The Canada Company and the Huron Tract, 1826-1853


Book Description

The Canada Company, with its base in England, was responsible for settling over two million acres of land in Upper Canada. Author Robert C. Lee focuses on the Huron Tract and on the dominant personalities (many of them Scottish-born) ranging from John Galt and Tiger Dunlop to the bishops Macdonell and Strachan, who had an impact on the company's operations. The politics of the day, coupled with the diversity of the players, create an astounding blend of vision, intrigue and mischief as a backdrop to the bottom-line profit aspirations of the company's shareholders. The founding of towns - Guelph, Goderich, Stratford, St. Marys and others in the area - is one of the legacies of the company. Lee's extensive research reveals a significant period in Ontario's history.




William Wye Smith


Book Description

William Wye Smith, Upper Canadian poet and publisher, provided his unique perspective on pioneer life in this compilation of anecdotes from his experiences.




Ontario and Quebec’s Irish Pioneers


Book Description

Taking on the myth that Irish settlers in Canada were a wave of famine victims, Lucille Campey reveals the pioneering achievements of the Irish who began populating — and thriving in — Ontario and Quebec a century before the famine of 1840. The second volume of the Irish in Canada series brings an informative and lively account of this great saga.




Being Neighbours


Book Description

Throughout history, farm families have shared work and equipment with their neighbours to complete labour-intensive, time-sensitive, and time-consuming tasks. They benefitted materially and socially from these voluntary, flexible, loosely structured networks of reciprocal assistance, making neighbourliness a vital but overlooked aspect of agricultural change. Being Neighbours takes us into the heart of neighbourhood – the set of people near and surrounding the family – through an examination of work bees in southern Ontario from 1830 to 1960. The bee was a special event where people gathered to work on a neighbour’s farm like bees in a hive for a wide variety of purposes, including barn raising, logging, threshing, quilting, turkey plucking, and apple paring. Drawing on the diaries of over one hundred men and women, Catharine Wilson takes readers into families’ daily lives, the intricacies of their labour exchange, and their workways, feasts, and hospitality. Through the prism of the bee and a close reading of the diaries, she uncovers the subtle social politics of mutual dependency, the expectations neighbours had of each other, and their ways of managing conflict and crisis. This book adds to the literature on cooperative work that focuses on evaluating its economic efficiency and complicates histories of capitalism that place communal values at odds with market orientation. Beautifully written, engaging, and richly detailed and illustrated, Being Neighbours reveals the visceral textures of rural life.




Rambles of a Runaway from Southern Slavery


Book Description

Rambles of a Runaway from Southern Slavery tells of an extraordinary life in and out of slavery in the United States and Canada. Born Elijah Turner in the Virginia Tidewater, circa 1810, the author eventually procured freedom papers from a man he resembled and took the man’s name, Henry Goings. His life story takes us on an epic journey, traveling from his Virginia birthplace through the cotton kingdom of the Lower South, and upon his escape from slavery, through Tennessee and Kentucky, then on to the Great Lakes region of the North and to Canada. His Rambles show that slaves were found not only in fields but also on the nation’s roads and rivers, perpetually in motion in massive coffles or as solitary runaways. A freedom narrative as well as a slave narrative, this compact yet detailed book illustrates many important developments in antebellum America, such as the large-scale forced migration of enslaved people from long-established slave societies in the eastern United States to new settlements on the cotton frontier, the political-economic processes that framed that migration, and the accompanying human anguish. Goings’s life and reflections serve as important primary documents of African American life and of American national expansion, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. This edition features an informative and insightful introduction by Calvin Schermerhorn.







The English In Canada Historical 3-Book Bundle


Book Description

Lucille H. Campey’s acclaimed, groundbreaking series on English immigration to Canada is finally available in a collected volume with this complete, three-book edition. A must for genealogists and history lovers interested in the tremendous waves of English immigration to Canada, whose story has never been told in its full depth and detail until now. Planters, Paupers, and Pioneers: English Settlers in Atlantic Canada The first-ever comprehensive book written on early English immigration to Canada, Planters, Paupers, and Pioneers focuses on the factors that brought the English to Atlantic Canada. It traces English arrivals to their various settlements in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and considers their reasons for leaving their homeland. Who were they? When did they arrive? Were they successful? And what was their lasting impact? Drawing on wide-raging documentary resources, this book is essential reading for individuals wishing to trace English and Canadian family links. Seeking a Better Future: The English Pioneers of Ontario and Quebec The exodus from England that gathered pace during the 19th century accounted for the greatest part of the total emigration from Britain to Canada. And yet, while copious emigration studies have been undertaken on the Scots and the Irish, very little has been written about the English in Canada. Drawing on wide-ranging data collected from English record offices and Canadian archives, Seeking a Better Future considers why people left England and traces their destinations in Ontario and Quebec. Challenging the widely held assumption that emigration was primarily a flight from poverty, Campey reveals how the ambitious and resourceful English were strongly attracted by the greater freedoms and better livelihoods that could be achieved by relocating to Canada’s central provinces. Ignored but not Forgotten: Canada’s English Immigrants The great exodus from England to Canada peaked in the early 20th century, and although they were widely ignored in the past as an immigrant group, the English are now being given the attention they deserve. Drawing on wide-ranging documentary and statistical sources, Ignored but not Forgotten traces this major population movement on a region-by-region basis. Campey reveals the outstanding contributions by English immigrants to Canada’s settlement and development, and challenges the assumption that English Canadians were a privileged elite. In fact, most came from humble backgrounds. The book is essential reading for genealogists and general readers interested in why the English immigrated to Canada and the great scope of their achievements. What critics are saying "Campey’s chapters are well-written and hold the readers attention." — GenealogyMagazine.com "A major addition to the literature for those looking for insight into their pioneer immigrant ancestor experience." — Anglo-Celtic Connections "[Lucille Campey] has distilled a copious amount of research.... informative and engaging." — The British Columbia Genealogist




The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 1784-1855


Book Description

Glengarry, Upper Canada's first major Scottish settlement, was established in 1784 by Highlanders from Inverness-shire. Worsening economic conditions in Scotland, coupled with a growing awareness of Upper Canada’s opportunities, led to a growing tide of emigration that eventually engulfed all of Scotland and gave the province its many Scottish settlements. Pride in their culture gave Scots a strong sense of identity and self-worth. These factors contributed to their success and left Upper Canada with firmly rooted Scottish traditions. Individual settlements have been well observed, but the overall picture has never been pieced together. Why did Upper Canada have such appeal to Scots? What was their impact on the province? Why did they choose their different settlement locations? Drawing on new and wide-ranging sources author Lucille H. Campey charts the progress of Scottish settlement throughout Upper Canada. This book contains much descriptive information, including all known passenger lists. It gives details of the 550 ships, which made over 900 crossings and carried almost 100,000 emigrant Scots. The book describes the enterprise and independence shown by the pioneers who were helped on their way by some remarkable characters such as Thomas Talbot, Lord Selkirk, John Galt, Archibald McNab and William Dickson. Providing a fascinating overview of the emigration process, it is essential reading for both historians and genealogists. Scots were some of the provinces earliest pioneers and they were always at the cutting edge of each new frontier. They were a founding people who had an enormous influence on the province’s early development. "I am happy to commend Lucille Campey’s latest book on Scottish settlement patterns in Canada. The product of meticulous research, The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada has much to offer both genealogists and general readers, as it weaves together statistical information, institutional histories and personal accounts to produce a fascinating picture of the multi-dimensional networks that underpinned the transatlantic movement and brought 100,000 Scots to Upper Canada during the seven decades reviewed. Persistent myths of helpless exile are challenged, as the preconditions and processes of emigration are analyzed, along with the cultural traditions imported by the 'trail blazers and border guards' who laid the foundations of Canada’s most populous province." - Marjory Harper, Reader in History, University of Aberdeen "With a real feel for the sacrifice and the emotional turmoil of the pioneers, Lucille H. Campey has one again got her audience to face the raw heritage common to every Scots-Canadian. This is an excellent read, full of fascinating detail dug from much archival research. This book is another splendid addition to a series of much interest to both historians and genealogists." - Professor Graeme Morton, Scottish Studies Foundation Chair, University of Guelph




Encyclopedia Canadiana


Book Description