thereafter many farmers had no drink at their bees. On the evening of the 4th May, at one of the meetings in the schoolhouse, Thomas Danskin delivered a lecture so excellent that it was printed f" ii' 354 ST. ANDREW'S BEGUN. after his death. Very soon Mr Miller's hearers began to think of building a church, and as to the site there was no differ- ence of opinion. The point below the bridge hafl been covered by a grove of giant oaks and pines, which had been among the first to fall before the lumberman's axe, and forming a clear- ance when all around was bush. When the village came into existence this clearance was used as a washing-green, and there, for many years, the goodwives slung kettles, washed their linen with water taken from the river, and spread them on the gretss and the stumps that abounded. At the comer next the bridge, lot 260, Bowron put up a shanty for his sawyer, an American, named Schofield, who planted potatoes in the clear- ance. In the summer of 1832 a child of Bryant's (a black- smith), died, and he asked Schofield's permission to bury it by the riverside. Armstrong conducted the religious service, and the body was committed to the ground, the first of many destined to follow. The second to be buried was Andrew Cowan, drowned from off a raft at Dewittville, who was buried where the postoffice block stands, and dressed as he was recovered from the river, boots and all. After this, as if by common consent, the strip of land became the burial-place of the neighborhood and the comer of Percy's old cornfield (a few yards east of the old Methodist church), where one or more of that family had been buried previous to 1825, and used subsequently on several occasions by the settlers, was no|longer resorted to. The Old Country idea, that the church should be with the graveyard, decided the members of Mr Miller's congregation on where they should build. In the Fall of 1833 they had bees to take out the timbers, which were framed by Elijah Matthews, an Englishman, who came from Odelltown, and had been in Huntingdon several years.! His wife was Irish, and though thty had no family, werej kept poor, it was currently believed, by their enormous ap- petites ! The frame was raised and, to use the phrase ofl those days, it "stood in sticks" for a year, for the peopkl were unable to finish it In 1834 they managed to enclo it, the contribution of many farmers being packs of shingle they had shaved themselves. The following year it was clap REV. MR. WALKER. 355 1 to think no differ- sn covered nmong the ig a clear- came into , and there, ahed their tiem on the er next the sawyer, an in the clear- t's (a black- 1 to bury it ;ious service, irst of many was Andrew lie, who was Iressed as he ter this, as if B burial-place old cornfield where one or ;o 1825, and settlers, was ,at the church embers of Mr ,uild. In the inibers, which lan, who came several years. , family, were enormous ap- the phrase oi| for the pe- ' Lged to enclo ;k8 of shingle karitwas clap boarded and finished, but not seated. Singular to relate, tlie cause of all this activity in church matters, never preached in the new edifice. The Presbytery of Montreal refused to recognize him, owing to the insufficiency of his credentials, and, despairing of his induction as minister of Huntingdon, in 1836 he accepted a call from Chateaugay, N.Y., and died there, after a prolonged and useful incumbency. During the first year of Mr Millers stay in Huntingdon, the religious differences between t>e A.merican and Old Coun- try inhabitants of the village cmc ijo a climax. Tlie former had brought the Universalist minister at Malone, Rev Mr Bellew, to preach several times. Mr Miller replied to him, and a controversy ensued, which aroused such deep interest that people came from as far as Gv^orgetown to liear the dis- putants. Mr Miller, at first, took the same text as his opponent, preaching on it the following Sunday, but, finally, came to close quarters, and replied on the spot. In this he had a great advantage, as Bellew got on ill without a manu- script, and was further at a loss from being only superficially acquainted with the Greek Testament. On one Sunday, he was so decisively refuted, that he never returned, and Uni- versalism, which, for a while, looked as if it would gain a footing in Huntingdon, became unknown. In the fall of 1834, the Rev William Montgomery Walker, a native of Ayrshire, arrived, in Montreal, having been sent out by the Glasgow Colonial Missionary Society. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Montreal, and in November proceeded to Huntingdon accompanied by Dr Black. The church not being ready, he was inducted in the old sawmill^ and afterwards preached in the schoolhousa Of his first sermon, the odd comment of Dr Bell has been preserved. While a knot of the people were discussing the new minister, the Doctor was asked his opinion of the sermon, when he replied that he thought the preacher bad been too hard on the devil ! The force of expression thus indicated was char- acteristic of Mr Walker, who placed undue emphasis on whatever idea possessed his thou^ts for the time being and, consequently, was vehement in his language. Though ;mo THK CIIUUCII OI'KNKI). 51 : -i' very untM|ual, \w Wft.i aokuowliMljijiMl to l>o a j^roat pn'ai'hcr l>y his tlock. whoso tastes ho suitoil. Ho roa«l his first sor- IUOI1, Utit *»n Joanunjj; tliat thi^ poopht dislikod tho papor, ]u> said it was all oiio to him, ho could do without it, and never al'tor used MjanuMcript. At tho conjfn»^ational mooting Dr lUack UH'd all Ids poi-stiasiv^} j,r,wors to induco tho |W»oplo to sulwt'rii)0 moro lihorally t> tho suppo!*, of tho now nn'nistrr than thoy wiTO inclinod, when Rohort Taylor, tho miller, oxclaimod, "It's a' voiy wool, hut you nover minded us till noo; you lot U8 a' j^) to holl thojjithor until th»?r« was word o' this monoy oonnn' tVao the clorj^y land." Tho money spoken oi was that of i\w clorgy-njsorvos, which formtnl tlio l)aoklM>no of tho ministor's salary. Mr Walkor organized a kirk-sos,sion; Uoorgo Danskin, Hugh }Wr, and James Tully hoing oldoix Mr Harr was procontor. Tlio fiist couple he marrioil was Alox. Andoraon (the laird) and Elizabeth Tully, wlunn ho cried in tho Scotch fashion. Being tho first churcli, tho settlors, irrespective of denomination, took seats in it, and during Mr Walker's incumlxmcy it was always cix)wded. His energy was not Ixninded by Huntingdon, however, for he established preaching-stations all around the village, and after the service in tho church, taking a piece of bread and cheese i!» his hand, he started off ai once on foot to his second ap- pointment, preaclnng on alternate Sundays at Marshall's and Elgin schoolhouses, with occasional servicos in those at Muii- ro's (near Athelstan) and Dewittville. On the completion of the church, a move was made to fence the graveyard, for, in muddy weather, it was used as a short cut to tlic bridge, and cattle bntwsed unmolested amid tho graves. A rumor, that a pig had uprooted and devoured i\ child, stimulated the movement, and in 1836 a tolerable fence was erected. Tho highest subscription was 91.50, and only $11 in cash was collected. The people were unequal to the building of such a manse as Mr Walker wanted, so he bought a lot on the north-oast comer of Prince and Bouchette streets and raised, what was considered in those days, a very fine house at his own expense. For quite a while after the church was opened, the only THK UEVIVAI,, uni vt'hicli'H known wore <)X-h1«3(|h during winter and ox-cartH in smnnior, their ooeupants N(|uattin^ on p<>iiMe-straw. For many years Mrs Uos(! and MrH Ueid, who hMl Hociety, atUtndud not only churcli hut nuuh) tlioir visitH in a ScottJi cart. 'I hts con- dition of tfjc. roads rendered the nsi; of lightc-r vvhiehfH in»- possihle. Kven in the villn^'e the niu what evangelistic work they could. Miss Gordon took charg** of the girls' kvIiooI in the village and Miss Poars<»n of the school on the liiy axe went U> my home, where I found supper on the table. My wife said that Miss Pearson and Mis.s Gordon had been ..i, and left word that there was to be a prayer-meeting at the schl (then on Mc- Nair's hill) for a revival of religitjn. The expressicm was ncAV to us all, but I felt as if something was coming, as if it were a cry "Awake, thou sleoper." I went to the meeting, which was attended by two from Huntingdon — Adam and Johnston of Laprairie. They made the announcement, that I ;!^ 358 THE SECESSION. Ourrie, a revivalist, was coming. Fears were entertained that Mr Walker would not give him the church to preach in on Sunday, but he did, and during the following week meetings were held every night in the sort of court-house where Oney now^ is (lot 251) but the church was refused the second Sunday. This bore on my mind, and, after a struggle, I felt it my duty to go and see Mr Walker about it. He received me kindly, said he perceived there was a great change in me, asked me the names of the converts, so that they might be watched for 10 years, to see if their change was genuine, and offered to lend me any books from his library. He would give me no satisfaction about allowing Currie the use of the church, but promised to attend one of his meetings. I asked him to let us unite in prayer. He shook like a leaf, though he con- sented, and I, who could not have prayed a few days before, had full utterance. Mr Walker attended as promised, and was as Saul amongst us, for he was very tall, interested in the service and joined heartily in the hymns. He, however, turned against the movement more and more as time went "on, and some 32 of his people withdrew and formed a con- j^regation. Mr Currie. as may be supposed from this iic^iiiitive, was a man of force and eloquence. He only remained 3 weeks and never revisited Huntingdon, yet during that short time he set in motion the most remarkable revival of vital Chris- tianity the place has known, for when he left hundreds were under deep convictions to whom religious feeling was un- known when he came. Mr Walker wa5 disposed to counte- nance the movement, and his subsequent opposition was attributed to the influence of the leading members of his con- gregation, prominent among whom was Major Gardner, who ridiculed the revival in dogerel as wretched as the sentiment. The older people regarded the doctrine of instant conversion with doubt, and unhesitatingly condemned prayer-meetings and hymns as innovations without warrant, but the cause of antipathy among the majority was Currie's uncompromising denunciation of the use of strong drink. He uttered no un- certain sound ; the sin of the drinking practices, then uni- versal, he laid bare. That people to whom whisky was more familiar than tea, and who had been brought up t,o regard it as a necessary of life, should resent the views laid down, was THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 359 natural, and the feeling among the majority of the attendants of St Andrew's was that those who believed what Currie taught should not be allowed to remain among them. The result was that a secession of the best people took place, in- cluding such men as the Caldwells, the Clydes, the Biggars, Dunsmores, Cunninghams, Cowans, Lairds, and the Whites. The prospect was that those who left would, before long, be the stronger body, for in two years they counted 200 mem- bers. They organized as a congregation of the American Presbyterian church, and received as their first minister a Mr Wells, an excellent preacher. Like all Americans, he was suspected during the insurrection of sympathizing with the rebels ; in his case unjustly. In the winter of 1838 he had occasion to visit Fort Covington and it being late when he returned he stayed overnight at James Clyde's. One of the mounted patrol, who disliked the new movement, saw him enter and perceived a chance of annoying its leader. He rode to Huntingdon and reported to Colonel Crmpbell that,a suspicious-looking stranger from the States had put up at Clyde's. He denied that he knew him, and expressed his belief that the stranger was a spy. Three troopers were de- tailed to go and arrest him. Mr Wells was taken from his bed, in spite of his protestations and those of his host, and hurried to the village, where, of course, he was immediately released with voluble apologies. The insult affected Mr Wells so deeply that he left, and the Rev Mr Dobie came as his successor. He w^as zealous and sincere but most indiscreet, struck off from the roll as members many excellent persons whom he adjudged unsound in the faith, so that the congre- gation declined. It worshipped in a log-house, that stood on lot 233 until 1842, when a good frame church was raised on the opposite side of the street, lot 323. The completion of the Presbyterian church was followed by the organizing of an Episcopal congregation. In the fall of 1834 Archdeacon Mountain, (afterwards Bishop) came to Huntingdon by way of Ormstown, and on Sunday held ser- vice in the bam of Catten, lot 27, on the Chateaugay, which was so filled that many had to stand around the open door. w 360 ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. ^^H^m , 1 .: ■ 1 .'i^^^^B i; ^^^^^B > ! I^H t; J^H !'" ¥ He administered the holy communion on the occasion. In the afternoon ho preached in the schoolhouse nt the village, "where (he says) the people were jammed together in an oppressive degree, and there were also auditors on the out- side of the windows." This visit had a stimulating effect upon the Episcopalians, of whom there were a great many, chiefly North of Ireland people. In 1835 a catechist, a Mr Harvey from Kingston, arrived, and took up house, for he had a family. He preached in the schoolhouse and also at the Gore, where he resided M'hen he left, which was in about 18 months. He was a decent, consciexitious man. It was his custom, before passing the threshold of any of his people, to invoke a blessing upon the house. On Sunday he read the service and a sermon out of a book. At the beginning of 1837 the bishop returned, and gives us this pretty picture as an incident in his journey : "In emerging from a wood, on the road to Huntingdon, into a clearing full of stumps, we were at a loss to pursue the right track, and drove up to a log-hut, where, by a light, I saw a mother reading the Bible to her children closing round her knees. She was rejoiced to see me, and, bringing out a lantern, walked in front of us for some distance through the snow, and set us in our right course." Who this good mother was I have been unable to ascertain. The bishop goes on to say: "I preached at Hunt- ingdon, in a small edifice of squared logs, contrived a double debt to pay, being constructed for holding the sessions of the magistrates and adapted also for use as a schoolroom. I had 39 communicants, baptized 11 children and churched the mothers." Before he left he succeeded in starting a move- ment to build a church, Bowron and Lewis taking part in it The contract was given to William and David Lamb, who were paid mainly by a grant from the Society for the Propa- gation of Christian Knowledge. It was completed in 1839, when the Rev William Brethour, missionary dt Ormstown, arranged to have stated services in it. That year the first meeting of the Bible Society was held in it, at which Colonel Campbell presided, and named a committee of two from the Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian congregations. The PIONEERS OF METHODISM. 361 i. In illage, in an e out- effect many, i, a Mr for he also at a about •was his ;ople, to ead the ining of icture as Bvood, on imps, we 5 up to a the Bible jjoiced to of us for )ur right unable to at Hunt- a double ns of the room. I rched the a move- )art in it ^mb, who lie Propa- in 1839, irmstown, the first fh Colonel from the .ns. The church was on the site of the present one ; the lot was given free by the government. At thafc time the Episcopal church httd more adherents than either of its sister denominations, and the prospect was that it would prove the strongest of the three. Before m^ny years, the larger portion of its members had joined the Methodists, The Rev D. B. Panther was the lirst resident minister. Although last to have a church and the organization it signifies, the Methodists had been an active element from 1830. At first, the only Methodists were a few of the Ameri- can squatters, and their example did not recommend the body they professed to belong to. Mr Dalgliesh, already alluded to, was the first Old Countryman to join them, and in 1830 there came an awakening that thenceforth gave the Metho- dist body a standing in the community. It arose in this way. Henry Denio, a blacksmith of the town of Fort Cov- ington, had got into debt, and as money was more plentiful on this side at that time, came to the Ridge, and arranged with a man named Dank, near Clyde's corners, to work for him on condition that he be permitted to make ashes in his bijsh. In 6 months he had mani - Photographic; Sciences Corporation ti )MEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 C^'. f/i A 868 VICTORU SBTTLEMEKT. the bull pattern. The whole settlement gathel^d to see it start and a good crop of oats rewarded the venture. The introduction of the plow, caused horses to be used, and they gradually superseded oxen. For many winters, habitants from the lower parishes would come in traineaux leading a string of 4 or 5 ponies, which they dickered with the sdttlers. The first religious service was held by John Lowrey, who, one Sunday evening, preached in Jonathan Sparrow's shanty, having the settlement as his audience. After him, the Metho- dists held meetings at regular though wide apart intervals. When Mr Harvey came to the village, he held regular service every second Sunday evening, walking both ways; and often coming in with his boots full of water. In case of danger from bears, the settlers gave him an escort back across the swamp. By this time, a schoolhouse had been built on No 5, where he held his meetings. The first teacher was named Leitch, passionate and harsh and fond of drink. On the death of his wife, Jonathan Sparrow set apart a plot in front of his farm as a burying-ground, and it was used generally for a long series of years, owing to the difficulty of access to the village. Mis Lattimore was the second to be placed to rest in it First to settle on the land between New Ireland and the river was Owen Heffeman on lot 13. O^e who was a hunter in those days, relates his entering Owen's house, tired and hungry, and finding the wife getting supper ready. The table was a log of split basswood, and on it Mrs Heffeman emptied a pot of potatoes, which th^y ate w'ith no other relish than some salt. The same difficulties had to be eon- tended with OS in New Ireland, the land being wet, but there was, of course^ not the same trouble in getting to the village. For a long while the settlement was known as Connaught ; 25 years ago it was given the more appropriate name of Victoria settlement The first to settle west of it was Robert Cowan, who came from county Derry in 1881, and who said : When I came on to ihis lot, 16, there was not a tree cut, and they stood so close to the shanty that my wife cune out when one was about to fall I put the shanty on a ridge and THE BIGGAR SETTLEXENT. 369 my wife helped me to roll the logs down it to form heaps. Ml the road to Pollica's in the village was a swamp, and we had to walk on logs. I was brought up a weaver, and an old neighbor, Edward Dawson, coming to stay while sick, I got him to make a loom, which he did, picking up in the woods dry poles for lumber. After that, I did not work much out of doors. On the stretch of country between Cowan's and Clyde's comers the first settler was James Biggar, who came from the Borders, and arrived in Canada in 1819. After trying Dundas county, he resolved on taking up land in Huntingdon and visiting it acquired 25, and moved bin family over the last of sleighing in 1823. There was no road of any kind, but one of the American squatters to the west of him, Force» undertook to draw his stuff from Laguerre in an ozsled, which he managed to do. Those Americans had come in from Trout river, the attraction being the splendid growth of timber for ashes. They shifted along the Ridge, staying in no place long, making potash and working for the lum- berers. The first Old Country neighbors Biggar had were three brothers, John, Robert, and James Dunsmore, from county i>erry, who left Ireland with the intention of settling near Fort Covington, but moved from there to lots 21 and 82 on the 5th range of Oodmanchester. They were joined by their cousin, William Cunningham, in 1825, whose narrative is as follows : I sailed from Londonderry on the iith May, 1825, on tho Harrison, an old man-of-war, a fast sailer but crazy from ageu Owing to rough weather and head winds, it was 6 weeks before we reached Quebec. There were 750 passengers, all Catholics except a score or so. They domineered over the Protestants, refusing us our fair share of water and keeping- us from the caboose, until we joined and asserted our rights by force. I came up to Montreal in the Lady Sherbrooke, and went to Lachine in a French cart, where I got on to a Durham boat, bound for Coteau. Being afraid of my chest being stolen, I lay on top of it and tried to sleep, but could not, for the jabbering of the Indians and Frenchmen over my . head I wanted to go to Fort Covington, where I understood my cousins the Dunsmores were, but when we reached Coteau I met a young North of Ireland woman at Simpson's, who ^'W' >:.''' 370 THE CUNNINGHAM SETTLEMENT. told me they had moved to Huntingdon, and that my best way to reach them was to go to David Brown's, near Port Lewis, and walk from there. She hired a man to row me to Brown's, and I started, there being another passenger, a wo- man. When half way across, a squall burst on us, when the boatman wanted to throw my chest overboard to lighten the canoe, but I would not let him, and giving the paddle to the woman, I took one of the oars, and, for I was used to boating in Ireland, kept the canoe's head right, and let her drift to an island, near the north shore, the only inhabitants of which were some fishermen, who had a sort of summer-shanty. They ^ve us some eels, which we roasted, and ate with some bread I had in my chest. Next morning, the lake was very rough, too high for the boat to venture out, and on learning by signs that the water between the island and the shore was not deep, which I could see from its being studded with rushes, 1 got a rope and slinging* my chest on my back, waded the distance. I hired a cart to take me back to Coteau, where I found the Durliam boats still lying, having been unable to sail from the storm. Being told one was bound >f or Fort Covington, I went on board, and Capt. Lucas agreed to give me passage, and his wife made me breakfast. I reached the Fort without more trouble, and there learned . that the Dunsmores had all gone to Canada, being unable to get land of their own any nearer. Being directed which road to follow, I started on foot The road was good until I got to Trout River Lines, where I rested at John O'Reilly's. My feet were sore by this time, and O'Reilly told me to pull my boots off, and bringing a tumbler of spirits, with part he rubbed my feet, and made me drink the rest. It was the Fourth of July, and the Americans were celebrating it. The road along Trout river was very bad, fit only for oxen, and I ra6t two of the Elder boys- working on it There wore qirtte a number of small clearancea Towards evening I reached John Wallis's, where I went in to rest and ask my way. There I found James Biggar, who told me he was a neighbor to my cousins, and I went with him. The road from Wallis's to the Ridge was merely a blazed track. I stayed all night at Biggar's, and staH«d next morning for my coitsins. I soon came on their clearing, and there I found the 3 brothers at work in' their shirts only, for the day was oppressively hot, logging. John was the first to recocnize me, and mshing towards me, he flung his arms around* my neck, knocking me doWn, and rolling over me in ecstasy of joy. I agreea to work ^ith them, and stayed altogether 6 SETTLERS TOILS. 371 inoQilis. They were living on lot 21, in a shanty 10x14, and OS they had only been there since the spring had little done. I wrote my father, telling him of what the country M as like, ' and leaving him to decide whether he and the family should follow me. To post the letter, I had to walk to Fort Covington, 22 miles, that being the nearest office. That fall an answer came, that they would join me in the spring. I thereupon squatted on lots 18 and 19, put up a shanty and made a small cleamnce. Afterwards I had to pay the seigniory, which claimed these lots, $2.50 an acre for them. Father and the rest of them came next summer, and there being 4 brothers of us, we were strong in help, and went at the work with n will, chopping all day, and logging in the long evenings, often working late into the night Once my sisters came batk to see what had happened, for it was 1 o'clock in the morning. We had been busy, and never thought of the time. The timber was heavy, and the ashes we drew down to the creek, near Cemetery-streefc, where father leached them and made salts, which we sold first at Fort Covington but afterwards drew to the village and paid Reeves $2 a barrel for conveying by canoe and cart to the Basin. We got as high as $35 a barrel. My father having some money, was able to get oxen and cows, with pigs and sheep. In 1827 we sowed 10 acres of fall wheat, which yielded 20 bushels to the acre, and, being early, was free from rust, which ruined the crop that year. At the bee we had for reaping it, I met my future wife, and in going to Montreal that winter to sell a load oi' it, I stayed at her father's (William Cairns, Ormstown,) and completed the en- gagement. I sold the wheat for 75 cents. W^e were married in March, 1829, when I bought lot 20 The timber was very- heavy. One elm near the house was 7 feet across, and took nigh an acre of timber to burn it We worked very hard tp make a home, and were the more eager from having bad luck, our firet cow dying, and our second being drowned in. the sptiQg in a'lible i^me by A fallen tree. After underbrushing, I determined to clear an acre each week, got up before day- light, did mjT chores, and wm odt with m^ axe by sunri.se. }iy wife h^Ipf^ me at everything, and placmg our fii-st baby in a si^trou|^ beside us, would lend a hand There was a great swale wtween us and Huntingdon, which was hard to pass in the spring. I have often carried two bushels oft mV Wk to mill, when oxen would sink. The fiiggar creek in Uiose days was quite a stream, and when high you could not wade it I don't think there has been any change in the :372 THE CALDWELLS. climate, only the land is now drained. In 1827 we h(id a great snow fall on New Year's night, so that the stumps were covered, and when we felled a tree it disappeared, and oxen •could only haul small loads. The first to settle west of Bigga^ was William CaloY/ell, who, on finding that the lot he had taken near the lake was •claimed under a former grant, moved ip 1824 to the Ridge, .and, with his sons, acquired most of the land to within sight of Clyde's comers, so named after William Clyde, who settled there in 1826, and who possessed qualities that made him -respected by all. From the number of American squatters, the locality was named the Yankee ridge. On 38, 5th range, was a tall, lame man named Force, who provided a number of leaches, supplied directly from the spring which forms the remarkable creek that flows through the lot, and which then abounded with trout To these leaches his coun- trymen brought their ashe& The extent of the destruction wrought on the bush by these trespastors, was indicated by •the heap of leached ashes they left behind them, for on Pat- •ton's securing the lot, he found they covered nearly quarter «n acre and deep enough for him to dig a cellar for storing his potatoes. Their outlet was an ox-track that angled across from McNair's hill and came out on Trout river on 41, called the Shaw road, from his brushing it The road to Huntingdon was a track that followed the ^dge and came out near Cemetery-streei The first school was on 19. When the government gave a grant for a road ' from Huntingdon to Dundee, Bowron, in 1829, engaged Col. , Pettis, an American who lumbered a good deal and who lived on 37, to lay out and clear one, whidi he did by banning at the village a few rods west of Thomson's tavern, and follow- ing the ridge as far as it extewied, and so secured a dry and • direct road, although it cut up the lots badly. The present road substantially follows the line he brushed. The contract for cnaking the Huntingdon end was given to Barlow, who • completed it in 1832. The Dundee end was finished 3 years later. On the range b^nd the Cunninghams, Dunsmores, . Biggars, and Caldwells a settlement sprang up which came to THE LAIRD SETTLEMENT. 37a: be known as the Laircl settlement. Alexander Lunan says : We came frctm Dundee, Scotland, in 1819, and were led to take up land at Lapifireonniere through ^ relative who lived *here, and where my father bought 500 acres. We did not- like the place and, hearing of the new settlements in Hunt- ingdon county, my brother Qeorge visited them, and drew the east half of 26 on the 4th concession. There was no settler- then upon it, and the two acres he chopped was the first that ■ was cleared. After making the clearance he left with the intention of returning. In 1826 James Laird moved on to* 24, leaving the river because he could not have lots beside his own for his sons. In 1824 my father visited Hunting- don, and bought 25 li^m EUice for $3 an acre. He thought' the land good, fop tne stones did not show, being' covered with the forest litter, and was nice and dry. We moved in. April, 1825, 1 driviqg.an ox-cart, which contained among its contents a potash-kettle. On reaching Dewittville, I was told I would have to leave my cart and put my effects on a canoe.. The spring was a dry one, and I determined to push on, and succeeded with some difficulty, and found that my cart was the first to reach Huntingdon, only ox-sleds having been able to- struggle over the track, along which the roots had been notched to allow of the runners of the sleds slipping over- them. Past Huntingdon the cart could not go, for there was only a blazed track back to the Ridge. Our land was. covered by a splendid bush, with no underbrush, so that you could drive between the trees. We set to work, and by the end of June had a barrel of potash ready. How to get it to- Huntingdon was our next aifficuUy, and we succeeded by laying long poles across Biggar's iiwamp, along which we rolled it, and then I dragged it on a sled through the woods- to Peter McFarlane's. The day was very hot and on reach- ing his store-door, one of the oxen fell down. dead, melted bv the htat I daresav I looked very rueful,'for McFarlane took pity on me, and told me be would get me another yoke, for which I could pay at my convenience. A settler was rich who had a yoke of oxen and a potash-kettle, and I paid Mc- Farlane in timbei' the following winter. The 2 acres chopped by my brother in 1823 we logged and put in wheat and potatoes, and had a great crop. When they could not raise a. spear of grain on the river-front for wet, we were having, splendid crops. In 1836 I hacl 300 bushels of fall wheat, and took down part to Montreal, where I got 6s. and 4d. f«tr it,, though 5& was the usual price. I remember my father rob- bing out some heads of our first crop, and looking at it^. S' I I 1-^ m m 374 A CENTZNARIAN COUPLE. exclaim "It's as guid as ever grew on the carse o' Gowrie." Bowi*on'a mill was going when we came, but the stuff it ground was awfuL There would not be over 30 to 35 pounds of flour to the bushel of it The fall we came was that of the Miramichi tires. The largest was behind the village and along the creek from lot 17, making a great slash. A year or two afterwards the fire again ran, and burned the fallen timber and the black muck down to the clay. It did not come our way. From the knowledge I acquirad of the woods, when Mr Armstrong came on his regular visits, every three months, while still livinof at Chanibly, I was sent to lead his French pony, which was laden with provisions and necessaries for his family. One very dark night I made my way home by taking off my boots, for I knew when I got off the track by feeling the leaves, which had fallen. Wolves and bears were plenty. In one fall I had 13 fine fat sheep killed by the wolves. When the Lagueri-e road was made, we cut a track to it along the ndges, and did our trading at Liaguerre, Qr Godmanchester village as it was then calleoT Where this track came out on the Laguerre road is an eminence, called from the first owner of the lot, McNair's \\\\\. James McNair, a native of Inveraray, was among the number at Dalhousie settlement, and had to leave from his laUd being claimed. After living near the lake for 4 years, he moved to 33, 4th range, in 1826. He is to be remembered not only from Laving left behind numerous descendants who are worthy meml>ers of society, but for his extraordinary age, 108. His widow, boi*n 1782, is still living, in the enjoyment of her faculties, and a pattern of a tidy Highland-woman. About 1832 a schoolhouse was built on the hill, so as to suit both, the Ridge and the Laird settlement, and a belfry was added, it being designed to be used on Sundays for worship, and there Mr Armstrong conducted it for many years. None of the descendants of the first fainilies are how to be found in IJaird settlement It is different on the Ridge, and there the children and grand-children of those who redeemed it from the bush, many among them men of sterling character, still possess it, -and have too firm a hold to be easily shaken. Returning to the river-front, I would tell somewhat of the settlers from the village to the frontier. From their accessibility, the river lots were taken up first, though the JAMES MCDONALD. 375 choice was often rued, for the land was so flat and so drowned by the water that drained from the ridges behind, that it was impossible to grow crops to any advantat^ until it was ditched as well as cleared of bush. James McDonald related his experience thus : Our family belonged to .Melrose, and we left Scotland in the spring of 1820. My father, Henry, who was a miller, got employment with Robert Buchanan at Fort Covington, and stayed there a year. Anxious to have a place of his own, on hearing of the newly-opened lands, my father and I pro- ceeded to Port Lewis to see James Brown, who, we were told, was ageni He gave us all the information he could, and told us to pick out what lots we saw tit, and to notify him of our choice. 'We started by the newly-cut out road to Huntingdon, which was only a soft path or track, and rested a while at Hamilton's. On reaching the Chateaugay we found that the raising of Hunter's new house had been begun that day, and the men employed wei'e lying drunk; a gable chained to a stump to prevent its falling. We slept with the Hunter boys in their shanty, and started next morning to examine the lots. We did not think much of the land from Hunting- don up to Murray bridge, it being covered laively by hem- locks. Above that point, the timber was largie euns and black ash. The ridges were heavily timbered with maple. Every- where we saw pine stumps, showing whei'e the lumberman had been. Having chosen our lots, we returned to Port Lewis to see Brown, and went back to Fort Covington. Late in the fall we started for our new homes. This time we drove along the States' side until we reaibhed TroUt river lines, where we turned north, and found, following the river, a fair road to Morrison's (lot 41). From that downward there was only a track which could be used for vehicles in winter, so we bad to borrow a canoe from Davis and sailed down to our lot. There were few residents along that part of the river, perhaps half a dozen, and all American squatters except an old soldier who' li^ed on lot 30, maintained mainly by his pension. From our lot to the village there was nobody except an American, Benjamin Stebbins, son-in-law of Palmer, who had a bit of q> clearance on the east half of 22. Cooper Anderson, after living a while in the village, built a shanty on 23. Deacon Allen came about the same time to 24. We were helped by our neighbors in raising a shanty. Palmer being the most serviceable, as he had a yoke of oxen, with which he hauledt the logs. We had brought provisions with us and worked 376 TROUT RIVER. ' § hard, late and early, even by moonlight, in chopping. In the spring, just before the snow went away, Hugh fii^r arrived witii his father-in-law, James Laird, in traineaux from Coin- wall, by way of Laguerre, the first going on 26 and the latter on 25. The\ brought some' stock with them, and a quantity of ready-baked bread and boiled pork. We planted among tlie logs potatoes and com, which yielded tolerably. The foHowing winter, my father had to carry a bushel of flour on his shoulder all the way from the Fori The road along the river was made gradually and very slowly. In front of . my own lot, near my hQUse, it was so bad that I had to lengthen the chains for the oxen while drawing logs. We sent for a potash-kettle to Montreal, and it came up by a bateau to jUguerre. Though it weighed only 8001b. it took two yoke of oxen nearly two days to drag it home. We sold our ashes to McDonald at Dundee. Deer were very plentiful, which was well, for we were long before we could raise much. Though we lived on the river-bank, our clearances were on the ridge, for t-he flat land was so wet as to be useless. Th,e year ox the July freshet, I had fever and ague for a montli. We got along by changing works with our neighbors; one having a yoke of oxen working for Us a day in return for our logging for him, and so on. It was quite a while before we got a cow, which lived by browsing in the woods, chewing iwigs nearly half an inch thick. Th« woods were full of wild leek, but we were glad of the milK, despite its flavor. There were no trout or salmon in Trout river when I came. Hugh Barr, mentioned in this narrative, had come from near Paisley, Scotland, in 1819, and stayed in Glengarry until he moved to Huntingdon. He proved to be ope of the lead- ing men in the community, of staunch character and devout disposition. His father-in-law, James Laird, also a touly good man, left the river for the 4th concession, as has been Already told, William Lamb, an Irish Protestant, taking his Ipt, and who lived to be one of the leading men of the town- ship. Cooper Anderson brought a spinnet with him from Scotland, but his daughters found they had something else to do in Canada than play on it, and it. stood in their shanty as an ornament and dresser by tiie fire-place. One spring, on a neighbor dropping in, he found that a lamb, which had been like to perish from cold, had beei^ placed in the enclosure beneath its keyboard. . MRH. FORD. 377 West of McDonald, the first settler to move in was John Wallis, who came from Roxham, and took up lot 30. On the point lived a pensioner, Duncan Cameron, and Macaulay, who had a road from it straight to the Ridge, made up his rafts there. Wallis was an Englishman and bad been in Canada before the war. Although short of stature he possessecl great strength, and could lift a barrel of potash, near]y 600tb., on to an ox-cart Possessed of some means he built a stone house in 1825, briiigiing a mason, James Moore, from Hem- ingford, to whom he gave 100 acres in Roxham in payment, and John Perry of Covey Hill did the wood-work. It was an ambitious structure and stood until 1883, when, being too ruinous to live in, it was pulled down. It was the first stone-house west of Franklin, the second being a small one built by Jonathan Sparrow and John Douglass for Abraham Suttle in New Ireland. Macaulay's operations in lumbering were large, his limits extending from New Ireland to Lee's comers. Among those who lumbered on a smaller scale were Thomas Fingland, Kent, Wright, John Ingles, Campbell, — — Town, Isaac Davis, Adams, Samuel apd David Page, Colonel Nimes, Judge Brown, Thomas Barlow, and many others. Barlow was a pushing American who could turn his hand to anything. He had come to live on Trout riv€r previous to the w^ar, and married a Frenchwoman. Like all others who risked their earnings in lumbering, he died comparatively poor. The plundering of the crown lands of their mci'chantable timber, was a corrupt piece of jobbery and a grievous injury to the settlers. Mrs Robert Ford, who settled with her husband on 28 in the fall of 1828, gives a graphic account of the state of the country at tliat time : The banks both of the Chateaugay and of Trout river were difierent from what they are now, being green and grassy. Cuttinff down the trees removed the roots that preserved their shape, and the water washing away the loose earth, the banks gnduaUy became as they are now, broken and un- sightly. Hie roads were dreadful, being full of stumps and mudholeSi and ran through the woods, we coming ev^ry now and then an a little opening in them, with a smul shanty in the middle, and most of them having shanty-roofa In pass^ I ' 'W J. ,_ , t ' '■ fl -. 1 ■ ' ' ' ■ ' _- , 378 A HETTLERS EXPERIENCE. ■' ^1 *1 f'\ P ing McDonald'a we saw him hauling in his grain on an ox-8led. When we came to our lot, which was all under bush except a bit by the river strewn with decaying pine- logs left by the lun.bermen, oh, but w^ ^;ere disappointed ; it was so different from the glowing descriptions of the bush we had believed while in Scotland. My father-in-law, an old man, was so stunned by the change, that he was never himself again. We had brought a cow from Montreal, and tving a bell round her neck let her roam in the woods for a living. A bag of oatmeal was among our stores, and being seldom seen, neighbors came and got a bowlful each. The mosquitoes were a great plague, and we could not sleep for them. We lived in a barn of McDonald's until a house was raised, and moved into it before quite finished, and had a dreadful winter of it Every morning I had to thaw and dry the blankets where our breaths had struck them and cake, made with cold water, and potatoes. Wheat grew well among the stumps, but the diffi- culty was to get it ground. The nighest mill was that at Constable, which involved a tiresome journey through the woods, and which was often at a stand-still from want of water. Barlow got a small contract on the fiist Lachine canal and returned in the winter (probably that of 1821)^ GRISTMILL. 383 leeded^ g. On lon fol- by an rith his it could mgh to poorly, jing the Jarlow's enough of mud- liis oxen potash, 5 bag he Had it emained. the plow 10 potash tppily, at IS Tanged eiving no sy had a jres were equal to [ears, the life, in jiose who (red they ] neighbor with 3 old horses and as many toiu . .eau. These were the first and only horses from the Lines to the Meadows, and he hired them out, with a boy; at $2 a day to take grist to mill. A long bag was chosen, in which a bushel of corn or wheat was put in each end, and then, tied in the centre, was slung across the horse, the boy riding. $2 was a big sum to the settlei-s, but they could not better themselves, for carrying a bag on their shoulders or taking a canoe to go down to Hunt- ingdon was exhausting and involved much loss of time. By- and-by the road got better cut out, and in winter ox-teams got along with ease, but it was not until near 1830 that there was a decent road for wheeled vehicles to the Fort. The first school was opened in a shanty by the riverside at Kensington by Mrs Hczekiah Barter, an American, and the second was taught by Daniel Sutton, who was lame, and member of a numerous family who were American squatters. He taught in a shanty on the river-bank near Tully's bridge. He was a fair scholar and s mething of an artist, for at the examinations he held, his prizes were colored drawings from his own pencil, and which were greatly prized by his scholars; He boarded with his brother Abram, on 49, and on which an- other brother, Hiram, had » small tannery. They all left for Ohio, John White buying their betterments. Lumbering was actively pushed along the river, and all the pine, and most of the oak had gone before the Old Coun^ trymen came in. Shaw took out most on the north bank and Barlow on the south. The fii-st sawmill after Davis's was one built by an American, Colonel Allen, on lot 54, nearly behind where the custom-house now is, and engaged David Smith, who long after lived on the road to New Ireland, to run it He sold out to Col. Pettis. The great want of the settlement was a gristmill^ an I it was not until 1829 it was supplied. In the preceding year Andw. Anderson^ who was acquainted with mill-work, and Archd. Henderson bought thie privilege at Kensington, and built a small mill on the Elgin [side, with 3 run of stones, opei'ated by a large; board wheel,' so high that the. machinery had to be on the second story. The firat miller was a Canadian, who spoke 384 THE BEAVER. English fluently, Julicn, followed by Peter Taylor, and in 1836 by. Robert Clark, who gave the mill a wide reputation. During the July freshet of 1831, part of the dam was swept away, and, in rebuilding the opportunity was taken to erect a sawmill on the Qodmanchester bank. It is unnecessary to say that this mill was a great boon to the settlement, though the Scotch deplored its inability, for many years, to make cMitmeal, and when McArthur started his horse-mill, not a few travelled down to it for a bagful. The first store at Trout River lines was opened by an American, James V. Dickie, about 1823, and soon after Squire Steams, also an American, opened one at Helena, and subsequently added an ashery and pearling-oven, but did not succeed, owing to his habits. About 1820, Dr Taylor, spoken of in Mrs Cooper's narrative, came and began to practice. He was an unedu- cated man, with a taste for medicine, who had received some training under a physician. His success as an accoucheur aided him, but after all he made a poor living, and was wont to go on his visits on foot, carrying in a pair of saddlebi^ jslung over his arm his medicines and instruments. That section of Qodmanchester called the Beaver was late in being brought under cultivation owing to its wetness. The first to venture in that direction was Thomas March, and the circumstances attending his settlement are thus related by his son John : We belonged to county Fermanagh, Ireland, and sailed in the summer of 1823 from Sligo, taking 7 weeks and 3 days ,to reach Quebec. We proceeded by way of Laprairie to lia- «olle, where my uncle, Charles, was comfortably established, having a pension for service in the army and being customs- officer. He recommended my father to go to Huntingdon, where the land was to be got free, and we made our way to it by Odelltown and along the American side to Trout river, when we lodged with Brewster until our house was ready. Father knew nothing about the fitness of land for settlement, And like all new-comers thought it a great thing to be owner of a farm of any kind. He had gone back of the settlement on Trout river and seeing a nice hill on lot 57 of th« 5th range at once concluded it was desirable, and drew H. The jshanty was not quite finished when we moved in, and to AN OLD-TIME WEDDINO. 385 , and in putation. ats swept I to erect essary to b, though to make ill, not a store at James V. i, also an added an ing to his s C5ooper's an unedu- dved some iccoucheur [ was wont saddlebags er was late s wetness. March, and us related reach it we had to walk through the woods. The roof was so open that daylight came through, and looking up the Dutch chimney we could see the trees waving overhead. It was December when we moved in and it was very cold Father was strong and hardworking and to earn a little money, which was seldom seen in those days, went to Briggs street (which is on the American side) and worked for the farmers, who were better off, and earned enough to get a cow in the' spring. When his job was thrashing, hv) could ei^m his bushel of wheat a day, which meant thrashing 10. Wheat was good in those days and 12 sheaves gave a bushel. He made salts, which he had to drag to Fort Covington, where it brought $3' the cwt.and it was a good burning wat, yielded $10. Our crops were good, but we soon found that it was impossible to clear much of our lot, which was mostly und^r water. The north half we could not do anything with. Ther^ was no o^er settler on the range besides ourselves^ To th^ east of us uilt, was to be their main means of communication with the outer world. Spencer was one of the Americans who had squatted on Trout river, and was an industrious and active man, whose recreation was hunting. Familiar with the woods, he undertook to point out their lots, a duty which a negro, Black William, did to others of the party. With the exception of a small clearance made by a farmer, named •Palmer, where the church at Kelso now stands, these pioneers found the township in a state of nature, the only evidence l^at man had ever traversed the woods they struggled through iteing the discovery, at long intervals, of the posts with which the surveyors had marked out the boundaries. Palmer lived -on Briggs-street, directly across the lines, and Imd been in tiie iiabit of making a yearly incursion into Elgin to make ashes, and in the clearance he had thus made had sown some wheat, ^thelpt on which this deareace was, fell to John Qillies, and "i^ia/'jiked \/l'\i, for, as' he was wont' to tell, all he' brought . » p.- OAK CREEK. 887 d to the ) having ion ceded irere few, were dis- » inhabi- .822 they the road, lateaugay, Hunter's iver, along itlers were Spencer, idges were |n with the who had tnd active with the iuty which With the ler, named se pioneers ]y evidence led through it'u which ihner lived Ibeen in the take Mhes, ic wheat. [oiUies. and he' brought with him to Elgin was a York shilling (an English sixpenny bit) and an axe. He lent the shilling and lost it Behiiod the axe were a pair of strong arms and a cheerful spirit, and h& carved out in time from the wilderness one of the best farms in the county and a modest competence. Having ascertained their lots, the pioneers cleared small patches and put up shanties; then they returned to the lakeshore to prepare for moving so soon as the approaching winter would give them a road by its ice and snow. The winter of 1822-3 was a busy one with them, and wit- nessed the transfer from their homes on the lake, which they left with some anguish of spirit, relieved by the hope that in.- Elg^n they would have better land and more of it By New^ Year the smoke was curling into the f /osty air from a row of shanties hid among the woods on the 2nd concession, and the i-eclamation of the wilderness hod begun. Had it not been for their mutual helpfulness, their living together as one big* family, they could not have succeeded, so poorly provided were they for the task to which they had set themselve&.. But where each one would divide the last heuidful of nteal with his neighbor and was ever ready to lend a willing arm^ to Ic^ or do other heavy work, the impossible became possible In the community of hardship and suffering at the kdceshore and during the first years of their second settlement, is to be traced the origin of that unity which is, even in the third generation, so striking a feature in the character of the ftofHtt- of Elgin. A visitor to their poqr shanties a year after the7' came, said bread was rare, and the staple food commeal por- ridge, and broth, made as nearly after the Scoteh recipe as- possible where buteher-meat was seldom seen and few vege- tables obtainable. In the magnificent growth of elm and hard maple that abounded along Oak creek Uiey had for yean an unfailing treasury, and, by painful labor, the treea w^ transmuted into potash with which both food and clothing were bought Those whose lots had little ridge were wont off, for where a good piece of high Jand could be^ brought in, alMBuknt crops werd invariable. David Andenoa^ whose lot was mainly gravelly, made money by selling wheat m 338 EARLY MARRIAQES. when others eon Id not raise enough to su6Bce themselves. The marshy land along the banks of ibhe creek gave much labor to reclaim, and for years the settlers worked in the wet, finding difficulty to get the trees burned, and cutting ditches with incredible labor. Although named Oak creek, the oak had disappeared before they came, having been plun- dered many years before. The Indians, who, long after the settlement, frequently raised their wigwams on its banks during the winter, called it Otter creek, from the abundance, at one time, of that animal. The matter-of-fact settlers, view- ing its sluggish stream and slimy bed, gave it a third name — Mud Creek. On its banks Peter and Parian McFarlane started an ashery^ employing Black William for the loaches. This was a great convenience to the settlement. The starting of the ashery involved the buying of an ox-cart, which was lent at a shilling a day, when a settler found his ox-sled un- suitable. The potash was mainly drawn to the Laguerre. The marriage of a sister of the McFarlanes was the first in Elgin. The 20th Dec, 1823, was set for the ceremony, and 'bride and bridegroom, with the whole settlement, awaited the minister, McWattie. The hours slipped by without his ap- pearance, and finally the compapy determined tiiey should not be cheated out of their merry-making, and all ni^ht the woods rang with the jollity of the company in the little shanty. In the forenoon the minister appeared, and at once proceeded to tie the knot. Standing bareheaded out-of-doors he twice informed the snow-laden trees that there was a purpose of marriage between Peter flbm and Janet Mc- Farlane, and the tra^s making no objection he went on with • the service. Crossing to the Ridge h!b, the same we^k, united James Paul and Ann Caldwell, whode hopes had been deferred a year by his building his shanty through mistake outside his own line and on the lot which Barnabas^ Lanktree, an Irish Protestant, a native of Cojrki bought, and moved on to N«w Tear's day, 1823. His brother Thomas came beside liim uid they, with the Saj)rer family (page .32.1) were the Exception, all, the others being Scotch. The .first coincession reniurifaed longest in a state of nature, owing to a great part THE FIRST COXCESSION. 389' having been granted to non-residents, who asked higher prices than immigrants could give. Elias Wallis said : I came in June, 1824, with my uncle William to see the lots we had bought We rode on horseback, foUowii^ a trail from the Chateaugay. We found Gilbert McBeth we only settler near our lots, and he was living, with his wife and 2 children, in a lumber-shanty, which he had found standing when he came. It was most uncomfortable. At one end a flooring of sl4bs was laid, on which stood the bed ; the rest of the shanty was bare ground ; with the Are on a pile of stones. We had to sleep on the floor, and our horses, for^ which we could get no hay after leaving Franklin, we tethered at the edge of the clearance to browse on the trees. The clear- ance was small, and the blackened stumps stood up in it 10* feet high, for the depth of snow during the winter had pre- vented cutting low down, McBeth was engagied planting com^ among them when we arrived. The road not being cut out and the surveyor's posts rotted, we were unable to find our lots, and had u) get Black William, who lived whei:« Donnelly does now, to point them out, and in 2 days I Had marked out- my limits ana cut my half of the road, when I returned home^. a,nd did not return to settle for another year. Black Willicra was quite a gardener and in the fall went round the settle-- ment to sell water-melona 1 brought a horse ana 2 cows. The cows were of little benefit, as we had to turn them into the bush to pick up a living, would often be absent 4 days, and soon ran dry. The horse was of no use, and I exchanged it with Jikmes Dickie, who had openeod. could go in 2 days and come back in one. It was i^wn in a mill started by my neighbors Scriver and Hamilton, tiY)iu whom I bought 50 M. At that- time cltiar pine was worth $G0 in New iu)rk city, so that I did well. But foi^the tirade I thUs opened, with my old neigh- bora in the east, I would have starved, for iny laiid was low and wot, and it was long l»efore/ 1 could get it sufficiently drained to make crops ceiiain. The first I would know of a. new neighbor would be hearing a voice or the falling of a tree. Tiiell^river here spoken of was Joseph Scriver, who also> I J £tf^ I" 890 BAD SEASONS. came from Roxham. and lived to be the first mayor of Elgin. He was a blacksmith by trade and worked 2 years at Helena, beside the store that had been opened by Steams. James Donnelly with his 7 sons settled west of Wallis, and fcMr many .years were the only Catholics in Elgin. Moving down Trout river, the settlers on the Elgin bank were seen to be pro* .gressing fast, despite the difficulty of fording and the flats being cedar-swampa The July fresliet of 1831 was a sore blow to them, but a worse calamity was the frosts of 1886, which were more severe along the river than anywhere else. On the night of the 18th August it froze hard, as it did also on the two following nights. All the grain that was not ripe, was ruined, and the potatoes were touched. . In the midst of their consternation at this staggering blow to their prospects, the hearts of the settlers were touched by the calamity that •overtook a neighboring family. Benjamin Bumside was an American, who had been led to settle in Canada from having accompanied Wilkinson in his hapless expedition. He worked for ^arlow in his saw-mill, and did not return home on the evening of the 21st August. After an anxious night, his wife walked to the mill at the first streak of day, to make enquiry^ Again there had been frost, and tlie ice on the puddles in the road crackled beneath, her feet All was silence in the mill. First she saw his cap. and looking up beheld her husband hanging in the machinery. In adjusting the saw, which had got loose at the head, the frame had moved, and he had been caught, and there being no one to release him, had died. The widow lost not heart, for, with thrift and energy, she managed the farm and brought up reputably her young family. The season continued cold and in digging potatoes the soil came Up >n lumps, out of which they were knocked with an axe. Had it not been that the gristmills brought in wheat from the Basin, where fall-; plowing had enabled early sowing, and Montreal, there would have been no blread, and before 'the winter was over wheat was selling at $2.50 a bushet, and oats at 80 cents. The settlers were badly off,, and ground barley and peas together as a substitute for flour, which was better than the lUJOR HINQSTON. 391 Indian meal sold by an American storekeeper across the lines^ which, from having been mixed, with sawdust, caused serious illness. The season of 1887 was favorable, but until the crop was reaped the privation deepened, and Robert Clark, the miller at Kensington, told of one settler who, seeing some bran and shorts below the bolt, begged for it and (as he told long afterwairds) mixed with the berries on which he and his family lived for 3 weeks. The dinner which many of the children took with them to school that summer consisted of boiled half-ripe ears of com and nothing else. Owing to its wetness, the northern end of Elgin settled slowly. * The first one to break ground was George Sayer, a Yorkshireman, who, with his two sons, Matthew and George, drew the first location-ticket Bowron issued in the fall of 1822. The land being wet, they made their living by potash, which they found to be hard work in summer. One spring they had pork and nothing else. The potatoes saved for seed were pipked over for a mess, but the neighborhood was scoured in vain for a pickle of flour or meal, until Kingston^ was visited. Major Kingston, so styled from his command in the militia, was an Irish Protestant, and had risen from the ranks to be adjutant in the 100th regt, which served in Ontario during Uie war of 1812. Hingston was in all the fighting on the Niagara peninsula. At Lundy's lane he waa struck by a spent bullet on the forehead and at other engage- ments had received injuries, he counting 7 wounda He had twice married Catholics. After his second marriage he sought, to leave Montreal for the country, and visited Huntingdon, with which he had some acquaintance from having hunted through it, to select a lot He decided on 30 and 31, 5th range, and moved in 1824. He lived an easy if rude life, spending most of his time hunting and fishing, and adapting himself to backwoods' habits. Two years after coming, he lost a son under circumstances that shocked the community. On the bank ot Oak creek Uie potash-kettle had been placed, and the young man was left with it all night to keep up the; 5re to boil down the lye. He fell asleep on the slope above; and awaking suddenly, turned, and thrust bis legs into the^ n iii THOXAS DAKSKIN. hot lye. He di^d the following day. On the reorganization of the militia in 1827 Kingston was appointed migor of the 4th battalion, the dutietf of which were nominal, for all the men vv ere required to do was to muster on the King's birth- day, answer to their names, and be treated at the expense of their captaina His miKtia rank conferred many of the powers of a mi^strate. On his death in 1832 he was baried on his lot with military honors, Captain Hudson collecting a firing- party. No stone marks the resting-place of the veteran. To the west of Hingston, settled Oaptl Charles, who had been an bnsign in the 32nd regt., and John Bus ton, who preached occasionally, he having been a Methodist local preacher in Engltthd. Both families came in 1824. The crown reserve long lay in a state of nature, an American squatter. Page, living on the river point of 5, and in an adjoining pine-grove the first camp-meeting took place. The reserve eventually, at a comparatively recent date, was surveyed and sold. The want of religious ordinances caused Thomas Marshall, John Caldwell, William Clyde and a few others to organize k Sunday-school, held in Peter McFarlane's shanty, where the children repeated verses and questions from the shorter catechism. By^-and-by the older people got into the way of holding a prayer, or fellowship, meeting dt its dose, and these ^thelings were kept up until Danskin come. Thos. Danskin was {he son of an intelligent and pious man, « Cumbernauld Ireavcr, and ^ne of eleven brothers, of more than ordini|,ry ability. Bom in 1802 and brought Up to a life of toil, he aspired to "wag his heid in a poopit" and attended Glasgow ^l^ge for two terma To economise, he took both the arts ^d divinity courses together and yet devoted his eveniilgs to teaching in a night-scht ol. Privation tod overwork brbke him down and he was advised to seek change of life and dhnate. He sailed in 1827 for Canada, having- in view an old aeqnJBiintance of his family, David Anderson of EHgin, who heartily welcomed him oad his coming was looked t^pon lis opiportttiie, for the settlement had been long in Want of a sdiodftriJkliter. He entered upon his dnties at ohce, tunid imtil k schocShOttse could be built, he moved from one neighbor to A DEBATINO-CLUB. 393 lization • of the all the s birth- jense of powers I on his I firing- an. To been an jreached acher in I re«erve fr, Page, ne-grove entnally, id. Marshall, organize iy, where le shorter le way of i,nd these Danskin ibemauld ordinary i toil, he Glasgow the arts evenings >rk broke life and view an lof Elgiti, ^kedt^pon 'ont of a lund tinitl nghbor to another, beginning at Helena and ending at Charles's, teach- ing a week in each shanty, the scholars following him. He had completed fonr rounds before the school was ready for occopation, which was in the summer of 1828, and hence- forth, until, long afterwards, the stone-church was built at Kelso, the humble log-house answered for a place of worship, and behind it a burying-placc was formed, the first body in- terred being that of Archd. Fleming. Attending the fellowship meeting, the schoolmaster expounded with so much accept' ance, that he was asked to preach, and for two years held regular service on Sundays. Although a Presbyterian, his belonging to the United Secession body caused Dr Mathieson and Dr Block to look askance at him, and there was nO prosp«>ct of his being ordained. On his marriage in the fall of 18. '(, he took up a farm, which he had to relinquish, being unequal to the hard labor, and accepted the Huntingdon school His health continued to decline, and he died in 1832. His grave, that of the poor scholar, is among the unmarked and unknown behind St Andrew's. There was other evidence in Elgin of intellectual life beside the organizing for worship and education. Tn the winter of 1832 a number of the settlers formed themselves into a debating-club, for whiciw John Danskin drew up the constitution and by-laws. Tlie meetings were held weekly in the schoolhouse. The rules required that the two leaders sh6uld open the debate with written essays, and the leaders were generally the teacher and Robert l^arrie. What the latter locked in scholastic gifts he made n^ f6r by o ready humor that set the oudi- cnce (the room would be crowded) in a roar, his store of stoifes, and on insensibility to defeat These meeHngs ti6t only gave much innocent pleasure but stimulated thov^hl and gave th'- members of the club the habit of expressing themselves in public The niateriol progress of Eilgin iV^' uiiaided by government grants. What ihe people accomplished in the way of build- ing bridges and roads they did thcttiseltes. For a period that Indies beydnd v^e limit of this narrative, that curious ridge iJiat s][>kns 'the township, and named the hog^back, was 894 A SKITCH OF iiti r« An |;( ■ fl 1 ■ m^ ii ml I :M li M ; s H ill al * the chief outlet from the Ist and 2nd concessions to Athelstan, a cart-track following its windings. Instead of giving the narratives of individual settlers in Elgin as I have done of those of other localities, I thought it well to combine into one what several told me and present a connected picture of a settler's life, which will make plain to readers unfamiliar with the bush, much that has been alluded to. In the townships all unconceded land was given free to actual settlors. For instance, on an immigrant arriv- ing in Huntingdon, he would call on the crown-agent, Bowron, and ascertain what lots vfc^re still ungranted, visit them and choose one. For that lot, containing 100 acres, the agent would give him a location-ticket on his paying $12. The conditions of the ticket were, that he should erect a house, live continuously on it, and make a certain' amount of clear- ance within 3 years. If he did not, the lot reverted to the crown; if he did, he could apply for a patent, or deed, from the government giving him absolute possession. In Hunt- ingdon, as has been seen, much of the land had been conceded to non-residents, and many of the difficulties in settling it arose from that circumstance, for those absentees not only held their land at exorbitant prices, but refused to make roads or ditches through them, incre»ising the hardships of those in their vicinity and keeping the country back. Had the crown issued the lands of Huntingdon solely to the men who stood ready to go and live upon them, it would have been settled in a much shorter time and made much faster progress than it did. Having secured a lot, the next step of the settler was to erect a house upon it, which was a simple matter. In choosing a site for it, there was slight scope. Covered by a dense forest, he could not well tell where there was eminence or hollow and the best he could do was to pick out the driest spot he could Und near to where the future road would be made. Then he turned to cut logs for the walls, choosing, if he could, those trees that were of medium-size and lightest grain, for heavy 1(^ were difficult to handle where help w-as scarce. When sufficient were cut, the raising took place, and as many men as possible THE SKTTLER'S LIFE. 395 were got together. The logs, notched at the ends, were laid, one by one. The first few wore easily got into place, but as the wall rose, the lifting of green logs by main strength into their place strained the muscles. On the ease with which the shanty rose and its comeliness, all depended upon whether there was an experienced ax-man io take the lead. If there was, a square and shapely hut was the result, if not, there was an unsightly and rude abode. The size varied with the necessities and means of the settler; the common sizes were 12 feet square and 12 x 18. In front was the door, purposely made large to allow of big back-logs being hauled in. At one end was the iire-placc; at the other the solitary window. When the walls were up, the rear one would be higher than the front, to allow of a slant for the roof, which was made either of bosswood or elm bark, or, what was better, bosswood troughs, that is the rounded slabs split froni bosswood logs, which are curved, and when placed over- lapping, the convex edges resting in the concave centre of the pne next it, shed the water perfectly so long as they remained sound The openings between the logs and roof Avere packed with moss, as were also the interstices between the logs of the walls, which were afterwards plastered with mud. If the floor was dry ond hard, it was left as it was; if not, planks split from straight-grained basswood logs were laid down and hewed as smooth as practicable. In many shonties, th(t only sawn boards used were those that formed the door and frariicd the window. One end of the shanty was devoted to the fire-place. Fcr this flat stones were gathered and, if it could be got far or near, enough of lime to moke some plaster, with which o wall, called a Dutch bock, was built against the logs, ending in o frame of sticks, genenHy cedor poles, which formed the chimney, and which, when plastered inside and out, became perfectly fire-proof. Lime in Elgin was never scarce, for an abundance of fiot lime stones, called shell-lime, could be picked up on every lot, and were easily burned by being put into a log-heap. The chimney finished,' the shanty was ready for occupation, and in its cpnstructicii' not 3 pounds of nails had been used. 396 SHANtY FURNITURE. f!:s Coining from across the seas and separated from town and city by almost impenetrable woods, the settler, even if he had the money, could not get furniture. In a few rare cases, a mahogany "kist of drawers" had been painfully brought from Scotland, and, more often, that outward sign of respect- ability in old times, an eight-day clock; as a rule, the settler had nothing at first but the trunk and boxes which had con- tained his clothes and goods, and they answered for seats and table. Bedsteads were generally made by the settler himself out of pules picked up near his shanty, shaped with help of ax, adze and auger, bottomed with elm bark and placed end to end at one side of the shanty. The fire being on the floor was difficult to keep in if the wood was green (which it gen- erally was, for years elapsed before settlera adopted the plan of having a year's supply ahead) and gave no end of trouble to the housewife, whose cheeks were either scorched by its flames or her eyes smarting from smoke. The bigger and drier the back log the steadier the fire, and settlei's Who had the luck to have a horse often trotted the animal into the house hauling one they could not have handled. Few shan- ties had andirons, their place being supplied by two flat stones, and on these spialler sticks were piled, resting against the backlog. Matches being unknown, when the fire did go , out, a trip had to be made to the nearest neighbor and a smouldering punk, carefully covered from the wind, brought l)ack. The cooking utensils comprised a frying-po,n, "the big pot," and the chaudron, or Dutch oven, a flat pan that answered as an oven, sometimes of tin, more often of iron, but always with a ti^^ht lid. When the dough was reatiouse master, the factor, the magistrate, the county gentry, had been objects of terror, the relief in being placed where •no one domineered over them and no one exacted a portion of their earnings, was a solace for the pinching cold, the coane food, the exhausting toil of the Canadian bush. Such an Arcadian state of matters could not last long, yet in Hun- tingdon it continued until 1845, when the adoption of a municipal system involved tax&s, and the increase of wealth necessitated the establishment of a simple system of ad- ministering justice. The burdens were nominal, however, for another quarter of a century, and it was not until Con- federation was adopted that the Canadian farmer felt that a portion of his earnings were going to pay taxes. Again, there was the gratification that came to the settlers from a sense of continued progress; every week saw some improve- ment effected or the bush rolled farther away. The sunlight no longer struggled through interlacing branches, but fell in •one golden volume upon the clearing hollowed out of the woods. The prospect widened. The day came when the leafy 'Curtain was so far lifted, that the inmates of one shanty •could see their neighbor's, and in time the hills to the stouth- ward stood revealed, and the sense of loneliness that had («o long oppressed the family passed away. By tiiis time the settler felt he could afford a better house, and a block- ^louse — one of logs hewn flat on their face — would rise, with pitched roof and an attic-room, and when the family entered it they thought it a palace, while the shanty was used as a pighouse or stable. With improved circumstances, however, there came no increase of happiness — ^rather the reverse — for as hope merged into its realization it was found that the joy of expectation was greater than that of possession. A community of settlers s^ggling in making their first •clearances were bound together by the strongest ties of (mutual helplessness, and the knowledge that they could not BETTER DAY& 405^ ities, then loods they jr taxation, the poor- ity gentry, ftced where i portion of , the coai-se . Such an ^et in Hun- aption of a ie of wealth jtem of ad- al, however, it until Con- aer felt that xes. Again, btlers from a •me improve- The sunlight IS, but fell in 1 out of the len the leafy one shanty Ito the south- less that had ;y this time and a block- id rise, with mily entered as used as a [ces, however, ^he reverse- found that ►f possession. ^ their first igest ties of ley could not exist without the aid of their neighbors, broke down all feel- ing of exclusiveness, and their hearts wanned to one another just as their hands were extended to help one another. No* democracy is so perfect as that of the backwoods ; no scheme of socialism can ever approach it If a settler was in want,., he hitd but to ask if his neighbor had to give him; if one was sick, his crops would be put in or reaped as the case might be. If there was a widow, there would be bees to- help her ; if orphans they would be adopted. Of the hun- dreds with whom the writer conversed in preparing this book, all save one« a woman, admitted, that, despite its piivations and excessive toil, the happiest period of tl^ir lives was when they were struggling for existence in the bush, and many spoke with bitterness of the exclusiveness,. the ostentation, and other forms of selfishness which came with increasing wealth. Living as one family, the settlers of a concession shared the advantages of any superior capacity they individually possessed. One would have an aptitude for making ox-sleds- and the like, another for framing buildings, a third skill in treating sick animals, and in every settlement was one man the tacitly recognized leader and spokesman. Thrown upon* their own resources, almost as much as if wrecked on a desert island, the settlers developed in themselves unsus- pected capabilities. Extraordinary expertness with the ax came from daily u.se, but necessity forced them to be car- penters and waggon-makers, shoema'kers and harnessmaker^ and even to try tinkering and blacksmithing. From the small tanneries that sprang up f all over the district, where they sold their hides, they took in exchange sides of leather, which were made into boots by shoemakers who passed from house to house, and the boots so made the settlers made a shift to patch themselves. Clothing was commonly made by the women, except the coats, which' were cut if not also sown, by itinerant tailora. Until their clearings w^e large enough to raise sufficient food, their struggle for exist- ence was a hard one, all the potash they could make going- in exchange for provisions. There was no other mode o£ vuu THEIR KELIOIOUS LIFE earning money. Labor was cheap yet it was rare to firul a settler able to pay for it. An able-bodied man counted him.Helf fortunate to get $7 to $8 a month and board, and in harvest the highest that was paid was 50 cents in cash or a bushel of wheat for a day's work that lasted from sun- rise to sunset. A tradesman, a carpenter for instance, would be paid 75 cents a day, and in no case more than a dollar. During the winter, expert axmen got $15 a month in the lumbering-shanties and in the spring $1 a day was offered to men for running rafts and the pilot got no more than 81.25. Modes, therefore, of the settlers earning money apart from making potash, could hardly be said to exist, and pinch- ing economy was requisite. It was not strange that, under such circumstances, they came to place an undue value upon money, and that, when better days came, and the necessity to save and deny no longer existed, there was a tightening rather than a loosening in the hold upon the world's sub- stance, and that the old age of too many was made odious by a miserly and covetous disposition, which gave tone to these of their descendants. The constant struggle for existence diverted their minds from other concerns, and it cannot be said truthfully of any of the settlements in the district that they had, at first, a religious tone. The seemly habits of the Old Land were suspended, if not lost, in the backwoods, and the Sunday was devoted to visiting, to idling, and, among the youngsters, to fishing and hui.ting. In no case, however, was work done upon it, and if ii. htio not to them a spiritual value it was, at least, a day of rst, Thei-e were no clergymen and the lay preachers, whether itinerant or local, commanded slight re- spect When the effort was made, as years passed, to estab- lish churches, the training of tlie settlers stood in the way. The Scotch, mainly members of the Kirk of Scotland, had never been called upon to contribute to the support of their minister, and their dropping a copper coin into the collection- box had represented all they^ gave. It was the saAie with the North of Ireland^ settlers who were Episcopalians and to a degree also with those who were Presbyterians. Being I * U AND MORALS. 407 called upon t(j support their minister came strange to men who had never been accustomed to gi\e for such a purpose, and as a consequence, even for their limited means, their contributions were scandalously small and given reluctantly. While it will not do to ignore their more energetic methode, undoubtedly the more vigorous growth of the Methodist and secession Presbyterian churches is to be accounted for largely by their members having been trained in their native land to the habit of giving. But though these infant settle- ments were not religious in the sense of observances, they were in laorals. The poverty and crowding together in sma|,l . shanties had no deteriorating effect on their self-respect and they were truly a w^ell-living people. When the day's work was over, and the family gathered aro\ind the blazing logs, with perhaps a neighbor or two dropped in to see them, there was plenty of fun, but it was innocent. The father talked with his wife as she sat at her wheel of his work and the simple "news" of the settlement, the daughters, engaged iu carding wool or some other task, joked with the neighbor lada, while their brothers were doing the same with the girls of some adjoining shanty. There were husking bees and quilt- ing bees and other less regular gatherings, and each family made it a point to have two parties in the year, at which the guests were welcomed with a heartiness unknown in more re- fined days and the amusements, singing and dancing, engaged in with a gusto that told of pure hearts and simple tastea In Elgin the singing in concert of Scotch songs by Thos. Brown and William Morison was famed far and near and Robert Stewart played the fiddle to the dancers. New Year's week was a period of festivity, while Cbi*istmas was passed un- noticed. The shadow to the picture was the prevalent drinking customs. The cheapness of whisky removed the chief check on its use, and for what a bottle cost in Scotland or Ireland, the settler here could buy a couple of gallons. It was used habitually and its use gave rise to nearly all the calamijlies' that befell the settlements. Were it not tHat it would pain their descendants, a hanowing catalogue could be given of ^m 408 SCHOOLS AND ■i T'-.i those who met their death from accidents while drank, while it was the ruling cause of failure to families in the battle of life. That the liquor used did not affect these hardy first settlers more, was owing to its weakness and their active habits in the open air. A stronger spirit came into use in course of time. In Elgin William Wattie, in Godmanchester, Donald Mcintosh, and others on the Ridge, built stills in which they made whisky from barley after the OW Country method, and it was followed by the more potent spirit of highwines that Molson began to make in Montreal. Con- sidering the universality of the drinking-custom among the early settlers, it is most remarkable that its hold should be so slight among their descendants. Then not a house was to be found without its jar; now it is the exception to finA a house with one. Then no bee or social gathering coul4l take place without the circling bottle ^^ now, it would be an insult to offer ii The schools of these early days were uniformly bad. When a man was too lazy or too weak to wield an axe, he took to teaching without the slightest regard to his qualifications for the position. Men who could not read words of many syllables and whose writing was atrocious, were installed as masters of schools. Worse than their ignorance was the bad habits that characterized the majority, for drunkenness was common, and a teacher seen without a quid of tobacco in faia mouth or smoking while setting a copy or puzzling over a «um was exceptional. Discipline was deemed by these usurpers of the teacher's office as the great qualification, and their cruelty was past belief. The petty tyrants vented their irritation after a debauch, or when out of tobacco, upon their helpless scholars, girls as well as boys, with a severity that was revolting, and for which there was no compensation in what they taught. The main study was the catechism. With the impartiality of indifference, the teacher heard each scholar recite from the catechism of the church to which h^ belonged, the strap aescending when a word was missed. There was great lack of schooibooks, &nd the family was count«Hi well-off that had a couple of readers for the children. SCHOOLHOUSES. 409 ik, while battle o! irdy first ir active to use in inchester, stills in Country spirit of sal. Con- ,mong the should be louse was on to find nng could >uld be an ►ad. When he took to Lalifications s of many nstalled as 'as the bad enness was tobacco in zzling over by these lalification, mts vented lo, upon a severity ipensatioA catechism, heard each which he as missed. Aiiiily was le children. Many of the scholars having no book, the leader was passed along the line. Copies were universally made out of fools- cap, the master "setting" it with a heading. No other pens than quills, plucked from geese or other fowls, were know^ Ink was scarce, and oft«n supplied by boiling the bark of the soft maple. In many schools, there was not an arithmetic, the master giving out sums which the scholars copied on their slates. Male teachers were universal, and it took over 25 years to convince parents that women could manage boys, and that a good female teacher was very much better than an indifTerent male teacher. The schoolhouses were in keeping with their masters, some- times unfloored, and if floored it was with loose boards. The benches end desks were of a rude description. They were always log buildings, and in one school a couple of short pieces were worked loose by the boys, making, in warm weather, a convenient exit The roofs were covered as often with slabs or boards, eked out with turf, as shingles. What the scholars suffered from cold is not to be described. The modern woodpile was then unknown. The fuel was drawn in log lengths, and the first boy in the morning had to applj' himself to chop off enough to start the fire, and as it needed replenishing, the master detailed one or two boys to renew the task. Each family supplied half a cord for every scholai- sent under a certain number. Wr Iking several niiles tl^ugh the snow, insufficiently clad, and having only for dinner "the piece" tuey carried, such pursuit of know- ledge could crily have been possible to the hardy children of a ha.T'^y race. Occasionally the schoolma?v occupied one end of the scLoolhoase as a dwelling, so iba- the scholars were tickled by hearing what passed on the other .side of the board partition and by the oft appearance of the wife to consult her husband. One master utilized the loft above as a winter roost for his hens, and, when they scraped, a shower of dust descended on the heads of the scholars below, who would be excited by suppressed mei riment when, on a biddie's clucking, they overheai*' i' u emark of the house- wife, "Eh, but the gademan >vi'^ inje ''.n egg the mom." / ' * ■■ v-1 '' r 410 GRANTS TO SDUCATIOJ.. Up to 1820 the only government aid towai*ds education was extended through the royal institution, which was badly managed by an irresponsible body of placemen. The Wil- liamstown school was the only one in this district that derived a yearly grant from it, and Norman McLeod re- ceived $120 from 1825 until his death. An occasiomtl grant \(ta» made to the Huntingdon school. In 1829 a law came into force by which a small allowance was etj^otted each school, ranging from $10 to $80, the average being $40. This act was followed by another, making grai^ts towards the building of schoolhouses of from $40 to $100 each in proportion to their cost, and under this stimulus nearly every settlement erected one. By subsequent acts su:;ali subsidies were given to keep up the schools, but tj^y tver > paltry and irregularly paid. In 1838 it was enacted tr.at $16 additional be paid English schools that taught French, and vice versa. It is superfluous to state, that every English school was returned as teaching French and every French school as teaching English, so that the act was anaulled. The grants were distributed by county visitors, who were supposed to examine them once a year. Charles Archam- l>ault, one of its representatives, was visitor for this district, and discharged his duties in an easy manner. He would listen to a scholar read a few sentences and, with J^ words, "Good scholar; good scholar," pass on to the ne^t. The $1.80 allotted as prizes for each school he seldom had, and excusing himself by saying he would pay the best scholars 4d apiece at his next visit, passed on to the next school Like many others in similar positions, he embezzled the school grants. Having no power to levy a i*ate to sustain them, the maintenance of the schools depended on the few zealouL-i sett)ei*s who took the lead in their management and on the small fees paid by the scholars. The salary of the master never exceeded $200 and often fell under one him- dred. Up to 1828 there were only 6 schools in the presen' district; in 18^9 there were 13, with 650 scholars, all English. In 1831 the number rose to 41, with 1300 in attendance, of whom about oi^e-fourth were unable to pay fees Bouchette, FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. 411 sducaiion ras badly The Wil- rict that iLeod re- xuii grant law came bted each »eing $40. 3 towards each in us nearly jctP, !i.vi:aU ihr.y tv-ef ) Bitted that bt French, ry English jry French ', annulled, who were s Archain- lis district, He would j(j^ words. ^. The had, and ist scholars ^ext school, izzled the to sustain >n the few »ment and [lary of the ir one hun- ihe presen- A\ English, ^endance, of Bouchette, es; writing of his visit to the district in 1828, states that the French had no public schools. "Among the few French Ca- nadians," he says, "who have any wish to give education to their children, the practice prfivails of taking a teacher into the house of one indi^'idual and collecting there the children of as many parents as are desirous of this benefit, each pay- ing his quota of the expense. Cf these private schools there are not more than 4 or 5. Their benefit is very limited, and little else than the catechism is taught." The first French schools were two opened in the seigniory of Chateaugay in 1830, followed by one in St Clement, and, in 1831, by one each in St Timothy and Ste Martine. 1st concession. John Fee Village lots, John Donnelly, sr. 20 Michael Fee William H. Caldwell Henry Wilson Beatti(^ 3 & 4 Edward Donnelly 5 Captain William Wallis 6 Thomas Wilsie Elias Wailis 7 Joseph Scriver 8 David Russell James Forbes 9 William Moore Peter Horn 10 Jno. Potty; 2 Jas. Crawford 11 V/illiam Glennie 12 John Cunningham 13 John Ronald lA' Charles Crawfoi*d. senr. 14 Wm, Marshall; 2 John McB^.'ah 15 John Wattie Alex. Thomson 16 Duncan Stewart John Graham 17 William King, junr. Thomas King 18 William Johnston John Patterson 19 Chafles McFaul Patrick McFaul 20 Joseph Scriver 21 Holcomb & Latham 2nd concession. 1 Anderson & Henderson 2 William Dickson James Spencer 3 James Gavin 4 Andrew Buckham 3 & 4 James Donnelly 5 Alex. Shaw Gilbert McBeth G Andrew & William Morison 7 Parian McFarlane David Brown 8 Peter McFai-lane David Anderson 9 William Mclntyre 10 James Johnston William Wattie 11 James Glennie, senr. 12 John Wagstaff Barnabas Lanktree 13 Alex. Shearer 14 Thomas Way Tftmes Wilson 15 William Watson 15 William Hay 16 William King, senr. 17 John Richardson m V I 412 FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. George McDonald 17 & 18 Stephen McCrae 19 Neil Mathieson 20 Samuel McCane James Ewing SRD CONCESSION. 1 George Elder, senr. Gabriel Buckham James Tully 2 George Ewart John Elder 3 VJex. Smaill i ' ' Smaill 4 Ja. f'annahill Johu iiMes 5 Thomas Brown William Smaill Rorison 6 James Paul Robert Barrie 7 Thomas Lanktree, senr. 8 William Wattie John Caldwell 9 William Ruston Nicholas Ruston 10. John Ruston lO&ll Edward Charles Major Hingston 12 Thomas Stott John Seely 13 Hiram Seely William Stewart 13&;14 John Anderson 14 Hugh King 15& 16 Donald Mcintosh William Mcintosh Alex. Mcintosh 4th CONCESSION. 1 CI. R James Bow les, 1838 2 John Caldwell, 1833 3 William Morison, 1833 4&5 Ephraim Pelton, 1836 6 Robert Nelson, 1838 7 Thomas Lanktree. 1844 8 William Stark, 1837 9 Mrs Thorn, 1833 10 Merrill Cooper, 1830 11 Barnabas Lanktree, 1833 12 Robert Henry, 1833 13 William Carr, 1841 ^^ 'a 9 Cr. R Wm. Minor; 2 Joseph Carr 9 James Learmont 7 Joseph Corpron Robert Moore 2-6 Page Brothers 2-6 John Brown 32 Page ; 2 Thomas Cairns 31 Andrew Gilmore 30-1 GaiTjett 29-31 George Sayer, senr. 28 Samuel Lamb Thomas Cairns 27 Robert Raven William Rose 25 & 26 Robert Murray 24 William Xiamb 23 Z. Baxter 5th CONCESSION. 27 Hazelton Moore 28 J.Elliot; 2 John Seely, sr. 29 & 30 Major Hingston 31 Thomas Hingston J ¥ /' B, 1838 3 833 1836 18 1844 i^ 30 e,1833 33 1 J 2 Joseph Cairns sent. rray s\ Seely. sr. »ton CHAPTER XXL HINCHINBROOK. When the tide of immigration set in, the first «to penetrate into Hinchinbrook was James Hamilton, whose narrative I ipve entire : I am a native of Motherwell, Scotland, and left the day after my marriage for Canada, being accompanied by my brother William. We took passage from Greenock on the Alexander. On getting to Montreal, we helped a while in Ute search for land made by our fellow-passengers, but left on a visit to our uncle in Vermont before a decision was come to. We thought very little of Vermont, and when we heard where our old friends went, we determined to join them, and set out for Dalhousie settlement in March, 1821, and cast in our. lot with theirs. The land had been all taken up facing the lake, so we had to move back, and the first solid land ungranted was south of Teafield. James Brown, who as- sumed to have authority, gave my brother lot 20 on the 4th range, and to me lot 17. We made some sugar at Wylie's, with whom we stayed, and then we moved to our lots, agree- ing to make the first clearance on mine, for my brother was Qot married. My wife, of course, had to walk, and she was the first woman to cross from the lake to the Chateaugay. W^e raised a shanty, and fitted the ground for a crop by hewing down the trees, lopping off the oranches, and planting ^tatoes and com between the logs. We had bought potatoes m Glengarry and com in Fort Covington. As we had to carry everything on our backs, neither horse nor or being able to pass Teafield, we cut the potatoes into seed, to make the burden less. As it was, we sank to our knees in water in places. My brother carried a grindstone on one of our trips, the heaviest load ever so brought The season was favorable and we had a lai^e crop, but were troubled by the deer digging up the potatoes with their hoofs and eating them. In October, after husking the com and storing it away, the three of us, my wife, brother and myself, started to see if we could not get a more cheerful location by the river's bank, for we were just buried in the woods and saw :> 1i' i ' Hi; 414 BURNED OUT. nothing, ana decided on moving to a ridge, where the river takes a fine sweep, on lot 15. Satisfied with our choice and talking cheerfully of our arrangements for moving, we walked through the bush to the site of our shanty, when, on arriving at it, we were astounded to find the house in ashes — a spark from the open fireplace, we conjectured, had fallen among the com ^husks that strewed the floor and set the shanty ablaze. Everything was consumed, even to my wife's rings, and we were left homeless and destitute. We had just daylight enough to return. to the river, and found shelter for the night in a corner of the house that Hunter was building. On view- ing the devastation the fire haeen performed, whereupon the government issued a patent to Elllice for the lots, when a demand was sent to the settlers to either pay $4 an acre or leave. With an exception or two, the defrauded and broken-hearted m6n had to choose the tetter ahemative, and it was fortunate for them that at that ALEX. JOHNSTON. 417 juncture the lots on the Gore concession were being given out, and to it thej'- moved. The first settler on the 7th con., or the Gore as it came to be known by, was Samuel Foster, a Connaugbt Protestant, who had come to Canada in 1819 and lived in Montreal until the fall of 1823, when he moved on to lot 10, several young men accompanying him from th(> river settlement to put up his shanty. Before the snow left next spring, Haws and Peak followed from the river, and, though they had pick and choice, made what proved to be poor selections of lots. Mrs Peak said : My husband was an artilleryman, sent out from England at the close of the war, and discharged at Prescott, where I was married to him when a girl of 15. On hearing of land being given out free in Huntingdon, we came over in 1822> and squatted on lot 12, on the river. Unable to pay what Bllice asked for it, we moved with Haws to the Gore. Haws was a U. K loyalist; his father had to leave a 200-acre farm in Maryland and fly to Canada. They stayed iii'st at Quebec and then xaoved to Sorel, where Jasper enlisted in the service of the Northwest company, and spent a good part of his life under them. We had two cows when we moved to the Gore, and cut beaver hay to feed them. Such as it was, we never wanted for food. Nightly we heard the screaming of the wolves, and once my husband, while driving home at night, was followed by a pack, which did not come near him however. In thie spring of 1825 the Johnstons, Peterkin, and Arm- strong followed the example of Peak and Haws and a sur- vivor, Alexander Johnston, supplied this narrative : We belonged to county Tyrone, and sailed from Belfast in the spril% of 1823. Our design was to ffo to Ontario, but on landing at Montreal my father (John Jonnston) met Todd of Dewittville, whom he had known in Ireland and who indnced him to come to Huntingdon county. We took up lot 11, on the river, and had to leave it owing to the trouble with Ellice. All we got' from Lowrey, Avho bought it from Ellice, for our 2 years' improvements was $35. We moved in the fall of 1825, 3 weeks b^fpre the great iire broke out, and put up our shanty on 11. The land was all in splendid maple, which was easy to burn, and the stones, being covered with leaveis and forest litter, we did not see. When the smoke and fog of the fire came we were in great distress; surrounded by the bush on every aide and unable to see a rod ahead. Foster^on coming I 418 THE GOUE AND io visit US, had to feel along thn fence we had put up to ]*each our house. The tongues of the cattle hung out a foot, and they would not eat grass or hay, so we sliced potatoes for them and gave them what slop we could to keep them alive. When the smoke lifted, we saw fire all around us, and my ixother and I had not our clothes off for 11 days, fighting it, to save our property. The leaves had fallen, and the flames a-an in every direction. On the Outarde the tire raged fiercely, and felled so many trees that we were unable to reopen our outlet to the river until the winter was well on. That winter there was barely enough snow to put out the tires. Our road was just a blazed track, coming out on 10, and we either dragged our loads on ox-sleds or carried them. At the river, we crossed in a canoe to the track on the other bank which ran from Dewittville to Huntingdon. Our mainhold at first was potash-making, and dragging the barrels across the creeks was awful work. If the water was too high for the sleds to go through, we would fell a hemlock and roll the barrel across upon it, reloading on the other side. Oxen were so slow that wnen we could carry the load, we did so, and a number of us would start for Huntingdon in the morning, each with his h&g of grist on his shoulder, and return before dark. One settler, Murray, an Irish Catholic despite his name, who was a very powerful man, could carry 2 bushels. Foster, in 1827, was the first to get a horse, but had no harness for it, and many a bag it bore on its back to and from mill. Haws after that got an old black horse. We never had any actual ficarcity, though our food was coarse, chiefly potatoes. The year of the frost (1836) the teps were killed, so that they did not ripen properly, and were not good eating. So soon as the 4and was fit for it, we had had splendid crops of both fall and spring wheat I remember of our getting 4 bushels of red chaff wheat from Upper Canada, and reaping 96. We had plenty of hay from the first, there being beaver-meadows here and uiere, especially one great meadow on Foster's. There was no pine on the Gore to speak of, but on the Outarde there was a fine cut both of it and oak. Settlers came in thick and before 6 years every lot was taken up. They were all Irish, and mainly Protestants. One settler, i^very, was a main instrument in inducing many to come, for he wrote ^ompg accounts of the settlement te his old neighbors in &]^JiMy Down. The Coulters are descended from James who fMue in 1828.'«nd Henry who came in 1831, the year when V^miam Anderson and Law arrived. The Hendersons and ^i^sons came in 1829. We kept up the celebration df th9 ITS DRAWBACKS. 419 ) to )"each fooi, and baioes for liem alive. s, and my ighting it, the flames ?d fiercely, reopen our hat winter Our road we either t the river, »ank which lold at first 5 the creeks the sleds to arrel across }o slow that imber of us -\\ with his dark. One le, who was ter, in 1827, for it, and nill. Haws I any actual atoes. The lat they did soon as the jth fall and ihels of red |6. We had sadows here or's. There [he Outarde [ers came in They were ..very, was ^r he wrote leighbors in James who year when [dersons and ition of th« Twelfth of July from the first year we came, always having some kind of social gathering. We escaped both visits of the cholera. In the fall of 1831 tnerc was fever and ague in every other house, and it continued a year or two after. We were divided about the cause. Some ascribed it to the vapor from the rotting stumps, and the water we used, for there were few wells sunk, and surface-water was all we had, but as the disease was almost all among men who had hired out to help farmers on the river during haying, we thought they had got the infection there. Ship-fever wa.s brought by im- migrants, but did not spread to the settlers. Our first religious services were conducted by the Rev Mr Merlin, who came to us so soon as he heard of the new settlement After preaching at Black's, he walked over through the woods, and preached in one or other of our houses in the evening. He made all his journeys on foot, and would come when asked for a wed- ding. After that, Wesley Palmer and John Lowrey, the two Metnodist local preachers, came occasionally. The catechist, Mr Hervey, was the first Episcopalian. Our great drawback was an outlet, the reserves for sideline roads being in sections so wet that we could not make them. After a great deal of op-^ position we got the road opened to Dewittville, and later on ' the one to Huntingdon. These recollections may be supplemented by those of Archd. Adams, a nephew of the Armstrongs, and who joined them in 1825: The settlers had a good many drawbacks and had a sore struggle for years. The potash was often hauled out to the Hinchinbrook, the ti'ack that way being drier than out by Muir's. It was consigned at first to K«eves, who told the' settlers he would sell for them in Montreal at the highest price and charge nothing if they would take the price out in trade. He made money both ways, however, declaring the ^ ashes had graded low and charging high prices for l!:t of 10, the crop on which indicated, to his experienced vy^. superior soil. He set off for Beauhamois and Iwught tl a lot for $300 and gave the squatter upon it, Masson, $100 for his improvements. A skilled . farmer of the Lanarkshire school, Muir set to work with his two sons to reclaim the land, and long Itefore his neighbors had a large portion undor crop. The year after William Cowan settled west of hiin and in 1831 John Donnelly, who hud a large family of sonn. That year three of the McXaughtons came, drawn to tLii4 section from their relationship to the Muirs, and in 1832 the father with the remainder of the family arrived. It ia related of the old man that the relative who accompanied him to find a lot, exclaimed to a son, after several dayn' search, "That father o' yours is bound to settle in a swamp." Like the Muirs the McNaughtons were good farmers, and knew the soil that would prove best, and cared nothing about lumbering or potash-making. Taking up lots on both sideH of the river, for there were several sons, the section came to he known as the Muir and McNaughton settlement, and their modes of working land and managing, stock had its (^ffect in raising the standard of farming. There stood on Muir'» lot axk old shanty, put up by lumbermen, and this in 1830 was fitted up as a school and a half-cracked being, named Dalzell, engaged as teacher. It was not until 1834 that tho ]>oad was opened fit for vehicles to Huntingdon, and until then the ira^ffic was by canoe or the road on the Godman- chester side.< On the beautiful reach of the riVer opposite 9, A sad fatiality took place. Two girls were rocking themselvie^H in a cancki when it upset. A Flinch Canadian, Lbuis Giroux,' «»M'4 N 422 BOYD SETTLEMENT. was passing at the ti:ne on horseback, and gallantly plunged in iA) their rescue. Sad to relate all were drowned, the horse included. The concession lying betweezi the river and the Qore, now called Boyd settlement, was b-dgun in 1823. In the fall of that year John Qrant settled on 10, which he had drawn as a free grant. He was from county >V:cklow, Irc'nnd. A fortnight after John Telford moved in. His daughter, Mrs Robson, gave these particulars of his coming : My father was a Cumberland farmer, and we left England in 1818. After visiting Upper Canada my father returned east, convinced that ho could do better near Montreal, owing , to prices being so low in Ontario, wheat selling there at SOc a, bushel in trade. In the fall of 1823 he came to Huntingdon " and secui-ed this lot, cleared a bit and put up a shanty, also cutting a, stack of wild hay, which was plentiful along the Outarde. We were then living at Moulineite and in Feb'y, 1824, left for our new home. We drove up the Itaguerre, c'i*ossed by the Shaw road to Trout river, and then down. We brought 6 cows, 2 young beasts, a yoke of oxen, and 8 sheep. Up through Muir's lot there was a rude lumber-road which ran back to Foster's on the Gore, and this took us to our new shanty. Except Grant, we hod no neighbor east or west of us. The woods stood thick around us, adthough tliey had been plundered of the best pine and oak. During 1824 Wm. Irwin settled east of us and James Logan in 1826 a good bit to the west The year of the Miraroichi fire we had a dreadful time of it. It was so dark we often could not see S feet away. Our chief care was to save the stacks of wild hay .-cut for the winter-feed of our live-stock, and we were kept busy sweeping away the leaves (and they were unusually plentiful that fall) from the ridge on which they stood. We succeeded and lost none of our animals, which my father as- cribed to putting some salt in the water he gave them. The ftre left the bush on the ridges, but lupbde an awful slash on the low grounds. When we came the Outarde was a fine cleai* stream, but »o man v trees feU into it and icroBS it during the fire that it gov choked and after that ihm swales never dried, and we had fires every other yev, making matters wo.^se, bu^, after all, they helped to clear the land. Wolves were not plentiful when we came, but ittoreascd afterwards. Qne Tall, when the«e was a little snow on the ground pre- venting the sheep from running well, tlMiv^olves killed 12 JOHN BOYD. 42^ out of 14;. 8 were found dead on the spot, and 1 within 20 fce^ol' where the Behc«olhou8e now is. Deer wore very plen- tiful. In 1826, when the snow was deep with a crust, roy brother with a dog ran down 6 in one day and 6 the next. Cm ¥>ing on the 3rd day to haul them home, 5 morb were killc(). be Americans cam: and killed a great many for the sake merely of their hams and their hidea In 1832 my father, while haying on a lot ho had bought on the river, ate somc^ green peas, which were at the time in the pod. Old Mr Muir rougnt him home ill with cholera. Dr Bell was called in ..nd his treatment included the withholding of all liquids. My father died in au cgony of thirst, calling for water. Muir took the disease but recovered. There were no other cases. The filling up of the concession went on slowly, owing to the land being held by Ellice and other non-residents anc^ the immigrants were either unable to give the prices askc^ or would not pay for land until the free grants were ez- haasted. The want of a road to it and the long stretch of swamp between it and the village also retarded its pro- gress. In 1831 John Boyd went on lot 15, being the iirst to go so far west. As he had a largo family and was joine«^ by his brother William, their work began to tell and aa others went in beside them the name Boyd settlement came into use. For many years the only mode of access was a track that followed the ridges through to the swamp, which was crossed by stepping from log to log. Up Boyd's lot there was a track to the Qore. Another road to the new settlement passed up 12. Escept in a very dry time, even an ox-sleu could with difficulty reach the settlement, and when the swamps were full everything bad to be carried on the shoulder. Until the land was ditched, potaeh-making was the main reliance of the settlers, who, with a few ex- ceptions, were from the North of Ireland. James Flyiin, who arrived in 1832, was the first Catholic. The Kellys« who came so late as 1837, found the settlement still in a backward state. Robert Kelly said : T bought my lot (12) from Ellice, fbr $4 an acre. It "WBa all bosh, and ihe flat south of the Outarde was a dreadful swamp, often preventing passage to the Qore. The only W|ty to get a little cash was to make black salta, which were placecr 1^^ mi I ^ 424 THE ATHELOTAN ROAD' in a trough hevn from a basswood log and dragged by oxen to Huntingdon. Everything was very cheap, a cow wifh calf ^ would fetch $8 to $10, and I have sold butter for 8c. T}ie U first wheat I got was a bushel given me by Wilson oh the , Gore for helping him to thresh. I carried it on my shoulder '■^ home, often I'ke to drop it, for the water was high, and then ■-^'fco mill, and it was the first flour we had. My wife, of course, •knew nothing about baking but having heard hops were necessarv, got some and mixed .^m with the dough, and our first loaf came from the -^^^andron as hard as flint and bitter as gall. When she learned the right ' ^ , none could beat her for good bread. In the spring of i ^38 I cot a cow, and cleared up enou^ of brouM land to sow 2 bushels of wheat, and from that time never wanted bread I have had oatg i| eaten by bears in the back fields. Our great trouble was j want of rcad& The settlers on front opposed our opening a concession-line, as they would have to help to make it, and wanted us to be content with opening a side-line through 12 <^'to the road they had made on the river. We stood out for a regular front road and ultimately got it, though it was years after before the side-line road was opened to Huntingdon, i compelling us to trespass on our neighoors to get out On a move being made to join the school at Muir's, at Watt's hill, 'and our own into oie, the present stone schoolbouse M'as ' built, and it served as church and a place for public ineetings. The lower end of the concession, that east of Robson, was '^somewhat longer in bein^ opened up, owing to the want of ^'« road to Dewittville and the diflioulty of clearing the land, y*the flats having been repeatedly burned over and the fallen '^iogs intermixed with scrubby second-growth, but by 1834 't-all the lots were bou^t and a thrifty settlement was in "progress. Owmg to their nearaeM to the village, it would be sup- •^'IKMed Uiai the lots between Huntingdon and Atiielstan would .''have been quickly taken up, bat such was not the case, and , there wai a large setUement on the 3rd range when the land fi (between it and tibe Olwteaxigay was untouebed. This was partly due to its being owned by aoB-residoBti and pacify to .f);4|ie belief Uiat the ]$nd wms poor, firom its being co^^ered * f with toft wood, raoetly second-growth poplar and hemlock, )^'lfH0i MNne pine. Bxee)>t in sninitoer, it was a manh, and ' dii)ihifi that B^aecm, dm Sunday afternoons the lads ind lasses SLOWLY SETTLED. 425 d by oxen r with calf r 8c The son oh the y shoulder 1, and then 5, of course, hops were gh, and our t, and bitter could beat a cow, and Is of wlie&t, re had oats trouble was ir opening a lake it, and through 12 lod out for a it was years Huntingdon, tout On a t Watt's hill, olhouse W'as lie meetings. Robson, was the want of ing the land, id the fallen Mt by 1834 nent was in ould be sup- lelstan would the OMe, and rhen the land i Thii was uaA pftf^ to leinff cohered %Vid htmlock, k rnanA, and ids And Wses of Huntingdon roamed the expanse, known as Canova's swamp, as far as 26, picking blueberries, and between Nel- son Vosburgh's clearance on its river-point and Baxter's on 24 there was no house, as there w^as none fi'om Baxter's to that of Claud Barrows in front of 21, where the village began. From being held by non-residents, no labor was put on the road, which became ' notoriously bad at a time •when all roads were execrable. For hauling it was useless, so that the journey to Athelstan was made by canoe as far as Munro's hill, and when the water was too low for loaded canoes to go up the shallows, the freight was landed at "the oaks," as the burial-place by the road-side 6u 28 was named, and where several ctf the American squatters and a few Old Country people rest. The current belief, that a number of Hampton's men were butied in it during the retreat, has no foundation. A little farther up, a bridge was throw^n across the river to give an outlet to the settleiin on the Elgin side, and named Seely's bridge, from his living at the w^est end of it At the other end of it, about 1827, a store and ashery was started by an Englishman, Wilson, who was succeeded by Joshua Lewis, and who, on removing to Hunt- ingdon, sold to M. 0. Teel, an Italian, who disappeared soon after. On the grant of $1200 being given to make the road from Franklin to Huntingdon, a considerable portion was absorbed by tue section, namely from 22 to 26, on the river, held hf tion-residents, who had thus their property improved at the public expense and that of the actual settlers. In 1834 William Rose, a famier from Aberdeen, and a neighbor, James Reid, who had betn, for a short time, an ensign in the 78th, came in search of land, and the former lx>ugfat out Yosburgh and the latter Richard Catton, who liad 4 dMwance on -27. George Blaik settled beside Mr Rose, and gradually the lots to the village came to . be taken up> although as late as 1840 the greater part were unimproved. Once the Und was dearcd and ditched, it was seen there was no more fettile flat in the district The ifarst Old Countryman to fettle near Athehtan was Jav^es Mc!Krtb,'who left Dalhousie Mttlement in IMt and 426 MAJOR GARDNER. took up 18, range 3. Two years afterwards, Allan Munro came from Ontario, to see about 1700 acres in Hinchinbrook that his mother lutd inherited from her brother, a Scotch officer, Deneen, who had served in the war of 1812. Munro selected as his abode that portion of his land (lot 28, range 5) on which John Elliot was sauatted, who moved to 20 on the 3rd and built his shanty by the brook, and where he had several other Americans for neighbors. To convert the tim- ber on his land into lumber, Munro set about bi^ilding a sawmill on the rapids of the Hinchinbrook, but was unable to complete it, when he sold to McNee, the Huntingdon store- keeper, who ran it for 2 years, when he found a purchaser in a prominent newcomer, Thomas McLeay Gardner, who had been unsuccessful as a farmer in the Lothians, and emi- grated from Scotland in 1827. Accompanied by two neigh- bors, Geoi^e and David Fringle, and by David Sandilands, a Fifeshire farmer, he came to Huntingdon in search of land, when Bowron told them all the crown lots had been granted and they would need to buy, recommending them where to go. Hiring a canoe, they paddled up to the junction of the Hinchinbrook with the Chateaugay, where lived one Kater, who readily sold to Gardner, who subsequently bought the adjoining lot from Judge Gales, making 400 acres. He built his house near the mouth of the present feeder. Sandilands bought the adjoining property and Ituilt b^i^ide him. On the river, a short distance hbove him, a Dutch American, Hoglc, had a sawmill. The road to Powersoourt was a wretched one, being the old track cut out by Hampton, which bent east at Sandilands' house and followed the ridge. Work on the new road, by the river-bank, [iroces-verballed by the grand voyer two years before, was ttegun that August Mr Sit.ndilands had three sons, one of whom, George, was a superior man, and made his influence felt for good, taking a part in all public matters. He was an ardent Liberal in politics, as, indeed, were all ilie immigrants of that time, save tne few who had « little money and affeolied to be superior to the> common herd. William Gardner took part of 18 and opened a store and pearling-work, and assuoMd charge of the ATUELSTAN. 427 sawmill. Going back to Scotland for his family, Gardner gave such glowing descriptions of the locality in which he had settled, that he created quite a stir in the East Lothians, and a number of his neighbors decided on emigrating. On the ship in which he sailed in 1828 were John Pringle, Alex. Lumsden, and James Johnston, and a number fdllowed. On arriving, Lumsden raised a shanty on the east side of the road near the present bridge as a home and on the other side of the road a shop, for he was a blacksmith. These were the first houses in Athelstan. Going largely into lum- bering and the sawmill being kept busy, people were attracted to the place, and it soon became large enough to get a name and wtus known as St Michaels, until, 30 years afterwards, it was called Athelstan. In 1832 the growing population was provided with a school, placed some distance north of it, to suit the settlers on the Elgin side. It was a low pa- vilion-roofed log building, placed by the road-side on 28. Thos. Taylor (p. 301) taught the first year and held service on Sunday. Sir John Rose attended this school as a pupil and subsequently taught it for a term. In Ifi William Kerr, who had been a calico-printer in Glasgow, and had given up business from losses by endorsing, came and Gardner proposed to him to join in raising a gristmill, and he agreed, supplying the funds. The mill (now used as the oatmeal mill) was built by Waldie, a mason, and was fitted up in a \^ery cheap manner, the spindle of the wheel resting on a hen.lock knot. It had 2 run of stones, one for flour and one fi>r Indian meal. Following this, Kerr was induced to make advances towards building a distillery, which, how- ever, never began operations, the poor gentleman having lost his all. Soon after the sawmill had been opened, Patrick Grady started a tavern at the corners east of it, and was in- duced by Gardner to move into the infant village, and in 1838, beside the gristmill, a house was raised which became known far and wide. To show that whisky-selling was even more profitable in those days than now, it may be stated that a 40-gallon barrel, for which Qrady would pay Mitchell, the storekeeper on the Iaum, $10„ he took in $60, besides what 428 THE RIDGE ROAD. I:ii the family used or gave in treats. In addition to Kerr and (.Gardner, Rose and Beid, several others came who brought some money with them. There was Patrick Walker on the Jst concession, Alexander Copland, an Aberdeen advocate, John and R. B. Somerville, Dr Shirritf and Dr Whyte. The last-named, who came in 1836 from Elgin, was a physician «>f reputation, who did not practise, and a very intelligent gentleman. Drawn from a class different from their neigh- bors, and not having to plod daily to earn their bread, they formed a small circle of their own, and exchanged frequent visits. They endeavoied, so far as the changed surroundings would permit, to keep up tie customs and style of the Old Land, but the imitation wf the war. Robert had served with 430 THE BROOK ROAD gallantry at Lacolle mills, and was with the army at Platts- burgh. On seeing how the men were being swept from the stringers of the bridge as they endeavored to cross the Sar- anac, he took it upon liim to countermand the thoughtless order that was sending brave men uselessly to death, and expected to be punished therefor. Instead of that, he was promoted to be lieutenant In 1823 he moved into Hinchin- brook, taking up 25, range 6, and his brother followed in the spring of 1825. Two nights were spent on the road. The second was in the house of John King, who had come in 1823. He was a Scotchman and a bachelor, in which state he continued until his death. He was very kind to the new- comers, producing table-linen and silver, relics of his family in Scotland, and which contrasted queerly with the rudeness of his small shanty. Years afterwards, he lost all by the burning of his house while absent. He was a carpenter by trade and had come with Robert Higgins and Archibald Fleming, a mason. These were the only neighbors the Hud- sons had, save Baxter, already referred to, and Wells, also an American, who lived opposite to him on the south side of the road. Robt. Hudson, anxious for the education of his family, induced a sister-in-law, Miss Cross, to open school jn his house, and she taught in 1825, followed by his sister, Mrs Leggatt. After that Major Gardner had a governess, no public school being opened until the one already referred to, near Athelstan. The settlement along the road between Athelstan and Herd- man proceeded very slowly, there being no settler beyond King until 1825, when James Terry left Elgin and took lot 26, and, east of him settled John Kennedy, John Trainer, Robert Johnston, John Kelly, and Stephen McCrea. These were all from th^ North of Ireland, and, except one, Pro- testants. Their countrymen on the Glore turned out to put up shanties for them, and it was long remembered that in going to raise that of McCrea they could hardly find'theii^ way, owing to the darkness of the smoke of the Miramichi fire. The start the settlement thus obtained it kept, and im- migrants came thickly until every lot was occupied. The road so late as 1829 was a mere track along the Imnk of the Hin- HERDMAN S CORNERS. 431 it Platta- from the I the Sar- loughtless [eath, and t, he was Hinehin- ved in the oad. The i come in hich state o the new- his family le rudeness all by the .rpenter by Archibald s the Hud- ^lls, also an side of the his family, his house, ;rs Leggatt. iblic school Athelstan. and Herd- ler beyond id took lot in Trainer, ea. These »t one, Pfo- out to put id that in find'theit Miramichi spt, and im- Theroad lof the Hin- chinbrook. In that year something was done to straighten it and chop it out, but it was not until 1832 that, with the aid of a small government grant, a rude Lush road was formed. The ongin of the hamlet at Herdman's corners docs not date far back. In 1826 an American, Henry Sweet, from Champlain, bought 29, and sold a couple of acres to Duncan Campbell, who opened a store and pearling-work on the east-side of the road. He continued to carry on business until 1838, when, disgusted by the collapse of the rebellion, with which he sympathized, he went back to the States. Of the coming of the family who gave their name to the comers, Arthur Herdma'ta said : Our family sailed from Belfast in 1830, and we left Mont- real for Huntingdon by way of Laprairie and Russeltown, reaching the house of William Gibson (whose wife was my sister) after a two days' journey. My father, Henry, bought 30, and my brothers chopped out a clearing and put up a log- house, into which we moved that fall. Sweet and McCrea were our neighbors, and had only small clearings. We had a yoke of oxen, and mode much potash. It was terrible work dragging out a barrel in a sled over the dry logs to where a cart could be used. The settlers were poor but hopeful, and the household was thought well-off that had a loaf baked in the chaudron on Saturday for Sunday. In ]832 Perkins Nichols and Duncan Campbell opened store on the south-east side of the comers, and in 1836 my brother Paul started tavern opposite them on the north side of thetoad. The taking up of lots proceeded more actively east of Herdman than west, of it. Nearness to Franklin induced settlers to move in and John Black, Joseph Arthur, Archd. Mather, William Gibson, and James Downs came in 1820, and formed a small neighborhood. Being entirely ignorant , of bush-life they had a hard time of it at firat, and but for mutually assisting each other could not have held their ground. In 1822 Hy. Rennie and Robt. Gibson came, the first securing 35 in a singular way. The lot was vacant and the first who took poss(^ssion would secure the patent One of the Duffins fancied the lot and hearing of Rennie's intention to settle on it, determined to forestall hi;n. Getting word of . j.jl . iliiiHIjipi r ■■ ,i! IHll 432 BLACKS CHURCH. this on a Sunday, Rennie set himself to defeat him. As he could not legally take possession on Sunday, he was con- strained to wait at Arthur's until another day begun. There was no clock in the settlement, so he and Arthur sat up until the cock crew, when, knowing it would be about 1 o'clock Monday morning, they sallied forth, reached the lot, and swung their axes with such good effect that by daylight there could be no question as to who was in possession. His shanty was erected on the little hill east of the graveyard. From his lot being midway between Rockburn and Herdman the school came to be placed upon it, the first teacher being Christy Campbell. In 1829, by a great effort, a small church was built, which stood in the present gi'aveyard. It was a frame building, with balloon-roof, 24 feet square, built by £i)ewster and McHardy, and subsequently 6 feet was added to it for a belfry. In 1831 Mr Rennie lost an infant son, w*ho was buried beside the church, which began the use of the plot as a graveyard, he giving a deed for an acre and keeping a burial register, which his nephew (James Rennie) has continued. The Rev Mr Merlin preached as his other appointments permitted. When asked as to his next visit, he would reply, "T will come sometime." He was not punc- tnal and the congregation were always kept waiting. Wm. Taylor of the 1st concession precented. No contribution was made towards Mr Merlin's salary. The situation of the dhurch was conjsenient to the residents on the Ist concession for the only road east of the Powerscourt side-line to the 3rd concession was the military road cut out by the Americans during the war. It followed the line between 34 and 35 until the swamp was reached, when it bent east and cume out opposite to the present church. Lewis McKay, who visited Huntingdon for the first time in the fall of 1822, and drew lot 35, range 3, said "the Blacks were engaged reaping their first crop, and, though the season was dry, tho only Way I could get to Athelstan was by passing np tbe war- road to the 1st concession, and along it to Powc^rsoourt, where I took, the Chateaugay road. The country was very wild at that time and I often trapped beavers to the north THE PEDLAR STORY. 439. As lit* as con- Theiv up until o'clocl< lot, and bt then* s shanty i. Froiu man the ler being ,11 church It was a built by ras added ifant son, ihe use of , acre and 3S Bennie) his other next visit, not punc- ng. Wm. mtion was on of the concession to the 3rd Americans 34 and 35 and camt' jKay, who ■ 1822, and ;ed rf-aping T, the only t'ije war- >w<;r8Court, was very the north of my farm. Venison was the only meat wo had, and I sho^ . deer from my own dot^r. Bears gave us a good deal c^ trouble, for they came from the swamps to the north ^ search of food." i The first settler at Rockburn was Matthew Shearer, whp took up 44 in 1821. Selling to Robert Rennie he moved*lp Russeltown, and his name became associated with a story ql ■. a pedlar alleged lO have been murdered at the Flats in ti||9 fall of 1826. Shearer, from being involved in the radi^ riots, fled from Scotland in the fall of 1819 and eventual^ drifted to Hinchinbrook, where Robert Gibson became hS^ neighbor, and with whom he lived. On transferring his \a(t • to Rennie, he worked with several farmers in Frankli^ finally marrying and settling down at the Flats, where he , had a small house next to John Forbes. One day, in Sejjh tember, 1826, there came along a French Canadian pedlaf, > with a great pack of goods, and was readily given permission to stay overnight. His goods were much too fine and cost^ for the settlers, and finding, after a considerable stay, tliai he could not sell them, he resolved to cross into the United States, and succeeded in getting a man to convey his goo<^> thither. For their kindness in entertaining him, the pedk^r presented Mrs Shearer (a daughter of William Brisbin) wit^ silk enough to make a dress and left behind a box and oth^p valueless articles, until his return. As he never came back,, ihe story got abroad that he had been murdered, and it jvfs i generally believed. It was entirely unfounded, for the cause • of the pedlar's non-return was, that on the. road to Plat^^ burgh he met an American, A. Rand, who purchased his 8toe|c of goods in bulk, when, having no need to go back to the Flats, he struck put for fresh pastures. .Shearer moved to. the Bay of Quinte, where he throve, and probably remain^ unconscious of the unjust suspicions he left behind him. . , . The fine water-power of the Mitchelbrook at RockbniTk. was turned to account in 1829. James Allen, unable to r^ . store his mill at the Flats, for the seigniory-office. waanoiw zealous in upholding its privileges, resolved on buildiiig «» gristmill in Hinchinbrook, and there was. a great be^ ^O'* 19 -434 ROCKBURN fiiise the frame that fall. He operated it succeRsfully until ^e left the country, when Robt Needier bought his property •nd supplemented the water-power by a steam-engine. Fol- lowing the erection of the grist-mill, William Dunlop, some distance farther down the stream, placed a sawmill. On the upper Mitchelbrook Thomas Blair, about the same time, ,4milt a sawmill, and in 1836 the Craiks engaged Nelson ^Proper to erect one on their lot At a much later date, '1)avid Craik, a bom-mechanic, bought a part of Blair's lot ttnd proceeded to build a small gristmill. Near to these mills '>' "''» ''•'' 'eft who had bought !i fST::^l^Z t^'r" '""'■ «»=» to have come i„ f„„ ^^ Stet^t ,r«t ^^'"'' "''° "'*"''«♦ ' P^^ion in 1820, enlaced sLlf "^ "'»'''''« '"ot citable building,, 'in thTiwril'T"™ '"'' -^'•'«'* h« family, «,vering his mn^ ^ ^""« "' '»*2 he moved ' 'be people of that itns ™rX7'!l f 'ff ""'' ""'* ch.ef n»n of basi„e« and Lh^^i' ^ '" ."^ '>«"' 'bei, « P'oof of how m„eh pubUe ™ LI/? °' "•" P*""* ^^ «S««1 to the liquor-tjffic th^*" ^f '^™-=«' »!* "doubt as to the legitim^foJ T"^''^ °"'" "-ad not whi.ky, and the fef auZer L r/'^'''^^ "»<> «='«"« »P for distilling potato^JSX r""^ '.■""'*•■"« ««^ which he planted ^0ac«s,a^7;h^,'":PP'^ "■« """o"-! foV hmdering, the m«.„fact„ri^J'™'''''' "»'«!«« laws then «>Id at 25 cents a gallon The 1 f "" ^'■« »?«' wa, ever had ^.ythingtrwitoth^r '"^ 'o "«"' ''•v^ »fl»ence to the fide o? "mp^tl'"'":,'"'""'- ""^ «»- h1^ ?erv.ces we™ «,„ght i„ other ttTnW, •^- ' .""«'«'"'»'> '«» ■n A-regard of the statutes he rf„^" ''"*?"'' "'P""^. -x^. ""ny. He died in im^l^T^?^^ "'» "^""^ cere- «n«l was buried on hi, W "* "'" P"'™"'"' "«» of 8d, The 8th concession w«s nni ^l «<)»«.t to 1880. Tb«e broSe« MatT^^" "' "■"" »'''^- S.mp«,„, Hugh Calhoun. WffliZ's. n i ?"«'' »■"' J"""^ ('be two latter Scotch, the^^ Wsh P , ?'■■"" ""^ fl«t to go in ,„d h^ manvS/u- '^™''"™'») were th' ebief »«ing the want oT^' ^f^^Z^" r*""^ with, tl,e ^k through the buri. to Cut™ .°«'^ "^ '^"e W "hand elm wa, their supLrtftrT "^ "-' ™' «f black •t into potash. ^^P^" *°' "^y ye«s, they turning The aettlement of the «n.t ~, . '"■y (P.«e SI) and. at tie "m.^r'^""' ^«" '^"' "■« ce4- ^"''^™■""^-~^^^ts^'trlaXr I m M f4 ■43G WILLIAM TAYLOR. My fatlici" was a weaker in Paisley: a man ot" natural abilky and deej* piety, who preached on Sumlays to a small knot of 'Baptists, who, iu those days, reprysented that deuomination in the siuall Scottish town. Among his hearers were Matthew 'Taiinahill, brother of the poet, and David Coats, who after- ' wards became the great thread- manufacturer. I was bom in iSOl and when I became old enough learned my father's trade. la 1820, the radical year, trade was very dull, so that I. could •jnpt find work, and my thoughts were directed to emigrating. "TThe government was offering unusual inducements to go to 'Canada, — 100 acres in county Lanark, an axe, nails, glass, etc., and $10 in money — and I joined the first party of tSOO, which sailed in the Buckinghamshire from Greenock on the 19th April, 1821. From lAchine, the passage was made^n 30 Durham boats, the emigrants helping to tow them up the rapids, a Canadian heading the tow-rope and we falling in 'fcehind him. We were carted back to our lots in the bush. 'The land was stony and the poor people had a hard time of it, though those who persevered eventually made comfortable homes for themselves. Towards spring the settlement was visited by Jacob Hart, who had been educated by the Rev Dr Ev/ing, Independent minister of Glasgow, as a missionary, and who came to Lanark to see the Huttons, with whom I i*fiived, a family with which he was connected by marriage. jiHe told me that he was living in the county of Huntingdon, (p. 155) where the land was much better. In April, 1822, I determined to go and see for myself, and footed it the entire distance, being ferried across at St Regis, and coming down on the American side to Chateaugay, from whence there was a rude road to the 1st con. of Hinchinbrook, not straight, but «ngling across the lots until it got to the centre of them, when it ran east The first settler's house after crossing the Iboundary-line was that of Joe Silver, a Canadian, who had just sold to Adam Patterson but had not left. Then .came 5 Americans, who afterwards sold out to Old Countrymen and MIeft, and after them a Dutchman, Kidner, on 27, who sold to ■Wallace, which brought me to McLatchie, who held then 600 acres and was very comfortable ; still farther east were Peter McGregor %nd his father-in-law, Captain Barron, and John Campbell. I was so pleased with the land that I determined at once to remain, and walking to Huntingdon I found Mr JBowr»jn and took out my location-ticket for part of 30. Pitten- wricht, an Aberdonian. took up the lot opposite me, which he sold afterwards to Donald Fisher. George Gillis drew part of 31 and as he was> like myself, a single man, we worked MOONEY S MILL. 43>- together, making putash. Our living was potatoes and salt' and salt and potatoes. Gillis sold in 1824 to William Burns. ^ To make a little money I hired out the fall I came, at $6 a month, to Peter Campbell, and remained with him 15 months. | Being ignorant of fanning this was an advantage to me, for ' Campbell had to tea* h me even to mow. In 1824 an Insh Catholic, Qharles Mooney, arrived and built a sawmill on the east side of the Hinchinbrook, and afterwards, in 1828, a gristmill on the west bank. The latter was operated by a " breastwheel 80 feet high and the machinery was very simple,' mostly of wood, Sandy Lumsden making what ironwork there was. The stones were hewn out of boulders in the a;ijoining field. They moved slowly and turned out poor flour, but for all that, the mill was a great convenience. His coming in-' duced a number of his countrymen to follow, and every Irish Catholic immigiant met on the road would ask the v.'ay to Mcjuey's. At the east end of the concession there settled the McMullins, Felix J!tfcCormick, James Condron, the DufRns,' (Henry lived on the site of the Catholic church) and the Mc- Donaghs. The Learys came later on. A few years after he built the mills, Mooney sold the property to one Murray, who died market-clerk of Montreal. The same yettr that the saw- mill was bailt, John Mitchcl, f , Dutch Yankee, built a store at the lines, on the road to Chateaugay, where all our trading had heretofore been done. The new store was very convenient and Mitchel was liberal, giving credit to the new settlei's, who Irnd often to get trust for their first axe. They paid in pot- ash, v/hich Mitchel hauled to Athelstan and sent to Hunting- don by canoe, having a lai-ge one for that purpose, which held 3 barrels. From Huntingdon to the Basin Reeves took them in his canoes, and often conveye he did. He attended one or two aftor- . wards, when Mrs Black said she had the key of the church, and as it was not used, they might meet there. They did so, end that led to the Franklin minister including the Black churah in his appointments. There was not a wheeled vehicle tised on the Ist concession when I came or for years after; it i^as all ox-sleds. Clearing an acre of land was counted in tht>se early days worth $10. The school at Powerscourt was opened in the winter of 1833. The Johnston burying-place el Powerscourt is not a very old one. It contains a good many Irish Catholics, whom, for some cause or another, the |)riest would not bury in consecrated ground. ^ This narrative is sufficiently full regarding the 1st conces- 6i9n. A little south of Powerscourt, Holcouib & Latham, \yhile they kept store at Huntingdon, built a small sawmill, %vhich, on tljeir failure,, they transferred to a creditor, a Mont- t>eal merchant named Buck, by birth an American, in payment of their debt. In 1827 Buck built a gristmill on the Elgin «ide, in which he gave some interest to Holcomb, whom he engaged as manager. The mill was of the greatest service to the settlers, who camo to it from great distances. In 1833 IPisher Ames was engaged as manager, when the mills were refitted and a run of stones put in to shell oats. The small sawmills on the Chateaugay and its tributaries from 1830 to 1850 did a large business in sawing pine lumber, which was «cnt to Quebec. In the winter of 1833 Major Gardner made OLD BURIAL PLACES. 43» a fpre&i effort to have a large output, the sawmill being keplU* going night and day. The spring of 1834 came early, and^' the rafts he had ready started and went down easily untUi the Blockhouse was reached, when it was found the ice below . was firm. After waiting a good while, it moved, when the rafts followed, but the water fell rapidly, and there was not^- sufficient to float them over the rapids at Ste Martine. The ^ cost of teaming the lumber to the Basin swallowed the profit3». , ofxd the season was long remembered by lumbermen as a disK r astrous one. In those days farmers never paid for sawic^ • giving half the lumber as toll. Hemlock was rarely drawp*. millers having a prejudice against sawing it, especially ia winter, from its flinty nature being hard on their saws. The western end of the 1st concession road was long iL< being;- chopped out, the settlers using the track made by the oI<^ American squatters that circled round to Mitchel's. About 1835 the road was cut out on the proper line, and the cedar- swamp that lay west of Bumbrae was cross-wayed, and mauy. , years elapsed before it was covered with soil and converte- awakened by Mrs Walker, who cried that she was very illtr The doctor rose and entered her room, when he found her itt' a state of collapse, and she died in the morning. Note. At the close of this chapter, I would direct attention'' to the neglected condition of the graves and burial-grounds oi^ the first settlers. No eflbrt has been made to preserve them, and, in a few cases, the plow passes over the bones of those who led the way into the wilderness. Surely something might ' be done to ensure respect for the few square feet of land the^ now claim. In Hinchmbrook the grave of Capt. Barron (p. $6y, will soon be lost sight of, and it is the same with others. l!!he , interesting burying-place on the Chateaugay, named in the , foregoing chapter "the oaks," is in danger of Tailing a prey to the plow. CHAPTER XXII. FRANKLIN AND THE CONTEST WITH THE SEIGNIOR. »' The era of immigi*ation affected Franklin less than any other part of the district. The northern section had, as al- ready described, been taken up by Americans; the southern WBS held by non-residents; the crown had no lots to grant, ©bmpared with the western part of the county, it was an old eettleinent, and, therefore, does not present the same material for narration. In 1826 Amos J. Fassett, an American, opened litore on the upper road, on the gore lot, and did business for about 6 years. He was backed by Keyes & Hotchkiss, for whom he bougiit ashes. At Stacy's corners, in 1830, George Smith, ' who had moved from the Hill, began a blacksmith shop. It may be here remarked, that stores and taverns were more numerous along the frontier in those early days than they Are now. At one time or another every cross-road has had its store or tavern, and much business was done at corners which are now deserted. The decline of the drinking-habit deduced the number of taverns, and as roads were opened and improved, business centred more in the villages. On the Moo • l^ace (lot 4, 9th range) stood the first school, built probably fhbout 1822, which had a succession of teachers, mostly from the States and none of them competent, until a son of Wm. Easton tookchai'ge. This old schoolhouse remained in use antil the stone-schoolhouse, long the place for council and frablic meetings, was erected at Stacy's corners, or Manning- l»ille as it was then called. That name passed with the post- ilffice to the hamlet at the point where the roatl crosses the •^tltarde,. which, 40 years ago, was a busy place, sawmills ikfing built on either side of the bridge, and eventually a tannery was opened and a store by Ames & Fargo. About 1830 Cantwell & Nichols opened a branch store at Franklin C^tre which did a large business. While on his deathbed FRANKLIN CENTRE. 441 [OR. than any had, as al- e southern s to grant, was an old ae material can, opened jusiness for 3S,forwhom orge Smith, ih shop. It were more 5 than they >ad has had at corners nking-habit opened and On the Moe It probably nostly from son of Wm. ined in use council and >r Manning- th the post- crossea the !e, sawmills entually a •go. About at Franklin lis deathbed in 1834 Nichols bequeathed half an acre of his farm, 13, as a ' graveyard, and he was the first to be buried in it. William Cantwell said: "I came from Troy, N. Y., in 1835, when I bought the Franklin store from my brother. This section, even then, was pretty much under bush, and there was not a French Canadian at St Antoine, on the Black river, or in St Jean Chrysostome. It was not until 1840 that the French began to move into the Black river country. Potash was the great commodity, and I have sent away 85 barrels at once. They were sent on sleds, dragged by two yoke of oxen, to St Remi, and sometimes they took 2 barrels when the road was good, but generally one was a load. There was not a buggy then in the county." The opening of a store at the corners added to its importance. Job Douell, an American, opened tavern, and after keeping it some time sold to a brother countryman, Abram Samson, who was succeeded in 1837 by an Irish Protestant, Thomas Wilson. Willis Pelton, ' before that, opened a whisky-shop, a class of places numer- ous all over the country. After 1835 the whisky was nearly all smuggled. It could be had at Malone for 20 cents the gallon, was worth 80 cents at Franklin, and %l at St Remi. The business of smuggling M'as followed systematically and immense quantities of liquor brought in. About 1830 a schoolhouse was built on the site of the existing one, large enough for meetings on week days and Sundays, and within its walls, eventually destroyed by fire, the Rev Mr Townsend • and othei's held service. Some time after the war an Ameri- • cifin physician,' Dr Walbridge, took up his abode on lot 18, 2hd range. He was found dead in his bush, having been' killed while dragging a tree home for firewood. He wos suc- ceeded by Dr Austin, who lived near or on 16. Walbridge's lot was bought by Robert Dunn in 1821, and who became a prominent settler. On 14 was Jacob Abbott, a native of' Maine, who kept travellers from an early date. Ho was the- • first to introduce a wheeled vehicle, getting an ox-cart made in Montreal, which he used in going round to collect ashes, for he had an ashery. In 1825 he sold to Frederick Border, an Irish Protestant, who, until his death at an ad\'anced age, oc- 442 TREATMENT OF THE HIOHLAXDEOS. cupied a prominent position in the township. He was the cause of others of his countrymen coming to Franklin, among them being Jas. Tate on 13, range 3, and his brother William. The growth of that section of country which forms a gore between the old Hemingford and Hinchinbrook lines, ex- tending from the Flats to near Rockbum, was blighted for 25 years by an attempt to prove that it was part of the seigniory of Beauhamois. From the beginning, there had been a doubt as to how far the seigniory extended south- wards. Anxious to have the coantry settled, the first seign- iory-agent, Winter, told those who were purposing to take up land in what is now Franklin, that he would m,ake them safe by giving them permits, which few accepted,, the majority regarding that an unnecessary precaution, being persuaded that not only Russeltown and Edwardstown, but a strip of Williamstown were outside the bounds of the seigniory, and therefore belonged to the crown. Milne was so dubious about the seigniory owning these lands that, in a case where he wished to favor a family, he would not give a deed. When Brown came all doubt as to the designs of the seignior were ended. The Hon. John Richardson and he resolved to begin with the Williamstown settlers. The Highlanders were sum- moned to attend at Beauhamois one day in October, 1821. Asked what they had to say for themselves, they told how they had sought homes nine years before in the forest, (p. 48) and how, when informed that the owner of the seigniory claimed the land they had selected, two of their number had gone to visit Milne and wanted to an'ange with him, for they wished to act honestly, and he refused to deal with them in any way and, thereupon, they had takMi possession. Richardson perceived the simple character of the men and he proceeded to bully them. Affecting to be in a rage, he denounced them as trespassers and land-robbers, whom he would cause to be punished with the full rigor of the law — he would take their lands from them and imprison them until they paid what they were due. The unsophisticated children of hill and glen, without a friend, unable to com- munioate with those around them, for they spoke Gaelic RU8SELT0WN THREATENED. 443 was the n, among William. ns a gore lines, ex- ghted for krt of the there had led south- irst seign- ig to take nake them le majority persuaded 1 a strip of gniory, and bious about e where he Bed. When ignior were ed to begin 9 were sum- bober, 1821. ,y told how jrest, (p.48) e seigniory Qumber had th him, for 5 deal with possession. le men and a rage, he I, whom he \i the law— >rison them )phisticated [ble to com- ke Gaelic alone, were struck dumb, and when, as a great favor, they were told they would be allowed to compromise by paying lump sums in proportion to the length of time they had held possession and by agreeing to become censitaires, they complied, and signed an obligation to that effect, the amounts ranging from $25 to $200, and which they had much diffi- culty in paying. The next move was made upon the Russcl- town settlers. Manuel was sent to make a survey. The settlers would not let him; told him their lands belonged to the king, and that Ellice could not treat them as he had done their Highland neighbors. Manuel returned to Beau- hamois and reported that many of the settlers had been in undii|turbed,possesaion for nigh 20 years, that they had clearances of 30 arpents and over, with fine orchards, and were not the stamp of men to be imposed upon. There the matter rested, and as year followed year without further molestation, the settlers concluded Ellice had abandoned his claim and gave no more thought to the matter. It was in the spring of 1828, while they were plodding along at their weary work of subduing the wilderness, that they were astounded by the announcement that Mr Ellice had taken steps to make good his claim to their farms. They had never doubted that the land they held belonged to the crown, and it was in that belief they had gone on improving it; indeed, many had paid for it under, that supposition, for niot a few lots had changed hands several times, and always at an advance in price in proportion to the increased improvements. No settler had troubled himself about applying for a patent, for so long as the govomment did not disturb them, they were not anxious to settle with ii The demand of Mr Ellice, that they recog- nize him OS their seignior and pay rent, shattered their dream of fancied security in their "possessions and set them enquiring into the foundation of his claim. The question was a rather involved one, and turned upon the correctness of the surveys of the boundary-lines between the seigniory of Beauhamois and the Huntingdon townships. In 1787 W. Chewett was oriered to survey the township oli^odmanchester, which then included St Anicet. It was of course essential for him to AAA THE MERITS OF THE CASE. establish the western boundary of the seigniory, and the pl-oper way to have done so was to begin at the boundary (which had been then legally established) between the seign- iory of Chateaugay and that of Beauhamois, and from that point measure 6 French leagues, which would have brought him to the western limit of the seigniory of Beauhamois, and the starting-point for the new township he was to sur- vey. Instead of that, he started at St Regis, and measunng eastward struck the river Chateaugay which he followed until he either arbitrarily fixed the western Iwundary of the seigniory or, what is probable, accepted some old post that a previous, surveyor hnd planted. Having settled in his own way the seigniory's landmark on the river-bank, he ran his line north-west to the St Lawrence. The following year Henry Holland was sent to survey Hinchinbrook. Without examination, he accepted Chewett's line as correct, and con- tinued it south-east until it struck the province-line in the centre of 51. In 1791 Joseph Kilburn was engaged to sur- vey Hemingford, and just as Chewett and Holland had established the western boundary of the seigniory, it fell to him to ascertain its southern boundary. This he did b; starting from the south-east landmark of the seigniory, which had been established, and ran a line south-west until it intersected that run by Holland. This he struck half a mile north of the United States, when he concluded that the western line of the seigniory was to that extent short of the six leagues. Alexander EUice, who was then seignior, demanded compensation for this deficiency, and, in ISdl, the government, without enijuiring into the merits of the case, ceded to him (iGOO acres in the township of Clifton, Sherbrooke county. Thus the matter rested for over a quarter »>f a century, during which the settlers were pain- fully and slowly subduing the forest and changing an un- productive wilderness into a fertile country. The agents of the seigniory, the Hon. Mr. Richardson and Colonel Brown, perceived this. They envied the prosperous settlements which fringed the southern border of the seigniory and iissolved to appropriate them under the pretence that they SUPERFICIES OF THE SEIGNIORY. 445 fell within its limits by virtue of the old and forgotten surveys above described. If these surveys were correct, the claim of Mr Ellice's agents was indisputable, and the whole question therefore turned upon their accuracy. Nothing could be plainer than the limits defined in the original deed, by the French king. The Marquis of Beau- hamois was to have a square of land 6 leagues long facing the St Lawrence, and 6 leagues deep, the side-lines to run south-west. A square of this size would contain 254,036 arpents. The questions to decide Mr Ellice's pretensions were : Did his seigniory, have a front on the St Lawrence of 6 leagues ; did his side-lines measure 6 leagues in depth ; did they run truly parallel ? Thus tested, it was ascertained, 1st, that instead of a river front of 18 miles, he had one of 18^, Chewett having made a mistake in allowing half a mile more to the seigniory than it was entitled. 2nd, that the west side-line was unduly prolonged by Holland, and, instead * of being short, as judged by Kilbum, was the reverse. 3rd, that Chewett had run his line on the wrong angle, and by going too far west, had given the seigniory a breadth in rear of 19 miles instead of 18. In addition to all this, the three surveyors had overlooked the circumstance that the St Lawrence took a bend from the dividing-line between the seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauhamois, and that the great projection of land northward, including Grande Isle, should have been taken into account, and the southern boundary been made to conform to it, by slanting it' north- ward from the end of the eastern-line. The result of all these errors was, that if the boundaries of Godmanchester and the other townships were to be accepted as the boun- daries of the seigniory, then it contained 32,000 arpents more than the deed of the French king authorized, and the farms of Manning, Gentle, and the 15Q others east of them were part of the surplus. To these representations, Ellice's agents had but one an- swer, that the surveys placed their lands within the limits of the seigniory, and the settlers pleaded in vain that EUice could claim no more land than his deed gave him, namdy, •446 THE MEETING WITH BROWN. a square of 18 miles, and the ^res between the township lines and the true limits of the seigniory were simply un- conceded crown lands. No error of a surveyor could increase the bounds of the seignior beyond what he had legal title to. It was in vain. The agents of the seigniory saw the catch the error in the surveys afforded, and laid claim to all the land east and north of the boundary-lines of the townships as drawn by Chewett, Holland, and Kilburn. Knowing what was brewing for them, the settlers appointed. a committee to wait on Felton, the agent for the crown lands, who lived at Sherbrooke^ and negotiate for the issue of patents for their lots. Mr Felton declined, saying he had no authority to interfere w^ith lands about which there was any dispute. Hearing of the effort to obtain titles from the crown. Brown decided to proceed to extremities with the settlers, and, as a necessary pi'eliminary to instituting actions against them, had to offer them deeds of concession. In the summer of 1828 he notified them he would visit Busseltown and to meet him and show their titles to holding the land they oc- cupied. There was a large gathering, for over 150 families were affected. None had any deeds to show beyond the conveyances of those they had bought from, but a few had permits from Francis Winter, as agent of the seignior, auth- orizing them to -take possession of the lands they were upoh. These Brown scoffed at, and demanded that all should take deeds of concession from 'him. They refused, contending that their lands were outside the seigniory. He threatened them, when one of the settlers stood forward and said they wanted no law and, as a compromise, if he would accept of a copper and a quart of wheat as rent per acre, instead of the 12 oOppers per acre he demanded, they would take deeds of eoticession. He laughed at the man and left the meeting with the assurance that the next visit they would have would be from the bailiff Without any delay, writs w^re served on 13 of the settlers most prominent in resisting the seigQior's claims, among them being such old residents as Andrew Gentle, Aram Moe, William Adams, and Ichabod Allen. The demand made updn them was, tiiat they take THE SETTLERS ORGANIZE. 447 i township limply un- Id increase ^l title to. 7 the catch to all the » townships swing what jmmittee to ho lived at ta for their .uthority to ,ny dispute, own, Brown lers, and, as gainst them, summer of own and to and they oc- 160 families beyond the it a few had jignior, auth- were upon, should take [tending that ktened them, thpy wanted of a copper of the 12 bke deeds of the meeting would have writs were ssisting the residents as id Ichabod it they take deeds of concession from the seignior at $10 yearly rent per 100 arpents, pay up all arrears of rent, including lods et rentes, where there had been transfers, or settle for the past by paying the lump sum of S800. Unable to bear the costs of so many suits, the settlers, at a meeting held in the school- house at Moe's, agreed to abide by the decision of any e declared possessore of the lots held hy them, their second a protest against the regrant of the seigniory, as prayed for by Ellice, and asking, if their prayer were not granted, that, in eiiy back claims he might make, he be limited tj the rents authorized by the old French law, namely 2 coppers, or 1 copper and a quart of wheat, yearly, for each arpent. The ^cernment handed the documents to Ellice 's agents for reply, and a controversy ensued in which the legal acumen was on one side and right and equity on the other. The case for the settlers was wordily and blunderingly presented by Manning and Jacob Dewitt, then one of the members for the county ; the strongest points they made being that the de- cision of the court in dismissing Ellice 's action against the 13 ehowed he had no legal title to the lands in dispute, while, it was aeked, "What better title can that man have who has cleared pad cultivated the land, who, with the very sweat of his brow, has fertilized and rendered it productive ? It is true the settlere took possession of their lands, but they did eo when they were wild and uncultivated, and it is only now, when their labors have rendered these lands valuable, that ^t *he case, as again.st his agents, more particu- larly Brov p, w^ose rapacity and duplicity had long made his name a ' y orJ in the district, while his lewdness disgusted* decent people. His taking advantage of Kilbum's error in mnning the Russeltown boundary was i*egarded by the sett- lei's solely as a scheme to obtain money to maintain him in the extravagant and shameless mode of life he i iintained at Boauhamois. The year the tenure of the seigniory was changed, Mr Ellice visited Canada. The first Sunday after his arrival at* Beauharnois he went to the door of the Catholic church, and,* with Peter McGill standing by his side, announced, as the congregation came out, that he would be at Reeves's tavern on a certain day to hear any complaints his censitaires might ' have. There was a large gathering, and he was overwhelmed ' 452 ANfU'HEU OK FEU. ■ilil'i witli nstonislmiont at the number and variety of the grievances of the people, and finally grew irritated and angry. Brown hept uian\' back from speaking by fair promises, but enough came out to show Ellice how the people had been wronged. When old Mr Elliot of English river stated the grievance of the settlers with regard to the inouture, the answer, that he had not received a penny from the revenues of the seigniory, that he had been even drawn upon for S2000 to pay for the Norton , creek mill, silenced his astonished hearers, for it is liard to complain to a landlord whose property is a source of loss ^o him. They knew that, between lumber and rents, a large sum was paid yearly at Beauharnois, and their indig- nation w^as subdued with pity for the London magnate who was being bled by his servants. Mr Ellice impressed the settlers as anxious to do what was just and he made many promises, which, as he left Brown to perform them, v^^t: not fulfilled. Touching the question of the B,usseltowh laii 1 -. he declined to interfere, letting it remain with his lawyers. After a brief stay, he departed, leaving behind him an agent, named Bull, professedly to assist in the seigniory office, but in reality as a check on Brown. Negotiations were re-opened with the settlers, and in July, 1836, the seignior made a written offer to give clear deeds for ^4 per acre for lots marked by their surveyor "superior," $3 for lots marked "middling," and $2 for "inferior," one-fifth of the price down and the remainder as agreed upon, with interest. 'The offer was to remain open until the end of the year, and all who did not accept were to be prosecuted for unlawful possession. None accepted the proferred terms, and in 1837 fresh actions were taken out against a number. By consent, those against Squire Manning and Jeremiah Dunn were selected as test-suits. Before they were called in court, a change took place which caused indefinite delay. The sum- mer of 1838 young Ellice arrived in Canada and happening to be at Beauharnois on the outbreak of the rebellion, was so disgusted by his arrest and treatment while a prisoner, that he returned to England determined to get quit of the seigniory, and the following year he succeeded in inducinj;- 'THE SEIGXIORY IS SOLD. 453 evances Brown enough vronged. vance of , that he eigniory, y for the for it is a source md rents, leir indig- rnate who •essed the lade many hem, vero own laiids l8 lawyers, a an agent, office, but id in July, r deeds for •ior,"$3for liif th of the ih interest, year, and unlawful Ld in 1837 \y consent, unn were |in court, a The sum- happening l»ellion, was la prisoner, Liit of the In inducing Mr Scott, a London banker, to purchase it, and who ap- pointed Lewis Lyman of Montreal his agent. Owing to severe losses in his business, Mr Scott was unable to retain the seigniory, whereupon he organized a company, the Lon- don Land company, to take it over for $750,000, of which $150,000 was paid to Eilice, who was elected a director. Edward Colville, of a noble Scotch house, a lad of 23 and fresh from college, was sent out to manage for the company. Brown, who had been retained by Eilice to look after liiy interests until the w'hole of the purchase-money was paid, soon threw his wiles around the lad and led him into ex- cesses which destroyed his usefulness. This was his associ- ate's object, for, above all things, he desired to see the former regime restored with himself in his old position. The change of propnetorship caused a stay in the proceedings until 1844, when they were resumed in a desultory manner, which was particvdarly harassing to the farmers, who ardently desired the question settled, and well they might, for so long as their right to their lots was disputed they did not care ^ about improving them, and shuffled along, from year to year, as they best could. The settlement was almost at a standstill, and the young people, who, umler other circum- stances, would have spread over the adjacent country and ' formed strong English - settlements in Edvvardstown and along the Black river (now occupied by the French), left for Ontario and the United States. AViout 1.S35 a craze prevailed regaiding the Bay of Quinte, and there was a - large emigration to that fine district. Uoads and water- " discharges were neglected, and whenever any improvement" was mooted the cry was. What use to work for the benelit of the seignior? As they would get no compensaticm for their betterments, should the cases go against them, the old log-shanties ami the meagfrc cleaiinffs were enough for them to lose. The uncertainty as to title afi'ected their credit. Stoi'ekeepers did not like to trust them too fai', and as they could not give mortgages, *hey were at the mercy of the .' luoney-lenders. To their honor be it said, the settlers took ue advantage of their situation, and all obligations on their Itii 454 THE SETTLERS MEASURE THE SEIGNIORY. I ^ m lands were paid. The stagnant appearance of the settle- ment was no reflex of the minds of its inhabitants, which were kept awake bj' never-ceasing anxiety. Hopes of an early decision of their suits were bom to be blasted, and rumors excited them but to die away and be succeeded by others as unsubstantial. There were spies in their midst end wires were pulled to cause divisions and bickerings among them, but these maneuvers of Brown were futile, beyond exasperating public feeling. The Land Association, as they called their union, stood intact, and when Fisher Ames moved into Franklin it gained an unwearied and fertile-minded secretary. The weak point in the case of the fieignior, that he could not prove his right to more than the 254,016 arpents granted by the French king, was perceived by Ames, and he perseveringly pressed the government to ol'der a survey of it, and here it is to be noted that, after the union, the government ceased to be the obliging friend of EUice and refused all assistance to defeat the farmers. The persistent efforts of the settlers to obtain a decision on their cases were baflled by the lawyers for the seigniory, who entered demurrers and made motions with no other end than to weary the defendants and impoverish them by the costs, for which frequent assessments had to be imposed. New actions were constantly being taken out, with no other view, of course, than to frighten the weak into yielding and to aijnoy resolute pppone.jpts, fpr one case would settle the merits at stake as well as fifty. The settlers retorted by 'taking steps to dispute the title of the seignior to much of thie land that had been heretofore considered as his beyond dispute. William Barrett and William Lalanne were em- ployed to make a survey of the seigniory. The work was one of danger and difficulty. Mr Nicolson of the seigniory- oflSce was deputed to prevent the survey being made, and, sustained by a strong posse, he vigorously hunted the two engineers. Ordered by the seigniory -office, the habitants along the river forbade them to put a foot on their farms. Foreseeing this trouble, the winter had been chosen to do the work, and the surveyors scanned the shore from the DEATH OF BROWN. 455 3 settle- it, which iS o£ an ted, and seded by ir midst ickerings re futile, sociation, ;n Fisher tried and Bise of the ! than the perceived irnment to that, after ing friend le fanners. decision on seigniory, no other \\ them by imposed. [h no other lelding and settle the itorted by much of lis beyond were em- work was seigniory- made, and, ■d the two habitants Ihcir farms, losen to do from the ice. Where tlje current was rapid this was dangerous, and, on one occasion, the spot where they had levelled their in- struments was open water next day. The chief difficulty was pi-oviding shelter for the party at night, and this waa undertArken by Joseph Towns and William Wilson, who suc- ceeded in securing board and lodging. Creeping along the ice that edged the bank, even where the rapids foamed and roared, the surveyors fulfilled their task, and when Januaiy, 1847, closed, they had obtained a correct outline of the rivei^ front of the seigniory. The running of the sidelines was easy, and when they completed their calculations, they de- monstrated with mathematical precision that the seignioiy contained 32,503 arpents over the 254,016 secured by the French king's deed. They petitioned the government to order a new survey of the seigniory and to reinvest in the crown whatever surplusage of land might be found. The lawyers of the seignior pleaded French law and custom ad to defining lx)undaries, and insisted that Kilburn's line, re- established by Stevenson and Arcand, was final as to the southern limit of the seigniorj'^ and that the letters-patent issued in reconveying the seigniory in free and common soccage confirmed the title to all other lands in dispute. This latter contention would have been unanswerable had the letters -patent described the extent and limits of the seigniory, which it did not, merely naming its divisions, a9 Jamestown, Busseltown, and Edwardstown, without definin.^ their boundaries. The year 1851 had not passed many days when Colonel Brown suddenly died, and thus an obstacle to a settlement of the wearisome dispute was removed. There were other circumstances favorable to such a result. The company which bought the seigniory had been obliged to relinquish it, for owing to Colville's mismanagement the receipts hacif barely sufficed for the expenditure, and they arranged with Ellice to take the property off their hands, b« to retain the payment of $150,000. James Keith was appointed successor to Brown and hu app1ie«i himself to bringing the disputegan by asking Mr Keith if it was like a gentleman to be disturbing loyal RESULTS IN A SETTLEMENT. 457 ,s entrusted was ameu- advantage ied. What rive the use I on against Ir Rose was uld be made LS furnished I out against ls a test-case e ground of posterous to n the crown nice. There itory of the ndividual to it, some day, at the hack- value to the leered them- ead of that, ion Manning, ng incapaci- |Mr Cherrier, sment on the for the land association, the advice, a irtained, and ver a year, arranged to llers and Mr the under- at was said court. On [n by asking irbing loyal men in their holdings. Keith rose to leave the room, saying if such talk was to be tolerated the meeting could have no good result. He was persuaded to remain and the business for which they met taken up. The committee frankly stated that if they won the suits, and their farms declared to be crown lands, they would have to pay the government 75 cents per acre. If the seignior would agree to take that and give them a clear acquittance, they were ready to pay him. Mr Keith demurred. That the seignior would win the cases, he declared himself satisfied, and the settlers would have to pay the $6 per acre he was selling other wild* lands at, with damages in addition, but he was willing to take much less to amicably settle a dispute that had now lasted over 25 years. Finally it was arranged to pay a dollar per acre. To come to an understanding about who should pay the law costs of the seignior was more difficult, for Keith insisted that the settlers should pay them all. When asked what they amounted to, he could not tell, but roughly esti- mated them at $2000. Finally, he said he would agree to the seignior paying $200 of the amount, whatever it might be. The conference was suspended to allow of the committee consulting with the farmers in attendance outside. Nelson Manning pointed out that if the bill of costs was left to the lawyers, there was no telling how large a sum they would have to pay. He suggested that they offer a lump sum and then they would know where they were. To Mr Keith he pointed out, that whereas $1000 was a small sum to Mr Ellice it was a serious one to the farmers, and that as they were yielding so much in acknowledging his title to their lands, he might make a financial concession. His words had their weight with both sides, and on the committee tendering $800, Mr Keith accepted, and the conference ended. It was subsequently ascertained that the seignior's taxed costs were $3000 and the association's $1600. In apportioning how the dollar per acre should be raised, the settlers agreed that all who had held lots over 30 years should pay 60 cents per acre, those who had held lots for a less period 80 cents per acre if on the high land and $1.40 on the flats, making the 458 THE END OF THE CASE. average of one dollar an acre all over. The costs, including the $800 to be paid to the seignior, amounted to 82,400, and they were assessed on each lot. A few of the members of the association dishonorably refused to pay their share of the costs, which had to be made up by the others. And thus ended the most famous lawsuit the province has known; famous on account of the parties to it, a body of poor backwoodsmen against a wealthy London merchant and prominent English politician, and famous from the stake at issue — the homes of 200 families and the right of ownership to 32,500 acres. Neither side could claim victory. Ellice got a portion of the money he sought; the backwoodsmen vindicated their claim that their land was not seigniorial, which the government soon after acknowledged by including the larger portion of it into the reconstituted county of Hun- tingdon and still later into the township of Franklin. The removal of the incubus of the lawsuit wrought a wonderful change. Once more assured that the lands they cultivated were their own, the farmers set about improving them with spirit. The neglected aspect of the country disappeared and in 5 years more progress was made than in the 26 during which the renowned contest had lasted. One settler, James Lamb, a Scotchman, alone refused to enter into the agree- ment, and retained Andrew Robertson to defend him. The case was carried to England. He won, but he lost his farm, which went to pay his costs. CHAPTER XXIII. RUSSELTOWN AND EDWARDSTOWN: HAVELOCK AND FRANKLIN. Of t^ift country that spreads in wide extended flats at the foot of Covey hill, I will endeavor to give a consecutive his- tory from its iirst settlement. The stony ridges and gravelly slopes, which fonn the base of Covey hill, spring abruptly from a plain of fertile soil, watered by the Black and English rivers, Norton creek and several brooks. When the first- comers gazed down on this plain, they named it "the flats," and that title has adhered to the north-western portion of it. When the great inland-sea, that stretched from the Adiron- dacks to the Laurentians, receded, and when Covey hill reared its head as an island in its icy waters, it left a thick deposit of alluvial soil around its base, with a number of small streams trickling through it On these flats sprung up a heavy growth of black-ash and elm, which the New Englanders, forced to leave their own sterile valleys in search of new homes, were not long in discovering. When the first of these pioneers set up his shanty on the banks of Allen brook or of the English river is not known, but it is doubt- ful if it was before the beginning of the century. The only authentic record of these first-comers is contained in the narrative of the son of one of them, Willis C. Roberts : My father, Benjamin, was of "English descent, and lived at Deerfield, N.H. He sided with Britain in the revolutionary war, and, so soon after the peace as he could do so, he moved into Canada, and took up land in Sbinstead. What caused him to leave there I do not know, but in 1811 he moved west- ward and squatted on lot 16, 5th range. There were other settlers before him, very few, however, and I cannot give all their names. Humphrey Brayton was among them, and his shanty was on 205. My father did not like his location, for, owing to the brook being filled with driftwood, it was liable to sudden floods, and one spring his shanty was surrounded with water for quite a while. I was bom in Sept. 1813, and 4G0 WILLIS C. ROBERTS. my mother beinp; very ill a neighbor walked to Laprairie, which was the place where the nearest doctor lived. On the following New Year's day my parents were invited to a merry-making at Sweet's (p. 22). My mother, of course, took me, but left my two little si.stera behind, getting a son of Brayton's to remain in charge. About midnight the lad was awakened by a crackling sound, and saw the rafters over- head on fire. Snatching up the youngest child he rushed out, and driving the pigs from their pen, laid her in their nest, and returning brought out the other girl, being burned by a falling coal in doing so. Neither of my sisters was clad and the brave boy was barefoot. Everything was con- sumed. We spent the winter in Sweet's house, and in the spring my father rented David Stock well's farm, lot 9,4th }'ange, and he prepai'ed a new place for himself beside it. Stockwell was a blacksmith, and for many yeai-s the only one in this section. My father was the first to take up land between him and the flats, but he soon had neighbors, for Robert Hunkins squatted on 173 and Daniel Gordon on the opposite side of the road in 1818. In that year the settlers along the track, for it was not a road, that led to Franklin, were as follows : East of St Reuii, the settlers were French; where the village is now, lived Dewey, Struthers and Robt. Dunn, and west of them the woods were unbroken until Beechridge was reached, where a Dutch American, Hope, had built his shanty. The settlers on the flats in passing homewards, picked up the shell limestone that abounded on his lot, and burned them in their log-heaps to secure the lime necessary for the lye-leaches. Why the Beechridge got its name is hard to say, as spruce was the predominant tree. Ijcaving Hope's clearance, the woods closed in again and con- tinued until the Norton creek nppearcd, and on its banks were several houses. First v^ava two of the Nortons, and James Brock, wliose shanty stood where Thomns Cantwell afterwards built. On the west side, where the gristmill stands, was a Dutchman, Burgot, who afterwards put up a large blockhouse and lived a long while. In the fall of 1813 two sons of Ills were working in the bush when they heard the roll of musketry to the north of them, and realized that an engagfuient was going on, for they had not heard that Hampton ha Ik 11? 2 IWI^^E Illll ^.^ ;: 14^ IIIIIM 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 < 6" — ► m vl >^ oi ^m;' °% '> /A 'W^'^ '/ Hiotographic Sdences Corporation '>^ WEST MAIN STREET WkiijTER.N.Y. MS80 (716) 873-4503 1 & i 462 A PATRIOT. i ' i If was currently believed by them to dance naked round the trees, "whipping the devil round a stump." He had a fine family ot' daughters; his only son was killed by a cyclone in the West One day he brought home a few yards of calico which his wife had asked him to get, and, on coming in from the stable, and finding her tearing it into strips, he got into a rage at what he considered her wanton destructiveneas of property, and never after spoke to her. She was shredding the calico to make a quilt He had a most wonderful memory, and could repeat what he read or heard without mistake. He moved to Ohio, where he died. West of the lot of this strange man, whose name is perpetuated in that of the brouk that waters the western end of the flats, lived John, Charles, and Aianson Allen. With the few exceptions named, all the set- tlers were Americans, and a light-hearted, improvident class of New Englandei's they were. The outbreak of war caused, in the majority of them, no apprehension sufficient to drive them away, and the few who did leave, returned, though none entered the British service save my oldest brother, who enlisted in the Invincibles, and fell at Chrystler's farm. Either not hearing or unheeding the bugle when it sounded to retire, he remained and fell pierced with many bullets. The slash of timber made east of Chrysostom (page 63) named the American blockade, gave the settlers no small trouble, as they were refused passage with their teams, and would have been shut out from their only market but for Abram Welch, who had got authority to pass the linea Welch was a singu- lar being, well-educated and of great natural ability, but a notorious swearer, and so wild in manners that children M'ere terrified of him. He came from the state of Maine and had imbibed in his youth free-thinking notions and confused the simplerminded by arguments from Paine, delighting to shock the religious. One Sunday, while the Methodists were flock- ing past his house to a quarterly meeting, he hammered with all his energy on the roof of a new building he was erecting. His speech was the worst of him, however, for he was honest and abstemious, and freelv lent his aid in surveying land, at which he was surprisingly accurate, and in building. He settled first on 14 and 15 and then moved west to 136. During the war he acted as a secret agent for the government, for though an American he was loyal to Britain, and rendered valuaole service to the settlers in taking loads of potash to Laprairie and returning with much-need^ provisions, for the clearances then made were insufficient to sustain them. The magnificent cut of timber thai surrounded their shan- THE SETTLERS. 463 ties appeared to those American squatters to be a source of inexhaustible wealth, and potash-making was their constant avocation. Bees were of almost daily occurrence, for as soon as one had a sufficient'quantity of timber chopped, he called in his neighbors to log and bum, when there was a jollifica- tion, but nothing to that when the barrel was filled, hauled to Laprairie, and the proceeds brought back in the form of provisions and a replenished keg. It was working in the woods by day, and fiddling and dancing at night Had they gone soberly to work, and cleared the land for cultivation, they would have become comfortable, instead of leading a careless life with only the potash-kettle between them and starvation. Patches of com, wheat, and potatoes were raised on the knolls, but what they grew was insufficient, and the bulk of the provisions was brought from Montreal. Of the difficulties of the journey thither it is impossible to now form any conception. There were no bridges save a floating one across the La Tortue, and long stretches of swampy land had to be traversed. With an auger and axe to replace the runners as they wore out, the settler started with his barrel for Laprairie and often a week passed before his return. A fair day's journey for a yoke of oxen was 16 miles, and 20 was counted good. Horses were useless, for, owing to their stepping quickly, they smashed sled r cart against the suc- cession of obstructions. If the grouad was dry, causing the sled to rub hard, and he did not intend to bring a return load, the barrel was laid on a sort of cradle, cut from a large log, which was left behind at Laprairie, and the oxen returned light The bush in those days differed from the present, in being so free of underbrush that in an hour's travel the axe would not have to be used once. Winding out and in be- tween the forest monarchs, the settlers drove their ox-sleds in every direction, as fearless of losing themselves as the Arab in his native deserts. The first impulse to the prosperity of the settlement came in 1820, when an American, James Duncan, quietly threw a dam across the English river at St Chrysostom, and raised the frame of a sawmill. Ho knew he was breaking the law, ^■i'lii m \ I * 464 ST. CHRYSOSTOM. that it was illegal to build a mill in the seigniories without the consent of the seignior, but he relied on a decision lately given, that where a seignior neglected to build a mill where required, or when a mill was in running-order when he be- came cognizant of it, he could not compel the owner to remove it Duncan acted in concert with James Allen, and as soon as the frame of the building was ready, Allen floated down upon a raft the machinery of a small sawmill he had failed to work from want of water. Long before word reached Beauharnois, the mill was going and had cut boards to enclose itself. The agent, Richardson, was furious and threatened all manner of penalties, but Duncan defied him. According to law Duncan could not renew or rebuild the mill after notification by the seignior, but this difficulty he got over by quietly replacing each timber as it showed signs of decay, which he did without difficulty, being an excellent mechanic. For over a quarter of a century the mill was a thorn in the side of the seigniory people, not only because it absorbed profits they elsewhere monopolised but because it sawed the timber which the settlers plundered off the un- granted lots. Up to this time the settlers had roofed their shanties with elm bark and floored them with split basswood, but now they got boards, and entered into the profitable business of rafting sawed lumber to Montreal. For a long while Duncan was the only resident of Chrysostom, and did a large business. He did not confine himself to the lumber- trade, for ho erected an ashery and built a canoe large enough to carry down to Reeves's 7 barrels at a time. The existing gristmill is on his mill-site and Mr Boyd's residence stands where his shanty did. About 1828, an American shoemaker, Ichabod Munsill, set up beside Duncan, and on the south side of the road, where Robert Stewart now is, an Englishman, John Parnby, opened a blacksmith shop. There was no appearance, however, of a village until after 1840. On the double concession the first Old Countryman to take up land was John Severs, who had been a butcher in Hull, England, and lived, on coming to Canada, for some time at La Tortue before, moving to Edwardstown, which he did THE ENGLISH RIVEB. 465 es without sion lately mill where lien he be- owner to Allen, and lien floated ttill he had efore word cut boards urious and defied him. ild the mill alty he got red signs of ,n excellent mill was a y because it b because it off the un- •oofed their ,t basswood, profitable For a long im, and did ihe lumber- ,noe large Itime. The [s residence American i,n, and on now is, an lop. There iter 184Q. to take sr in Hull, le time at !h he did about 1820, opening a tavern and store as the ne^ds of the country required them and being the means of bringing many immigrants in, until the lots between the Eugli^ river and Norton creek were, with few exceptions, «ccupie^ by English and Irish families. Among the first of the latter, was that of Andrew Currie and of the former Qeo. Toynton, whose grave is near the Episcopal church. William Creasor, with his sons Philip, William, and John, all stout Yorkshii»- men, were prominent Pdttlers. In 1828 the population was sufficiently large to justify the ei'ecting of a school, wh^i Capi Severs gave the land for it, specifying in tlie deed that part was to be used as a burying-place and that tiie schoolhouse w.as to be open for the preaching of the gospel by any Protestant minister. Robert Hope wad teacher and had 36 scholars during 1829. A large and prosperona school was maintained during the week, with service tm Sundays, conducted by Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episci>- palian clergymen for over a score of years, when, owing Jfo the English-speaking ratepayers having become outnuii»» bered by the incoming French, ihe school was appropriateil by the Catholic commissioners, who, despite the stipulation of the granter of the land, refused the use of it for worship, and now (1887) are taking steps to compel the Protestants to pay their rates towards its support, although, from the sectarian character of the tuition imparted, they caanot senil their children to it - . f The stream of immigrants, once directed into Edwardstown^ nalunJly spread wherever there were vacant lands* open for settlement, and thus all the concessions north of that I have been describing were filled. The first to seek a home tm the English river, south of the Norton creek, wasMaJcohn Roes, from Lochalsh, Invernessshire, who raised his shan^ on the liver-bank on lot 8, in the fall of 1821, and one di whose sons is now a great railway contractor. Th^ follow* ing year, James Hamilton, w:ho had kept a grocer's^ shop Sn QUwgow, took up 10, 11, and 12, intending the two extra lots as farms for his boys, John and James. He placed his shanty by the river, but was so troubled by freshets that he n yf,^|| 4CG THE HUXGHY MONTH. r 4k 4' 1' i'cinoveil to the ridge that skirts the stream some distance ttack. Tlic pioscnec of Ross induced several Highlanders to come beside him, among whom was James McDonald, who could not stand the hardships of the bush, and being con- tomptive sickened and died under his roof. The young inountaineer was buried on the clearance and a railing set around his grave. The present owners (Morris bi*others) have plowed over it. On 3 was Sandy Taylor, who found help to make a living by iishiug out oak from the river, for in those days its bed was strewn with the wreck of rifts. The flats along the upper watei*s of the English river weie dotted with giant oaks, fellows that yielded logs 3 feet square, and from SO to 40 long, which took 3 yoke of oxen to drag, and so he'avy that rafts of cedar often failed to float them out of shallow water. On was Colin McCrae and Daniel Mcintosh held 18. Josiah Black says : My father owned a printfleld at Partick and we sailed from the Clyde in 1827. In Montreal my father fell in with a fiboemaker, Gardner, who had a lot for sale on the English tiver, one of those that had belonged to Hamilton, and which ■ftliey had found necessary to sell. We went to Lachine in aj tioat towed by horses, and a bateau was hired to take us toj the B&sin, where we wei-e landed at Smith's tavern. Cai'tei w^re; hired to take oui* baggage and my father and the rest! of the family went with them, while we boys set off in carts lip the Chateaugay with a friend. White, a sea captairi. We landed at Bryson's, Allan's comers, and stayed oveniight| leaving got directions how to go, we walked down tkd.rivei end crossed at Ogil vie's, and found a fe^ir track to- the Englisl civer,' ^Arhich we crossed on a dam at Howick, wliich had jusi Ibeen finished. . We followed a footpad ftlong the river, am' the captain halted at every house to ask for bread and mill ^or us boys, for we hid become ravenous, bnt not ona couk «parie a morsel. It was what the settlers galled "the bttnj^ month" (August) a.nd they had jiot enoiu^ ior ,tbttai9elv( The captain, who got an occasional glass oTgn^ at tfie shanj ties, cheened us with the assurance we woula get plenty whei We'reached Hamilton^ but when V^ ^d, ifd {bufid the^. wei fik« ih«r r^, attd were out of bt«ad. ' Fiithetwitk thesu] pH^s had iK^ an4v^,akd the ^tlnn ^k HarailtOii^ sDvii (■khqugh it wuUu^ eirenixig, to atrikfl a«mM to filters' which we reaehed aA dark, and the i)i-oad andniiHc Mrs Sevei por Iris Oth|E Aw» Cak caiij get THE NORTON CREEK CONCESSIONS. •i6l wme distance lighlanjcrs to cDonald, who nd being con- '^he young I a railing set arris brothers) or, who found n the river, for wreck of rifts. lish river weie ed logs 3 feet' 3 yoke of oxen I often failed to s Colin McCrae| says : d we sailed from r fell in with a , on the English lilton, and which to Lachine in al id to take us tol tavern. Cart«wl her and the rest! s set off in cartsi Da captairi. >Ve| ■ lyed oveniight.1 down ttrtriver" iktatbeEnghs! :,wluchhadju8« ig the river, an^ bread and: milk jt not*"*^^"'] [led "the bun^ lor tbftoi^elvt: og^th«ahan] <^t plenty whei fbiitidthoVvrer idr-wltkilwsttP mm to ae<(ers< umiikMnSevei^ Imrrfedly got us, was the sweetest ineal I ever sat down to. The carts had great difficulty in getting along, part coming by the Beechridge, but finally reached Duncan's. They had begun to cut a road fixim his mill down along the river, but it was barely passable. Duncan yoked his oxen to a sled, and the men taking axes to chop out any obstructions, they ^t our effects to the shanty Gardner told us was on the Ipt. We found it had been used for leaching ashes, and was in a great mess. Sunday as it was, we hod to set to work, and got it cleaned out, made fit to live in, and slept there that night Lumbering and potash were the mainhcld of the sett- lers until the land was cleared. It was somewhat remarkable, that the people south of Norton creek had little intercourse with those north of it, which was due to that stream being, so to speak, the water; f.hed of two distinct modes of communication with Montreal. Those north of the creek found an outlet by Beauharnois and the Basin; those south of it, by St Remi and Laprairic, ahd their material interests therefore lay in with the scttle- montB on the flats. Covey hill and Hemingford. How little communication there was between the lower and the upper settlements on the English river is shown by the fact that the road from Eowick to St Chrysostom was not continuous until 1832, when the seignior gave James Houston the con- tract for cutting oat the portions that were untouched. The two concessions divided by Norton creek wei*e settled \)e~ tween 1386 and 1830. The timber that covered them was mixed with iv number of pine-roots left by the lumbcrn^en, of whom llicGiiiis was chief, and which gave the settlers much trouble to get rid of. There being so little bush fit for making potash, the settlers worked out a jgreat deal, going to Montreal, and wherever public lyorks were in progress to earn a little until they had clearances large enough to sup- port ^em. , ^hi3 south concession was largely occupied by Irish, Patholics, and their presence was the cause of inducing oUifsrs tp come in and take up the land to the south and east. Arc)}d. Cniig* who bought 96, north concession, from Allan Cai^we)]! in 1826, was, a Paisley silk-weaver, but, despite *his ' calling, proved to b^ f^ succe^ful settler, being the firs^ to' tf '-; 4CS AUBREY. McGlymont, ilid the M'ork ol* the neighborhood. On 11^ MV^illiani Oray opened a tanneiy in 1848, which did a fair business. Aubrey had no existence until a late dafie, the point on which it is now built reinainin|( covered with trees. Ill 1852 Andrew Orr bought 500 acres from the seignior on the west side of the English river with the water-privilege and built a sawmill that fall. The work it gave attracted French Canadians and a small village sprang into existence. In 1849 the seignior offered for sale the lands on the west side of the English river, south of Aubrey, and the lots were chiefly bought by French Canadians at $6 an acre. Returning to the Russeltown flats settlement a few points in its progress may be noted. At the close of the war James I Allen placed a gristmill of primitive construction on the brook i which bears his name. The gearing being all of wood it soon wore out, when he brought, in 1820, from Napier ville John Pamby (p. 464) to renew it in a more substuitial manner. When seigniorial rights were more sharply enforced, Allen, after persistent threats of lawsuits, moved the machinery I to Rockbum in 1829, as has been narrated, the morel moved to do so, as, from the Allen brook beginning to failJ the mill was frequently stopped during summer. In 18221 a great boon was bestowed on the settlement by an enter-l prising American firm, Eeyes & Hdtchkiss, who hired Johnl Wilson to clear for them half an acre on lot JK)5, and pro-l ceeded to build a store thereon. They dealt largely in pptAshj and lumbered heavily, giving much work and facilitating the supply of groceries and provisiona. The ashes they shipp to Lapn^irie in rude carts drawn by 2 or 8 yoke of oxen, acj cording to the state of the roads. The development of thef lumber-trade gave a much-needed siimiilus, securing employ] ment to the settlers during the dull season of the year circulating money that would never have C(»no othei Keyes U Hotchkiss soon had a competitor in another Amerij can, John Forbes, who built a store near where the Presbyj terian church stands. Each spring he sent down the fioglii river an immense number of logs, but made little by it the fall of 1831 he sold out to two brothers, Haaxea ROADS. 460 ood. On 119 ich did a fair late dat«, the red witli trees. ihe seignior on water-privilege gave attracted into existence, ds on the west id the lots were acre. snt a few points ; the war James ion on the brook of wood it soon Japierville John »tantial manner, enforced, Allen, I the machinery •ated, the more leginning to fail, mmer. In 1822 snt by an enter- who hired John' ot 805, «nd pro-i largely in pptashj facilitating the les they ship ;oke of oxen, 'elopment of thi ittring employ of the year como othei anolher Axoen iere the Presby| [owntheKogH little by it lers, Junes Wm. Cochrane, who had newly arrived from Lanark, Scot- land. They. had considerable money but little knowledge tf business, especially of business in a new country. They were made the dupes of all the rogues in the vicinity, gave credit to men who never intended to pay, bought what they hml no need for, and kept a large staff of idle men. They opontul a branch-store in castle clouts, Huntingdon, which rcceiv.^ no more attention than their business at Russcltown. The crash came in the spring of 1833, when the Montreal credi- tors took possession . of the assets. The young men sail. J for Scotland, which they never reached, the ship being wrecked on the way. Of far greater benefit to the settlement than the coming in of business men and the development of the lumber-tmde, was the construction of a leading-road. Up to 1832 the roa.) from St Remi to Stacy's comers was simply the track beatci^ out by ox-sleds. In 1831 the legislature granted $2400 to turnpike it, and Squire Manning, Robert Dunn, and John Forbes were named commissioners to expend the amount. The first difficulty to b-» met w^as the line to bo followed. Grand-voyer de Lery visited the county and held a meeting in Craik's store of those interested. It was represented that (JUiough the i-oad, in great part, angled across the lots, yet ii kept the best ground for a dry, hard road, and to remove it would cause inconvenience to those who had built along Ithe track. The grand-voyer agreed and pi*epared a proces- ivcrbal, directing that the new road should follow the existing ack, his deputies to straighten any crooks where advisable to the short bit of i"oad from Stacy's corners to the lines ere was more trouble. The people wanted it to go betwecT> to 48 and 49 ; the owner of the land, Aaron Priest, de- anded that it follow the township-line. The grand- voyei' ed to the request of the people and Priest appeale*^ nst hitf proces-verbal. Meanwhile the work on the main- was begun. The deputies who staked it out straight- ned the .crooks by taking sights from one prominent shanty another, which accounts for the road from Stacy's to Stock- ell bein|r a succession of angles. From there to the flats, the »J?^^;>J',' lis 470 A MAIL ■ ¥ 'f old track was abandoned, and the road placed on the dividinjj- line between Russeltown and Huntingdon. The work on the flats w OS lieavy, logs having to be hauled to cross-wfcy the 8W,an].py portions, which were numerous. Under the sweep- ing provisions of the prdces-verbal, the ownei-s of lots at a diiitance on cither side were brought in, and the road- officers used their powers in an arbitrary manner. One of them, Lewis Norton, so exasperated the settlers, that they rode him on a rail. So much of the money went in paying onicials and buying tools, so heavy and clumsy as to be of slight use, that little was left to pay the farmers, who re- ceived only $2.50 per lot. It shows the cheapness of labor in those days, that David Manning took a contract of 110 rods of new road for $1.45 per rod. On Priest losing his appeal, the road was completed, and in 1835 the commis- sioners reported that it was open from the province-line to St Remi. This was not all, however. A grant of $1200 had been given to form a road from Stacy's corners to Hunting- don, of which Squire Manning was named superintendent. The same course was adopted as with the other road, the existing track being adopted, which caused it to angle across the lots from Black's church to near Athelstan. It was com- pleted in the fall of 1832, the average sum' paid each farmer for making the road across his lot being 25 cents a rod. In his report, the squire states that, when he began, the road was imptissable for a loaded waggon from Huntingdon to Rockburn; when he finished, one could drive the whole way. If such wiis the case, it did not last long, for during the next ten years it was not uncommon for waggons to be so firmly imbedded in the mud-holes by the Chateaugay, that the horses had to be unhitched and leave them for the time being. The year that a grant was made to open the road, a mail was established, leaving Montreal weekly for Squire Man- ning's house, by way of Laprairie eaid St Remi The first carrier, Harty, died, and on the failure of the storekeeper, Fassctt, who had taken over the contract, it was glVen to Hiram Gentle, at $160 a year, who held it until 1837. He left Manning's in the i&orning, and called at the several SCHOOLS. 471 offices on the route — John Forlws on the flats; Thomas Cani- well, Norton creek; and St Remi — reaching Laprairie in the '. evening. The following morning, he started homewards. The journey was made at first on horseback, but on the completion of the new road Mr Gentle used a wogqp, an^ carried passengers, the fare to Laprairie being $1. The bag was a light one, and contained only three newspapers — tho Vindicator for Reid at Norton creek, and the Herald for Jacob and Squire Manning. The saying about New Englanders, that the church anci the school appeared without delay on the hill-top of every valley they entered, is not substantiated by tlieir record In this disti'ict, for in all their settlements they were careless alike about religion and education. The Russeltown colony was no exception; so heedless, indeed, about Sunday that they often lost count of the days of the week, and, in making engagements, spoke of "the day after to-morrow" and tho like. Brayton was a close communion Baptist, professecl to be a religious man, and, occasionally, held services. He was of a singularly lymphatic temperament, so much so that in praying he sometimes dropped asleep, and during his prosy exhortations shared the slumbers of his hearers. A Baptist minister. Elder Smith, straggled into the settlement from the States and stayed about a year. He was so given to drink, that he often preached with a handkerchief bound round h!» forehead to ease the headache of a late debauch. The first graveyard was formed opposite wliere the Presbyterian manse now is, and there the settlei*s buried until about 1820, when they abandoned it, owing to graves being so hard to dig, for a new spot on 205, where the soil is sandy. The first to be buried there was Fanny, a daughter of James Allen, and this spot was used until the church was built. Both these olil' graveyards are now plowed-land, and the sole trace they wilf furnish in future years will be the upturning of bones. The first school was opened in a disused shanty on the Stafford^ ' place in the winter of 1819, and had |or teacher Aikins, an American, of worthless character. An effort was made to secure a permanent school, and one was built on the north, .# T 1: fc:.<.i'-4s 1 I {■I I 472 THE RUSSELTOWN CHURCH. Aide of the road on lot 11, 5th range, the spot still being marked by two apple-trees, and to which the children went fbr miles around. The master, Alexander, was a deserter fh)m the U. S. army, and an excellent teacher. On Goodwin settling on 169, about 1830, a schoolhouse was built on the wi»t side of his lot, and used by Methodists and Episcopalians for service on Sundays, and it became the custom to bury in rear of it All trace of this burial-place, which lies near the western fence of the enclosure of the show-ground, is ob- literated. The use of achoolhouses for worship was now to i>e superseded through the efforts of a woman. The wife of John Forbes was full of energy and fertile in resources. Soon after coming to the flats she began to agitate the build- ing of a church, and the work was undertaken. She begged for it on both sides of the lines. Money there was none, so she took the subscriptions in cheese, grain, lumber, and the like. She also purchased cloth and set the girls to making it into articles of wear, which she sold, and collars and breast- fronts (then called dickeys) became common. Providing a firamer, the settlers turned out and raised the building, all the outside work of which was done by bees. The building was raised in 1826 but not finished for some years afterwards. It was to be used by the Methodists and Congregationalists, and a minister of the latter denomination, an Englishman, the Eev James Noll, was secured about 1830, part of his salary t)ein^ paid by the Canada Education and Home Missionary Society. He remain ^ until 1836. During the incumbency cf the Rev J. Bowles a deed was secured for the property, And he was entrusted with its registration. On his death i>y drowning (page 231) all trace of the document was lost, and the church remained vested in Mrs Forbes, who in 1853 transferred her rights to the Church of Scotland in Canada on condition that they added a steeple to the building and ^id her $100 which she claimed was due her. Before the settlement had a clergyman it had a well- qualified pl^ysician in Dr Austin, who came from the States ib 1824, and took up his abode on lot 6, 5th range, subse- quently moving into Franklin. He was handsome in person (till being dren went i deserter 1 Goodwin ailt on the iscopalians to bury in 28 near the ind, is ob- ras now to The wife I resources. 5 the build- She begged as none, so er, and the 3 making it and breast- providing a luilding, all he building afterwards, ^tionalists, ishman, the his salary Missionary neumbency property, his death it was lost, ho in 1853 in Canada ilding and ad a well- the States i,nge, subse- |e in person ST. AKTOIKE ABBE. 473 and agreeable in manner and became popular. The habits of those around him had their influence, and from a temperate man he became a drunkard. He often foretold that he would be found dead on the road, and, sure enough, ho was dis- covered one cold night iuscusiblc on the highway with a jug of whisky. He was carried to a house and placed before the fire, but all efforts to restore him were in vain, dying in the morning. On the Black river and west of it a few American families continued to live, among whom were Alard, Pettis, Samuel Brisben and Qould, a Methodist locul preacher. Pettis was a f^pod mechanic, and, for Bray ton on 10, put up the first frame bam. In 1829 an Englishman, John Pamby, bought out one of them. Seaman Brown, >^ ho occupievl ihe lot upon which St Antoine Abbo village is now baiU, paying $30 for e betterments. Another EnglishmaT^.J^iitc^ Parmalee, came beside Iiiuk and set up a blacksuiitl: sh* >p. James Cassidy, an Irish Catholic, bought out Joseph Alleu and was followed by P. Brady in 1835 and other of his countrymen until tliey fprmed a little colony. Between the flats and Covey hill wound, for a few miles east of Stockwell, a track which the new road replaced in course of time. On it a few American families lived, but, generally speaking, the clearing of the country south of the flats was the work of Old Countrymen, chiefly Irish Pro- testants. The flrst was Joseph Allan, a member of a good' English family, who ran away from school, and went on ]x>ard a ship for America. The vessel was wrecked on a desert island off Newfoundland, which he, with only sixteen others, reached, and lived there 6 weeks before rescued by a vessel bound for Quebec. He drifted into Huntingdon and secured the east-half of 134 about the year 1820. He had west of him the family of James GilfiUan (p. 24) who moved to 135 on being forced to leave Woolrich's land, and beside him came to livie Jo?. Larabee and Chas. Colston, related by marriage. The old man died in 1818 and several years later his widow sold the lot to two Englishmen, Jeremiah Dunn and William Wright, distinguished for strength. Going M 474 THE NEW ROAD. to C^amplain for pensions, Wright bought a barrel of pork, which he emptied into a sack and carried home — a burden of 200Ih. To the north of' them was a Scotch blacksmith, James Douglas. Despite these and a few others, the now road settlement was essentially a Noi*th of Ireland one, its founder Daniel Mannagh, who went on to 128 aliout 1823. He was from Monaghan and on the trouble arising in Sher- rington with regard to the tenure of the land, a number of his brother countrymen, who had found where he was, moved beside him. Among those who did so between 1826 and 1830 were James and Robert Dundas, John and George Fiddes, Wm. Saundera, Thomas and James McCort, Christo- pher Irwin, Joseph Ball, Joseph McKee, James and Andw. Keese, and Miller. To the east of them were Thomas Doris Palmer, known as Peem, and Joseph Stafford, who was on 126. What is true of the Ulstermen on the new road, is true of the Irish Protestants as a whole who came into the eastern end of the county, — they were a hard - working, thrifty, self-denying and persevering people. Land which the Americans thought could never be reclaimed, they trans- formed into good farms, and in a few years wrought a marvellous change in the aspect of the country. As they took up their lots, they cut their share of the concession- I'oad that crossed them. Receiving no government help, it was long before it was coinplete, and it was not until 1839 that it was possible to pass over it from Stock well to Hem- ingford. The road from the flats to the top of Covey hill was more actively pushed, and was fit to use by 1837, when the old road that started from 33 and came out at Stockwell fell into disuse and ultimately closed. The experience of W. C. Roberts upon it during the fall of Miraraichi fires is worth prcserving: "I was (he said) coming down Covey hill with a load of corn, when I saw the fire darting from the west. Unhitching the oxen, I ran with them and- just got across in time. Although there was little wind, the fire passed like lightning over the ground, the extreme dryness of the soil from grefit drouth and the thick covering of fallen leaves being favorable. You may suppose how quick the fire ran, COVEY HILI* 475 from hens dropping dead into it from their roosts on fences and trees. Where the sled was left happened to be a hollow, and being moist around it, the fire did not touch it or the com. Many settlers had outbuildings burned and the smoke from the mucky land to the north was so pungent that wo were like to be suflfocated, The low ground was badly burned, and long tracks of blackened trees channelled the forest." Fix)m the point in the east, where the land begins to rise, to the Hinchinbrook line, a length of a dozen miles, came to be known as "the hill." From the account given in chapter III. it has been seen that the eastern face of the hill had settlers from an early date, but the western remained in a state of nature until long after the northern ranges of Franklin and Havelock were thickly occupied. This wa.s owing to iW di'awbacks attending living on steep slopes and to the land being held by grantees, who demanded a high price. To what has been related of the old O'Neill settlement, there is little to add. As the immigrants came seeking for land, the Americans sold out to them at I'cason- able prices, many crossing into Clinton county and others going to Ohio. Among the first to buy were Geo. Marshall and John Gra3^ Once the movement began, it proceeded smartly, and what was once an American settlement became British in its tone and customs. Tm'o of the more prominent settlers were John Edwards, who had been in business in Dundee, Scotland, and who bought part of 81 in 1834, and, 2 years later, William Barrett, an Englishman, and a surveyor by profession, bought the east half oi 81, and during a long life pursued his calling, getting much to do from the seignior. On lot 30, an American, Aikins, who sometimes preached, built a small sawmill on the Allen brook about 1832, and Capt, Exlwards raised another, which proved to be of great benefit to himself and to the neighborhood. The McDiarmids first lived at the foot of the hill, subsequently buying Covey's old lot, 33, on to which they moved, and were among the best known residients. A block log schoolhouse, built by William Brisben about 1825, and which stood opposite where the Union church now is, «\'as the only place for meetings up f'- In 1 1 4 f:! t 1 ; ■1 ■ j , I " '«! » ■ ' ^ L 476 ROBERT STEVENSON. to a late date. West of the settlement, on the summit of the hill, lived William Danford, who made a living by hunting. Mi*s Mountain of Cornwall held 2400 acres on the second range, a grant to her father, Major Scott, for losses during^ the American revolution. Abram Welch was her agent, and the price was S3 and $2 an acre, according to quality, in instalments. Her dealings with immigrants formed a striking contrast to those of Ellice and Woolrich, being con- siderate and honorable. In 1823, an Englishman, John B. Oldham, bought from her 89 and the following year an American, Humphrey Tolman, settled beside him on 90. In 1826 came the Stevensons, the advance of the class who were to possess the w^estern portion of the hill. Rc^>ert Stevenson said : ' . Wc belonged to county Armagh where my father was in comfortable circumstances. Receiving urgent letters from a brother in Ohio he decided to join him, impelled thereto by the consideration that he could establish his numecous family in a way of doing for themselves more easily than in Ireland. He sold out and we sailed from Newry in May, 1824, and had a splendid passage, di-opping anchor at Quebec on the 28th day from weighing it at Newry. A steamer came along- side, and we stepped on board of it in good health and spirite. On arriving at Montreal father complained of feeling poorly, and it soon became clear he was ill of the ship-fever. One after another took it, until the whole family, ten in number, . Mere down with it, save myself, who was the oldest Not one could help the other even to pass a cup of water, and I had to attend them. I can give you no idea of the misery of that time. The doctors came twice a day, and it was half-a-guinea oach time, and there were, of course, other expenses. All got better in time except my mother, who was the last to become sick and the ti-ouble kept to her longest. One of the doctors, ])r Stevenson, took a ,more than common interest in us, per- jiups from our name, and he advised father to move out of tlic city, foi- he said the family would not gain strength by < remaining in our lodgings, and he would get mother admitted to hospital. By this time father had found out what a mis- take he had made in sailing to Quebec instead of New York in order to reach Ohio, and giving up the idea of going there he went out to Sherrington, whjire he heard land was for sale, . and bought a lot with a clearance and a shanty on it We MOVES TO THE HILL. 477 went and took possession, and all got well as the doctor said we would. Poor mother, lying in the hospital, was worried in her mind about us and was eager to get away. Dr Steven- son warned her that if she left she would be liable to a relapse, but she insisted on leaving, and father got a covered waggon •and brought her to Sherrmgton. He had hired a woman in Montreal to keep house for us until she recovered. Well, she took the fever, and, in her delirium, was outrageous. On the iiftb day after leaving the hospital, mother had a relapse. On the eighth I went to the French settlement and bought some chickens, one of which I took and made soup with. I made it as nice as I could, and when it was ready I raised my mother's head and held a spoonful to her lips. She swallowed it, and I asked her if it was good. She answered "yes," the last word she spoke, for on giving her another spoonful she choked and I felt her stretching out her body and stiffening in my clasp. I knew she was dying, but said nothing to the childil^n, who were playing in the room beside us, for they were too young to know what death was,- and father was out at the time. After that, we had no more trouble from sickness, and we got on fairly well, the land giving us plenty of food. I hired out with Joseph Scriver and in the fall of 1825 went with him to Elgin, to see the lot he had bought there. Some snow had fallen and we found it disagreeable crossing the creeks, which we had to wade. We went to Athelstan along a sort of lumber-road and then up to Powers- court, and along the first concession, the only shanties on which 1 recollect were those of Horn and Brown. We built a shanty and made a little clearance. I felled the first tree. a small maple. Having thus prepared for his moving in next spring, we returned home. My brother Thomas and myself, wanting to have places of our own, resolved to move into Huntingdon, and selected lot 91 on Covey hill. We started from home in December, 1826, to take possession, and came by way of Clelland's comers. The settlers after leaving there were, Goodsill, Sweet, BolMon, Spearman, Brisben, George Marshall, William O'Neill, Keenan, who lived on a lot owned by Shedden,the mill-owner at Moo jr's, N.Y., David Musgrove, Oldham and Tolman. These were the only settlers between Clelland's comers and our lot That year James Hall came and took up the west half of 90 and Hugh Carson went to live on 98. William Haire and Francis Anthony came that winter and were followed by William Brooks, the Brown brothers, and William Hamilton. In fact, the settlers came .so quickly, that in a few years every lot fit for cultivation 478 EARLY ABSTAINERS. on the liill was bouffhi All were North of Ireland Pro- testants and nearly all had, like ourselves, been t^ while in Sherrington. The country was in a state of nature, and we barricaded our doors at night, for the cries of the wolves and panthers were awful. At the south end of my brother's lot Colston had a bear-trap, using com as bait, in which he caught several. We were all poor and depended on potash for the means of pi*ocuring fix)d. The hill was covered with beautiful timber, mostly maple, with some birch, there being very little black ash or elm. The first year my brother and I made 4 barrels, which we drew by way of the flats and St Remi to Montreal. It took genei*ally five days to go, and one to come back. The money we applied to meeting the in- stalments on our land. One of my sisters came to keep house for us and father carried to us at intervals provisions We often ran short, for neighbors from Sherrington in search of land would stay in our shanty, and the supply would give out sooner than father calculated upon. Forbes had opened a store on the flats, but it was more of a groggery than any- thing else, and he had seldom provisions to sell. Our neigh- bors were often pinched themselves.so that if you were starving they could not give you a bowl of flour or meal. The first fall we got out of provisions altogether, and for two days had nothing more than the milk of our only cow among the three of us. We were mowing at the time and kept on working, hoping every minute to see father come in sight. Oq the second day my brother gave out from weakness and had to go and lie down, but I kept on, and that evening father came. The land yielded good crops of potatoes, com, rye, and wheat, and when a settler got clearance enough there was no more lack of food. On finishing a barrel of potash, we turned to and cleared the land fit K)r cropping. The want of a mill near us was a great drawback. We had to shoulder our grists to Shedden's mill, at Mooers, N.Y., and it took a day to go and another to come back. The first year we had to roll our logs by hand, but the second we had a yoke of oxen^and horses began to be got, but were used mostly in taking grists to mill, two bags being tied by their mouths and slung over the beast's back. There being so much heavy wor^ to do, bees were common and at every one there was Whisky, v^hich was so plenty from its chefipness that on going into a house they would sooner ofiTer you a t^nful of )t than of water. Several o£ ray neighbors besides myself did not like the drinking and quarrelling that resulted, and although ihere wa3 no talk then of teetotal societies, 5 of us agreed in 1927 to BENJAMIN JOHNOTON. 479 abstain for one year. . V/e all kept our pledge and finding' the benefit of it continued to abstain, and, for myself, I did not taste liquor for 5 years. Our example at bees, in refusing to taste, had its efiect upon others, and many followed oar ex- ample. On the authority of the grand-voyer, I suppose, David Manning had cut a road between the 1st and 2na ranges, IS feet wide, but it was grown up with sai^lings when we 6ame, and each of us had to cut out the roacf in front of our lots. Mrs Mountain was good in allowing us credit for work done in cutting the road across vacant lots. It was a long while before it was fit for wheels. It was 1839 before the oyroad w^as made. In 1829 father joined us and in 1831 the neigh- l)ors united in building a school on our lot. It was well- finished and comfortable. Miss Parham (afterwards Mrs X. Manning), was the first teacher and she was a good one. The Rev Mr Dawes and the Rev Mr Bond (afterwards Bishop) preached in it when they visited our settlement and, after a while, it was made a station by the Methodists of the Heihing- ford circuit. The Rev Mr Merlin did not visit us. One night, after it had stood about 5 years, the schoolhouse was set fire to and destroyed with all the schoolbqoks and Bibles left in it It was burned from hard-feeling that had arisen regard- ing its location and the payment of the salary of the teacher then engaged, an excellent one, Mr BinJ, to whom mofe had been promised than sorn^e were willing to pay. Although' ours was a Prote^nt Irish settlement, we had no set observance of the twelfth of July, beyond not working and spending the day in visiting, until lodge 41 was organized by SamoelOrr, who was the neart and soul of it, and was chosen the fii-st master. When the Irish Protestants had overspi'ead the eastern half of Covey Hill they pushed westward until all the vacant lots were occupied. Benjamin, Xaon of Edward) Johnston, thus told of f^e experiences of those who took up land at the Franklin end : We belonged to county Cavan, and my father's case illus- tratestmuch of the cause of Ireland's troubles. He married young and when he had only a holding of 3 acres. He soon lound that'what had been enough for one would not do for two, and on the birth of his first child, he asked and obtained a reduction of rent After he had two children he ifound himself worse off than before, and asked another reduction in reni The landlord refused, telling him it would be no kind- ness, that to comply would be only to encourage him to remain 480 LEASING STOCK. and raise a f ainil v of beggars and thiat he had better emigrate. He took the advice and we sailed to Canada, and father occu- pied a lot in Sherrip^ton. He believed the land to belong to the crown and helped to dispute the claim to make it seign- iorial When the case went against the settlers, he would not stay and pay rent, and followed those who had left for Covey Hill, which was in March, 1831. I recollect our halting at Stevenson's to rest ourselves, and that tho roof of their shanty was made of basswood scoops. Our lot was 46 and we brought with us a horse and 3 cows, which we would have been better without, for, the first winter, hay to feed them cost a dollar the hundredweiffhi The land was covered with as handsome a 'bush as could be imagined, the trees being large and set so wide apart that you could drive a yoke of oxen, there being no underbrush and few fallen logs. There were many butter- nuts, some of them 3 feet across and giving 3 logs without a branch ; they were of no value then, and had to be burned, giving us much trouble, for it is wood difficult to burn either green or dr^r. On the 2nd range there was a good deal of hemlock, which caused it to be shunned, for the settlers thought the land was poor where it grew. It was a mistake in this case, for the 2nd range is better than the 1st There was no sign of the land being stony, and it was not until cleared and it came to be cultivated that we found out how plentiful they were. There was'no road, and we went which- ever way we liked throu^ the bush, carrying our loads on the shoulder. I recollect of Marshall Hall ^ing all the way to the Flats to buy a bushel of lye, backing it home, and then carding it to the mill at Rockbum to be ground, and home again, all in one day. Not a few backed meal or flour all the way from Champlain, for at times it was not to be had any nearer. None of us cared about commeal or rye bread, and it was a while before we had wheat Both it and the rye were very subject to smut, causing the bread to be bitter. The settlers for the first few years, and until 1;heir clearances yielded them enough to live upon, depended on potash-making. They were all Irish Protestants, excepting Hugh McQarr, a Catholic, on 23, who did not stay, selling out to Wm. Brooks. Those who wanted stock and could not buy,jM>metimes went to Robert Dunn of St Remi, who would rent a cow for three years on condition that she be then returned along with her first calf. The steers he thus obtained he made oxen of, and leased out at $12 a-year. When he died, he owned a great number of cattie all over the country. When land was seeded doyttk, we had ioimense crops of hay, two ton and more to the FIRST OCCUPANTS OF 1/)TS. 481 ,ter emigrate. [ fafcher occu- l to belong to lake it sieign- he would not eft for Covey ar halting at I their shanty id we brought ^e been better )st a dollar the 3 handsome a ge and set so n, there being I many butter- logs without a to be burned, to burn either k good deal of ,r the settlers was a mistake he 1st There was not until Lound out how e went which- our loads on ^ all the, way tome, and then ind, and home i\ or flour all lot to be had or rye bread, it and the rye to be bitter. mr clearances btash-making. tgh McGarr, a Wm. Brooks, [metimes went cow for three long with her J oxen of, and twned a great ad was seeded & more to the acre, so that feed became very plentiful and not only were U|f^ log bams tilled, but you saw stacks all over the country. Jl^ . the lots were quickly taken up, except 49, which Vanvuet, tJ|0 owner, did not sell until about 1850, and 48, owned also Wy» outsider, McCallum, who had Frederick Broder living on it ui charge when we came. The 3rd concession, except the lower end, where Jeremiah Dunn and Archd. Muir lived, was abo late in being occupied. I cut out the road myself upon it towards 1850. The settlement on the 1st and 2nd ranges wft» delayed in getting a^sehool owing to disputes between the cask and west ends of it as to tlie location. Finally it was decidkei!^ to have two; one w'as built at Stevenson's uud the other t>D Hall's lot, 45, about 1836. • , The northern portion of Franklin was late in being openetK up, owing to its being inaccessible and to the dispute with tho seignior. Those who went in, squatted, Welch marking tlie boundaries of the lots for them. When the seignior sent sifr- veyors, the settlers pulled up their stakes. Between the 7tbr and 8th ranges there wa« a prosperous little settlement fonodfll between 1830 and 1833. On lot 11 Charles Meehan hod « smdl sawmill. 96 97 98 99 100 THE NOBTON CREEK CONCESSIONa Williamstown Side. James Hay ; 2 Allan Cald- well; 3 Archd. Craig ThoB. Gould ; 2 D. Stewart ; 3 Balph Murdoch James Knox; 2Jas.Wiley Alex. CuiriRe David Smith 101 James Henretty 102- William Wiley 103 •William Allan 104 John Campbell 105 Jatnes E^ftcm 106 Neil McNttlty 107 Charles JtcNulty 108 John Moore 109 i^bd. AcDonald 110 James Black 111 Robert Carr 112 John Kelly /' 113 James Bulger 114 Thomas Bulger 115 Andrew Walsh 116 James McDonald . 117 Bernard Harkin * 118 John Dunn 119 William Gray 120 James Rossiter " 121 Philip Mclntyre Edwardstown Side. * 1 Barnabas Diggina ' 2 Martin Dunn 3 Owen Dunn 4 John Fitzwilliams William Airston Robert Pullar Thomas Fitzsimmons " Patrick Fitzsimmons Robert Jamieson 10 Joseph Chatel 11 Pierre Mabe 12 James ^lackbum 5 6 7 8 9 :,lU J S^ I t I': i \ ■ t r 1 482 FIRST OCCUPANTS OF LOTS. '43 William Blair .114 Peter Rooniey '^I'S Daniel Cross 16 Luke Bulger '17 Michael Maher • CXOLISH RIVER CONCESSION. ' 1 John Lang, 1829 2 Ales. McUae -' 3 Alex. Taylor John Angel; 2 Daniel Mc- intosh ; 3 Thos. Bruce McKay; 2 John Robb 1829 € Duncan McRae, 1826 7 John Mitchell € Malcolm Ross 9 Colin McBae, 1826; James Craig, 1841 10 HughCarr; 2 Josiah Black 11 James Hamilton 12 Alex. Black 13 David Da vies; 2 James Middlemisa, 182^ ^' 14 John Toolan; 2 Moses Douglass 15 Frs. Robidoux 16 John Charters, senr. 17 John Charters, junr. 18 Daniel Mcintosh 19 Ichabod Munsill 20 John Wilson 21 James Duncan ^ DOUBLE CONCESSION. ; *4. failed to get numbers of lots, but the following list of "Oames, furnished by Mr William Creasor, gives the order* of llbo settlers : North. Andrew Dewly Davis Walter Clafliri William Gleason, ^ lot Santoire " fierre Arbor " TUlmothy Gorman " James Walker jPatrick Gregory John Severs, 2 lots fhilip Hart William Creasor James Swords Andrew Currie Thomas McComb George Toynton James Tassie fit Chrysostom village Norton Creek. . Soiah. George Wheatleay (given erroneously on p. 237) Philip fiurhart (Burgot) William Ryan Michael Dcolan George Hart Timothy Gorman Daniel Mosher Philip Hai-t William Barron Hugh Levy William Creasor Duston, I lot John Becket John Briggs Robert Grasby Carr John Gregory, \ lot John Sylvia Francis McComb, | lot William Briggs '* D. Proper John Charters >v 326; James osiah Black >n 2 JamiBS L82& , 2 MoseS J, senr. 3,iunr. osh sill owing list of I the ordeirof M. leay (given an p. 237) (Burgot) . Ian lot U lot lb, ^ lot CHAPTER XXIV. HEMINGFORD. The movement of Old Countrymen into Hemingford begnr^ soon after the war, when a few took up lots, but they dici not remain. The first to stay was William Robson, a Xor^ thumberland shepherd, who came to Montreal in 1816, near which he rented a farm. In 1818 he bought 70 on th6 1st concession of Hemingford from an Irishman, Dady, for J$.SOO, and added to his purchase until he had a block of 600 acres, for he desired to give his 7 sons a farm a-pi(>ce. All strong- bodied, industrious men they speedily effected a great change in their lots and made a gi*eat deal of money by potash. East of them on the same i*oad, and two years after their coming, Thomas Clelland. a native of the upper ward of Lanarkshire, bought 13, and began to work at hi» trade, that of a blacksmith. On the 26th April, 1822, he went to a bee at the comers, now known by his faijiily name, to raise a bam for Daniel Scriver, when he was. kijile > by the falling of a bent. He was buried in an aci*e of lau.1 given by Colonel Scriver, and was the first of the great num- ber since interred in what is now the general burial-place for the Protestant population of Hemingford. On the real Ijctween the 3rd and 4th concessions James Brownlee yva.^ the first of the immigrants to take up land. He said : * I came from near Carluke, Lanarkshire, and was brotlght up to be a carpenter. Trade being bad, in 1819 I took pas- sage for my.self and wife on the Rebecca for Montreal, payings 8 guineas each. We had a good voyage, and on reaching Montreal, I found work at my trade. The following Vcav there was great dullness in business and I resolved to try farming, and bought 142 from a man I happened to meet at. St Johns. In November we started to take possession, tin.M • His tombstone says 1823 — an error to be accounted fc y by its erectioD long after his death. 484 THE HCFEEif AND MCNAUOHTOXS. a- i 11 had great difficulty in reaching Scriver's cornel's, owing to a lieavy snowstorm that came on. The schoolhou.se that stooil where the store of Scriver brothers now is, had just l»een finished (p. 145), and we found shelter in it, and the day following got to my lot, on which was a shanty and a small clearance. The snow all melted and the frost came out of the ground, so that my brother and myself were able to delv« (I good bit of the clearance. The frost did not set in until after the New Year. On the ridge in rear and front of my House, was a string of clearances made by American settlers, which they had abandoned when the war broke out. These clearances were called "the commons," and fannere in Sher- rington sent their cattle to graze upon them. In 1822 my brother-in-law, Archibald Stewart, came from Scotland, when t sold him my lot and took up 179, on which I opened a store soon after, and did a good business. Thomas Stew^art took cp 97 about. 1824. In 1832 I w^ent to town to buy goods, And the two days I was there proved to be the worst days of Gie cholera, which was then raging. If I buy goods (I said %o roj'self) they may be the means of introducing the infec- tion into Hemingford, and so I returned without making any J purchases. I wound up the store and devoted myself in arming. There was no pride in those days. When there was preaching in the old school, Mrs John Scriver came dressed in a fliannel gown of her own spinning, and a square of the same cloth drawn over her head for a bonnet. * The year following that on which Brownlee settled, 1821, arrived Andrew Spence, an Edinburgh- printer, who bought 1D7 and lived and died on it, and two families which have ■fbft their mark in the township. John McFee of Russel- town said : My father and Finlay McNaughton, of Glenelg, Inverness- shire, were brothers-in-law. They embarked at Tobermory on the Qlen Tanner of Aberdeen, which had a numerous bod v cf emigrants, many of whom became settlers on the Beech ridge and adjoining concessions. We landed at Quebec after « voyage of 7 weeks and 3 days. Our intention was to go to Ontario, but at Montreal we met a namesake, a surveyor, who was going to see some land in Hemingford that had been .granted to a gentleman in Glengarry. My father arid uncle went with him to see the country, with the result of both l)uying there. My father bought 99, on which young Stames was living, and he moved out to make room for us. McNaugh- ton bought 108, a bush-lot, from Judge Sowles of Alburgh, Vt. owing to a that stood i just l>een id the day ind a small aine out ot* ble to delvH jet in until front of my can settlers, out. Thestr ji-s in Sher- In 1822 my itland, when tened a store Itewart took ) buy goods, rorst davH of roods (laaid [ig the infee- making any d myself to When there Jcriver came? Und a square >et. jettled, 1821, who bought which have of Russel- [, Inverness- Tobermory lerous bodv the Beech Quebec after Iwas to go to "a surveyor, at had been ir arid uncle lult of both |img Starnes McNaugh- Llburgh.Vt. TUE f'ROWK UKSERVES. 485 Had they known enough, they could have gone into the ci*own reserves and taken up land for nothing. There was a smaH clearance on our lot but none on McNaughton's, and to pro- vide shelter he bought 50 acres adjoining his lot on 108 with q, shanty from Comfort Bray ton. We arrived in Hemingford on the 11th September, We had neighbors and a passable roacl but McNaughton had neither, the path to his shanty being d track that followed the ridge, in order to avoid the swamp. (Jur dependence was on potash, and if settlers had not timber on thsir lots suitable for making it, they just went into thQ reserves. (^ lu 1822 Andw. Htarnes, a merchant who had 1000 acres in the vicinity, built a sawmill on the Little Montreal liver, a short distance north of Cleveland's. At this mill was the landing for canoes, for, when there was plenty of water, th^ settlers preferred floating down their potash as far as Napier- ville, and bringing back a return load by canoe, to the weary journey through bush all the way to Laprairie. The lirat Old Countrymen to seek a home on the road that runs north from Hemingford village were Robert Moore, wh6 squatted on No 5, Cr. R., and Graham, who took up a lot a little north of him. This would be in 1820 or 1821. Both were Irish Protestants and on Moore's visiting Montreal in the fall of 1822 he fell ^n with John Reay, who had been his neighbor in Carrickfergus, and who halin. Despair- ite, and sailed dren with her vided a home ijd on the Re\- iw settlements le current of ice, and after time finally ised a shanty him. Tho lim no salary, onal presents d to cultivate •st in his own >1 at Scriver's ,d taught for n-s to. raise a open several •city of text- ler being tlu- 'amily moved taught geo- [ovation, and, irican school- book he brought it. From the first monf'i of liis arrival bo began a system of itinerancy which he maintained until to^ feeble to bear the fatigue. While absent on his western ajh pointraents, which occupied a fortnight of each month, hit wife endeavored to fill his place in the schoolroom. From the 8herrington-line to the Qore of Hinchinbrook he had a[kr pointments, and maintained religious ordinances when, hvip for him, there would have been none. His journeys wero made, as a rule, on foot, though latterly he used a horse. In going to the Beech ridge, where he preached once a month, he floated do^yn Norton creek in a canoe when the watejr permitted. He was far from punctual, and his expectant congregation was frequently on the point of dispersing when h appeared. In his labors he was perfectly disinterestecK asking for no recompense and being offered none until thp later years of his pastorate, when the circumstances of Ul^ parishioners had improved. His fee for marrying was mod- erate — two dollars — which he rarely received. His lack of punctuality caused some inconvenience at a good many vfe^jf- dings. At one the hour came and went without tidings of him, the fun and dancing were kept up until midnight v'ithout his arrival, and finally, the guests set out, by the bright moonlight, down the road he would come to see wh^Jl hindered him, and met him leisurely returning from a visH to a distant settlement. He performed the service and tbo merry-making lasted until daylight. In marrying he insisf^c^ on crying the banns. Some time after ho came, finding there was sufficient material, he organized a session, Alex. Walkjev, a worthy Scot, John Reay, and the minister's brother, Joseph^ being the first elders, and held regular cbmmunion-seasona in the oil schoolhouse at the village which auswei^ed until 1842, when a stone-church was built. All the while he had maintained his connection with the church in Ireland, whicTk did nothing for him. Yielding to the remonstrances of hia brethren, in 1841 he and his congregation united with ihe Church of Scotland in Canada, when he became entitled to a share of the revenues from the clergy reserves. On the visit to Montreal when he received the first payment, he waa 'ill p :i . I i; / I i m A REVIVAL. -accompanied by Dr Black to the wharf from whence the Lar prairie boat sailed. The day was gusty and the river had an ugly look. Mr Merlin expressed some apprehension as €o the boat crossing in safety. "What!" exclaimed the Dr., •'you are not afraid of losing your life ?" "It's no that," Answered Mr Merlin with unselfish simplicity, thinking of tllose at home whom it would benefit, "it's the money in my ^uch" — some $60. In 1855 he i-gs'igned on a retiring allow- ance from the clergy reserve fund, and 11 years afterwards ended his long and useful life. Before Mr Merlin came Hemiijgford was visited at rare intervals by ministers from the States and Townships who field services. Among these was the famous Bishop Hedding, who preached at Scriver's comers. Mr Judd, an English- man, who had lived in Boxham, and who was a Methodist local preacher, made stated visits- to the. comers, and after him Mr Kilbum, an American, who pursued his trade as f^per on the outskirts of the village and did something in medicine, held alternate services with Mr Merlin. He was a: Baptist and a consistent Christian. From the first Method- ism had obtained a strong hold upon the settlers of American descent, prominent among whom were the Scrivei"s and Odells, and quite a number of the immigrants fell under their in- fluence, for those were the days of protracted meetings, at which personal influence was §xerted in the most direct and stirring fonn to awaken souls to a sense of their duty. In 1834 the Methodists set about raising a church, in which they succeeded with much difficulty, the greater part oi the subscriptions being made in produce and labor. When closed in, its use was tendered to the Presbyterians for, ,to them, a somewhat singular use. The holding of revival services had b«en adopted by the American Presbyterians who were his neighboi's, and Mr Merlin had resolved on fol- lowing their example. He announced that "a four days' service" would be held, in which he would be assisted by the Rev Mr Foote of Champlain, N. Y. The announcement (UX)used widespread interest and it became evident that the whoolhouse would not hold all who intended coming, where- CHURCHES. 489 ice the Lar river had ihension as jd the Dr., 3 no that," thinking of oney in my iring allow- afterwards ited at rare i^nships who op Hedding, an English- a Methodist •s, and after his trade as .omething in in. He was irst Method- of American 3 and Odells, er their in- meetings, at tt direct and duty. In in which ,ter part of Ibor. When terians for, of revival •esbyterians ved on fol- four days' assisted by louncement it that the ling, where- upon the Methodists tendered the i^se of their church. The order of the services was to open with an enquiry meeting in* the schoolhouse, which was held at about 10 o'clock, and from, it those who attended walked to the Methodist chui'ch, at 11 o'clock, whei'e an expectant congregation was found in wait- ing, and a service similar to that of Sunday, except that the prayers and sermon were of an awakening character, was held. Like meetings were held in the afternoon and evening. So deep an interest was awakened that tlie meetings were continued for a fortnight instead of four days, and a large number declared their resolve to turn to God. Of these the greater part became Methodists _or fell away, for the regular, ministrations of Mr Merlin were not calculated to draw and hold the young, being monotonous and prolonged, never last- ing less than two hours. The second year after the Metho- dist church was built, 1836, Hemingford was included in the Odelltown circuit, and thereafter enjoyed stated services. The Episcopalians, of whom there was a fair proportion among the North o? Ireland immigrants, were late in organ- izing. In the fall of 1838 William Dawes was engaged by a society in Montreal as a travelling missionary among the settlements bordering on the Richelieu. He was an active and earnest worker and established stations in every settle- ment wheie there was suflScient encouragement, which he visited once a month. In January, 1840, Bishop Mountain visited Hemingfrrd for the first time, confirmed 65, and stimulated the movement to build a church, and one was raised in 1345 in the north-eastern part of the township, ^ known as the Siarnes neighborhood. The Rev Mr Bond succeeded Mr Duwes, who was ordained and died the death of a martyr while attending immigrants stricken with ship- fever during the dreadful summer of 1847. The Roman Catholics were not numerous in the township until after 1840, for there was no influx of them while the Ulstermen were pouring into it from Sherrington. There were, however, a few families, the first to come that of Daniel Heflernan and the scv'^ond that of John Ryan, in 1828, who lived firet on 145 and afi<;rwards bought out the Nortons on 9^ V I !' & i i i ! 49Q INFLUX FROM SHERRINGTON. 112. In 1843 they united to raise a church, forming a ceme- tery in rear. Previous to the building of the church, the Catholics buried in a small plot near Johnsons station, close to the railway-track. The settlers of Heraingford were peculiar in that few of them came directly into it frbm Montreal. The majority lived one or more years in Sherrington, which they crowded ato under the belief that it was ungranted crown land and left owing to a dispute similar in nature to that waged be- tween the settlers of Busseltown and EUice. Sherrington was debatable land, and on those who contended that it was jiTanted land winning the day, the Old Countrymen left, being resolved that they would not pay rent. They were the more induced to do so from the land not being inviting, consisting in great part of stony ridges with marshy inter- vales and from the neighborhood being a rather turbulent one. For instance, in April, 1823, after a row of more than usual violence, part of Captain Wallis's company of militia was sent to arrest the ringleaders. Two of them, John and Michael Kenny, they found working in a fallow, when they ran to the house, and on the militiamen surrounding it, John thrust a gun through a chink of the door and threatened to shoot. Col. Scriver rushed forward ond grasped the barrel, and in turning it upwards the fellow drew the trigger when the bullet lodged in the shoulder of Ben Spearman. Tlu; brothers were seized and sent to Montreal but were not pun- ished. After repeated application, the legislature grante*! $300 indemnity to Spearman. In surveying Hemingford, a portion was, as already described, set apart for crown and clergy reserves, which, by mistake, was in excess of the one- seventh prescribed by law. The excess was designated blank lands, and were left unsurveyed. The reserves constituted the eastern and northern parts of the township, and into them the people from Sherrington passed, among the first being John Orr, a county Cavan man, Henry Figsby from Monaghan, and John Jackson, also from Ulster. They found on the crown reserves a number of French and American squatters, who had gone into the bush to make potash, with COLONEL SCRIVER. 491 ling a ceme- church, the itation, close that few of he majority aey crowded ifn land and it waged be- Sherrington ided that it itrymen left, They were ing inviting, larshy inter- ler turbulent ff more than ny of militia »n, John and 7, when they ding it, John ihreatened to the barrel, trigger when irman. Th(! {ere not pun- ture granted Hemingford, )r crown and iS of the one- gnated blank constituted lip, and into ong the fii'st Figsby from They found [id American potash, with no intention of remaining and who readily sold their better- ments at from $50 to $100 and moved to another part of the bush to repeat their speculation. If there was nolwdy on the lot, and it suited the immigrant, he forthwith took possession by raising a ^anty. The government had made BO provision for selluig the lots, and its agent who had charge of them lived at Sherbrooke. In course of time ho (Mr Felton) visited the township and demanded high prices for the lots under penalty of ejectment. Col. Scriver. when matters were coming a crisis, went to Quebec to intercede for the settlers. During the disastrous attack on Plattsburgh, he had an opportunity of showing some kindne3s to the captain of one of the regiments. That captain was now governor-general, and Colonel Scriver sought and obtained an interview with him. Sir James Kempt recognized in his visitor the brave backwoodsman whom he had met on the Richelieu and cordially acceded to his proposal, namely, that the settlors should pay 50 cents an acre, for, being reserves set apart for the benefit of certain funds, they could not be given free. This favorable arrangement quieted the appre- hensions of the settlers. Many , years afterwards, on the blank lands l)eing surveyed, patents were issued to those in possession on paying from 75c to $1.25 per acre according to the quality of the land and situation. By this time Col. Scriver was carrying on an extensive and profitable business at the corners then known by his name and now designate*! Hemingford village. The first stoi*e there was opened by Bartlett Nye, in a 10-foot square shanty, which ho abandoned in a year or two, when Joseph Corbin and the colonel under- took the business, which Corbin left in 1820 to build, in company with Finlay McNaughton, a sawniillon Norton creek. Born with the trading-faculty and always ri'a ing it and became a rigid total abstainer himself. Probably there was not, at that time, another country store in the province that did not sell intoxicating liquor, and in this, as in several other respects. Colonel Scriver was in advance of his age. His shrewdness, energy and executive ability Avould have made him a leader anywhere, but in Hemingford his preeminence was enhanced by his being then the only man possessed of resources that enabled him to assist others. He always kept a number of hired men and whether it was lumbering or potash-making or clearing up land did so on a scale that nobody else could emulate. To the improving of existing roads and the opening of new on^^ he labored strenuously. When the government grants to roads were being made, he was a persistent petitioner, but Hemingford got less than its just share. His request was that assistance be given to open the road between the 3rd anlock building near the site of the present one, which had Duncan Young as teacher. The building was occasionally used on Sundays by itinerant preachers, the more frequent being Methodists. On the Rev Isaac Law's visiting the English river, a congregation in connection with the U. S. Associate Presbyterian synod was organized. In speaking of the Robson neighborhood I would relate, in the words of Richard Sweet, an extraordinary event that happened in it : In April, 1824, Mr Merlin was sleeping at the Robsons, when he heard a commotion among the live-stock. Waking the household, they went out, when they found a wolf chasing the cows and sheep round the yai'd, the brute barking and snai'ling. Rousing the adjoining family of Robsons (Walter's) and securing a lanterii, they came to my father'.s, towards which the wolf had run. Hearing the noise, my father rose and went out While they were telling him of the cause of their coming, the pigs were heard squealing in our pen, and presently the ivolf jumped out, holding a pig by the ear. Roger Robson tired, but the gun did not go oft! Bringing it to the light in the house, they found the cause to be that the ftiut had slipped. Replacing the flint, they issued forth, and the wolf being still in the yard, gnawing the pig, Robson fired and broke the brute's leg, when it went close to the bam. Father's gun was in the barn, and slipping in, he got it and going up to the wolf fired into its bi'eaiit, killing it The wolf acted most savagely, snapping continually. Biinging it into the kitchen to skin it before the fire, ^ey found it to be of unusual size and with only 3 legs, one b&ving been lost in a trap. While skinning, mother suggested that they ran some lisk, for the brute might Vic mad, and, sure enough, her oon- jeciure turned out to be true, for every animal, except the .sheep, it bed bit became mad. Some of the sheep died £i*om A JOINT SHOT. 495 their injuries, but none went mad. We supposed it was be- cause the wool had cleaned the teeth of the virus before entering the flesh. Cows and pigs went mad one after an- other and had to be killed, and all the dogs. A bull of Bobson's, while mad, was a dreadful sight in his fury, which was stopped by a shot We had a cow that we thought had escaped, but in August she too turned mad. We had used the milk in the interval and without harm. The horses that night were in a stable some distance apart and so escaped. My father lost every homed critter he had, and the Robsons 7 or 8 The symptoms in dying began with paralysis of the hindquarters. The pigs w^ere full of droll antics when seized. Wild beasts were very plentiful about that time, and deer were seen in herds, ouen of half a dozen. One day when all the men were away, a dog was seen to have a splendid deer at bay close to the big stone by the road. The only man in the house was a travelling tailor, Jim Segar, who got the gun and went out, but the flint would not work. Mother ran for a- coal, which went out; she returned for a second, and dropping it on the priming while the tailor pointed the gun, the charge exploded, and the deer killed. h ■\i- ' \ m m w CHAPTER XXV THE REBELLION. . When, five days after Wolfe's victory, Qaebec surrenilered, the English found that the responsibility of providing for the government of the people they had overcome was thrust upon thum. GeQ. Murray, soldier-Iikc, solved the difficulty by issuing a proclamation declaring French law abolished and English established, and naming certain of his officers to attend to its administration, a colonel being chief judge. I'or fifteen years that system prevailed, English civil and criminal law administered by military officer, and during those years French law was as dead in Canada as if it had never existed. The lawyer left the Custom of Paris on its shelf in his library, and, pleading before a gentleman who held a commission in a mai-ching regiment from George III., quoted from the statutes of Great Britain, from Coke and Blackstone. The notary was in a perplexity; Pothier he laid aside and attempted conveyancing af^er the English style. No tithes were collected, no body of churchwardens levied tax to build or repair church or parsonage; whatever the habitant gave towards the support of religious ordinances he gave of his freewill. The military commandant was considerate and respectful towards the subjugated people, even going so far as to issue a general-order thai officers and privates on meeting a religious procession should salute by touching their hats, but on the point that English law and English precedent should prevail he was inflexible. The habitants were, satisfied. For the first time they knew a government that respected the rights of property. For generations the word government had represented to them officials who appropriated their grain and cattle for the king's service and impressed the young men into his regi- ments. From the despotism of rogues who robbed both them and the king and by their [pilferings reduced the mUTAIX CONCEDES SELF-GOVERNMEKT. 407 Tcndeit'd, iding for ■as thrust difficulty abolished lis officers lief judge, civil and id during if it had tris on its iuian who eorge III., I Coke and •othier he e English iwardens whatever )rdinances idant was people, %i officers aid salute iglish law ble. The : knew a ty. For to them for the his regi- Ibed both luced the colony to a state of beggary, the habitants passed under the rule of soldiers who paid for overy bullock and minot of grain and preserved them undisturbed in their holdings. T^he first murmurs of discontent came from the priesthood. The conquest had reduced them from a paramount position over their flocks to one of obligation and they intrigued for the res*or?tion of their former privileges, for they had dis- covered that, without the compulsion of the law, the habitant would pay neither tithe nor fabrique-tax. In an evil hour for posterity, the Imperial government decided not only to put an end to its military rule, but to divide Canada into two provinces. That Great Britain, in entering upon the seven years' war, acted wisely in concentrating her strength upon the overturning of French rule on the continent of America, cannot be asserted. Her success rendered possiljle the independence of the American colonies, which meanly took advantage of the enormous sacrifices she made to free them from the menaces of the French power, which had encircled them on the north and west and threatened their existence, while it threw upon the Imperial government the most perplexing problem a constitutional country can be called upon to deal with — the treatment of a conquered people. The success of British arms had cleared the Missis- .sippi, the Alleghanies, the great lakes, the New England northern frontier, and the maritime provinces of the element that had so long imperilled the existence of the American colonies, which thus reaped all the benefit, while it left the management of Canada as a bad legacy to England. Three courses wei*e open to her — to abandon Canada, which several military men advised, to hold it as a conquered country and govern it as she governed Bengal, or to inti*oduce a large loyal element and give it self-government a.s a whole, in the expectation that the new element would control and in time assimilate the old. The Imperial cabinet rejected the first proposal and adopted a bungling compromise between the other two. Canada was divided into two provinces, thus ensuring the perpetuation of the national divisions it was not only the truest statesmanship but the truest kindness ss 498 HOW THE FRENCH CANADIAN'S USED THE GIFT. to the French to blot out. Had Canada been left a unit, the moulding of the two elements would have been effected by this time. It was divided, with the result that the stream of immigration which would naturally have overspread the waste lands behind the French parishes on the St Lawrence, swept past them, because few immigrants had a mind to make new homes in a province with a French legislature. In the 16 years after the province of Upper Canada was created, it added 80,000 English-speaking immigrants to its population; Lower Canada did not add 8,000. By this one error of divid,ing Canada in 1791, we have a divided Canada still. The settlers of Upper Canada used the privilege of self- government entrusted to them to their great advantage; the French settlers of the lowc* province accepted the, to thein, novel boon suspiciously, and used it gingerly at first, ami then perverted it into an instrument to undo what Wolfe and Murray, Amherst and Haldimand had done. Before five years, the ministers in London realized their folly in localizing and giving to a recently subjugated people the power of self- government. Every mail brought them despatches from the governors telling of attempts to restore French rule, and before long thei-e was established a chronic war between the legislature and the executive — the one struggling to le- establish' French law and customs the other to maintain English law and institutions. The liberals of England heard of the struggle and misapprehended its nature, supposing it to be a struggle between people and prerogative instead of j one where popular institutions were being used to destroy British connection. No governor more clearly realized thej situation than Sir J. H. Craig, and he wrote bitterly to Lon- don of how, at every point, the legislature was endeavoring to restore the old regime so far as change of circumstances j would permit, how all his efforts to propiote the settlement f of the townships were thwarted, and how he found the priestsj endeavoring to estrange the habitants more and more froii!J the British government. The priests were not alone. Thel cities of Quebec and Montreal abounded in young men 'hile Papineau and his followers were de- claiming against the tyranny of being taxed without repre- sentation and oi^ the preciousness of self-government, the 80,000 English .sp>iaking settlers between Salmon river and lake Memphremagog had no more to do with the making of the laws or the spending of the taxes they paid, than the trees they were industriously hewing down. The senti- ment that denied the townships representation was at last the means of giving it to them to a partial extent. A scheme was prepared by the house for Frenchifying the province and in order to ensure its passage by the council, a few KNOLISH NAMES imol'FED. oO) I Canadian \\a» voto a. So tle- pper proN- ween lakos im the year isseinbly to sive inhcri- d was til at lied to con- townships, I homes for ;r innumer- ^uvillier en- ision oi the ry governor [, rest by the oovernment, le seigniories \-e power to unconceded by the dis- r settlement ;he people of Itheir proper- presentation, irs were de- ithout repre- niment, the »n river and the making paid, than The senti- was at last t. A scheme ;he province •uncil, a few in(Mnl)ei',s were allotted tlie English settlements. I'nder this act, the old ctxnities were swept away and ne^^ one.'j with French nanu's sul)stitut«!d. Huntingdon was bl«jtted out and Beauharnois, Laprairie, and L'Acadie tle and i"nnient to r in a tail' renew the a acknow : minority, and who, in his de- Then the t time was 3f that his fankee ele- bed by the tiinent, au- owed with lination to place at lield in the large was ;ting. The lent of the they had |sl touts and 10 death in |e province the oti.ers ^lotion that identical, a resident shouldered ading one. |al, was the river, the le province were more resolute opponents to Papineau, nor more eager volunteers for the Queen's service. In Ontario, the rising wos measurably one in vindication of civil rights; in Quebec the appeal to arms was to restore French domination. But the Huntingdon meeting was more than an expression of sentiment, for at it the important decision was come to, that, despite their distance from tlic poll, they would nomi- nate a candidate at the approaching election and endeavor to break the custom of the county's sending supporters of Papineau. A subsequent meeting was held at Brodie's, N. Georgetown, to nominate a candidate, when Wm. Bowron vas decided upon, and an exciting canvas was begun, as may be imagined when a staid man like the Rev Mr Merlin was led, in the course of a sermon at Hemingford, to ex- hort Ins hearers to support the crown by voting for Bowron and Primeau. No sooner was the benediction pronounced, than Colonel Scriver rose to protest against what had been said, when he was anticipated by Joseph Merlin, who re- monstrated Avith his brother for introducing the subject on such an occasion. Refused the use of the schoolhouse. Wm. Lalanne, John Hj'nes, David Hefternan, and David Manning called a meeting in favor of Dewitt, which was held on a pile of boards in the village. There were four candidates, Primeau, an a^lvocate, of the Cedars, who sided with the Bx'itish, Bowron, and the two retiring member.s, Jacob Dew itt, a hardware merchant of Montreal, and the surveyor, Charles Archambault, a man of no principle. Dewitt, an American, acted with Papineau in the hope that his success would bring annexation. Archambault, anxious for his r turn, ap- proached Bowions friends, and told them Ihey wer^ .'staken in supposing he was ux league with Dewitt, and that if they would drop Primeau, who had do chance, and vote for him, lie would instruct his supporters to vote for Bowron. They fell into the trap, and when the Old Countrymen went to Beauharnois to vote for Bowx'or, they carried out loyally the agreement with Archambault l)y voting for him also A large number of votes had been polled hef:\e it was found that Archambault was playing false,- aud i'..-.o his supporters 604. THE NIXETY-TWr RESOLUTIONS. were voting not for Bowron but Dcwitt. The Old Country- men were indignant, and refusing to vote any longer for Archambault, they were hustled out of tlie polling-room by the French, and no more were allowed to vote. Being in a liopeless minority, they could not assert their right by force. A Montreal lawyer, Armour, who had come to represent Bowron, appealed to the retuming-officer, who told him to quietly bring his friends to the back of the building, and he would take their votes through an open window, which was done. It was soon plain to be seen that the contest was hopeless, and Bowron withdrew his name. The poll ended by declaring Dewitt and Archambault elected. Before the next general election the law was changed, so that in- stead of one polling-place for the county, the retnrning-officer moved from village to village, continuing in each a * 'n*tain number of days. From that election dates the activo inter ference of the Old Countrymen in public affairs, -and the quick succession of events intensified their interest. When the new house met the famous 92 resolutions were sub- mitted, which embodied every imaginable grievance t ithout declaring the animus that dicta,ted them — namely, the desire to expel the English-speaking inhabitants of the province and to convert it into a French republic. That this could be accomplished Papineau was assured, for he declared "not only were republican institutions to prevail throughout the whole of this continent, but America was destined, at some future day, to give republics to Europe." The American residents in Huntingdon village called a meeting to endorse the 92 resolutions, which was held in the schoolroom where Oney's house stands. Joshua Lewis presided, Ames read the 92 resolutions, and a resident of Malone, Hutton, harangued in their support. Brown and Norval with others of a dif- ferent way of thinking were present, and changed the com- plexion of the meeting. When the house refused to vote the supplies pnd brought about a deadlock, it became apparent a collision was approaching which would decide whether the province was to continue part of the British empire or be changed into a French republic. While Papineau was ad- THE OUTBREAK OF 1837. 605 Country- >nger for -room by eing in a by force, represent, d him to ding, and )w, which te contest The poll I. Before > that in- insr-ofiicer a certalr> tivfe inter- i, .and the St. When were sub- !e \ Ithout the desire ! province this could lared "not itjhout the at some 1 American endorse 3m where read the larangued of a dif- the corn- vote the apparent tether the t)ire or be was ad- cssing immense gatherings in the parishes, the people of 1$ dr the townships met to organize in self-defence. At the meet- ing in Hemingford, which filled the Methodist church, Col. Scriver caused a sensation by rising and saying that he know he was suspected by a majority present because he had supported Dewitt and because he believed many of the reforms advocated by Papineau were necessary, and which he wished to see effected in a constitutional manner, but when the real issue came to be, as was now the case, whether the province was to be French or British, his sword and fortune were at the service of the crown. The old militia companies were filled up and volunteer ones forme*! wherever English was spoken, and the determination expressed that they would show whether they wei*e, as styled by the chuich-doo)' orators, intruders and trespassers in a colony where the union jack floated. As no overt act took place in the district of Boauharnois during the first year of the rebellion, it wculd be })eyond the scope of this book to touch upon it, further than to note its influence upon what followed in the succeeding year. The rebellion of 1887 failed from three causes, 1st the cowardice of the leaders, 2nd the failure of the aid anticipated from the Americans, 3rd the decision at the last moment of the hierarchy to discountenance the revolt. The utmost clemency was shown to such of the leaders as were caught, none being executed, and a number, like Cardinal <>t Ohate.iugay, who was one of the members for Laprairie {tue seigniory of Chatcaugaj'^ was then part of that county), AxA Dr Perrigo, were left untouched. Mercy to the van- qi'i'Si'icd was not mercy to the province, for had a stern example been mode in 1S37 there would have been no rising in 1838. The leniency of the government was misconstrued by the habitants into proof of its weakness, and the fellows who were set at liberty swaggered about the parishes boast- ing that the bureaucrats did not dan? to punish them. How the ignorance of the habitants was imposed upon by the demagogues who were leading thohi to ruin, it will suflico to state that many were induced to take up arms under the OOQ THE NEW I'LOT. representution that the throne of William IV. having been filled by Victoria, they ran no risk in rising against a girl. The leaders were guilty of worse than misleading a credulous people; the accession of a new sovereign required the mem- lers of the house to be resworn. Four months after they had taken the oath of allegiance to Victoria, they were in nrms to overthrow her authority in Canada. The outbreak i timulated the placing of the militia in an effective condition, and the forming of volunteer companies. Arms for the Beau- Larnois district were hurriedly sent to Caughnawaga, whence they were brought in carts, and from the 1st December the youngt ^iT^'i were kept on guard, receiving 20 cents a day and ratiC When spring approached, so convinced were the authoriii. j chat all danger had passed, that the com- panies were disbanded six weeks before the expiration of their term of enlistment. On the surface, everything wore a most tranquil appear- ance; the agitation that had filled the province for a score of years with its clamor had ceased, and the habitants had resumed their ordinary occupations. Unhappily their sub- missive aspect was assumed to cover their purpose of making a second attempt to drive out the English. Their late failure l;ad taught the leaders several lessons, by which, safely en- f.conced in the United States, they profited in devising a fresh conspiracy. Ascribing their want of success to the ] betrayal of their plans and the incompleteness of their or- ganization, they devised a society elaborate in detail and secret in operati'^n. It w'as called the Raquet or Chasseur society, with four degrees, and, after the manner of secret societies, its oath was administered impressively anjd under threats of vengeance if violated. The signs and passwords were simple yet effective. During the summer of 1838 emis- ; aries traversed the province, initiating members and forming lodges, and carried on their propaganda so unobtrusively that the authorities had no suspicion of what was going on. In the counties of Beauharnois and Chateaugay the women were the most active in promoting the society, and by them the oath was frequently administered. So very quiet and :m THE AJIEKICANS HELP THE REBELS, 507 lor been , a girl, edulous e meni- er they were in utbreak indition, le Beau- whence iber the ts a day ed were ,he com- ation of appear- L- a score ^nts had eir sub- making |e failure ,fely en- [vising a to tlic ,heir or- ,ail and hasseur f secret under ,ss words 18 emis- forniing ely that on. In women >y them liet and friendly were the Canadians, that the Old Country people were completely thrown oft' their guard, and believed that, in the catastrophe of the preceding fall, the insurrection- ary idea had perished and that the French had become reconciled to the existing state of affliirs. The calm, how- ever, was so profound that it caused suspicion among a few, but none scouted the idea of a second rising being brewing more emphatically than Coionel Brown and Mr Xorval, and no other two in the district had greater facilities of knowing what was going on, or were more thoroughly acquainted with the Canadian character. The degree of deception used is indicated by men like them boing so completely deceived. The providing of arms and material was a more difficult matter than the obtaining of recruits for the lodges, and for the means , to purchase them the leaders depended mainly upon the Americans. All over the Northern States of the Union large meetings were held, at which resolutions o£ sympathy for the French Canadians "in their aspirations for freedom from the British yoke" were enthusiastically adopted, and, in defiance of their ov/n neutrality law, sub- scriptions were opened to buy arms and ammunition to make war against a nation with which the United States was at peace. Along the northern frontier, many of those American sympathizers formed themselves into secret socie- ties, culled Hunters' lodges, the object being to aid the French Canadians in their effort to convert Canada into a republic not only by collecting subscriptions in their respec- tive neighborhoods but by organizing military companies, to march to their support when the flag of insiirroction was raised. These Hunters' lodges were most numerous in Ver- mont and in St Lawrence county, N.Y. Despite the contri- butions of the Americans and the sacrifices made by a few of the Canadian leaders, tlie Chasseurs were indifferently provided with arms when the time of rising approached. What muskets they had were mainly old flint-locks that had been r.s'»d in 1812, and these were eked out by daggers, pikes, and pistols. The pikes were made clandestinely by the parish blacksmiths. Stranger than even these nidc 508 THE REBEL PLAN. weapons, was the boring of logs to make wooden cannon. If arms were deficient, the leaders had, by means of the Chasseur or Baquet lodges, undoubtedly secured a fairly or- ganized body of men, and were thus in a much better posi- tion than when they took the field the year before. How the authorities obtained word of what was going on has not yet been fully revealed, but there is no question that the first definite information as to the extent of the danger was made known through the Catholic ecclesiastical authori- ties of Montreal. Apart from the consideration that they foresaw the second rising would be a second failure, and were anxious to prevent the impoverishment of their people, their act was one of self-interest. The rebel leaders by this time had imbibed American ideas of church and state, and had ndopted as one of their measures of reform the aboli- tion of tithes. Careful as the priesthood had ever been to identif • thf^niselves with the French Canadian nationality, sparing no effort to impress the habitants that their patriotic aspirations were indissolubly blended with the church of Rome, they had no intention that they should be realized if it cost them the power to tax and tithe. Better British rule with tithe, than French without. The information sup- plied to Sir John Colbonie was so precise that ho knew nob only the plans of the conspirators but the extent of their resources. He was warned too late to be able to nip the plot in the bud or even to warn the militia officex's in the districts affected, and all he could do was to organize to crush it before getting headway. The rebel plan, in briei", was that there should be a simultaneous rising in the corner of the province tliat lies west of the Richelieu, and that the American contingent was to join them by way of lake Cham- plain and by crossing the frontier of New York state. With the triangle of country in their possession they would have a base of operations against the rest of the pro\ince. The night of the 3rd November was fixed for the rising and the chief blow was to be struck by the habitants of the county of Laprairie, which included the seigniory of Cha- teaugay. They were to attack and capture the barracks at THE RISIXG AT THE BASIN, 509 launon. of the irly or- ir posi- oing on on that danger luthori- at they irc, and people, lay this ate, and e aboli- been to ionality, patriotic lurch oi realized British on sup- Inew not |of their nip the in the inize to in brief, corner ihat the Cham- With Id have |e rising of the )f Cha- tacks at the village of Laprairie. The chief agent was a habitant, one Desmarais, who had devoted his time to inducing his neigli- bors to join the movement, and it is proof of his energy, that no other section was so well-organized. He had been implicated in the rising of 1838 and there was abundant proof for his conviction, but the government, in its mistaken clemency, had set him at liberty. The seigniory of Cha- teaugay he entrusted to Cardinal, who was to make a night- march on Caughnawaga, surprise the Indians and seize the muskets and ammunition with which the government had supplied them the year before, and then proceed to assist in the attack on Laprairie barracks. Cardinal was a slow and somewhat heavy man, regarded by many as soft and stupid and by a few as cunning and ambitious. He was certainly callous and ungrateful. The steamer from Lachine, the Cha- teaugay, was late that Saturday, and it was dark when she raached her wharf. She had a full load, and among her passengers were a number of Olu Country farmei's. The night was cold and wet and the roads bad, so that it was some time before they got under way. The first to get as far as the bridge was John Lewis Grant, a Lachine farmer, who was on his way to his brother-in-law, John McDonald, to warn him that the Canadians had marked him among those they had designated for assassination.* In front of Mrs Duquette's tavern he met a great crowd of Canadians, who seized hold of his horse's head, and dragging him from his gig, carried him, for he was half -drunk, into a room, where they searched him, thinking he was the bearer of despatches to his brother-in-law. There was no letter but they found a pair of pistols in his pocket, which Duquette * There was a plot to kill McDonald. It had been arranged with a worthless fellow to do the deed for a sum of mone , and was given a knife and pistol as instruments. The plan was that the assassin was to go with a neighbor to McDonald's store and ask him to examine a pile of the bons storekeepers then issued, and, while so engaged, either shoot or stab him. The neighbor refused with horror, and caused, too late, Mc- Donald to be warned of his danger in the manner stated. 510 .SEARCHIXG THE HOUSES OF appropriated. Shortly afterwards, a string of other pas- sengers came along-, when they also were halted and niado prisoner?. One oi them, John Stewart of Howick, resisted, when Duquette drew his sword and thrcatenecl to run it through him, when his sons persuaded him to submit. The crowd was constantly increasing and all were in great gleO; laughing and gesticulating. That the province would be theirs within a couple of days they had not a shadow of doubt. By-and-by Canadians appeared wdio had been sent for, chasseurs and raquets who had repented at the twelfth hour and been forced to turn out by patrols sent for them. Meanwhile two detachments of considerable strength wero marching down the river, visiting the houses of all the Old Countrymen. The first house they went to was that of John McDonald, and surrounding it knocked loudly for ad- mittance. McDonald, who was getting into bed, asked their errand, when they shouted they were going to declare their independence that night. Pelaying to give them admittance, threats of setting fire to the house were made. His servant advised resistance, but McDonald said two could do nothing against so many, and told him to go and hide and seize the first opportunity to fly to Beauharnois and let Col. Brown know that the Canadians were in arms. The servant havino- hid under a bed, the door was opened, when the rebels crowd- ed in. Their leader, Jean L. Thibert, a neighboring farmer, ordered him to dress and go with them to his store, for Mc- Donald was a merchant as well as a farmer. There they seized some powder and shot, but touched nothing else. Re- turning to the house, they searched every nook of it for arn»s. finding a gun. Reforming their ranks they began their march to the bridge, taking McDonald with them as prisoner. At the house of eveiy Old Countryman they came to they halted and rousing the inmates from their sleep demanded instant entrance under fearful threats. Taken thus unaware, i»sist- ance was impossible, and amid the tears of wife and children, the head of the house, ahd, if he had any, his gi-own-up sons, were compelled to leave their beds, to huddle on their clothes and be taken away as prisoners. The hardship was THE OLD COUNTRYMEN. 51] the greater from the nature of the weather. A piercmr^ blast was sweeping over the country and at intervals heavy showers fell, so that the prisoners, as they dragged their weary way through the mud, were chilled and drenched by wind and rain. At one house the goodwife appeared to answer the summons, and declai'ed that her husband was from home. The Canadians knew better, and told her unless he appeared they would set fire to the barn. She pointed to the chimney, where he had taken refuge, whence he was dragged with laughter and his wife was compelled to supply a piece of rope to tie his arms behind his back, the man telling them he would live to see his captors yet hung with it. In the house of James Holmes, they found the Rev Mr Roach, who had come to hold service on the morrow, and marry a couple on Monday. He also was made prisoner, and there was neither service nor marriage.* At Dickson's house was Robert Findlay, who, on hearing the errand of those who were demanding admittance, jumped out of his bedroom window and made for Caughnawaga, told the Indians of tho rising, got them to ferry him over to Lachine, whence he was driven to Montreal and was the first to give Colborne in- * This house-to-house visitation did not piss off as harm- lessly elsewhere. A few miles east of the Basin, at La Tortue, two sturdy Yorkshiremen, warned in time of the rebels' ap- proach, stood at either side of the door, musket in hand. The Canadians fired a volley, when Aaron Walker fell back dead in his wife's arms. David Vitty, after discharging his gun, stood his ground, and shouted he would pierce with the bayo- net the first Canadian who crossed his threshold. A second volley was fired, and he was wounded in four places. The rebels then rushed in, and found Mrs Walker, clasping a nine months' old infant, bending over her dead husband. Recog- nizing among them a neighbor, she said, "You have murdered a man who never injured you." "It is good for him and you too," he replied, as he roughly pushed her aside. Vitty, who was dabbled all over with blood from his wounds, asked for a drink, and as one of the household was raising it to his lips, a French Canadian dashed the cup to the ground. A troop of Hussars, from Laprairie barracks, warned by a messenger sent by Walker, were heard approaching, when the rebels fled. )^'l I ■• i ;i2 THE ADVANCE OX CAUGHXAWAGA. formation that the outbreak had taken place. Every house was searched for arms, but beyond a few fowling-piecesi none were found. When the party reached Duquette's thty had 19 prisoners, who were led to Madame Boudria's office, where Cardinal had his office. He received his neighbors with com- placency, the majority of whoni, a few months l^fore, had signed a petition to the government to condone his offence of sharing in the rising of 1837. The leaders consulted, when the farmers were released, excepting McDonald, an Irishman, McLean, who had acted as drill-sergeant to the militia the year before, and a young Aberdonian named Innis, who pro- voked the Canadians by telling them the Huntingd(m men would soon be down to whip them. The release of the pas- sengers by the steamer was refused. The party sent to visit the houses between the Basin and the bridge, took all the arms they could find but made no prisoners. Having finished their task of making sure that the Old Countrymen had no arms, the order to fall in was given, when Desmarais picked out 150 as the corps to capture the arms at Caughnawaga, and, at the first streak of daylight,, they started. About a third had muskets, the others pikes and staves. The road was a mud-track, but, where it would permit, a semblance of military order was maintained, the men marching in platoons. Generally they presented the appearance of a scattered crowd, making their way as they best could on eijbher side of the road. Many by this time had come to think seriously of their situation and the enter- prise upon which they were bound. Ignorant as, with the exception of the leaders, they all were, they knew that re- bellion was punishable by the halter,' and they felt that to disarm Indians in daylight would not be so easy as sur- prising Old Country farmers in their beds. Any attempt to fall behind was checked, however, by the threat that all who turned would have their brains blown out. Afterwards one of the mnk and file related a conversation he had upon the road with Cardinal, which showed that getting the arms of the Indians was not all he aimed at. He told his follower that their American friends objected coming to their assist- CARDINAL OUTWITTKIJ. 513 cry house icccsi none they had Bee, where with con\- •efore, had liis offence ilted, when I Irishman, militia the 3, who pro- ngdon men of the pas- ent to visit 3ok all the bat the 01<1 was given, I capture the of daylight,. )thcrs pikes ;re it would itained, the Bsented the ray as they y this time d the enter- is, with the }W that re- felt that to isy as sur- ly attempt [eat that all Afterwards had upon ig the arms lis follower iheir assist- Anoe until they had achieved flome success which would give them the status of combatants. "If," argued Cardinal, "the Americans come now and are captured, they will be hanged as murderers; if they come after we have obtained the stand- ing of belligerents and are captured, they will be treated as prisoners-<^-war," and so he saw in the disarming of the In- dians and the capture of their village nu>re than a merely prudential step. Os reaching the vicinity of Caugbniawaga, the Canadians were ordered to halt and lie concealed in the woods, which surround the place, while Cardinal and Duquette would go to the village to reconnoitre. Quietly as they had advanced and early as was the hour, they had been observed by a gquaw, who was looking for her cow, and she, young and fleet of foot, fled with the intelligence that armed men were lurking in the bush. A brave was sent oat as a scout, and he speedily returned, confirming the girl's (itatemeni Qeoi^ Delorimier, the head-ohief, to whom he brought the word, eonneciing the presence of the Can^diana with the tidings Findlaj had brought during the night, ccMicluded at once that tlw rebels meant, improbable as it might seem, an attack on OM^[fanawaga. The bell was ringing for first mass and pari of the congreg«bion had assembled. Delorimier sent th* ptkmk word, whp stopped the service, while messengers pMMd Irom oabia lo cabin summcming the braves to a»- nemfab at the iMijr-pole with their arm& All this was done with ttie silence and secrecy which are characteristic of the Red Man, so that when Cardinal and Duquette came walking mto the village imeoncemedly, and as if paying a customary visit, they could not tell by any sign that the Indian ~ *vere aware of the force they had within hail in the wood > . ; that they were ready to fig^t them. Cardinal went to the store of Delorimier and sounded him as to the arms and ammuni- tion the Indiana had and where they were kept, said he would like to see the diiefs and hinted he would pay a good price for any guns they would sell him. In further conversation with the chiefs, he told them the whole province bad risen in arms during the night and that they were sure w mm 5U INDIAN CRAFTINES& !r I :.M ■' to m>ike Lower Ganftda independent If the chiefs would join them, or even lend them their arms, they would not only bo well paid, but would be allowQ4. to keep their seign- iory under the new governmeni When asked what they, wanted. the arms for* Cardipal said to go and aid in taking Laprairie. He used no threatn^ did not tell them if they did not give up their, arms, he would take them i e; in. fact, thought he was going to succeed by diplomacy. Whea word was brought that all was ready and that the ..braves of the tribe had assembled at the flagpole prepared for light, the chiefs threw off all dissimulation and made their two tempters prisoners. Wondering what detained Cardinal and Duquette three others of the leaders came walking carelessly and unarmed into the village to find out, when they like- wise were detained. If .they advanced into the woods, the Indians knew that the Canadians, after firing a .volley, which i|iight do them some injury, would scatter and fly, and sa escape them, which would not suit their designs. They re- sorted to a ve^r sii iple. stratagem to capture them ^icking out a few of th<»>r number, they sent them into woods to endeavor- to indupci- the Canadians to come into the village. By this time the habiiants had grown restive. Exhausted by the excitement and exertions of the preceding oight, cold and hungry, they. were in. no mood to fig)it the Iroquois; so that, while waiting- in the bush, many took the opportunity of stealing off to tlieijr. homes. Lapailleur was now left the sole leader, and, qb seeing a few of the Indians approaching^ among them a ohief , find apparently without arms (they had their tomahawks and sqalping-knives concealed under their clothes) he concluded that .0, friendly arrangement had been made by the leaders -who. had gone to the village and went forward to meet them, accompanied by one of his men. After the interchange of a, few friendly words, one of the Indiaas playfully snatched away his pistol, which was his sole weapon, when his companion ran back to the Canadians and ordered them to advance. Lepailleur, forbade them to fire and said they were (^)ing to settle matters with the Indians like brothers, and the Indian messengers confirmed this by a THE UE»ELS MADE PRlSONEItS. 515 general shaking of hands. "Would they not come to the village?" The Canadians answered, "Perhaps if we go to the village you will make us prisoners." "Don't be fright- ened," retorted the chief, "I will take care of that" Thus * assured they walked towards the v illume, and on coming in sight of it saw the Indians drawn up in line. With fatal in- ' aug«y and subse- quently escape16 BEAUHAltNOIS WARNED. V i)a8iii, they haunted it, and, daring a heavy shower of snow, a band of tiiem suddenly dashed into it, seized the muskets, ^nd kicked the astonished guard out of doors before they icnew what bad haf^ned. After that, a well-known Indian •appeared one dat on h^rsebeck at the headquarters at the 1)ridge,With a message which he alleged came from the chiefs, io theefibci that they wisfied to have friradship re-established Vv'ith their French brothers, and if they would send lome of the patriot chiefs they would talk over their differences and, |)erhaps, make an alliance with them. The rebels deliberated over the message, when it was decided to send the deputation iisked for. They had just entered the Oaughnawaga woods, ^vhen they were pounced upon and sent prisoners to Montreal. Among the captured was an American, a brother of Jacob Dewitt, and the Indians arguing that whatever belonged to the rebehi was fair spoil, a party of them, bearing raft- ^ai's, boarded the steamer Chateaugay and bef;;aa rowing her io Oaughnawaga. They were with difficulty induced to gins \ip their pdze on the representation that the vessel was sion-house to warn Mr Ellice, and then went to Mr Ross's t<»' get out the volunteers, and was gratified to find that already a dozen had assembled. The astonishment of the group ii> Ross's store is not to be described. Of all events, a sccon*! rebellion was the most unlooked for by them. Living in tho heart of a French population they had not detected a sign o)f preparation, and even yet thought thai Bean must have mitt- apprehended what had passed at McDonald's house. Only one of them, John Biyson, had no doubts on the subject Hq U. > i how, that evening, he had gone to pay an account to (v French Canadian, when a dispute aroue, during which the man exclaimed to him, "In two or three -hours see what will happen to you damned English." He did not understand) then what he meant, but he did now. Others had remarked that while the Canadians had gone early to bed and no lighi** were to be seen in their houses, they had noticed in passing men peering out at the windows, more particularly of Pre- vost's tavern. Thes^j men were watching for the arrival of the contingents from Ste M£>rtinc and St Timothy, which was to be the signal for them to «ome forth. From thero being a volunteer company in the village, and the capture of the seigniory-house with .its inmates being regarded as an undertaking of responsibility, the dlNafieNcted of BeauhamO)» did not consider themselves capable for the task alone an(| had stipulated for outside help. . When I scarcely done so, when several volnnteei's appeared, whereon the rebels fled, except one, who fell on his knees and begged for mercy. In another part of the village, a volunteer, Bobt. Johnson, stopped a man on horseback, and made him prisoner. He proved to be Louis Dumoucbel, a tavern-keeper of Ste Hartine. While detaining him until assistance should -^qpWi ]^mouchel took fidvantage of his captor's attention b«bkg momentarily dis- tracted, to put spurs to his horse and gallop yelling up the bill. when. he was answered by a chorus of shouts, whid> Urdi^ the first intimation the volunteers had of the forcio- «t ihe Catiiolic chi^rcb. and Brown .and Boss at 0090 decided that it was necessary they should advance with HwUkiir men they liad and cover the entrance to the seigniory-lMiiita Thb w49 THE MANSION-HOUSE GAPTUBED. 619 lat Uie Ste shurch, and «e. It was , while Col. f the volun- 1 forth and »f Boss the iv, who was kept their the rising, )t him while ibers of the and ordered reats of im- >n the door a barrel of Ken l^t Pre- ery window ) the streets, fither. The identa were lers those of >enter/ The way Robert Barcjely done D rebels fled, • mercy. In isoQ, stopped [9 proved to tine. While louchel took mtarily dis- lling up the I, which W*^ 'orck)' at U)e ded that men they This w43 done, and the men formed in line at the gateway. Hardly bad they done so» when, through the darkness of that stormy night, th6 Canadians, with a tremendous yell, came rushing down the hill and across the open field at the foot of it, the voice of their leader, Joseph Dumouchel, shouting "Ho, my comrades : foi^rard I" and firing their gUna. Colonel Brown was shot in the thumb, but no one else was hurt, the Cana- tilians having aimed too high. .Firing a few inefiectiVe shots, the volunteers ran into the house, where they found Mr Ellice helping the ladies into the cellar. Colonel Brown told hfm tiiere was no use in resisting, and counselled surrendering 6n the best tetms they could. The cowardly advice wa^ assented to by Ellice, and the Canadian^ werd adAiitte was found in the house of the fisherman Legare, which stood on the shore of Hungry bay. He had NorvaJ's sword and having been a leader, was sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay. Having traced the course of the i«belliou along the St Lawrence, I would now narrate the events that happened in tlie Chateaugay valley during the week. The sun had not long set on Saturday, 3rd November, when the habitants, intent on rebellion, began to gather at Miller's tavern on the outskirts of Ste Martine and in that village. The village then, as now, was purely French Canadian, so that the ti Jas. Ritchie, and John Lowrey were successively vi .nd in all 10 prisoners were made. The house of Jame loinson had I on visited before ours, and he was in their u.i Is W' m I went out. In fording the Bean river, Michel Patenau .e, who had a great respect tor my father, insisted on his getting uppn his back, which he did and was Carried over dry-shod. We had gone about 2 miles when my father, who felt at being taken into Ste Martine with bandaged arms, got them loosened on ill LOYALIST \F. REBEL. 62f> ting me ; having 1 that it y with a 1 to him eyms of iil bver- 5 me. I B agreed bhes. A ng them , a sickle h on her ve. The neighbor at object "we are hich will hey werg Ste Mar- musketa Bvere was ng for us we were Otis*}, my irayfrom lown. A raist and 80 doing, )rawling. i roughly forward, prised in m Creek, io"ie the )a ire . Ritchie, n all 10 ad I on I went who had juppn his We had ,g taken lened on promising he would not trj' co escape. We were marched up. to Joseph Demers' taveni and given some bread and cheese.: The tavern stood opposite the church, and the priest, Father; Power, was walking up and down in front of the presbytery. The two Irishmen fro.ii Norton creek, who were Catholics, wanted to go over to speak to him, but were refused. After waiting some time, word came that we were to be taken to Dumouchel's, and the party was got ready. Another prisoner had been added to our number, Dominick McGowan, the Ste, Martine storekeeper. On coming opposite Dumouchel's, we. were crossed in a scow. On entering his tavern, we found Joseph Dumouchel busy in serving out alnmunition and weapons to tlio men who crowded the bar-room. My father at once complained to him of his treatment, when Dumouchel,' who was a customer and a good acquaintance of father's, pro-; fessed much regret that violence had been used, "Why,' he said, "I took Brown and Ellice prisoners last night, and did not hurt a hair of theii* heads." On his saying he wondered neighbors like us should be against the French Canadians, my father replied that we were not against the French Cana- dians, but were resolved to maintain the Queen's authority and British connection, which, if they v.-.uld only think it, was best for both them and us. Dumouchel said if we would take the oath of allegiance to King Papineau he would lot us return to our homes, and produced a Bible, which I saw was an English one, and bore Perrigo's name. The two from-, Norton Creek and McGowan were disposed to comply, but none of the others would, my father telling Dumouchel he would take no pledge but perform his duty to his Queen so far as circumstances would permit him. After a good deal of talk, w^e were unconditionally released, were treated at the bar by Dumouchel, and got home in the middle of the after- noon, and much relieved those we left behind us were on seeing us come. While at Dumouchel's we saw the Canadians assembling at Baker's, and towards the cauip there a constant stream was flocking. It was part of the rebel plan to have treated the settlers on the English river and on the Chateaugay above Baker's in like manner to those of Bean river, but it was not carried out, probably because the risk of going into thickly populated settlements, where many were members of volunteer com- panies, was too great for the courage of those to whom the task had been allotted. On Sunday morning, the first sign to the Scotch farmers west of Baker's of the rising of the > ' 3S 530 MCEACHERN CARRIES THE XEWS WESTWARD; preceding night, was finding that their French Canadian servants had deserted and that not a man was to be seen in the houses of the habitants near th^m. It was speedily as- certained that a camp had been organized at Baker's and the French everywhere were in arms. The tidings flew west- ward like wildfire, and the expectation in every household was that the rebels would speedily appear. As to a common centre, the settlers crowded to Sandy Williamson's, to get the news and decide on what was to be done. The general opinion was in favor of each one going back to his own home and defending it to the last extremity. In the midst of their consultation the Rev Dr Muir arrived and perceiving the danger of such a course and that their only hope lay in united resistance, he pleaded earnestly with them to keep together and not to allow themselves to be captured in detail as the;^ would did they adherc^to their first determination. Of the soundness of the adv:.6e thus tendered they were ultimately persuaded, and it was resolved that each man should go home and get his gun and then assemble at the church at Brodie's, which had just been finished, all save the pulpit and seats. This was done and by noon there w^as a band of resolute men inside its walls, who w^ould have disputed their advance had the Canadians left their camp, which they did not, being busily engaged in organizing the reinforcements that were hourly arriving. Wherever the alarming intelligence reached an Old Coun- tryman, he shouldered the musket he had received as a volunteer at the rebellion of the year before, resolved to die sooner than let Canada pass from British, sway. The blockhouse was regarded as the place to make a stand by the men of Jamestown and Ormstown, and Captain John Tate had soon a large body of loyal men mustered within its walls. At Huntingdon the people were gathering for worship, and some had gone into St Andrew's to take their seats, when Archibald McEachern (afterwards Colonel Mc- Eachern, C.M.G.) galloped past, coated with mud, and went into Milne's tavern, where Colonel Campbell, who had charge of the volunteer service, happened to bo staying, and told tiD; jh Canadian bo be seen in speedily aa- ker's and the s flew west- ry household to a common ison's, to get The general c to his own In the midst nd perceiving iy hope lay in them to keep Dured in detail determination, red they were hat each man ssemble at the lished, all save loon there was lO would have .ft their camp, organizing the an Old Coun- received as a |re, resolved to 3h sway. The |ke a stand by Captain John iustered within gathering for I's to take their Is Colonel Mc- lud, and went rho had charge tying, and told now KECEIVED. 531 liim of what was happening at Baker's. The colonel at once sent out messengers to warn the volunteers to assemble. The congregation by this time had gathered in St AndrewV and the Rev Mr Walker had begun the service, when Mc- Eachem came in and walking up to the pulpit whispered to the minister that the French had again risen in rebellion. "Is that so ?" queried he in astonishment. "Yes," answered the messenger. Instantly Mr Walker slapped the open Bible before him together, with the words, "Then it is time we were away from here." Leaning over the pulpit he told his astounded hearers that the French had risen in rebellion and exhorted them to fly to arms, and march instantly to put them down. The congregation crowded out and, before mn,ny minutes, a number had their muskets, Mr Walker himself being prominent, as he stalked back and forth, Ris tall form, though bent, towering above the throng, with a gun over his shoulder. All were not of .An mind, however, and the maiden sister of an industrious settler was heard exclaiming to him, "Come awa hame, Jock; gin the ministeir wants to fecht let him dae't himsel." The reception of the alarming news had a different effect on another, though smaller congregation, that had met that morning. The Rev. Ashbel Parmelee, tho Congregational minister of Malone, had come to conduct service for those who had recently formed themselves into a congregation in connection with the American Presbyterian church. They ha^i met in the schoolhouse at the northwest end of the village, and were engaged in prayer, when one of the Danskins came to the door, and shouted that the French were on the way and would soon arrive to kill them all. Mr Parmelee, with much dignity and composure, said quietly that the men should leave to meet t!.e enemy, but the women and children remain, for, if death was coming, they could not meet it better than while engaged in the worship of God. This was done, those able to bear arms left, and to those who remained, Mr Parmelee preached a striking sermon from that passage of Ezekiel where, under the figure of a river, the Deliverer from sin is revealed. Long before he was done, (volonel Campbell, accompanied by his man-servant Mulhol- 4 I, ■! 632 THE VOLUNTEERS MARCK. land and McEachem, were on the way to the scene of alarm, and reached Bryson's in a few hours. What he there learned caused him to send back McEachem with a despatch to Col. Davidson, ordering him to march with his command at day- light to Reeves's. The facts of the rising had, as usual in times of excite- ment, been grossly exaggerated. For instance, the report Avas spread far and wide that day, that the' Canadians were marching victoriously towards Huntingdon, burning every- thing before them, and had reached the Portage (Dewittville). The alarming news by no means disconcerted the Old Coun- trymen, Avho all day came flocking into the village to join the companies. The chief drawback was the want of arms, for there were not muskets enough, and many of them were in wretched condition. Sandy Lumsden, blacksmith, of Athel- stan, was set to work in the church repairing them, and not a few were brought to him with the flints tied to the hammer, while Willie Stark was kept busy shoeing horses for scouts and messengers. Such a Sunday had never been known in Huntingdon, the street being crowded with an excited throng, and St Andrew's made the rendezvous of armed men. In the confusion a musket was discharged and the bullet went through the roof of the sacred edifice. At night its floor was covered by sleeping men. Early on Monday morning they fell into rank, when it was found there were 150 men suffi- ciently equipped to go forward, and they began their march; watched until out of sight by women with moistened eyes and sad misgivings as to what might happen them ere they returned. The present aspect of the country gives little idea of what it was on that eventful morning, for the road from Huntingdon to Dewittville passed through almost solid bush, the clearances being small and the houses log-shanties. From Dewittville onwards the clearances were larger, yet they were only notches in the forest, which extended without a break on the north. The road could hardly have been worse; so bad, indeed, that the men preferred the fields, along which they tramped, jumping ditches and fences. As each man had been ordered to take a day's food in his pocket, the THE REBEL CAMP. 533 halt at the yellow house was brief, yet with all expedition it was late in the afternoon when the blockhouse was reach- ed, and to which they were ferried in a scow, and there the wearied men found food and rest within its walls and those of the neighboring shanties. To their eager enquiries, they were told the French were encamped at Baker's, and their numbers were grossly overestimated. Except along the St Louis and the 4th concession they had not molested the Old Countrymen. There a body of 200 had visited every houso and seized what arms they had. After a miserable night, for the blockhouse was overcrowded and its atmosphere dense with smoke, the chimneys being out of order, the men fell in and renewed their march, Colonel Campbell leaving in charge of the blockhouse the c(Jmpany of Captain John Tate, raised mainly from the 2nd and 3rd concessions, with orders not to leave it under any circumstances.* The force in a couple of hours reached Reeves's tavern and found that there was no change in the position of the rebels. The ground they had selected possessed no military strength. The country is a great flat plain, with the Cha- teaugay winding sluggishly through it. Along its banks and for some distance back from them were cleared fields, with a background of forest. The road from Huntingdon to the Basin followed the river bank, and at Baker's, where the rebels had formed their camp, a road that led to Beau- harnois struck oif. At the corners, formed by the joining of the two roads, stood George Washington Baker's house, a large 2-story wooden building, painted yellow. Baker was of American descent (page 46) and strong for annexation, *This order gave rise to a strange misunderstanding. Three days afterwards a trooper appeared on the opposite bank and shouted that Colonel Campbell ordered Capt. Tate to join him with all his nien save 10 who were to be left in charge of the blockhouse. The captain was in a quandary, and asked Sergt. Younie's advice, who, a shrewd old soldier, said the troopei' had no written despatch and an owler by word of mouth could not supersede the express one, personally given, not to leave the blockhouse. This seemed so sagacious, that the trooper's order was disregarded. 534 BAKERS. «J and in so far as the rebels were likely to bring that about he was favorable to them, but he was too astute a man to believe they could succeed. He told them only failure was in store for them, as they had neither plans, arms, nor a fit leader. In his brother-in-law, Dr Perrigo, (p. 137) who lived beside him, the rebels found more encouragement. In 1837 he was Jeep in the rebel secrets, and set down as a colonel in their army. The clemency of the government, in with- holding from prosecuting him, had had no eflFect beyond making him believe its mercy arose from timidity, and he unhesitatingly threw in his lot a second time with the rebels. Baker's conviction that failure awaited them did not prevent his house being chosen as headquarters, and the rebels from Ste Martine and the adjoining parishes made for 3t, on the imorning of the eventful Sunday. Being a wealthy farmer, they found abundance of provisions in his cellar and bam. Hoping to save something. Baker affected to go in with them, and sending away his family to a neighbor's for safety, re- mained. West of Baker's were three stone houses, where the Leclere brothers lived and beyond them was Reeves' tavern, but the habitants who swarmed around Baker's made no move to take possession of them. Their decision was to stay where they were, and await any attack that might come from Huntingdon. The timber of a stranded raft was hauled up the river-bank and with rails and slabs a barri- cade was made, some 4 feet high, crossing the road and extending about 150 feet into the neighboring field. On the road a wooden cannon, made of staves strongly hooped, was planted, to rake any approaching force. On Monday evening they threw out a picket-line, which had its head- quarters in Jean Leclere'a house. On Tuesday, on the Huntingdon column's arrival, Campbell ordered 8 of them to occupy it. Creeping up behind a bam, they fired into the window that faced it, and reloading ran for the house and entered it. The men had iied to the camp, leaving a number of women and children stricken with fear. None had been hurt by the bullets, which had lodged in a cupboard and smashed the crockery it contained. The inmates were that about a man to ailure was s, nor a fit who lived , In 1837 ) a colonel ;, in with- ct beyond by, and he the rebels, ot prevent ebels from ' 3t, on the hy farmer, and barn, ivith them, safety, re- where the es' tavern, made no >n was to hat might i raft was )s a barri- road and field. On ly hooped, 1 Monday its head- er, on the 8 of them fired into the house leaving a ar. None , cupboard lates were e«HRIC/»3B 536 CAMPBELL WILL NOT ATTACK. I- n h i If* conveyed to other shelter, when the windows were planked and loopholed, and a guard stationed in it, each man being assigned his post in case of attack. A straw-thatched barn, between the house and the rebel camp, which would give shelter to an attacking party, was set fire to after dark, and its burning spread consternation among the rebels, who were seen flying towards Ste Mai*tine. On Tuesday and Wednes- day morning further reinforcements were received from Hun- tingdon and more men came in from the English river and the neighboring country than there were arms for. Shelter was found for them in the houses around Reeves, and there was no scarcity of provisions. The settlers' wives, for miles up the river, baked bread to send to them, hogs were slaugh- tered, and old Mr Brodie brought them a numter of cheese. The 'volunteers, however, did not trust their commissariat entirely to' such friendly hands. They lived, to use the phrase of one of them, at heck and manger, rumaging the deserted houses and barns of the French. In one house only the women were found, but when the volunteers were helping themselves to potatoes in the cellar, Jean Baptiste was unearthed himself, and, once assured of his safety, proved to be a hearty good fellow and a kind host. On Wednesday morning the men were eager in their desire to assault the rebel camp, the weakness of which was now apparent. Colonel Campbell refused, saying a majority of the volunteers were married men, and he would not be re- sponsible for the butchery which might ensue. In this decision he was largely influenced by Dr Muir and several of his friends, who held that the prudent course was to await the reinforcements that were on the way from Glen- garry before assuming the offensive. A strict disciplinarian, he issued orders to the captains to complete the organiza- tion of their companies and keep up constant drill. Baker, anxious to get out of his predicament, sent a message by Gegrge Cross, who had passed the lines unseen, asking Col. Campbell to give him a meeting. That evening, walking quietly down by the river's edge, he met Baker, and before coming up to him, called out, "That you, Baker, eh? you'll NORTON CREEK MILL. 537 jeers were be hanged for a rebel !" The salutation so alarmed Baker, who suspected that he was going to be seized, that he turned and fled, and next morning threw in his lot with the rebels and shouldered a musket. His intention was to have ac- quainted Campbell of the true position of the rebels and showed him how he could have won a bloodless victory. Reinforcements kept arriving almost hourly at Reeves's, being farmers from the upper country, chiefly from Hin- chinbnwk and Godmanchester, very few being from the village, where the expectation was that American sympa- thizers would come down from Chateaugay, N.Y., and so they remained, under control of Major McGibbon, to defend their property from such a danger. The Jamestown company (Capt. Strachan's) was stationed at the gristmill at Ormstown, which had just been built and into which the machinery had not yet been put. The neighboring French Canadians were arrested as found and placed in its cellar, until it be- came full. Beyond being kept in custody until the danger was passed, they were not injured. The men of Williams- town and Edwardstown, forming 4 companies, were stationed in the Norton creek gristmill, as a check to any advance the rebels of St Remi might make. An incident of their occupation is worth recording. One day the volunteers on the upper-story detected a lurking figure in the neighboring bush, and guessing he was a spy, who was examining their position, stole quickly out and caught him before he knew he had been perceived. His name was Latrance, and he had been sent from Napierville to reconnoitre. Without more ado, his hands were tied and his eyes bandaged, and the guns were pointed to shoot him, when Mrs John McLennan, who had accompanied her husband to the mill and acted as cook to Finlayson's company, rushed out, and at her inter- cession, he was let off*. His narrow escape did not frighten him out of his treasonable courses, for he went back and took part in the fight at Odelltown church. The settlers of English river formed a company under Captain James Craig. On hearing of the trouble on Sunday morning, they marched to the blockhouse, where they re- 538 DISCONTENT OF THE VOLUNTEERS. i 1, H! mained until ordered to reconnoitre St Louis, where it was reported the rebels were gathering. The rcen proceeded up the 3rd concession, meeting with no opposition, and after burning a house at the head of it, where they were told the rebels had lodged, came back, and slept in the church at Brodie's, leaving next morning for Reeves's. The appearance of the Huntingdon volunteers greatly dis- concerted the insurgents in Baker's camp, many of whom seeing that matters were going to prove more serious than anticipated, took eveiy opportunity to desert. A messenger was sent in hot haste to Beauharnois for reinforcements and he found the rebels having an easy time of it, lounging about the taverns and the mansion-house, the cellar of which con- tained on ample supply of food and drink, and taking what else they wanted out of the store of Mr Ross, causing the clerk to keep an account, as they said all would be paid for when the French republic was established. The leaders con- sulted and agreed they could spare the help asked for. On Wednesday, after dinner, all who had guns were marshalled in front of Prevost's, and over a hundred volunteered to go. They were commanded by Prieur, a St Timothy sfcrekeeper. and Delorimier, the Montreal notary, and their irrival did much to restore the confidence of those at Baker' >. The discontent in the loyal camp at their continued in- action was growing to the verge of mutiny, the men threat- ening they would make an assault witliont orders. There were urgent reasons for bringing matters to a crisis, for the suspense throughout the English settlements was painful, and the majority of the volunteers were so situated that they could not remain much longer from home. In many settle- ments there was not a man, all having gone to the front, and women not only tended the live-stock but hauled firewood and threshed. Colonel Campbell was not to be moved from his policy of remaining on the defensive. He had seen some service while a subaltern, and wets wounded in the leg at Waterloo, but his experience had made him a martinet with- out giving him the dash and courage of the soldier. When his officers, as a few dared to do, remonstrated with him, he THE RECONNOISSANCE. 539 jre it was jceeded up and after :e told the church at reatly dis- o£ whom rious than messenger ments and ring about ehich con- king what tusing the e paid for aders con- 1 for. On narshalled jred to go. crekeeper. rrival did inued in- L'n threat- There is, for the linful, and that they ,ny settle- ront, and firewood >ved from seen some le leg at net with- When him, he represented the danger of assaulting the rebels with an un- disciplined force, and implied his distrust in the men he com- manded. He would make no move until the force he had been advised of arrived from Glengarry. On Thursday a collision was preci^ntated by accident. On the forencx)n of that day, Captain Somerville walked from Reeves' towards the rebel camp, and seeing no signs of life about it ap- proached very near. The log-house, in which the rebel picket lodged, a few acres west of their camp, was appar- ently tenantless. Mr Somerville came to the conclusion that the camp had been deserted during the night, and returning to Reeves' reported what he had seen to Campbell, who de- cided he would make a reconnoissance. After dinner, Capt. Reid's company was ordered out and, accompanied by a few mounted scouts and several officers of other companies, he proceeded to do so. The men, 25 in number, were arranged in open order, 6 paces apart, and advanced steadily, throwing down the fences as they went, which was a stupid act, as, in case of opposition, it deprived them of all cover. No enemy appeared until the srflall creek was neared, when, suddenly, from Baker's house and barns the rebels came streaming out like bees from a hive, and ranged themselves along the road and behind the stockade, with Prieur, mounted on one of the black team stolen from the seigniory stables, endeavoring to get them in order. Those who had guns were posted in front and those who had only pikes stood behind. There were about 200, and all wore blue tu(jues. The ad- vancing volunteers saw this, but Colonel Campbell, who had halted in the centre of a field and was trying to fix a tele- scope upon the rebel position, was unconscious of the danger. The space narrowed until the volunteers were within 300 yards of the stockade, when the French fired a volley. Startled by the sound, Campbell shouted to the volunteers to halt, which they did, remarking they had come to recon- noitre and not to fight, when, on the rebels continuing to fire, he gave the order to retreat, which the men heard with dis- gust, for they expected the next order to be to charge the enemy's position. Their captain, James Reid, lost no time \h 540 KING SHOT. in olioying the order to retire, and ran off, the now recruits of his company following his example. The body of the men fell back slowly and irregularly, for they had their over- coats on and all their ecjuipment, and the field they had to traverse was a plowed one. Colonel Campbell commanded them not to return the rebel fire, which was superfluous, for few of the volunteers could have got their muskets to go off. Rain had begun to fall in big drops which dampened what priming had remained dry after scrambling over the fields and ditches. Some of the men, when they came to examine their muskets afterwards, actually poured the water out of the barrels. The F'rench kept up a sputtering fire, so ill- directed that it did no harm, and, despite the colonel's com- mand, a few of the volunteers, especially those who had rifles, fired back, possibly 20 shots altogether. When nearly out of range, and approaching where a lino fence had been pulled down, William King, of the 1st concession of Elgin, was hit. His exclamation "I'm shot!" startled those near him and his comrades hastened their pace. In the rush, the author of this shameful scene, Colonel Campbell, slipped and fell, and being sliglitly lame from his wound, was unable to rise. As the men hurried past him, he bawled out, "You rascals, are you going to leave your commander." Robei't Morrison, who was mounted, tried to lift him on to his horse but could not, when James Coulter and Abram Foster of the Gore caught hold of him and assisted him off the field. Be- fore lea^ving, he told Morrison to order the volunteers to keep the rebels in check, for they showed an inclination to move northwards to flank his force. A few shots caused them to again seek the shelter of the barricade. Poor King, though conscious of his wound, jumped a broad ditch and made for John Leclere's house, where John Anderson was waiting, and asked for a drink. Anderson went out and got a dipperful of water, when, as King raised it to his lips, he fell in a faint. While some of his comrades, who had now assembled, went for a horse to take him to Reeves', one of them, a power- ful fellow, caught him up in his arms and carried him across the 3 lots. By this time all the rest of the force were under CAMPUELL.S INCAPACITY. 541 «r recruits f the men leir over- they had minanderl ttuous, for 1 to go off! sned wlmt the fields ) examine ier out of re, so ill- ncl's com- had rifles, nearly out had been of Elgin, hose near rush, the ippcd and unable to ut, "You Robert his horse er of the eld. Be- s to keep to move them to ;, though nade for ing, and ipperful fell in a sembled, power- in across e under arms and hastening to the point of danger, the Kev Mr Walker at the head of Captain Soinerville's company, wav- ing a sergeant's sword and exclaiming that their cai)tain might bo killed but he would lead them. At sight of their comrades, Capt. Reid's men halted, and for a few secondi* the general expectation was the order to advance and carry the French position. Colonel Campbell would not give it, however, and told the captains to march their companies back to their quarters. The mortification was great and the feeling was intensified by the order that came later to pre- pare to withstand an assault by barricading the windows of the houses occupied by the companies and it was remembered how reluctantly Sergeants Ford and Corbett nailed them up. Hogs were slaughtered, provisions laid in to stand a blockade, and, instead of outposts, that night two men stood guard at each window. Campbell's apprehensions of a night attack, which caused such orders, were entirely groundless, for the enemy had not the remotest intention of assuming the offen- sive; in fact were so sick of the whole affair that the majority were watching for a chance to desert and were only kept in camp by the threats of their leaders and the cajolements of De- lorimier, who assured them that, although the Americans had not yet appeared, they were certain to come. Unconscious of the state of matters in the opposing camp, the volunteers spent an anxious and sleepless night, deepened by the wea- ther, for it rained heavily, and by the knowledge that poor King was dying. He was carried to an upper room in Reeves's and attended by Dr ShirrifF, who could do nothing for him, as the ball had passed from the back through the lungs and lodged in the breast. With the childishness of small souls placed in positions of authority, Campbell had all along exercised much mystery about paltry matters, and King's sickness was no exception. His condition was kept a secret and no information communicated to the men, and, when, after prolonged agony, he died, an hour before mid- night, the body was taken to a room in the attic, put in a hastily-made coffin, lowered out of a window at daylight, and sent home, ^uch attempts at concealment only em- 542 ARHIVAL OF THE OLENOAllUYMKN, bittereil the sttite of feeling among the rank-ftnd-file. As the body was on its way to Elgin, those in charge of it mot the Cornwall militia, and a band of 70 St Regis Indians hurrying to reinforce Colonel Campbell. Tlu> meeting took place oast of Ormstown, and at sight of the cottin the Indians raised the war-whoop, which, echoing over the forest, was heard with dismay by families many miles oft* How the Glengarries and their dusky allies had come to be there can be told in few words. Colonel Turner, who was in command at Cornwall, had received orders to send reinforce- ments to Colonel Campbell, and he detached from his com- mand a battalion of the Ist Stormont regiment of militia, 250 men, under Colonel iEneas MacDonnell, and he also had a fighting chaplain, in the Rev John McKenzie. The force went on board the steamer Neptune at Cornwall, which landed them at Dundee, where they were met by the St Regis Indians under their agent, Captain Solomon Chesley. This was the forenoon of the 6th. They at once formed into line and took the road for Huntingdon, wliich they reached, after tt fatiguing tramp, late that night, which was rainy. They resumed their march the following day but owing to the awful state of the roads were overtaken by darkness when they reached Ormstown, They were heartily welcomed by McEachern, who did all he could for his brother Highlanders, the rank-and-file finding quarters in the church and barns, while the gristmill was given to the Indians, who managed to get some whisky and kept up a constant yelling. Early next morning they resumed their march, hastened by mes- sages from Campbell, and met the coffin of King as narrated. When the sound of the bagpipes reached the camp, the volun- teers were ordered to line the road to greet them. On the Highlanders came, great stalwart men, with swinging stride, and swept by, amid cheers, their pipers proudly playiiag "The Campbells are Coming," and never halted until they reached the front and established their headquarters at Leclere's. Shaking hands, Colonel Campbell asked when his men would be ready for the assault "As soon as they get their over- coats off," replied the dauntless Macdonnell, but Campl>ell COLLAPSE OF THE UEMELLIOX. )4a 1-tile. As of it mot 8 Indians ting took le Indians orest, was onie to be ho was in reinforce- his corn- et' militia, i also hod The force nil, which e St Regis ley. This 1 into line shed, after ly. They ig to the less when corned by hlanders, nd barns, managed Early by mes- narrated. le volun- On the ng stride, ring "The jT reached Leclere's. en would leir over- Campbell g' was not prepared to avail himself of such promptitude, wanted to wait until Col. Carmichael reported from Beau- harnois, and the afternoon slipped by in like inaction to the three that preceded it. That day a messenger from Napier- ville ai'rived in the rebel camp, with a letter asking for reinforcements. This was so contrary to the expectation of the habitants, who had been buoyed up by promises that the great combined army of Americans and patri«'ts at that place was coming to help them, that desertions increased, and the leaders, not caring to await the assault they knew was in- evitable after the arrival of the Glengarry men, decided on abandoning the camp. Before daylight they began their retreat, were crossed at Ste Martine in two scows, and took the road for Napierville. Before they had gone far, news of the defeat tt Odelltown church met thc^m, and then it was every man for himself. Their abandonment of their camp was discovered early on Saturday by Peter Gibson who, rambling about in his simplicity, crossetl the barricade and found nobody. After breakfast the advance began, the In- dians and Glengarry men leading, who tossed the barricade aside and passed on to Ste Martine, wading the river. As the others followed. Baker's and Perrigo's houses were emptied of what provisions they contained and then fired. It was noted as proof of the quantity of hay and grain they con- tained, that fire smouldered in the riiins of Baker's barns for a fortnight. On every hand prisoners were made, the rebels submitting so meekly, that a trooper might be seen driving a score before him. Entering Ste Martine the Indians instantly overspread the place, and robbed every house they found tenantless. When Colonel Campbell entered the village he accepted Father Power's invitation to breakfast, who inter- ceded on behalf of his neighbor, Joseph Brazeau, but the colonel was firm. Brazeau had been one of the leaders and they must be punished. As he left, the match was applied to Brazeau's store. The habitants, on giving up what arms they had, were dismissed to their homes. Taking the Bean river road, the column mai'ched to St Remi and their march was a trail of spoliation. The Huntingdon men refrained 544 A SAD MISTAKE. m M' but the Glengarries and the Indians showed not the slightest compunction in plundering the houses they passed, and when they left for home, there were few who had not a bundle of household effects tied to their shoulders or conveyed in a cart. One Indian was seen to coolly empty out the fcathcrc from a mattress and take away the tick. The woist thieves of all, however, were unprincipled men who roamed in the rear of the troops and stole the horses of the habitimts. Before the column came in sight of St Remi, v/ord was received that the place was already in the hands of part of Colborne's army and their services were unneeded. The day they arrived a most painful incident took place, Thos. Gebbie, lieutenant in Finlayson's company, was ordered to go with a detachment and arrest certain rebels in St Remi. The duty, a most distressing one, for the majority were found in tha u.Idst of their families, he performed, leaving for Norton creek mill with 15. Among them was Grenier, a storekeeper, who had been a captain in the rebel ranks. Asking as a favor thaD he be permitted to ride, he took his horse. A few minutes after Lieutenant Gebbie had left, a troop of Hussars galloped into the village, and their sergeant waited on the priest to get information. The father, who spoke English imperfectly, said a body of rebels had just left, and pointed the direction they had gone. Taking it for granted he spoke, of a body of fleeing rebels, the Hussars put spurs to their horses, and galloped after them. Coming in sight of a party of men, dressed like farmers, with muskets over their shoul- ders, plodding through the mud, the Hussars shouted to them to halt and in a moment were upon them, each one seizing a man. Mr Gebbie, who had a pistol levelled at him oy one horseman and a sword held over his head by another, was about to explain they were laboring under a mistake, that they were not rebels but a party of loyal volunteers in charge of rebel prisoners, when Grenier, either frightened by what was going on or seeing a chance for escape, slipped off his horse and ran for the fence, in going over which a bullet, fired by a Hussar, struck liim, and he died an hour afterwards. The rebellion being over the volunteere were discharged. HEMINGFORD. 545 and tliey returned homewards. Those from Huntingdon got back after an absence of exactly ten days, during which time few had their clothes off, had undergone much privation, and borne most fatiguing marches over execrable roads in the worst of weather. To the widow and infant son of King they voted a day's pay, which, for a private, wcs 24 cents. The government gave her no compensation. I would now shift the sfcene fo Hcmingford and describe what took place there. While Colonel Scriver was on his way to Troy, he learned on the lake Champlain steamboat sufficient to convince him that a second rising was imminent, so, instead of prosecuting his visit, he returned home and made preparations for getting the militia companies in readi- ness. On Sunday morning, 4th Nov., the intelligence was brought of the French having risen in St Remi and the parishes east of it, and throughout Hemingford there were lively apprehensions of an invasion by them. There was great spirit shown by the settlers, who not only turned out themselves but brought their sons, if old enough to carry a musket. The militia companies were soon filled, and volun- teer companies then formed. Alex. McFee raised one in the northern part of Havelock, John Edwards another on Covey hill, and Thos. Woolrich a third on the 1st and 2nd mnges of Hemingt'oiJ. There were not arms for all, so they took what ther hmC, and the majority had only fowling-pieces. Guards '< e posted at the Flats, Pen-y's corners, and other I'oads leadir.^- fron; Chateaugay county and the States, Tho French leaders had assiduously striven to coax the Irish Catho- lics to unite with them. Whateve'* dissatisfaction with the British government lingered in the minds of the I' 'sh Catho- lics who had become settlors, they were not going to be led by it into cutting the ground from beneath their feet. They took a commonsense view of the situation, perceived plainly that the motive of the rebellion was one of race, and that if they helped the rebels to drive the English-speaking Pro- testants out of the province, the turn of tb*' English-speaking Catholics would coine next. They therefore rejected the ap- -W9 546 THE MUSTER. proaches of the French, and joined their neighboi*s in the ranks. In Colonel Scriver's opinion no attack was to be apprehended from the French parishes ; the source of danger was the United States, and the defeat of any body that might enter from there by way of Mooers or Rouse's Point was impera- tive. With this in view, he notilied his captains to hold themselves in readiness to march. Captain McAllister with the Slierrington company arrived at Hemingford on Mon- day, 5th November, and were billeted there until the move was made. On the forenoon of the 6th, a message wa^ i-eceived from Colorjel Odell, stating that he had positive inforniation that the rebels were gathering at Rouse's Point, and asking Colonel Scriver to be prepared to come with all the luen he could muster. He made instant preparations to do so. The day had been damp and lowery, but towards even- ing the sky cleared and a sharp frost set in, which formed a crust on the mud. The little hamlet of Hemingford was in a state of excitement. Every house was overcrowded with men anxiously talking over the prospect, whose number was each minute increased by the arrival of others, who came prepared to march. There was no talk of flinching among those hardy backwoodsmen, the overwhelming majority of whom were from the North of Ireland. Their instructions had been to bring a day's provisions, pork and oatbread, and this with the muskets they shouldered constituted their equipment, for they had no uniform. In order that they might distinguish friend from foe in the dark, Col. Scriver liad each man tie a strip of white cotton cloth round his arm. Midnight came and went and still the expected order to march was not given, Scriver being in doubt . as to the point of attack. Captain Woolric!i's company came in Idte from Clelland's corners, and cartridges were served out — 20 i-ound to each man, one cartridge having 5 buckshot besides the bullet Two o'clock drew near, when a mounted messenger emerged from the darkness with a letter. It was from Odell, and stated that the rebels were crossing from Rouse's Point and, fearing they would overwhelm him, asked for immediate assistance. Colonel Scriver wrote a reply, that he would l>e THE MARCH TO ODELLTOWN', 547 with him by 10 o'clock at the latest, and the messenger left, while another was sent to Capt. Shields of Sherrington to Join with his company at Roxham corners. The order to fall in was given, and in the starlight the companies mustered «Hiickly on the road. Woolricli's company was placed in front, and following it were the companies of Donald McFee and McAllister. Colonel Scriver, who alone was mounted, briefly told the men they were going to Odelltown to meet the rebels there. He knew that many among them had un- justly suspected him, but he would now show them what sort of man he was. He exhorted them to act bravely, and added, if any of them saw him act as did not become a man^ to shoot him. Up to the moment of this announcement, the impression among the men was that they were to go to St Edward's. The word to march was given and the wretched journey began. The road, soaked by the recent rains, and the mud cut up by the unusual travel of the past few days, would have been .ahpost impassable but for the frost,^ which made firm footing where the puddles were not deep. No wagons Mere taken, and each man stumbled forward in the dark, weighted by liis musket, the 20 rounds of annnuni- tion, and his day's provisions. No apprehension being en- tertained of a surprise, the column, with no further precau- tion than having their guns loaded, pushed forward through the swampy flats, covered by a dense growtU of tamarack and brush that marks the dividing-line between Hemingford and LacoUe, the strains of the bagpipes, played by Dryden, a Highlander, relieving the tedium. Soon the column emerged on the cleared lands of the Roxham settlement Four miles and a half were travei-sed and the corners reached, when the order sounded through the night air to halt Capt Shields with his company had not come up, and the column would have to wait their arrival, one of the 3 mounted despatchnu-u in attendance being sent to hurry them up. While the men waited they munched the crusts they had brt>ught and the neighboring farmer, Charles Stewart, brought out all tlu milk lie had. Tlie eastern sky wa« whitening with the coming day, when Shields' company came up, raising the little force 548 TWO PRISONERS MADE. to a total of 220 men, and, falling in at once, the hurried march was resumed. Leaving the rocks and knolls of Rox- hani, with its strips of forest, a fine open country was entered. On reaching the turn that leads to Beaver meadow, the road waa left, and a short cut taken across the commons. Scrivor, who from the start, had never ceased to ride up and down the column, encouraging the men, here remarked, "If the rebels w^ill give us a chance on a field like this, we will show them what we can do." It was now broad day, and in front spread the beautiful flats of Bea\'er meadow, which were then in as high a state of cultivation as they are to-day. The turn was taken to Harper's house, a roomy two-storied edifice, and here a brief halt was made for breakfast. Men were detailed to visit the nearer fai*m-houses to get what food they could spare to eke out the provisions the men had in their pockets. Her6 the 3 despatchmen left their horses and took their place in the rank?. Scriver alone kept his mount, a powerful buff colored horse, which he rode with grace. Eight miles had now been got over, and the rising ground along which Odell- town-street runs was in sight. The men's spirits rose as the hour of encounter approached, and the anxiety w^as great to find where the enemy awaited them. It was 8 o'clock when they fell in and as they took the turn up the slope to Eld- redge's corners, which is marked by a lonely graveyard on the north side, two men were seen waiting. One of them, •who wore a blue military clojik, advanced and taking it for granted the approaching straggling column of men in the ordinary attire of farmers was a portion of the rebel force from Napierville or St Ke&ai coming to unite with the ex- pedition that had gathered near Rouse's Point, and which he, with his companion, had been sent to meet, w^alked con- fidently up to the front ranks and addressed them as French Canadians. He was quickly undeceived, for in a twinkling both were made prisoners. Following this incident, the dis- tant boom ui cannon was heard in front. The pace was quickened and the corner of the Odelltown road gained, when one of the finest landscapes on the continent burst upon the view of the wearied but excited men. The morning was a I MAP OF THE COUNTRY. 549 } irried Rox- itercd. e road crivev, down If the I show 1 front •e then \e turn ce, and * etailcd f could ockets. ir place ^ul buff les had 1 Odell- 5 as the ^reat to when to Eld- ard on them, it for in the ll force ;he ex- ich he, con- 'rench nkling he dis- !e was 1, when ion the was a nanaHsiii «»Wi glorious one— bright nf^^^O sunlight permeating the frosty air. To the south-east were ranged, shai'p and clear, the ranges of the Green Moun- tains ; every outline of Mansfield and Camel's Hump traced against the cold sky. Midway in the great plain that stretched be- tween them and the peaked heights of Vermont, the sun- light fell on the gray muisonry of the bastions of Fort Montgomery, and between it and the clustering houses of Rouse's Point was seen the shimmer of lake Champlain. In front the level tields, outlined by their fences, of Od- elltown and, beyond, of Caldwell's Manor, were depicted as on a map. The Hem- ingford men were looking on the cradle of their township, where its pioneers had been reared, and many of whose fathers had lu : i o 550 THE REBELS IN' SIGHT. helped to clear this fertile plain. Not a few of them, reared in the bush, for the first time saw smooth fields, free from stumps and stones. Northward the great plain, lightened at uncertain intervals by the gleam of the waters of the Riche- lieu, stretched until lost to view. From the name Odelltown the reader is apt to be misled into supposing that it desig- nates a village or town. Among the refugees from tho tyranny of the victorious Republicans in the war of the . American revolution was Joshua Odell, who took up land a short distance across the frontier from the town of Champ- lain, and on the direct road to Montreal. After the custom of the country his name was used to designate the settlement of which he was the first and leading member, and as hi.n family was large and took up farms around him, the whole section, a strip of several miles, came to be known as Odell- town. But there was no village, not even a corner-hamlet, simply a fine concession of farmers' homesteads. In front of a stone-building, erected l»y Squire Odell for a store, was drawn up in line the Odelltown force, consisting of a bat- talion of hastily enrolled militia and March's company of Lacolle volunteers, Avho alone had uniforms, consisting of white blanket suits. Passing to the head of the line, the Hemingford men halted, and Scriver stepped into the house with Colonel Odell and his oflicers. While they were con- sulting, the rank-and-file had an opportunity of viewing the position of the enemy. Odelltown-street, as the road they stood on is named, follows the crest of the western side of the valley of the Richelieu. The height above the river is slight, but the slope downwards is so gentle, and the great plain it overlooks so pei-fectly flat, that every object for miles can bo distinctly seen from it. To their right, and over a mile aw^ay as the ci-ow would fly, at a point on the road parallel to them, where stood a log-house an e, fell dcail. my brother dead. He rish loyalist than before irward, and i the fence, the femoral ds upon his , in leavinj( to fight for ) my duty. " md passing away with in shallow ord. Jamea anner. He skill of Dr 5 who were with such volunteers •yed behind old musket It is also ere niarks- iii-st time, ey pleased, the field, killed the ihere woukl iw anxious e required Ird. In the s company id, ordered the object at Mooers icked from Champlain and Rouse's Point. On reaching Heniingford and learning all was quiet at Mooers, the men. wearied alike from exertion and want of sleep, were perinitted to go to their homes, with a warning to assemble next day. Apart from those under Sims, all the Hemingford men di«l not leave Odelltown. A number remained to haunt the scene of the late excitement, in the expectation that it would soon be renewed. That the rebels who hid under the shelter of a pretendedly fiiendly power would make a second raid into Canada was not supposed ; the seat of danger was to the northwest. On the afternoon of the previous Saturday, the 3rd November, under the direction of one Tropannier, the rebel element ir> Napierville suddenly asserted itself, by ap- ■ pearing in the streets in bands, armed in a rude fashion, who arrested the loyal inhabitants, some 50 in number, placing them in prison, and posting guards at all outlets so that no message could be sent to the authorities of what had hap- pened. Soon after reinforcements came stmggling in from the neighboring parishes, St Bemi, St Valentine and La- pigeonierre, among others, furnishing contingents. At four o'clock Lucien Gagnon came mai'ching in with a strong band of habitants and with Dr Cote assumed command. The rebels had it all their own way ; the few loyalists were in custody, all the rest of the population were in sympathy, and the ease "with which they had gained the upper hand created a feeling of unbounded confidence, which caused every man able to bear arms to crowd into the little town, so that wlion Sunday dawned there was the raw material of a little army. All was excitement in view of the expected arrival of Dr Robert Nelson* and the American contingent, and they went out to meet him. The previous evening he had embarked on a barge * Dr Nelson was a native of Montreal, and was led to sym- pathize with the revolt against the crovi'n from his being an ardent republican. He was arrested for complicity in the re- "bellion of 1837, was released on bail, and taken in charge by Jacob Dewitt, who sent him from Lachine to the Basin on his steamer, and he was driven from there to the lines by the mate of the vessel. When it was discovered, too late, that he IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Iff m 2.2 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 873-4503 ^ '^'A^ % ^^. 6^ 556 DR. NELSON. '^. -ihi at St Albans, accompanied by two officers from France, Hin- denlang and Touvrey, the boat having for cargo 250 muskets. Dropping down the river to lake Champlain, a course was taken for the Canadian shore and early in the morning she tied up to an obscure wharf near the mouth of the Richelieu. Nobody awaited the leader of the contemplated revolution, and the guide left to get aid. After Waiting an anxious hour, he ^vas seen returning with half a dozen habitants, whom he had roused out of their beds, and three horses. Getting into the saddle, Nelson and his two aids-de-camp rode to Napier- ville, the arms and ammunition following in 4 French carts. The road was so bad, that it 'wjls drawing.-.towards noon when the little cavalcade was met by the delegation that had come out from Napierville to receive them. With shouting tlie procession entered the village, when the rebels formed a ■hollow square in the market-place and Dr Nelson was form- ally welcomed. In responding the doctor denounced Britain as a tyrannical nation, and declared that the hour had come when its power should be overtbrown in Canada. Of the assistance coming from the United States, which he had left a few houra before, he gave a glowing account. Turning to the two gentlemen who were on horseback beside him, he introducem old France, exiles on account of their republicanism, and who had come to assist in freeing Canada from the curse of monarchy. The habitants yelled with deliaht and believed the day of English rule was at an end. The waggons were unloaded and they exchanged their pikes and scythes for fine new American muskets. The French officers set to work to organize the habitants into companies and to teach them something of drill The com- missariat was simple, consisting of the confiscation of the pix)perty of the English-speaking residents. The goods in their stores were appropriated for the benefit of the new had passed through OrmMtown and Huntingdon, there was loud mdignatioJQ against thb'^e who had sheltered him. Once safe in t£e United States he actively co-operated with the French Canadian refugees in organizing another rebellion. A REPUBLIC PROCLAIMED. 557 army as were their cattle and grain. Before evening two elaborate docuinents were promulgated. The first was an imitation of the American declaration of independence, giving reasons for throwing ^side allegiance to the British govern- ment and for erecting a republic, followed by an enumemtion of the reforms that were to be made in "the State of Lower Canada." The second was simply- a declaration that they had taken up arms and that they would not "lay those arms down until we shall have secured to our country the bh^ssin^ of patriotic and sympathizing government." To those who would assist the hand of fraternity and fellowship was ex- tended; on those who opposed them they would "inflict the retaliation which their own terrific example has set before us." Dr Ndson signed these documents as "president" and as "commander-in-chief of the patriot army." Tl^e troops paraded with two small flags, blue with two white stars, ami a lat^e white flag with two blue stars was hoisted on the village flag-pole. It was the flag of the new republic. A perfect furore possessed the habitants on hearing of these doings at Napierville, and by Tuesday it was estimated that there were 4000 6t them who had come to support the rising. There were more recruits than there were arms for, and the arrival of fresh supplies from the United States was anxi- ously Waited for. On Tuesday morning Oagnon, Cot^, and Touyrey left for Rouse's Point x) hasten the reinforcements of men and Supplies, and next morning were routed by Col. Scriyer as already described. The tidings of this defeat fell like a thunderbolt On Napierville, and the habitants, true to their volatile nature, dropped from exultant confidence to blank despair. That night a large number deserted and re- turned to their homes, and their place was by no means supplied by the few who came in that^day and next from Chatcaugay and Boauharnois. Dr Nelson saw that if he was to effect Anything at all, he must strike at once. The in- tention had been to advance on St Johns, and had that towiT beei^ captured it would have aflbrded a base for operations and k convenient rendezvous for the parishes that lined the St Lawrence. Instead of striking a bold blow for the cap- 1 •' 558 COLONEL TAYLOR. ture of St Johns — the only place of the slightest strategetical value within his .reach — he weakly determined upon falling on Odelltown and restoring his communication with the United Statea Hindenlang had, with miserable success, striven during the past 5 days to lick the crude material, of which there was such abundance, into something like an army, but it was still little better than an armed mob. All Thursday, it rained, preventing any movement, but on the morning of Friday, the 9th, the order to march was issued and the rebels, to the number of 1200, took the road that led to Odelltown. They moved in companies, the officers being on horseback, and were fairly well-armed, 800 having mus- kets, the others pikes. Opportunity favored them, for the loyalists had not expected such a movement, and were taken unprepared. An easy-going man and satisfied that the rebels would not assume the offensive, Colonel Odcll had the day before, which was very rainy, freely allowed such of his men as wished to visit their families, with orders to muster after dinner on Friday, when Scriver with the Hemingford men were to return and an attack be made on LacoUe. The conse- (|uence was that he was left with few men beyond the Hemingford volunteers who had remained, and who. were billeted at Fisher's tavern or the Methodist churah, where Lieutenant Sims was posted. At 9 o'clock Colonel Tayloiv of the regular service, who had been sent the previous winter to organize the militia on the frontier, arrived at Fisher's tavern from St Johns to take command of the designed attack on Lacolle, and for which he brought a quantity of ammunition. He found everything quiet and not a suspicion of danger being close at hand. While resting quietly a mes- senger came galloping up with a message from Capt Weldon^ M'ho held the advanced post, about half a mile from Laoolle» that the rebels were advancing in great force, and that he was falling back before them. Surprised by the startling news, ttte colcmel ordered out his horse, spi;ang into the saddle and galloped up the road. He had not gone far when he saw, in front of the Methodist church, a cluster c^ volunteers gazing earnestly northwards. Among them were- THE REBELS APPEAR. 559 m were Captain Weldon and his men. They were watching the head of the rebel column as it appeared above the rise in the road a little to the north of them. AH told there were not 200 men about the church, but Colonel Taylor had no intention of retreating. The cannon that had been captured two days before had been left in charge of Lieutenant Sims, and it was wheeled to the middle of the road and pointed at the ad- vancing column. It was handled by a member of Capt Ed- wards' company, Lieut Curran, an old artilleryman, who had become a Covey hill farmer, and Sergeant Beatty, of the Royals, a regular, detached to act as adjutant in Woolrich's company. When about to apply the match. Colonel Taylor, who was watching the approaching rebel host with his sp^^- glass, said, "Wait a minute; I will give the word." In a few moments he cried, "Fire now!" The gun was badly directed, and the shot riddled the adjoining fence. At the report, the rebel column halted, and, dividing, one-half deployed on to the fields to their right and the other to those on their left, when they resumed their advance behind the shelter of the trees and buildings that lined the road. The movement was well-executed, and ibs object Colonel Taylor perceived. From the church there ran backward an old fence with a deep ditch which' continued some 200 yards when it reached a graveyard. This ditch and the graveyard were promptly occupied by the loyalists, and the attempt to flank the church checkmated. As the rebels drew near they set up a dreiulful yell, and opened fire. Up to this time the cannon alone had been brought into requisition, and, though energeti- cally served, did no damage to the enemy beyond making them cautious in advapcing. The conduct of the gunners was admirable. Beatty stuck to his post until disabled by a shot in the calf of the leg, and Curran had the powder- hoiTi carried away by a bullet while pouring in priming. When he shouted that he had no wadding for another shot, a vol- unteer took off his coat and, tearing out the lining, handed it tMwii Hmm the charge. The rebels after halting a while, begiui to adlie nearer the chureh from the northeast when Coloii«l Taylor, fearing they designed to make a charge to 560 THE CHURCH. Mf .■a s^ capture the field-piece, ordered it to be dragged into the church. He received a coarse refusal. A minute afterward, it became apparent it was impossible to stand by it, owing to the stealthy approach of sharpshooters, and j.v. effort was made to run it from the road up the steps of the entrance into the church, when it was found too heavy to handle, and was left in the ditch. Captain McAllister, whose long white locks and simple piety alike commanded respect, was stand- ing at the chureh-door w^atching the movement At the engagement of Wednesday he bore himself bravely, ar.d when the day was won was overheard to exclaim, "Glory be to God for this victory." Now he scanned the coming foe with unblanched cheek, when a rifle bullet, fired by an un- seen rebel, struck him on the breast, passing through his body, grazing thp right arm of a loyalist behind him, and denting the door of the church. Without uttering a word, the stout-hearted Ulsterman, for he was an Irish Protestant, fell dead. Colonel Taylor's order, that all should go inside the church, was unnceded, and the door was shut. It con- tained 60 men, of whom half were from Hemingford. The scene of the engagement thus begun has changed but little during the intervening 50 years. The church was a plain stone-building, about 46 x 50 feet. In the gable, facing the i-oad, was the door, with a window on either side of it, and aibove 3 small windows, which lighted the gAllMy, On each side of the building were 3 windows, and fii^he reair 2 more. The door opened into a vestibule, Ceiled by the gallery above, and small doors hd to the' aisles. The pews weire high and square, yet the pulpit towered abov6 thetn, and facbd the gallery that filled the opposite end. The windows were high set, so that the bullets, which now began to come whizzing through them, passed over the heads of those standing be- neath.* When it became pUin that they were in tot a siege, the courage of the men did not quail They reco^niized their * The ehureh is di^tenl ^Uyw^ lilkving been renodeUed and. modeiiBJ^, yfith long ggii^. iripdowA ai|d aqw .jwirs.^and^ pulpit The wiojji^ws ^j^at ^Kepe behinjcj tUe pnj^i^ ^ffj^ff l^vult" up and the exterior of the walls plastered. • ' Y THE SECOND BATTLE OF ODELLTOWN. 561 into the terward, t, owing flTort was entrance [idle, and ng white Eis stand- At the ely, ar.d Glory be ming foe y an un- ough his hitn, and r a wordj rotestent, go inside It con- i. nged but >h was a le, facing de of it, My. On te reair 2 lo gallery eire high 'acbd the [ete high hizzing ling be- a siege, led their danger, and one sentiment animated them, that they would die at their posts rather than save their lives by surrender- ing. One drawback there was, they did not like their commander; had contracted a prejudice against him while organizing the companies. To such a feeling Colonel Taylor was indifferent, for his faculties were absorbed in devising means to defeat the rebela Watching from a window he eould see a mass of them moving along the fields to ihe east of the road with the intent of surrounding the church. It was a moment of supreme anxiety, relieved by seeing Colonel Odell marching up the road with some 140 men. Gallantly they came on until Colonel Odell discovered the overwhelm- ing numbers of the enemy, when, abandoning the idea of attack, he formed a defensive line along the road fram Fisher's tavern to near the church, which kept up so steady a fire that it checked the rebel advance. Thus balked on the eastern side of the road, the rebel commanders tried the western flank of the loyalist position, and assailed the grave- yard. From behind the tombstones and the bushes and apple trees between it and the church, came so well-directed a fire that the rebels would not face ii Captain March held the line from the church to the graveyard,* and held it firmly to th# close. Finding a flank moveinent either east or west too difficult for them, the rebels coiicentrated their eflbrts upon l^e church, and their best shots crept forward, finding shelter i& feiioe uid tree, until a storm of bullets assailed it on every ^de except the southern. Their strongest position was the two log bams and the stone fence that surrouncled the barn- yard to the north-east of the church, and which Col. Taylor had n^lected to occupy.f When the contest outside had re- * James Brownlee of Hemingford was among those in the graveyard. On asking him if he hit anybody, he answered, "I used to do some poaching in Scotland and I could shoot a bird on the wing or a dog running. That day I did my best" f The map on page 549 indicates the situaUonc^ the church, house, aod bams. The house was not occupied by the loyal- ists because it was a frame one, clapboarded, and therefore not bullet-proof. If 662 FITBU KOONST. ffi solved into a duel at long range between combatants under cover, those in the church felt that they were surrounded by enemies, of whom a few were within 50 yards of them. Cooped up in a small building, with musket-bullets pattering against its walls and flying through its windows, all they eould do to prevent assault was to keep up a hot fire upon their assailanta As each man loaded his musket, he cautiously approached a window, took aim, and fired, in- stantly retiring to give another his place. The danger was extreme. More than one was pierced while delivering his . fire, and hairbreadth escapes were of momentary occurrenca Lieutenant Sims, a capital shot, stationed himself at one win- dow, and fired as quick as 5 of his men could supply him with loaded muskets. A private of the regulars, an Ekiglish- man named Negrass, one of the Royals, and adjutant to Odell's battalion, took possession of the pulpit, and fired out of the windows in the rear as fast as muskets were handed up to him. The supply of ammunition being limited. Colonel Taylor dreaded its giving out, and hb voice was heard ever and anon warning the men not to waste a shot. Father Kooney, the minister of the circuit, who had been educated for the priesthood and converted under the Methodists, a truly sincere and zealous man, was among those shut up in the church. Visiting the volunteers quartered in it that moni- ing, the rebel advance had surprised him. Wh^i uAd the enemy was coming he dropped on his knees in prayer, but as soon as Uie fighting began and his services were needed* he became assiduous in attending the wounded and in en- couraging the men to contend for their queen and faitL Small need was there for such exhortation. The stubborn courage of the British race was roused, and the resolve was io fight to the bitter end Tlie conduct of the enemy tended to encourage them. They could see the rebel ofilieers urging their men to make a rush for the church, and the habitants skulking away. Decoigne, dressed in the uniform of the Fkrench array, flourishing his sword, rushed forward repeated- ly, but not a man would follow him. Hindenlang's voice they could hear shouting, "Forward, we are sure to win!" TBS SCENE IN THE CHURCH. 568 nig under irroanded of them, pattering (, all they I, hot fire uusket, he i fired, in- langer was ivering his occurrence, ait one win- supply him an E^lish- Bkdjutant to id fired out irere handed ited. Colonel heard ever lot Father en educated ethodists, a shut up in that mom- ten told the prayer, but ere needed, and in en- and faith. te stubborn resolve was ^emy tended urging le habitants form of the repeated- llang's voice \re to win 1" but all in vain. To use Hindenlang's own words, "The greater part of the Canadians kept out of Ihe range of shot, threw themselves on their knees, with their faces buried in the snow, praying to Qod, and ramaining as motionless as if they were so many saints, hewn in stone." With such remarkable soldiers, the bravery of Hindenlang and Decoigne went for nothing. They had the loyalists at their mercy. A rush of a hundred yards over the open would have brought them to the walls of the church, when they would have been safe, for its windows were too high to allow of a raking fire. To burst in the door would have been the work of a moment, when, with their overwhelming numbers, the few loyalists would have been overpowered. The rush was not made, and the fight went on, 60 men holding at bay 1200. And now the danger fore- seen if the fight should last long overtook the gallant band. Their ammunition was running shori A violent snow-squall had come up and the big soft flakes darkened the air. Col. Taylor saw his opportunity. Volunteers were called for to go for a fresh supply of flints and cartridges, and 4 answered. They had not far to go, for in Fisher's tavern, to the south of them, there was plenty stored, and the road was held by Colonel Odell and his men Th^ ran fast and returned safe with a full supply. . When the snow flurry passed away, it was seen that many of the rebels had improved the oppor- tunity to get closer to the church, and now froift every tree and bush and fence, even to within 30 yards of it, came the flash of muskets. The storm, however, if it had given them a better positicHi, bad impured their fire. The soft snow had wet many a flint and pan, and the priming failed to take fire. Still, the bullets came thick and fast, and mingled with tho reports were shouts from the rebels to give up and they would receive quarter. They were answered with cries of derision and defiance. The little garrison was now desperate and acts of daring that verged on recklessness were enacted at every window. The scene was repulsive. In several pews lay stretched dead men, in others the wounded, writhing in agony^ for whom nothii^ could be done, for there was not. even water to give them. Every man was blackened with. S64 THE FIRING OF THE BARNS. t I' ', 1,? " ' 'H ,) the smoke of gunpowder and many were smeared with blood. Bat there was not a whisper of surrender. Colonel Tayloi re- tained perfect composure and coolly directed the men where to aim. The fire from the barn-yard being peculiarly galling, it was determined to put a match to the nearest bam, when James Rodgers and John Crystal, both Huntingdon men, volunteered to do the work. For a minute the fire from within the church was concentrated upon the barnyard, so that not a rebel dare lift his head above his cover. The result was, that when the door was opened, and Crystal and Rodgers sprang out, the one with a smoking portfire the other holding a brand snatched from the stove, they were not seen. A short rush across the road and they were in the nearest barn, the combustibles thrown among the straw in stall and mow, and then a dart back to the church, which was safely gained. A yell of exultation from its defenders at the completion of the gallant deed, and the column of smoke springing upwards, told the rebels what had been n HattConnell Patk. tallon Peter Brady Peter Grant Peter Brady Wm. Brady '. M Thomaaand Charles Mareh John McArthur MathewMcRae Rood W. Kerr Charles O'Reilly Walter Sutherland James Walker B. O'Neil Wm. O'Reilly M. O'Neil Owen and Patrick O'Reilly Alex, and John McMuUm Dougald Cameron Charles Gray f OCCUPANTS OF LOTS IN HINCHINBROOK. 677 1st range. 40 23 Jos.Silver 2 Ad. Patterson 41 26 Andrews Job Sylvester Gibson Ptk. Walker 42 27 Chas.McHardy Peter Hall Peter Comstock 43 28 James McClatchie 44 29 Rev. Jacob Hart 30 Wm. Taylor 45 31 Geo. Gillis 2 Wm. Burns 46 32 Chas.McCurry Creamer 47 33 Capt. Bai'ron John Nichols 34 Peter McGregor 17- 35 Peter and Danl. Campbell 18 36 Duncan Campbell 19 38 John Barron 20 38-39 Felix McCormick 21 Wm. Shaw 22 39 James Duffin Daniel Leahy 22 Thomas Rielly 22 40 Henry Mooney John Grace 23 41 Henry Lavery Martin Iby 24 42 Ptk. Kelly Robert Riley 25 43 Jno.Fitzcharles Danl. and 25 Wm. Leary 26 45-46 And.Craik Thos. Blair 27 2nd range. 27 22 Robert Percy 28 23 T. Cockburn 24 — Smith 29 23 Henry Piatt 24 Wm. Reid 29 John Kidnell 30 26 Duncan McGregor 31 27 David Robertson 33 28 P. MiddlemissJn. Brewster 35 29 Richd. Gillis — Pittenricht 36 Dnld. Fisher G. McClatchie 37 30 David Barron —Murphy 38 31 Jf.Kehoe —Henderson 39 32 Patrick McElroy 40 34 'Utigli Lavery James Miller 41 35 Capt. Wm. Steel 36 John & Archd. Mather 42 37 Alex. Rennie & Jas. Wilson 43- 38 Jas.Condron& Edwd.Cody 39 Hy. Duffin & Robt. Gibson 43 8S Robt.Higgins P. Mooney & Jno. Mahoney Daniel McMillan & Peter McDonaugh Wm. McMillan & Daniel McMillan, sr. Isaac Cain & Robt. Rennie Felix McCormick & John C. Manning Abraham Manning Hy. Wilson & Wm.Craik.sr. Julius Manning 3rd range. 18 Thos. McC. Gardner William H. Pringle Georgedte David Sandilands John Kelly & Patk. Grady John Cook John Outterson John Patterson John White 23 John King Wm. Kerr & Jas. McBeth Thomas Edgerton Matthew McCrea Wm. Johnston 26 Jas. Terry John Kennedy Robert Johnston John Trainer John Kelly S. McCrea Danl. Sweet Jas. Allen Patrick Keirney Paul & Henry Herdman Wm. Gamble 32 P.Brisben Jas. Black 34 John Black Hy. Rennie & Lewis McKay Saml. & Thos. Gibson Wm. Gibson & Ed. Downs Jos. Arthur & Arch. Ramsay William Arthur S. Leckie & Jos. Arthur, sr, John & James Eston and William Esdon Jas, Logan & Jas. Leckie 44 Andrew, James, and William Lauder 2 Dominick Solway S78 OCCUPANTS OF LOTS IN HINCHINBROOK. ■ *■ \\ 44 Ant. Sarsay & Jno. Manning 17 8th range. 18 1-2 Alex. Mcintosh & James Simpson 19 3 Hugh & Matthew Simpson 20 4 Jno. Murphy & Thos. Eaton 5 Hugh Calhoun, Wm. Small 21 & James Stewart 22 6 Alex. Melntyre 8 Joseph Watson 9-11 Alex. &- Chas. Broadfoot 23 7th range. 3-4 James Andei-son 24 6 Jas. Graham, Saml. Dalzell 26 Peter Walsh 9 Hy.Mulholland&Ptk.Fury 1 10 11 John & David Johnston 2 12 Henry Henderson 13 Thomas Gibson & William 3 Henderson, sr 14 Robt. Todd & Jasper Haws 15 Wm.Peake 16 J.Armstrong 1 7 Martin Armstrong & Archd. Adams, sr. 6th range. Benj.Neely& Hy.Coulter,sr. 9 John Rutherford 10 John Neely and Jas.Coulter 11 T. Whiteside and Jos. Greer 12 Samuel and Wm. Henderson 13 6 Jas. Gallagher and Robt. 14 Knowles 15 7 Sheriek Crump and Daniel 16 Gilmore 19 Patrick Walsh and John 20 Campbell 22 Jno. Henderson and Henry 24 Murray 25 Fred. Sheets and S. Foster 26 Jas. Foster and Ptk.Briniff 12 John Todd and Robt. Howe 27 13 Andrew Wilson 28 14 Thomas Docheity 29 15 John Johnston 16 Archd. Johnston 1 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 8 10 11 Wm. Irwin and M.Campbell Wm. Johnston and Archd. Adams Peter and Martin Munro Wm. Anderson, Jno. CoUinco Alex. Pringle, Jn. Patterson Jas. Waldie and Mai. Munro John Harrigan, John Mc- Williams, James Baird, and John Pringle James Johnston, Samuel and Robert Hudson Edwd.Boyce 25 Pk. Grady Alex. Lumsden 5th range. L. Monique and O. Eutaw Archd. Cameron and Wm. Menzies Donald and Duncan Robertson Thomas Moore T. Ouimet Archd. Cameron Donald Downie Pk. McCaffrey Wm. Irwin Hugh McConville John Telford Jas. Kelly John Grant Wm.Robson H. Telford Wm.McClean Robert Kelly Jas. Dav idson Jno. Barnes Melvin Kelly John Boyd Wm.Boyd Sarah Douglas Wm.Nicol 18 Peter Lukin John Grant Jas.Hampson William Hampson Arth. McCarthy S. Brown James Watt Wm. Cairns R. Pringle Alex. Lumsden Alex. Anderson & Sons Thomas Way James Reid Allan Munro John Seely John Wilson 4th range. Francis Lapointe OCCUPANTS OF LOTS IN HINCHINBROOK. 579 impbell Archtl. lunro I)ollinco tterson ■ Munro hn Mc- Baird, Samuel k. Grady Eutaw id Win. >meron n. Irwin . Kelly Robsoii leClean .Barnes n Boyd louglas Lukin ainpson Brown Cairns imsden ions Seely 3 4 James and Alex. Davidson Hugh Cameron 15 Peter McArthur Alex. Reeves 5 Pierre Moss IG James and Alex. Davidson 17 Robert Gordon 10 7 Malcolm McNaughton 21 8 Jas.Hall 9 NeilMcCallum 21 9&10 Archd. Muir 11 Robert Lowrey 23 Malcolm McNaughton 12 Wm. Cowan Jno. Donnelly 24 13 JohnCassidy Jas. Gardner 26 13 JaaGardner T.Dickinson Jas. Logan Robt. Kelly James E(]gar James B'lynn Wesley Cox Wm. Hamilton Jas. E wart John Somerville S. H. Schuyler Claud Burrrows James McCallum Robert McCracken William and Samuel Fee Thomas Burrows Thomas Gage John Hyde George Blaik Wm. Rose Thomas Cairns Jeanie Morison, a tale of Elgin. An Incident of Huntingdon Fair. Lost in the Woods, a Hinchinbrook Incident. The Settler's First Grist, a Story of Dundee. The Drover's Weird, a Scotch Story. Abner's Device, an incident of the War of 1812. What a First Settler Told Me, e Picture of Old Times on the Chateaugay. It is from such endeavors as that of Mr Sellar — endeavors to depict what he has really seen — that we may expect to obtain a Canadian literature hereafter. — Toronto Globe. The stories are extremely well-told, and display quite a new phase of Canadian pioneer life in an interesting and enter- taining manner. — The Week. Some of the tales bear the stamp of reality; they are all racy of the soil. — Montreal Gazette. All who are interested in preserving the records of the heroism of the peasants and crofters who, in so many cases, have been the pioneers of Canadian civilization, will enjoy these simple tales of sacrifice and suffering, of toil and triumph. — Toronto Mail. Price 50 cents. Sent free by mail on receipt of price. Address : The Gleaner, Huntingdon Q. INDEX. Agricultural society 214, 338 American settlers 33, 43, 46, 50, on Trout river 53, fly to U.S. 62. part return 131 Asheries started 137 Athelstan 54, 425, sawmill 426, school 427, gristmill 427 Aubrey 468 Backwoods, Life in, 394 Barron, Captain, 55, 95 Bean river, 234, rebellion 527 Boauharnois, town of, 211, re- pair of mill 212, L. G. Brown arrives 213,iirst steamer 214, early storekeepers 214, parish of StClement215,cholera215, Rev. W. Roach 2i6, his death 217, rebellion 516 Beauharnois, seigniory of, 7, bought by Ellice 8, terms to censitaires 35, its iirst settlers 36, mill 37, St Louis feeder 37, Edward Ellice 211, Brown arrives as agent 213, model farm 214, harsh treatment of Williamstown Highlanders 442, prosecutes ^he Rus.cel- town settlers 443, surveys 444, 448, tenure changed 451, sold to a company 453, sur- veyed by settlers 454, end of the Russel town case 457, Dun- can defies seignior 464 Blockhouse, the, 133, sold and destroyed 136, use during re- bellion 530, 533 Canoes, line of, 247, 334 Census of 1820 148 Chateaugay Basin, see Chateau- gay seigniory Chateaugay river 34, 39, 239 Chateaugay, seigniory of ,5, rafts 219, the Macdonalds 220, habi- tants theircondition and modes of farming 221, the Scotch ar- rive 224, ferryboats 226, bridge 229, church 229, drowning of Rev. J. Bowles 231, rebellion 509, 521, 523 Cholera 115, 248, 271, 346,429, 439 Cold Summers, the two, 132 Covey hill 22, cyclone 24, Saml. Covey 24 and 26, immigrants 475, school 475 Curling 268 Dalhousie settlement: its found- ers leave Scotland 149, arrival 151, first winter 154, road to Huntingdon 156, first harvest 158, their land claimed 159, prepare to leave 162, SteBarbe 164, names of settlers 166 Danskin, Thomas, 353, 392 DeSalaberry 83, account of his life 86, warned of invasion 93, his report of the fight 113 Dewittville52,TQdd arrives 138, gristmill 364 Dundee 69,its early settlers 169, Isle of Skye 170, leases 172, Colonel Davidson 173, want of roads 175, lumbering 177, smuggling 178, bateaux and navigation of St Lawrence 179, Rev. Duncan Moody 183, INDEX. oMl church built l.S/>, l)r MciVxh- bon 1H5, list of sett: - 18G Durhain-lxints 179 Elections 11, 13:j. 503 Elgin .S22,3H<;, Major Hinjrston .-Wl.Thos. Danskin .•}02, the settler's life 894, first occu- pants 411. 477 English minority, the, 507 English river 89, 257, Scotch concession 260, Norton creek 202, curling 2GS, school 209, cholera 271, church 272, Etl- wardstown 405 Fort Covington (French Mills) 09, blockhouse built 71, cap- ture 72, visited by a spy 74, origin of name 124 Franklin 80, improves after the war 141, 440, Wm. Cant- well 441, Dr Austin 441 and 472,strngglewiththeseignior 442, roads 409, mail 470, the hill 479 Freshet.the July,846. 380,390 Frost, the August, 390 (Jeorgetown church 244 Godmanchester 304, New Ire- land 305, Laird settlement 373, the Ridge 374, Trout river 375, school 383, grist- mill 383, the Beaver 384, list of ih'st settlers 575 Gore, the, 417 Grants of land to Militiamen 148 Habitants, their condition, mode of living, farming, etc., 221, fanning and tithes 584 Harrison, Squire, 299 Havelock 23, the ilats 459, new road 473 Hemingford 11, survey 12, first settlers 19, after the war 143, first school 143, building schoolhouse 144, road to St. Edward 140, 483, sawmill 485, Rev John Merlin 480, revival 488, Methodist, Episcopalian nnd Catholic churches 489, the blank lands 490, stores 491, roads 492, gristmill 493, the mad wolf 494, rebellion 545. 555 Hinehinbrook 11, survey 13, first settlers 54. 411 , 577, river lots 410, the Gore 417, Boy