Harold Chambers was working in a bank in
Craig, a small town in Saskatchewan at the time of the 1911 census. Like many
British immigrants, he soon moved to a larger city. He chose Regina, at that
time a rapidly growing centre. It was there that he met his wife-to-be, May
Gilchrist.
*
May’s family were recent incomers to
Regina. Were the couple drawn to each other because they had this in common? Unlike
Harold, May was not alone in Regina. She lived with her parents and brothers
and sisters. It had been a long time since Harold was part of a family. Maybe
that was part of the attraction.
The Gilchrists may have been new to
Regina but they weren’t new to Canada. In fact, May Gilchrist and her brothers
and sisters were third generation Canadians through their father, James
Gilchrist. Of course, that was all a matter of timing. Many of James’ brothers
and sisters were born back in Scotland. Helpfully, one of the questions on the
1901 census asked the year of immigration. The entry for Mary Gilchrist, James’
mother, gave the immigration year as 1853. Although I was unable to find a
passenger list for the family, I was able to piece together parts of the story
of how and why the Gilchrists immigrated.
Islay Shore
The Gilchrists and Mary’s family, the
Hunters, lived and farmed on Islay for hundreds of years. In common with many
areas of Scotland, land on Islay was held by a few landowners and rented by
tenants. Insecure land holding and increasing population added to a combination
of causes that led to immigration starting in the late 18th century.
It waxed and waned in response to outside forces such as official support and
war. The potato famine which devastated Ireland in the 1840s also affected
Islay. Was this the final spur that caused Mary Gilchrist and her husband,
James (senior) to emigrate with their family in 1853?
In doing so, they were following a
well-worn path to Ontario from their island. But it would not have been an easy
journey. Steamships had begun to ply the ocean in 1850 but ticket prices were
still beyond the pocket of most immigrants, especially those like James and
Mary with five or six children in tow. Like most of the immigrants, the family
probably travelled in steerage; in the holds of the ship in a common area,
battling for time to use the one stove supplied to cook the food they had
brought on board. It was a voyage that usually lasted several weeks.
Most immigrants heading to Ontario
landed at Quebec, or more correctly, the quarantine station at Grosse Isle.
Once cleared by medical personnel, they carried on their journey. This would
have involved both land and water travel. Did they catch one of the steamboats
that competed for passengers on the St. Lawrence run from Quebec to Montreal?
These ships were competitive as to price and speed. The speed led to disaster
in 1857. In 1853, the ships would still have been racing each other down the
river. The route they took into Ontario was not clear but they would have taken
advantage of water travel when practicable and there were ships on Lake Simcoe.
A steamship would have deposited the family at Beaverton close to the land that
was their final destination.
Their land was in Thorah, a place where
settlers from Islay had been settling for decades. Did they meet people that
they knew from back home? To my knowledge, no account of their journey
survives. The 1851 census in Kildalton showed a son, Lachlan, who didn’t appear
on the 1861 census in Thorah. Had his death been part of the reason they left
Kildalton, did he die on the journey to the new world or was he lost in their
first years in Ontario? No matter the price, their arrival started a new life
in a new country for the Gilchrist family.
Early Ontario Home
Sources:
* A photo of May Gilchrist in 1908.
**By
Cephas - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27336085
Caldwell, David. Islay:
The Land of the Lordship. Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, 2008.
Campey, Lucille H. The
Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 1784-1855: Glengarry and Beyond. Natural
Heritage Books, Toronto, 2005
Collard, Edgar Andrew. Passage
to the Sea: The Story of Canada Steamship Lines. Doubleday Canada Limited,
1991.
History Committee of the Beaverton Thorah Eldon Historical
Society, The Beaverton Story: Harvest of
Dreams. Beaverton, Ontario, 1984.
Hunter, James. A Dance
Called America: The Scottish Highlands, the United States and Canada. Mainstream
Publishing, Edinburgh, 1994.
Spalding, Simon. Food at
Sea: Shipboard Cuisine from Ancient to Modern Times. Rowman &
Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2015.
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