For a presentation earlier in 2019, I combed through a particularly interesting set of records at the Archives of Ontario. Known as RG 11, they were created by the agencies promoting and analyzing immigration to Ontario from about 1834 to about 1902. This post is about a single file of financial records, RG 11-21: folder 15, containing just the five slips of paper reproduced below.
On January 9, 1873, Peter Fleming wrote a short memorandum (see above) to the Honorable Archibald McKellar in Toronto. Fleming was Ontario’s Emigration Agent in Dundee, Scotland. Fleming had been appointed for the navigation season in 1872 and then again in February 1873. He was paid $486 for the 10-month 1873 season.[1]
That memorandum from Peter Fleming had the potential to change the lives of four families. He wrote, in part:
“Meantime I enclose lists of four very eligible families, whom if you can get persons to employ and to advance the deficiency on their passage money I shall be glad. They appear to be very suitable Emigrants.”
Fleming folded his memo around the following slips of paper.
William Hay, Insch Mills, Insch, Aberdeenshire, age 30, born in Marnoch, Banffshire. married. His children were Lillie 7, Mary 5, Jessie 3, and William 20 months.
In the 1871 census, William Hay, a “meal & barley miller” is living about 30 miles away from his family, boarding with widow Helen Law and her young son in the village of Insch.[2] William’s wife Mary (conveniently identified as “meal & barley miller’s wife”) is living with their three daughters Lily, Mary and Jessie, at the Old Mill in Foveran. Each of the daughters has a different birthplace: Lily in Ellon, Mary in Belhelvie, and Jessie’s listed simply as Aberdeenshire.[3] Although these places are no more than 25 miles apart, it probably reflects the itinerant or unstable nature of their father’s job, and may have been a stimulus to consider moving to Canada.
But it seems they didn’t make the move.
By 1881, the Hay family was together, living in Old Machar. William and Mary had added three more kids to the brood—Alice, John, and Alexander. William was employed as a miller and the two eldest daughters, now 16 and 14, were working to help support the family.[4]
John McIntosh, Bridgefit of Boyndie, Banff, age 37, born in the Parish of Alvah, married. His children were James 11, Anne 9, Alex 6, George 3, and John 7 months.
The McIntosh family has been difficult to find because of very common forenames. I’ve come to the conclusion that several of the children may have had middle names that were more commonly used. If I’m right, they were living on Loch Lane in Boyndie in 1871: John, wife Margaret, John (aka James), Anne, and James (aka Alex). The names are confusing, but the ages line up.[5] Sons George and John must have been born after the census was taken.
While the form submitted by emigration agent Peter Fleming indicated that the McIntosh family could leave as early as April (when navigation usually opened), I think I’ve located them on the steamship Phoenician leaving Glasgow on June 11. They arrived at Quebec on June 27, 1873. The only destination shown is Quebec.[6]
There are additional destination registers prepared by Ontario’s Emigration Department. The list for the June sailing of the Phoenician does not include the McIntosh family.[7] This may mean that the family stayed in Quebec for a time, or went to another province or the USA. Or perhaps they arrived in Ontario beyond my search parameters.
John Thain, Upper Cabra By Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire[8], age 36, born in Strichen, married. His children were William 18, Isabella 13, James 11, Helen 9, Richard 7, Maryann 5, John 3, and Robert 1.
In the 1871 census, John was listed as a widower, born in nearby Strichen. Son William who would have been about 16 was not with the family, but siblings Isabella, Alexander J. (James?), Helen, Richard, Mary A. were there, along with unmarried housekeeper Helen Thom, aged 18, and two-year-old boarder John Thom.[9] The census was taken in April, and later the same year, on 5 November, John Thain married Hellen Ann Thom, presumably the housekeeper.[10]
Thain is an unusual name and although I found a few clusters of Thains in Ontario, there wasn’t one in the 1881 census that seemed to match and I didn’t find them in passenger lists. Although I tried various spelling variations, it may be that the “Th” has been misread by indexers.
Or maybe they didn’t make the voyage at all. In the 1881 census, there is a Thain family in Old Deer that fits the bill—John, born in Strichen, younger wife Helen A., twelve-year-old son John T., Robert aged 9, and a new baby Henry.[11]
Alex Watt, Peatfold, Glenbucket, Bridge of Bucket, Aberdeenshire[12], age 30, married. His children were Ann 12, Wm 10, Jas 7, Alex 5, and Robert 2.
When the census was taken in April 1871, Alex seems to have been living away from his family—“farm servant’s wife” Elisabeth and children Ann, James, Alexander, and baby Robert. Son William, aged about 8, is also not listed with his mother.[13] He is likely with extended family. There were lots of Watts in Glenbucket.
The Watt family arrived Quebec, 27 May 1873 from Glasgow on the Corinthian, destination Belleville. I found them recorded on the passenger lists at Library and Archives Canada[14] as well as in an Ontario Emigrant Department’s arrival and destination register recording the same voyage of the Corinthian.[15]
This latter register shows just Alex by name and the rest of the family by category: 1 woman, 3 female children ages 1 to 12, 1 female infant, adding up to 6 souls, or 3 1/2 adults (kids being worth half of an adult). Clearly the compiler was more interested in how the numbers added up than in the correct allocation of gender! The register shows the same Belleville destination, and allocates their acquisition to emigrant agent Begg, rather than Peter Fleming. Alexander Begg was the Commissioner of Emigration for Scotland.
Did they go to Belleville? Certainly not for long. By the 1881 census, the Watt family were farming in Egremont Township, Grey County, with three additional children born in Ontario—Francis in Nichol (Wellington County), Elizabeth in Woolwich (Waterloo County), and Mary in Egremont.[16]
There was another record, an “Assisted immigration register” created by the Emigrant Office staff in Toronto[17] that recorded the names of immigrants who received assistance from the Toronto office. There was an Alex Watt family listed on June 3, 1873. I had dismissed the record because the Watts were shown as English and there were seven of them. However, they did travel on the Corinthian and were headed to Elora—which is in Nichol Township where Francis was born. I think there’s a good chance that Alex was offered a better job in Elora and the Toronto Emigrant Office helped the Watt family get there.
Back to Dundee and our Emigration Agent Peter Fleming. In July 1873, Fleming submitted a report to David Spence, Secretary of the Department of Immigration in Toronto, that sheds some revealing details about the emigration process, his work, and recommendations for improvements in the process.[18] It was included in the Commissioner of Agriculture’s annual report. (I encourage you to follow the link in the footnote. It is fascinating stuff.)
You’ll note that the four slips of paper appear to have been trimmed, at least at the lower edge. I suspect that Fleming was reusing forms from his previous employment for Her Majesty’s Emigration Commissioners. The question of “what colony” reinforces that suspicion. The slips have all been written by the same hand—but not Fleming’s if he wrote the cover memorandum. It is possible that a clerk travelled to each community with Fleming, but perhaps more likely that they were copied onto the forms by a clerk back in the Dundee office. This introduces an additional chance for errors.
The slips are undated, but Fleming points out that many agricultural labourers were on contracts that ended in November. This was the best time to suggest emigration when navigation opened in the spring. There was no point in trying in the summer and autumn.
Peter Fleming’s January 1873 memorandum pointed out that the four families were “very suitable Emigrants”. A big part of that suitability was their willingness to be agricultural labourers. More skilled trades—miller, wright, and shepherd—became secondary.
Whether or not they made the move to Canada, the decision to apply to emigrate must have an impact on the families. Did the Hays and Thains change their minds, or were they disappointed when the passage money didn’t come through? Did some of the next generation leave Scotland? Were the McIntosh and Watt families content with their decisions?
Note of caution to Hay, McIntosh, Thain, and Watt descendants: My Scottish research for this project was limited to indexes on findmypast.com and familysearch.org. Indexes are not original records and may contain errors. Please, please look at the digitized original records at scotlandspeople.gov.uk or through familysearch.org.
[1] Ontario Sessional Papers, 1874 (No. 56: Return of persons appointed to any office, permanent or temporary, from January 1st, 1873, to date.)
[2] Transcription of the 1871 census of the Village of Insch, Insch, Aberdeenshire, viewed on findmypast.com 1 Dec 2019.
[3] Transcription of the 1871 census of Old Mill, Foveran, Aberdeenshire, viewed on findmypast.com 1 Dec 2019. Jessie’s birthplace may be dittoed down from Belhelvie above—one of the disadvantages of a transcription.
[4] Transcription of the 1881 census of Union Glen, Old Machar, Aberdeenshire, viewed on findmypast.com 1 Dec 2019.
[5] Transcription of the 1871 census of 3 Loch Lane, Boyndie, Banffshire, viewed on findmypast.com 7 Dec 2019.
[6] Library and Archives Canada, Passenger Lists 1865–1922 database, accessed 4 Dec 2019.
[7] Archives of Ontario RG 11-17 Emigrant arrival and destination records, microfilm MS 847-7. (Digitized on familysearch.org: film 1405914)
[8] Today, Upper Cabra is the name of a farm near Fetterangus in the municipality of Peterhead. On the 1856 ordnance survey map, it appears to be a cluster of four or five buildings: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/sheet/first_edition/1856-95sheet87. Fetterangus is close to Mintlaw, rather than the Mintlam on John Thain’s application.
[9] Transcription of 1871 census of Upper Cabra, Old Deer, Deer, Aberdeenshire, viewed 30 Nov 2019 on findmypast.com.
[10] Findmypast index “Scotland marriages 1561–1910” viewed 30 Nov 2019.
[11] Transcription of 1881 census of Old Deer, Kininmonth, Aberdeenshire, viewed 30 Nov 2019 on findmypast.com.
[12] Peatfold is a clachan or cluster of houses in the parish of Glenbuchat about 60 km west of Aberdeen, on the edge of Cairngorms National Park. The spelling of “bucket” in Bridge of Bucket and Glenbucket has varied, but today “buchat” is used. http://www.glenbuchatheritage.com/index.asp
[13] Transcription of 1871 census of Peatfold, Glenbuchat, Glenbucket, Aberdeenshire, viewed 5 Dec 2019 on findmypast.com.
[14] Library and Archives Canada, Passenger Lists 1865–1922 database, RG 76 item 1005, page 6
[15] Archives of Ontario RG 11-17, microfilm MS 847-7, item 1, page 126. (Digitized on familysearch.org: film 1405914)
[16] 1881 Census, Ontario, District 154 South Grey, Sub-district Township of Egremont, Division 2, page 30 and 31. Accessed on FamilySearch, image 695 of 741.
[17] Archives of Ontario RG 11-3-0-3, microfilm MS 6913. (Also available on familysearch.org: film 2261382)
[18] It was included in the “Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works for the Province of Ontario on Immigration for the year 1873” in Sessional Papers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 1874, Volume 4, Part II, No. 5, pages 40–42 and has been digitized by Google Books. A very interesting read.