COMING OVER ON THE BOAT: EARLY SCOTTISH SETTLERS TO UPPER CANADA
Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown by James Peachey, ca. 1784-1790, Library and Archives of Canada
By Nancy Dupuis
In this 5th instalment piece about the journeys of early Scottish settlers to Upper Canada and their influence in this country, you’ll be intrigued to learn some new details from the pages of historic diaries.
Recently, a friend and great historian in our local area, Marilyn Snedden and I had a chat about the volunteer work I was doing with the Society; it was just a matter of days later when up popped an email from Marilyn – “Nancy, Ken Godfrey gave me permission to share his major effort with you - there is more info there than you'll find anywhere else. He and I both turned 80 this year so his ambitious project was to send an email for each day of the voyage using info from the diaries of passengers on the David of London.”
Say no more; after some very late-night reading, I reached out to Ken Godfrey and was thrilled that he was willing to share these two documents with us. Such history; I have left the documents as received today through the website link because they come straight from the heart of a man’s soul – a love for his past. Ken since writing the original documents has had the help of Charlie Dobie in transcribing the documents to Charlie’s website for all to enjoy.
The master Gilmour 200th. document, as well as the consolidated Day-by-Day Blog document can be found at https://www.ontariohistory.org/godfrey-gilmour-journal.htm - enjoy;
And now, for a bit of a teaser:
John got involved with the Glasgow Trongate Emigration Society, and that is how he, his wife Ann, and 3 sons Hugh, Allan, and James came to Canada. His family and approximately 364 other settlers booked passage on the ship "David of London", which set sail from Greenock (near Glasgow, and from the East Quay), on Saturday, May 19th, 1821. Per John McDonald’s book [page 3] ". . . I left Glasgow for Greenock, to embark on board the ship David of London, for Quebec, alongst with nearly 400 other passengers, where, having gone through the necessary steps at the custom-house, we left the quay on the 19th. of May 1821. A steam boat dragged the ship to the tail of the bank, and the wind being favourable we immediately sailed, and in 28 hours lost sight of land." (Note: Greenock is 25 miles west of Glasgow.) John
McFarlane added in his journal, that after the steam boat brought the ship out at 4:00 p.m., "three tugs brought us clear".
From Greenock, their ship would have sailed down the Firth of Clyde, past the Cloch Lighthouse, and then through the Sound of Bute, and the Sound of Kilbrannan, and past the Mull of Kintyre, which is the southernmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (which they passed on Sunday morning. May 20th). I then assume that the ship headed for Ireland, passing by its north coast.
Please keep in mind, this instalment and ones to follow are my interpretation only of what I have read.
I read with great interest the documentation on the ship, the David of London, having actually been built in Pictou, Nova Scotia. I myself have visited Pictou and am aware of where this would all have taken place so many years before my time. I am forever grateful to both Marilyn & Ken for the sharing of this material; what insight Ken into the history of your family and others on that boat coming across.
The reference to the Mull of Kintyre also struck a chord; not so many years ago, I had the privilege of attending a Paul McCartney concert in Toronto and was privy to the most moving piece of the evening. Please open the link to have a listen; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5626WzsfMw
Until the next time, Nancy