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A deadly worldwide outbreak of cholera in 1832 threatened to pause immigration to British North America yet again. The disease first entered North America through what is now considered eastern Canada thanks to infected British immigrants who brought it here. (However, German immigrants transmitted cholera to Britain; the epidemic itself first originated in India.)
In an effort to quarantine and protect the colony, governments would tax immigrants for the first time. This was done to pay for the construction of new hospitals to treat the diseased at ports along the St. Lawrence River and Atlantic coastline.
This tax, however, would not deter impoverished immigrants from emigrating from Ireland, which underwent a devastating potato famine in the late 1840s. It also didn't prevent Black fugitives from the United States from sneaking into Upper Canada to seek freedom from a life of slavery.
In fact, there was a dramatic surge in Upper Canada's population during this period. It went from 95,000 in 1815 to more than 950,000 in 1851, the year it surpassed the French population of Lower Canada (then officially known as Canada East) for the first time.
Topics in this section:
Immigration Restrictions and Taxes, 1830s
Irish Famine, 1846 - 1847
The Underground Railroad, 1840 - 1860
The Diaries of Susanna Moody and Catherine Parr Traill
Other Interesting or Important Documents
Immigration Restrictions and Taxes, 1830s
Copyright/Source
During the early 1830s, a number of particularly fatal outbreaks of cholera began to occur in Britain. Since the vast majority of immigrants to British North America were from Britain, the disease spread into port communities along the St. Lawrence River in Lower Canada where would-be settlers disembarked.
Most of these settlers were either:
The swift spread of cholera into the colony led to the creation of new temporary and permanent hospitals along the river to treat the diseased. Since new hospitals cost money to build, the Lower Canada Legislative Assembly decided to issue a temporary tax of five shillings on all new immigrants until May 1, 1834. Other Atlantic colonies followed suit with their own taxes or quarantines.
The new immigrant levy in Lower Canada was used to:
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help fund immigrant hospitals in Montréal and Québec;
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assist impoverished immigrants arriving in Canada;
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fund new immigrant communities in Montréal.
Health provisions were also made by Britain through the safety provisions in the Passenger Act regarding the shipping of goods. Also, British naval officers and soldiers were no longer given free land in the Canadian colonies to help stem the spread of disease.
These taxes did not stop despondent immigrants from arriving in any of the colonies in North America. In fact, immigrants found ways to pay through various means.
Money often came from:
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British emigration trade unions, which were allowed to provide financial assistance for those wishing to settle in British North America;
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wealthy Irish or Scottish landlords who felt particularly generous towards tenants wishing to leave for the colonies;
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church parishes, which were allowed to raise funds to help the poor settle in Upper and Lower Canada after 1834.
| The effects of some farmer's failed crops and the aftermath of the violent 1837 and 1838 Rebellions led some French settlers in Lower Canada to head for the United States. More people would emigrate from Lower Canada between the 1830s and Confederation in 1867 than immigrate. Since natural reproduction couldn't produce new citizens faster than immigration could, English settlement in Canada easily overtook the French population by the early 1850s. |
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Irish Famine, 1846 - 1847
Following a particularly nasty famine in Ireland in 1847, the Irish were immigrating to the New World in droves looking to escape hunger, disease and poverty. In fact, some 200,000 destitute Irish people would attempt to arrive in British North America in 1847 alone.
Sadly, half that number would die on the ships on the way over, due to the combined effects of hunger and disease. What's more, roughly 30,000 of the 100,000 that arrived in Canada would die within a year of their arrival.
This horrific situation would cause New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to implement head taxes of 10 to 20 shillings on new settlers. This money was specifically for the purpose of funding the care of destitute arrivals. Similarly, ship captains would pay fines of five shillings per head if any of the immigrants on their vessels were quarantined.
Many of these Irish settlers would later immigrate to the United States, hoping to find better fortune as labourers in the cities along the northeast coast. In an attempt to ensure that such immigrants would not spread disease in other parts of North America, some colonies like Prince Edward Island, put quarantines on boats leaving their ports.
The Underground Railroad, 1840 - 1860
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During the early to mid 1800s, a number of efforts were made in British North America to protect freed black slaves from persecution in the United States. During the War of 1812, for instance, Britain gave about 2,000 black slaves it had freed in American fighting the option of joining the British army or living in Upper Canada, where they would be protected.
Additionally, black slavery in Britain and its colonies was beginning to be phased out. By 1833, slavery would be illegal in every British colony. This made British North America a very attractive place to live for many black Americans, even though there was still much racial prejudice and ignorance in the colonies.
The hope of freedom attracted free Blacks to Upper Canada to live via the Underground Railroad. This was a series of white and black-owned safe houses scattered across Upper Canada (later Canada West) and the United States that would hide slaves escaping to freedom north of the Great Lakes
The leader of this movement, a freed slave named Harriet Tubman, even lived in Canada West between 1851 and 1858. She bravely made numerous trips back to America to lead slaves to the "promised land."
Not all was perfect in Canada for black settlers. Susanna Moodie recorded in Roughing It In The Bush (1852) the lynching of a black man in Upper Canada. There was also a movement to segregate white and black school children in some regions of Canada West in the late 1840s that succeeded.
However, compared to the injustices involved with slavery in the States, British North America was a relatively safe and peaceful haven.
The black immigration to Canada West would only be temporary, however. With the onset of the American Civil War in 1861, many blacks returned to America to fight on the side of the North, which opposed slavery. When the North won in 1865, many blacks remained in America to begin new free lives with their families.
| Many communities in southwestern Ontario, like Woodstock and Welland, were either founded or settled by Blacks during the early 1800s. |
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The Diaries of Susanna Moody and Catherine Parr Traill
Copyright/Source
Much of what historians know about the social history and pioneer lifestyle of Upper Canada comes from the writings of two women in particular: Susanna Moody and Catherine Parr Traill.
Catherine and Susanna were actually sisters born into a British family with the surname Strickland. They were born in 1802 and 1803 respectively. Their upbringings were said to be relatively happy and uneventful, seeing as though their family was somewhat upper class.
However, by the early 1830s, Catherine and Susanna were married and falling on hard times in England. Their husbands decided to emigrate from England to Upper Canada in the hopes of finding a better way of life.
The sisters, their husbands and children immigrated into an area of Upper Canada directly north of Lake Ontario. They started their lives over again by clearing land and building homes like other pioneers. While Susanna in particular would move around from homestead to homestead during her life in the colony, both sisters generally lived much of their lives not very far from present-day Peterborough, Ontario. At one point, they even lived on neighbouring homesteads.
Both sisters would keep diaries and journals of their struggles adapting to their new pioneer lifestyle. Eventually, British publishers would publish their work as field guides about what it was like to live in British North America. These books became quite popular amongst Britons, and probably inspired a few people to immigrate to Canada.
These books are of significance today to historians because they're one of the few non-government documents of what life must have been like back in the early 1830s. Susanna Moody's work, in particular, is also hailed as being one of the very first examples of popular Canadian literature.
Other Interesting or Important Documents
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