[Illustration: MILL IN DEVON, ENG., IN 1897. USED AND OWNED BY ROGER CONANT PREVIOUS TO SAILING TO AMERICA WITH THE PILGRIMS IN 1623.] Upper Canada Sketches BY THOMAS CONANT With Illustrations, Portraits and Map TORONTO WILLIAM BRIGGS 29-33 RICHMOND ST. WEST 1898 Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, by THOMAS CONANT, at the Department of Agriculture. To Thomas G. Milsted _Of Chicago, Ill., U.S._ A LARGE-HEARTED, FAITHFUL FRIEND AND PLEASANT COMPANION, UNDER EVEN THE MOST TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES; WHO SWAM IN THE DEAD SEA, ASCENDED THE NILE TO THE MAHDIâS CONFINES, AND LIKEWISE WITH ME KICKED PARIAH DOGS FROM OUR PATHS IN CONSTANTINOPLE, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, WITH FULL RELIANCE IN THE HOPE THAT EXPATRIATED CANADIANS, WHO ARE SO VERY NUMEROUS IN THE UNITED STATES, MAY ENJOY WITH HIMSELF (LIKEWISE ONE OF THEM) THESE RANDOM CANADIAN SKETCHES. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. PAGE Prefatory Note vii CHAPTER I. Normandy--William the Conqueror--Origin of the name Conant--Devon, England--Sir Walter Raleighâs home--Richard the Mill-owner--Roger the Pilgrim--The first Governor of Massachusetts--Salem, Massachusetts--Mill-owners 9 CHAPTER II. The American Revolution--Personal Rule of King George III.--Washingtonâs politeness--Valley Forge--Washingtonâs prayer--Raw New England levies--John Hancock--Other leaders and generals--Colonel Butler--Murder, not war--Roger Conant removes to Canada--An old deed--Governor Simcoe--York (Toronto) 21 CHAPTER III. A home in the wilderness--Salmon fishing--An idyllic life--Logging--Fur trade--Durham boats--Rapids of the St. Lawrence--Trading with the Indians--The Hudsonâs Bay Company--_Coureurs du bois_--Maple sugar making--Friendly Indians 32 CHAPTER IV. Waubakosh--Making potash--Prosperous settlers--Outbreak of war of 1812--Transporting military supplies--Moode Farewellâs hotel--âHereâs to a long and moderate warâ--A lieutenantâs misfortune--âOpen in the Kingâs nameâ--Humors of the time--Ingenious foragers--Hidden specie--Hardships of the U. E. Loyalists 40 CHAPTER V. Capture of York--Immigration increasing--David Annis--Niagara--Prosperous lumber business--Ship-building--High freight rates--Salmon spearing--Meteoric showers--An affrighted clergyman--Cold winters--A tragedy of the clearings 51 CHAPTER VI. Discontent in Upper Canada--Election riots--Shillelahs as persuaders--William Lyon Mackenzie--Rioting in York--Rebellion--Patriots and sympathizers--A relentless chase--Crossing Lake Ontario in midwinter--A perilous passage--A sailor hero--A critical moment--Safe on shore--âRebellion Losses Billâ--Transported to Botany Bay--Murder of my grandfather--Canadian legends--A mysterious guest 65 CHAPTER VII. Religious movements--Itinerant preachers--$50 a year--Camp-meetings--Weird scenes at night--Millerites--World coming to an end--Dissenters attempt to fly--Affrighted by a âsun-dogâ--Destruction fails to materialize--The Mormons--An improvised Gabriel--Raising the dead--Converts--Salt Lake--An Irish refugee and his poem 89 CHAPTER VIII. Canadian laws--Cases of justifiable homicide--Ineffectual attempt to discipline a church member--Major Wilmot--Asa Wallbridge--âUncle Nedâ--Cows and matrimony--A humorous dialogue--A witty retort--An amusing duel 102 CHAPTER IX. Paring bees--Mirth and jollity--Dancing and games--Playing âforfeitsâ--Anti-Slavery Act--Canadaâs proud distinction--Refugee slaves--âUncle Tomâ--Old Jeff--Story of a slave 120 CHAPTER X. Civil war in the United States--Large bounties paid Canadian recruits--Prices of products go up--More than two million men under arms--I make a trip to Washington--Visiting the military hospitals--I am offered $800 to enlist--Brief interview with President Lincoln--A pass secured--I visit the Army of the Potomac--90,000 men under canvas--Washington threatened by the Confederates--Military prison at Elmira, N.Y.--Cheap greenbacks--A chance to become a multi-millionaire 137 CHAPTER XI. The â_Trent_ affairâ--Excitement in Canada--Bombastic âfire-eatersâ--Thriving banks--High rates of interest--Railway building--The bonus system--A sequestered hamlet--A âpsychologistâ and his entertainment--A mock duel--A tragic page of family history 153 CHAPTER XII. Fenianism--A claimant for my fatherâs farm--A scare at Port Oshawa--Guns, forks and clubs for fighting--Awkward squad--Guard catch a young man out courting--The Fenian raid of 1866--A Catholic priest taken prisoner--United States Government at last cries âStop!â--Adventure in high life--A youth runs away from home--Tragic death of the mother of the runaway--Marries the serving-maid--Wedding and funeral journey in one 171 CHAPTER XIII. The French in Upper Canada--Sir Wilfrid Laurier--Voyageurs and their songs--âA la Claire Fontaineâ--Money-lenders--Educational matters--Expatriated Canadians--Successful railway speculation--A shrewd banker 181 CHAPTER XIV. Poor-tax--Poor-houses undesirable--The tramp nuisance--A trampâs story--Mistaken charity--Office seekers--Election incidents 193 CHAPTER XV. Upper Canadaâs favored situation--Our Great Lakes--Cases of apparent tides on Lake Ontario--Canadians as givers--Oshawaâs generous support to churches and charities--Life insurance--Amusing incidents of a railway journey--A âtalking machineâ 209 CHAPTER XVI. Drinking habits in the early days--Distilleries and mills--Treating prevalent--Drinking carousals--Delirium tremens--âOne-Thousand-and-Oneâ Society--Two gallon limit--Bibulous landlords--Whiskey fights--Typical Canadian pioneers--Clearing the farm--Sons and daughters married--Peaceful old age--Asleep in death--Conclusion 228 ILLUSTRATIONS AND PORTRAITS. PAGE Roger Conantâs Mill, Devon, England _Frontispiece_ Thomas Conant 6 Mrs. Thomas Conant 7 Map of Upper Canada (Ontario) 9 Roger Conantâs house, Salem, Mass. 18 Roger Conantâs first settlement in Upper Canada 33 Typical Logging Scene 40 Durham boats ascending River St. Lawrence 48 David Annis 52 Indian trading scene 65 Maple sugar making 78 Indian wigwams of birch bark 84 Potash making--the âmeltingâ 97 Hauling cannon in the war of 1812 104 Moode Farewellâs tavern 122 Daniel Conantâs lumber mill 135 Meteoric shower (1833) 144 Daniel Conant 152 Mary Eliza Conant 153 Loading lumber on schooners, Lake Ontario 160 Refugees escaping over the ice at Oswego, N.Y. (1837) 172 Crossing Lake Ontario in a canoe 186 Assassination of Thomas Conant (1838) 193 Camp-meeting scene 209 A Milleriteâs attempt to fly 220 Mormon attempt to raise the dead 228 Awkward squad--Fenian raid, 1865 236 [Illustration: THOMAS CONANT.] [Illustration: MRS. THOMAS CONANT.] PREFATORY NOTE. In presenting to the public these random sketches I crave the readerâs indulgence. I do not pretend to elegance of style in my writing, and if--as is doubtless the case--the canons of literary form are occasionally offended against in these pages, I ask the kindly consideration of the critics. If asked my reasons for publishing the volume, I would state: First, the many communications received by me from time to time, from various sources, commenting favorably on my letters to the press, have given me to believe that the Canadian public appreciate and value the relation of old settlersâ stories and the legends and traditions of the past; again, as a son of this noble Province, a descendant of one of its pioneer families, having witnessed much of the marvellous development of the country, I feel constrained to thus preserve records which I believe are historically valuable. I have sought to present glimpses of the rude, free life that obtained in the earlier years of settlement, while at the same time depicting some phases of life in Canada as seen at the present day. Though since Confederation (1867) our Province has been known as Ontario, I have preferred to use the old name of Upper Canada, which seems not improper in view of the fact that much of the matter herein given relates to pre-Confederation times. It has been my endeavor, in compiling these sketches, to avoid wounding the feelings of others in my references to the living or their friends who have passed away. If, unfortunately, I have done so, I ask the pardon of such persons, and assure them that wherever I have used names or made personal references, I have done so only where I considered it necessary to render the events chronicled historically correct. For the insertion of some family portraits it is unnecessary to ask the readerâs indulgence, as they are portraits of those who have helped materially in the upbuilding of the Province. THOMAS CONANT. OSHAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, September 28th, 1898. [Illustration: MAP OF UPPER CANADA 1898] UPPER CANADA SKETCHES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Normandy--William the Conqueror--Origin of the name Conant--Devon, England--Sir Walter Raleighâs home--Richard the Mill-owner--Roger the Pilgrim--The first Governor of Massachusetts--Salem, Massachusetts--Mill-owners. Though of the past from no carved shrines, Canvas or deathless lyres we learn, Yet arbored streams and shadowy pines Are hung with legends wild and stern; In deep dark glen, on mountain side, Are graves whence stately pines have sprung, Naught telling how our fathers died Save faint Traditionâs faltering tongue. --_Adapted._ There is no reason to doubt that the progenitor of the Conant family in England and America came originally from Normandy, in 1066, as one of the followers of William the Conqueror. Frederick Odell Conant, of Portland, Maine, whose exhaustive work, âHistory and Genealogy of the Conant Family,â entitles him to be quoted as an authority, has arrived at this conclusion. Edward Nathaniel Conant, of Oakham, Rutland County, England, a member of the English branch, told the author, when visiting Lyndon Hall, in 1894, that he had seen the name Conan--from which Conant has been evolved--on a castle archway in Normandy. In 1896 the author met a Frenchman of the same name in Melbourne, Australia, who was, no doubt, a descendant of the branch of the family that remained in Normandy when the others came over with William to the conquest of England. There are several derivations given of the name Conant, many of which would establish it as of Celtic origin; and though a Conant came over to England with William, it would appear his ancestors had come originally from Cornwall and Devon to Brittany. The meaning of the name is almost as variously given as its origin, but it appears that the conclusion arrived at by the family historian and genealogist is that it is equivalent to the word in the Welsh, Irish, Saxon, Dutch, German and Swedish tongue, and also the Oriental, signifying chief or leader. Although the Conants probably returned to Normandy during the reigns of William and his sons, they finally settled at East Budleigh, in Devonshire. It is unnecessary here to trace the succeeding generations of the family, as we have to do only with the immediate connections of Roger Conant, known as the Pilgrim, who emigrated to the English Colonies in America in 1623, and from whom all the Conants in the United States and Canada are descended. The picture which forms the frontispiece to this volume is a faithful one of the mill yet standing on the Conant lands at East Budleigh. This mill was owned and occupied by Richard Conant, father of Roger the Pilgrim. It will be observed that the part of the stone building at the end farthest from the water-wheel is now used as a residence. Whether it was so occupied by Richard Conant the author has been unable to ascertain. There are indications that a residence had been located back from the mill and on rising ground farther from the road. The mill is a long stone structure. In front of the part used as a dwelling is a yard, and at one side farm buildings. Mr. Green, the present Rector of East Budleigh, assured the author that there is no doubt of its being the identical building and mill occupied and used by Richard Conant. The family records (parish register) are in Mr. Greenâs care. There are entries of the birth of John Conant in 1520 and of his son Richard, born in Devon in 1548. These are on parchment, the latter yellow, covered with leather, wood-bound and worm-eaten. Back of the house and mill a small spring creek runs. It has been turned from its bed by the rising ground, so that no artificial dam is needed, and to-day, as in 1560, it runs over the wheel and pours from the flume. In volume it is four inches deep and twenty wide, and is about six feet above the wheel. The latter, of course, has been renewed, being an overshoot about fourteen feet in diameter, but its foundations are now just as Richard Conant originally laid them. The lands owned by Richard Conant probably amounted to about two hundred acres. The glebe land, extending nearly to the mill, which is about five hundred yards from the church, and the Conant lands extending to the farm of Sir Walter Raleigh, we may conclude to be the probable extent of the property. Rogerâs father, Richard, inherited the mill from his father. He graduated at Emanuel College, and was also Rector of East Budleigh. The book of his charities accounts is still extant. On the fly-leaf are the words, âThis book was bought in 1600, to mark the amounts of charities,â etc. It is in Richardâs handwriting. Every few pages are signed by him, and the entries are neatly made, not a blot, erasure or scratch upon the well inscribed pages. The amounts vary from one penny to sixpence. All this is evidence of the careful upbringing and piety practised in the home of Roger Conant, the man destined later to exert so beneficent an influence for the well-being of the Massachusetts Colony in America. Ascending for three-quarters of a mile the little burn whose waters turned Richardâs mill-wheel, one finds it running by the door of the Raleigh homestead, Hays Barton House. His living near the man who drew so much attention to the New World would suggest that Roger Conantâs ambitions to seek a new home in the wilds had been fired by the tales told by the adventurous knight; and hearing of its wonders and possibilities possibly made the lad restless, and later on willing to sail away to America. The Raleigh pew in East Budleigh church is at a right-angle from the Conant pew, and not ten feet away. They both face the pulpit, and as these were possessions as hereditary as their lands and homes, there is nothing improbable in the idea that the families were well known to each other. On the Raleigh pew-ends are carved the armorial bearings of the family, the lower part cut off. This was done when Sir Walter was attainted for treason, and may be a curious instance of the penalties exacted from the families whose head suffered such attainder at the hands of the sovereign. On the Conant pew is the head of a North American Indian. It is well done. The Indian features, high cheek-bones and large nose, are faithfully depicted. On the other pews are negroes, shipsâ paddles, tropical trees and foliage. Sir Walterâs father was Rector of East Budleigh when Richard Conant ran his little grist-mill and attended the church. Roger could not, in the natural order of succession, inherit the mill from his father, so he went early to London. No doubt the seeds sown by the study, as a child, of the quaint carvings in his parish church had an influence in directing his manhoodâs steps. The church is a small stone leaded roofed building. It is dedicated to All Saints, and was consecrated by Bishop Lacy about A.D. 1430. It consists of a nave and chancels, and north and south aisles. It is eighty feet long and forty-eight and a half feet wide. The tower, which contains five bells, is seventy-two feet high. It is a Norman embattlemented tower with a chimney-shaped buttress. (_Vide_ âHistory and Genealogy of the Conant Family.â) About the church is the graveyard, walled in and the earth dug away, leaving the church and graveyard isolated, and above the level of the surrounding roads and lands. Although the Conants are buried here, no stone or monument has been found to mark the spot where they lie. The Rector told the author that all the Conants had moved away, leaving none to care for the graves of their ancestors. This was probably the cause of the absence of any information by which the place of burial could be ascertained. A brother of Rogerâs--John, matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford--was made a full Fellow, 10th July, 1612; B.D., 2 Dec., 1619, or 28 June, 1620. He resigned his fellowship, and was instituted Rector of Lymington, a country parish near Ilchester, Somersetshire, on the presentation of Sir Henry Rosewell, and on the 20th of January, 1620, compounded for the firstfruits of the living--the sureties of his bond being his brothers Christopher and Roger. The name of Rosewell or Rowswell, is well known to students of the history of Massachusetts. Sir Henryâs name stands first among the grantees in the Patent from the Council of Plymouth--a fact which bears some significance to the emigration of Roger and Christopher to the New World, and also indicates that Conant had already espoused the cause of the Puritans. The above is taken from the âHistory and Genealogy of the Conant Family,â and is necessary to connect Rogerâs early life with the period of his emigration to the New World. Roger was baptized at All Saintsâ Church, East Budleigh, on the 9th April, 1592. He was the youngest of eight children. His after life showed that the integrity and piety which characterized his parents and elder brothers had been instilled into his mind in childhood. Like his brothers, he evidently received as good an education as the times would afford. He was employed to lay out boundaries, survey lands and transact other public business. The records of the Saltersâ Company, to which he belonged, have been burned, so that no more authentic proof of his having been a freedman of the company can be adduced than the presumptive evidence given by the fact of his signing his brother Johnâs bonds as âSalter of London.â He married in London in November, 1618, and emigrated with the Pilgrims to New England in 1623. Members of the Drysaltersâ Guild of London (the ninth of the twelve great livery companies, and chartered by Queen Elizabeth in 1558) have certain privileges and perquisites. To illustrate this more fully, the author during a visit to London, at the time of the Queenâs Jubilee, 1887, learned upon enquiry that by the laws of primogeniture (only abolished in Upper Canada in 1841) the direct descendant of Roger Conant was entitled to two meals a day and a bed to sleep on. The perquisite is not retroactive and an application for any commutation could not be regarded, but he was told that the two meals a day and a bed would be given to the direct heir of Roger Conant, the Drysalter, whenever he chose to claim them. It is not certain what was the name of the vessel in which Roger Conant sailed, but from the fact that his brother Christopher was a passenger in the _Ann_, which arrived at Plymouth about 1623, it may be inferred that Roger accompanied him. In a petition to the general court, dated May 28th, 1671, he states that he had been âa planter in New England forty-eight years and upwards.â This would fix the date of his arrival early in 1623. Roger did not remain long in Plymouth. There were differences between him and the Pilgrim Fathers, he being a Puritan and they Separatists, and although these differences were not sufficiently marked to subject him to the treatment meted out to Allan and John Lyford, he left Plymouth for Nantucket, where they had settled soon after their expulsion from the former place. While here he appears to have made use of the island in Boston harbor, now called Governorâs Island, but then and for some time afterward known as Conantâs Island. The Dorchester Company was formed in 1622-3, and in 1624-5 Roger Conantâs reputation as âa pious, sober and prudent gentlemanâ reaching its associates, they chose him to manage or govern their affairs at Cape Ann. While here a proof of the truth of the report was given them in the magnanimity and justness, as well as prudence, exercised by him in settling a dispute over the possession of a fishing stage between Miles Standish, âthe captain of Plymouth,â and a captain Hewet, who had been sent out by the opposite party. This scene has been made the subject of a window in the Conant Memorial Congregational Church, recently erected at Dudley, Mass., by Hezekiah Conant. Cape Ann was not a suitable place for settlement; the land was poor and the merchandise brought from England unproductive of lucrative returns. Roger selected a site âon the other side of a creek called Naumkeag (now Salem),â and shortly after removed there. During his stay at Cape Ann Roger occupied the great frame house which had been built by the old planters in 1624. The frames, it is said, and probably with truth, were brought from England. The timbers are oak, yet sound, and in existence still as a part of a stable. The house, as given in the accompanying illustration, is taken from a drawing made in 1775. It is similar to many of the old houses of the same date, and still the most picturesque features of the villages in Surrey and Devon. This house was occupied by Endicott when [Illustration: ROGER CONANTâS HOUSE, SALEM, MASS., 1628, FIRST GOVERNOR OF MASS. BAY COLONY.] appointed Governor, it being taken down and removed to Salem. The exact site of Rogerâs house, the first built in Salem, cannot be ascertained. Subsequent records go to show that the stability, the permanency and good government of the colony were largely dependent upon the influence of Conant, although after the appointment of Endicott as Governor, under the new patent, he was no longer the head. During the rivalry between the members of the old and the new company his self-denial and upright character won him friends on both sides and secured that harmony which resulted in the public good; he âquietly composed that the _meum_ and _tuum_ which divide the world should not disturb the peace of good Christians.â There has been some controversy among the antiquarians on Roger Conantâs claim to the title of first Governor of Massachusetts. He is, however, entitled to the honor, for the colony of which he was the recognized head for three years was the first permanent settlement in the territory, and from it the other colonies sprung. There are many documents extant, besides entries in the records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, which go to prove how frequently Roger Conant was called upon to fill offices and do his share in the numerous works inseparable from the building up of a country, the knowledge and experience as well as the influence of the âprudent Christian gentlemanâ being invaluable to his fellow-townsmen and settlers. In 1668 that part of Salem known as Bass River, on the Cape Ann side, was incorporated under the name of Beverley, and one of the most interesting incidents of his long and active life is Roger Conantâs effort to change this name for that of Budleigh. The original petition, which however was not granted, is among the Massachusetts archives. It is interesting as showing how the memory of his birth-place still remained fresh in his affections. He died November 19th, 1678, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. From this date until that of the Revolution the succeeding generations of Conants have left individual records of worth, as landed proprietors in the State of Massachusetts; but it is unnecessary here to enter into their history. Several of them were graduates of Harvard University, and many of them mill-owners, thus carrying on the calling and talents of their ancestor, as we shall see, to the seventh, eighth and ninth generation; Hezekiah Conant, of Pawtucket, being a large owner of the great thread works of J. P. Coates, employing five thousand hands; and Daniel Conant, the authorâs father, also a mill-owner in Upper Canada, a property which contributed largely to his success. CHAPTER II. The American Revolution--Personal rule of King George III.--Washingtonâs politeness--Valley Forge--Washingtonâs prayer--Raw New England levies--John Hancock--Other leaders and generals--Colonel Butler--Murder, not war--Roger Conant removes to Canada--An old deed--Governor Simcoe--York (Toronto). âThere are moments, bright moments, when the spirit receives Whole volumes of thought on its unwritten leaves; When the folds of the heart in a moment unclose, Like the innermost leaves from the heart of the rose; And thus when the rainbow had passed from the sky, The thoughts it awoke were too deep to pass by; It left my full soul like the wings of a dove, All fluttâring with pleasure, and fluttâring with love.â Upon the outbreak of the American Revolution there were three brothers, Conants, of the sixth generation from Roger the Pilgrim, in Massachusetts. Two of these took sides at once with the patriots and joined Washingtonâs army when that General came from Virginia and took command at Cambridge. One of them, Daniel Conant, was wounded at Lexington, April 19th, 1775. The third, Roger, and the authorâs immediate ancestor, believed that the wrongs of the colonists would be righted in time by petition, and while expressing his sense of these wrongs, refused to join the patriot army. Copy of statement in âConant Genealogy,â page 252: âThe name of Roger Conant of Ealton appears on the muster-roll of Capt. Abiah Mitchellâs Company, which was down at the Alarmâ (âMass. Arch. Lexington Alarm Lists,â Vol. XIII., p. 16) and Roger Conant served one month and twelve days as corporal in Scottâs Company of Ashleyâs Regiment, âwhich marched from Westmoreland, Chesterfield and Hinsdale to Ticonderoga on the alarm of May 8th, 1777â (N. H. State Papers, Vol. XV., p. 6). To-day, however, we all rejoice at the success of the colonies, and that the personal rule of King George III. was terminated. The brothers met frequently and talked over current events. Among the reminiscences of these conversations the following anecdotes have been handed down from father to son, and although they have no direct relation with Upper Canada, they may be worth repeating, as showing a little of the personal character of some of the actors in the life of that time. Washington, when at Cambridge, was riding one day to a distant part of the field, attended by several of his aides and gentlemen of the New England Colonies. On the way he met a mounted negro, who took off his hat and bowed very profoundly, showing his teeth and the whites of his eyes as he smiled and exclaimed, âHow are you, General, how are you?â General Washington quickly lifted his hat, and though not halting his horse, replied courteously to the salutation. One of the New England gentlemen who accompanied him remarked to Washington, âI wonder you take the trouble to salute that negro!â Washington replied, âIt would, indeed, be a hard matter if I had not as good manners as a negro.â The fortunes of war in 1777-80 brought the struggle to Valley Forge, just north of Philadelphia. Here the patriot army wintered in log cabins in the forest. Daniel Conant returned to his place in the ranks, and during the long winter met most of the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Among these was a fatherly Tory Quaker who one day met Washington on foot, walking within the lines, looking sad and dejected. âThe British will hang thee, George,â said the Quaker. In a twinkling the great man revived, pulled down the collar of his coat, and saying, âThis neck never was made for a halter,â walked briskly away. A few days after the Quaker was walking alone in the forest. While making his way he heard a voice being lifted up in prayer. Pushing the bushes aside in the direction of the sound, he saw Washington, bare-headed and kneeling in the snow, with upturned face and closed eyes, asking the God of battles to preserve his little army and himself, and to favor the right. Reverently the Quaker waited until the General had ended his prayer, then he stepped to his side as he rose, and said, âGeorge, thee will succeed and conquer the British.â As to the character of Washington, there never were two opinions; he seemed always to tower above all and every one. At first when he came to New England, they said, he was disposed to find fault and look with doubt upon the New England levies. Time, however, corrected that, and not a few of the Revolutionary generals and leaders among them became known as genuine men. John Hancock the Conant brothers did not care for, saying that he went into the war mainly to avoid the heavy suits then pending against him for customs dues. Among the leading civilians they admired and revered John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, although they did say of Adams that he was always finding fault with the British Government, and that he was offered lucrative offices in order to keep him quiet; but he was not to be held. General Knox, who was a Boston bookseller, they always spoke well of. Greene and Schuyler they thought were men who possessed real military ability and were high-minded gentlemen. Ethan Allen and General Putnam they thought brave men, but not in possession of military abilities. Roger Conant said of Sir William Johnson, that âhe was the cleverest man he had ever met. He could manage both Indians and white men.â He had met Brant also, and always spoke of him as âone of natureâs noblemen with a tawny skin.â Colonel Butler, of Butlerâs Rangers, and his acts were most frequently recalled; words failed to express the abhorrence of this marauder and his acts. Roger Conant had tarried in New York State when on his way to Canada, and knew something of the horrors of the civil war. He had met Butler and readily listened to tales told him in later years by a man who had been one of Butlerâs Rangers. This man lived with Roger Conant as his hired servant. He told him that he and others, with Butler in command, had many times entered defenceless houses and murdered at the first instance the man and wife. Next the children were brought before the great gaping open wood fireplaces of those days and bayoneted, the bayonet passing quite through their little bodies, and were held over the flames that the soldiers might âwatch them squirm,â as he expressed it. The man would also frequently call out in his troubled dreams when asleep, such words as, âThere they are! Donât you see them squirm? Bayonet that big boy!â acting over again the murderous scenes. These stories were told the author by his ancestors many times as no fanciful picture. On another occasion Butler captured a small garrison of Continentals in New York State, who marched out and surrendered their arms. One among them, a former neighbor of Butlerâs, came to the gate and bade the major âGood day.â During the early period of the war this man had been enrolled among King Georgeâs levies, but had never served. âStand out by that tree,â said Butler, and the man obeyed. On the last man emerging from the garrison and surrendering his arms, Butler ordered half a dozen of his Rangers to âRight about face--present arms--fire!â and his neighbor never breathed again. During the early months of the war and its continuance the brothers Conant met of an evening behind blinded windows and closed doors. On canvassing matters thoroughly they came to the conclusion that the colonies would never succeed, and that Great Britain would in the end wreak terrible vengeance on those in rebellion. Britainâs name carried with it a sense of power and unlimited resources, and Roger Conant could not make himself believe that she would ever let the colonies go. As time went on, too, his position in Massachusetts became a difficult one, so he resolved to leave all and flee to Canada. He had been educated for the law, and had attended Harvard University. He owned several thousands of acres of land, both in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Money was a scarce commodity then, as every one knows who has read attentively the history of that struggle, and for his large property Roger Conant could only get together $5,000. This, with the aid of his brothers, he obtained in gold, and in 1777 he set out from the vicinity of Boston with his family. Their conveyance was a covered waggon drawn by two horses, and following was an ox-team drawing a cart laden with household goods and farm implements. His first stop was about the Hudson River. When there the commandant of that point asked him to look for a deserter from the American army. A photographic reproduction of the captainâs order is herewith given. Strange to say, it is not dated; but it was given in the year 1777. From the records extant Roger appears to have made some stay here--some authorities say on land of his own, which he sold later. A quit-claim deed is reproduced in fac-simile (page 29), conveying a valuable island on the New England coast. Reserving [Illustration: REWARD FOR A DESERTER, 1776, AT WEST POINT.] [Illustration: DEED OF ISLAND IN BOSTON HARBOR.] wood in a deed is peculiar, and it is set forth in a singular way. The Charles Annis mentioned in this deed was a relative of Roger Conantâs, and came to Canada from Massachusetts soon after him. From him most of the Annises in Canada are descended. Leaving his family at Geneva, New York State, Roger Conant came on to Canada, arriving at the locality afterward called Darlington, County Durham, Ontario, in October, 1778. The first Crown grant of land to Roger Conant was made December 31st, 1778. It consisted of lots 28, 29, 30 and 31, in the Broken Front, Darlington; also south halves of lots 28, 29, 30 and 31, 1st concession Darlington, County Durham--in all about 1,200 acres. After building a house on his land, and probably clearing some portion of it, he returned to Geneva. What he did between this date and 1794, when he brought his family to Canada, is not known. It is said that during these intermediate years he went to and from Massachusetts several times, in order to collect the proceeds of the sale of his property there. It was during these years that, it is said, he lived among Butlerâs Rangers, and from their deeds of violence learned to execrate their memory. In 1794 he set out again, stopping at Genesee Falls, where Rochester, N.Y., now is. Once the author asked why they did not remain there, and was told that âit was only a black ash swamp, and they did not want it.â Governor Simcoeâs proclamation, offering grants of land in Upper Canada to those who would come and occupy them, hurried Roger Conantâs journey. Arriving at the mouth of the Niagara River, and hiring a flat scow in which to ferry himself, his family and effects over, he landed at Newark, then the capital of Upper Canada. While there he met Governor Simcoe, who tried to induce him to go up Yonge Street to lands on Lake Simcoe; but not relishing the idea of leaving the shores of Lake Ontario for the wilderness, he refused. The Governor then asked him if he would fight against Canada if trouble came. Rogerâs reply was, âNo, sir, I will fight for the country which protects me.â And, as we shall presently see, he made good his promise by aiding the British cause in the subsequent war of 1812. Following the lake shore, camping at night, and fording the streams where they debouch, they at last reached the site of York, then a cluster of Indian wigwams with a few houses in process of erection. The river Don being too deep to ford, they hired Indians to convey them over in their canoes. The waggons were taken apart and so ferried across, when they were put together again, and the emigrants proceeded along the broken shores of the lake. CHAPTER III. A home in the wilderness--Salmon fishing--An idyllic life--Logging--Fur trade--Durham boats--Rapids of the St. Lawrence--Trading with the Indians--The Hudsonâs Bay Company--_Coureurs du bois_--Maple sugar making--Friendly Indians. âOur young, wild land, the free, the proud! Uncrushâd by power, unawed by fear, Her knee to none but God is bowâd, For nature teaches freedom here; From gloom and sorrow, to light and flowers Expands this heritage of ours: Life, with its myriad hopes, pursuits, Spreads sails, rears roofs, and gathers fruits. But pass two fleeting centuries back, This land, a torpid giant, slept, Wrappâd in a mantle, thick and black, That oâer its mighty frame had crept, Since stars and angels sang, as earth Shot from its Maker into birth.â Golden autumn days were those when the emigrantsâ long journey was nearing its end. Provision must first be made for the cattle and horses. October was upon them and winter near. [Illustration: ROGER CONANTâS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN DARLINGTON, CO. DURHAM, UPPER CANADA, 1778.] At Arnallâs Creek--then known as Barberâs Creek--they found a flat of marsh-grass quite free from the forest trees which then were universal above the waterâs edge of Lake Ontario. Here they pitched their tents, the creek and lake forming two sides of a triangle for defence from wolves, leaving one side only to be protected. Salmon would run in November, and the winterâs supply of fish could be secured from the creek, and the marsh-grass gathered for the stock from the flat at its mouth. The illustration opposite is of the first house built by Roger Conant in Upper Canada. The foundation of it yet remains close by the waters of Lake Ontario. The man in the foreground of the picture is pounding or crushing grain with a burnt-out stump as a mortar, using as a pestle a billet of wood which is attached to a spring pole, thus raising it easily. There was no mill nearer than Kingston where the corn could be ground. At Port Hope (then called Smithâs Creek), in 1806, Elias Smith erected a grist-mill. Previous to that date the settlers took their grist by boat to Kingston, at the foot of Lake Ontario, 110 miles distant. The journey occupied several days, necessitating their camping on the shores at night. At the home by the broad waters of Lake Ontario the settlers led a truly idyllic life. The unerring rifle supplied them with meat, the waters with fish, and the distant mill with flour until a crop could be grown from the cleared land next season. They spent the days âloggingâ (felling the trees) and the nights burning. The bright flames among the trees and against the dark background of the dense forest made a picturesque scene. A singular fact about âloggingâ is that the log-heaps burn better at night than by day; therefore the logging was done in the day-time and the burning by night. (See illustration, page 40.) But to make money in this new country, where there were no neighbors nor any travellers to buy, nor any money to buy with, was a more difficult feat than making a home. Furs and furs only would bring money. Possessing some capital (about $5,000, as already stated), Roger Conant made his way to Montreal by canoe, and there about 1799 had Durham boats built--broad-beamed open flat boats, strongly built for rowing and towing. These he filled with blankets, traps, knives, guns, flints, ammunition, beads and tomahawks, bought in the Montreal stores, to trade with the Indians for furs. On page 48 is an illustration of three Durham boats ascending the rapids of the great St. Lawrence River, each towed by three men. They were launched above the greater rapids near Montreal, and hugged the shores while passing the others. An axe was always ready to the hand of the man who sat in the boat and steered, for should the rapid be too strong and get the mastery of the three men who were towing from the shore, the rope was quickly cut, and the Durham, freed, shot like a catapult down stream, until it was lodged in the first cul-de-sac below. It was manifestly a most tediously slow and weary mode of progress. There were no canals built then as now, to form an easy highway past the rapids. Once attaining Lake Ontario they paddled and rowed, still keeping close along shore and camping at some convenient landing-place at night. In the illustration on page 65 we have a fair representation of an Indian trading scene. The goods brought from Montreal in the Durham boats have been carried back to a spot a few miles from the lake shore, in charge of the trader and his assistants. Three guns were fired in quick succession upon reaching camp the previous night, as a signal for all Indians within hearing to come with their furs to trade on the morrow. A beaver skin is lying upon the ground, an Indian is negotiating for a blanket, while another is looking at a gun, and others are coming in with their furs on their backs. A few daysâ trading exhausts the goods brought by the trader. He returns home with the furs received in exchange, deposits them, replenishes his pack, and sets out on other trips in different directions, until all the goods are exchanged, and the following summer the furs are taken to Montreal in the same Durham boats, where gold and silver, as well as a further supply of goods, are obtained for them. There is no record of Roger Conant having shipped his furs direct to London, England. As good prices were paid for furs in Montreal, it is most probable he disposed of them there. Year after year the trade was continued without interruption. It brought wealth to the authorâs grandsire, honestly and fairly obtained. The great Hudsonâs Bay Company maintained a regular chain of trading stations upon the north shore of Lake Ontario, as they did in the far west and the Arctic north. The trading stations on Lake Ontario being near to Quebec and Montreal, and close together, were easily supplied with trading goods. At the period of which we are now writing, when my forefather became an opponent to the great Hudsonâs Bay Company in the fur trade (1798), that Company had a trading station very near his home--only some three miles to the west, and on what is now known as Bluff Point, a promontory two miles east of Port Oshawa. This trading station was not fortified, but consisted of a well-built, commodious log-house, with flat roof, and the corners of the house squared and neatly joined. Standing upon the promontory, it was easily accessible to the boats passing up or down the lake. In the spring the boats would come up from Montreal, generally gaily painted, and rowed quite close to shore, with song and laughter. After making the round of the trading stations of Lake Ontario, they came back in the same manner in the fall, laden with furs and Montreal-ward bound. âHere come the Hudson Bay boats!â was the word on the day of their arrival. During their first years in the wilderness the visit of these boats was an event in the lives of the settlers. Halcyon days were these for the _coureurs du bois_ (as the Frenchmen were called who manned these boats), who were often traders themselves. However, the influx of settlers and fur traders, such as my forefathers were, presented such a strong opposition to the Company, that it gradually gave up Upper Canada as an exploiting ground, and maintained its hold of regions more inaccessible. A princely heritage, forsooth! All of fertile Upper Canada to roam over--mastery of the Indians--and a steady stream of gold coming in from the trade in furs. This Hudsonâs Bay Company is one of the marvels of the world. Its charter was granted by Charles II. in 1670 to some favorites, and from this inception it rapidly went on to growth and prosperity, acquiring almost despotic rule over its territories. Its servants never have plundered it. Its factors, having charge over stores and furs of immense values, away off from white men or the eyes of any who could take an interest in watching them, have always been faithful to their trust. There is no record extant of a dishonest factor. No government, priest or king ever had servants more faithful than have been the directors of this Honorable Hudsonâs Bay Company of Fur Traders for the two hundred and twenty-eight years of its existence. Sugar-making was another pursuit which, if it did not add great wealth to the settlerâs pocket, at any rate increased his home comforts. The illustration on page 78 is a good representation of a sugar-making camp in the bush. The troughs at the foot of the trees receive the sap, which drips from a transverse slit in the bark, made by two blows of a hatchet, at some few feet above the ground. This trough was then no more than a hollowed-out half log, the ends left closed. The sap runs best during the day, as the warmth of the sun draws it up to the branches. It is carried in pails to the great caldrons, set over the fire on a cross limb, and poured into the one on the right side. When it has boiled, it is then transferred in rude ladles to the caldron on the left, where it is further reduced by boiling, and becomes sugared sufficiently to ensure its hardening when poured into the pans and other receptacles. When hard, these are turned out and set upon cross-sticks in tiers to dry. The earliest sap which rises makes the lightest colored sugar. The Indians are about and assisting in the work. They were always friendly, never stole or deceived, and were ever the white manâs friend in Upper Canada. Those in the neighborhood of my grandfatherâs settlement were chiefly Mississaugaus. Every summer they went away to the small lakes north of Ontario, and came back in the fall for the salmon and sturgeon fishing, living in lodges or wigwams. These are covered with birch bark. The illustration, given on page 84, is not overdrawn as a representation of an Indian camp. CHAPTER IV. Waubakosh--Making potash--Prosperous settlers--Outbreak of war of 1812--Transporting military supplies--Moode Farewellâs hotel--âHereâs to a long and moderate warâ--A lieutenantâs misfortune--âOpen in the Kingâs nameâ--Humors of the time--Ingenious foragers--Hidden specie--Hardships of the U. E. Loyalists. âNow push the mug, my jolly boys, And live while we can, To-morrowâs sun may end our joys, For briefâs the hour of man, And he who bravely meets the foe His lease of life can never know.â Waubakosh was an Indian chief of the Mississaugaus. Every fall, from the year 1808 to 1847, he came with his tribe (or at least 150 of them) to the shore of Lake Ontario, that he and they might fish. Their lodges were almost invariably constructed on the bank of a creek, near its mouth, that they might take the salmon ascending the stream in November to spawn, and fish in the lake from their boats, with light-jack and spear, for sturgeon. [Illustration: LOGGING SCENE. ROGER CONANT IN DARLINGTON, CO. DURHAM, UPPER CANADA, 1778.] First he came as a young Indian brave, before he became chief, and, on attaining the chieftainship and a wife, the only difference which the few white settlers here at that time could discover in his attire was that his deerskin leggings were more beautifully fringed at the seams, and his moccasins likewise were more elaborately wrought with porcupine quills. Waubakosh was never known to commit a mean act. He was always friendly, and every succeeding fall his coming back was looked for with certainty by the white settlers, who got their living in the clearings and from the waters, as much hunters and fishermen as farmers. On bidding his white friends good-bye, about December, 1847, as he set out for the Indian encampment about Nottawasaga, in the thick woods, the Indian chief expressed the fear that he might never come back again. His fears were only too well founded, for he never did return. Old residents who knew him have been heard many times to wonder what was his ultimate fate. More strange still to say, not one of his tribe ever came back again to lodge any length of time. A noble-looking red man, he has been described as tall and straight, with a good face and a pleasant eye--in very truth, one of Natureâs noblemen. Many of his companions who predeceased him were buried near his camping-place on Lake Ontario. Their tomahawks, beads, flints, spears, ornaments, and buttons, and their skulls as well, have been found in recent years by those seeking for traces of the aboriginal red man. * * * * * As a means of money making, next to the fur trading in Upper Canada came the making of potash. Ashes were about in plenty, and were easily gathered from the burnt heaps of logs. In the illustration facing page 97 the artist has endeavored to show the intense heat required. The fire about the kettle is blazing furiously. This is the âmelting scene,â and the last firing before the potash will be done. The driest and most inflammable wood was needed to secure the great heat that was necessary. Potash, from 1800 to about 1840, brought some $40 per barrel in Upper Canada, and with the fur trading helped to make wealth for my grandsire and others. On the breaking out of the war of 1812, between Britain and the United States, the settlers in Upper Canada were generally on the high road to prosperity, cultivating a land as fertile as any under heaven outside the valley of the Nile, and with less waste land than in any country of like extent. Such was and is Upper Canada. It is blessed, too, with a mild, salubrious climate, where the four seasons are distinctly marked. We have seen that husbandry, begun about 1812, gradually became a national industry. Wheat at that time could only be sold for
{'title': 'Upper Canada Sketches by Thomas Conant', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}