The story passed down in the Gray family was that the first of the brothers, James, came to Upper Canada in 1816, with the others following over the next few years. James Gray, the veteran soldier of the West Indies and War of 1812, after being honorably discharged from his 7 years of military service in Scotland in April of 1815, received his grant of land free and clear in 1816, and you had to show up in person to register your claim. As a soldier there were none of the grant requirements that other settlers had, that had to be obliged over 5 years before getting clear title. Whether he came alone or whether one of his brothers came with him, we don’t know, as there are no records of when some of the brothers arrived, but James did convince 4 of his brothers and his mother to make the journey later, with the last of them crossing in 1825.
Another family story was the ‘the voyage took 16 weeks by sailing vessel, the boat drifted back, yet persisted and came on.’ The family lore didn’t elaborate on who’s trip that was, whether it was James or one of his brothers. There was however, the ship ‘The Good Intent’ that took 2 to 3 months to make the journey in 1816; perhaps that was the ship that James was on.
From some reports of journeys from captains and passengers, the passage could be delayed by uncertain winds sending the ship the wrong direction, doldrums, storms, damage to the ship, fog, and fields of ice that held the ship fast for weeks with no forward momentum. Weather was particularly bad in 1816. It was the ‘year with no summer’ due to heavy atmospheric dust from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia blocking the sunlight. There was snow in Upper Canada in June and frost every month. It must have been a nasty, damp, cold trip in 1816.
Ships records for this time period are sketchy, with most ships with steerage passengers simply listing ‘and 16 settlers’ or ‘and 29 passengers’ so we don’t know which ship James would have sailed on, but it would have been a brig, a 2 masted square rigged sailing ship used for the lumber trade coming from Canada, and rigged out by the ships carpenter with bunks two high on each side of the boat below decks for settlers for the return trip to Canada. The bunks were 6 1/2 feet long and 18 inches wide. Passengers provided their own straw filled mattress covered in cotton ticking, sheet and blanket. They also prepared their own meals on board so they had to provision themselves for the journey, which under normal circumstances took 7 weeks. The steerage was only 5 1/2 feet high so bumping ones head would have been a common event. I imagine James, at 5’11” when he couldn’t be on deck, spent much of his time in steerage sitting, or lying down. Passage in steerage was 3 pounds 10 shillings and that got you your berth and 3 quarts of fresh water a day. For another 3 pounds you could have your meals prepared. As a veteran though, James sailed for free.
As a soldier who’d already been to Canada, James would have had some idea of what food to take for the journey, but perhaps as a bachelor he opted for the meal plan/ships provisions! Some letters I’ve found from settlers in Upper Canada to family in Scotland talk about the difficulty of cooking on board, as you had to fight to take your turn in the ships cookhouse. One letter from a man to his brother suggested bringing enough salt pork and salt fish, oatmeal, potatoes, hard baked bread, and a little whiskey for provisions; whereas a letter from a woman had a much longer list with suggested amounts for each week and all the pots, pans, kettle, plate and cutlery. 5 pounds of oatmeal for a week seems extreme to me, but apparently it was common in Scotland for people to make enough oatmeal for a week, let it set up in a kitchen drawer, then slice it for their mid day meal, and they’d cook up fresh oatmeal for breakfast each day. So perhaps 5 pounds of oatmeal for a week wasn’t overly much.
Both suggested just rough clothes for the journey, nothing fancy, as anything nice would be ruined by the salt water; and to take plenty of sturdy woolen clothes and practical boots for Canada. Many Scottish emigrants to Upper Canada would come with nothing other than some clothes, their bed roll, an ax and a bible.
And so, across to Canada, up the St Lawrence to Quebec City. It must have been fascinating sailing up the river, the beauty of the shores with the thick forests, pretty farms along the shores. At Quebec City, where they must have been amazed and impressed by majesty of the citadel up on the cliff, the passengers disembarked and took a steamship to Montreal which was as far as the boats could go, this was a relatively quick trip done in 36 hours. Going back to Quebec only took 24 hours if you ever wanted to go the other way.
After that came the Durham boat journey. The Durham boat is an open boat, 8 feet wide by 40 to 60 feet long, with a sail and a crew of 10 voyageurs to pole the boat up the river, and in some sections of the river, the passengers would have to get out and walk along the shore, while the voyageurs pulled the boat through the rapids, the pace was very slow and it took 12 days. The boat would be pulled ashore at night and those that didn’t want to sleep on the boat could sleep on the shore. When going up river, the boat would have to stop every 1 1/2 hours for the crew to rest, and the boat would stop for meals with everybody out to cook their meals on the shore. If you ever wanted to reverse the trip, going downstream took 3 to 4 days, a dangerous trip shooting the rapids.
Finally arriving at Kingston, Ontario, now with a walk of 166 miles to go! There would be steamboats from Kingston to Toronto in just a few years, as well as a stage along the Kingston Road, but the stage was very rough on what was in many sections a corduroy (log) road, so most people would prefer the steamboat. At this point in time, there was no flour mill in York, and the nearest flour mill was in Kingston, so if you wanted flour, you had to bring your wheat to Kingston and then your flour back to York, so this track was well used by the settlers from York. James brother William would see this opportunity and build a flour mill on the Don River.
Most of the Gray brothers would make this same journey and walk the same trail. Another bit of family lore is that when Alexander Gray, James younger brother, would walk this trail, he came across a clearing with a half dozen log cabins and approaching a lady milking her cow, he asked, “Hou far is it tae Muddy York?” She replied, ‘Ye’re standin i the middle o’t. laddie.”
The population of York (which would eventually become Toronto) in 1816 was 720 people.
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