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In writing of the Talbot Settlement, what Irishmen did for London has been indicated. It is not possible, without altering the plan of the book, to do more than mention the names of the prominent early settlers whose families flourish in the capital of the West and the surrounding country. The Hodgins and O'Neals, the Deacons and Shoebottoms, the Talbots and Fitsgeralds, the Waldens, the Langfords, the Gowens, the Stanleys. Freeman Talbot has done more for this part of Canada in the matter of roads than any other man. Then we have the Eadys and Jermyns from Cork, and the Weirs from the North of Ireland; the Westmans, the Ardills, the Guests, the Hobbs. All these have done good work in clearing the wilderness and making comfortable homes for themselves. The Irish are pre-eminent as merchants, lawyers, teachers, and preachers in London. I have not mentioned the Densmores, the Willises, the Ryans, the Dickeys, the Dickinsons. Old Mr. Dickenson boasts one hundred and seven years. Forty years ago those men have carried a bag of wheat on their backs forty miles to get it ground. Dr. Evans was on the London circuit thirty-two years ago, and often slept in a log shanty in which he could not stand upright.

The Fergusons settled in London about fifty-five years ago. They came from the County Cavan. There were only two stores in London at this time. One was owned by the late Honourable G. J. Goodhue and L. Lawrason, the present Police Magistrate. Mr. Tom Ferguson is a son to the eldest of the brothers. William Glass should also be mentioned. His father is still living. The family has been a long time in the country. Col. Shanley, one of the finest old fellows in Canada, is Master in Chancery.

Judge Daniels, formerly of London, was born in the County of Monaghan, and came to this country early. In 1845 he was called to the bar. He was for fourteen years in the Council of London. His father used to keep an inn at the corner of Queen and Yonge Streets, Toronto, a man about four feet high and weighing near 400 pounds. Judge Daniels is full of stories concerning old times in Canada.

The member for London, William Ralph Meredith, LL.B., one of the most promising young men in the Ontario Assembly, is the son of John Cook Meredith, a native of Dublin, who early came

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to Canada. Mr. William Ralph Meredith was born at Westminster, Middlesex, Ontario, in 1840, and was educated at the London Grammar School and the Toronto University. He was called to the bar in 1861, and ten years afterwards was elected a member of the Law Society. He is a member of the Senate of Toronto University. He was first returned to Parliament in 1872. He is a Liberal Conservative. His father, Mr. John Cook Meredith is Clerk of the Division Court. Two of the brothers are lawyers, The ladies of the family are remarkable for their beauty.

Mr. Hugh Macmahon, of London, is one of the most enlightened Irishmen in the Dominion and uses his voice and pen to promote that cordial feeling between his countrymen which it is so desirable should exist in their own interest and in the interest of Canada. On the penultimate day of July he wrote to the London Free Press a letter, which it would be well for many Irishmen if it were graven on their hearts.

Nathaniel Currie was the first representative of West Middlesex in the local House. He came to Canada early. The Hon. Marcus Talbot, sometime M. P. for East Middlesex was lost in the "Hungarian." Strathroy was founded by an Irishman, Mr. Buchanan, the son of the English Consul at New York. He called the place after his father's farm in the County Tyrone, where there is now a post village of the same name. The English's settled in London and afterwards at Strathroy. James and John English are well known men. John English is rapidly winning the confidence of his fellow citizens, and may one day be called on to play a public part.

The picturesque Town of Guelph was largely built up by Irishmen. In 1828 Mr. Timothy O'Connor settled on a farm in the Township of Eramosa. At that time there were but few settlers in the vicinity, and only five houses in what is now the town. Archdeacon Palmer shortly afterwards emigrated to Guelph, and the town gradually advanced. Many Irishmen put down their stakes, amongst whom the Mitchells, the Heffernans, the Chadwicks, the Carrolls and others were prominent, and one or more members of their families took leading positions. Their children are now engaged in various pursuits, and are doing their part towards building up the country. In 1849 Mr. Timothy O'Connor moved

to Guelph Township. He had seven sons and two daughters. The eldest is the proprietor of the Queen's Hotel; the second a prominent farmer; the third a manufacturer; the fourth a lawyer; the fifth who distinguished himself at Fordham College, New York, is the manager-in-chief of an extensive New York manufacturing house. The oldest of the Mitchell family has filled the Mayor's chair in Guelph; the second is a merchant; the third a minister; the fourth a lawyer. Heffernan Brothers are successful dry-goods merchants. The Carrolls are farmers, seven fine men, all over six feet high. Mr. Carroll was an extensive builder, and reputed the wealthiest man in Guelph. One of the most prominent Irishmen in the town is Mr. James Hazelton, one of the Hazletons of Cookstown, Ireland. This gentleman was several times president of the St. Patrick's Society. By his energy and industry he has amassed considerable wealth. There are besides, the Dorans, the Grahams, the Sweetnams, the Mays, the O'Donnells.

I had almost forgotten John Craven Chadwick, fourth son of John Craven Chadwick, of Ballinard, Tipperary, who settled at "Cravendale," near Ancaster, County Wentworth, in 1836, and removed thence to Guelph in 1851, where he still resides. He served on the Niagara frontier during the rebellion of 1837-8, as a volunteer, in Capt. Alexander Mill's troop of cavalry. Subsequently he held a commission in 1st Regiment of Gore Militia. He has been twice named in the Commission of the Peace for the County of Wellington. He served as a delegate to the Diocesan Synod of Toronto, almost continuously, from 1853 until the separation of the Diocese of Niagara from that of Toronto, when he was appointed by the Bishop of Niagara as a member of the Corporation of Trinity College, Toronto. He is a VicePresident of Guelph St. Patrick's Society. He has four sons, viz., John Craven Chadwick, residing near Guelph; Frederick Jasper Chadwick, of Guelph, who has taken an active part in political and municipal affairs for some years, and is Mayor of Guelph this present year, 1877. He also has been President of Guelph St. Patrick's Society. Edward Marion Chadwick, of Toronto, Barrister-at-Law, Honorary Major and Captain in the Queen's Own

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Rifles; Austin Cooper Chadwick, of Guelph, Junior Judge of the County of Wellington.

An old resident of Guelph is Colonel Higinbotham, the member in the Dominion Parliament for North Wellington. Born in the County Cavan, in 1830, he was educated at the National School there, and afterwards by the Rev. Wm. Little, of Cootehill. He early came to Canada and settled at Guelph, where for twenty years he carried on business as chemist and druggist. He is President of the Guelph St. Patrick's Society. He was a member of the Town Council of Guelph for many years, and on several occasions has held the office of Deputy Reeve and Mayor. He has been long connected with the Volunteer movement. He joined the active force in 1856, and was for four months on the frontier on the occasion of the first Fenian raid. He commanded the 30th Battalion Rifles (ten companies) from its organization until 1872, when he retired, retaining the rank of Captain. He was first returned to Parliament in 1872. He is described in "Mackintosh " as a Liberal, and a supporter of the Mackenzie Administration.

I have now put the reader in a position to judge of the character of the Irish migration prior to the rebellion of 1837. I have not scrupled to complete a subject by giving particulars which relate to the present time. While showing what kind of settlers Ireland sent here, I have also shown what were the difficulties which had to be surmounted by all the settlers, whether Scotch, or English, of those early days. Founded as much of the information is, on the experience of the pioneers, told by themselves either in conversation or by letter, or else on the testimony of their children, in this and the preceding chapters, we have historical material of the highest value. These chapters will have enabled the student of Canadian history to realize the early beginnings of our national existence in the era anterior to politics; he will have been prepared for the impending struggle into which we are about to enter; he will have been supplied with a part, and not the least valuable part, of the data by which he must judge the character, physical, mental, and ethnological of our present population; he will have been put in possession of not the least suggestive facts by which he must appraise, if he will appraise justly, the claims of a great people. Other facts remain to be told, more in

teresting, perhaps, but not more suggestive. I shall have, by-andbye, to describe the post-rebellion Irish immigration, with all the cultivating and refining influences which came in its train. But before doing that, the most stirring and instructive events in our annals will have to be recounted more fully than has yet been done by anybody, but not more fully than they deserve-the heroic struggle against a tyrannical oligarchy, the birth amid bitter throes of our constitutional life.

CHAPTER IX.

I proceed to pass in review an eventful period during which many of the greatest men Canada has produced rose to their full stature. If we have in us the spirit of our sires, if we are made of the fibre of which ancestors should be made, if we have such hearts as are the fit foundation stones of nations, these men built for themselves an everlasting name.

In those years two young men came into prominence who were destined to play great parts, who are still amongst us, whose hands have done much to mould this young country, but whose career and character it will not fall to my lot to paint. I speak of Sir John Macdonald and the Honourable George Brown. I

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[Authorities for Chapter IX.-Gourlay's Works; Lord Durham's Report; Newspapers; "Travel and Transportation," by Thomas C. Keefer, C. E., in "Eighty Years' Progress from 1781 to 1861;""Historical Sketch of Education in Upper and Lower Canada," by J. George Hodgins, LL.D., F.R.G.S., in "Eighty Years' Progress from 1781 to 1861;" "Schools and Universities on the Continent," by Matthew Arnold; "The Emigrant to North America;" "McMullen's History;" Kaye's "Life of Lord Metcalfe;" 'Our Portrait Gallery" in the Dublin University Magazine; Willis's "Sketches in Canada;" Sir R. Bonnycastle's "Canada and the Canadians;" "Biography of the Hon. W. H. Merritt, M.P.;" Original sources : "Salmon-Fishing in Canada," by a Resident, edited by Colonel Sir James Edward Alexander, Knt., K.C.L.S., 14th Regiment, with illustrations; London: Green, Longman & Roberts, 1860. This is dedicated to an Irishman, Lieutenant-General Sir William Rowan, K.C.B., Colonel 19th Regiment, lately commanding the forces and administrator of the Government of Canada. Hansard.]

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