Family Ties: Ontario Turns 150
Stories of four family groups in Ontario at the time of Confederation
(a talk by Dr. Jay Young)
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Dr. Jay Young from the Archives of Ontario spoke to us about “Family Ties: Ontario Turns 150 – Stories of four family groups in Ontario at the time of Confederation”. The Archives of Ontario’s mission is to collect, preserve, promote and make available Ontario’s documentary history. The families they selected for this exhibit were to be representative of those in Ontario in 1867, but of course they had to meet other criteria as well, including the availability within the Archives of documents and photos of them.
Dr. Young first discussed the family of George Brown, the publisher of the Toronto Globe newspaper. He had photos of George, his wife Anne, and their children. Brown advocated constitutional reform, wanting a federal union with two levels (as we have now) in order to break the deadlock in the United Canadas: Canada East and West each had the same number of seats. Brown wanted seats to be distributed according to population, which would give Ontario more seats than Quebec. Brown lost his run for parliament in 1867 and never sat in the House although he was later appointed to the Senate. He was murdered in 1880 at age 61 by an ex-employee. His daughters were among the first five female graduates of the University of Toronto. You can find an online exhibit about the Brown family – go to http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/familyties/index.aspx.
The second family Dr. Young discussed were Nasa and Permillia McCurdy, free blacks who arrived at Amherstburg with their four children by 1856. He pointed out that for most people in rural Ontario, the only records of their activities are generally census and tax records, plus vital statistics after 1869. These can all be found through archives. The McCurdy’s great-great-grandson Howard was the second black person to serve Canada as an MP; he died earlier this year at age 85.
The Wolverton family of Oxford County could be included in this presentation because of the existence of abundant correspondence between Rose and her brother Alonzo. When the American Civil War broke out, all four of Rose’s brothers went south to fight on the Union side, including 15-year-old Newton who accompanied 20-year-old Alonzo to join up as teamsters. Newton returned home after their one-year hitch, and later joined the Oxford Rifles militia; Alonzo remained in the US and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. The other two brothers were killed in fighting. Rose’s letters told Alonzo about everything happening in Canada, e.g. a November 1864 letter mentioned the Quebec Conference discussing confederation. She also wrote to him while he was in Tennessee and asked for a lock of his hair so she could make it into something – perhaps not the elaborate hair wreath shown on page 1, but similar. Fortunately Alonzo brought the letters he received back home when he returned, and a descendant donated all the correspondence to the Archives. (Dr. Young pointed out that all the colours of flowers in the wreath are made from hair, even the white ones. Someone devoted great effort to create such an artifact.)
The final family group Dr. Young discussed were the families of Shingwauk. Chief Shingwauk of Garden River First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie signed the Robertson Huron Treaty in 1850, and wanted Indigenous children to be educated in both traditional knowledge and the knowledge of European settlers. A large school was erected at Sault Ste. Marie for this purpose. Chief Shingwauk had a vision of cross-cultural education, and for the first twenty years or so, native knowledge was indeed part of the curriculum. Unfortunately that vision faded, and the school became like other residential schools.
You can visit the Archives of Ontario’s website at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/. You can also see over 100 videos about events in Ontario and items from their collection on YouTube. You’ll find the Archives of Ontario YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/ArchivesOfOntario.
