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Blandford, Upper Canada, ; Sept. 20, 1835 3% | Dear Brother, and Sister; % | comes with eur love to wou, it will find you ale al 8 thank God; it leaves all, Cornelius has still a [Fan i et ve 1 3 t deal better. We all like .! a very much; it is 2 * BE Sy ri? I ndfof here are many | oh e, most, Eng- 5 3 I We had a good passage over | jand weached here June 21. We | |Were "alliput {n the Squire's 4 i Lomi. wullon we 15887 [Blandford Tounatop plenty of potatoes, and we have all sorts of vegetables; cucumbers and jmelona grow on the ground the same as cabbages. Our cows and hogs cost nothing in the summer; they run In the woods and keep ° themselves, I only wish you had been here to see your Aia- ter and the girls making sug- ar in the woods, sometimes up to thelr knees In snow, but they made one hundred and 50 pounds pri THT NR sixty | pounds bf rence. Your sister has 1 ned to make her own soap and candles. So I must conclude with all our loves to you, and all your family, Cornelius and Elizabeth Voice, Barn while our houses were building. Our Houses wera J built with round trees laid one, the other, with a fey fory the roof, - ~without any door .or windows or fire- place. We had to do the rest as we could. = Our land was full of larges, high trees. We were in the barn just one month, and some were longer. William and John went out the next day to get some work and got work for all. We get six shillings and three pence ay day, English money. We wera" glad to begin work as we had but: three sovereigns. | We soon earned some money, and then we all went to work at our house and land. Wei have a new brick chimney" and oven, two pairs of sashes! a front door and & back, andi . | & good roof shingled. We have. cleared our five acres of land. .T have got four cows {fourrealves that I'am raisin up; have four sows and twent young hogs. There are plent; of beech. nits, we are hoping! the will be goad pork with- out any more fattingi gr We have about one hundred" fowls litdtle and. big, besides geese sand turkeys. We sell none but eat them all, for they 'are very cheap here, Your sis fterais making 20 Puna of butter a week. We have a good faarden withitiie ieharacteristios i en tent, of a frontier settlement. "The country ling it was new, and the population were mostly indus- trious, fr , intelligent Scotch peo- | ple, who» ee up their farms, 'earefully hi g up their resources and advancing towards competency. In Ayr John Watson had jost estab- Fogle swall foundry ; Mr. Manly had ! g mill, and John Hall 'had a {churches, The priafhne was re- geal A a attendance came i, en e distance. rainy land stormy it no material |difference in the size of the congrega- fly edifteniggh Tale) old-fashioned red-chaff wheat were fos Emigrants crowd the deck of the combined steam and sailing ship Tamar en"' route from Liverpool to Quebec in 1860. gti Ome harvest help Targely came from what was then termed the || "Queens? Bush, 'which has since be- come a highly cultivated and wealthy country. Mitel ell and other towns at the novl were little centres in the great forest vegion that was opening | up for settlement. Four years of any life was spent upon my fathers farm. and 1 acquired la great liking for the commtry and its population. Paris. Gali and Brantford were then the chief market towns of the region. Brantford was the most important of the thee. marketed at Brantford found an out- let by the Grand River Navigation Company, and Welland Canal Feeder and Welland Canal. Dumfries and the surrounding region was a maguifi- cent wheat coantry, and crops of the abundant in quantity and of very fine [tions, for the sturdy Scotch Preshy- [ferians hell attendance upon public | worship to he a duty hat conid not bie | Tightly disregarded. > A The wheat {| ent the heavy wheat haze "Among the most Pleasant Secolles- tions of wy life at Ayr were my asso- | ciations with John Watson, John | Wrlie, the postmaster, and a promi- nent merchant, Joseph Kilgoure, and others. A high degree of intelligence pervaded the community. For a while T was a member of a debating club, which had many intelligent members who were faitly good publie speakers. Mr. Watson, Mr. Kilgour and myself, with the help of others, succeeded in the year 152i 1851 iu establishing a circulating library, which 1 believe is still in existence, and which had a wide influence for good in Ayr and the surrounding community. } I look back upon the days spent upon the farm in Ayr with great | pleasuie. The life was simple and a | health one. and all the suroundi | were caleniated to develop indus 1 | Sel lane. aud fitness for grappiing | with lif's problems. The mode of performing farm labor differed grostly © frown that at the present time. We \ with the cradle, bound ub the sheaves by hand and threshed the crop with open cylinder threshing machines. We cut! the hay crop with scythes and raked up the iy with hand rakes. An able bodiey farm hand was a stalwart specimen of manhood in those days, and the rosy-cheeked Scotch lassies | carried their shave of life's duties with | cheerfulness and efficiency. qd | | | | Fe. i Warden of the County. i i Bley hain AINSLIE ¢ and {reasurer, « uloman of his WATER MURRAY Formerly Reeve of Blenheim, and. AVared _ den of Oxford County. 2 gma farmer and man of affairs. Fwd HE mes a 16m 0 , [i e ni sioner,