SOCIETY IN THE BACKWOODS.
Sir John Colborne, as has been mentioned already, did all in his power
to induce well-to-do immigrants, and particularly military men, to
settle on lands west and north of Lake Simcoe. Some of these gentlemen
were entitled, in those days, to draw from three to twelve hundred acres
of land in their own right; but the privilege was of very doubtful
value. Take an example. Captain Workman, with his wife, highly educated
and thoroughly estimable people, were persuaded to select their land on
the Georgian Bay, near the site of the present village of Meaford. A
small rivulet which enters the bay there, is still called "the Captain's
creek." To get there, they had to go to Penetanguishene, then a military
station, now the seat of a Reformatory for boys. From thence they
embarked on scows, with their servants, furniture, cows, farm implements
and provisions. Rough weather obliged them to land on one of the
Christian Islands, very bleak spots outside of Penetanguishene harbour,
occupied only by a few Chippewa Indians. After nearly two weeks' delay
and severe privation, they at length reached their destination, and had
then to camp out until a roof could be put up to shelter them from the
storms, not uncommon on that exposed coast.
We had ourselves, along with others, taken up additional land on what
was called "the Blue Mountains," which are considered to be a spur of
the Alleghanies, extending northerly across by Niagara, from the State
of New York. The then newly-surveyed townships of St. Vincent and
Euphrasia were attracting settlers, and amongst them our axe-man,
Whitelaw, and many more of the like class. To reach this land, we had
bought a smart sail-boat, and in her enjoyed ourselves by coasting from
the Nottawasaga river north-westerly along the bay. In this way we
happened one evening to put in at the little harbour where Capt. Workman
had chosen his location. It was early in the spring. The snows from the
uplands had swelled the rivulet into a rushing torrent. The garden,
prettily laid out, was converted into an island, the water whirling and
eddying close to the house both in front and rear, and altogether
presenting a scene of wild confusion. We found the captain highly
excited, but bravely contending with his watery adversary; the lady of
the house in a state of alarmed perplexity; the servants at their wits'
end, hurrying here and there with little effect. Fortunately, when we
got there the actual danger was past, the waters subsiding rapidly
during the night. But it struck us as a most cruel and inconsiderate
act on the part of the Government, to expose tenderly reared families to
hazards which even the rudest of rough pioneers would not care to
encounter.
After enduring several years of severe hardship, and expending a
considerable income in this out-of-the-world spot, Captain Workman and
his family removed to Toronto, and afterwards returned to England,
wiser, perhaps, but no richer certainly, than when they left the old
country.
A couple of miles along the shore, we found another military settler,
Lieutenant Waddell, who had served as brigade-major at the Battle of
Waterloo; with him were his wife, two sons, and two daughters. On
landing, the first person we encountered was the eldest son, John, a
youth of twenty years--six feet in stature at least, and bearing on his
shoulder, sustained by a stick thrust through its gills, a sturgeon so
large that its tail trailed on the ground behind him. He had just caught
it with a floating line. Here again the same melancholy story: ladies
delicately nurtured, exposed to rough labour, and deprived of all the
comforts of civilized life, exhausting themselves in weary struggle with
the elements. Brave soldiers in the decline of life, condemned to tasks
only adapted to hinds and navvies. What worse fate can be reserved for
Siberian exiles! This family also soon removed to Toronto, and
afterwards to Niagara, where the kindly, excellent old soldier is well
remembered; then to Chatham, where he became barrack-master, and died
there. His son, John Waddell, married into the Eberts family, and
prospered; later he was member for Kent; and ultimately met his death by
drowning on a lumbering excursion in the Georgian Bay. Other members of
the family now reside at Goderich.
Along the west shore of Lake Simcoe, several other military and naval
officers, with their households, were scattered. Some, whose names I
shall not record, had left their families at home, and brought out with
them female companions of questionable position, whom, nevertheless,
they introduced as their wives. The appearance of the true wives rid the
county of the scandal and its actors.
Conspicuous among the best class of gentlemen settlers was the late Col.
E. G. O'Brien, of Shanty Bay, near Barrie, of whom I shall have occasion
to speak hereafter. Capt. St. John, of Lake Couchiching, was equally
respected. The Messrs. Lally, of Medonte; Walker, of Tecumseth and
Barrie; Sibbald, of Kempenfeldt Bay; are all names well known in those
days, as are also many others of the like class. But where are the
results of the policy which sent them there? What did they gain--what
have their families and descendants gained--by the ruinous outlay to
which they were subjected? With one or two exceptions, absolutely
nothing but wasted means and saddest memories.
It is pleasant to turn to a different class of settlers--the hardy
Scots, Irish, English, and Germans, to whom the Counties of Simcoe and
Grey stand indebted for their present state of prosperity. The Sunnidale
settlement was ill-chosen, and therefore a failure. But in the north of
that township, much better land and a healthier situation are found, and
there, as well as in Nottawasaga adjoining, the true conditions of
rational colonization, and the practical development of those
conditions, are plainly to be seen.
The system of clearing five acre lots, and erecting log shanties
thereon, to be given to immigrants without power of sale, which was
commenced in Sunnidale, was continued in Nottawasaga. The settlement was
called the Scotch line, nearly all the people being from the islands of
Arran and Islay, lying off Argyleshire, in Scotland. Very few of them
knew a word of English. There were Campbells, McGillivrays, Livingstons,
McDiarmids, McAlmons, McNees, Jardines, and other characteristic names.
The chief man among them was Angus Campbell, who had been a tradesman of
some kind in the old country, and exercised a beneficial influence over
the rest. He was well informed, sternly Presbyterian, and often reminded
us of "douce Davie Deans" in the "Heart of Midlothian." One of the
Livingstons was a school-master. They were, one and all, hardy and
industrious folk. Day after day, month after month, year after year,
added to their wealth and comfort. Cows were purchased, and soon became
common. There were a few oxen and horses before long. When I visited the
township of Nottawasaga some years since, I found Angus Campbell,
postmaster and justice of the peace; Andrew Jardine, township clerk or
treasurer; and McDiarmids, Livingstons, Shaws, &c., spread all over the
surrounding country, possessing large farms richly stocked, good barns
well-filled, and even commodious frame houses comfortably furnished.
They ride to church or market in handsome buggies well horsed; have
their temperance meetings and political gatherings of the most zealous
sort, and altogether present a model specimen of a prosperous farming
community. What has been said of the Scotch, is no less applicable to
the Irish, Germans and English, who formed the minority in that
township. I hear of their sons, and their sons' sons, as thriving
farmers and storekeepers, all over Ontario.
Our axeman, Whitelaw, was of Scottish parentage, but a Canadian by
birth, and won his way with the rest. He settled in St. Vincent, married
a smart and pretty Irish lass, had many sons and daughters, acquired a
farm of five hundred acres, of which he cleared and cultivated a large
portion almost single-handed, and in time became able to build the
finest frame house in the township; served as reeve, was a justice of
peace, and even a candidate for parliament, in which, well for himself,
he failed. His excessive labours, however, brought on asthma, of which
he died not long since, leaving several families of descendants to
represent him.
I could go on with the list of prosperous settlers of this class, to
fill a volume. Some of the young men entered the ministry, and I
recognise their names occasionally at Presbyterian and Wesleyan
conventions. Some less fortunate were tempted away to Iowa and Illinois,
and there died victims to ague and heat.
But if we "look on this picture and on that;" if we compare the results
of the settlement of educated people and of the labouring classes, the
former withering away and leaving no sign behind--the latter growing in
numbers and advancing in wealth and position until they fill the whole
land, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that except as leaders
and teachers of their companions, gentlefolk of refined tastes and of
superior education, have no place in the bush, and should shun it as a
wild delusion and a cruel snare.