Jim McCallum Chairman of the Elgin OGS branch was granted permission by Chris Duff to do the following post. We acknowledge the "Original source" - letters lodged with
the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh. (A few years ago, a
professional genealogist reviewed some of the earlier correspondence in the
NAS files relating to Murison family matters in the 1700s and these were
published in a family history magazine.)
LETTERS FROM CANADA
TO SCOTLAND FROM AUGUST 1873 TO
MARCH 1881.FROM JAMES MURISON IN
ELGIN COUNTY, ONTARIO
TO HIS BROTHER, FRANCIS MURISON, IN ALVAH, BANFFSHIRE, SCOTLAND.
Letter No. 1. St.
Thomas, 20th August 1873.
Mr Francis Murison
Blacksmith
Itlaw
Alvah, Banffshire
My Dear Brother and
Friends,
You will at this time
be thinking me very careless for not writing – well, I will not make any
excuses farther than that I had not much convenience to do so for some time
past. However, I am thankful to God to
be able to say we are all in good health, hoping through His goodness this will
find you all in full enjoyment of the same great blessing.
I did not find work
at Toronto. I believe I would have got a station on a
line that runs from Toronto
to the north if I had stopped there or now as a good extension of it was opened
last week.
When I left Toronto I expected to get a job at Paris Station on the Great Western Railway,
but I was misled on that. We all went to
that place, as James Garrow got work there.
I did not stop but a week there when the Station Master kindly got the
job for me that I have now. I am in
charge of the oil store at this station.
It is the chief station on this branch of the Great Western and the
stations along the line get their stores from here. It is about 200 miles long. There is about 500 belongs to this
company. This portion of it is not
opened for passenger traffic yet, but goods trains have been running on it for
some time. The most of the traffic is
between Chicago and New York as it is the shortest route between
these two places. You would wonder at
the quantity of swine that comes from the western states for New York.
There will sometimes be thirty trucks of them on a train and they are
double-decked and about twice as long as the trucks at home.
My wages is One Pound
16 Pence per week and I got the promise of a better job when the line is fully
opened. However, we can be pretty
comfortable on what we have. House rent
is the worst here as there has been such a rush of people to this place. They tell me the town is nearly doubled in
size since two years, but house rent is looking down now as there is a great
many new houses put up and some people are leaving the place when the lines are
getting completed. There is another line
which is making same times as this one and it runs almost alongside this one
all the way, so you may judge of the traffic by rail between the western and
eastern States which runs through this part of Canada.
It is only last
Tuesday that my family came up from Paris, as James Garrow has work there and
little James was working in a factory at $3 per week and was boarded. But we are together now with the exception of
James Garrow. He stopped behind the rest
a few days as his Master was from home.
He is to get a job here at the railway shop. He will have One Pound 16 Pence to begin with
and it will be a steady job, so the one house will do with us both for some time
at least.
Jane came here about
a week after me. She is with the man
that is Superintendent of the line that I am on. She has $8 per month that is equal to Ten
Pounds in six months. Servant girls are
in great request. I don’t know how many
was looking after Jane – one man would have given her Twelve Pounds per
month. Men are by no means scarce
here. I know of blacksmiths who cannot
get work at their trade, yet some get pretty good wages. $2 to $3 per day and navvies pay is a dollar
and a half.
There is a great many
English around here. This is said to be
one of the mildest places in Canada. The winters are not so severe as it is
north. We are in almost the southmost
part. We are 6 miles from the lake and
there is a boat crosses to the States on the other side. We are fully 100 from Toronto.
This has been a very pleasant summer and fine crops. I have felt it as hot in Scotland but of
course only for a short time. The
weather is steady here. There has been
some thunder storms that I never saw equaled in Scotland. The lightening and thunder scarcely stops
during the time. It lasts about four
hours at a time and is the longest I have seen it rain.
I have had two
letters from brother John. They are all
well. He has and is still working in the
paper factory. He is always full of the
lead mining and he thinks it would yield him something handsome. He has found lead, but not in paying
quantities yet as he has not got the proper depth. He wishes me to go and see him and see if I
would go in with the mining, but it will be next spring at any rate if all is
well if I go then.
There is some fine
farms in this vicinity, but as a rule they are badly farmed. Were they farmed in the same way in Scotland
it would scarcely yield anything. They
say farmer has the best life of any, but it is not good getting into a farm in
this part. It is 200 or 300 miles
farther north where the free grants are to be had. The only way that a man with small means can
get into a farm here is to rent one. It
can be rented for $1 per acre, that is 4 Pounds. There was one fine old Scotsman told me that
he has retired from farming and is living in the town. He has 400 acres let to in 4 farms. He said one of his tenants got on so well
that he bought a farm of his own in the course of 5 years. So one with a knowledge of farming and a
little capital could do well at farming.
So far as I can
discern, the working man has a far better chance here if he is steady. There is as much drunkenness as there is in Scotland. Drink is so cheap. I am sorry to say I see as many of Scottish
drunk as of any other. There was a man
called on me who was a station master on the Buchan branch of the G.N.S.
Railway. He is working as a navvie. He showed me his pay ticket for about 10
Pounds for one month work. But after the
pay he came round about the station beastly drunk for a few days. He has been here four years. His wife and family are still at home and I
do not think they will ever get much good of him.
Ironside that was at
Portsoy is gas manager at London. It is 15 miles north of this. The main line of the G.W. Railway runs
through it and his son who was ticket clerk at Portsoy is clerk to the railway
superintendent there. I have seen him a
good many times. He is a fine young man,
but I have not seen the old boy yet. He
certainly has got on well. His income is
not short of 20 Pounds per month. London is a large city.
I have little doubt
but the double-furrow ploughs would work here, but I will not mind them in the
meantime. I could not say if the small
tine mill would take. They have a pretty
light horse mill that threshes and dresses the grain at same time. I will send you a paper in which you will see
the market price of things. Cows such as
any of yours would cost from $15 to $20.
That is 3 to 4 Pounds, so that will give you some idea of what meat
costs. The best of it is only 3 or 4
pence.
Please let the
friends know how we are and I will write them soon, and write me as soon as you
can as I am anxious to hear how father is.
And send me a Banffshire and People’s Journal. We all join insending you our best wishes and
kind love. How is Grandmother? Is she still with you? I must have done in the meantime.
Your affectionate
brother,
James Murison
P.S. Mr Burgess sent a journal of the voyage to Mr
Anderson, but it had not been received.
He is to send it again as he had a copy.
Perhaps I will do some more to it what my experience of the country is.
