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1 2 3

COPIES AND EXTRACTS

LETTERS

'^.

FROM

Sbtttltvs in &99tv €anaha.

»^*^.
#

LONDON

MARCHANT, PRINTER, INGRAM-^OURT, FENCHURCH-STREET.

1833.

*;■ > ift .• *■■

LETTERS,

(^C. ^C.

No. 44, First Concession of North Easthope,
Avon, Huron Tract, Upper Canada, North
America, July 17th, 1833.

My Dearest Father, — In your second letter you seem
desirous to know about the climate, towns, travelling, «&c. of
this country : with regard to the climate, I have experienced
the four seasons ; as it was this day twelve-months I reached
my farm, the spring, summer, and fall are as near the tempe-
rature of the climati: of Ireland as I can describe, but of the
two, more pleasant, the winter is longer, it borrows a little
from the spring and fall, but in it there is very little rain, a
deep snow generally falls about Dec^>mber and remains on the
ground until March, during which time the weather is frosty,
dry, bracing, and wholesome, the Canadian ladies i:.-e like the
seven sleepers until this season (winter) comes on, then you
will see them driving in all directions in their sleighs, wrapped
up in buffalo skins, &c. they seem entirely a colder sort of
people than Europeans, there was not a day last winter that I
could feel the loss of my coat going through the woods in two
or three feet of snow.

As to towns the Upper Province being yet a new ccuntry,
the towns are only in their infancy, but it is really surprising
with what rapidity they increase. I was astonished to see some
of them through which I came, when the people told me that
only four years ago the same place was a howling wilderness ;
there has been this season a town laid out within one mile of
my house, it is called Avon, there is already a saw-mill, and

flotir-inill, iiiid a jiust and land ngency office, u cliutcli uiid
cli<i|>(>l, bcsidch soKlorii dwelling houses coinineiioiiig, Iniainess
h not carried on here in the same old ding donji; way of the
mason's trowel and hammer that ye have, in one week a man
can get a t'rame house raised iit for any person ; you mention
having got a Trei'.tise on Canada by Martin Doyle, 1 think you
may place every confidence in his account of Huron, by a
reference to tlie map iittacliL>d to that book, you may trace my
route from Quebec lo Easlhope, by Montreal, Prei^cot, York,
&c. also in the map of the Huron Tract, which is at the foot of
the other, yon can see how beautifully interiectcd that part of
the block wlier" I live is, with rivers and streams, all of which
abound with fish. The mode of travelling in the winter is in
sleighs drawn by horses, with a light sleigh or cutter and one
horse you can travel fifty or sixty miles a day ; in the other
seasons horses and waggons are the mode of conveyance; since
1 wrote the above 1 looked over Martin Doyle, and fully agree
with his account of tlie climate, in the 14tli and following
pages, and in the 2Ulli page at the 12tli line you will find an
account of the road on which 1 live, it is a very public one,
the stage coach will soon be running on from York to Gode-
rich, every day. My dear Father, I am still continuing, thank
God, to get on well in my health and business, I have now
twenty acres of my land cleared, and my stock and crops
doing well, I have six acres of wheat and oats as high as myself
almost fit to reap, two acres of very fine potatiies, with turnips,
pumpkins, Indian corn, and all sorts of vegetables ; land is
getting into such demand here that the government and Canada
Company are about raising their prices, therefore, if you deter-
mine to come lose no time, I hope your health will rather im-
prove by the change, along with leaving all the broils and dis-
turbances of unfortunate Ireland; in my second letter which
1 hope you have now, there were some articles mentioned
which I thought would be necessary for you to bring out, in
addition to which you should bring your bed and window hang-
ings, carpets, fire irons, all sorts of vegetable and flower seeds,
and a fishing line, and small hooks tied on gut. New York is
the safest and most expeditious way of coming here, but then
it is by far the most expensive, there is scarcely any thing but
Umv charge duty on there, by having a sober and gentlemanly

cnptaiii, and u j^ood vessel such as we had, llieic is but linl<;
dancer in coming l>y Qnchcc. I hope Mr. R. still talks of
foniing to the New World, do not let him put it off, for every
hour is so much taken frc/m his new life, you did not mention
anything about Uncle Edward's coming, if I was in Ireland
again, and just to know what 1 do now, I would come here.
I am sorry to hear such an account of poor Ireland. I know
nothing of Mr. L. since 1 left Quebec, himself and sou got
there safe and well, he got employment the moment he arrived
in a provision store.

I would wish to enumerate all my frien<ls in Cushel to whom
I would be remembered, but want of sp-.u-c obliges me to con-
clude, however, give my love to them all, and
I remain, my dearest Father,

Your affectionate son,
■■; -' (Signed) "vf-^-y '><-^ ''"-"^ ^'■■';; J. Stinson.

P.S. My dear Father, you cannot conceive how fast the
people of almost all countries are pouring in here, the number
of emigrants landed in York, Upper Canada, between May and
October 1032 is 17,388. You do not mention anything to me
about my brother and sisters, I wish I had them here.

Sleighs are vehicles without wheels, and go so smooth on the
snow you would scarcely feel yourself in them.

A person cannot bring too many feather beds and clothes
here, bed screws would be useful also.

To Mr. Alexander Stinson, ^ ^j s <

Cashel, County of Tipperary,

Ireland.

(Copy.)

'•AW

Paisley Block, Guelph, Upper Canada, »

2LstJuly, 1833.

My dear Cousin,— It is with pleasure I sit myself down

on the bare floor, as I have nothing else to sit upon, to write

a few lines to you. I shall not trouble you with a lengthened

prologue or preface; I shall, therefore, as my paper is so

smull, procrcd to inform you of what I think you arc most
Hiixious to know, in »s conciste » manner as possihic. I <lo
not think it wouhl be at all inlcrestini; were I to enumerate all
our privations and hardships fioni tlie time wc left England to
our arrival here ; I will thcr«'fore pass over that part of our
history, and confine myself to what wc at present arc, and
what we at present enjoy. When we got to Guelph we opened
our eyes and gained information before we located ; and the
properly that we have purchased we considered to be of all
that we had seen the most likely to suit us ; we have lOB acres
of good land, fifteen acres of which arc cleared; wc have five
acres of wheat, which is looking as well as can be wished, and
which I believe will be ripe for the sickle about the middle of
Augnst : wo have five acres of oats and nearly two acres of
potatoes, the greater part of which we have planted ourselves;
for this we have given £175 currency ; £100 we paid to the
man whom it belonged, which paid him reasonably for the
clearance and crop, and an instalment that he had paid to the
Canada Company on purchasing ; we paid an instalment of
£15, so that we have £60 to pay in five years, viz. £15 in
two years, £15 in three years, £15 in four years, and £15 in
five years. We have about eight acres of swamp. We have a
fine spring of water, which rises in and runs through our lot.
We have bought two good cows with their calves ; the calves
we are rearing, the cows yield us a most plentiful supply of
milk, they give on an average eighteen quarts a day ; we gave
for them fifly-three dollgrs ; a dollar here is 5s. Od. currency,
(or 4s. 6d. sterling) ; they live entirely in the woods, and cost
us nothing keeping ; they come up to be milked morning and
evening regularly, for which we reward them with a trifle of
bran. We have a lot of fowls which my wife has had ^iven
her; we have also four dogs; we are busy getting in some
turnips for winter fodder; we are about buying a yoke of
oxen, they are about seventy dollars a yoke ; we intend having
a couple of horses in the spring ; horses are on an average
eighty dollars each, good ones. We are erecting a beautiful
frame house, which will be the finest in this part of the
country ; we contracted with a carpenter to do the wood work
for £85. The house will be built entirely of wood after the
fashion of the country, but I do assure you they look much

iiiurv iii'ut Hiui rvspoclnhli' llniii liriek lioiisps liu. The lcn{|;lli
olit JH lliirlylwo fcol, \\n'. br<<:i(hli Iwoniy (vc\, Hvc susli wiii-
<luws lo Hie front hiuI fuiir to the buck; a passage runs
through thv coiitrc, with a dour front and back, and the stairs
go up in the passage ; the roof will project over twelve inches,
and the outside will be painted white ; there will also be u
chimney ul each end. We lads have dug a cellar twenty by
fourteen and six feet deep. 1 expect the house will be
Hnished in a short time, or an brother Jonathan says, " right
oflf." We have got all the stone ourselves, and done a variety
of jobs that has saved us a great deal of money. 1 should
have mentioned that we have sown our five acres of wheat with
grass seeds. We live at the present in places called shanties,
which are mere temporary cobblcroents put up in a rough
nianner, viz. boards piled up and a hole in the side to creep
in at. Now in such a duck hull as this, myself and wife con-
trive to live ; we have our bed on the floor, and whenever we
have a fire we are nearly poisoned with smoke; when it rains,
also, it conies into bed to us delightfully ; but never mind that,
I do not care a fig. My father and brothers live in a much
better place ; it consists of four poles driven into the earth
and boarded at (he sides, and fs in every respcv-t genteel com-
pared to mine.

It now remains for me to say something of the country, and
how we like it, <!i'c. Now this 1 apprehend is what you want
to know most about ; then, to tell yon in one word, we are all
perfectly satisfied ; we have not hopped out of a frying-pan
into a fire, but out of a fire into a frying-pan. I have found
things as I expected I should do ; and what I read at home
concerning Canada has proved to be correct ; in this I am not
mistaken, it is solid fact. My father's property at home,
which was doing us no good, has here purchased for us a
maintenance for life, as well as put us in possession of inde-
pendence and comfort. We have exchanged a life fraught
with care and anxiety, a life of bubble bubble, toil, and never-
ceasing trouble, for one in connexion with which there is no
care, no anxiety, and no dismal forebodings as to the future,
for to-morrow here taketh care for itself. My father says, he
would never mind encountering the same privations over again
to put us ill possession of the same independence ; he feels

mort iliiii) snliiitiod ; lie mxys, niorcovrr, llinl lie never foil su
rich ill lii.s life, hihI iievor knew wliiit riclicH were iiniil now.
Wo fi'ol rich ; wo iire lidlc kings, iiiid do enjoy nncli lieHllh ih
wc perhaps never did before. We can here work » day beneath
the rays of a burning sun ; wc can in turn be wet to the skin
three times a day, and still enjoy it all. We live here as the
patriarchs of old, on plain and homely fare; wliiUt the lowiiiff
of the cattle, and other rural sounds, impress my mind with
a conviction that these arc such times as they experienced, and
which ' we impatiently and ardently longed and lio|)cd for.
We arc here farmers to all intents and purposes ; the land
appears to me to bring forth its increase abundantly, and will
continue to do so to the end of time. Wc do not go about
here soliciting orders, and bowing and endeavouring to please
and serve this man or the other ; no, no ; the scene ha«
changed altogether ; wc arc all rich people here, and all inde-
peiidciit ; we feel here our importance as men, as rational
beings endowed with the power of thinking and acting'; we do
as we like, for there is none to control us. We have here the
wild woods in which to rove at will, together with the advan-
tages of shooting what we like, as here is game of all sorts,
bears, wolves, foxes, pheasants, deer, partridges, and nobody
knows what besides, and nobody cares ; I would not exchange
the life that I lead with the best meclianic that ever breathed,
or ever will do. Canada, as I have said before, is a land of
peace and plenty, blest with everything that can render it de-
lightful to an independent spirit ; here is no poverty here, a
beggar was never known. " Plenty to cat and nought to pay,
this is the land we live in."

In a short time, if Providence continue to bless us with
health, we shall have herds of cattle of all kinds ; in another
year, all being well, I hope to have my expectations fulfilled
or realized, as by that time we shall have some outbuildings
finished, together with barns, stables, &c. It is, as 1 said
before, the best place for the industrious of all classes to
come unto, for according to the extent of their labour will be
the extent of their riches, and these riches will not merely
consist of cleared farms, and flocks, and herds, but of money
too, for here is a market for every commodity that the farmer
can raise, and a good market too : potatoes are selling now at

i(>ll so

I now.

altli MS

)ciu>ntli

lie skill
us the
lowiiiK

ml with

tl, ttwA

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lie luiul

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j;n ubuut
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all iniie-

rutioiial

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ic advan-

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id nobody

cxchangf

breathed,

a land of
™der it de-
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hi to pay,

IS us with
ill another
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utbuildings
as 1 said
i classes to
>our will be
not merely
jt of money
the farmer
Uing now at

2a. (kl. |ifi buhlit'l, wheat r»H. per bushri ; il is all humbug tu
Muppusi' there ii no money-market, for if the farmer should
not feel disposed to »cll in Ciuelpli, he can take his produce to
Hamilton or DunduH, and get money for it there too, so that,
whenever you hear any one speak contrary to this, contradict
them, and do not suffer them to be led away with such folly.
There is another thing I will just set you right in, and that is
the tree-atMmp$ ; it is said that these require twenty or thirty
years to destroy them; now know from me that five years will
•leslroy some of the largest stumps, and some will rot out in
three years. Our clearance is not a year old, and a number
of our slumps are already so fur decayed that I have pulleil
them up myself. Out of the number of instances that 1 could
bring forwanl of persons gelling rich in this country I will
only mention one, and that is our neighbour, a Yorkshireman ;
he came here three years ago ; he then hud but 2s. Od. and uii
axe: well, he set to work mightily, and now lie has lUU acn.-s
of land, a herd of cattle, fine crops, t&c. and what lie has
done at lii» land is worth £37^*, and he has cleared this last
year £100; now this has been done in this short lime — where
HOW is (here u man in England that can do or get one-fourth
of this? We, in like manner, must gel rich, for we save ail
our wages, our callle will continually increase, and thus every
(liiiig will go on progressively ami prosperously ; but as fine a
country as this is, I would never advise any individual to come
here, on aecounl of so many couiiiig and find themselves dis-
appointed, and who never would be satisfied with any thing in
huliire. Now here is a man in Guolph employed by a genlle-
iiiun who related lo me the story, who, when in England,
could only get I'is. per week, and this gentleman was giving
him lOs. a day, yet the man grumbled; the fact is, the country
cannot suit all, and for the reason already given 1 should never
advise any |)erson to come for fear they should feel disappointed.
There is another little nmttcr I wish to set you right in, and
that is society here; now I would not have you think that there
are none here but pauper lunatics, for when we first reached
Cuelpli we were agreeably surprised to see a number of gen-
lieinan dressed in white trousers, flannel jackets, and straw
hals playing at cricket on lite green, and they were quite
adepts at the game ; they meet to play every Saturday. And

liirii again the people are ail civil and well behaved, more so
ikyM ever I foiiml Ihem at home; even in the most remote
townships you will find them quite polite and agreeable. A
Scotch church is already built atGuelph, as well as a Catholic
church, an English church is building: and when things get
|)'!t to rights we intend having a light waggon to take us to
town, the Scotch, the Church of England, and the Methodists,
all at present preach and worship in one place by turns.

1 can now tell you how hot it has been since we have been
iiere. Once my thermometer stood at 88, but the average
hcHt is 82 to 84, and sometimes it will drop to 50 in the night,
and sometimes to 40, yet it is all right and all comfortable,
we feel nothing of these great changes. Wc intend making a
dam on our stream for water-fowl, &c. ; we go here without
stockings, handkerchief, coat, and waistcoat, and this alto-
gether through choice, and we arc just as comfortable with
only trousers, shoes, and straw hats, as you with all your
clothing on. I see now that 1 must be bringing matters to a
conclusion; you must tell Mr. D. that if ever he thinks of
coming here, he had better do so as soon as possible, or else
for ever be nothing more and his children after him than
humble obedient slaves ; my reason for saying so is, land is
getting dearer every succeeding year, and in a few years there
will be no purchasing land but at an enormous price; if, there-
fore, he should ever think of coming, it would be well for
him not to do so without first receiving from me a letter of
instructions.

Your aft'fctiunate cousin,
(Signed) John Newton.

P.S. — When a person comes to Canada it requires great
resolution in order to prevent himself from being heartbroken
at the sight of such a number of big trees which are all to be
tumbled to the earth by his arm alone. I have seen a tree
three yards in d'umeter.

To Mr. Joseph Mappin,

Far-Gate, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

ore so
■emolc
le. A
itholic

igs get

us to

odisU,

e been
iverage
night,
irtable,
iking a
vithout
s alto-
e with
1 your
frs to a
nks of
or else
ni than
land is
•3 there
, there-
ve\l for
L'tter of

TON.

s great
tbroken
ill to be
n a tree

Extracts from Letters of Mr. James Kemp, fornmly of East
Lothian, hut now of Goderich, Upper Canada,

" 14th July, 1832.

" I LIKE this place better than any I have seen in Canada,
and I believe the climate is also better. It was generally said
that the summer here was very warm, but 1 have rarely felt it
disagreeably so, and never so warm but I could work well
enough in the shade ; indeed I have felt it as warm in Scotland
as I have done here. I should think this as healthy a place as
any in America.

" Before we got this length, people tried to dissuade us
from coming forward, saying that almost every person had
fever and ague ; but I have only heard of two or three who
have get ague. We have a fine stream of water running
through our lot ; most of the water is bad, especially in the
Lower Province. The Canada Company have sold a great deal
of land this season ; it is probable they will rise their price
next year, as their land is by far the cheapest in Canada.

« 8th January, 1833.

" I AM well pleased with this part of the country, and have
enjoyed good health. So far as [ saw of Lower Canada, it is
not to be '^ ompared to the land here, and I would advise no
person to stop there, as they will be far better in the Upper
Province. Land can be cleared and fenced just now for less
than £5 per acre, but wages are always higher in summer ; a
person coming here with a little money, and employing men
to clear land for him, will be nearly paid his outlay the first
year.

" 4lh June, 1833.

** It will be a number of years before we can raise more
than will be consumed in the neighbourhood ; but we can get
it shipped in any direction. The Upper Canada wheat brings
always a higher price at Montreal than that of Lower Canada."

■>,. I

LONDON ;

TRINTUD UV W. MAr>»-|IANT, I NCR AM-COtUlT, FF.NCIUIIiCH-STREI-T.

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