from stanhope to canada
Here are three accounts of the voyage from England to Canada undertaken in 1817 by John Gardiner along with several of his siblings, two of his children, both of his parents, and several other families, including members of the Emersons and Coatsworths.
From the Vint Family Tree on RootsWeb:
John Gardiner and Matthew Emerson were neighbors in Durham County, England. They lived in the Weardale Valley, with the River Wear running into the North Sea.
The Gardiner and Emerson families sailed from Sunderland in early Summer, 1817, headed around the top of Scotland. They were shipwrecked in the vicinity of the Orkney Islands, with some loss of belongings but no loss of life. After some time they got another ship and headed for Canada again.
Again they were shipwrecked, this time on the coast of Newfoundland, again luckily with no loss of life. Unable to get another ship, they purchased a large boat, called a 'bateau'. In this boat they packed their goods with thirteen persons, and headed for Quebec City, sailing and rowing. They landed nightly, made a fire and spent the nights as best they could.
At times they suffered from rain and cold, and a shortage of food. One day the boat struck a snag making a hole, and they got ashore quickly. Looking for help, they found a priest who immediately sent for his carpenter. This man made good repairs quickly, and the priest kindly declined any offer of money, saying it was a great pleasure to help them.
Packing in their goods, they started out again, arriving at Quebec City six weeks later, where they sold their boat for very little. Estimating the time occupied from the point where [they] shipwrecked [on] the coast of Newfoundland to Quebec City as six weeks, at ten miles a day they traveled approximately 300 miles up the St. Lawrence River. Indians were camped in great numbers along the riverbank, but were harmless.
No mention is made of transportation [from] Quebec to Kingston, [but] it was probably in a stagecoach of some description. There was little money left on arrival at Kingston, [but] all were in good health and happy.
Some of the Gardiners settled in the Kingston area, while others moved to Cavan Township, Durham County.
From the Vint Family Tree on RootsWeb:
John Gardiner and Matthew Emerson were neighbors in Durham County, England. They lived in the Weardale Valley, with the River Wear running into the North Sea.
The Gardiner and Emerson families sailed from Sunderland in early Summer, 1817, headed around the top of Scotland. They were shipwrecked in the vicinity of the Orkney Islands, with some loss of belongings but no loss of life. After some time they got another ship and headed for Canada again.
Again they were shipwrecked, this time on the coast of Newfoundland, again luckily with no loss of life. Unable to get another ship, they purchased a large boat, called a 'bateau'. In this boat they packed their goods with thirteen persons, and headed for Quebec City, sailing and rowing. They landed nightly, made a fire and spent the nights as best they could.
At times they suffered from rain and cold, and a shortage of food. One day the boat struck a snag making a hole, and they got ashore quickly. Looking for help, they found a priest who immediately sent for his carpenter. This man made good repairs quickly, and the priest kindly declined any offer of money, saying it was a great pleasure to help them.
Packing in their goods, they started out again, arriving at Quebec City six weeks later, where they sold their boat for very little. Estimating the time occupied from the point where [they] shipwrecked [on] the coast of Newfoundland to Quebec City as six weeks, at ten miles a day they traveled approximately 300 miles up the St. Lawrence River. Indians were camped in great numbers along the riverbank, but were harmless.
No mention is made of transportation [from] Quebec to Kingston, [but] it was probably in a stagecoach of some description. There was little money left on arrival at Kingston, [but] all were in good health and happy.
Some of the Gardiners settled in the Kingston area, while others moved to Cavan Township, Durham County.
From "The Joys of Emigration: A Contemporary account of the emigration of the Coatsworth family from Teesdale and Weardale to Canada":
In 1806 lead fetched £35 a ton, but the price halved by 1814, and with peace the industry slumped and employment fell to an absolute minimum. Then, in 1816, after several poor agricultural years, there was a disastrous harvest. Thus in the spring of 1817, Tamar Coatsworth...and four of her sons with young families of their own decided to emigrate and start a new life. [T]hey went to the library at Newhouse to consult the Newcastle Courant for a passage in a ship sailing to Quebec.
On 10 May, somewhat later than expected, the Lord Eldon, Captain Clay...sailed from Sunderland, carrying the group of emigrants from Weardale and a cargo of coal, sailcloth, earthenware and tobacco pipes. The voyage to Canada was around three thousand miles and usually took between six to ten weeks, and ships normally made for the Orkneys to wait there for favorable winds before making the Atlantic crossing.
[T]he near disaster which occurred a week after the ship sailed...was reported in the press on 24 May: "The Lord Eldon, Clay, of and from Sunderland, for Quebec, was driven on shore near Kirkwall during a heavy gale on the 17th inst., but it was expected would be got off. She had lost her rudder and was leaky."
Five days later, however, the emigrants were able to resume their passage in another ship, and we can now let John [Coatsworth] tell the rest of the story:
Dear Brother,
If you received a letter I wrote to you from the Orkney Islands, you would read that we were shipwrecked and that Spence [the agent] had engaged a Scottish ship at Strumness to take us to Maramachi [Miramichi] and I wrote that Jos'h and Samuel were vey ill. [James, youngest son of Thomas, died and was buried at Eluick, Orkney, 14 May.]
I believe the cause of their affliction was the measles. Jos'h [aged 12] got better, but Samuel [16 months old] died the 23rd of May, the day after we left the Orkney Island...and it was thought better to have him put overboard that evening, so the mate and one of the sailors sewed him up in a piece of canvas, and eight o'clock in the same evening he was taken upon deck and Jos'h Sheldon read the funeral service over him, then slipped him overboard. And now my friend I leave you to judge what we felt at such a time; the sailors were all well behaved and good seamen, and the captain was very kind to all them who behaved themselves well.
Our Ann [aged four] was very sick all the way almost. Some of our water was very bad. We got to the banks of Newfoundland in five weeks and three days [29 June]. We had many heavy gales of wind, but our ship, by the Providence of God, kept above the waves.
It then calmed when we were on the banks. We all began to fish, and caught a great number of cod and turbit fish, and thought them a great novelty.
In seven days more [6 July] we landed at Maramachi. After we got there we found provisions very high on account of a long hard winter. We found it difficult getting a passage from this place to Quebec because there was nothing there...but in three days time we engaged a schooner for £1, five shillings a passenger...
The Coatsworths' story continues on with many interesting details, but doesn't include any mention of our Gardiner relatives, who made their own way to Quebec before continuing on to their ultimate destinations in the Kingston area.
In 1806 lead fetched £35 a ton, but the price halved by 1814, and with peace the industry slumped and employment fell to an absolute minimum. Then, in 1816, after several poor agricultural years, there was a disastrous harvest. Thus in the spring of 1817, Tamar Coatsworth...and four of her sons with young families of their own decided to emigrate and start a new life. [T]hey went to the library at Newhouse to consult the Newcastle Courant for a passage in a ship sailing to Quebec.
On 10 May, somewhat later than expected, the Lord Eldon, Captain Clay...sailed from Sunderland, carrying the group of emigrants from Weardale and a cargo of coal, sailcloth, earthenware and tobacco pipes. The voyage to Canada was around three thousand miles and usually took between six to ten weeks, and ships normally made for the Orkneys to wait there for favorable winds before making the Atlantic crossing.
[T]he near disaster which occurred a week after the ship sailed...was reported in the press on 24 May: "The Lord Eldon, Clay, of and from Sunderland, for Quebec, was driven on shore near Kirkwall during a heavy gale on the 17th inst., but it was expected would be got off. She had lost her rudder and was leaky."
Five days later, however, the emigrants were able to resume their passage in another ship, and we can now let John [Coatsworth] tell the rest of the story:
Dear Brother,
If you received a letter I wrote to you from the Orkney Islands, you would read that we were shipwrecked and that Spence [the agent] had engaged a Scottish ship at Strumness to take us to Maramachi [Miramichi] and I wrote that Jos'h and Samuel were vey ill. [James, youngest son of Thomas, died and was buried at Eluick, Orkney, 14 May.]
I believe the cause of their affliction was the measles. Jos'h [aged 12] got better, but Samuel [16 months old] died the 23rd of May, the day after we left the Orkney Island...and it was thought better to have him put overboard that evening, so the mate and one of the sailors sewed him up in a piece of canvas, and eight o'clock in the same evening he was taken upon deck and Jos'h Sheldon read the funeral service over him, then slipped him overboard. And now my friend I leave you to judge what we felt at such a time; the sailors were all well behaved and good seamen, and the captain was very kind to all them who behaved themselves well.
Our Ann [aged four] was very sick all the way almost. Some of our water was very bad. We got to the banks of Newfoundland in five weeks and three days [29 June]. We had many heavy gales of wind, but our ship, by the Providence of God, kept above the waves.
It then calmed when we were on the banks. We all began to fish, and caught a great number of cod and turbit fish, and thought them a great novelty.
In seven days more [6 July] we landed at Maramachi. After we got there we found provisions very high on account of a long hard winter. We found it difficult getting a passage from this place to Quebec because there was nothing there...but in three days time we engaged a schooner for £1, five shillings a passenger...
The Coatsworths' story continues on with many interesting details, but doesn't include any mention of our Gardiner relatives, who made their own way to Quebec before continuing on to their ultimate destinations in the Kingston area.
From a pamphlet (printed about 1917) entitled "A Short History of Our People" written by James Emerson and his son J. Murray Emerson:
James Emerson: My father and mother came from Weardale, Durham County, England. My father was Matthew Emerson. My mother's maiden name was Ann Gardiner [1786-1827, a sister of John Gardiner]. Matthew was a farmer who worked in the lead mines in winter. The lead was mixed with silver; he was doing very well. My mother's father and mother [Francis Gardiner (1751-1825) & Mary Blades (1753-1834)] and some of their family [including John Gardiner] had concluded to try their fortune in Canada, and my father and mother agreed to go with them.
They left England early in the summer of 1817, sailing from Sunderland. The weather was stormy and became so terrific that the ship was wrecked in the Orkney Islands. All lives were saved, but the loss of property was great. They had to wait a long time to get another ship sailing for Canada. Finally they sailed and again met stormy weather, and were wrecked on the banks off Newfoundland. Again no lives were lost.
Now they could not get another ship, so my father and uncles agreed to purchase a large boat. They succeeded in getting a fine one, what the French call a bateau. Packing all they had left, they started their long voyage up the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the river, bound for Quebec. Sometimes they would sail and other times had to row. They landed at night on the river bank, built a fire and spent the night as best they could, sometimes suffering from cold and rain and sometimes for lack of food.
Settlers along the river lived mostly on fish. At one time they lived for three days on peas and could get nothing else but fish. In some places fish were corded up like wood along the river bank, and dogs, hogs, and even cows ate at them. The people were French and spoke little English, but were kind and generous.
Time passed slowly. One day while sailing along at good speed...the boat struck a snag, breaking a large hole in it. They got ashore safely, but had no way of repairing the boat. They were advised to go see a priest who lived near by and might be able to help them. My father and Uncle Joseph Gardiner [a brother of John Gardiner] sought out the priest and found him kind and generous. He sent for a carpenter and told him to repair the boat and to do a good job of it, which he did. When they offered to pay the priest, he would take nothing. They were deeply grateful, and loading their belongings into the boat once more, they continued their slow voyage toward Quebec.
They were six weeks reaching Quebec, where they had to sell the boat for very little. The money they had when they left England was mostly gone. From Quebec they went to Kingston, where my parents lived for two years. Two uncles, James and Francis Gardiner [brothers of John Gardiner] settled in Kingston. All were well and happy.
James Emerson: My father and mother came from Weardale, Durham County, England. My father was Matthew Emerson. My mother's maiden name was Ann Gardiner [1786-1827, a sister of John Gardiner]. Matthew was a farmer who worked in the lead mines in winter. The lead was mixed with silver; he was doing very well. My mother's father and mother [Francis Gardiner (1751-1825) & Mary Blades (1753-1834)] and some of their family [including John Gardiner] had concluded to try their fortune in Canada, and my father and mother agreed to go with them.
They left England early in the summer of 1817, sailing from Sunderland. The weather was stormy and became so terrific that the ship was wrecked in the Orkney Islands. All lives were saved, but the loss of property was great. They had to wait a long time to get another ship sailing for Canada. Finally they sailed and again met stormy weather, and were wrecked on the banks off Newfoundland. Again no lives were lost.
Now they could not get another ship, so my father and uncles agreed to purchase a large boat. They succeeded in getting a fine one, what the French call a bateau. Packing all they had left, they started their long voyage up the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the river, bound for Quebec. Sometimes they would sail and other times had to row. They landed at night on the river bank, built a fire and spent the night as best they could, sometimes suffering from cold and rain and sometimes for lack of food.
Settlers along the river lived mostly on fish. At one time they lived for three days on peas and could get nothing else but fish. In some places fish were corded up like wood along the river bank, and dogs, hogs, and even cows ate at them. The people were French and spoke little English, but were kind and generous.
Time passed slowly. One day while sailing along at good speed...the boat struck a snag, breaking a large hole in it. They got ashore safely, but had no way of repairing the boat. They were advised to go see a priest who lived near by and might be able to help them. My father and Uncle Joseph Gardiner [a brother of John Gardiner] sought out the priest and found him kind and generous. He sent for a carpenter and told him to repair the boat and to do a good job of it, which he did. When they offered to pay the priest, he would take nothing. They were deeply grateful, and loading their belongings into the boat once more, they continued their slow voyage toward Quebec.
They were six weeks reaching Quebec, where they had to sell the boat for very little. The money they had when they left England was mostly gone. From Quebec they went to Kingston, where my parents lived for two years. Two uncles, James and Francis Gardiner [brothers of John Gardiner] settled in Kingston. All were well and happy.