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REMINISCENCES
OF A
Canadian Pioneer.
REMINISCENCES
OF A
CANADIAN PIONEER
FOR
THE LAST FIFTY YEARS.
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
BY
SAMUEL THOMPSON,
_Formerly Editor of the "Toronto Daily Colonist," the "Parliamentary
Hansard," &c., &c._
Toronto:
HUNTER, ROSE & COMPANY.
MDCCCLXXXIV.
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, by Samuel
Thompson, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.
PREFACE.
It was in consequence of a suggestion by the late S. J. Watson,
Librarian of the Ontario Legislature--who urged that one who had gone
through so many experiences of early Canadian history as myself, ought
to put the same on record--that I first thought of writing these
"Reminiscences," a portion of which appeared in the _Canadian Monthly
Magazine_. For the assistance which has enabled me to complete and issue
this volume, I am obliged to the kind support of those friends who have
subscribed for its publication; for which they will please accept my
grateful thanks.
In the space at my disposal, I have necessarily been compelled to give
little more than a gossiping narrative of events coming under my own
observation. But I have been careful to verify every statement of which
I was not personally cognizant; and to avoid everything of a
controversial character; as well as to touch gently on those faults of
public men which I felt obliged to notice.
It has been a labour of love to me, to place on record many honourable
deeds of Nature's gentlemen, whose lights ought not to be hidden
altogether "under a bushel," and whose names should be enrolled by
Canada amongst her earliest worthies. I have had the advantage, in
several cases, of the use of family records, which have assisted me
materially in rendering more complete several of the earlier chapters,
particularly the account of Mackenzie's movements while in the
neighbourhood of Gallows Hill; also the sketches of the "Tories of
Rebellion Times;" as well as the history of the Mechanics' Institute, in
which though a very old member, I never occupied any official position.
Since the first part of these pages was in type, I have had to lament
the deaths of more than one comrade whose name is recorded therein;
amongst them Dr. A. A. Riddel--my "Archie"--and my dearest friend Dr.
Alpheus Todd, to whom I have been indebted for a thousand proofs of
generous sympathy.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface iii
Chap. I. The Author's Antecedents and Forbears 9
II. History of a Man of Genius 14
III. Some Reminiscences of a London Apprentice 19
IV. Westward, Ho! 21
V. Connemara and Galway fifty years ago 27
VI. More Sea Experiences 33
VII. Up the St. Lawrence 36
VIII. Muddy Little York 39
IX. A Pioneer Tavern 42
X. A First Day in the Bush 46
XI. A Chapter on Chopping 52
XII. Life in the Backwoods 65
XIII. Some Gatherings from Natural History 69
XIV. Our Removal to Nottawasaga 78
XV. Society in the Backwoods 84
XVI. More about Nottawasaga and its People 91
XVII. A Rude Winter Experience 93
XVIII. The Forest Wealth of Canada 98
XIX. A Melancholy Tale 101
XX. From Barrie to Nottawasaga 104
XXI. Farewell to the Backwoods 107
XXII. A Journey to Toronto 109
XXIII. Some Glimpses of Upper Canadian Politics 116
XXIV. Toronto During the Rebellion 119
XXV. The Victor and the Vanquished 134
XXVI. Results in the Future 140
XXVII. A Confirmed Tory 143
XXVIII. Newspaper Experiences 146
XXIX. Introduction to Canadian Politics 154
XXX. Lord Sydenham's Mission 156
XXXI. Tories of the Rebellion Times:
Ald. G. T. Denison, Sen 165
Col. R. L. Denison 171
Col. Geo. T. Denison, of Rusholme 172
Alderman Dixon 174
XXXII. More Tories of Rebellion Times:
Edward G. O'Brien 186
John W. Gamble 198
XXXIII. A Choice of a Church 201
XXXIV. The Clergy Reserves 210
XXXV. A Political Seed-time 215
XXXVI. The Maple Leaf 217
XXXVII. {St. George's Society 229
{North America St. George's Union 234
XXXVIII. A Great Conflagration 239
XXXIX. The Rebellion Losses Bill 242
XL. The British American League 245
XLI. Results of the B. A. League 261
XLII. Toronto Civic Affairs 262
XLIII. Lord Elgin in Toronto 268
XLIV. Toronto Harbour and Esplanade 274
XLV. Mayor Bowes--City Debentures 281
XLVI. Carlton Ocean Beach 285
XLVII. Canadian Politics from 1853 to 1860 288
XLVIII. Business Troubles 295
XLIX. Business Experiences in Quebec 300
L. Quebec in 1859-60 303
LI. Departure From Quebec 315
LII. John A. Macdonald and George Brown 317
LIII. John Sheridan Hogan 320
LIV. Domestic Notes 322
LV. The Beaver Insurance Company 325
LVI. The Ottawa Fires 326
LVII. Some Insurance Experiences 329
LVIII. A Heavy Calamity 333
LIX. The Hon. J. Hillyard Cameron 336
LX. The Toronto Athenaeum 340
LXI. The Buffalo Fete 344
LXII. The Boston Jubilee 349
LXIII. Vestiges of the Mosaic Deluge 365
LXIV. The Franchise 368
LXV. Free Trade and Protection 371
LXVI. The Future of Canada 374
LXVII. The Toronto Mechanics' Institute 377
LXVIII. The Free Public Library 384
LXIX. Postscript 392
REMINISCENCES
OF
A CANADIAN PIONEER.
CHAPTER I.
THE AUTHOR'S ANTECEDENTS AND FORBEARS.
The writer of these pages was born in the year 1810, in the City of
London, and in the Parish of Clerkenwell, being within sound of Bow
Bells. My father was churchwarden of St. James's, Clerkenwell, and was a
master-manufacturer of coal measures and coal shovels, now amongst the
obsolete implements of by-gone days. His father was, I believe, a
Scotsman, and has been illnaturedly surmised to have run away from the
field of Culloden, where he may have fought under the name and style of
Evan McTavish, a name which, like those of numbers of his fellow
clansmen, would naturally anglicise itself into John Thompson, in order
to save its owner's neck from a threatened Hanoverian halter. But he
was both canny and winsome, and by-and-by succeeded in capturing the
affections and "tocher" of Sarah Reynolds, daughter of the wealthy
landlord of the Bull Inn, of Meriden, in Warwickshire, the greatest and
oldest of those famous English hostelries, which did duty as the
resting-place of monarchs _en route_, and combined within their solid
walls whole troops of blacksmiths, carpenters, hostlers, and many other
crafts and callings. No doubt from this source I got my Warwickshire
blood, and English ways of thinking, in testimony of which I may cite
the following facts: while living in Quebec, in 1859-60, a mason
employed to rebuild a brick chimney challenged me as a brother
Warwickshire man, saying he knew dozens of gentlemen there who were as
like me "as two peas." Again, in 1841, a lady who claimed to be the last
direct descendant of William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, and
the possessor of the watch and other relics of the poet, said she was
quite startled at my likeness to an original portrait of her great
ancestor, in the possession of her family.
My grandfather carried on the business of timber dealer (we in Canada
should call it lumber merchant), between Scotland and England, buying up
the standing timber in gentlemen's parks, squaring and teaming it
southward, and so became a prosperous man. Finally, at his death, he
left a large family of sons and daughters, all in thriving
circumstances. His second son, William, married my mother, Anna Hawkins,
daughter of the Rev. Isaac Hawkins, of Taunton, in Somersetshire, and
his wife, Joan Wilmington, of Wilmington Park, near Taunton. My
grandfather Hawkins was one of John Wesley's earliest converts, and was
by him ordained to the ministry. Through my mother, we are understood to
be descended from Sir John Hawkins, the world-renowned buccaneer,
admiral, and founder of the English Royal Navy, who was honoured by
being associated with her most sacred Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in a
secret partnership in the profits of piratical raids undertaken in the
name and for the behoof of Protestant Christianity. So at least says the
historian, Froude.
One word more about my father. He was a member of the London
trained-bands, and served during the Gordon riots, described by Dickens
in "Barnaby Rudge." He personally rescued a family of Roman Catholics
from the rioters, secreted them in his house on Holborn Hill, and aided
them to escape to Jamaica, whence they sent us many valuable presents of
mahogany furniture, which must be still in the possession of some of my
nephews or nieces in England. My mother has often told me, that she
remembered well seeing dozens of miserable victims of riot and
drunkenness lying in the kennel in front of her house, lapping up the
streams of gin which ran burning down the foul gutter, consuming the
poor wretches themselves in its fiery progress.
My father died the same year I was born. My dear mother, who was the
meekest and most pious of women, did her best to teach her children to
avoid the snares of worldly pride and ambition, and to be contented with
the humble lot in which they had been placed by Providence. She was by
religious profession a Swedenborgian, and in that denomination educated
a family of eleven children, of whom I am the youngest. I was sent to a
respectable day-school, and afterwards as boarder to a commercial
academy, where I learnt the English branches of education, with a little
Latin, French, and drawing. I was, as a child, passionately fond of
reading, especially of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and of Sir Walter
Scott's novels, which latter delightful books have influenced my tastes
through life, and still hold me fascinated whenever I happen to take
them up.
So things went on till 1823, when I was thirteen years old. My mother
had been left a life-interest in freehold and leasehold property worth
some thirty thousand pounds sterling; but, following the advice of her
father and brother, was induced to invest in losing speculations, until
scarcely sufficient was left to keep the wolf from the door. It was,
therefore, settled that I must be sent to learn a trade, and, by my
uncle's advice, I was placed as apprentice to one William Molineux, of
the Liberty of the Rolls, in the district of Lincoln's Inn, printer. He
was a hard master, though not an unkind man. For seven long years was I
kept at press and case, working eleven hours a day usually, sometimes
sixteen, and occasionally all night, for which latter indulgence I got
half a crown for the night's work, but no other payment or present from
year's end to year's end. The factory laws had not then been thought of,
and the condition of apprentices in England was much the same as that of
convicts condemned to hard labour, except for a couple of hours'
freedom, and too often of vicious license, in the evenings.